Queqian Meter

[Your attention caused a certain possibility for a Recorder to veer off course. You obtained Soul Essence: Knock.]

[Name, memories, the parts that remain.]

[You successfully collected one [Fragment of Inside and Outside]!]

The sudden notification caught Ye Yan off guard.

He had been preparing to go out and mail a letter. He hadn't even stepped out of his room, yet for some reason, he had unexpectedly received a reward from the notification.

At the same time,

a cool sensation spread from his temples, as though someone had lit a bright lamp in his mind.

The books he'd read in his previous life came back to him with crystal clarity.

The things he'd once read but long since forgotten now stirred in the depths of his memory as if by magic, every word as clear as if he'd read them only yesterday.

He no longer had to worry about forgetting his past memories!

This was an unexpected delight.

Ye Yan happily sensed the Compass and saw that the third silver thread, the one pointing toward "home," was glowing faintly. Through his perception, he also understood who the thread came from.

"Does Recorder mean Joseph Darmans?"

He lowered his head and stared at the letter in his hand, which he hadn't yet sent, lost in thought.

So,

someone had done something to Joseph Darmans in his name, and in doing so had affected his future?

Who?

Was it Uncle Jules?

But Uncle Jules had been out on assignments lately. How would he have had time to go to France and meet Joseph?

Unable to make heads or tails of it, Ye Yan gave up trying to figure it out.

He opened the already sealed letter, added a brief greeting about how things had been going, and tactfully asked whether anyone claiming to be his friend had come by for a visit.

After mailing the letter, he went to Baker Street.

The Bookhouse was almost finished being renovated. Ye Yan went into the storage room downstairs and used his key to open the door once more.

The statue-lined road was as quiet as ever.

As he approached the Door of Guidance, the revised manuscript stored in his Consciousness Space flew out on its own.

[Sherlock Holmes Casebook]

[Category: First-Order Book (Incomplete)]

["My friend is as cold and emotionless as a machine during an investigation, but he is undoubtedly the finest detective, for I have never met anyone wiser than he."—The Doctor]

[Aspects: Lamp, Guidance]

Ye Yan used one naming privilege on the manuscript Dr. Watson had given him, successfully deriving a book from it.

It was worth noting that this Sherlock Holmes Casebook differed from the original. It no longer began with A Study in Scarlet; instead, The Seal of the Four-Colored Horse became Holmes's first case.

It was essentially a fantasy version of the Sherlock Holmes Casebook.

Besides "Guidance," the book's Aspect also had a new Principle: Lamp.

Like the previously encountered Principles of "Guidance" and "Forging," Lamp was also one of the Principles.

This Principle held many layers of meaning. It encompassed the transcendent "indifference," the "rationality" of logical thought, the insatiable "thirst for knowledge," the "radiance" that shone upon all things, and the "enlightenment" that awakened wisdom.

Furthermore, this Principle was closely tied to foreseeing the future and divining the will of heaven.

It made Ye Yan think of the Sanctum's "Radiance."

It seemed the Church followed the path of the "Lamp" Principle, though it used a different name for it.

[Welcome back, Administrator.]

As the brass bell above the doorway rang out sweetly, Sam and Sara's greetings surfaced leisurely in Ye Yan's mind.

[You've brought another interesting book this time. Would you like to present it to the Tree of Wisdom in exchange for knowledge?]

"Yes."

Ye Yan answered.

[Then please close your eyes and listen.]

Ye Yan gently closed his eyes, and the world before him sank into endless darkness.

In the darkness, seven lamps lit up one after another.

He saw the first pass through the Gate of Light and burn through the night; the second quietly disappeared beyond the gate.

Two stood watch in silence, like eternal sentinels;

another two slowly dissolved into the gloom.

And the last, the seventh—

it flickered in and out of sight, seeming to exist and yet not.

Suddenly,

the recitation of a prayer-poem rang in his ears.

At times, it murmured confessions; at others, it sang grand hymns. The poem contradicted itself and rambled incoherently, like a delirious scribble written in haste.

Amid the jumbled sounds, Ye Yan caught a curious rhythm.

Nine methods, nine ways of seeing.

They were the verbal keys to opening the many paths.

Queqian Meter.

Ye Yan's eyelashes fluttered. Then he suddenly opened his eyes, a delighted look on his face.

[Did you receive satisfying knowledge this time?]

"Yes. I learned Queqian Meter, a curious rhythm used to open doors."

Ye Yan's voice brimmed with excitement.

"Next time I search for a door, I won't have to clumsily probe for it with the Shell-Opening Blade. I only need to use Queqian Meter, and the hidden portals will become clear."

"And..."

He paused, his eyes alight with anticipation, and took the Shell-Opening Blade from his Consciousness Space.

"Solid things always have flaws."

Ye Yan recited the Shell-Opening Blade's door-opening incantation, but this time he wove the newly learned Queqian Meter into his voice.

The stiff incantation transformed into an ethereal melody, like a songstress singing through a thin veil or a spring breeze brushing one's cheek in a dream.

You could feel its gentle touch, but upon waking, you'd forget it entirely.

Anyone listening would find they hadn't managed to remember even a single complete word of the incantation. Only a faint, elusive echo lingered in their ears.

As the final syllable faded into the air, familiar purple ripples spread outward.

Wave after wave shimmered through the void.

But unlike when he'd opened a door before, no doorway appeared in the center of the ripples this time.

Ye Yan snapped his wrist, sending the Shell-Opening Blade straight toward the rippling space. The instant its tip touched the ripples, it sank in without the slightest resistance, as though piercing tofu.

The air twisted faintly.

Like a ghost appearing, the Shell-Opening Blade suddenly reemerged less than a meter in front of Ye Yan.

It traced a sharp arc of silver through the air, then, like a boomerang pulled by invisible strings, landed neatly in Ye Yan's already outstretched palm.

"Just as I thought."

Ye Yan looked at the Shell-Opening Blade in his hand with a smile. "I can control exactly where the door opens now."

The reason the Shell-Opening Blade demanded such a heavy price to use was its unpredictability. Anyone without a matching ability who tried to wield it rashly would not only fail to achieve the desired effect but also suffer a backlash.

"But things are different now."

Ye Yan's mind was already turning over how to combine Queqian Meter with the Shell-Opening Blade to kill his enemies.

"With the Luck Compass to guide me, and now that I've mastered Queqian Meter, I can send the Shell-Opening Blade across the threshold of a door without sacrificing my lifespan."

[Congratulations, Administrator. You've learned one of the most important techniques of Illumination Art. Perhaps after presenting knowledge one or two more times, you'll be able to learn a Great Art.]

"I hope so too." Ye Yan sighed softly. "But this world's secret knowledge is far too scarce..."

He suddenly thought of the New Continent in this world.

Perhaps the ruins there still held what he was searching for, but with the Diary in hand, he had no need to risk exploring those dangerous islands.

Still...

once he was well prepared, he could go and investigate.

Ye Yan's intuition told him that the New Continent concealed one of this world's deepest secrets.