“A bit dusty?”
Crow was momentarily speechless.
“...You look like you just fled a famine in the Western Federation, or fought a war at the Zenith Barrier of the Arctic Circle.”
As she spoke, she glanced at the snapped black spear in Bai Zhou’s hands, her gaze lingering heavily on the gruesome pair of bite marks.
“Besides, I don’t recall anyone ever picking up physical objects inside the Fog of Knowledge.”
With a soft clatter, Bai Zhou set the broken spear onto the table. A few droplets of dark green pus and blood dripped noticeably onto the tabletop.
“It might sound hard to believe.”
Bai Zhou scratched his messy hair twice, trying to flatten the stubborn, unruly cowlick sticking up from the crown of his head.
“I think I took a detour through the Reflected Ruin Realm.”
By some inexplicable instinct, he kept the part about the golden pass to himself.
“The Reflected Ruin Realm?”
Upon hearing this, Crow fell unusually silent for several seconds.
She stepped closer, her iridescent eyes deepening as she quietly held Bai Zhou’s gaze.
...After quite a while, she spoke again:
“Indeed. You do carry the scent of ‘corruption.’
“—An erosion hailing from the dead.”
Without a ripple in her eyes, Crow turned and picked up the water cup from the table.
Under Bai Zhou’s bewildered gaze, Crow began circling around him while tilting the cup—
*Splish, splash...* Droplets scattered as the clear water trickled onto the floor, tracing a circle around Bai Zhou.
Then, Crow raised her slender hand and flicked the sleeve of her trench coat sharply through the air—
With a soft *whoosh*, a splendid streak of fire flashed through midair and vanished, leaving only a wisp of pale smoke rising from the spot.
Before Bai Zhou’s eyes, this hazy vapor expanded, swelling outward... until it suddenly spread out, filling the space.
The cloud of smoke was dreamy and surreal, drifting lightly around the ring of moisture with an undefinable sweetness that seeped strand by strand deep into Bai Zhou’s nostrils.
The room fell dead silent, the stark white ceiling light buzzing faintly. Crow began chanting ancient, peculiar syllables in a low murmur.
She stepped silently to the table, and with a fair, nearly translucent fingertip, lightly dabbed a drop of broth oil from the bottom of the beef ramen bowl.
Then, she reached through the hazy veil of smoke.
The droplet of oil on her slender fingertip pressed coolly against Bai Zhou’s forehead.
She whispered softly:
“O Water—
“Purify the unclean.”
The next instant—
Bai Zhou shuddered violently as a chill like cold water washing down his throat surged through his entire body.
He felt the spirituality within him burgeon.
Suddenly, an ominous wisp of black mist emerged from Bai Zhou’s skin.
As if possessing a life of its own, it wriggled and stretched erratically and terrifyingly in the air.
Almost at the exact same moment, Crow’s chilly, slightly husky voice chanted an intricate incantation in Bai Zhou’s ear:
“*Katharsis*—”
The moment the incantation fell, the black mist hummed, bursting into a brilliant white light from within.
Accompanied by a harrowing screech like the wail of an infant, the black mist dissolved into nothingness.
“What was that?!”
Snapping back to his senses, Bai Zhou felt a lingering wave of terror, a cold shiver running down his spine.
That thing... came from his own body?
—Had “it” followed him back from the Reflected Ruin Realm?
“The ancient Extraordinary, the noble physician, the one who dispelled plagues, severed the serpent staff, and ended the reign of the Cult of Asclepius—[Oath Crown] Hippocrates—concluded thousands of years ago:
“Every restless undead carries a corruption akin to rancor, and this corruption clings to the living.”
Crow’s voice held no inflection whatsoever, her calm tone as if stating common sense like needing chopsticks to eat.
“When it accumulates, on a minor scale it brings illness, and on a major scale it twists the mind, or even one’s fortune!
“Even if your constitution has a high resistance to corruption, you must still be cautious.
“—Though now, I believe you truly returned from the Reflected Ruin Realm.”
As she spoke, Crow slowly knit her brows, scrutinizing Bai Zhou as if deep in serious thought.
Bai Zhou, however, suddenly shuddered.
“Corruption... The Reflected Ruin Realm seems to have corruption as well? Is it the same thing?”
He had lived in Wancheng for so many years; how much of this “filth” had accumulated on him?
No wonder the Special Control Bureau had treated him and the people of Wancheng with that kind of attitude back then...
“The nature is identical, but the quantity differs vastly. Most corruption in the Ruin Realm comes from the natural environmental metabolism of these undead.”
Crow shook her head. “Living in Wancheng for over a decade wouldn’t expose you to as much corruption as encountering a single undead.”
Bai Zhou muttered in his heart.
So the corruption in Wancheng was essentially released by the undead into the entire world’s atmospheric cycle...
Diluted countless times over into...
A fart?
“There is no need to worry, however. SCE is mandatory homework for an Extraordinary,” Crow added. “If you wish to walk far in the occult world, you must develop the habit of regularly purifying your own corruption.”
Bai Zhou was puzzled. “SCE?”
“Sanctification, Cleansing, Empowerment—mystics in the Western Federation abbreviate these three rituals against corruption as SCE,” Crow explained. “Water, oil, and smoke are the keys to such rituals.
“Low-tier Extraordinaries performing SCE might require more precise, demanding ritual conditions, but as the saying goes—
“A qualified mystic should adapt to circumstances at any time and cast rites flexibly according to the materials at hand.
“Just like what I did just now.”
With that, Crow pointed toward the bottom of the nearby beef ramen bowl, then casually pulled a tissue to wipe her fingers.
Hearing this, Bai Zhou touched his chilled forehead, and sure enough, caught the savory aroma of meat broth on his fingertips.
Cooking oil was still “oil.”
—What a marvelous “ritual”!
“You will come into contact with all of this later,” Crow explained. “As long as you study diligently, I have plenty of secret rituals to teach you.”
Bai Zhou blinked.
Hearing Crow’s complete lack of stinginess toward him, he felt a somewhat complex, indescribable emotion inside.
“—However, that is all for later,” Crow said. “Right now, there is an extremely important matter that must be sorted out.”
“What is it?” Bai Zhou turned his head and met Crow’s gaze.
Those eyes remained utterly unrippled, filled only with pure focus.
Without a word, she simply stared intently at Bai Zhou, as if seeing him for the first time.
She looked at him until he felt completely uneasy all over, before finally asking in all seriousness:
“Why did you plummet into the Reflected Ruin Realm?
“—How could it have been the Reflected Ruin Realm?”
The exact same question was asked twice with different intonations.
It was clear Crow’s mood was not nearly as calm as her demeanor suggested.
“Is... is that not allowed?” Bai Zhou asked tentatively.
“Although the Fog of Knowledge lies in the rift between the Reflected Ruin Realm and the waking world, this ‘rift’ is effectively boundless.”
Crow shook her head, her gaze oddly assessing the “slightly dusty” Bai Zhou.
“At the very least, I have never heard of anyone being able to explore the end of the mist.
“—Which means no one has ever fallen from the Fog of Knowledge into the Reflected Ruin Realm while awakening their Fate Principle.”
“Well...” Bai Zhou neither knew how to explain it nor could conceal his mild surprise at Crow’s claim.
He could only blame that golden pass.
“What a pity...”
“Since you accidentally plunged into the Reflected Ruin Realm halfway through, you must have failed to awaken your Fate Principle.”
Crow shook her head gently and unexpectedly took the initiative to comfort Bai Zhou.
“Never mind. You still have me.
“It’s enough that you came back alive. As for the Fate Principle—”
Crow lightly furrowed her brows. “It might be more troublesome, but if I spend a few days pondering it, I should be able to find another remedy...”
Watching Crow frown out of concern for him, Bai Zhou could not help but feel touched.
“It’s all right, Crow. Don’t worry, I—”
Halfway through his sentence, a sudden stab of pain struck Bai Zhou’s forehead.
The pain came on with ferocious violence, threatening to split his head apart, as if a spike had been driven straight into his skull to churn his brains.
It was very similar to the sharp pain he had felt earlier in the Fog of Knowledge, but far more intense.
Having gone through it before, Bai Zhou immediately pinpointed the root of the pain—
That half-formed ancient character branded deep within his mind, lingering stubbornly.
To be precise, it came from the faint crimson glow that had appeared at some point along the character’s edges.
The red light was like maggots, gnawing and eroding the ancient character, looking profoundly ominous.
—Yet the ancient character remained completely unyielding.
It seemed all the red light could do was drool over the character’s surface.
...However, while it could do nothing against the character, it was free to threaten Bai Zhou.
The instant Bai Zhou perceived the red light, another familiar, far more agonizing spike of pain surged in.
Amidst it came chaotic, muffled ravings, sounding as if transmitted from somewhere unimaginably distant.
*When did this get here...* Bai Zhou was stunned and unsettled.
When had this ominous red light appeared?
He had never seen this thing in the Fog of Knowledge at all.
Could it... also have followed him back from the Reflected Ruin Realm?
“What happened?”
A blurred silhouette appeared against the stark white ceiling light.
Crow stepped close, resting her cool, slender hand against Bai Zhou’s forehead.
Gliding her fingertips, she traced several peculiar strokes across his brow.
A refreshing, icy stream poured into his brain, bringing Bai Zhou some relief.
“Your spirituality has been awakened?”
Crow let out a sudden gasp of surprise. “You awakened a Fate Principle?”
“Yeah... I was just about to tell you that.”
Bai Zhou finally let out a long breath, only then realizing his forehead was drenched in cold sweat.
“—But right now, I might be in a bit of trouble.”
With that, he summarized his situation in the most concise terms possible, omitting everything related to the golden pass.
“Half an ancient character? Such knowledge exists within the mist?”
A rare look of astonishment crossed Crow’s face.
“Just how deep into the mist did you go? How did you even get there?”
Everyone else explored the Reflected Ruin Realm on foot.
Did you drive a tunnel-boring machine and dig your way straight down?
“Without question, that red light is indeed eroding your body.”
“Even the purification ritual failed to expel it... It seems its origins are far from ordinary.”
Crow added, “However, I don't believe it comes from the Reflected Ruin Realm; rather, it is intimately tied to the ancient character itself.”
“Then how do I deal with it?” Bai Zhou asked weakly.
“How about this: I’ll write it out for you to see...”
Rallying his spirits, he turned and found a sheet of blank paper and a black TrueColor gel pen on the desk.
Drawing upon the obscure ancient character engraved in his memory, he slowly traced the very first stroke onto the paper, forming a curved vertical line.
Yet in the blink of an eye—
A familiar flash of crimson sparked at the pen tip.
Blood like fine silk seeped densely from the ink stroke, meandering and spreading across the entire sheet of white paper!
Bai Zhou: “?”
Crow’s expression changed abruptly. The crow perched on her shoulder spread its wings with a sharp snap, and the dense esoteric symbols across its feathers lit up one after another.
An invisible domain instantly unfurled like a massive net, blanketing the entire room.
*Buzz—*
Almost at the exact same moment,
With a sudden *whoosh*, the fluorescent light flickered as wind rose from nowhere, conjuring a gust of black gale reeking of blood out of thin air inside the room.
Deep within the black gale, ghastly white lightning crackled and danced wildly.
It was as if ferocious departed souls had been disturbed, wailing and howling from the unseen depths, sending chills down the bone.
“...Enough!”
With her clothes billowing, Crow flashed to Bai Zhou’s side and grabbed his hand—
“You cannot write any more!”
Bai Zhou didn’t need Crow to tell him twice; he was already planning to do just that.
He immediately tossed the pen away.
*Clatter, roll...*
The gel pen rolled across the floor.
—The anomaly instantly subsided.
The wind ceased, the lightning vanished.
The fluorescent bulb steadied, and the ghostly wails disappeared without a trace.
The ink on the paper roiled and bubbled like boiling fluid before the stroke erased itself, and the paper spontaneously ignited without a seam, turning to ash.
The pen stopped; the character vanished.
The world returned to peaceful quiet.
“I find it hard to say whether this is a blessing or a curse,” Crow’s voice rang out coldly in the quiet dormitory.
She slowly released Bai Zhou’s arm, the domain spread around her sending translucent ripples through the air.
“—But if I am not mistaken, this may be forbidden knowledge rejected by the world!
“Ancient, powerful, mysterious, unknowable... these are the words that define them.
“Even I have only ever seen vague, fragmentary mentions of them in ancient texts.”
Stepping over the mess on the floor with a couple of crunches, Crow slowly walked to the side, her voice low.
“Perhaps in the pre-civilization era of the distant past, it possessed an earth-shattering pedigree and recorded unspeakable secrets...
“Yet countless ages later, in the present, the world no longer permits its existence.
“Once it appears or is utilized, it faces obliteration from the world itself!
“As for the red light, it is the world’s natural wear and tear against it...”
Saying this, Crow pointed her fingertips and traced several strokes across Bai Zhou’s forehead.
After a few simple strokes were drawn, Bai Zhou felt a wave of coolness wash over him.
A moment later, when the red light spilled over to erode Bai Zhou again, the cool stream welled up, counteracting the erosion.
“I have no way to get rid of it either; I can only protect your body.
“...However, this ritual must be periodically maintained and reconstructed.”
Crow looked at the still-shaken Bai Zhou before her, her expression exceptionally complex.
At this moment, she suddenly felt that Bai Zhou was somewhat unfamiliar.
Who would believe that merely a minute ago,
this person had actually produced a piece of legendary forbidden knowledge?
Even she had never encountered such a thing.
—Yet just a few hours ago, Bai Zhou had been nothing more than an ordinary person.
Granted, she had long believed Bai Zhou was special.
—Believed in his uniqueness even more than Bai Zhou did himself.
From the very first second she discovered Bai Zhou could see her, she knew he harbored special talents that perhaps even he hadn’t realized.
Yet even so, she never could have anticipated that right after downing her ‘custom handcrafted potion’ and stepping out the door—
he would turn right around and bring back something this monumental!
Beneath the trench coat’s sharp, upturned collar, Crow’s chest rose and fell restlessly.
“Bai Zhou, I’m curious.”
“About what?”
“Although I did mention looking for golden fireflies... I never imagined you would find half of a forbidden ancient character like this.”
Crow looked at Bai Zhou, lost in thought. “—Did it look like a golden firefly in the mist as well?”
“Not really,” Bai Zhou shook his head.
“When I saw it, it was a spark.”
“A spark?”
“Right. Like a flame burning in midair, only it had seven colors, like a rainbow.”
Bai Zhou calmed the chaotic emotions in his heart and let out a breath.
“Capturing it took quite a bit of effort on my part.”
Yet as soon as he finished speaking, Bai Zhou noticed Crow seemed lost in a daze.
“Crow? Crow? Say something.”
“Is something wrong?”
“It’s nothing...”
Crow looked somewhat entranced. She simply shook her head, murmuring the word “spark” under her breath twice.
“...It merely reminded me of an esoteric tale of unverified truth.”
“What tale?”
“A long time ago, by sheer coincidence, I acquired a remnant page of an ancient text. On it was recorded an ancient story filled with occult metaphors.
“—A story about an ordinary man who crossed a mist and found a spark within a shattered altar.”
Mist, spark.
Both Crow and Bai Zhou had to admit that this story bore an uncanny resemblance to his own experience.
Bai Zhou couldn’t help but ask, “And then?”
“At the end of the mist, he saw the shattered altar of the divine age, and from it, he stole a spark containing infinite wisdom,” Crow said. “No one knew the true nature of that spark... People only knew that from that moment on, that man was ordinary no more.
“He brought the spark back, enlightening and baptizing his followers one by one.
“And so, in that Western land, an era of ignorance came to an end.
“A new era was inaugurated, and Extraordinaries, once rarer than legends, gradually spread like a prairie fire.
“—Until at last, they walked upon the earth.”
Having finished, Crow’s expression turned complicated, but she said no more.
“...You really are extraordinary, Bai Zhou.”
After a silence, Crow suddenly sighed with emotion again.
“—Even more extraordinary than I imagined.”
The Crow who had always seemed like an eternal iceberg looked at Bai Zhou—standing before her begrimed in dust, absently patting down the cowlick on his head—her vision blurring slightly beneath the lamplight.
A peculiar mist, an unheard-of forbidden spark.
This very moment,
Mirrored that ancient time.
...Yet there was an unsaid continuation to this ‘blasphemous’ story that she had not uttered.
—Later, that ‘ordinary man’ in the story gradually gained many followers, and eventually, believers.
And later still,
he was reverently called by devout believers of later generations as Emmanuel, the Son of God, the Son of Man, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Bright Morning Star...
—His name was Jesus Christ.
A faint sigh, carrying an inquisitive doubt, slowly slipped from deep within Crow’s throat.
“Jesus...”
Could it really... be so similar?
Chapter 11