Chapter 74: Tracking (Seeking Monthly Votes)

When Lu Mian opened his eyes, his spirituality had already recovered, and his body no longer ached.

He flipped over and sat up abruptly, walked to the table, and swished the curtains open.

At this moment, dawn had not yet broken; the red moon hung low in the west of the high sky, and stars were scattered about. Not far away, on the elm tree, that owl with the intelligent gaze and massive frame appeared once again, looking down at Lu Mian with a condescending posture.

Lu Mian was neither startled nor angry; he revealed a brilliant smile.

"You've come again." He greeted it enthusiastically, but whether it was his body language, the tone of his voice, or the expression on his face, it would suddenly trigger an impulse in the target to punch him.

The owl stared at him for a few seconds, spread its wings, and flew toward the depths of the darkness.

Almost simultaneously, Aurora exited her bedroom, turned the handle, and entered Lu Mian's room.

"How is it?" Lu Mian asked hurriedly.

Aurora nodded:

"'White Paper' has already followed it."

Her light blue eyes had long since turned dark, reflecting trees that were constantly receding and growing larger.

She then took out a mercury-plated mirror, placed it on Lu Mian's table, and used light white powder to cast a spell that projected what she was seeing onto the mirror's surface.

Lu Mian successfully saw the figure of the owl. It was circling and flying at a relatively low altitude over the night-time Cordu village, weaving back and forth as if trying to shake off any potential tail. However, "White Paper" was a Spirit Realm creature and quite fast, so it remained completely unaffected, maintaining a constant distance throughout.

After a minute or two, the owl circled to the village square.

It no longer hesitated and flew directly into the cemetery next to the church.

"Why is it here again?" Lu Mian couldn't help but sigh.

When the siblings had spied on Michel Galigou last time, the "lizard" that crawled out of that assistant parish priest's mouth had also ended up in the cemetery, moving in and out of different graves!

"It can't be that just because stories often use cemeteries as the gathering places or hiding spots for villains, reality is the same, right?" Lu Mian tilted his head to look at his sister.

Aurora scoffed:

"Do you know what it means for inspiration to come from reality?"

"That's true..." Lu Mian acknowledged the professional writer's explanation regarding creation.

At this moment, the owl flew above an ordinary-looking grave.

Like most graves in Intis, it was a large pit dug into the ground, a coffin placed inside, then filled with soil, and finally covered with one or two stone slabs, with a tombstone erected at the back.

The above content was Lu Mian's imagination and speculation, but at least from the exterior, he couldn't see anything abnormal about that grave.

The owl lowered its altitude and landed on the two stone slabs sealing the grave.

And with the help of "White Paper's" vision, Aurora and Lu Mian discovered some suspicious traces:

The corresponding tombstone was completely blank, with nothing on it; the surface of the stone slabs, which should have been dirty and covered in weeds, was clean, as if someone cleaned them frequently.

"This grave has issues." Aurora commented.

No sooner had she finished speaking than the two stone slabs sealing the grave suddenly dropped downward.

No, not dropped; it was closer to the concept of opening.

They opened inward like double doors, revealing a pitch-black space and stone steps leading into the depths.

"Yo." Lu Mian was surprised and "praised" at the same time, "That's spacious!"

This was completely different from the ordinary grave he had imagined; it was more like a mausoleum, with a significant amount of burial space.

"Cordu actually has a place like this..." Aurora had originally felt that having lived here for nearly six years, she knew every blade of grass and tree in Cordu village very well. As a result, she had recently found this place becoming increasingly unfamiliar and increasingly eerie.

While the siblings were talking, the owl followed the steps toward the depths of the "mausoleum."

The corresponding underground space was not exaggerated; "White Paper" had just finished following the steps when it saw a burial chamber.

The burial chamber was about the size of Lu Mian and Aurora's kitchen, with a black coffin placed in the middle.

The coffin was not closed; the lid was leaning against the side, resting on the ground.

The owl flapped its wings and flew over, landing on the edge of the coffin and standing there.

"That dead wizard?" Lu Mian's spirit tightened instantly.

Aurora said "Mm," and let "White Paper" move closer to that direction, peering into the coffin from afar.

Almost simultaneously, Lu Mian discovered a human figure vaguely standing in the corner of the burial chamber.

Just as he was about to remind his sister to see who that was, "White Paper" had already cast its "gaze" into the open coffin.

With a bang, the mercury mirror in front of the two exploded and shattered, and Aurora let out a low, painful scream that she couldn't endure.

Lu Mian hurriedly turned his head to look at his sister, only to see that she had already squeezed her eyes shut, shedding drop after drop of blood-stained tears, while the muscles on her cheeks twitched uncontrollably, as if they were about to tear open into cracks.

Without waiting for the occult semi-illiterate to react, Aurora took out a short incense stick from her hidden pocket on her own, fumbling to light it with a match.

A faint fragrance permeated the air, distant and light, making one's body and mind become tranquil.

The abnormality on Aurora's face gradually subsided. Finally, she let out a long breath and wiped the blood tears with the handkerchief she carried.

"Are you alright?" Lu Mian asked with concern.

Aurora kept her eyes tightly shut and did not open them:

"The problem isn't serious. If I take a nap later, my eyes should recover. I'm really grateful that 'White Paper' is so fragile. Sometimes, a weakness is also an advantage!"

She felt extremely fortunate.

"Ah?" Lu Mian didn't understand.

Aurora laughed at herself:

"Simply put, I saw something I shouldn't have seen, but 'White Paper' is very fragile. It only caught a glimpse, or didn't even really catch a glimpse, before it suffered severe trauma and shrank back into the Spirit Realm. Consequently, the impact I received was also much smaller. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been so simple to control just now; it might have been very troublesome."

The occult world is truly dangerous... Lu Mian truly realized what "don't look at what you shouldn't" meant.

He waited until his sister's state had recovered a bit more before asking:

"'White Paper' caught a glimpse of something; why would it cause such great damage?"

"I just saw a point of silver-black light." Aurora didn't dare to recall it much, "As for things that can cause damage just by being seen, there are too many. Perhaps it's an item that exposes divinity, perhaps it's a high-sequence mythical creature form, perhaps it's something carrying a curse and malice..."

"Mythical creature form?" Lu Mian hadn't heard this term before.

Aurora explained casually:

"The essence of a divine path is to transform a Beyonder toward the direction of a deity. Once we reach Sequence 4, we can possess our own mythical creature form, it's just not complete. And those below Sequence 4 will suffer damage just by seeing this form, and might even lose control directly."

Are Saints that powerful? They and Beyonders below Sequence 4 are like two different species... No wonder those who reach Sequence 4 can be called demigods... Lu Mian instantly understood how ignorant he had been before, actually thinking that a sequence with the title of demigod wasn't essentially different from Beyonders below it.

He turned to say:

"Aurora, when 'White Paper' approached the coffin, I seemed to see a human figure in the corner of the burial chamber, but I don't know who it was, what they looked like, or what they were wearing."

"There was another person there?" Aurora was somewhat surprised.

Lu Mian nodded:

"So, is the one in the coffin the dead wizard, or is the one in the corner?"

"I think the one in the coffin is." Aurora said, eyes closed, deliberating, "The one in the corner is either his puppet or subordinate, or another Beyonder who is controlling the wizard's corpse."

Lu Mian said "Mm":

"The wizard's problem really wasn't completely solved. This might be the source of Cordu's gradual abnormality."

This harvest made him both happy and troubled.

Happy that the investigation had made great progress, troubled that just seeing the wizard's corpse would cause damage and likely lead to loss of control, so how could he go to the burial chamber to make further confirmation and carry out subsequent actions?

Aurora clearly thought of this point too:

"Don't go to the burial chamber for now. Focus on the church underground first. We might be able to obtain key clues there that will help in dealing with the burial chamber's problem."

"Good." Lu Mian had already decided to go find those three outsiders after dawn to discuss exploring the church underground.

Hearing his answer, Aurora added:

"If I fully recover, I'll go to the church underground with you."

Lu Mian hesitated for two seconds before agreeing.

At times like this, one must gather all strength to see hope!

Aurora, still with her eyes closed, turned to ask:

"It seems your ritual was successful. How do you feel?"

Lu Mian told his sister the process of the ritual and his harvest exactly as it happened, just without mentioning the specific description of that existence. At the end, he said:

"I almost lost control when accepting the gift, but it was fine afterward, and my body didn't show any strange changes. It might be because the sequence is low enough."

Aurora, eyes closed, revealed a slight smile and said:

"That dance that can summon abnormal creatures from the surroundings and let one of them possess you is very interesting.

"This reminds me of an ability in some legends from my hometown, 'God-Possession'!"

"Ah?" Lu Mian couldn't understand.

Aurora smiled:

"It means inviting a demigod-level creature to partially possess you and utilize their combat abilities."

"That would require a very strong body, soul, and spirit, right?" Lu Mian speculated.

Aurora didn't continue this topic and instructed her brother:

"Help me back to my room. I need to rest for a while."

Lu Mian helped his sister up, and while walking toward her bedroom, he asked casually:

"One strange thing about that ritual is that I didn't get permission from the owner of the blue-black symbol, yet I extracted a bit of power from the seal. Could it be that He has been watching me the whole time? That's impossible, right? How could He be so free?"

Aurora thought for a moment and said:

"You told me that the honorific name description that mysterious lady gave you was very vague and not very accurate, to avoid attracting the gaze of the corresponding entity.

"Is there a possibility that the owner of the blue-black symbol and the existence corresponding to the black thorn have overlaps in certain authorities? For example, you mentioned the word 'Fate,' and both of them might have some authorities in the domain of fate. Therefore, when you recited the vague honorific name, part of it not only pointed to the one corresponding to the black thorn but also pointed to the owner of the blue-black symbol.

"Under normal circumstances, because it was incomplete and imprecise, this wouldn't have had any effect. But you, being inside the altar, happened to have the corresponding symbol, power, and aura. Thus, they were stimulated and had a certain reaction, and that existence discovered your actions. And since you were guided by the mysterious lady, it was easy to obtain permission.

"In this way, once you finished reciting all the honorific names and pointed toward the pollution in your body, there were no obstacles to extracting a bit of power. The 'back door' had already been opened."

"A very clever ritual design... It looks like the work of a master at exploiting bugs."

"So that's how it is." Lu Mian suddenly realized.

PS: Seeking monthly votes again~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 75 =====