Chapter 74
Chapter 74
Inside the office at Mingjiang No. 7 Special School, everyone remained silent long after Xun Fayin revealed the answer.
Even Shi Xuan and the others were shaken.
They had sensed fragments of the truth before, but like blind men feeling an elephant, they had never been able to determine Li Que’s true intention.
Only now, after Xun Fayin-an outside observer-laid bare the reason, did they finally understand.
“So that was it…”
Leng Qingyan was deeply shaken. No wonder Li Que was helping his students become gods. He was imitating the Divine Gate!
“What a grand vision. Truly, what a magnificent undertaking…” Shi Xuan marveled.
Only after the curtain rose could they perceive the breathtaking scale of Li Que’s scheme.
Qin Shiyu remained silent for a long while. Then she slowly exhaled and looked at Xun Fayin.
“Since you have recognized the truth, Director Xun, we would like to know what path the Xun family intends to take.”
Xun Fayin’s expression was equally solemn.
“May I meet the master of this place?”
His eyes were filled with anticipation.
When he had connected clue after clue and finally reached the real answer, even he had been profoundly shaken.
The Old-Grave Clans in the capital dared at most to find one or two gods who had received divine investiture and send them to test the Divine Gate.
Who would dare be this direct? Build a New Divine Gate and welcome back the old gods!
The audacity and scope of the plan were earthshaking.
“I’m afraid that will not be possible for now,” Qin Shiyu said. “You may negotiate with us first, Director Xun.”
Xun Fayin was disappointed, but he also found the answer perfectly reasonable.
How could someone capable of setting such a plan in motion be met so easily?
“Our objectives are the same. We both seek to oppose the approaching Black Mist Calamity,” Xun Fayin said. “The Xun family can therefore assist you.”
“I have already examined the school. It has formed an occult configuration, but if you intend to welcome the old gods, you must construct an altar from anomalous stone steeped in incense offerings. The Xun family happens to possess a supply.”
“No matter how powerful the master of this place may be, I believe those stones will still prove useful to him.”
“In addition, I can use official channels to register Mingjiang No. 7 Special School as a research base for special anomalous entities. That would prevent other parties from disturbing you.”
Both offers showed considerable sincerity.
Qin Shiyu and Leng Qingyan exchanged a glance. Leng Qingyan nodded.
“We will convey your proposals to the master of this place.”
“Whether he agrees remains his decision. Please wait for our answer, Director Xun.”
Xun Fayin nodded. “Very well. I will remain in Mingjiang City.”
He rose and took his leave.
Shi Xuan and the others departed with him. Before they left, Leng Qingyan quietly informed Shi Xuan and Xu Changjiang that Li Que had approved their applications for nominal school positions. She discreetly slipped each of them a staff ID card.
The instant the cards entered their hands, both men shuddered. They felt the heart-stopping presence of an anomalous entity!
“I understand! Is this why Senior Abyss and the Wraith-Mother could so easily suppress the Xun family’s Old-Tomb Joss Paper?”
Realization struck Shi Xuan.
Shen Yuan and the Wraith-Mother had both been wearing staff ID cards today. They had been different from before!
“This thing defies the heavens…” Xu Changjiang murmured inwardly.
The Wraith-Mother was only an A-class anomaly, yet she had treated Old-Tomb Joss Paper as trash. Now he and Shi Xuan possessed the same objects.
For the first time, Xu Changjiang felt confident in facing the increasingly complicated situation in Mingjiang City as director of the Anomaly Suppression Bureau.
…
Before long, Shi Xuan escorted Xun Fayin and the others out of the campus.
“Senior Abyss, please forgive my earlier disrespect,” Xun Fayin said gravely when they passed the security booth.
Shen Yuan chuckled.
“This old man’s name is Shen Yuan!”
He pointed at his staff ID card.
Xun Fayin nodded. “The role-playing method… I once heard the elders of my family speak of it. I never imagined it truly worked.”
“We’ll return to pay you another visit, Senior.”
With that, he and Xun Silu left.
Once inside their car, Xun Silu asked uncertainly, “Brother, are the people in that place really so powerful?”
The school had genuinely intimidated him. If even Abyss had become a security guard, what level had the mastermind behind this place reached?
Xun Fayin considered the question.
“He was probably very powerful once. Now, however, that may not be the case.”
“The ability to shape a site like this suggests he understands the former Divine Gate extremely well. He may even be one of the Refugees who escaped from that place.”
“But the fact that he needs the role-playing method to conceal himself means he still fears those things in the darkness. The more seriously he teaches and the more effort he devotes to his role, the weaker he must be.”
Xun Silu froze, then understood all at once.
“Brother, you mean the master of Mingjiang No. 7 Special School… is that teacher surnamed Li?”
He remembered that when they passed one particular classroom, Xun Fayin had paused and looked inside.
Xun Silu knew his cousin well. Xun Fayin would never pay attention to something without reason, so he had also glanced inside. He vaguely remembered a class with only a few students whose timetable was almost entirely filled by a teacher surnamed Li.
“Mm. He teaches more earnestly than anyone else in the school,” Xun Fayin said. “Would any normal teacher work that hard at an unsupervised school instead of slacking off?”
“Furthermore, the God-Sensing Anomaly Bone in my body reacted when we passed his classroom. The Water God and Dream God who recently received divine investiture in Mingjiang City should both be his students.”
Xun Silu came to a realization, then brightened.
“In that case, the man surnamed Li can be no stronger than a worshipped anomaly right now?”
Xun Fayin nodded. “He may be even weaker. No one at the school is offering incense or worship, after all.”
SSS-class was not the limit for anomalies.
Beyond it existed another kind of anomaly, one that had learned to survive by relying upon human hearts and human nature. Such anomalies often depended on human offerings, worship, and incense to sustain themselves.
They generally possessed two defining traits.
The first was spirit descent: the ability to transcend distance and directly grant a measure of power to their worshippers. Divine possession and the consecration of objects were both manifestations of spirit descent.
The second was resurrection. Even if such an anomaly was killed, it could rekindle and return so long as people continued to worship it.
Anomalies beyond SSS-class were divided into three levels: worshipped anomalies, temple anomalies, and karmic anomalies.
As the name suggested, a worshipped anomaly primarily grew slowly through human sacrifices and offerings. Its scale was small, often limited to a single family or village.
A temple anomaly had advanced further. It could bury itself along a crucial ley line, forming a great tomb or temple that absorbed belief from every direction.
Once a temple anomaly grew powerful enough to possess karma of its own, it became known as a karmic anomaly.
These three kinds existed far beyond the realm of ordinary anomalies and were collectively honored as the divine-anomaly sequence. Among common people, they were often directly called gods or immortals.
Mastering divine authority was only the first step toward becoming a divine anomaly. The true measure was whether the anomaly possessed sacrifices, incense, and worshippers.
From that perspective, Abyss, the Dream God, and the Water God could only be considered quasi-divine anomalies.
Xun Silu was delighted because if the master of this place was merely a worshipped anomaly-or perhaps something even weaker-he still amounted to little before the Old-Grave Clans.
Then another thought occurred to him.
“Wait, Brother. If he’s only a worshipped anomaly, how could he suppress our Old-Tomb Joss Paper?”
“This school has already formed an occult configuration,” Xun Fayin replied calmly. “It may still be far inferior to a tomb or temple, but at least it has become a domain of its own.”
“It is perfectly normal for the power of the entire domain to overwhelm a few sheets of Old-Tomb Joss Paper.”
Xun Silu’s doubts disappeared completely.
“Brother, that Qin Shiyu smells wonderful. Incredibly wonderful,” he said without hesitation. “I suspect she’s some kind of natural worship vessel.”
“If I can obtain her, I’ll definitely be able to enter the Old Grove one day…”
Xun Fayin’s expression darkened.
“Silu, the clan sent you with me so you could temper that personality of yours. Don’t act recklessly!”
Xun Silu looked indignant, but his eyes darted once and he unexpectedly suppressed his displeasure.
“Fine. If you say no, Brother, then I won’t do it.”
Xun Fayin nodded.
“I need to handle the application to designate Mingjiang No. 7 Special School as a special anomaly research base. Contact the clan and have them prepare a supply of anomalous stone. Send it here as soon as possible.”
Although Mingjiang No. 7 Special School had not yet formally accepted the proposal, Xun Fayin was confident the cooperation would proceed.
Before long, he left to handle the Anomaly Wielders’ Alliance’s official procedures. Xun Silu walked off alone and made a quiet phone call.
“Yes. My cousin said the other party probably escaped from that place. He should be nothing more than a worshipped anomaly now…”
He swiftly reported everything that had happened.
“Father, I think Xun Fayin is far too rigid. These things should belong to the Xun family in the first place. Oh, and there’s a woman here who smells wonderful. She should be a natural worship vessel…”
His tone was openly dismissive of Xun Fayin.
Although he acted close to his cousin, his true feelings were entirely different.
The other end of the call fell silent for a moment. Then a voice replied.
“You’re right. The Divine Gate in Jiangdong Province is of tremendous importance. Perhaps the beings inside really did discover something back then. It would be best if the Xun family alone controlled all of it.”
“I’ll send people to assist you. We’ll tamper with the anomalous stone and eliminate everyone inside the school without anyone realizing what happened. Then you will take control of the school.”
The voice was cold and indifferent.
Xun Silu was overjoyed.
…
At Mingjiang No. 7 Special School, Li Que listened to Leng Qingyan’s explanation in surprise.
“An outside family wants to support the school by improving our infrastructure?”
“Yes, the Xun family,” Leng Qingyan replied. “They want to cooperate with the school.”
Li Que smiled. “Of course. We’d be happy to cooperate!”
It could only benefit the school’s development.
Leng Qingyan nodded. “Very well. I’ll send them our answer.”
“By the way, Teacher Li, Shen Yuan’s grandson has arrived at the school. His name is Ji Tian. Dean Qin has gone to meet him.”
Li Que nodded. Shen Yuan had personally discussed the matter with him before, so he was prepared.
“Class will be starting shortly. He can go straight to the classroom.”
…
At the school gates, a boy stood with a dull, vacant expression. His clothes were drenched, as though he had just swum out of the river.
In reality, a gigantic monstrous fish had spat him out of the Mingjiang River only an hour earlier.
“Young Master, you’ve finally arrived…”
Shen Yuan stepped forward involuntarily and gently straightened the boy’s disheveled hair. Tender affection appeared on his aged face.
“It’s all right. Everything will be better now that you’re here. Those anomalous things will never dare possess you again. You’ll never have to suffer again…”
The boy shuddered violently. Terror and panic filled his voice.
“The Ji family… Anomalies. So many anomalies! So many anomalies want to possess me! I don’t want them!”
Shen Yuan hurriedly placed a large hand against his forehead and silently chanted something. Before long, the boy returned to his vacant calm.
Qin Shiyu watched in astonishment.
“He belongs to the Ji family’s Guan Jiang Shou lineage?”
“Senior Shen… Are you the worshipped anomaly of the Ji family’s former main line? No, their worshipped deity?”
…
Meanwhile, at the villa in the suburbs, Ji Fengming sneered calmly.
“When the Divine Gate collapsed, only people like us remained.”
“Who besides us knows anything about the Divine Gate, much less how to imitate the Old Divine Gate and build a New Divine Gate?”
“Everyone, our Guan Jiang Shou lineage still has a living god inside the Divine Gate. My son, Ji Yun, has already successfully invited that god to possess him once.”
“So long as you follow the Ji family, we will one day restore the glory of the Divine Gate!”
He radiated confidence.
Yin Rumei’s expression darkened.
She had gathered the Refugees again because she wanted them to join the plan surrounding Mingjiang No. 7 Special School. She had never expected the Ji family to appear and steal control of the gathering.
At last, she took a deep breath.
“If you don’t believe me, why not come with me to Mingjiang No. 7 Special School and see for yourselves?”
She trusted that once everyone entered the school, the truth would become self-evident.
…