Chapter 301: Obscure Yinbu

Yinbu Tu Kingdom, Degeng City.

The sky‑blocking silver colossus dragon, heedless of hiding its form, descended over the city like a calamity that tilts the heavens.

At the moment Naimi Xisi folded its wings, twelve magical crossbow cannons extinguished simultaneously. On the tower of the border fortress of the Tulip Grand Duke—Keli Te's domain, the dull clank of gears sounded like the dying gasp of a massive beast.

Wu Er Mu gripped the dragon‑scale bracelet and looked up; behind each wall embrasure, every soldier's face was a sickly pallor— they raised torches, yet their pupils contracted to needle points under the noon sun.

"Welcome home, master."

Keli Te Luo Sa's voice came from the other end of the hanging bridge. The girl who once ran with her skirt lifted now wrapped in embroidered‑golden mail, like a sword sheathed. The tulip emblem on her left breast was tangled in black silk, while the hilt shone newly.

When the dragon claw shattered the thin ice of the moat, Wu Er Mu smelled a sweet, cloying rot. He looked down to see clumps of algae drifting on the water, dark‑red veins pulsing like blood vessels. Something struck his ankle beneath the water, a pale finger flashing away.

"Your domain smells like a Necromancer's laboratory," Naimi Xisi spat a burst of flame, the algae shrieking as they retreated to the riverbed, "Has the royal court recently changed the tax code? Can't even afford cleaning spells?"

Keli Te's knuckles whitened on the sword hilt: "Last month the queen issued the 'Eternal Night Protection Act,' demanding every lord turn over eighty percent of refined gold output to the kingdom guard." She suddenly lifted the canvas at her feet; three corpse bags seeped black water, "And this is what she calls the 'guard'."

The moment the corpse bags fell, Wu Er Mu's cursed fire erupted uncontrollably. They weren't corpses at all—three desiccated bodies clad in armor bearing the royal emblem, their chests hollowed into perfect spheres, the inner walls coated with crystallized blood beads. Most horrifying were their faces: mouths torn to the ears, as if they had been smiling in death.

"Yesterday they were my border patrol," Keli Te's side‑sword suddenly sprang free, silver light cleaving the desiccated skulls. Putrid brain matter spewed a swarm of bats, which burned to ash in the silver fire. "This morning they returned bearing the queen's emblem, saying they were to 'inspect refined gold purity'."

Naimi Xisi's tail swept over the desiccated armor, lifting the inner lining. Wu Er Mu saw a dense field of bite marks, like countless gaping mouths.

"Vampire spawn," the draconic voice caused the hanging‑bridge iron chains to frost, "But the kind that lets corpses move in sunlight is no ordinary bloodline."

Another Dependent arrived silently.

When Luo Si Li En's white hair floated from the corridor shadows, Wu Er Mu nearly hurled his cursed fire at it. The half‑elf's blindfold seeped yellow‑green pus, and a black‑red storm churned within the crystal sphere he held.

"Seven years, four months and three days," Luo Si Li En's crystal sphere reflected Naimi Xisi's vertical pupils, "You are late by the span of an entire plague's spread."

"Your eyes?" the dragon claw pinched the crystal sphere; within it suddenly rose an illusion of the capital shrouded by seven black stars, three of them bearing black spire silhouettes, "Explain."

"The nightly star‑track divination continued seven hundred and thirty times," the half‑elf tore off the blindfold, something writhing in the rotting left eye socket.

"Until three days ago, I saw them," he pointed at the black stars, "It is not a prophecy, but a warning—from a being far older than vampires."

Naimi Xisi furrowed his brow; Luo Si Li En's power had indeed surged over the past decade, rising from a modest level‑9 Mage to a rapid ascent to level 15.

No wonder he was the seedling the man had personally selected back then.

However, Juan Ce Long, as a Divination master, knew the capabilities of prophetic spells all too well. How could it become like this? Naimi Xisi lowered his head toward the crystal sphere; the image inside had vanished, replaced by dozens of eyes of varying sizes and shapes, all opening in unison to stare at Naimi Xisi.

"Is this… the Artifact of the Divination God Safras?" Naimi Xisi exclaimed in shock.

The Divination God is a subordinate deity of Mistra, once a chosen of the Magic Goddess, later receiving Mistra's power to become a demigod—that is, a being of faint divine power.

Safras often searches the primary material plane for exceptionally gifted Divination Mages, granting them his Artifact—the Thousand‑Eye Sphere.

This is the Artifact of the Divination Sage, allowing a Divination Sage to cast immensely powerful prophetic spells to probe secrets and sense the future.

But the price is dire: the user's eyes will eventually go blind for various reasons.

Naimi Xisi looked at Luo Si Li En's blinded eyes, shaking his head regretfully; it is a punishment from the deity, and even Divine Spell cannot restore Luo Si Li En.

Unless it is a Legendary spell of legend, no one can restore Luo Si Li En's sight.

"Has the kingdom's environment deteriorated to this extent? That it requires you to fight so desperately?" Naimi Xisi asked gravely.

Luo Si Li En gave no reply, instead looking at Wu Er Mu; the boy suddenly staggered, bracing against the wall. When Luo Si Li En's remaining eye turned toward him, the dragon‑scale bracelet on his wrist burned like a branding iron. The cursed fire roamed uncontrolled across the ground, sketching a vague obelisk shape.

"This child is the variable?" Luo Si Li En's crystal sphere cracked open, "His flames devour the future, Naimi Xisi. Within each spark, two futures battle each other."

!

Luo Si Li En's rambling demeanor gave Naimi Xisi a darkened look; it was because he had been too deeply infused with the power of the Thousand‑Eye Sphere.

The Dependent's words weighed on Juan Ce Long's heart; he always felt that meeting this boy was no coincidence, and now Luo Si Li En's words confirmed it.

"Go ahead inside," Naimi Xisi inhaled deeply, assuming human form, "Tell me every single thing that has happened over these ten years, in full detail."

——

While Luo Si Li En explained everything to Naimi Xisi, the deepest dungeon chamber reeked of blood. Duke Jia Wen's secret letter was sewn into the inner skin of a songstress; when Keli Te pried open the sutures with her sword, the yellowed parchment fell in a rustle.

"Prince Lei En is being held under house arrest in the White Dew Tower; half of the Dawn Blade has become night servants. Seven days later, on the night of the lunar eclipse, the Eternal Night Empress will be crowned, and then—"

Flames suddenly leapt onto the letter, but Naimi Xisi was faster; his left hand plunged into the fire and retrieved a string of illusory characters:

"The ley lines are dying; swiftly destroy the obelisk."

"This is Xi Ruike's divine script," Luo Si Li En's remaining eye wept pus‑blood, "Someone layered a falsehood curse onto the letter; the truth can only be revealed by the evil god's flame."

Keli Te kicked aside the songstress's rotting corpse, extracting a silver coin from her throat. When Wu Er Mu took it, the cursed fire suddenly solidified into a key shape, scorching a char mark onto the coin's surface—on the reverse, the emblem of Xi Ruike's saintly seal emerged.

"The last news before Ilminster vanished," Keli Te wiped her sword blade with a blood‑stained handkerchief, "He gave Duke Jia Wen this silver coin while investigating the royal blood case."

Naimi Xisi remained silent until, having just heard all of Keli Te's information, he realized his own foundation had rotted into this state over the past ten years.

(End of Chapter)