Weng Ping Ran observed Nan Deng’s reaction and realized that he also did not understand the contents of the picture.
The inner court also stored some ancient books, mostly autobiographies and records of techniques from early celestial masters.
The people who went to search discovered these few pages. Recognizing the words “Mountain God”, they promptly sent them to Weng Ping Ran.
If the contents of the pages truly related to the Mountain God, it was not something ordinary people could easily investigate.
Weng Ping Ran cautiously said, “Would you like to take a look first? It’s getting late, so I won’t disturb you any longer. You can always contact me or Lin Jiu if you need anything.”
During the day, Lin Jiu had also given Nan Deng a communicator used by celestial masters, with several contact numbers stored in it.
Nan Deng looked at the pages in the picture and nodded hesitantly.
Weng Ping Ran sent all the files to Nan Deng’s communicator and then left.
After returning to his room, Nan Deng took a shower, took out his communicator, and continued reading the contents of the pages.
Lian Yi was blow-drying his hair while Nan Deng kept his head down, strands of hair occasionally swaying in front of his eyes, obstructing his view.
In Nan Deng’s memory, he had never read any books, nor had anyone taught him to read, but he could immediately understand the meaning of the crooked characters on the pages as if it were an innate ability.
By the time Nan Deng finished reading, his hair was dry.
He put down the communicator and looked at Lian Yi with a puzzled expression. “Have you seen any other Mountain Gods?”
The pages in the picture were few, and the content was not extensive.
They mentioned that the 136th Mountain God was named Tai Xu, who became a Mountain God over three hundred years ago, and briefly recorded some of his preferences and habits.
The hand-drawn portrait was rather rough, like an unfinished piece. But it was clear that the clothing depicted was quite old.
Nan Deng had never seen the person in the portrait. At first, he didn’t even know his own identity, and this was the first time he learned that there was more than one Mountain God.
Lian Yi replied, “No, I haven’t.”
The Mountain God had always been a rather mysterious existence.
In past rumors, the Mountain God would respond to various pleas for help and offer assistance, but wouldn’t necessarily reveal himself. Even if he appeared, no one would know who he was.
Compared to humans and celestial masters, earth spirits actually had more contact with the Mountain God. They could accurately sense the Mountain God’s aura and follow it, relying on the Mountain God’s divine power to grow and heal.
Not only Lian Yi, but almost all the celestial masters in the inner court had never seen the Mountain God.
If there was more than one Mountain God, then where were the previous ones?
Moreover, how was a Mountain God born and how did he become a Mountain God?
Nan Deng suddenly felt a bit frustrated, his thick eyelashes drooping. “I haven’t seen one either… I seem to know nothing.”
His identity and his abilities were all things others had told him. Before meeting Lian Yi, he was just a ghost wandering at night, avoiding celestial masters.
While Nan Deng was looking down, a familiar warmth suddenly approached.
Lian Yi quietly embraced him, his palm slowly soothing Nan Deng’s back, his warm breath close by.
Nan Deng buried himself in Lian Yi’s embrace, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. The earlier gloom in his heart dissipated quite a bit.
After a while, he looked up at Lian Yi, reaching out to touch his cheek and the corner of his lips.
Nan Deng felt an urge to kiss him.
They spent every day together and slept in the same bed. But there weren’t many intimate actions between them.
Aside from hugging, they had only kissed a few times.
Nan Deng liked being close to Lian Yi, including kissing. It seemed that the closer he was to Lian Yi, the more relaxed and at ease he felt.
Lian Yi seemed to see through Nan Deng’s intentions. When Nan Deng leaned in, Lian Yi slightly turned his head, causing the soft touch to land on his cheek.
Nan Deng pulled back a little, looking a bit aggrieved. “Why are you avoiding me?”
He knew that Lian Yi must like him. At some point, he discovered that he could vaguely sense the emotional states of the people around him.
For instance, right now, Lian Yi was still holding him tightly, his body temperature slightly elevated.
Nan Deng was unwilling to give up and leaned in again.
This time, Lian Yi didn’t avoid him and lowered his head to kiss Nan Deng.
His kiss was more forceful, yet he wasn’t very skilled, merely rubbing their lips together before quickly pulling away.
Nan Deng was happy this time, hugging Lian Yi’s neck, his cheeks slightly flushed.
Lian Yi looked away. “Let’s sleep.”
He let go of Nan Deng and got up to go to the bathroom alone.
Tonight, Nan Deng didn’t wait outside the bathroom. Lian Yi closed the door and took off his clothes.
He turned on the shower, adjusting the temperature to cold water.
In the bedroom, Nan Deng, while waiting for Lian Yi, looked over the characters on the pages again.
The rabbit head came into Nan Deng’s arms and watched with him.
Nan Deng took the opportunity to ask, “Xiao Tu, have you seen other Mountain Gods?”
The rabbit head half-closed its eyes and twitched its ears.
It had indeed seen other Mountain Gods, and not just one. The exact number… it couldn’t remember.
Nan Deng understood the expression on the rabbit head’s face. “One hundred and thirty-six… have you seen them all?”
He cupped the rabbit head, surprised and curious. “How old are you then?”
Nan Deng had never thought about the rabbit head’s age before, especially since it mostly maintained the form of a stuffed rabbit head.
Even now, when Nan Deng recalled the giant beast that appeared that night, it still felt unreal.
The rabbit head pretended not to hear, its round eyes nonchalantly shifting away.
The next moment, it saw the tissue box on the bedside table and jumped over to pull out a few tissues.
Lian Yi came out of the bathroom at this time and saw what it was doing. “What are you doing?”
Nan Deng was also curious and helped the rabbit head tear the tissues into strips and lay them on the carpet.
The tissue strips were finally arranged into two human shapes, one large and one small. Facing the larger one, the rabbit head’s eyes turned red, and it flicked its ears a few times.
Lian Yi picked up the larger human-shaped tissue strip and asked, “Is this the celestial master who injured you?”
The rabbit head twitched its ears, indicating that was correct, then came over to Nan Deng and nudged his communicator.
Nan Deng, sensing something, opened the communicator and turned to the page with the portrait.
The rabbit head saw the portrait and carried the slightly smaller human-shaped tissue strip over, placing it next to the portrait.
The identities of the two tissue strips were thus confirmed: one was the celestial master from back then, and the other was the Mountain God recorded on the pages, Tai Xu.
Then, the rabbit head picked up the celestial master tissue strip and began attacking the Mountain God tissue strip.
Its eye color was normal, different from its previous attack mode. Lian Yi guessed, “The Mountain God was also hurt by him?”
The rabbit head paused to think, clearly hesitant.
It probably didn’t know exactly what had happened either, but it was certain that it involved that celestial master.
Finally, the rabbit head tore the Mountain God tissue strip apart, scattering the pieces across the carpet.
It burped and spat out a small round paper ball.
Nan Deng recognized this paper ball; it was something the rabbit head had made last time and had kept well-preserved.
The rabbit head came back to Nan Deng, holding the small paper ball in its mouth and looking at him.
Nan Deng reached out to take the paper ball, examining it closely.
This time, the rabbit head’s demonstration was shorter, and the conveyed content was somewhat vague.
But two points could be confirmed: first, the celestial master from back then had some connection with the Mountain God Tai Xu, and second, while both Tai Xu and Nan Deng were Mountain Gods, they were entirely different.
Nan Deng held the small paper ball and asked the rabbit head, “Am I the 137th Mountain God?”
The rabbit head seemed confused, counting with its ears. Nan Deng pointed to the portrait and asked, “Am I the one after him?”
The rabbit head quickly shook its ears and answered Nan Deng.
Yes.
Nan Deng asked a few more questions, including where Tai Xu and the previous Mountain Gods had gone, and how he himself had come into being.
However, the rabbit head couldn’t answer these questions. It looked dazed and repeatedly picked up the small paper ball representing Nan Deng, keeping it protected under itself.
Nan Deng didn’t press further and let the rabbit head go play in the living room.
Though Hui Shou was one of the Three Gods and had strong combat abilities, it didn’t possess much wisdom.
No matter how clever it was, this was all it could express.
Now the only clue was the pages of the book found at Xie Yun’s place.
Since the pages were found there, it confirmed that the one who injured the rabbit head and forced it to hide with Nan Deng in Yezhang Tower was indeed Xie Yun.
Nan Deng was not yet accustomed to using his communicator, so he asked Lian Yi to contact Weng Ping Ran and request all the information related to the Mountain Gods.
He also wanted all the information about Xie Yun after he entered the inner court, especially the details of the rare recorded appearance of the Ghost King. This part was to be reviewed by Lian Yi first.
Weng Ping Ran hadn’t gone to sleep yet and quickly replied.
He knew it was Nan Deng’s request and was polite in his message, also asking if they needed to interrogate Gu Xu’s soul.
The resentful spirits of celestial masters were several times stronger than those of ordinary people and could not be allowed to roam free. The inner court had special restrictive spells. After Gu Xu’s death, his soul automatically returned to its designated Yezhang Tower.
Later, his soul was extracted, supposedly on Xie Yun’s orders. But after Xie Yun suddenly disappeared, the artifact containing the soul was sent to Weng Ping Ran.
Weng Ping Ran had checked it and confirmed it was indeed Gu Xu. But he found that his soul was surprisingly weak, not at all like the resentful spirit of a celestial master elder.
Xie Yun had tried to blame Gu Xu’s death on Lian Yi, and Weng Ping Ran wanted to ask Gu Xu if he knew any details.
However, souls would be corroded by resentment and evil energy, and even the gentlest person would become a different being after death.
Gu Xu refused to communicate with Weng Ping Ran and even cursed him out.
Angry in the middle of the night, Weng Ping Ran put Gu Xu back into the artifact. When Lian Yi’s message arrived, he thought of handing Gu Xu over to him.
“Do as you see fit. But such a fierce entity should not be seen by the Mountain God.”
Weng Ping Ran’s thinking was simple. Perhaps Lian Yi could find a way to make Gu Xu’s soul speak.
In his mind, Lian Yi was also a “fierce entity”.
Lian Yi, expressionless, replied with one word, “Okay”, and turned off the communicator.
