Darkhold

"This house... is a little strange!"

They entered the house and went down to the basement.

The first thing Old Wang saw was a poster.

It was a Ghost Rider poster—Johnny Blaze on a motorcycle, Blaze himself, Robbie's predecessor.

He was the one who passed the Spirit of Vengeance on to Robbie. (According to Marvel's official explanation.)

A shield hung not far away.

Captain America's shield. A replica, made of aluminum alloy.

"Looks like the owner of this house was connected to Ghost Rider and was also a Captain America fan?" Old Wang nodded.

Everyone in the United States was a fan of the Captain, even Egghead and Robbie.

The Darkhold had actually been hidden here. The owner of the house had most likely stashed it away.

Now that was interesting.

Could the Darkhold be connected to Blaze?

Or rather, to the Spirit of Vengeance?

Hmm. He would have to find a chance to ask the Spirit of Vengeance—though there was no telling whether it would be willing to talk...

"We found it here."

Lucy floated to the middle of the house. Seeing the disturbed earth on the floor, her expression became complicated. "Joseph really came here..."

She was a little sad.

Joseph was her husband, and they had once been very close.

But after he obtained the Darkhold, things had changed. Joseph no longer touched her, and he would not let her touch the Darkhold either.

It was as though the Darkhold were his wife!

Could it sleep with you? Could it screw you out in the wild?

Lucy looked at Old Wang with eyes full of resentment.

Old Wang ignored her.

He extended his left hand, pressed downward, then clenched it.

Dust rose into the air.

A cloth bundle flew into his hand.

He opened it to find a book.

It was very thick, about as thick as an Oxford Dictionary.

Its cover was black, surrounded by unknown runes, with a line of words on it.

Darkhold.

"This book... has incredibly powerful magical energy!"

Ordinary people could not tell, but Old Wang could.

He could sense that extremely powerful magic had been sealed inside the book—at least on the level of the Darkhold Chronicles, perhaps even stronger. Of course, it was still inferior to the Book of Medivh he had snatched from Kel'Thuzad.

The Darkhold had quite an impressive origin.

This book was believed to be the source of all dark magic and recorded many immensely powerful spells.

It was said that billions of years ago, an Old God named Chthon had been hunted down and fled to another dimension. Before escaping, he wrote down all his evil deeds and spells on indestructible parchment, which was called a confession edict... No, the Scrolls of Chthon.

Those parchments were later bound together into a volume and became the Darkhold.

But clearly, this book was not made of parchment and had nothing to do with the Scrolls of Chthon. Its value was certainly nowhere near that of the Scrolls of Chthon, and there was no way to know whether the knowledge recorded inside was even complete.

That was the difference between a pirated copy and the original.

No one knew who had created this book. That person—or thing—was probably somewhere between Reginald Winter and Medivh in strength.

That range seemed a little broad...

Every page in the book was protected by magic, making it difficult to destroy.

More importantly, that magic could influence people, corrupt them, and make them desperately want to possess it. They would be too busy protecting it to even consider destroying it.

Just look at the people around him.

Not to mention Lucy and the other newly dead ghosts. They were like horny bastards who had been locked up for decades; upon seeing the Darkhold, they looked as though they had spotted peerless beauties. If they had been able to beat him, they would have pounced on it already.

This was Skye's first time seeing the Darkhold, so she was not affected much, but her eyes were still fixed on it, unwilling to look away.

Robbie showed little reaction. It was not because he was that impressive, but because the Spirit of Vengeance inside him was. It was not afraid of the book, though it did not like it either.

Having finally escaped the Dark Dimension, the Spirit of Vengeance hated every person and thing related to darkness to the extreme—except itself, of course.

Old Wang needed even less explanation.

Putting aside the fact that Pandaren were cheerful and optimistic by nature, with strong resistance to corrupting influences of the mind and spirit...

Old Wang had personally destroyed Pandaria's seven sha demons. He had personally destroyed the heart of the Old God Y'Shaarj. He had killed enough Dreadlords, experts at bewitching people's hearts, to make up an entire platoon. Why the hell would he fear a mere spellbook?

He opened it directly.

The pages were blank.

"A wordless celestial tome?"

Having read quite a few xianxia and fantasy novels lately under Old Wang's influence, Skye immediately thought of a familiar trope. "Only those destined for it can see the words?"

This book is destined for me... Old Wang placed his hand on it.

Beautiful Chinese characters appeared. They were neither Song font nor Huawen Xingkai, but the Jing Lei font that had been popular before his first transmigration and that Old Wang rather liked...

Yes, Chinese characters.

This was also one of the book's permanent enchantments. It allowed the book to peer into the user's thoughts, somewhat like a priest's Mind Steal, and display its contents in the reader's native language.

If Robbie were reading it, it would be authentic American English.

"Pretty smart."

Old Wang smiled and casually skimmed a few lines.

Then he decisively gave up.

He recognized every character. He even recognized most of the mathematical symbols. But once they were put together, he could not understand any of it.

Forget him—even if they summoned the greatest scientists in the world, like Tony Stark, Hank Pym, Bruce Banner, and Princess Shuri, they would not be able to make sense of even...

A small portion of it within a few years.

The only ones truly capable of reading it were either the major bosses of the Dark Dimension, such as Dormammu, the Spirit of Vengeance, and Mephisto, or the greatest mages in the universe, such as the Ancient One.

It was a spellbook, after all!

Science and magic might be connected, but low technology and high magic were not.

Earth's scientific level was still somewhat lacking.

Old Wang did not care.

Whether he could understand it was not important.

Lucy and the others had studied it for who knew how many years. They could certainly understand part of it, and that was enough.

As for now?

The Darkhold suddenly vanished, entering the Heart of Azeroth and appearing before the young lady.

Some unknown secret location.

Daniel Whitehall was holding a meeting. He tapped the table. "We must get Box 084. What was taken from my hands must be taken back!"

No one else dared speak.

After their leader replaced his heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys with those of that female Inhuman, he had become younger—but also gloomier and more terrifying than before.

They wanted Box 084 too, but how could it be that easy?

Even their undercover senior agents within S.H.I.E.L.D. could not get near it. That thing was heavily guarded, and only someone with Level 10 clearance could access it.

At present, the only person in S.H.I.E.L.D. with Level 10 clearance was Director Fury...

A phone rang.

Whitehall glanced at his phone and frowned.

Why would The Clairvoyant risk calling him?

The Clairvoyant had only just managed to reach Level 8 clearance. His identity was extremely, extremely important. Did he want to expose himself?

"Hello."

Whitehall waved his hand. Everyone shouted, "Hail Hydra," and left. Only then did he answer the call.

A deep voice spoke.

"Whitehall, let's make a deal."

"The Darkhold has appeared!"