Chapter 148: Waiting to Be Born
“More and more people are coming. I even sensed a ninth-rank presence.”
Perched on a tree not far from the town, Henry gazed towards the entrance.
Several unfamiliar figures were fighting. They seemed to be only seventh-rank, which was good news for him.
Both he and Paul had experienced a decline in strength. If they encountered someone who retained their ninth-rank power, they would probably have to surrender.
“I’ve been feeling like I’m being followed lately. I wonder if it’s just my imagination.”
Paul scratched his head with his paw and licked it with his tongue.
“Being followed? I don’t think so. I haven’t felt anything.” Henry preened his feathers and lowered his head. “By the way, Paul, is your nose very sensitive now? Use your nose to search the surroundings for any strange places or people. We searched all night yesterday and didn’t find anything special. That’s not normal.”
“But Master Henry, I’m not a dog.” Paul wagged his tail, cursing the “bird-brain” in his heart.
“No, you can temporarily be a dog. We need you. My scroll is useless after entering this other side of Kuye Town, so we need to find another way to solve the problem.”
Henry flew down from the branch and landed on Harry’s head.
His strength had declined significantly, and he wasn’t necessarily a match for Paul. To prevent Paul from having any ulterior motives, he had to use Harry as a hostage.
As a ninth-rank mage, Henry had never felt so vulnerable.
Paul lowered his dog head and didn’t answer. He could sense Henry’s unusual intentions. He had been planning something.
Two days ago, he had seen Henry call Archbishop Charles into his room and talk for a long time. Charles had left the room with a smile on his face.
What Paul remembered vividly was that as Charles left, he had patted his shoulder and said, “Work hard. You have a bright future. Henry thinks highly of you.”
At first glance, these were good words, but Charles’s mocking eyes made him shiver.
Since then, Paul hadn’t seen Charles again. He had been keeping his distance from the others, doing things Paul didn’t know.
“Paul, did you hear me? If you work hard, I’ll get you more resources so you can reach the ninth rank faster. As long as you listen to me, I guarantee you’ll have a chance to reach the ninth rank within fifty years.”
Seeing Paul’s silence, Henry started making promises.
“I understand, Master Henry. I’ll try to help you find the anomaly.” Paul nodded and looked towards the town in the distance, carrying the unconscious Harry on his back.
There was a repulsive aura there, as if a hateful person was present.
……
“Your Holiness, Henry took Paul and Harry into Kuye Town, and they’ve lost contact.”
Meanwhile, Charles, staying a hundred miles away from Kuye Town, was contacting the Pope.
To ensure safety, Henry had given Charles a forced teleportation array disk and asked him to set it up somewhere.
To gain Henry’s trust, Charles had exchanged secrets with him.
His secret was very simple: he had vehemently criticized the Pope in front of Henry.
He knew that Henry would secretly record it, but he didn’t care. This was something the Pope had tacitly approved. As long as he showed sincere remorse later, he would receive many rewards.
He soon received a reply from the Pope, who asked him to keep a close watch and, if necessary, stab Henry in the back.
The Pope had realized something. She was constantly adjusting her plans, wanting to accumulate enough leverage for the upcoming changes.
If the Destiny Divination Device within the Temple hadn’t been damaged, she wouldn’t be so anxious.
“I’ll make sure to complete the mission. But this Kuye Town is truly special. Are you sure you don’t need me to go in and gather information for you?”
Looking at the Pope’s reply, Charles expressed his loyalty with a smile.
“No need.”
These two simple words dispelled Charles’s unnecessary thoughts.
The matter of Kuye Town had caught the attention of most forces. The towering red beam of light was like an ominous sign disrupting the world.
Receiving such a reply, Charles was happy to relax. As for the forced teleportation array disk?
He chuckled. He hadn’t installed it at all.
The Pope wanted Henry dead, so he had to die.
……
“Fox, you’re such a lazy pig. You slept for over ten hours. Aren’t you afraid of getting fat?”
Kailun and Fox sat facing each other at the dining table in Fox’s house.
He had gone out early to buy breakfast and share it with her, but Kuye Town was just an ordinary town. Milk, cheese, and bread were already a good spread.
Fox: “Are we going to look for my grandma again today?”
Kailun: “Yes, we’ll continue following her. But before we leave, I need to go to the basement and get some scrolls to read on the way.”
“Thief!”
Fox glared at Kailun, then took small bites of the bread he had bought.
“You dare to eat a thief’s breakfast? Aren’t you afraid I drugged it?”
Kailun propped his chin on his hand and looked at Fox with amusement.
She was indeed much cuter now than in the future. Her delicate and weak appearance made it very enjoyable to bully her.
“Would I be able to resist even if you didn’t drug it? You’re just like those nobles, only knowing how to threaten us commoners with force.”
After finishing the delicious bread, Fox licked her white fingers with satisfaction.
“But I am a noble. Nobles are inherently bad to the core. I say the nobles of this world should be destroyed as soon as possible. Otherwise, this world will rot completely.”
Kailun stood up nonchalantly and patted Fox’s head. “I’m going to the basement. You finish your milk. Drinking more milk will help you grow.”
Leaving Fox behind, Kailun went straight to the basement. Pushing open the old door, he walked to the corner and opened the small box containing the scrolls.
He took out the scroll he had finished reading from his pocket, intending to put it back, but his hand froze in midair. He noticed a new scroll in the box.
It was a handwritten scroll, looking very new. The magic circles on it were still complex and difficult to understand.
But that wasn’t the most important part. The most important part was that this scroll hadn’t been there yesterday when he came. This meant that the old woman had put it in afterward.
This discovery confirmed Kailun’s guess: the old woman not only knew that Fox had secretly read the scrolls, but she also condoned it.
Her daily departures were indirectly giving Fox a chance to peek.
From her actions, she seemed to treat Fox well, but she was hiding many things and had impure motives.
Putting the scroll he had read aside, Kailun cast an illumination spell and brought the new scroll closer for examination.
“It looks familiar. Some parts are very similar to the magic circles on the parchment scroll.”
Kailun took out the parchment scroll and carefully compared them. As he expected, half of the magic circles were highly similar.
The more he compared, the deeper Kailun’s frown became. Something was wrong.
Based on the time flow, it was impossible for Fox to learn such a difficult scroll in just over a day. This didn’t match his previous speculation.
No, there was another possibility: he had been adding mental power to Fox like crazy.
But even so, the possibility was still slim. Time was too tight. Fox would have to study all night to have a chance.
But the most important thing was that Kailun didn’t want Fox to come into contact with this scroll. Its very existence was evil, and this evil shouldn’t be placed on Fox’s petite shoulders.
Thinking of this, Kailun unhesitatingly put the scroll away. A vague plan was forming in his mind.
According to the system’s previous reminders, his actions would lead to changes in the threads of fate. So what would happen if he changed things according to the story told by Fox?
A terrifying brainstorm raged in his mind, his vast mental power providing immense computing power.
Ten minutes later, Kailun rubbed his temples and left the basement.
Looking at Fox, who was cleaning the table, he said with emotion, “The peaceful days in this town are probably coming to an end.”
Hearing this, Fox immediately thought of something bad. “What are you going to do? I’m warning you, if you do anything to the residents of this town, I’ll… I’ll smash my head against the wall!”
After thinking for a long time, Fox couldn’t come up with anything to threaten Kailun with.
“You’re really interesting. But how much of this world is truly real?”
Kailun spread his hands. He didn’t choose to share his memories with Fox because that was the worst option.
There was no him, no Shirley, and no Paul in the story from over a decade ago.
They were all outsiders, and they had all had a huge impact on this town.
The fight at the entrance of the town had attracted the attention of many people, and the potholes left behind were the most prominent reminder.
Even though Fox’s grandma had taken away the troublemakers, the impact had still occurred.
In the story told by Fox, these events hadn’t happened.
“By the way, Fox, if I really kill the people in this town, will you really hate me?” Kailun walked towards the door, leaving Fox with only his back.
Fox tilted her head and looked at Kailun with a strange expression. Then she said resolutely, “Yes!”
“What a heartless fox. I’ll remember that. I don’t like you anymore.”
Kailun chuckled, making a joke.
Looking up at the town bathed in sunlight, he walked out the door first.
Looking at his tall figure in the sunlight, Fox felt a pang of pain in her heart, as if she had done something wrong.
Instinct urged her to chase after him, but reason restrained her impulsive behavior.
She didn’t see Kailun again until an hour later. This time, he took her out of town.
Passing by the entrance, Fox noticed that it was exactly the same as yesterday, with no signs of a fight.
The only difference was a female knight setting up a stall at the entrance. Her aura was vastly different from the town’s, as if she didn’t belong here, just like the bad guy.
“Where are we going?”
Fox quickened her pace, came to Kailun’s side, and tugged at his sleeve.
Kailun turned around and looked at Fox. “To a fun place.”
He had asked Shirley to stay at the entrance of the town and prevent any outsiders from entering.
Instead of giving her ninth-rank strength, Kailun had only given Shirley eighth-rank strength because he needed absolute control from now on.
Fox’s grandma was an unknown entity who had lived for over five thousand years. Kailun wouldn’t be careless.
Although Henry still felt like a ninth-rank mage, it was probably just a feeling. If he truly possessed ninth-rank strength, he wouldn’t have fallen for his trap.
As for the other high-rank mages who had followed, they were the core “consumables.” They were still useful.
It was worth mentioning that Kailun hadn’t sensed the aura of the old Dragon King Bolton. It seemed that he hadn’t chosen to come.
But he understood. After all, Bella was still in the Royal City. It was normal for the old Dragon King to be reluctant to leave.
Kailun searched for the auras of outsiders as they moved through the wilderness. He was much quieter than before.
Meanwhile, Blanche, Fox’s grandma, took five outsiders to the so-called ruin.
It was a piece of land shielded by special magic, difficult for even ninth-rank mages to detect.
Among the people Blanche had captured, there were two ninth-rank, two eighth-rank, and one sixth-rank. There had also been a hairless dog and a green-feathered bird, but they had escaped.
The green-feathered bird that escaped had a ninth-rank aura. To be safe, she hadn’t pursued them.
What mattered to her was to question these outsiders about the outside world. Just two days ago, an unknown barrier had appeared within a fifty-mile radius of Kuye Town, sealing the entire town inside.
She had tried many things, but she couldn’t contact the outside world. She couldn’t leave, whether by Instantaneous Movement or on foot.
The worst-case scenario was that Fox’s magic couldn’t extend beyond the barrier. According to her original plan, she needed to sacrifice the entire population of the Xiya Kingdom.
But looking at the ninth and eighth-rank mages she had captured, she suddenly felt that they might be enough.
Thank the heavens for this gift.
“Thud!”
Throwing the five bound outsiders into the cold secret chamber, Blanche hunched over and set up a bunch of magic to prevent them from escaping.
What she couldn’t understand was why these ninth and eighth-rank mages only had seventh-rank strength. If they hadn’t fought at the entrance of the town and revealed their true strength, she wouldn’t have dared to capture them.
“Cough!”
Blanche, leaning on her walking stick, closed the heavy door of the special secret chamber and slowly walked towards the center of the hall.
If the ruin mentioned by the Laurist family existed, it must be where Blanche was now.
To be more precise, it should be a tomb, a tomb that had been buried many years ago.
This tomb had many secret chambers, some of which contained mysterious and ancient parchment scrolls.
The parchment scroll Winnie had given to Kailun came from this mysterious tomb.
Unlike ordinary tombs, the one Blanche was in was magnificent and extravagant to the extreme. Night pearls were used as decorations, gold as flooring, jade carvings as pillars, ninth-rank magic murals engraved on the walls…
The decorations in the main hall alone were enough to buy a dozen Xiya Kingdoms, and the lost magic spells engraved on the walls were even more invaluable.
After being recognized by the residual magic, Blanche walked into the hall and approached the jade coffin in the center. She bowed deeply, her worn-out body almost collapsing.
“There have been strange changes in Kuye Town. I’m investigating the cause and believe I’ll have answers soon. Please wait a little longer. I will definitely bring you back to this world. The Temple of the Celestial God is nearing its end, and the time for change is now. I’ve found someone connected to fate. She will become a nail, driven into the heart of fate.”
“Cough!” Speaking for too long, Blanche coughed violently. A trickle of blood appeared at the corner of her mouth.
She wiped her mouth with her pale sleeve. “I’m sorry, my life has reached its end. I can no longer serve you, even with Time Magic. If the plan goes smoothly, you will be fully reborn in three years. Then you will be able to take revenge on the weakened fate.”
As she spoke, a rare glint of light flickered in Blanche’s blurry eyes. If she had to trace the origin, the one in the jade coffin should belong to the Abyss.
Looking down, one could see a blurry figure through the translucent lid of the jade coffin.
This figure seemed to exist in a void, as if it would dissipate with a gust of wind.
Sometimes, Blanche wondered, was this era still theirs?
Even if they returned, could they really change anything?
Blanche didn’t know. She only knew to follow her ancestors’ instructions and complete her mission. The one in the jade coffin was the being she and her mother had served for ten thousand years.
Two five-thousand-year lifespans added up to ten thousand years. For all this time, they had lived in obscurity in this remote country.
The one in the jade coffin had said that she needed to wait, wait for an opportunity.
It might take ten thousand years, or even longer, or perhaps she wouldn’t even get the chance before the world was destroyed.
“Tomorrow, I’ll have little Fox offer you ample sacrifices. Then my mission will be complete. If there’s a future, please take care of little Fox. She’s a good girl.”
This time, Blanche knelt down and bowed again. She had said more words in front of the jade coffin today than in the past thousand years combined.
However, what Blanche didn’t know was that the shadow in the jade coffin was fluctuating violently. She seemed to be terrified of something.
If she could speak, she would definitely shout, “Don’t come near me!”
As a former peak existence, she could sense the arrival of a certain evil being in this land, getting closer and closer.
Most importantly, the little Fox Blanche had mentioned was coming with him.
The worst thing for someone recovering from an injury was to have salt rubbed into their wounds, and even worse, to be finished off in one fell swoop.
She had been dormant for ten thousand years and was this active for the first time. In her perception, the threads of fate had shifted from that man’s hands to another person’s.
And the one who had gathered the threads of fate was approaching her.
He was a demon!
The shadow in the jade coffin wanted to escape, but she was firmly suppressed by the lid. She didn’t even have the strength to move the coffin now.
“It seems you’re very happy. This is the first time in five thousand years that I’ve felt you so happy. Please be patient. After tomorrow, your strength will recover by ten percent. You’ll have at least ninth-rank power then.”
Blanche leaned on her walking stick and got up from the ground.
“…”
The one in the jade coffin fell silent. She wondered where she had gone wrong.
According to the original divination, this situation was impossible. She shouldn’t be found in the normal flow of time.
Despondent. Some people knew their ending before they were even born.
Leave a Reply