"A thief?"
Kossasis stood tall and said loudly, "Rest assured, my lord. We will maintain strict vigilance and never let him steal our books. As soon as the thief appears, I'll cut off his head and hang it from my spear to make salted jerky!"
"Heh heh, no need to be so tense."
The Shadow Baron smiled. "Later, tell Sha Lin that this thief is still useful. It doesn't matter if he steals the books. But there is one book—I don't know whether this settlement has it... Go look for it and destroy it beforehand."
"Which book?" Kossasis asked.
"Dark Moon Era. It's a rather uncommon book, so go look for it. If it is here, make sure to destroy it. Do you understand?"
"Yes!"
"Alright, you may leave. This projection has consumed a great deal of magic power. It is time to end it." The Shadow Baron's projection vanished.
Kossasis turned and left. Exiting the assembly hall, he followed the underground corridor toward the archive.
"Quick, Dark Moon Era!"
Bai Pu urged him from within the Source Lord's Descent space. "That book must be the codebook for deciphering the Cipher Bottle! Find it!"
"Master, the Cipher Bottle has already been taken by Lady Rixi. We don't have that string of numbers now..."
"Stop talking nonsense. I memorized the numbers long ago. Go to the archive now. Once you find the book, we'll begin deciphering it immediately."
"Yes, Master."
However, when Kossasis reached a corner in the corridor, he ran into several Naga coming from the opposite direction.
The Naga walking at the front was covered in dark teal scales, sharply contrasting with the blackish-gray scales of the other two Rotten Scale Naga.
The three Naga carried themselves very differently from ordinary Naga. The two Rotten Scale Naga behind him,