Watching the battered swordfish dragon scramble into the white mist, Xifulin fell into deep thought.
This was already the fourth knowledge creature she had encountered tonight.
Generally speaking, Xifulin would run into a special event only once during a night of Void Realm exploration. Most of the time was spent drifting around aimlessly—the Sea of Knowledge was simply too vast and the white mist too dense; unless brought together by the kind of fateful bond meant for a life-or-death struggle, encountering anything upon this ocean was exceedingly rare.
Yet tonight she had run into four knowledge creatures back-to-back, leaving Xifulin wondering whether today happened to be their breeding season, causing them to gather in the vicinity for a mass mating frenzy...
In truth, however, Xifulin knew why she had triggered combat encounters in succession.
Transforming back into a little bat, she waited in place for a moment. Sure enough, she heard that familiar splashing sound again!
Here it came again!
Having heard this sound five times in a row, Xifulin could no longer deceive herself into thinking it was an auditory hallucination.
She could even foresee that so long as she flew in the direction of the sound, she was bound to encounter another knowledge creature! Just like the previous four times!
What on earth was going on?!
Books like *One Hundred Years of the Void Realm, Ten Years of the Sea*, *Poor Sorcerer, Rich Sorcerer*, and *Sailing Ten Thousand Li* never mentioned such a scenario!
The only comparable phenomenon was the legendary "Mermaid's Call": it was said that the Sea of Knowledge was home to a knowledge creature called the female lantern dragon. Its true form was hideously grotesque, but its tentacles took the shape of seductive, sweet-voiced, voluptuous mermaids. When a sorcerer succumbed to temptation and drew near to a mermaid, the female lantern dragon lurking beneath the waves would burst forth, devouring the sorcerer whole in a single bite.
Yet Xifulin had seen no mermaids, nor had she fallen into any traps. It was as if that splashing sound existed purely to guide her toward the nearest knowledge creature's habitat.
She had considered whether another sorcerer was playing a prank on her, but thinking it through, that was impossible—her ultrasonic sonar was already considered a top-tier scouting miracle among the Silver rank. Even so, she could only probe the terrain within three meters of herself; any farther, and the ultrasound would be blocked by the white mist.
And the stretch of sea she had flown across before ambushing the swordfish dragon spanned nearly a hundred meters.
Even miracles of the prophecy or destiny factions could never pierce dozens of meters of white mist. Even if such a feat were possible, it was certainly beyond the abilities of a Silver Sorcerer.
Yet once sorcerers advanced to Two-Winged Gold or Three-Winged Sanctuary, the Gate of Truth they opened could no longer lead to the Sea of Knowledge. The path of a sorcerer was a road of no return; there was never any turning back. Only One-Winged Silver Sorcerers could ever exist within the Sea of Knowledge.
Moreover, she could not fathom why anyone would guide her in the first place—if the other party truly could see through a hundred meters of white mist, their strength would inevitably crush Xifulin. Wouldn't tying her up and taking whatever they wanted be far simpler?
This was the Void Realm. As long as they concealed their identity, the Blood Saint clan wouldn't even have a target to retaliate against.
Thus, Xifulin felt it was far more likely she had triggered some hidden mechanism within the Void Realm, prompting it to actively guide her toward the nearest knowledge creature.
Much like the Vortex, the Void Realm contained numerous inexplicable, enigmatic mechanisms—some appeared at random, while others were accidentally triggered by sorcerers.
Take the Great Road in the Sea of Knowledge, for example. Although the research institute had yet to find a reliable method to trigger it, cross-referenced data revealed that sorcerers who majored in earth sorcery were the most likely to encounter it. In all probability, the actions of earth sorcerers induced changes in the Void Realm that caused the Great Road to manifest.
Xifulin had read an anthology called *Chronicles of the Illusory World*, which detailed many such unfalsifiable Void Realm mechanisms. For instance, throwing a one-winged sorcery spirit into the sea would cause a masked sorcerer to emerge from the waters holding a two-winged sorcery spirit and a three-winged sorcery spirit, asking which one you dropped; if you honestly answered neither, you would receive a reward... Most stories in the book were whimsical tales like this—borderline absurd fantasies of getting something for nothing through bizarre trigger conditions.
Although such mechanisms were virtually impossible to replicate, Xifulin still racked her brain trying to recall what on earth she had done earlier to trigger this one.
Could it be that her earlier comment—"I hope to encounter a knowledge creature"—had been heard by the Void Realm?
"I want to find a fortuitous encounter islet... I want to run into a Vortex... I want to see a Golden Fish... I want to eat truffle Lalafell... I want to condense seven or eight more drops of colorless source blood..." Xifulin muttered under her breath as she flew, hoping the Void Realm would hear her wishes again.
Yet the Void Realm did not seem to hear her prayer. Instead, she caught the faint, agonizing wails of the swordfish dragon once more, as if the creature was being mercilessly thrashed not far away.
This wasn't the first time; the creatures Xifulin had previously defeated had also let out shrill, pitiful shrieks in the distance after fleeing.
Could her newly mastered miracle, Blood Reverse Flow, truly be that formidable? Did it cause knowledge creatures to wail in agony throughout the night, leaving them incapable of recovery even after escaping?
If Xifulin were to fly ten meters to the right, she would see that the fleeing swordfish dragon was currently suffering a tag-team beatdown at the hands of a certain shameless pair. Glaring at the duo before it, an expression of sheer fury that screamed *'So you're the brats who lured the Blood Saint here!'* written across its face, it let out a resentful cry of a tiger brought low to the plains, bullied by dogs, before bursting into a pile of spoils.
Having looted the drop, the small boat silently trailed behind Xifulin along her flight path.
......
...
Blood Moon Country, Shattered Lake Prison.
Waking in her bed, Xifulin stretched languidly, her joints popping with crisp clicks. Due to the sluggish circulation of their blood, the bodies of the Blood Saint clan stiffened quite easily.
If they wished to explore the Void Realm for prolonged periods, members of the Blood Saint clan had to lie inside coffins to reduce oxygen and slow their oxidation rate; otherwise, their entire body would be completely rigid upon waking.
Xifulin began with a warm bath before brushing her teeth and washing her face, ensuring throughout the process that all water remained entirely still. One of the Blood Saint clan's taboos was that they could never touch running water. Touching it would not cause harm, but to a Blood Saint, the sensation was as horrifying and revolting as a steak suddenly wriggling while being eaten.
The taboos a member of the Blood Saint clan had to observe were numerous enough to fill a palm-thick book. In comparison, their best-known vulnerability—fear of sunlight—was merely the most trivial among them.
Despite the myriad restrictions, an endless stream of people still sought to join the research institute to become blood scions. This was not only because the clan's racial talents were immensely powerful, but also because the Blood Saint clan was favored by the Blood Moon Sovereign, reigning as one of the only two ruling races in the Blood Moon Country!
"If I report last night's fortuitous encounter to the research institute, I should earn quite a few research points... but that means having to call Teacher. He'll definitely nag and pester me with questions about everything. Super annoying..."
Letting her mind wander, Xifulin changed into a loose black robe, donned her crow mask, and headed to the exclusive dining hall for healers.
"Good day, Your Grace."
Seeing a passing healer about to bow to her again, Xifulin quickly stopped him. "Didn't I tell you? Normally, just treat me like an ordinary healer. A casual greeting is fine—we aren't outside."
"But..."
"If word of you guys doing this reaches the institute, Teacher will give me an earful for sure. Your number is [137], right? I'll remember that. If Teacher scolds me, I'll be sure to come looking for you."
Panicking, [137] was about to bow again out of fear. "Forgive me, Your Grace, I was only—"
"Hm? Still using honorifics?"
"...Good morning, [222]."
Chapter 81