Yun Qishen

Mo Li picked up the bamboo slip and examined it for a moment. Although Yan Cang seemed surprised, Mo Li wasn't particularly delighted. After all, it was better to settle down in the present than to indulge in curiosity about the future.

He paused slightly, his hand tracing the edge of the bamboo slips. "These marks look like they were recently damaged..."

Suddenly, a surge of blue ghostly power erupted from the bamboo slip. Mo Ruo flung the bamboo slip, which was covered in ghostly power, away, grabbed Yan Cang's wrist, and ran out of the library. "This has Uncle San's ghostly power on it! We have to get out of here quickly!"

Meanwhile, on Mo Wangchuan's side, Mo He was controlling the flow of ghostly energy at the center of a powerful magic array, which was currently located deep within a dark and damp cave. The surroundings were pitch black, illuminated only by the limited area glowed by Mo He's blue ghostly energy. The ghostly energy surged continuously towards a stone door, behind which seemed to be something extraordinary sealed.

The ghostly power within the magic array was slightly chaotic. Mo Wangchuan looked at Mo He and spoke softly. The environment of the cave amplified the oppressive feeling in Mo Wangchuan's eyes, "He'er, is something wrong?"

Mo He repositioned himself to maintain his spellcasting power, saying, "It's nothing, Father. I simply set a trap at home, and a fish took the bait."

"You're still dealing with that matter?" Mo Wangchuan sighed. "It's all in the past now, so you don't need to worry about it anymore. Focus on the present. Once we summon this ghost beast servant, it will definitely help us realize our plan. Soon we'll be able to refine the ghost beast feast for our own use."

Mo He smiled and said, "Father always has a better way to achieve our goals!"

“Focus.”

"Yes."

-

Mo Li quickly began preparations after leaving the library. He sealed Mo Langqin in the center of the magic array and then used ghost beasts to protect the entire room.

The next step is to enter Mo Langqin's memories to find his consciousness.

"Brother Mo Li, be careful." Mo Ruo was also called over by Mo Li to help. Although Mo Wangchuan had told him not to interfere, he would still listen to Mo Li.

Mo Li patted Mo Ruo on the shoulder, "Don't worry, I'll be careful. I'll leave the rest to you, Mo Ruo. If Uncle San and the others come back, remember to forcefully pull my consciousness back."

"Understood, Brother Mo Li." Mo Ruo nodded firmly.

Mo Li sat cross-legged, his hands performing the hand gestures indicated in the "Demon Arts" manual. Red ghostly power flowed back and forth between his hands, and finally, along with Mo Li's consciousness, it struck Mo Langqin's brow.

"Mo Langqin's consciousness is escaping, perhaps lost in some irretrievable memory..." Mo Li felt his own consciousness drifting, completely devoid of reality. This wasn't the first time he'd used his consciousness to explore someone else's memories, but this was truly the first time he'd felt this way. Nothingness, yes, that was the feeling of nothingness, as if everything ceased to exist, including himself.

When Mo Li opened his eyes again, his consciousness was already in Mo Langqin's sea of ​​memories. He first attached ghost power to the ground according to the method in the book, and then he looked up and saw that everything around him was pale. "There is nothing here... Where could Langqin's consciousness be? This place is really too strange."

Mo Li had never seen such a consciousness before; it was pale and blank, like an unborn baby, without any memory.

【Never leave.】

Mo Li suddenly opened his eyes wide, because he heard a very nostalgic and extremely gentle voice calling out. It was a woman's voice, and just hearing the voice made him think of those red lips and those warm palms.

"That voice is..." Mo Li suddenly looked in the direction from which the voice came, but there was no one there.

"[Over here, don't go the wrong way.]" The voice fled in another direction, prompting Mo Li to set off in pursuit. That voice was definitely her mother's! But how could it be in Mo Langqin's memory?
Mo Li, filled with questions, repeatedly tried to pinpoint the direction of the sound.

【Over here! Over here!】

The voice was full of maternal love and childlike innocence, like someone teasing a baby.

The sound quickly disappeared, and Mo Li stopped in front of a boy with messy hair. The boy was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, looking like a prisoner. His fluffy and messy curly hair made him look very slovenly, but his face was indeed Mo Langqin's face.

"Mo Langqin?" Mo Li wasn't sure either, after all, this child gave him a very different feeling from Mo Langqin.

"No, that's not me! You're looking for that one! That one!" The child pointed to a door that was half-open, inside which sat a boy in a short-sleeved shirt, holding a carving knife as if he were carving something. "Hey! Young master, someone's looking for you!"

Mo Li didn't quite understand why such a strange person would appear in Mo Langqin's memory, but he still followed the child's guidance and approached the door.

Before Mo Li could speak, Mo Langqin's voice came from behind the half-open door, "Brother Mo Li..."

"What are you doing?" Mo Li opened the door completely.

Mo Langqin turned around and smiled slightly at Mo Li. He waved the carving knife and the half-carved wood in his hand, "As you can see, I'm carving wood."

“This is my mother…” Mo Langqin put down a wooden puppet.

“This is my father…” Mo Langqin then put down an even larger wooden puppet.

These puppets have no faces, and even their shapes are only roughly carved.

Mo Li's expression remained calm, but he knew perfectly well what Mo Langqin's attitude meant. He moved closer and extended his hand to Mo Langqin, "Yan Cang and Mo Ruo are waiting for you. Come back with me."

Mo Langqin gently put down the carving knife in his hand, turned around and knelt down, looking up at Mo Li and the hand Mo Li extended. He was calm and composed, his tone gentle, "Actually... you don't need to deceive me so kindly. I know that wasn't Yan Cang. The real Yan Cang has already been refined and absorbed by me. You can go back and tell Bai Ying to go and do what she wants... I won't go back."

"Why are you running away?" Mo Li questioned.

Mo Langqin didn't look at Mo Li again, but simply picked up the "mother" puppet again and held it in her palm. "This isn't a matter of running away or not..."

"But aren't you just running away like this? Lang Qin, you're not a weak-willed person."

Mo Li's persuasion had no effect, and Mo Langqin remained unmoved.

“Brother Mo Li, I thought you could understand me. I don’t deserve to live… My life was given to me by my mother. She sacrificed so much to keep me alive, this outcast. But what have I done? You know the answer now!”

Mo Langqin's hands stroked the surface of the puppet back and forth. "There is nothing more painful than the repeated separation of mother and child, and nothing more despairing than killing one's own parents! How can you expect me to go back? What face do I have to go back..." (End of Chapter)