Devour

Chapter 362 Historical Secrets

Cheng Bai watched the battle unfold and agreed, "This fellow pretends to be a killer, but in reality, he's secretly launching a visible and invisible attack. Anyone deceived by his vision will be brutally tortured by his claws. Master Zhai sees through his hypocrisy and completely suppresses him with a continuous fast attack of visible and invisible!"

The fragments of human skin danced wildly in the air, unwilling to fail. They suddenly reunited and combined into a huge beast shadow, shaking its head and tail, biting towards Zhai Xufei with bloody murderous intent.

The nine beast faces on the strange lanterns hanging high in the sky all opened their bloody mouths, spitting out a gray and gloomy black light, which condensed into a nine-fingered giant claw and headed towards Zhai Xufei.

"Nine-bend gale!" Zhai Xufei roared in a low voice, and nine whirlwinds spewed out from his nine heads at the same time, whistling and swirling and merging into a terrifying long dragon, which swept past with terrifying destructive power.

The human-skinned beast was no match for the tornado's power and instantly shredded and dissipated. The fierce wind continued to surge towards the ghostly claws, and the two powerful creatures collided with a thunderous force. The entire building trembled violently at this moment, creaking in pain, but fortunately, it did not collapse.

The tornado quickly tore through the nine-fingered claws with an invincible momentum, and took advantage of the momentum to tightly cover the nine-faced beast lantern, violently spinning and twisting it countless times.

In an instant, the Nine-Faced Beast Lantern could no longer hold on, and a shrill howl was heard: "Ah ...

Immediately afterwards, the sound of bones breaking and flesh shattering resounded. The enormous lantern plummeted from the ceiling, hitting the floor with a resounding clang. Loose, dried flesh and blood splattered into gray fragments, leaving behind a pool of stinking, black, and yellow pulp.

Wenjin curled her lips and commented, "Even with two moves, this bastard can still hold out for quite a while."

Zhai Xufei didn't want to argue that the Nine-Faced Beast was actually much stronger than the previous two corpse puppets. He laughed dryly and said self-deprecatingly, "My moves are a little rusty! Please excuse my laughter. Hahahaha..."

Once the enemy was eliminated, there was no more hindrance to obtaining the treasure. In the dim light coming in from the window, everyone gathered up their belongings.

Cheng Baimaluer took away all the empty Kangmu money boxes and thought, "Kangmu is very effective in preventing insects. A branch of it burned to ashes last time. Maybe it can be used again in the future."

The team continued down to the second floor, where the hall grew ever wider. The thirty-six enormous bookcases displayed here were all crafted from qingtan, a much cheaper material than those on the upper floors.

"A strong smell of books." Qian Buduo muttered softly but did not dare to be careless. He turned his head to look at the ceiling, then looked carefully at the floor, fearing that an unknown ghost would crawl out of some corner.

On the second floor, rows of moonstone lanterns hung quietly, their soft light creating a peaceful atmosphere, and nothing unusual happened for a long time.

Li Tong said in a chuckle, "What a treasure trove! The bookcases must be filled with great books. Maybe I'll find some rare treasures!"

Cheng Bai slowly pulled out a few books and flipped through them, then said with regret, "They're all miscellaneous records or illustrated books, covering a wide range of professions. It's a shame I didn't see any martial arts manuals."

Ningxiang speculated, "After all, it's quite different from the Sutra Repository. The miscellaneous drawings are stored here, presumably to keep them separate from the secret manuals and scriptures."

Most people weren't interested in the intricate and varied atlases unless they had a specific need. Cheng Bai, however, was the only one who enthusiastically browsed through the shelves, carefully selecting rare books one after another and handing them over to Li Tong to devour.

Zixuan laughed and teased, "No wonder he's treated as a treasure. Turns out he's just a bookworm."

Cheng Bai was quick and nimble, and quickly found a copy of the "Upper True Flying Armor Atlas". He said happily, "This is the refining method for the armor that Min Wushuang wore. It's a rare and precious spiritual weapon of the highest grade, quite good."

Li Tong opened his mouth to nibble on the atlas and said excitedly, "The flying armor is stronger than the regular robes and armor of the same tier! Make sure you're full today."

"There are better ones. Look! It's just a little incomplete." Cheng Bai found another incomplete copy of the "High-level Flying Armor Atlas", flipped through it, and handed it to the inheritance magic cube, feeling a little regretful. "No wonder Min Wushuang didn't wear it. But I've studied this kind of flying armor before, and with a little effort, I should be able to complete it."

Li Tong chuckled and said, "I recorded the reset process in detail so that I can fill in any gaps. I'm confident I can upgrade your equipment in the future."

Ningxiang also picked and chose a few books, but was completely confused and had no choice but to throw the books back to their original places.

It wasn't until she got a copy of "Wu Can Mountain History" and flipped through a few pages that she began to wonder, "It says that the Tu Min Society was originally formed to protect Wu Can Mountain for a living. However, the mountain harbors a murderous aura, and from then on, generations have used the art of killing to vent their inner murderous intent. Why do they insist on thriving in the wilderness? What is the root cause?"

The book was thick and difficult to find the answer. Li Tong leaned over eagerly, drooling, and said, "Let me eat it. I can find the answer immediately."

Seeing how adorable it was, Ningxiang handed the "History of Wucan Mountain" to the inheritance cube for it to chew and swallow.

"Hehe..." Li Tong smacked his lips after finishing his meal, then turned serious and said, "...There's a big secret hidden in this book!"

Cheng Bai asked, "What's the secret?"

Li Tong sorted out his thoughts and said solemnly, "Ten thousand samsara epochs ago, Venerable Bai Lian engaged in a stunning decisive battle with his lifelong enemy in the Northern Wilderness. It lasted for a full forty-nine days! On the verge of exhaustion, he finally defeated this formidable foe, hailed as the foremost of the evil spirits since ancient times."

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment when they heard this. Some remained skeptical, but more looked indifferent.

Wen Jin casually said, "I've never heard of Venerable White Lotus in the Nine-Layered Abyss. He's definitely not some powerful immortal or god. Besides, it took several days of fighting to determine the winner, so his abilities must be mediocre and not worth mentioning."

Cheng Bai was secretly amazed. "How could the Nine-Layered Abyss forces not know about Venerable Bai Lian? The murals in the underground palace of Floating Ice City even record his deeds."

Zi Xuan lazily said, "Venerable Bai Lian is renowned in the Greater Xumi area. He possesses a wealth of knowledge spanning the ages and excels at refining artifacts, significantly influencing future generations. Yet, my ancestors avoided discussing this matter. Perhaps it's due to the divergent paths of humans and demons, and the fickleness of the world. People love to forget the past, so how can we possibly hold onto secrets?"

Qian Buduo was concerned about other things: "Is there any record of treasure left behind?"

Li Tong continued, "I haven't finished yet! This demon god is ferocious, arrogant, and immoral, easily infecting others and making it difficult to kill completely. Venerable Bai Lian even sacrificed one of his hands, transforming it into Wuzhan Mountain to suppress the demon god's corpse at the bottom of the mountain. He then set up a formation and ordered the two boys Tu and Min to keep a close watch on it before returning to the cave."

Jinlian interrupted, "Reverend Bailian is the first Holy Son of the World Honored One, and has many names... Are these Tu and Min the founders of the Tumin Society?"

Li Tong confirmed, "That's right. They gradually developed the village over a long period of time, integrating the bloodlines of the Li and Diao tribes from outside and multiplying over the years, eventually becoming a huge organization."

Ningxiang suddenly realized, "So this is how Tianning Village came to be."

Cheng Bai pondered for a moment, his heart pounding. "Is the leader of the evil spirits more powerful than the Ancient Emperor Qiongqi?" He couldn't help but ask, "Has Venerable Bai Lian never returned to this place since returning to the mansion?"

Li Tong said truthfully, "Some of the records in the book are clear, while others are vague. From the perspective of the villagers who have seen the contents, if Venerable Bai Lian hasn't appeared in ten thousand reincarnations, he must have passed away."

Cheng Bai pondered, "The Tumin Society originated from the lay branch of the Buddha's teachings. Who could have predicted that it would later transform into a major assassin sect? The truth behind the Buddha's blessing turned out to be this. Even the laymen wouldn't believe it when it was spread out."

Beitingjun said nonchalantly, "It's certainly a secret for history, but to people today it's just a forgotten story. Even if someone tells it as gossip, it seems insignificant; after all, it happened so long ago!"

Cheng Bai, however, was entangled in minor details and wondered, "Why isn't this book called 'A History of the Tumin Society' or 'A History of Tianning Village', but 'A History of Wucan Mountain'? In their eyes, could it be that Wucan Mountain is far more important than a sect or a village?"

Zhai Xufei interrupted, "According to the historical description, Wucan Mountain is equivalent to the tomb of that powerful demon god. If it is eerie and ominous, it can explain the doubts."

Cheng Bai pressed on, "What's the name of that demon god, and where did he come from?"

Li Tong said helplessly, "It turns out that several pages of the book are missing. It seems that they were torn up by someone, and the corresponding records are missing."

Kua E's words jokingly said, "I always lose things at critical moments. Most likely one of the villagers tore it up while going to the toilet and used it for emergency purposes."

Cheng Bai felt increasingly puzzled. "The books stored in the Treasure House must be important documents. Who would dare to destroy them?"