Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 669 - 602: Owning_2

Dongjun Tower was still eerily quiet. The old Cultivator, more like a lifeless Puppet than a living person, sat behind a desk holding a book. His eyes were closed, his head nodding.

The Ink Silk Clone tiptoed forward, moving deeper into that level of the tower, until he found the storage room.

The wooden door of the storage room was ajar. Shelves inside held layers of dust, brooms, and other tools. However, Li Ang could not find the oil lamp he was looking for; there was only a white candle.

TAP. TAP. Distant footsteps echoed faintly. Two members of the Supervision Department, wearing face-concealing cone hats, slowly approached.

Sui Yi was also a member of the Supervision Department. An encounter would inevitably lead to conversation, making it too easy to slip up.

With no choice but to act, Li Ang immediately took the candle, lit the flame, and slipped into the spiral stone staircase next to the storage room, heading downwards.

HISS— The omnipresent chill and darkness immediately surged from all directions, instantly erasing any trace of a way back.

The flame of the candle in Li Ang’s hand, under attack by the darkness, trembled violently.

He immediately shielded the flame. According to She Ati’s description, this spiraling staircase determined one’s path not through space, but rather through the brightness of an oil lamp.

If the light went out, one would fall into an unknown Domain. Even death would be a luxury.

Nevertheless, a candle could never be as reliable as an oil lamp. As the wax melted continuously, the flame also flickered uncertainly. Low murmurs arose in the dark, and countless cracks opened in the cold stone walls. Through these cracks, many scarlet eyes peered out, staring at Li Ang as he descended.

The doors embedded in the walls, too, sensed an anomaly. Perhaps because it was a candle, not an oil lamp; perhaps because the bearer of the candle was an Alien; or perhaps it was a combination of both. Doors of different materials and makes began to tremble and roar like muffled thunder.

Some wooden doors twisted and deformed, revealing frightening faces. One cloth door curtain even flung open halfway. From it, hundreds of non-human white bones reached out toward Li Ang, who narrowly avoided their grasp.

The surge of bones from behind the curtain seemed like a signal; the creatures confined in the rooms grew even more restless, crashing against the doors and stone walls.

An intense sound of something breaking came from above the staircase, followed by a dazzling red light shining down.

Li Ang had no time to look back. His left hand carried the candle, his right protected the flame, as he rushed headlong downward.

The candle had burned more than halfway down, wax dripping continuously, forming tears.

Finally, Room 1,024 was reached.

Li Ang stopped. His fingertips morphed into the shape of the key he had seen before. He inserted it into the lock and turned.

CLICK. The wooden door opened, and a refreshing, cool breeze greeted him.

Li Ang darted into the room and slammed the door shut, keeping the pursuing, unknown red light at bay.

One second, two seconds... all was well.

Without hesitation, Li Ang released the doorknob, blew out the candle, and turned. He sprinted towards the center of the spacious basement, right in front of the giant Bookworm Immortal.

As large as a blue whale and its body covered in golden thread, the giant Bookworm Immortal lazily fed on a towering pile of books, indifferent to the stranger’s appearance.

Grasping the Patrol Jade Pendant, Li Ang climbed the ladder and placed his hand on the head of the Bookworm Immortal.

The golden thread around the Bookworm Immortal’s body curled up automatically, covering his palm. In an instant, a complex interface bloomed before his eyes.

Tell me, where is the bronze box holding the Dream Eater at this moment? Li Ang transmitted his Heart Thought. A myriad of complex options before his eyes quickly dissipated, until only one piece of information remained.

"Level 1 Demon, Dream Eater, number 119, contained."

"Containment location: Top floor of the Teaching Tower, in the Mountain Master’s study."

"Containment device: Ancient Glass Cabinet."

"Handler: Xi Yangyu."

SWISH. Li Ang withdrew his palm, stomped on the ground, relit the candle, and bolted out of the room.

This time, he finally saw the source of the red light—countless crimson eyes had grown from the cracks in the stone walls.

The eyeballs whirled about, focusing on Li Ang and the candle in his hand.

SNAP. One eye blinked, and the skin on Li Ang’s left cheek instantly disappeared. The cut surface was incredibly smooth, revealing the ghastly white jawbone beneath.

SNAP. Another eye blinked, and the sole of Li Ang’s right foot vanished into thin air, causing his body to tilt to the right.

SNAP. SNAP. SNAP. SNAP. SNAP. Countless crimson eyes blinked, producing a dense sound like a flock of birds flapping their wings. Li Ang was riddled with holes in an instant, as if undergoing Ling Chi, and could barely maintain his stance.

Just as the Ink Silk Clone was about to perish, the Mountain Master Jade Pendant on his waist activated on its own. A formless force spread out, forcibly resisting the crimson eyes and preventing them from closing.

PUFF. PUFF. PUFF. PUFF. The Ink Silk Clone immediately spun threads, repairing the damage. He strode forward majestically and rushed out of the staircase to the surface.

The two members of the Supervision Department had long since gone. Li Ang stuffed the half-burnt candle back into a corner of the storage room’s cabinet and hurried out of Dongjun Tower. Arriving under the shadows of the trees by Chuiyun Lake, he looked across the lake at the top floor of the teaching building. Lights were on in the Mountain Master’s office.

「———」

"Record, the 291st experiment." Xi Yangyu’s murmur echoed in the room. He sat on a chair, a square Glaze Glass box before him.

Through the complex and precise mechanical arms inside the box, he manipulated several large and small Bronze Box Fragments at the bottom.

"Used a Second-level Abnormality, Mo Family ruler number 285, to test the Bronze Box Fragments. No special reaction." As Xi Yangyu spoke, he released Telekinesis to control the paper and pen on the adjacent table to take notes.

"Hm?" He noticed a reflection on the Glazed Tile Box and stopped his work. Turning to look back, he saw Mountain Master Lian Xuanxiao appearing in the corridor.

"Mountain Master?" Xi Yangyu released the mechanical arms and opened the door to his study, asking in confusion, "How did you return from the Northern Desert so soon?"

"The matter was resolved, so I came back to check on things." Lian Xuanxiao spoke calmly. Glancing at the Glazed Tile Box, he indifferently asked, "How’s the research going?"

"Not too smoothly." Xi Yangyu shook his head. "The Bronze Box Fragments indeed contain traces of the Dream Eater, but these traces are scattered and frail.

"I had Dr. Zhang Liang and his team investigate the Mo Family inscriptions inside the box, and the results were odd—those Mo Family members who made the box had already concluded that the Dream Eater couldn’t be killed." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Lian Xuanxiao’s tone changed. "Oh?"

"This is the translation of the inscriptions. Have a look." Xi Yangyu waved his hand, and a scroll flew from a cabinet in the corner of the study.

Xi Yangyu unrolled the scroll and explained, "Those Mo Family members meticulously investigated every region with legends of the Dream Eater and studied every piece of oracle bone from the Yin Shang period that recorded it. They came to one conclusion.

"’The Dream Eater isn’t a demon beast; it’s far different from an Evil Demon. It’s more like some natural law devoid of its own will.

"’As long as people live, as long as people dream, the Dream Eater will never die.

"’The ancients of the Yin Shang period were the first to discover the Dream Eater. They worshipped it as a Demon God, allowing it to wield power to alter reality and to bestow favorable weather.

"’However, those who play with reality will inevitably suffer the backlash. Hundreds of years of Tribute led to the Dream Eater developing self-awareness, shattering its shackles, and destroying the Kingdom that imprisoned it.

"’The Mo Family, deeply fearing its power, designed the Sealing to isolate it, exiling it to a desolate island in the Doldrums of the Endless Sea. They hoped that, given enough time, they could refine the Dream Eater, reverting it to a state without self-awareness.’"

Xi Yangyu paused, then said, "Their plan might have succeeded. According to current tests, the Dream Eater has merged with the bronze box.

"’Repairing the bronze box means incarcerating the Dream Eater once more. Crushing the Bronze Box Fragments, however, would allow the Dream Eater to escape its physical confines and free itself again.

"’In other words, we currently have no way to safely control the Dream Eater and make it serve our purposes.’"