Chapter 25 – The Book

Due to unknown influences, Yun Xiguang’s memories of his parents had become incredibly hazy.

He could not recall their names, appearances, or spirit beasts. Whenever he tried hard to remember his parents, all that remained in his mind were two indistinct faces.

These memories did not vanish all at once; they gradually faded away.

Around eight years ago, Yun Xiguang suddenly realized that he could no longer remember his parents’ names. He then began writing down information about them, but before long, even details about their spirit beasts disappeared.

At that point, he could no longer remember what his parents’ spirit beasts looked like.

So, Yun Xiguang started recording small interactions with his parents, referring to himself indirectly in these records without mentioning his own name. These records did not vanish, and the related memories were preserved.

Aside from these memories that were promptly written down in story form, Yun Xiguang remembered nothing else about his parents.

He thought these memories had vanished completely, never expecting to see his mother’s Crimson Chi in the “false reality.”

Yes, Yun Xiguang was certain that this was his mother’s Crimson Chi.

In ancient times, many spirit beasts lived in large groups, but over the long years, most suffered the calamity of extinction. Only a small fraction survived, with each type of spirit beast numbering less than ten.

A spirit beast as rare as the Chi in ancient times would be lucky to find one in modern society, let alone a second.

Yun Xiguang’s spirit root was pierced by his mother, who had merged with her spirit beast at the time. She drew a red ice spike from her shoulder and struck Yun Xiguang’s forehead. That memory was so painful that even though he could no longer recall the specifics, he still remembered the outline of a red shadow around his mother.

After a Spiritbond Master passes away naturally, most spirit beasts without adaptation to the Heavenly Laws die due to the loss of their contract. A few would inherit their master’s legacy, immediately breaking the contract upon death and forming a new one with someone else. Only an extremely small number could fully adapt to the Heavenly Laws and move freely. Some chose to retreat to the mountains, while others took on human forms and hid among humans.

If a Spiritbond Master died abnormally, the majority of their spirit beasts would perish along with them.

Yun Xiguang always believed that his parents’ spirit beasts died alongside them.

But now, it seemed things might not have been that simple.

He used his Empathy skill, reading the memories of the Crimson Chi through the threads.

The Crimson Chi gave Yun Xiguang a confusing impression. It felt as if it was sleeping in a confined space yet also flying freely outside. It seemed to have a female Spiritbond Master who would call it out to fight occasionally, but this female Spiritbond Master appeared non-existent, perhaps just an illusion.

Yun Xiguang withdrew his hand and pondered for a moment before reaching out again to touch another thread.

This time, it was a White Ape, which gave Yun Xiguang the same contradictory and chaotic feeling as the Crimson Chi.

Yun Xiguang tried several more threads, and the spirit beasts at the end of each felt the same way.

Something was wrong with these spirit beasts.

They seemed to be under some sort of mental influence, believing themselves to be in a normal state when, in fact, they were locked up in a narrow space. They believed they were with their Spiritbond Masters, but the other end of the Spirit Contract was not actually a Spiritbond Master but a mass of black mist.

The spirit beasts were controlled by someone using an unknown method.

How was it done?

Yun Xiguang retracted his hand, subconsciously touching his forehead where his spirit root was located.

Having a spirit root allowed one to form contracts with spirit beasts. Was it possible that the black mist tampered with the Spiritbond Masters’ roots, transferring the contracts to itself, which enabled control over so many spirit beasts?

This reminded Yun Xiguang of his mother destroying his spirit root before she died.

Everything he went through after his parents’ death was because his spirit root was destroyed, which led the Yun family to abandon him.

His mother would not have been unaware of the consequences, yet she still chose to destroy his spirit root.

Yun Xiguang never blamed his mother. He believed she must have acted that way because if she had not destroyed the spirit root, his fate would have been worse.

Considering everything he saw now, Yun Xiguang even wondered if his parents’ attack had something to do with the black mist.

Did they know why they were targeted, which was why they destroyed his spirit root and left behind a cryptic nine-character message?

If his speculations were true, Yun Xiguang understood why the Spiritbond Master Association, the Yun family, and national forces would conceal the truth from him.

An existence as terrifying and real as the black mist indeed should not be known to the public, as it could cause chaos.

A select few powerful Spiritbond Masters knew of the black mist’s existence, secretly hunting it down and looking for ways to eliminate it, which was beneficial for the stability of the Spiritbond World.

His parents were strong and esteemed Spiritbond Masters back then. Perhaps they were involved in capturing the black mist, getting silenced after uncovering crucial information.

And indeed, such matters were beyond the need-to-know of a mere Grade C Spiritbond Master like him.

Not knowing and not remembering was a form of protection for him.

In this situation, being an ordinary person was safer than being a Spiritbond Master.

Unfortunately, Yun Xiguang was someone with deep-rooted obsessions. He exhausted all means to retain memories related to his parents and desperately sought out the message his parents left behind. No matter what, he had to know what exactly happened to his family.

Even if it meant dying on the path to uncovering the truth.

Now, that path lay right before him.

Yun Xiguang stared at the black mist, extending his hand forward resolutely this time.

He was not recklessly seeking revenge without a plan. Before setting out, he made ample preparations.

Firstly, Yun Xiguang left a drop of fingertip blood in this room, protecting it with a ball of spiritual energy to maintain its life activity.

If he and Little Spirit Bird could be transported to another place in the world due to the connection between the illusory and real worlds, there was also a possibility of returning to the confidential archive room through the link between reality and illusion. However, he could not lose his bearings.

With this drop of blood, he could constantly sense the location of this space, serving as a path back.

Secondly, he took out the blank dossier notebook he always carried with him and wrote pages of text as quickly as possible.

These pages contained information related to the black mist and some internal documents circulated within the Yun family.

The confidential archive room had no words, and Ruan Shu must have been frustrated. Controlled by the bookworm, he certainly needed text, preferably containing information that Ruan Shu was not aware of.

Yun Xiguang wrote these words to attract Ruan Shu, luring him into this space.

Ruan Shu had Little Spirit Bird’s spiritual energy, which the bird could strongly sense. If they were controlled by the black mist, the connection between the bird and the spiritual energy might play a critical role.

Whether the spiritual energy attracted Little Spirit Bird back from the black mist in reality or Little Spirit Bird summoned the spiritual energy and Ruan Shu, possessed by it, from the illusory space, it was a form of assistance.

Yun Xiguang placed the text near the black mist and put a piece of paper with a few words written on it inside the black mist.

Paper was an inanimate object and would not enter the illusory-reality space channel; it would merely float in the air. Yun Xiguang decided to use it as bait.

At this point, Yun Xiguang treated Ruan Shu, whom he had previously strained his brain to deal with, as a reserve energy source for Little Spirit Bird, a return coordinate for the bird, and cannon fodder to resist the black mist’s main body when necessary.

Lastly, Yun Xiguang took a small cluster of Heavenly Fire, holding it in his palm, clenching his fist to hide the fire inside.

The nine-character message left by his mother was “Heart’s Blood Falls, Heavenly Fire Remains, Spirit Beast Codex.” These words seemed unrelated to the black mist, but Yun Xiguang believed they held a method to counter the black mist’s main body.

Yun Xiguang did not know where the Spirit Beast Codex was, leaving him with only the Heavenly Fire as leverage for now.

After making these preparations, Yun Xiguang found the thread belonging to the Crimson Chi, pressed his palm against it, and followed the thread straight to the black mist.

He knew this thread was a product of The Mirage’s “illusory reality,” fake, and the other end of the mirage was not the Crimson Chi, but rather an illusory space.

However, he still wanted to follow the Crimson Chi’s thread into the black mist, because the other end of this thread was connected to his mother’s root.

He hoped to gain courage and strength from it.

Palm pressed against the Crimson Chi’s thread, Yun Xiguang walked into the black mist.

Within the black mist, countless threads converged into a silver vortex.

Yun Xiguang understood that at this moment, he was still in the “false reality” and could still return.

But once he touched the silver vortex, he would touch true reality.

Yun Xiguang stepped into the silver vortex.

Upon entering the vortex, he felt a sharp pain in his forehead, as if it was splitting open, as if something was trying to leap out from between his brows.

It was the root.

This silver vortex was absorbing the roots of Spiritbond Masters.

However, Yun Xiguang did not have a spirit root; he only felt pain but would not really lose his root.

Amidst the intense pain, Yun Xiguang sensed the space around him continuously changing. It felt as if he had traveled a great distance in an instant.

The silver vortex before his eyes had vanished, and he found himself in a pitch-black room, somewhat chilly.

The pain in his forehead had disappeared as well.

That pain was brought on by the “false” reality, not an actual attack.

This was true reality.

He expected to be attacked immediately upon crossing the spatial boundary, but he never anticipated such an abnormal calmness here.

Yun Xiguang blinked, adjusting to the environment, and gradually realized that this seemed to be someone’s bedroom.

Sitting on the ground, which felt cold and damp, as if in contact with the earth, Yun Xiguang deduced that this was not the first floor but possibly a basement. In any case, there were no other floors below.

No one was inside, and Yun Xiguang did not sense any danger.

The imagined crisis did not arrive, leaving Yun Xiguang somewhat unaccustomed to the situation.

After confirming that no one was present, he spread his hands, revealing the glow of fire in his palm, hoping to use the light to better understand the surroundings.

Just as he opened his hand, Yun Xiguang heard a familiar “Chirp.”

It was Little Spirit Bird!

Hearing Little Spirit Bird’s voice in such a gloomy space was truly joyful.

Following the direction of the “Chirp,” Yun Xiguang saw a row of bookshelves.

Could Little Spirit Bird be locked inside the bookshelf?

Yun Xiguang approached the bookshelf, shining the Heavenly Fire to search around the outside of the shelf, but he found no trace of Little Spirit Bird.

He was puzzled, and at that moment, Yun Xiguang heard another “Chirp.”

This time, it was extremely close, and Yun Xiguang clearly heard where the sound came from.

It was a bound book, similar to an ancient tome.

Little Spirit Bird’s “Chirp” was coming from inside the book.