A Demon's Message

Huaisu's Father entered the room and sat down in a chair soft as cotton.

The room was extraordinarily bright. Beyond its transparent walls, deep blue seawater brimmed; the room itself was hemispherical, like a pearl in the depths of the sea. Huaisu's Father lowered his eyes and coughed several times. The back of his paper fan was stained a shocking crimson.

"Ji Qiufeng, are you insane?! Your body's already this bad, and you still dared to use the Heavenly Eye? Aren't you afraid you'll stare yourself to death?!"

With a faint rustling, a little white snake crawled out from the corner. From its mouth came a rapid, urgent female voice, just like that of a young housewife worried sick. Ji Qiufeng raised his hands in surrender, and the white snake viciously coiled around them, hissing at him.

"I didn't move my blood and qi. I only opened my eyes a little." Ji Qiufeng gestured. "At most, I let out a thread of spirit."

The white snake froze. "A thread of spirit was enough for him to see the Path of Ascension?"

"Terrifying, isn't it?" Ji Qiufeng smiled. "Before entering the sect, we had to cultivate at the foot of the mountain for three years. For those three years, we practiced martial arts and recited scriptures day and night before we were qualified to receive our master's guidance without collapsing. But that child doesn't even need my guidance. With a single glance, he can unearth mysteries from aura."

The white snake muttered softly, "He's practically just like Huaisu..."

"Talent that is too great is a curse." Ji Qiufeng shook his head. "People like that are destined never to live ordinary lives. Their lives will inevitably become entangled with the Tide. His homeland, Dust Island, is a place that won't even reveal its routes. Yet despite guarding itself so tightly, it was still dragged into the Tide by a summoning accident. That can only be called fate."

"Fate, huh? Don't you usually not believe in fate?" the little snake sneered.

"Ever since the day I picked up Huaisu, I've started to believe in it a little." Ji Qiufeng gazed at the seawater beyond the wall. "I've been thinking about that book that caused him to appear..."

"How impressive that you still remember." The little snake bumped its head against his again and again. "It's been two days, and you still haven't burned that book. I'm starting to think you've been infected by some heterodox path."

"You once told me that this sort of mystical nonsense often only works in the hands of its 'original owner.'" Ji Qiufeng looked thoughtful. "Let's wait and see whether there's a surprise. We can also find out what kind of person this child is... The situation is bad right now. We may even have to borrow the tentacles of outsiders."

"Rotten joke. No taste at all." The little snake turned away. "I'm going swimming. Don't go and work yourself to death."

After the little snake left, the light in the room vanished. Countless transparent eyes opened in the blue water beyond the walls.

They were phantoms of Imaginary Demons—not merely a few, but as numerous as a school of fish. They stretched their tentacles wantonly, pressing close against the transparent walls with the persistence of sharks that had scented blood. Behind the dancing phantoms of demons, huge, murky rainbow light spread soundlessly. Some filthy existence was stirring restlessly.

"Go on, go." Ji Qiufeng waved his hand as if shooing flies. The phantoms beyond the wall shrank back. It seemed even demons could feel fear.

At that moment, clear white light rippled through the water. A long dragon soared upward, gave a high cry, and plunged into the sea. Its cry blew the phantoms apart like bubbles, and its arrival restored clarity to the water. Yet something in the distance that coveted the city remained utterly unharmed, merely retreating for the moment.

Ji Qiufeng sank into the soft chair and slowly exhaled. Threads of blood seeped from between his lips again.

The little snake worried too much. He would not die, and he could not die. This precarious city hung upon his life. The day the city lord closed his eyes would be the day Dragon's Return City was destroyed.

Chu Hengkong returned to his room in a near daze. Ji Huaishu and Jie An had said something to him with concern earlier, but he had not heard it clearly. His thoughts were filled with bizarre and magnificent images—those fantastical worlds, those powerful and mysterious creatures. They lingered in his mind like an unquenchable storm, making him want to roar.

He had to get it out, pry the information from his mind, or he would be unable to think normally at all. By the time he came back to himself, Chu Hengkong had already grasped a pen and was splashing ink across the blank pages of the Silver-Eyed Tome. First came several round "points," then straight "lines" connected them. Highly abstract outlines emerged beside the points. There were three routes linking the points, three separate main trunks converging at one place at the very top. When he stopped writing, the structure had become complete. The nodes strung together by the lines resembled the branches and leaves of some enormous tree, and also a long stairway leading to heaven.

The Path of Ascension.

Chu Hengkong set down his pen and lay on the bed. The wild winds in his mind receded at that moment, and even the hallucinatory images grew faint, vanishing without a trace between breaths. It was as though everything he had seen had poured out with the ink, becoming an abstract "road" on the page. What Mr. Ji had said was true. After experiencing it firsthand, no one could possibly doubt it any longer. That miraculous path truly existed, and it was even lying at his side.

But drawing the path was useless. He did not understand what he had drawn, much less could he know how to enter it. He needed to be taught, to learn, to explore—like a child studying a textbook, like an apprentice practicing horse stance and post standing...

An apprentice...

Chu Hengkong felt a sense of disparity. All his life, he had faced existence in the posture of a strong man. He did not fear challenges, nor did he worry about a way forward. He had martial skill and strength. Even in the shadows where violence and gunfire intertwined, he had been a strong man capable of grasping his own fate. But everything had changed after crossing over. Here, he was no longer that invincible assassin. His strength was not even equal to that of a young girl.

He let himself sink into that sense of disparity for half a minute, then asked himself: So what?

It was nothing more than walking the road to strength once again.

His fighting spirit burned the sense of disparity dry, and battle intent and curiosity surged into his heart. Chu Hengkong rolled over and sat up, full of vigor. He had to grow stronger as quickly as possible. Even in this mere Dragon's Return City, there was no shortage of wanted criminals at node 1. The danger of the world beyond the city could easily be imagined. If he lacked even basic strength, what life and freedom could he speak of in the future?

His most urgent task was to obtain detailed information on the "Path of Ascension," preferably techniques for entering it. Asking those demon-possessed people would probably be useless. Even if he tortured knowledge out of them, it would most likely be some "crooked path" that drove people mad. Huaisu's Father, who had shown a willingness to teach him, was currently the most reliable route. He had said plainly before leaving that if Chu Hengkong wanted to enter the path, he needed achievements... He had to take down as many targets as possible, but wanted criminals would not walk into his net on their own...

Besides achievements, the other side would probably value his attitude as well. Should he hand over the Silver-Eyed Book to show his willingness to cooperate... But this thing could at least still serve as a can opener. Without it, he would only have three pitiful Relics left... And he had not yet had time to appraise that sticker today...

Chu Hengkong felt a little helpless. He had never been someone good at schemes and planning. He casually opened the Silver-Eyed Tome, intending to imitate clever people by writing notes to organize his thoughts.

The tome opened, and Chu Hengkong's gaze froze on one spot. He clearly remembered that the book had contained nothing but its inner pages, but this time, as he flipped through it, he saw unfamiliar words.

The eerily appearing text was printed on the blank page holding the "bookmark." The silver lettering was elegant and slender, yet the format was especially familiar:

[Sticker-Type Basic Relic—Water Bullet]

[Rating: Bottom Tier]

[Origin: Myriad Secret Realm—Dragon's Return City]

[Effect: After being shaken, can produce a Water Bullet. Its hardness depends on the intensity of one's emotions.]

[Remembrance: An outsider who had fallen into madness looted the workshops and encountered a demon called "Self-Deception." The madness that drew the demon came from the truth he heard in Jade Marsh.]

"..."

Chu Hengkong began to ponder. Even as an outsider who had only just arrived, he could tell that this was an appraisal entry for a Relic. Compared to Mrs. Ansa's simple explanation, this book's appraisal had added the categories "Origin" and "Remembrance." The Myriad Secret Realm appeared to be the region where Dragon's Return City was located, while Remembrance seemed to be the original owner's experiences.

He picked up the sticker and gave it a shake. A transparent "pebble" appeared before the blue sticker—it was precisely the Water Bullet described.

There seemed to be no issue with the effect. As for the rest...

He would know if he tried it.

Chu Hengkong turned to the next page and placed the Charge Bracelet on the blank sheet. This time, he saw with his own eyes silver liquid seeping from the page and forming fresh writing. At that very moment, a dry sensation came from his tentacle. As more characters appeared, the mucus at its tip somehow diminished.

...Could this tentacle be a "pen" meant for writing?!

Chu Hengkong's expression turned strange. He did his best to restrain his wild imaginings. By then, the new appraisal entry had fully formed.

[Bracelet-Type Basic Relic—Charge]

...

[Origin: Asura Island—Thousand-Day City]

[Remembrance: Hugos was the host of the demon "Impatience." He was in a hurry to collect the bracelet needed for his mission, yet forgot to read the workshop master's appraisal entry.]

The original content was identical to Mrs. Ansa's appraisal, while the new categories provided more interesting information. Hugos had come to cause trouble with a mission, and he could not use the bracelet because of the influence of the Impatience demon... He was a living, breathing fool to be discarded after use. No wonder the "workshop master" had given him only one Relic.

Chu Hengkong examined the page and the bracelet. He could not be bothered to consider the principles behind the appraisal—there were already far too many absurd things in this world—and instead pondered how to use it.

First, he would no longer need to make special trips to workshops for appraisals. Second, if the Silver-Eyed Book's appraisals were true, then he could obtain "information" about a Relic's former owner. Intelligence was always valuable. These Remembrances provided the former owners' reasons for acting and certain unknown interpersonal connections. Now that he needed to capture wanted criminals, how should he use this book...

Chu Hengkong stared at the silver eye on the cover for several seconds, then a smile appeared on his lips. He had thought of an excellent idea.

The next morning.

"Captain Huaisu, are there many unsolved suspicious cases in Dragon's Return City?"

"Obviously. Every city has piles of that kind of rotten backlog... Why are you asking?"

The assassin tucked the tome beneath his arm and smiled as brightly as sunshine. "I want to see the Resurrection Corps' evidence vault."