Chapter 41
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Chapter 41: Dragon Scale Transformation
Li Hui felt delighted as he carefully tucked away the jade tablet.
“Is it true that you will stay a few days to help me unravel the mystery, sir?” Mu Qianyun asked gently like jade while preparing the dishes.
“It is true, but my situation is a bit special. You must honestly tell me everything you saw today without hiding anything, so I can help you,” Li Hui replied, gazing into her beautiful eyes. They say the eyes are the window to the soul, and he always felt that those eyes could speak.
“This…” Mu Qianyun hesitated slightly. She originally intended to withhold some details, but the clarity and sincerity in his eyes surprised her.
“Am I being hypnotized again? I unknowingly returned to the wooden building, just as I was led to believe. Yet, my intuition has always been accurate—it seems to sense his sincerity. His eyes seem to communicate. Could it be a connection of hearts?” Mu Qianyun dared not think further. She was a married woman, and despite never having met her husband the prince after marriage, nor having seen him more than twice before that, she had to cultivate a sense of stability that was hard-won. Had it not been for marrying the prince amidst family upheaval, the daughter of a fallen official could have been sold to a brothel…
“Alright, I promise to reveal everything I saw,” Mu Qianyun said, avoiding Li Hui’s gaze and sincerely recounted the bizarre scenes she witnessed after opening the door today, including ghostly faces, black beads, the broken dragon robe, and her longing to meet the prince she had only wished to see for three years.
“The prince?” Li Hui frowned, deep in thought.
After a moment, he pressed the Spirit Sense Talisman to his forehead and peered deep into the ground. “The prince you mentioned, is he around twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with slightly connected eyebrows, thin lips, and wearing a golden ring inscribed with the character ‘Hao’ on the third finger of his right hand?”
“What? You have seen the prince?” Mu Qianyun hurriedly stood up, her gaze fervently fixed on Li Hui.
“I have seen him, but…” Li Hui hesitated, unsure of how to explain.
That prince was clearly a ghost! Perhaps he had previously used secret techniques to seal his soul and sunk into the mass grave without knowing why. However, from her description, it was likely that the silver snake bracelet had something to do with this ghost prince’s predicament.
The issue lay with that broken dragon robe, which was likely a magical artifact or treasure suddenly caught up by the silver snake. What came next was self-explanatory.
“Please feel free to speak honestly; I can handle it…” Mu Qianyun, being exceptionally intelligent, began to grasp the ominous answers lurking beneath his words.
“It seems you have an ominous premonition. Since you are honest with me, I will be honest with you as well.” Li Hui felt it was time to clarify the situation. After considering his words carefully, he spoke. “This wooden building is set up as a formation of corpses. Besides the room where you and your maid slept, everywhere else is filled with dead bodies, and there are even more buried underground. That prince is at the center of the mass grave, and he’s been dead for some time. His soul was likely sealed in that dragon robe you saw, and I accidentally stumbled upon this place, so whatever those in the royal palace intend to do will not succeed.”
“Dead? Sealed? He is buried beneath the wooden building?” Mu Qianyun slumped to the ground. Although she did not want to accept it, she indeed saw the silhouette of the prince today—his last farewell filled with long-held regrets and unfulfilled aspirations…
Tears dripped down as she sobbed silently. The two sat there in quietude. Li Hui had felt sadness on the battlefield before, but this sorrow was different—indescribable, profound, his heart ached faintly.
Time passed for an entire hour; Mu Qianyun, pale-faced, slowly stood and walked outside. Just before exiting, she suddenly turned back and said, “I want to thank you for allowing him to find peace! The Hidden Sky Sect is looking for someone; I will do my best to help you.”
Li Hui raised his cup and drank it in one gulp. The dishes had gone cold, but that didn’t matter—he just needed some wine.
The surroundings were silent. The illusions experienced that afternoon were still fresh in his mind, but no matter how much exquisite wine one had in a dream, it could not compare to the glass of light wine in his hand.
“Tranquility brings depth. A heart at rest is like still water; hidden behind prosperity is stillness, and the path of cultivation is often lonely. The path of talismans is not about bravado and cruelty; it is not empty and hollow. The talisman is the book of heaven and earth, the true essence of the universe. As long as I have another day to live, I will seek knowledge above and below.” Li Hui found himself filled with infinite longing for the path of talismans for the first time. This was likely related to the repair of the jade tablet today, diluting his obsession with magical artifacts and treasures as he felt the greatness of the path of talismans unfold before him, opening up a new world like the opening of heaven and earth.
As the last sip of wine went down, that sensation suddenly magnified, and his whole body crackled and tingled. All his meridians overflowed in an instant, as if a little mouse was scurrying about, making his back itch uncontrollably, and he felt his body swell tremendously.
“Boom!”
His shirt ripped into pieces and flew away as Li Hui gasped heavily, reaching behind him, unsure if he could believe what he felt. His hands were covered with something sharp and pointed, rough yet smooth.
At that moment, a transformation spread; his shoulders turned golden, and small diamond-shaped scales spread across his arms.
“What is happening? Why did the third Spirit Motion mark suddenly transform into Dragon Scale pattern?” Li Hui shook his head. “No, this large area of Dragon Scale pattern is more than just that; it seems to connect with the Dragon Claw pattern and has likely evolved into the Dragon Body pattern! Those twenty-three Miao Jade pieces were not wasted; I wonder why they exploded now.”
As the activation gradually subsided, the Dragon Scale pattern extended down to his hips.
This coverage area surpassed many written records, but another transformation occurred.
With every breath, Li Hui felt a heaviness in his chest, as if he would suffocate in the next moment, forcing him to gasp for breath, yet he struggled to do so.
“Come out! All of you!”
On the brink of losing control, Li Hui waved his arms, his hands clawing as golden flames rose from the ground in a mysterious manner and were pulled into his mouth—he felt an instant sense of relief.
“What happened to me?”
At this moment, Li Hui noticed something unusual; scales started to appear on his chest.
“Fourth Spirit Motion mark? How is that possible? The third and fourth marks activated at the same time?” The golden flames emerging from the floor multiplied, and with just a guess, he knew this was extraordinary. He initially thought that the third and fourth marks were also Dragon Claw patterns, which would surely grant tremendous power, but it unexpectedly transformed into the Dragon Body pattern.
The Dragon Body pattern was excellent; it was an enhanced version of the Dragon Scale pattern, capable of increasing resistance in various areas, perhaps even resisting the root causes that would shorten his lifespan.
As the activation of the fourth mark was about to finish, Li Hui remembered to use the Spirit Sense Talisman to take a look.
This nine-patterned anomaly Spirit Sense Talisman could be used a few more times without issue. It truly was an essential helper for any need.
However, just a glance left him bewildered. All the corpses in the wooden building’s hidden layers had vanished, reduced to scraps. The area beneath the wooden building became even more startling; the mass grave was quickly dissolving. The key issue was that the pit was far too large, and the wooden building could collapse at any moment above it.
