Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 410 - 361: Spirit Communication

Chapter 410: Chapter 361: Spirit Communication
Huh?
Li Ang raised an eyebrow and flipped back to check the information on the book cover.
This book was published during the Wucheng Era of the Former Sui, authored by an elder of the Hidden Sect Zhao Yao Que.
Alright, that makes sense.
Li Ang was no longer surprised.
The Former Sui Sects, especially the Demon Sect, had a habit of abusing Mutated Objects and even fusing directly with Aliens.
While doing so could indeed enhance one’s Cultivation, it could also cause physical and mental issues, ranging from minor bodily deformations to, in severe cases, losing one’s sanity, losing oneself, and turning into a demon.
To avoid becoming savage demon beasts, some Cultivators who fused with Aliens would make it a habit to keep diaries.
They would write down every detail about their origins, family, life experiences, Cultivation experiences, what they did each day, whom they met, what they said, what they ate, and their thoughts.
In this way, if one day the Alien began to erode the host’s sanity, they could still remember who they were by reading the diary.
The Hidden Sect Lihua Valley, famous for its Qihuang Medical Skill, would even interpret these Demon Cultivators’ diaries to stabilize their personalities—acting as psychologists, in a sense.
Another madman’s diary, is it...
Li Ang rubbed his forehead, feeling somewhat troubled.
During the Academic Palace’s purge of the remaining Sect remnants, they had also seized a large number of secretive diaries.
These books had some value—after all, they were written by Cultivators and contained Sect secrets unknown to outsiders.
But who in their right mind keeps a diary?
The greater the threat from Aliens and the more precarious a person’s mental state, the stronger their desire to write a diary, and the more chaotic the logic of their sentences tends to be. Disjointed and jumbled, the writing is often a stream of consciousness that goes beyond typical stream of consciousness. For a normal person, reading it is pure torture.
Not to mention, these secretive diaries often mixed in unique codes, metaphors, and riddles from each Sect. To interpret them, one would first have to learn the customs of that Sect.
They were truly tasteless to consume but also regrettable to discard. The seniors at the Academic Palace had no choice but to seal these diaries and leave them to gather dust in a corner of the Book Collection Pavilion, to be consulted by Doctors looking to conduct research.
As expected, this diary was no different. In the first few pages, it spoke of the meaning of life, but it later descended into the ravings of a madman.
"The poor of Sui Country are pitiable, but they also have detestable traits, and they never adapt. If they can’t afford food, why not eat meat? If the family has no money, why not rent out the carriage?"
"Strange, why do the ancient people I dig up from graves only have bones with no flesh?"
"Today I discovered something amazing. It turns out that all people who have ever died had drunk water. It seems that water is indeed a slow poison."
The following pages contained several more ramblings before abruptly coming to a stop. It was clear that the elder’s erosion by the Alien had been intensifying until he finally lost his sanity altogether and ceased to write in the diary.
It seems the Academic Palace keeps so many Demon Cultivator diaries on the third and fourth levels in the Forbidden Book section to also serve as a warning to the Academic Palace Disciples, showing them the tragic end that comes with fusing with Aliens.
Li Ang sighed, closing the book. He had already fused with Mo Si; it was too late for any warnings.
He continued to browse through other Forbidden Books. In addition to the diaries of Demon Cultivators, these included the mad secret techniques of Former Sui Sects. Examples were: peeling the skin from animals and, while still fresh, covering someone with it to temporarily turn them into livestock; putting people into vases with only their heads sticking out from the opening, subjecting them to immense pain in exchange for a kind of prophetic ability; or talismans that were incomplete and whose risks were unknown. There were also bizarre, truth-uncertain stories of mutations.
FLAP, FLAP.
Li Ang flipped through the pages quickly as the sunlight outside the window gradually faded. He didn’t realize evening had arrived until the Haotian Bell rang.
"Phew—"
Li Ang stretched his limbs, put the notes he had taken today back into his pocket, then climbed the ladder to return all the borrowed books to their proper places on the shelves.
Recently, he had been coming to the Book Collection Pavilion every day. The Mountain Master seemed to be hiding something and hadn’t revealed the truth, nor had he allowed the Supervision Department to help investigate. Consequently, Li Ang had to rely on himself to find and collect any information possibly related to Mo Si.
Another day of scant rewards.
Li Ang sighed inwardly. He was about to put the Demon Cultivator diary back in its place and climb down the ladder when he felt a movement at his chest.
It wasn’t Mo Si trembling, but rather the piece of Spirit Summoning Paper hidden beneath Mo Si that was gently quivering.
"Hmm?"
He frowned. The Spirit Summoning Paper was something he had acquired from a market bookstore shortly after joining the Academic Palace—originally tucked within an old copy of the Du Gongbu Collection.
For so long, the Spirit Summoning Paper had lain dormant, never stirring. Until now.
Li Ang pondered for a moment. He had already told the Mountain Master about the Spirit Summoning Paper, but the Mountain Master hadn’t shown any particular reaction. Therefore, Li Ang had continued to keep the Spirit Summoning Paper, the Bitter Realm Lotus, and other key Mutated Objects in the Mo Si interlayer, bringing them into the Academic Palace.
CRINKLE, CRINKLE.
In the Mo Si interlayer, the Spirit Summoning Paper spontaneously curled, one corner turning up to point in a certain direction.
Li Ang frowned, glancing towards the entrance of the Book Collection Pavilion’s third floor. School was over, and the pavilion was nearly empty; no one was paying him any attention.
...Where are you taking me?
Though puzzled, Li Ang still followed the Spirit Summoning Paper’s directions, maneuvering the sliding ladder this way and that until he reached a darkened corner.
Here lay the least frequently borrowed books in the Book Collection Pavilion. They didn’t even qualify as the ramblings of Demon Cultivators, but were rather worthless textual refuse.
Examples included poetry collections self-published by literati of the Pre-Sui Period and family genealogies compiled by local magnates merely for show.
These books were shelved here largely because they were considered Pre-Sui historical materials, and nothing more.
FLAP.
Following the direction indicated by the Spirit Summoning Paper, Li Ang’s fingertips brushed over the cover of each book, finally pausing on one without a name.