Dark Undercurrents

The weather was clear as a figure in a green robe approached a wall.

With a devout expression, he took a Jade Pendant from his robes and swept it across the wall.

A doorway slowly opened in the wall. He put away the Jade Pendant and stepped inside.

It was a hidden passage, with a door on either side. He gently pushed open the one on the left.

Inside stood an Altar, upon which rested a Candle giving off a peculiar fragrance. Beside it lay a Gold Soul Coin wreathed in the scent of liquor.

Mokai closed his eyes and knelt before the Altar, clasping his hands at his chest as he prayed devoutly.

This was his daily prayer.

Just when he thought there would be no response again, a murmuring suddenly sounded beside his ears. It felt as though countless people were whispering around him.

But he could not understand what those voices meant. They continued tormenting him until the murmurs finally turned into the rustling of leaves.

Mokai collapsed to the ground. A pattern on his arm shone through his clothes with a purplish-red glow.

When he woke up, a sensation surfaced in his mind: a vague outline, a distinctive scent, and more.

There was also a revelation among them.

"Find him."

Mokai muttered to himself. Just as a baffled expression appeared on his face, everything dissolved into bubbles.

At the same time, an image emerged. It was a towering tree, its surface covered in flowers, fruits, and all sorts of strange things.

But most eye-catching were the two human heads at the top of the tree, one above the other.

Then the image shattered.

"Ah!"

An Chen abruptly opened his eyes. He felt as though his head had been pierced by a massive branch. His blood churned, and a seed had appeared in his heart, bursting with greed, lust, and countless other desires.

An Chen gasped for breath, his body trembling uncontrollably.

The Babble by his ears continued, magnifying his irritation to its peak. He shook his head hard, trying to fling it away.

An Chen took a deep breath and struggled to suppress the restlessness within him.

What the hell was that thing?

An Chen recalled the final sight from that image.

A tree?

After a while, Mokai's lifeless corpse came into view.

His eye sockets were no longer empty. Two barbed branches had pierced straight through them, their roots gripping his skull like claws.

His mouth hung wide open, his jaw completely dislocated. It was crammed full of slimy, tentacle-like Sea Rattan.

A stench mixed with blood and rotting fishy odor rushed into An Chen's nostrils.

An Chen frowned deeply and casually punctured an Air Wall beside the corpse. A breeze swept through, carrying away some of the foul smell.

He looked around and found the courtyard in complete disarray, with corrosive marks everywhere from the mucus dripping off the vines.

An Chen's Iron Pot and Black Fog had long since vanished.

Clutching his head, he swayed as he got to his feet.

There was no time to think about so much. He needed to leave first.

An Chen cleared away the traces left behind by the spirit communion.

Then he found the Jade Pendant from the earlier image among the scraps of Mokai's clothing.

It was also a Storage Soul Tool.

An Chen extended his spiritual power. The Jade Pendant's defenses instantly collapsed, revealing everything inside.

There was a pile of Gold Soul Coins, several dozen jars of Whale Glue, and a Sandalwood Box.

An Chen opened the box to inspect it. Inside was a fist-sized lump of golden, viscous liquid.

It was golden and translucent, giving off a peculiar fragrance.

This was... the Three-Thousand-Year Whale Glue!

Overjoyed, An Chen closed the lid and transferred everything from the Jade Pendant into his own Ring.

He glanced at Mokai's corpse.

Then he headed toward the warehouse from earlier.

This time, he did not waste the contaminated Whale Glue. He gathered all of it into his Ring.

The Potion knowledge had mentioned a Purification Ritual capable of purifying contaminated objects. Since the ritual had never succeeded before, he had not considered that possibility.

Now that he knew why the ritual had failed, he naturally could not let these go to waste.

He went all the way to the wall from earlier.

This was where Mokai had come before, right? It looked exactly the same.

When An Chen had examined Mokai's memories earlier, he had noticed that the hidden door Mokai entered resembled this wall.

So he held the Jade Pendant and copied Mokai, sweeping it over every mechanism.

Click!

A passage slowly opened in the wall.

It was a dimly lit passage less than ten meters long, with two doors on each side.

An Chen slowly pushed open the door on the right.

This was the room where he had detected breathing during his earlier investigation.

The door was unlocked and opened with a push, revealing a cramped room.

A large bed occupied most of the space, while the air was filled with the scent of food and the stench of excrement.

An Chen's eyes widened. There was a tree on the bed—no, more precisely, a Human Tree!

The tree stood in the center of the bed. It was two to three meters tall, with branches of varying thickness extending in different directions. The end of every branch retained the shape of human fingers or toes, but they had hardened into dark brown bark.

Several human faces were embedded in the trunk, though only the rough outlines of their features could be made out.

An Chen sucked in a breath and activated Spirit Vision to inspect it.

He found an aura similar to the one he had examined earlier. After checking the surroundings and finding nothing unusual, he deactivated Spirit Vision and closed the door.

An Chen turned around and walked toward another door. This was the one Mokai had entered in his memories.

An Chen pushed open the door and found the same scene he had seen earlier.

There was another Altar, with a Candle and a gleaming Gold Soul Coin upon it.

An Chen walked over, picked up the Gold Soul Coin, and examined it closely.

This Gold Soul Coin was slightly brighter than ordinary ones and carried the liquor fragrance of a Sanchao Post specialty.

What was so special about it? Why had Mokai placed it on the Altar?

An Chen was puzzled, but he still put it away.

An Chen returned to the courtyard and activated Spirit Vision to inspect the entire residence, but he found no other abnormalities.

Then he threw a fire at Mokai's corpse and strode away.

After returning to the inn, An Chen fell straight asleep. Though Babble still filled his ears, he did not care.

Meanwhile, on the hillside behind Sanchao Post, at the place where An Chen had stopped two days ago.

A tall man in a black robe lay prostrate on the ground, sensing something.

"Ah, I finally found it... kind Mother... thank you." The man stood, spread his arms toward the starry sky, and murmured as he watched the distant flames.

The next morning, An Chen was once again awakened by the noise of people in the street.

Yawning, An Chen stretched and went downstairs to the main hall.

"You slept like the dead yesterday. You didn't even wake up when Director Mo's residence caught fire."

"What?"

"Director Mo's house caught fire. I passed by this morning and took a look. The backyard was burned down to nothing but the foundation. Even that Old Banyan Tree was roasted into charcoal!"

"Hey, I saw it too. A plume of black smoke rose last night, and it stank terribly."

"What happened? Where is Director Mo?"

"No one knows where he went. Maybe he burned to death..."

"Pah, pah, pah! Why say something so unlucky? Director Mo has always treated us well. He'll be fine."

"I was only guessing."

"Ah, what a shame. Such a huge commotion last night, and it still didn't wake me."

"That wasn't all. After the fire, an Evil Soul Master seemed to have broken in, but Hall Master Cang of Spirit Hall intercepted him. Their fight was incredibly fierce—they battled all the way out to sea."

"Shh! Stop talking. Spirit Hall's people are heading over!"

"..."

An Chen held a cup of tea and slowly sipped it.