Clues Left Behind by Archimedes Venerable!

The snowy night was long, and the collapsed temple was bathed in a rusty, dark red light.

The broken statue is half-buried in the rubble, and the cracks exude the fishy smell of moss, as if it were the sigh of a lingering deity.

You Su's fingertips traced the remaining cinnabar between the statue's brows, and fragments fell in a flurry, reflecting a faint, blood-red glow in the dim candlelight. The half-face was so badly mutilated that it was impossible to identify who it was.

Whose statue is this?

You Su looked at A Jiu, but A Jiu just shook his head. The statue looked older than him, so how would he know?

You Su had no choice but to look away, and doubts began to grow in her heart.

Temples, like religious sects, are strictly controlled by the sacred mountains in the Five Continents. The highest governing body of the Great God is the Immortal Ancestor Temple, which was established to commemorate and pass on the legacy of the Five Immortal Ancestors.

In the human world, temples are only permitted to be built in very rare circumstances—to commemorate individuals who have made unique contributions.

You Su had visited many cities, but he had never seen a temple built in the city, which shows how high the requirement of "unique" was.

If a temple is built without the approval of the Immortal Ancestor Temple, it is considered an illicit or evil shrine, and anyone who participates in it will be executed and their relatives and friends will be implicated.

Such strict regulations are intended to prevent the proliferation of faith and to prevent evil spirits and Evil God from corrupting humanity through their beliefs. However, some people also believe that this is a means for the Immortal Ancestor Temple to consolidate the orthodox position of the Five Immortal Ancestors in the faith of all people in the Five Continents, so that they can always sit firmly at the top of the Five Continents.

In short, building a temple is no easy feat, which made You Su even more curious about the owner of the statue.

A Ying raised her hand tremblingly, like a cautious student in a classroom pleading for permission to speak.

You Su turned to the side, trying to soften her voice, "You know?"

A Ying nodded. "It is... the statue of Ganlong Venerable."

As soon as he finished speaking, You Su raised an eyebrow, completely surprised that the great man whose image was being commemorated was actually Ganlong Venerable. At the same time, Bai Ze's pupils also contracted slightly without anyone noticing.

The two of them turned their gaze to the half-broken statue, and to their surprise, once they realized it was the Ganlong Venerable, they could actually see some similarities.

"How do you know she is Ganlong Venerable?" You Su asked again.

"It was Mother who said it..." A Ying couldn't hold back her tears again when she thought of her mother, who had already perished in the evil mouth. "Mother said that this statue existed before she was born. She said that it was only because of the appearance of the Ganlong Venerable that our Northern Ao Continent had a city that could shelter us from the wind and snow, so the city lord of Changshan City personally built this temple for her..."

"Why haven't I heard Mother mention this before?" A Jiu asked in confusion.

A Ying forced a smile, "Brother doesn't believe it even more than Mother does. Even if Mother told you, you wouldn't remember."

Upon hearing this, You Su frowned. It was already shocking enough that a mere mortal girl knew the name of someone who was almost the most powerful being in a continent, but what shocked him even more was the extent of the Ganlong Venerable's narcissism.

Based on the information he knew, this Ganlong Venerable was a celestial official of the Immortal Ancestor Temple, and certainly one of the highest-ranking and most powerful. Therefore, the petition to build a temple for her would surely have reached her. Even if she considered herself to have great achievements, she wouldn't agree to build a temple for herself, would she?

After all, building a temple is not a casual matter. Even if it were to be built, shouldn't it have been done after her abdication, with the approval of her successors in remembrance of her contributions?

"What's on your mind, brother?" Bai Ze leaned closer, his eyes filled with curiosity.

"I'm wondering what kind of person this Ganlong Venerable really is."

"What kind?" Bai Ze asked again.

"Two possibilities," You Su straightened his clothes, "Either a shameless person or an ignorant person."

A Jiu and A Ying were both stunned when they heard You Su's evaluation. They looked at each other, seemingly unable to believe that the brother who saved them dared to curse even the gods in the temple.

Why do you say that?

You Su failed to detect the concern in the girl's tone, only perceiving her as curiosity. "If she voluntarily agreed to build a statue and temple for herself, as if afraid others wouldn't know she made a contribution, yet failed to provide the proper protection to those who come to offer incense, that's shameless; if she was kept in the dark for decades, unaware that anyone had built a temple based on her, then it shows that her so-called compassion for the people is fake, that she has never seen the world, that's ignorance."

Such an assessment is certainly somewhat rigid and arbitrary, but when faced with an enemy who wants to take one's life, who can resist being a little harsh? You Su is not a perfect person, so why should he pretend to be a rational person in front of Bai Ze, who shares his hatred for the enemy?

"Yes... she built a temple here for people to worship, but look at how dilapidated it is all around, which means hardly anyone comes to worship her anymore. She's not even as good as me, this little mountain god!"

Bai Ze snorted and flattered himself, almost belittling the Ganlong Venerable to nothing.

You Su smiled at her, "At least you've genuinely protected quite a few people who have trained in the North Pole Snowfield, you're much better than her."

When Bai Ze heard You Su praise her, she quickly moved even closer. Normally, she would have rubbed her little head against You Su's arm, but this time, she seemed to stop there and didn't do anything more intimate.

You Su was secretly surprised, but it also saved him the trouble of explaining himself in front of outsiders.

The brother and sister sitting to the side overheard the entire conversation; they couldn't even imagine what kind of deity they had encountered.

The cold wind blew open the leaky window, and the candle on the offering table went out abruptly. A Jiu quickly got up and used straw rope to tie up the leaky window frame.

You Su pondered to himself that this temple Ganlong Venerable was indeed dilapidated over the years, so what was the significance of this temple?

He suddenly felt something was amiss. Since the city lord had initiated the construction of this temple, it meant he held Ganlong Venerable in the utmost respect. Even if the people didn't believe in it, why was he so indifferent?

You Su seemed to have grasped something, and then turned to ask A Jiu A Ying about this Evil Tide.

They told them that the Evil Tide had suddenly broken out two days ago, and no one knew where it came from. Northern Ao Continent was covered in ice and snow, and the probability of evil spirits causing trouble was the lowest among the five continents. Such a large-scale Evil Tide directly overwhelmed the defenses of Changshan City had only been built recently, and the slaughter spread throughout the entire city. They wanted to escape, but they didn't know where to go.

Having also experienced the Evil Tide in Chuyun City, You Su, drawing on his experience, asked, "While you were in this city, did you notice any unusual phenomena recently? Such as dense fog or the snow changing color?"

But neither of them gave him the answer he wanted; A Jiu and A Ying shook their heads together.

A Jiu whispered, "We were just going about our lives as usual, not noticing anything unusual, and then suddenly we heard screams and roars coming from the street. At first, we didn't even know what was happening, we just ran with everyone else... but no one could escape..."

"You don't even know what happened?" You Su frowned. "Does Changshan City not have any cultivators? Even if the source of this Evil Tide is inside the city, even if these cultivators can't hold it off for long, there should be cultivators to spread the news of the evil invasion."

A Jiu and her sister exchanged a glance. Based on their understanding, they didn't seem to find anything wrong with this. After all, cultivators had a very small presence in their lives; they only knew that they were immortals who were not to be trifled with.

You Su, of course, wanted to think more deeply. There were only two possibilities for this situation: one was that the entire army of cultivators from Changshan City launched an attack and was wiped out, and the other was that there were indeed no cultivators in Changshan City —because they had all fled before the evil spirits invaded!

The former possibility is too small. Even the Great Demon of Chuyun City, Great Fog Ghost, couldn't wipe out an entire city's cultivators in an instant without them even having a chance to react. If such a powerful evil spirit were to appear, it would likely be a calamity that threatens the safety of the entire continent.

The latter idea was too dark for him to imagine; he dared not think of why a cultivator would deliberately abandon the people of a city. You Su really didn't want to make a conclusion, so he didn't voice his guess.

"There are no strange things, but I have seen a strange person." Seeing that You Su was deep in thought again, and not wanting to be a useless child, A Jiu racked his brains to dig out information that might be useful to the immortal in front of him.

"What strange person?" You Su's interest was indeed piqued.

"A Daoist priest dressed in flamboyant clothes set up seven riddles under an old tree in the south of the city, saying that whoever solved them all would receive a hundred taels of silver. At first, we thought he was a charlatan, but we never expected him to be a truly kind person!"

As soon as he finished speaking, You Su suddenly opened his eyes. He glanced at Bai Ze instinctively, only to see that the girl was also looking at him in surprise.

Because they knew better than anyone else that in this black, white, and gray Northern Ao Continent, there was only one Daoist priest dressed in a gaudy manner, and that was Archimedes Venerable!

Seeing that her information had truly helped these two immortals, A Jiu became interested and proudly looked at her younger sister, saying:

"My younger sister also solved one of the Daoist priest's riddles, but unfortunately we arrived too late. He said he had already given out all his money and asked if we could owe him some. Of course I refused, but my sister saw that he was kind and had given money to so many people, so she agreed. He said my sister had wisdom, and then he said..."

"What did you say?" You Su hurriedly asked.

A Jiu scratched his head, then gave his sister a somewhat embarrassed wink.

A Ying understood immediately, knowing that her brother had forgotten the Flower Daoist's flowery words, so she continued the conversation:

He said, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime," and then gave me a booklet, saying it was a reward many times more valuable than a hundred taels of silver. He said that if I understood the contents of this booklet, even the city lord would have to treat us with utmost respect.

You Su felt a chill run down her spine. "What booklet is it? What's written in it?"

"It was probably... an account book." A Ying tried to recall, then said apologetically, "I don't know many characters, and I have to help my mother with chores during the day, so I didn't really understand the book. I really don't remember what was written in it..."

"Little sister, you're already the most literate person in our family," her A Jiu encouraged her.

You Su smiled at A Ying in affirmation before falling into her own thoughts.

Based on the statement that "the city lord must treat us with utmost respect," You Su could easily deduce that this ledger was Changshan City's tax ledger! Therefore, as long as this ledger was understood, it would reveal where Changshan City had manipulated things, which was indeed a reward many times more valuable than a hundred taels of silver!

Account books, account books, it's account books again!

The Archimedes Venerable got involved in someone's conspiracy under the guise of checking accounts, which is why he angered that group of people!

For some reason, You Su kept recalling the scene on the snowy plains at the foot of the sacred mountain when he had a hasty farewell with the Archimedes Venerable, and how that frivolous Flower Daoist had given him a meaningful smile.

Having survived a near-death experience at sea for so long, he had no time to concern himself with the matter of the Archimedes Venerable. But now, having just escaped the sea, he has encountered the little girl who once gave him the account book, thus becoming entangled with him once again.

You Su suddenly had a strong intuition that the account books of Changshan City were probably not so simple.

It's already somewhat illogical for a high-ranking monk to give the account books of an entire city as a gift to a kind-hearted girl...

Suddenly, You Su sat bolt upright! He realized that the eccentric appearance of that Flower Daoist had almost made everyone forget that he was the leading figure in the Arithmancy in the Northern Ao Continent!

He had long anticipated that this ledger would come in handy today!

You Su unconsciously clenched his fists, feeling both a chill run down his spine and a sense that he truly lived up to his reputation as a math Olympiad expert.

Where did you put that booklet?

A Ying was startled by You Su's sudden movement of standing up, and murmured, "It's... it's under my mattress..."

"Take me to them, I will protect you."

You Su carefully fastened the Ink Pine Sword to his waist, and seeing A Jiu's hesitant expression, continued gently:

"The safety here isn't due to the protection of the statues, but because the area is so sparsely populated that most evil spirits haven't been attracted here yet. But this isn't a place to stay for long. Take me to the ledgers, and I'll take you away from here!"

Upon hearing this, A Jiu clenched his fist. He knew You Su was right, so he had no choice.

"Good!"

The north wind, carrying snowflakes, crashed against the broken window frames, and the tung oil lamp in the accounting office flickered in You Su's palm.

He flicked his fingers to wipe the dust off the sheepskin ledger cover, and in the dim light, he saw a nine-square grid diagram outlined in vermilion on the title page—the very mark of the Archimedes Venerable.

A Jiu brought the tinderbox closer, You Su straightened her back.

Bai Ze tiptoed and perched on You Su's shoulder, her nose almost touching the yellowed pages. Her twin ponytails brushed against the young man's neck, carrying the lingering scent of cedarwood from the Xuan Ye Pool: "These tadpole-like runes, are they the ledgers of the mortal world?"

Before You Su could answer her, his fingertip paused on the vermilion annotation on the last page. The ink was sharp as a knife, penetrating the paper—" In the May Day year of the Divine Mountain Calendar, on the day of Frost's Descent, the vegetable garden outside the city cost 73,000 taels of silver, which should have yielded 9,000 shi of spiritual grain. However, this year's yield was only a little over 100 shi."

Ice crystals meandered along the window frame, making the frost between his brows appear even more pronounced. Dark brown fingerprints remained on the edges of the account book, as if someone had pinched their palm raw while flipping through it.

The teahouses in Shuo City are at the heart of the tax issue, while Changshan City is merely a vegetable garden.

You Su found it hard to imagine that a vegetable garden could cost 73,000 taels of silver. This vegetable garden was definitely suspicious!