Chapter 26 – Crimson Chi

The chirp sounded weak, starkly different from the little spirit bird’s usual proud and robust voice.

Yun Xiguang recalled the state of the spirit beasts he sensed through the contract threads. The thought of the little spirit bird possibly suffering the same fate caused his heart to ache painfully, stirring unprecedented concern within him.

The little spirit bird was still a fledgling. It was so delicate that it would search for warm and soft places to sleep, curling up when it couldn’t find one and dozing off in the palm of his hand. How could such a tender spirit bird endure such hardships?

If the little spirit bird, as he suspected, was an exceptionally powerful ancient divine beast, then losing its essence energy was already enough of a grievance. To be confined within a book by someone else must have been even more distressing.

Regardless, whether the little spirit bird was merely a fledgling or an ancient divine beast, it didn’t affect Yun Xiguang’s concern for it.

Taking advantage of the absence of others, Yun Xiguang decided to rescue the little spirit bird immediately.

His purpose for coming here was to bring the little spirit bird back. If he could find the true culprit responsible for his parents’ deaths, all the better; if not, it didn’t matter. At least he now had a direction to pursue.

This time, as long as he could take the little spirit bird out of here, it would be enough.

Despite his urgency, Yun Xiguang didn’t rush to open the cabinet door. He rummaged through his pockets, found the lighter that had had its memory erased countless times by the bookworm, pressed the button, lit the lighter, and tossed it at the cabinet.

As soon as the lighter’s flame touched the cabinet, it was engulfed by a blaze intertwined with silver lightning, and the entire lighter turned to ashes.

This flame…

No one knew this flame better than Yun Xiguang. This was Heavenly Fire!

Someone other than him had actually mastered the power of Heavenly Fire!

Yun Xiguang recalled his mother’s dying words once again. He had assumed her words were meant to tell him how to become strong without a spirit root, hence he tried to harness the power of Heavenly Fire as she had suggested.

But he hadn’t expected that the nine words she mentioned were related to the murderer.

She wasn’t telling him to harness Heavenly Fire. Instead, she was using this method to inform him that the murderer who killed them had harnessed Heavenly Fire in this manner and controlled the Spirit Beast Codex.

It seemed the black mist within the confidential archives represented the Spirit Beast Codex, thus connecting to the reality of the Spirit Beast Codex rather than a specific individual.

He and the little spirit bird were lucky to have stumbled upon this secret unexpectedly, and there was no one else here.

But why didn’t the owner of the Spirit Beast Codex carry it on their person, leaving such an important item alone in this room?

Yun Xiguang speculated that there were two reasons.

The first reason was that the Spirit Beast Codex was difficult to control. It would retaliate against the user, and carrying it for a long time would have adverse effects on the user. Thus, the user could only hide it away and couldn’t always carry it with them.

The second reason was that the user hid the Spirit Beast Codex with Heavenly Fire, which was further wrapped in lightning. With Heavenly Fire present, Spiritbond Masters couldn’t use their spirit beasts’ power to open this cabinet, while the lightning was meant to prevent Spiritbond Masters from violently breaking the cabinet open with tools like axes.

Hiding the Spirit Beast Codex here was indeed a good strategy. Even if discovered, it couldn’t be taken away. Unfortunately, this person never imagined that, besides himself, another person could harness Heavenly Fire.

Yun Xiguang sliced his palm, releasing a wisp of Heavenly Fire that enveloped his entire hand. With this hand, he opened the cabinet.

A Heavenly Fire ignited outside the cabinet, but this time, there was no silver lightning. The Heavenly Fire burned steadily, seemingly responding to Yun Xiguang. Under the protection of the Heavenly Fire, Yun Xiguang gently pulled and opened the cabinet door.

Yun Xiguang let out a slight sigh of relief. His guess was correct.

Aside from Heavenly Fire and lightning, there were other protective barriers on this cabinet. Even if he could avoid the Heavenly Fire, he couldn’t bypass the other barriers.

The defense of the cabinet could be said to be flawless. But how did the cabinet’s owner open the door?

They couldn’t possibly reset the barriers every time they opened the cabinet, right? That would be too troublesome.

Thus, Yun Xiguang guessed that the cabinet’s owner must use a force to suppress the other barriers, ensuring that this force could perfectly suppress the other barriers and that no one else could possess it except themselves.

This force was none other than Heavenly Fire.

Yun Xiguang tried it out this way, and indeed, he easily opened the cabinet door without triggering any alarms.

The barriers around the cabinet treated him as the original owner.

There were many bound books on the cabinet shelves, all identical in appearance. Others would have to expend considerable effort to find the genuine book.

But Yun Xiguang had the little spirit bird’s chirping to guide him, allowing him to locate the book immediately.

The book was very thin, as if it only had three to five pages. Its cover wasn’t made of paper but some kind of skin, soft to the touch. Yun Xiguang dared not speculate about what kind of skin it was.

He flipped through the book and saw the pattern of the little spirit bird on the first page.

It was an ink painting depicting a round, fluffy little yellow bird glaring angrily at the reader.

Beside the little yellow bird was a line of text —

Spirit Beast Name: Unknown

Spirit Beast Type: Unknown

Spirit Beast Abilities: Unknown

Spirit Beast Lifespan: Co-eternal with the heavens

Can This Spirit Beast Be Controlled: Absolutely Not

The words confirmed Yun Xiguang’s speculation.

How could a co-eternal little spirit bird be an ordinary spirit beast.

Yun Xiguang touched the image of the little spirit bird on the page with his bloody fingertip. A flash of light appeared, and the little spirit bird flew out of the picture, landing in Yun Xiguang’s palm.

“Are you alright?!” Yun Xiguang asked with concern.

“Chirp!” The little spirit bird proudly lifted its head, displaying an arrogant demeanor that seemed to say, “Who can harm me?”

Subsequently, the little spirit bird turned to look at the book, jumped onto it, and stomped on it fiercely with its claws, emitting a series of “chirp chirp chirp chirp chirp” sounds filled with disgust.

Yun Xiguang knew this wasn’t a good thing, and destroying it would be best, so he helped the little spirit bird destroy the book.

But no matter if it was tearing with hands, slicing with a knife, or even burning with Heavenly Fire, the book remained unscathed.

After exhausting itself, the little spirit bird could only spread its chubby wings and flutter over to Yun Xiguang’s shoulder, glaring angrily at the book.

“What kind of book is immune even to Heavenly Fire?” Yun Xiguang asked in surprise.

“Chirp chirp chirp!” The little spirit bird seemed to know the origins of the book, chirping incessantly at Yun Xiguang. Unfortunately, due to the language barrier, Yun Xiguang couldn’t understand.

Moreover, Yun Xiguang felt that even if they shared a common language, what he heard would probably be “chirp chirp beep beep chirp chirp beep beep” sounds. Since the book was related to Heavenly Fire, it was also related to the laws, and the laws would block information related to the book.

Taking advantage of no one returning yet, Yun Xiguang reopened the book.

At this point, the pattern of the little spirit bird on the first page had vanished, replaced by a blank page. In the middle of the page where the little spirit bird had been trapped, there was a scorched mark left behind, as if something had burned it.

It was evident that this page couldn’t be used anymore.

Seeing that page, the little spirit bird actually emitted a crisp “humph” from its small beak. Although it was a humph, it didn’t sound like a human’s, but carried the melodic tones of a bird.

Despite not understanding, Yun Xiguang instantly grasped the little spirit bird’s meaning.

He whispered in translation, “This page dared to attempt confining your majesty. Such an outcome is still lenient for it. Is my translation correct?”

The little spirit bird raised its head to look at Yun Xiguang, and its black-bean eyes clearly revealed a surprised expression, as if saying, “You can actually understand your majesty’s words now.”

However, his surprise was fleeting. After all, nothing could shock the Phoenix Venerable who had lived through countless years. He raised his wing, crouched halfway, and patted Yun Xiguang’s shoulder, conveying a sense of “you’re teachable.”

Fortunately, he was standing on Yun Xiguang’s shoulder. Otherwise, given the little spirit bird’s height and flight capabilities, it was unknown how it could have performed such a shoulder-patting gesture.

Yun Xiguang flipped to the second page. This time, it wasn’t a blank sheet but a mass of black mist. Yun Xiguang reached out to touch it and found that his finger could actually penetrate into the page, indicating that there was another space within the book.

As soon as he inserted his hand, his finger hurt, as if bitten by something.

Yun Xiguang hastily withdrew his hand and saw that the tip of his middle finger was bleeding, bearing two sharp little tooth marks that nearly pierced through his finger.

Fortunately, the blood flowing out was bright red, indicating no poison.

Yun Xiguang flipped to the next page, and it was the last page of the book, completely empty.

It seemed that the spirit beasts under control and confinement were within these two pages.

Yun Xiguang wondered if his parents’ spirit beasts were among them.

Yun Xiguang gave a bitter smile inwardly.

“It’s time to leave,” Yun Xiguang said to the little spirit bird.

Their luck had been exceptional.

Sent by “false reality” to a dangerous place, he hadn’t encountered anyone, rescued the little spirit bird, learned secrets about the Spirit Beast Codex, and uncovered clues about his parents’ murders. This was enough.

Before anyone arrived here, they had to seize the opportunity and leave as soon as possible.

The method of departure lay within the black mist on the second page.

Yun Xiguang believed that the location connected to “false reality” was this black mist.

He left a drop of blood within the archive room. As long as the little spirit bird activated the pact’s perception, it could lead him through the black mist back to the confidential archive room.

“Jump into this black mist, and we can return,” Yun Xiguang explained to the little spirit bird. “I’ll hold you and leave a wisp of Heavenly Fire outside my body. The spirit beasts inside fear Heavenly Fire and won’t harm us.”

The little spirit bird tilted its head, looking quite displeased.

Yun Xiguang persuaded, “I know you want to settle accounts with the owner of this book, but ‘a gentleman waits ten years for revenge.’ It’s best not to reveal our presence prematurely. Ruan Shu is on the other side of the black mist. You still need to retrieve your essence energy.”

Upon hearing “essence energy,” the little spirit bird nodded reluctantly, agreeing with Yun Xiguang.

Seeing that their first communication went so smoothly, Yun Xiguang was happy but couldn’t help feeling a bit bitter.

Smooth communication proved that his speculations about the little spirit bird were entirely accurate. The lies he had fabricated had become reality. The little spirit bird was an ancient divine beast, and an incredibly powerful one capable of summoning True Sun Fire, co-eternal with the heavens.

Such a divine beast would likely sever the contract with him upon returning to the confidential archive room and retrieving the power within Ruan Shu’s body.

He would be alone again.

Despite the pain in his heart, Yun Xiguang maintained a smile on his face without showing any change.

He extended his hand to cradle the little spirit bird, placing it against his chest and covering it with both hands to protect its body.

Chi Qiong looked up at Yun Xiguang and noticed that his spirit servant was smiling, but for some inexplicable reason, their powerful contract was weakening.

That terrifying obsession that had awakened Chi Qiong from his slumber, defying the laws and forcefully keeping him in this world, was dissipating at this moment?

“Are you abandoning your majesty?” Chi Qiong asked.

But this time, their communication wasn’t as easy. Yun Xiguang thought the little spirit bird’s continuous chirping was due to fear. He rubbed the top of the little spirit bird’s head with his finger and said softly, “Don’t be afraid, I’m here.”

“Is your majesty someone you can serve at your whim and discard when you wish?” Chi Qiong said unhappily.

Yun Xiguang didn’t understand the little spirit bird’s words. He placed the Spirit Beast Codex on the ground, unfolded the pages to reveal the page with the black mist, and jumped in while holding the little spirit bird.

He entered that fantastical space once again.

Within the black mist, countless silver threads intertwined to form a silver vortex. Among these threads, there was one connecting Yun Xiguang and Chi Qiong.

Once, this thread had glowed with the strongest golden light, firmly binding the man and the bird together. Now, the light of this thread was inferior even to those within the silver vortex, as if it could snap at a single tug.

“For whose presumptuous brat are you abandoning your majesty?” Chi Qiong’s voice was cold.

Yun Xiguang simply kept rubbing his head and repeatedly saying, “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid.”

“Why can’t you understand your majesty’s words now when you could before?”

“Is it because you plan to dissolve the contract that you can’t understand your majesty’s words?”

“Tell me, which brat is it? Which spirit beast have you taken a fancy to?”

“Is that brat here?”

While speaking, Chi Qiong searched within the silver vortex, attempting to find the spirit beast that had tempted his spirit servant.

Yun Xiguang had no idea that Chi Qiong was searching for a spirit beast that didn’t exist.

What was most astonishing was that Chi Qiong actually found it!

Despite losing all his essence energy, Chi Qiong’s mental strength was still formidable enough to perceive the changes of the era even in his dreams.

He easily found a thread within the cluster of silver vortexes that was quite similar to Yun Xiguang’s aura.

As they passed through the spatial passage, Chi Qiong extended his tiny claws from Yun Xiguang’s embrace and hooked onto that thread.

He wanted to see which little seductress dared to steal his contractor.

Yun Xiguang emerged from the black mist with the little spirit bird in his arms, returning to the confidential archive room.

Upon landing, Yun Xiguang saw Ruan Shu, half of his body trapped in the black mist. Clearly, he had fallen for Yun Xiguang’s trap and was about to be consumed and dragged into reality.

However, there was a mysterious force within Ruan Shu that allowed him to resist this attraction. He was controlling the bookworms to slowly pull his body out bit by bit.

Incredibly, there was another spirit beast in this space besides Ruan Shu.

It was a Crimson Chi, resembling a dragon but lacking horns, covered in red scales, yet its body was as cold as ice.

Its tail was hooked around the little spirit bird’s claw, following them as they flew out of the black mist.