Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 685 - 615: Prophecy

Li Ang focused intently, sensing the message transmitted back by the Ink Silk Clone. The top region of the temple had been destroyed by falling rocks from above the cave, leaving only ruins and broken walls. Apart from that, there were no signs of battle or dead bodies.

In the very center of the temple, there was an exceptionally spacious stone chamber. On each of the four walls inside the room, a mural was depicted.

The first mural depicted hundreds of crudely drawn tiny figures, screaming and crying in despair, seemingly in fear of something. They knelt on the vast land, worshiping a towering spire that reached into the clouds.

Or rather, they were worshiping the man at the top of the spire.

The man was burly, his face hidden under a hood. He had his arms open wide, a blood-stained golden blade in his right hand, and in front of him on a stone bed lay a young noble whose chest had been cut open.

He was identified as a noble because he was dressed in luxurious white clothing, wearing a snake-shaped ornament inlaid with gold and jade at the collar, sharply contrasting with the simple attire of the thousands of commoners below the spire.

Strangely, despite being killed as a sacrifice, the young noble’s face bore no trace of pain but rather a serene smile, as if he had accomplished some great feat and was utterly satisfied.

Above the heads of the sacrificer and the sacrificed was a blue sky.

Within it were depicted two enormous blood-red, vertical pupils, as if a demon were spying on the human world.

What is this mural trying to convey?

Li Ang furrowed his brows involuntarily. Judging by the primitive and barbaric act of human sacrifice, the mural was from a very ancient era, at least before the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period. Through the sacrifice of humans, they sought to appease ghosts and ancestral spirits.

However, the style of clothing on the characters in the painting was clearly different from that of the Central Plains, and the sacrifice depicted was not of prisoners of war but of nobles.

He patiently moved on to the second mural.

In the second mural, the hooded man was still present.

He stood atop a cliff, arms outstretched, as if scolding something.

Below the cliff, thousands of commoners were digging in the earth with tools, while some dressed in noble attire floated in mid-air.

These individuals waved their arms, making various gestures. The huge rocks blocking the excavation process shattered into smaller stones and were loaded onto carts carried by what were clearly demon beasts.

Cultivators? 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Li Ang was greatly astonished; the actions of the nobles in the painting closely resembled the primitive magic techniques described in the annals of the Academic Palace from the Yin Shang period.

No, it was even older.

Li Ang noticed that some of the nobles held human skulls in their hands, seemingly summoning the spirits of their ancestors to obtain supernatural powers.

If that’s the case, the era depicted in the mural might even be older than the Yin Shang period...

Li Ang’s brow tightened as he looked toward the third mural, which depicted an inverted structure of a Sky-reaching Tower that penetrated deep underground.

Each level of the tower housed many tiny figures in different clothing and from different social classes.

Like the previous murals, the commoners were drawn with simple lines and inferior clothing, while the nobles had detailed lines, luxurious attire, and more expressive faces.

Everyone had a look of fear and anxiety, looking up at the sky above the Sky-reaching Tower.

In the sky above the earth, a massive crack had opened, and black light poured out from it. Animals, demons, and humans—all creatures lay dead on the ground.

In the fourth mural, again featuring the Sky-reaching Tower deep underground, this time the sky crack and black light were completely absent. All those who dwelled underground had come to the desolate surface, singing and dancing in celebration of rebirth.

That was the content of the four murals. In the dusty space between the murals on the ground, some footprints remained. It was unclear when they had been left.

Li Ang rubbed his temples, a headache blooming amidst countless doubts.

The Nine Nether was an utterly barren land, even more desolate than Li Yuan. Likely, only certain extreme ancient microbes could survive there, relying on the dense smoke from underground hot springs. A civilization with cultivators, capable of constructing an underground Sky-reaching Tower, was undoubtedly advanced. Why would they go to the trouble of delving so deep underground to build a temple in the Nine Nether Dark River?

Judging from the content of the murals, it seems like a prophecy from a sage of an ancient civilization, delivered through a sacrificial ceremony, warning of demons spying on the human world. This civilization must have taken the prophecy very seriously. They mobilized the entire nation to dig downwards and build the Sky-reaching Tower. After many years, the prophesied doomsday arrived. While all living beings on the surface were exterminated, the ancient civilization, which had always inhabited the underground, returned to the surface and became the sole survivors...

Li Ang lowered his arm, pondering seriously. A civilization with cultivators, capable of building such a grand temple in the Nine Nether Dark River, might have been ignorant, but they definitely weren’t weak. How much must they have trusted that prophet, how much must they have feared the doomsday prophecy, to exhaust all their strength to hide underground... Could they be the Siyou people?

The Siyou people were an extremely secretive tribe, reputed to live in the underground dark rivers, seldom interacting with the civilizations on the surface.

Besides a few hard-to-verify sightings before the era of the Two Jin dynasties, there were only some fish bones, washed up to the surface rivers and inscribed with obscure text, which might prove their existence.

Previously, when Li Ang was coerced by Ya Jiu into entering the Underground Ghost Market, he had come into indirect contact with the Siyou civilization. At that time, the Shixing Monk had left behind a stone tablet. On it, he proclaimed he had foreseen his imminent ’death trial.’ Thus, using a Pure Thought Sect secret technique, he erased most of his memories, dividing the remainder into three parts. He placed these parts in three different locations for himself to retrieve with the Bitter Realm Lotus once he reawakened.

The locations were written in serpent-shaped Siyou text.

That stone tablet was still hidden by Li Ang in a cave in East Chang’an. Dongjun Tower had too few samples of Siyou text to decode it. Moreover, Li Ang couldn’t approach Dongjun Tower for verification at the time, as it would have attracted trouble. Therefore, he had shelved the stone tablet and not pursued the clues further.

Now, it was known that the Shixing Monk, having lost all memories after his resurrection, had joined Zhao Ming. If they were also tracing the Siyou Clan...

Li Ang stood up from his chair, left the Imperial Medical Bureau, and hurriedly took a carriage to the Academic Palace.

To be safe, it’s best to inform the Mountain Master of this intelligence.

During the bumpy carriage ride, Li Ang took the opportunity to check on the sea eel. Whether out of sheer luck or resilience, the creature had struggled through countless hardships into the Nine Nether. It had discovered the underground temple, gathered intelligence, and then returned upstream along the Dark River. It successfully reached the ’signal’ area, transmitted all the intelligence back, and was still alive, barely clinging to a stalactite column.

Li Ang was greatly touched. He immediately used the coordinates to direct other marine creatures to go and support it, their method of support being to feed themselves to the eel.

As for the eel itself... such an exemplary employee naturally deserved a reward.

Following the principle of ’work them to the bone as long as they don’t die,’ Li Ang decided to allocate more shares of Mo Si to enhance this sea eel, enabling it to return to the Dark River for further exploration.

Excellent young people should indeed face trials.

Before long, Li Ang arrived at the Academic Palace. He did not go to find Xi Yangyu, who was in charge of the Academic Palace with the highest authority, but went directly to Dongjun Tower and met with the Puppet Servant Ati, earnestly saying, "I have important intelligence to report to the Mountain Master, please help me contact him."

The Mountain Master frequently disappeared without trace, sometimes for a few days and sometimes for several months. Including the Sacrificial Officer and Master, no one knew where he went, and there was absolutely no way to contact him.

Ati, who didn’t seem like an ordinary Puppet Servant at all, was the ’person’ most likely to be able to contact the Mountain Master in an emergency.

"No."

Currently pushing a small cart and cleaning Dongjun Tower, Ati glanced at Li Ang calmly and said indifferently, "I don’t have the authority."

It’s a lack of authority, not ability, Li Ang noted. He emphasized his tone, saying earnestly, "It’s really important."

Ati stopped in his tracks, his empty and profound gaze fixated on Li Ang, then suddenly said, "If you can pass the Lion Furnace trial, you might gain the authority."

Trials at such a time?

A muscle twitched at the corner of Li Ang’s eye. The tests he faced were far more rigorous than those typical for an Academic Palace Patrol. He not only had to completely overcome the virtual opponent created by the Lion Furnace—a High-level Cloud Patrol Realm adversary—but also had to remain completely unharmed. Even a minor scratch would be considered a failure.

Seemingly discerning what was on Li Ang’s mind, Ati again pushed his small cart forward along the corridor, saying calmly, "Excellent young people should indeed face trials."