Old Neil was still stunned, unable to find anything to say.
Lin Chuan did not look at him either. His gaze shifted slightly toward the empty space behind Old Neil, and he began speaking without prompting:
"You made a mistake."
His voice was level, without a ripple of emotion.
"Your grasp of mysticism was far too shaky. Something went wrong with that ritual magic back then. You couldn't cure Shaliste's illness, and you couldn't save her."
Old Neil's dark red pupils abruptly contracted, and irrepressible shock flashed in his eyes. That had happened more than twenty years ago. How could this man know?
Lin Chuan had no intention of explaining. Instead, he rose to his feet.
Old Neil's fingers instinctively tightened, and his hand reached toward the concealed pocket at his waist.
Inside were several silver pieces the size of a baby's palm, all charms of the Darkness Pathway: Slumber, Requiem, and Dream.
The one he wanted most was the Requiem charm. It could soothe ghosts, shadows, zombies, and drowned spirits, and was effective against wraiths and evil spirits to a certain extent.
Wisely, however, he did not actually take it out, nor did he utter the Ancient Hermes word that would activate it.
For one thing, he knew that a Requiem charm could not deal with the unfathomable being before him.
For another, his spiritual intuition abruptly supplied him with an absurd thought:
He suddenly stood up, but he means no harm.
The thought came so suddenly and with such certainty that it even made Old Neil suspicious.
Ignoring Old Neil's little movements, Lin Chuan walked steadily around behind him.
In the empty space behind Old Neil, where he could not see, a pair of illusory eyes floated silently, lashless, cold, and merciless.
Unlike when they watched Klein in the original story, these strange, translucent eyes were not watching Lin Chuan and Old Neil. Instead, they seemed rather vacant.
That was normal. As a Mystery Pryer, Old Neil had not yet drawn the Hidden Sage's particular attention or received its actual gaze.
That evil god, an animated Uniqueness, was hardly so bored that it would constantly monitor every low-sequence Beyonder. These eyes were merely one manifestation of "knowledge pursuing people":
When too much secret knowledge flooded into a Beyonder like a tide, and they could not quickly digest and master it, those eyes would appear.
At the moment, the eyes seemed somewhat dull, indicating that the unseen corruption was not yet too severe.
Not finding what he had hoped to see, Lin Chuan gave the illusory eyes an indifferent glance, then turned back to Old Neil, whose body was taut with tension.
"You will fail."
His voice was soft, yet it carried the unquestionable finality of a judgment.
"Twenty years ago, you wanted to use ritual magic to save the gravely ill Shaliste, but in the end, all your efforts came to nothing."
"You weren't fortunate enough to happen across an Apothecary in Tingen. A Sequence 9 of the Moon Pathway could have used potions to slow even a terminal illness in its final stages, buying you more time."
"Nor did you understand the true meaning of the Mystery Pryer's maxim: 'Do as you wish, but do no harm.'"
"If you had known the acting method, you might have applied to the Holy Cathedral for the formula. A Sequence 7 Warlock could have used mystical means to ensure that her treatment went without a hitch."
Old Neil froze for a second. Before he could think of a reply, Lin Chuan's next words abruptly made his entire body go rigid.
Like a storm rising out of a clear sky, he heard the man before him, who claimed to have come "for Neil and Shaliste," quietly declare:
"And twenty years later, you still cannot save her."
Lin Chuan looked at him, his voice as calm as ever. "You cannot resurrect Shaliste."
Old Neil felt cold all over, as though he had fallen into an icy winter lake without warning.
"That's impossible..." he murmured in denial.
"That's impossible!"
His voice rose without his realizing it. In his sheer panic, he could no longer spare a thought for Lin Chuan's origins or intentions. He merely stared desperately into those black eyes, trying to find some sign that this was a joke:
"I'll use Life Alchemy! I can prepare a body for Shaliste that will never age!"
"You're a being of a higher standing. You must know about it, don't you?"
"The Church of the Earth Mother's Sequence 4 is skilled at this, and high-sequence Beyonders of the Savant Pathway can do it too!"
As he said this, Old Neil's eyes were filled with pleading. He stared fixedly at Lin Chuan, desperate for even the slightest affirmation.
Lin Chuan looked at him, nodded gently, and replied calmly:
"The Planter Pathway's Sequence 4 is called Ancient Alchemist, also known as Human Alchemist."
"They can use incomplete spirits and various materials to perform Life Alchemy at its highest level, creating ordinary humans who can live for a long time."
"And the Savant Pathway's Sequence 4 is called Alchemist. Through an ability called Transmutation, they can infuse the objects they create with souls, granting them a measure of life."
Old Neil's expression eased a little. Deliberately avoiding the thought of Lin Chuan's declaration that he could not resurrect Shaliste, he continued defending his plan:
"I'm a Sequence 9... I'll never advance to Sequence 4 in my lifetime, but I can do it through ritual magic! Yes, I can use ritual magic!"
"I can draw on a god's blessings! I can pray to a great god for the blessings needed to complete the transmutation! Then I'll summon her soul back from the Spirit World and pray for the god to reunite her spirit and flesh..."
At this point, a spark of excitement lit Old Neil's eyes. "It clearly can work! Isn't it a wonderful idea?"
"..."
His only answer was Lin Chuan's prolonged silence, and the trace of pity and sympathy in those still, black eyes.
The excitement in Old Neil's eyes faded little by little, replaced by despair as deep as a bottomless abyss.
"...Please, Your Excellency."
The veteran Nighthawk, who had spent fifteen years in Tingen, now stood with his back hunched, his voice painfully hoarse.
His face looked deathly pale in the firelight. Unconsciously clenching his fists, he pleaded desperately:
"As long as I complete this ritual, I'll be able to bring her back... Are the steps I learned wrong? Or are some of the materials incorrect?"
"You said you came for Shaliste... I don't need much. I don't need you to do anything else for me. I only ask that you tell me where I went wrong.
Please, just guide me once. Just once..."
His words came faster and faster, his voice trembling with tears as he verged on collapse, as though he feared that the moment he stopped, he would hear an answer that denied everything.
"No."
Old Neil's mouth hung open, the rest of his sentence lodged in his throat, unable to come out or go back down. He stared blankly at Lin Chuan.
Looking at the lashless, illusory eyes behind Old Neil, which were growing increasingly animated, Lin Chuan gently shook his head:
"Every step you took was wrong."
Before you continue