Chapter 550: Many Years Ago Secret Report

Even if there seemed to be no one else around, it was better to be cautious. He had already noticed Bai Ziqi's attention towards him, though the reason was unclear.

"How can you be so sure...?" The mirror was greatly surprised, only reacting a few moments later. "Oh, when did you act against him?" It had been with He Lingchuan the whole time; how could even it have missed it?

It was increasingly difficult for it to keep up with its master. "Last night."

Last night, he had captured the fugitive Cheng Yu alongside Bai Ziqi, bringing Cheng Yu back personally.

At that time, Cheng Yu was injured and unconscious from the lamp spirit's explosion. With Cheng Yu in his hands, He Lingchuan faced two choices: He could use the mirror to absorb his soul, or employ the Nightmare.

Using the Soul-Sucking Mirror was the quickest method, but it would easily arouse Bai Ziqi's suspicion afterward, as He Lingchuan was the last person to have contact with Cheng Yu.

Sending out the Nightmare meant a more protracted affair, as the Nightmare would have to infiltrate Cheng Yu's dreams and set a trap to kill him. However, the advantage was that Cheng Yu could still wake up and speak a few words after being brought back to Baishaju.

Yes, that was He Lingchuan's request of the Nightmare.

The Nightmare only acted after Cheng Yu's second unconscious spell, so Bai Ziqi would naturally recalculate the time of the attack, allowing He Lingchuan to clear his name.

Therefore, he almost immediately decided on the latter plan, then wiped the Kujira tree branch containing the Nightmare across Cheng Yu's nose.

Cheng Yu was already unconscious at that point, making it incredibly convenient for the Nightmare to enter his dream. As it turned out, this risky move had paid off.

After Bai Ziqi brought Cheng Yu back, he set up everlasting lamps around him. Any malevolent entity approaching would trigger an alarm.

But the Nightmare had already infiltrated Cheng Yu's dream, so how could it trigger an alarm? Bai Ziqi had only arrived in Baishaju yesterday and immediately gave He Lingchuan a challenge. Yet, he didn't realize that he, too, had been outmaneuvered by He Lingchuan.

As He Lingchuan finished his tune, the fierce tiger Jiaoyu ran over, a cloth-wrapped bundle in its mouth. It looked up at him and said, "The Crown Prince has a gift for you."

He Lingchuan's spirits lifted. He jumped to the ground and took the bundle. "Thank you," he said. Jiaoyu replied, "The Crown Prince said this is confidential. I'll take my leave now." It dared not look at the bundle itself.

He Lingchuan patted the tiger's head, turned to go back inside, closed the door, and set up a barrier before finally opening the cloth bundle.

"Oh, we finally got it!" The mirror let out a whistle. He Lingchuan had no idea how it produced such a sound.

Inside the cloth bundle was a box, and when opened, it revealed a stack of letters. This was the last item Fu Shanyue had promised to deliver: correspondence documenting the Black Jiao patterns.

He Lingchuan had helped him capture Cen Boqing and even included Zhongsun Mou's death, thus exceeding the task Fu Shanyue had entrusted to him. He was fully entitled to the complete reward.

These letters were all in the Crimson Yan King's imperial study, a place where entering meant facing certain death for others, let alone slowly collecting relevant items. Fu Shanyue had only just gained the authority to access the imperial study after being promoted to Crown Prince.

He Lingchuan looked at the items in his hand and gave a wry smile. "Stingy, won't let me get any advantage at all."

There were over a dozen sheets of paper, all with different backgrounds and styles. Besides a few letter pages, some were even torn from different books. Of course, He Lingchuan wanted to read the entire books, but Fu Shanyue had only torn out the sections containing the Black Jiao patterns, likely for secrecy.

After all, these items came from the Crimson Yan King's private study and carried a high degree of confidentiality.

At the top was a long silk scroll. When unrolled, it stretched out like a long banner. Because it had been specially refined, the silk surface only appeared slightly aged, with no signs of worm damage or deterioration.

For the first time, He Lingchuan saw so many Black Jiao patterns gathered together. He counted casually; there were a full eighteen of them.

Each pattern was hand-drawn, and the artist's meticulous brushwork was superb, with every stroke imbued with spirit, making even the Black Jiao's eyes appear lifelike.

Beside each Black Jiao pattern was a note of the location and period when it was recorded.

The earliest could even be traced back 2,100 years to the Yangxing tribe in the Shalian River Basin.

Where was the Shalian River Basin? He Lingchuan thought for a long time before giving up. He decided to note down the place name and look it up later.

He had no recollection of the subsequent addresses either, and their periods were all quite ancient. Then, he saw two Black Jiao patterns from Yuan Kingdom.

Further on, He Lingchuan was once again greatly surprised, as the words "Panlong City" prominently appeared before his eyes!

The last five patterns on this silk scroll all originated from Panlong City.

More importantly, the artist had specifically noted that these five patterns were all drawn from the same Black Jiao emblem in Panlong City, merely at different times.

He Lingchuan quickly calculated: these five patterns were recorded in Panlong Year 3, Year 11, Year 17, Year 24, and... Year 31!

Panlong City existed for thirty-two years, so the fragments chosen by the artist virtually spanned the entire Panlong era, appearing almost like a microcosm of the period.

Why would he do this?

He Lingchuan immediately turned to the end of the silk scroll to check the signature. The artist was named Song Wei, who called himself "Vast Mountain Daoist."

This person claimed that the first ten patterns on the silk scroll were obtained from ancient books or ruins. Only the Black Jiao patterns from Yuan Kingdom and Panlong City were personally surveyed by him on-site while the cities were still thriving and their people lived in peace, making them almost error-free.

This meant that he had personally visited both Yuan Kingdom and Panlong City, and later compiled the patterns he had on hand to create this silk scroll.

Besides the Black Jiao statue near Panlong City's South Gate, He Lingchuan had indeed also seen Black Jiao patterns in the streets and alleys. Xiaopang, a neighbor's child, had even doodled Black Jiao images on walls a few times, though his drawing skills were poor, making the jiao's head look distinctly like a dog's.

He Lingchuan carefully examined the five patterns from Panlong City. At first glance, they all looked the same—of course, they were depictions of the same emblem.

However, Song Wei wouldn't have been so bored as to draw five identical patterns over thirty years just to complete his task.

He Lingchuan calmed himself and looked closer, noting that the five jiao heads still had subtle differences.

The one from Panlong Year 11 had slightly longer pointed horns and two more whiskers than the one from Panlong Year 3.

These tiny changes were so minute that He Lingchuan almost needed a magnifying glass to spot them.

However, the changes in the pattern from Panlong Year 24 were quite noticeable. The jiao's head appeared a size larger than the previous ones, with a longer face, more formidable whiskers, and more prominent brow ridges.

Most importantly, the pointed horns on its head had actually started to branch out!

All Black Jiao patterns He Lingchuan had seen before, including those on this silk scroll and the ones he had personally witnessed in Panlong City and Yuan Kingdom, had two bare, pointed horns on their foreheads!

The branching made them resemble antlers. Or rather, dragons.

He Lingchuan took a shallow breath and looked at the last pattern.

To his disappointment, however, the jiao's head had not evolved further. Instead, the branched antlers reverted to pointed horns, and several strands of whiskers were missing.

It was roughly similar to the pattern from Panlong Year 11.

Over these twenty years, the evolution was effectively nil; it reverted right back by the end.

He Lingchuan then looked at the two Black Jiao patterns from Yuan Kingdom.

The time interval between these two patterns was not long, only half a year and two years, respectively.

After the Yuan King ascended to the throne, inheriting it from the previous demon king, Yuan Kingdom only existed for four years, three of which were spent in warfare. Border management was very strict during wartime, so it must have been difficult for Song Wei to enter Yuan Kingdom. Furthermore, Yuan Kingdom was likely not as welcoming to outsiders as Panlong City, which explains why he only drew two images.

These two patterns also had slight differences; the jiao's head in the second image showed growth compared to the first.

This was very interesting, especially the five patterns from Panlong City, which were like time-lapse photography, documenting the changes of the same jiao head emblem over different periods.

What was the purpose of the Black Jiao patterns, and why did they change?

Like Song Wei, He Lingchuan did not believe these changes were man-made but rather inherent transformations of the patterns themselves.

In Yuan Kingdom, in Panlong City, and even in earlier ancient ruins, what caused the "growth" of the jiao's head?

Song Wei offered his own conjectures.

Perhaps this emblem was a totem used to gather the faith of city residents, much like the omnipresent temples in Beige.

The growth of the jiao's head, in turn, reflected the people's piety towards it.

Or perhaps, this jiao's head was the emblem of a secret immortal organization. With it, a city could receive endless support from immortals. This was because all places where the jiao head emblem had existed were relatively prosperous, as if they had been mysteriously blessed.

Blessed? He Lingchuan pondered.

He was unsure of the situation in Yuan Kingdom back then, but the Chipa Plateau, which Panlong City bordered, was indeed incredibly rich, having everything from grain, minerals, and timber to medicines, furs, and fish. Otherwise, it couldn't have supported Panlong City's military and civilians for so many years.

Beige had repeatedly tried to undermine it secretly but failed every time.

Did the jiao head emblem only appear in prosperous areas, or did the local area become prosperous because of the jiao head emblem? Which was the cause and which was the effect? It was hard to say.

Seeing that Song Wei also had no definitive conclusion, he felt a bit disappointed and proceeded to look through the other materials.

These included various letters, book pages, and personal notes. The paper was usually yellowed and brittle, and would shed powder, so very careful handling was required when turning the pages.

All were old items, years old.

He Lingchuan frowned as he read. The fact that Fu Shanyue could only find these old artifacts indicated that there had been no new breakthroughs in the study of the Black Jiao.

There was even a well-supported theory suggesting that the jiao's head might have been left by some immortal sect, serving as a channel for immortals to communicate with mortals and direct them to seize control of the world.

He Lingchuan also found a battle report sent back by a spy from within Yuan Kingdom, which provided considerable information about Thousand Stars City in Yuan Kingdom. This included recent events in the city, royal decrees, and levels of salaries and prices, all summarized very concisely in a sentence or two.

Surprisingly, it also mentioned the Black Jiao pattern. The report stated that there was a Black Jiao pattern directly opposite the spy's residence. The spy observed it daily but never saw the emblem glow or produce any power.

However, on one occasion, a horse pulling goods on the street lost control and crashed into a wall, cart and all. The wall was not thick and should have been breached. Yet, when the horse slammed into the Black Jiao emblem, its muscles and bones fractured, and the cart broke apart, but the Black Jiao pattern remained perfectly intact.

It was then that the spy realized there was an incredibly subtle barrier around the emblem.