Chapter 3289: A Loss May Be a Gain

Realizing that the plague god hidden in his sea of consciousness came from the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda, Ye Chen immediately stepped forward and approached it.

Upon reaching the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda, he extended his hand and lightly touched it, then constantly monitored his sea of consciousness, hoping the plague god would depart at an opportune moment.

Ye Chen thought that approaching the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda would cause the mysterious entity within his sea of consciousness to seize the chance to leave, but the entity remained utterly still, as if it had vanished into thin air.

At this moment, Ye Chen suddenly realized that the thing seemed unwilling to return to the interior of the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda.

He could not help but mutter to himself: "Could this thing be intending to cling to me and not leave?"

Thinking this, he turned his divine sense inward, severed all external senses, focused entirely on his sea of consciousness, and sought the plague god's trace—but it had truly vanished like smoke, leaving no trace.

Meanwhile, the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda before Ye Chen, after he had infused it with spiritual energy, showed no reaction whatsoever, not even any flow of spiritual energy.

Ye Chen could not help but feel uneasy: this thing had absorbed so much of his spiritual energy yet could hide silently in his sea of consciousness like a speck of dust—truly extraordinary.

Moreover, Ye Chen could not now determine whether this thing was good or bad; setting that aside, just considering how it lured him into a trap, it was likely no benevolent entity.

At this moment, Lin Wan'er walked forward and, standing beside Ye Chen, asked softly: "Young Master, have you discovered anything?"

Ye Chen nodded and said vaguely: "It should be related to it."

"Then..." Lin Wan'er hesitated a moment, then asked: "Can it be resolved?"

Ye Chen shook his head and said: "It refuses to leave."

Lin Wan'er's cherry lips parted slightly as if to speak, but she held back; after a pause of several seconds, she asked again: "Then what do you plan to do now, Young Master?"

Ye Chen sighed and said: "Let's return home."

Having said that, he turned to Sun Zhidong not far away and the military representative and said: "I only wanted to confirm whether the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda had any abnormalities; there's nothing else. Sorry for the disturbance."

The military representative immediately said: "You're too polite. If you're sure you don't need to look further or study more, we'll go ahead first."

"Good." Ye Chen nodded. As he was leaving, he glanced once more at the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda, and a thought suddenly arose in his mind; he muttered to himself:

When I first saw the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda, I had unintentionally swept it with my spiritual energy; unexpectedly, the pagoda's divine powers were vast, and it actually drew my divine sense into it, showing me the scene of Master Xuanzang and many great beings crafting the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda in ancient times.

Since the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda is a magical artifact, why not infuse it with a bit more spiritual energy to see if there would be any reaction?

Perhaps it could awaken the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda, or perhaps trigger one of its mechanisms.

Thus, he said: "Wait a moment; I still have something to confirm again."

Speaking, he once again infused a thread of spiritual energy and a thread of divine sense into the interior of the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda.

What surprised Ye Chen was that this time, when spiritual energy was infused into the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda, the pagoda did not actively guide his divine sense, nor did it direct it toward any illusion; on the contrary, with his divine sense entering the pagoda's interior undisturbed, Ye Chen found himself actually inside the pagoda, where, compared to his divine sense, the pagoda had been magnified by over a hundred times proportionally, as if he were truly inside the original pagoda of old; looking up at its internal structure tens of meters high, he was filled with astonishment.

And even more astonishing was yet to come.

Within the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda, Ye Chen's divine sense discovered a vast number of murals, all depicting images of the Buddha, and upon close inspection, each of the Buddha's hand gestures was different; among them were indeed the few hand signs he had seen under the aurora.

This further strengthened Ye Chen's conviction that the mysterious entity in his sea of consciousness was inseparably linked to the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda.

He thought: Could this be the Buddhist method of cultivating spiritual energy? Otherwise, why would there be so many intricate hand signs?

Yet, Ye Chen still harbored some lingering concerns, for last time he had practiced those hand signs, which was precisely how that strange thing seized the opportunity to deal him a heavy blow.

Now, the hand signs on the wall had multiplied several times over; if he were not careful and accidentally cultivated some great bug, wouldn't that be even more of a loss?

Having reached this thought, Ye Chen considered withdrawing his divine sense, no longer paying attention to the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda, and even refraining from using that set of hand signs again, to avoid being deceived once more.

But the next second, he changed his mind: "Although I don't know what these hand signs are used for, I can be certain that if I still wish to observe them in the future, I can only come back to this place; although the good or ill of this thing remains uncertain for now, finding a way to record them will surely be useful."

Thus, Ye Chen dared not delay and immediately began familiarizing himself with all the Buddha's hand signs within the entire package, until he knew them thoroughly by heart.

After completing this, Ye Chen's divine sense wandered once more through the interior of the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda; finding no other hidden content, he then withdrew his divine sense and, together with the others, took the elevator back to the surface.

Sun Zhidong did not know why Ye Chen had come all this way just to touch the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda, but having been taught by Lin Wan'er since childhood to know his bounds, he knew not to ask about things he shouldn't, no matter how curious, so he said nothing about this matter; instead, after the military representative took his leave, he asked Lin Wan'er and Ye Chen: "Young Lady, Mr. Ye, what are your plans next?"

Lin Wan'er looked at Ye Chen, her eyes seeming to say that everything was up to him.

Ye Chen showed no hesitation and directly said: "Trouble Grandfather Sun to arrange a car to take us to the airport; we're returning to Jin Ling."

"Very well, Mr. Ye."

……

Sun Zhidong sent the two back to the airport, and they immediately boarded the same official aircraft they had come on and set off for Jin Ling.

On the plane, Lin Wan'er asked Ye Chen: "Young Master, is the thing that drained your spiritual energy truly related to the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda?"

Ye Chen nodded and said: "It should be related, but I still haven't figured out exactly what kind of relationship it is."

Speaking, Ye Chen also shared his discoveries with Lin Wan'er.

After hearing this, Lin Wan'er exclaimed in surprise: "There are many more hand signs inside the pagoda? Then do you plan to try them out?"

Ye Chen shook his head and said: "The spiritual energy produced by those hand signs seems not to be created for me, but for the entity in my sea of consciousness; that thing is so domineering that I dare not try them again for now."

Lin Wan'er smiled and said: "Young Master need not be overly tense; although this time we lost much spiritual energy and elixirs, 'a loss may be a gain'—who knows, it might turn out to be a good thing for you."

Ye Chen said: "The Four Directions Treasure Pagoda is a national treasure; that thing originates from it, so it should not be an utterly yin and evil object; it's just that its intentions are too deep, making me somewhat uneasy; the previous matter can be let go, but what disheartens me is that I will never dare use those hand signs again—the spiritual energy they generate is completely beyond my control, and moreover, that spiritual energy is even more overbearing; my spiritual energy cannot withstand it in the slightest."

Lin Wan'er could not help but sigh regretfully: "Young Master, you have finally found a precious channel to obtain spiritual energy, yet it turns out to be a trap; it seems we will have to seek other methods in the future."

After saying this, she suddenly thought of something and countered Ye Chen: "Young Master, have you considered when that mysterious entity might have entered your sea of consciousness?"

Ye Chen said: "It is highly likely that it happened when I first obtained the Four Directions Treasure Pagoda; at that time, the pagoda had once drawn my divine sense into it, and when my divine sense retreated, that thing might have followed into my sea of consciousness."

Lin Wan'er nodded slightly and murmured: "The Four Directions Treasure Pagoda has revealed all its secrets to Young Master; it must trust him; if it sent certain things into your sea of consciousness at that time, I feel it probably bears no ill will; moreover, today you discovered even more hand signs inside it—perhaps it did so intentionally!"