Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 116: Shadow of Truth

Drip, drip.

Soon, “Peyton” had accumulated a small half bottle. Salaar once again cut open his healed palm and poured flowing brilliance into that bottle. They didn’t merge. The brilliant gold wrapped the liquid into a fist-sized sphere, like a translucent golden egg.

After doing this, Salaar’s face gained a layer of leaden pallor, and he visibly weakened somewhat. He quickly healed the deep wound on his hand, opened the glass cover again, and pressed that egg onto Peyton’s head.

Before everyone’s eyes, that strange golden egg suddenly lost its physical form and slowly melted into Peyton’s forehead. Inside the glass cover, there was no longer any mist filled with Salaar’s magic, yet the color in Peyton’s cheeks didn’t vanish. His breathing was long and shallow, as if he had fallen into deep sleep.

Immediately after, Salaar raised his arm and pressed it over Peyton’s missing right eye.

A sticky sound of flesh stirring rang out. A round eyeball squeezed out from that overgrown rotten flesh. It rolled around twice at random, then returned to a normal position.

But this time, Salaar didn’t immediately stop.

The eyelid of the right eye healed at an abnormal speed, too much, in fact. Flesh stuck together, turning the spot where Peyton’s right eye was into a flat patch of skin, as if an eye had never been meant to grow there.

Immediately after, a sizzling sound of burning rang out.

Above Peyton’s right eye, a strangely shaped mark surfaced. At first glance, it looked like an ordinary burn scar, yet also somewhat resembled a deformed sun.

Compared to the horrifying scar from before, it could almost be called harmless to humans and animals and wouldn’t make anyone feel fear at all.

Myss felt that this thing looked a little familiar. He thought for a while and realized it was exactly the same as the one on Professor Gentry. It was Salaar’s oath magic. It was different from their contract. To put it plainly, it was more like a chain of subordination.

The fluctuation of oath magic spread outward, and Kendrick finally sensed something was wrong. “This isn’t memory processing!”

“Yes. This is an oath branded onto this body.”

Salaar withdrew his hand, his voice cold and deep. “Before Peyton wakes, you must obey me completely.”

Kendrick dangerously twisted the puppet’s head. “But this way, I can’t turn the Divine Realm inside out. It’ll seriously affect my ability to wield my power.”

“Mm?” Salaar cupped his hand behind his ear and deliberately struck a listening pose. “Didn’t we agree you would hide your identity properly? How else do you want to use it?”

“This is a disguised seal.” Kendrick stared fixedly at him.

Salaar shrugged, his face full of “if that’s what you want to think, there’s nothing I can do.”

Seeing that this topic couldn’t continue, Kendrick twisted his neck with creaking clicks. “Also, this sounds like a one-sided oath. What about you?”

“How can you guarantee that you won’t make me do things that harm the body… or that after Peyton wakes, you won’t still control us?”

Salaar said with righteous confidence, “Oh, because I have impeccable character.”

His expression smoothly changed into “I can’t help it if you don’t believe me.” Even Myss had to marvel at how utterly shameless he was.

Mm, this was still the Salaar he knew, quite some distance away from the title “Saint.”

Kendrick looked at that scar, then at Salaar, then back at the scar. “……”

He was silent for a long while. In the end, amid the impact of the puppet collapsing to the ground, he returned to the body. Inside the glass cover, “Peyton” abruptly opened his eyes, a thin layer of anger on his face.

He took a spare cloth eyepatch from his pocket and obediently covered that oath mark.

“When Peyton wakes, I will heal this mark.”

Salaar added at just the right time. “Don’t worry about your brother’s right eye. I will do my best to return a healthy body to him.”

“Do your best?” Kendrick left the glass cover, his expression becoming even uglier.

“Yes. After all, there is a part like ‘you’ affecting his mental health,” Salaar said. “That is the more rigorous way to phrase it.”

Myss: “Pfft.”

Unfortunately, aside from Lord Archdemon, no one else present could laugh.

“Heavens, this is an absolute taboo.”

Tass was dumbfounded. He whispered to Kalen but failed to suppress the volume of a human throat. “I’ve only heard that ancient alchemy had many forbidden practices, but this kind of extraction method for humans is really…” He couldn’t find the words.

“Could Salaar and Myss truly be survivors of the Night Scourge?” Kalen followed human etiquette and responded at the same volume.

Seeing that the frightening couple, no, Salaar and Myss, showed no intention of paying attention to their side, Tass simply continued, “If I have to choose between ‘kin of the Archdemon’ and ‘Saint Salaar and his lover,’ I’d rather it be the latter.”

Although judging by his tone, his emotions hadn’t been comforted at all.

Father Kalen realistically added a bit of psychological pressure for him. “Whichever it is, with V.O.R added on top, too many strange people have suddenly appeared recently. Something major is bound to happen.”

Tass hummed a few times in agreement, though to Myss, that hum sounded a little like, “Why aren’t you counting yourself?”

In any case, their two teammates had no overly intense reaction, so everything could be considered smooth for the time being.

Myss put away his spectator’s mindset and carefully recalled the extraction magic he had just seen, repeatedly breaking it down and imitating it in his heart. Even better, Salaar immediately provided him with an all-new case.

“Now, you can switch the others back,” Salaar said to Kendrick.

At the same time, those ancient puppets seemed to have received an order and curled back to their original places of dormancy one after another. They climbed up those complex pipes like stick insects. At first glance, they looked like part of the complex machinery, impossible to distinguish at a glance.

Kendrick silently raised his hand. Pale-blue magic rippled outward layer by layer.

In the next instant, Tass beside Father Kalen, or more accurately, Tass using “Kai’s” body, staggered, and the expression on his face abruptly changed.

The pocket watch on Myss’s chest moved, and the real Dragon Fae Tass shot out, spinning through the air doing 360-degrees flips. “Ah, yes, that’s the feeling!”

Kai moved his gaze in a daze. “Just now, I only saw the fire go out… Where is this…”

“The top level where the central control room is located.” Salaar smoothly picked up the answer. “We have just undone the body-swap magic.”

Kai took a full two seconds to react, then gave an “oh.” Dizzily, he scratched his hair. “Then right now, my puppet is supporting Mr. Owen… Transporting him up here will probably take some time…”

“Leave him there for now. We have to return to the bottom level eventually,” Kendrick said, clearly not wanting to deal with it. “Even if he were here, he wouldn’t understand anything useful.”

“The bottom of the chimney is full of ash and has no mechanisms. With the Divine Blood Puppet protecting him, nothing will happen.”

Salaar approved this statement. Myss had reason to suspect that Salaar simply wanted the Divine Blood Puppet to remain far away, thereby weakening Kai’s combat power.

Kai’s expression relaxed a little. He readily tacitly permitted the puppet to stay away, and all his attention was drawn by the brightly lit top level.

He stretched out trembling fingertips and lightly brushed them over the complex machinery that had just been operating, his expression a mixture of excitement and frustration.

“As expected of a ruin only discovered now. It’s preserved so well.”

He murmured softly, “Too beautiful. This is an alchemical miracle of the Night Scrouge era, a fascinating creation born from mortal hands yet able to rival clusters of magic circles… Even if you told me it could still operate, I would believe it.”

Everyone else: “…”

It indeed could. It had just operated. Myss held back a snort of laughter.

“I think your Journey to the Old Lands has been very successful. This thing is definitely connected to Saint Salaar. If you go to the central control room, you will certainly find related paper records.”

Kai gently stroked the smooth, cold glass tube as if stroking a lover’s legs.

Everyone else, having just heard Salaar’s confession: “…………”

The thing, or rather, the person with the greatest connection to “Saint Salaar” was elsewhere in the room.

However, this Stargazer could truly be called candid. Kai looked almost mad with joy, to the point that he didn’t treat them like outsiders at all.

“We will take away some records related to ‘Saint Salaar.’ I imagine my family’s test can be successfully passed, correct, Mr. ‘Peyton’?”

Kendrick nodded. He had already restrained that crazed appearance and returned to a calm, cold state.

“As long as you don’t die in the assassination attempts that follow and successfully return to Serpentis,” he said.

Hearing this, Kai immediately lifted his head. “I’ll go with you first. Since you are going to take away some of the materials, I need to record them in advance.”

Seeing Kai in an excellent mood, Father Kalen hesitated in place for a while. Just as Myss suspected the priest was about to dig a hole in the wooden floor with the soles of his shoes, Kalen finally gathered his courage and very “casually” stood beside Kai.

“We all saw the records. This is a ‘Celestial Canopy’ ruin.”

The priest worked hard to make this conversation sound less deliberate. “How unusual. I have never heard of this organization outside, nor have I seen any records about it. I didn’t expect them to have such magnificent ruins.”

“Indeed.” Kai nodded straightforwardly.

This Stargazer retained the last of his reasons and didn’t seem inclined to go deeper into the topic.

“…I wonder what god they believed in during the Night Scourge era.” The priest persevered, continuing so forcefully that even Myss felt it was a little strained.

“Oh, you’re curious about their faith?” Kai finally picked up the thread.

He turned his body sideways and pointed toward the narrow central control room not far away. “As far as I know, over there, there is most likely a ‘Night Scourge Journal’ used for wishing and meditation.”

“Whether or not they were members of the ‘Celestial Canopy,’ humans during Night Scourge always liked using pen and ink to record their dreams and hopes. That thing is most likely to contain prayers to the gods…”

Before Kai’s final word had even landed, the priest shot out.

Myss immediately followed curiously and nearly collided face-to-face with Salaar, who was striding forward.

The two who almost collided immediately steadied their footing and straightened their clothes, looking exactly like a pair of dignified people who knew how to restrain their curiosity. Only, this scene lasted less than two seconds. The two squeezed forward like loaches again, following the priest into the central control room.

Father Kalen had encountered several Abnormal Fruit gods and had still come out unharmed. At this point, even Myss was somewhat curious about that mysterious Order of Shadows.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the “Night Scourge Journal” had been placed in the most conspicuous spot.

It had a hard cover dyed brilliant gold, and a beautiful sun pattern was drawn on the front. It was only a little thinner than an ordinary dictionary. Unlike the gray, gloomy wills, it was bright and warm, like a cluster of firelight deep within ashes.

The priest carefully picked up the journal. Myss and Salaar leaned in from the left and right, their gazes also fixed on the pages.

The wishes written in different handwriting were as ordinary as the wills sleeping in the darkness. However, among the words that flashed quickly past, there was a familiar passage.

[Shadows are not the dark of night. Before the Shadow, there is light. We shall ultimately merge into the Shadow of Truth.]

[May His Veil shroud you, unseen and unharmed.]

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