FCRCG Chapter 53

No matter how Nan Deng asked, the rabbit head remained unresponsive. Finally, it simply closed its eyes and buried its head motionless.

Lian Yi rescued it just in time, picking it up by the ears and placing it on the edge of the bed. “Don’t trouble it anymore.”

As the guardian beast of the Mountain God, the rabbit head, no matter how long it lived, was still just an animal. Demonstrating the events leading up to entering the Karma Tower with tissues was already its limit.

Freed once more, the rabbit head quietly slipped away.

It was already evening. Nan Deng had spent the entire day reading the book, wanting to memorize every sentence.

He yawned as he flipped through the pages.

Lian Yi took the book from his hands and placed it in the bedside table drawer. “Sleep. You can read more tomorrow.”

Nan Deng, still preoccupied with the artifact, looked longingly at the closed drawer. “I’m just curious…”

Every Mountain God had an artifact, so he should have one too.

Moreover, the appearance and function of the artifacts seemed to align with each Mountain God’s traits and preferences. Some warlike Mountain Gods wielded weapons like swords or spears.

Nan Deng thought, his artifact certainly wouldn’t be a weapon. What could it be?

Xie Yun’s residence, assets, and personal belongings had all been thoroughly searched, with only these book pages found.

The artifact shouldn’t have been taken by him. In fact, the artifacts of so many Mountain Gods seemed to have vanished along with their owners.

Could it be that the rabbit head, which liked to eat random things, had secretly devoured it at some point?

With this thought, Nan Deng lifted the quilt, intending to catch the rabbit head and ask it again.

Lian Yi stopped him and turned off the lights.

The room plunged into darkness as Nan Deng was gently forced to lie down and tucked back under the covers.

“Since it’s your item, it will appear eventually,” Lian Yi reassured him. “Besides, an artifact is just an aid. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have one.”

Sometimes when Nan Deng encountered something he didn’t quite understand, he would ask Lian Yi for help, so Lian Yi was also familiar with the general content of the book.

Whether or not he had an artifact, a Mountain God was still a Mountain God. The use and growth of divine power didn’t rely on external objects, and Nan Deng had been managing fine without one so far.

Feeling somewhat comforted, Nan Deng buried his head and murmured, “Mm.”

Although he was tired, having just read the book, he couldn’t fall asleep. He reached under his pillow and pulled out the Bagua ring.

It glowed faintly with a silvery light in the darkness. Nan Deng pretended this was his artifact and held it in his hand, gradually falling asleep.

—

Weng Ping Ran sent daily updates to Nan Deng about Xie Yun’s situation, including some trivial details about him.

However, there were no traces of the fog-shrouded specter, and Xie Yun remained silent, refusing to admit to any crimes. It was unclear what his intentions were.

Based on Nan Deng’s first encounter with the fog-shrouded specter, the Inner Court had found two tunnels with residual evil energy, but they seemed to have been abandoned.

With no progress, Nan Deng gradually lost interest in the updates and handed his communicator to Lian Yi.

At noon, Weng Ping Ran sent a message saying that the previous areas had confirmed the plague was no longer appearing, which was reassuring.

He also inquired if Nan Deng had had lunch and if he liked the food at the new hotel’s restaurant.

Half an hour later, the reply was a brief two words: “Read.”

Weng Ping Ran almost thought he had read it wrong. He scrolled up through the records; though Nan Deng’s responses had never been lengthy, they had never been this cold.

He often added little emojis at the end, thanked Weng Ping Ran, and sometimes asked if he had eaten.

So there was only one possibility: those two words were not sent by Nan Deng.

Weng Ping Ran guessed who was on the other side of the message and let out a heavy snort, putting away the communicator.

As usual, he went to the dungeon to see if Xie Yun had any intention of confessing today.

Walking through the cold and damp corridor, Weng Ping Ran arrived at the last cell at the end.

The door was made of tightly woven, sturdy steel wire. The walls were covered with talismans, and several layers of formations were in place.

Through the steel wire door, Xie Yun was sitting alone in the corner, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed.

Given his current state and strength, such high-level confinement wasn’t necessary. But due to his special situation, it was better to be cautious.

Hearing footsteps, Xie Yun opened his eyes.

Next to him was a meal, barely touched.

Weng Ping Ran glanced at it. “Not to your taste?”

Xie Yun responded with a non sequitur. “You needn’t waste your time on me. Unless I see the Mountain God with my own eyes, I won’t say a word.”

“The Mountain God isn’t someone you can see just because you want to.”

Weng Ping Ran’s expression turned colder. “You’ve committed grave sins. Being alive now is already a mercy. Confess everything early, and maybe the Mountain God will agree to see you.”

Xie Yun chuckled lowly, showing a hint of inexplicable helplessness.

“Mercy?” He shook his head and said, “You people put too much stock in the Mountain God…”

Weng Ping Ran’s eyes narrowed. “Insolent!”

Xie Yun showed no fear of his anger, muttering to himself, “As for the Chaos God, it’s just an ugly creature, not to mention the Underworld…”

Weng Ping Ran didn’t want to hear any more disrespect towards the Mountain God, so he turned and left.

Xie Yun refused to say anything. But based on some clues, the Inner Court traced the initial source of the plague.

It was located in a remote area, not among the worst hit by the plague nor at the forefront of Weng Ping Ran’s planned itinerary.

Xie Yun’s talisman water’s method was unknown, and only Nan Deng could sense something amiss. To completely ease their worries, they needed to start from the source.

So Weng Ping Ran left the Inner Court to investigate the origin.

Meanwhile, Nan Deng continued along the route, systematically eliminating the plague from each area.

Anywhere he went, the plague vanished overnight, cleansed by the nurturing aura of the Mountain Gods, suppressing evil and reducing spiritual disturbances.

During this period, Nan Deng also continued studying the book that chronicled the 136 Mountain Gods.

He noticed another detail: the overlapping periods of existence for each Mountain God, though generally not too long.

The longest overlap was between the 56th and 57th Mountain Gods, who co-existed for three months.

This made Nan Deng even more curious about how the succession of Mountain Gods worked.

Furthermore, each Mountain God’s tenure varied in duration, ranging from a thousand years to as short as two hundred years.

The book didn’t mention their final fates, reasons for disappearance, or whether they died.

If anyone else got hold of this book, even if they deciphered its characters, they wouldn’t glean much detailed information, likely assuming it was a fabricated work of fiction.

Nan Deng set the book aside and recalled his memories in Yezhang Tower.

That period was long and tedious; he remembered being initially afraid because the ghosts around him were frightening.

They would stare at him with strange eyes, especially with his companion, the rabbit head.

Some of the ghosts that had been refined disappeared, replaced continuously by new arrivals.

Occasionally, ghosts that tried to approach or bully Nan Deng would inexplicably vanish or flee—likely due to the rabbit head.

He had looked the same for as long as he could remember, without any changes.

Lost in thought for a moment, Nan Deng got up and walked to the bedside, opening the drawer of the cabinet.

Inside was a small, round paper ball that the rabbit head had made.

It always liked carrying it around. But one morning, it took an interest in the eggs in Nan Deng’s bowl and abandoned the paper ball to snatch the eggs instead.

Nan Deng looked at the small paper ball in his hand, and a thought crossed his mind.

Could it be… that the rabbit head was born from such an “egg”?

The rabbit head was buried in the blanket, fast asleep. Nan Deng glanced at it but decided not to wake it up.

—

For the past half month, Nan Deng had been traveling to various regions to eradicate the plague.

Every time he used his divine power, he still felt hungry and tired. But the time needed for rest was gradually decreasing, and his divine power was steadily growing stronger.

Lian Yi often accompanied him to continue teaching him how to fight. But Nan Deng didn’t particularly enjoy fighting and killing, so Lian Yi stopped forcing him.

With his current strong divine power and ample protection around him, Nan Deng could indeed afford to relax a bit.

The plagues in various places had been resolved, leaving only the origin site, which would be the last area Nan Deng needed to visit.

Weng Ping Ran was also there, investigating for several days with some progress made. But he still needed Nan Deng to personally inspect.

The origin site was a small town called Panlin, surrounded by mountains on all sides with a sparse population but pleasant scenery.

Because of its remote and sparsely populated nature, Nan Deng arrived in the afternoon of the first day and cured all patients in less than half an hour.

Weng Ping Ran followed closely behind him and escorted him to a prepared guesthouse to rest.

In the evening, Weng Ping Ran came to Nan Deng with organized information.

He placed the documents in front of Nan Deng. “Xie Yun did indeed come here a few months ago. Residents said he went into the mountains and only emerged the next day.”

Weng Ping Ran had also brought a group of celestial masters to search the mountains. But the forests near the town were too vast to determine which routes Xie Yun had taken.

Nan Deng opened the information, inside which were some historical events related to the small town.

Over the past two hundred years, the town has experienced various incidents such as raids by bandits, wild beasts attacking people, earthquakes, and so on. Despite the good environment here, there was a strong evil energy.

Weng Ping Ran felt that this information was very important. But all he could discern was the heavy evil energy. The population of the small town was small, with few resentful spirits despite the presence of earth spirits.

Nan Deng finished scanning the information quickly, rubbing his nose. “I’ll go take a look around tomorrow.”

He also sensed the evil and resentful energy here, somewhat similar to the aura of Xie Yun’s talismans.

There was also a bottle of potion on the table. Nan Deng picked it up and inspected it. “What is this?”

“This…” Weng Ping Ran answered with his head lowered, “was specially formulated by the physician in the inner court for Chief Lian.”

The usage of the potion was listed at the end of the information, stating, “Reduces the vitality of the soul, with significant side effects, but potentially lowers the spiritual level after death.”

At this moment, Lian Yi was called away by Lin Jiu. During the few minutes he was not by Nan Deng’s side, Weng Ping Ran finally dared to take out the potion.

Nan Deng was puzzled. “Wasn’t this supposed to… be a medicine to lift the restriction?”

Weng Ping Ran opened his mouth to explain.

Nan Deng pushed the potion forward, eyes lowered, his expression becoming restrained. “Don’t do this again in the future.”

His tone was always gentle, yet Weng Ping Ran felt a chill down his spine.

He put away the potion from the table. “You and Chief Lian…”

“Last time,” Nan Deng interrupted, looking at Weng Ping Ran, “didn’t you see everything?”

Weng Ping Ran was speechless, pondering how to explain Lian Yi’s situation and the consequences it would cause to Nan Deng.

Although Lin Jiu advised him to let things take their course, he couldn’t just turn a blind eye. He had to try.

Just as he was about to speak, Lian Yi returned from outside.

Seeing him, Nan Deng’s eyes visibly lit up, and he stood up to greet him.

He held Lian Yi’s hand, unconsciously showing dependence. “I’m tired. Let’s go back to our room.”

Weng Ping Ran also stood up. Nan Deng deliberately kissed Lian Yi’s cheek and quietly observed Weng Ping Ran’s reaction.

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