Nine Desolate Records

Xun Wenruo's quiet room is located at the deepest part of Bailu Academy, backed by an old bamboo forest.

This wasn't the elegant kind of bamboo grove; the bamboo here grew jagged and menacing, its joints twisted like coiled snakes, the edges of its leaves serrated, rustling softly in the wind. There were no paths through the bamboo grove, only a narrow trail worn into the ground, paved not with stone slabs, but with some kind of dark red gravel, soft and silent underfoot.

As Lu Li walked along this road, he felt the dark mark on the back of his shoulder throbbing more and more rapidly.

It wasn't a warning; it felt more like a resonance.

He stopped and looked down at the pebbles at his feet. Morning light filtered through the bamboo leaves, making the dark red pebbles appear moist. Upon closer inspection, he could see extremely fine golden threads embedded within the pebbles, which were still trembling slightly, like the nerves of a living creature.

These aren't pebbles, they're blood clots.

Vast swaths of blood, left from an unknown time, dried and deliberately crushed to form a road. Those golden threads are remnants of some kind of "luck" contained within the blood.

Lu Li straightened up and continued walking forward.

At the end of the bamboo grove stood a thatched hut, so simple it didn't resemble the residence of an academy instructor. The roof was thatched, the walls were rammed earth, and there wasn't even a proper window; only a few fist-sized holes dug in the walls. There was no fence in front of the hut, only a waist-high bluestone slab with two ancient seal characters carved on it:

Stop

The characters were carved directly into the paper with fingers, about an inch deep, with smooth, mirror-like edges, as if they had been melted by high temperatures.

Lu Li stopped three feet in front of the bluestone and bowed, saying, "Student Lu Li has come on the orders of my teacher."

There was no response from inside the hut.

The only sounds were the rustling of the wind through the bamboo forest and the increasingly clear throbbing of the dark marks on my shoulders.

After waiting for about half a cup of tea's time, the door of the thatched hut opened.

It wasn't pushed open. The door slid open by itself, without the hinges making a sound. The inside was pitch black, not even the morning light could penetrate, as if the door led not to a room, but to some deep well.

"Come in."

Xun Wenruo's voice came from the darkness, flat and emotionless.

Lu Li took a deep breath and stepped over the threshold.

Darkness swallowed him.

It wasn't a visual darkness, but a perceptual one. The moment he stepped into the room, he lost all sense of direction, unable to distinguish up from down from left from right, and even unsure if he was still standing. Only the dark mark on his shoulder continued to throb, and the rhythm of the throbbing suddenly changed, from rapid to slow.

"sit."

The sound came from directly in front. Lu Li took three steps forward based on his senses. His feet were firmly planted, with a slight springiness, like stepping on thick moss. Then he sat down cross-legged.

The darkness suddenly faded away.

It wasn't a gradual brightening; it was as if a curtain had been abruptly ripped off. Lu Li found himself sitting in a square room, no more than ten feet in size. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all covered with dark blue stone slabs. The stone slabs were covered with densely packed runes, not drawn with cinnabar, but directly chiseled in, the grooves filled with some kind of dark golden metal.

In the center of the room, Xun Wenruo sat on a futon, with a low table in front of him. There were only three things on the table: a palm-sized bronze incense burner with a stick of incense stick inside, the tip of which burned with a tiny flame but no smoke; an open animal-skin book with yellowed pages and charred edges; and a ruler.

It was neither a tailor's ruler nor a measuring tape. This ruler was entirely black, except for seven tiny white jade stones, each the size of a grain of rice, inlaid on its surface, arranged in the shape of the Big Dipper. At this moment, the fifth of those seven jade stones, "Yuheng," was emitting a faint white light.

"Do you know where this is?" Xun Wenruo asked, but his eyes were not on Lu Li; instead, they were fixed on the flickering flame in the incense burner.

"The student does not know."

"The Suppressing Spirit Chamber," Xun Wenruo said. "There are three such rooms underground at Bailu Academy. This one is of the 'Yellow' rank and is used to suppress the weakest group of prisoners."

Lu Li felt a chill run down his spine.

A prisoner? There was clearly no one else in the room except for him and Xun Wenruo.

"No need to look anymore, you can't see them." Xun Wenruo finally raised her eyes, her gaze falling on Lu Li's face. "They're inside the stone slab."

Lu Li followed his gaze to the ground. From a certain angle, the patterns on the dark blue stone slabs did indeed reveal some distorted human figures. Some were curled up, some were stretched out, and some were even in a struggling posture, forever sealed deep within the stone slabs.

"They are all disciples who violated the academy's rules, or those who colluded with demons." Xun Wenruo's voice was calm, as if he were describing the day's weather. "The longest ban has lasted for sixty years. The shortest ban was just brought in three days ago."

Lu Li's breath hitched for a moment.

three days ago.

Strange activity occurred at the desolate graveyard, and Li Muzhi died in the line of duty.

"It seems you guessed it." Xun Wenruo slowly stood up, walked to a wall, and placed his hand on a stone slab. The stone slab suddenly became transparent, like a layer of ice, and a person could be seen sealed inside—a young man wearing the standard leather armor of the Demon Slayer Guard, with wide-open eyes and a frozen expression of astonishment on his face.

"Li Muzhi's deputy, Zhou Kang," Xun Wenruo said. "Three days ago at midnight, he was keeping watch outside the abandoned graveyard. Li Muzhi went into the graveyard to investigate, and he was waiting outside to meet him. As a result, Li Muzhi died, but he came back alive."

"The gentleman suspects him..."

"It's not a doubt," Xun Wenruo interrupted, "it's a confirmation. Zhou Kang has been implanted with a 'Nightmare Seed,' a mark used by high-level demons to control puppets. When Li Muzhi triggered the spirit of the monument, the Nightmare Seed backfired, and Zhou Kang lost control on the spot, almost biting off the necks of two colleagues."

He withdrew his hand, and the stone slab returned to its original state.

"But we couldn't find the mastermind behind it. The Nightmare Seed destroyed itself after being triggered, leaving only a few remnants." Xun Wenruo turned around, his calm eyes finally locking onto Lu Li. "Until this morning, in the Hall of Classics and History, you used a drop of blood to sever the tracking thread of 'Observing the Heavenly Eye'."

The room was so quiet that you could hear the faint crackling of the incense sticks burning.

Lu Li felt cold sweat seeping out on his back again. He knew this moment was bound to come sooner or later, but he didn't expect it to come so quickly and so directly.

"The student doesn't understand..."

"You understand." Xun Wenruo walked back to the low table and sat down, picking up the black ruler. "'Observing the Heavenly Eye' is a tracking-type demon, but it doesn't track people; it tracks 'marks.' Before Li Muzhi died, at least seven different marks were planted on his body—the mark of the Demon-Slaying Guard, the mark of a disciple of the White Deer Academy, the bloodline mark of his family... and at least four unfamiliar marks that we cannot identify."

He placed the black ruler flat on the low table, and the seven jade stones on the ruler suddenly lit up at the same time.

"This morning's Heavenly Eye was tracking one of those patterns," Xun Wenruo said, staring at Lu Li. "And the blood on your body can break the tracking threads of that mark. What does that mean?"

Lu Li did not speak.

He knew the answer, but he couldn't say it.

"This means you've come into contact with a mark of the same origin," Xun Wenruo answered for him. "Or to put it more directly, you have that kind of mark on you."

The moment the words left his mouth, a burst of sparks suddenly erupted from the incense sticks on the low table.

It wasn't sparks from burning incense; it was the incense stick that exploded, sending countless tiny sparks flying and condensing into a thin curtain of light in the air. A distorted image appeared on the light curtain—the scene of the desolate graveyard from last night, viewed from above. The image was blurry, but one could see the figure confronting the demon in front of the tombstone, and the final scene of the blood talisman igniting and the demon collapsing.

Lu Li's pupils contracted slightly.

The academy indeed had methods to monitor the back mountain.

"Only the Dean and I can see this scene," Xun Wenruo said. "But your face isn't clearly visible in the scene; we can only see your silhouette and the general pattern of the last blood talisman. The reason I suspect you isn't because of the scene, but because during this morning's assessment, when I used my mind to bombard all the disciples' consciousnesses, you were the only one who experienced the least impact."

He paused, then added, "Unusually small."

Lu Li remained silent for a moment before finally speaking, "What does Master want me to do?"

He knew that Xun Wenruo had said so much not to expose him, but for some other purpose. If he wanted to arrest him, he wouldn't need to go to such lengths.

"Smart." A faint smile appeared on Xun Wenruo's face for the first time, but it vanished in an instant. "I need you to go somewhere."

"where?"

"Seven hundred li to the southwest, Mount Cangwu." Xun Wenruo took out a palm-sized wooden plaque from his bosom and placed it on the low table. "There is a hot spring estate there, and the owner is an old friend of mine. Three days ago, strange phenomena began to appear at the estate. The hot spring water turned black at night, and there were strange noises in the water. Three servants of the estate went missing, and their bodies were found floating on the surface of the water the next day. Their bodies were shriveled up, as if all the moisture had been sucked out."

Lu Li looked at the wooden plaque. The plaque was jet black, with a black bird with outstretched wings carved on the front and the character "Xun" carved on the back.

"This is a letter of recommendation, and also a travel permit," Xun Wenruo said. "Take this token to Cangwu Mountain, and the manor owner will receive you. What you need to do is investigate the source of the strange phenomenon and resolve it."

"Student..." Lu Li carefully chose his words, "My cultivation is too low, I'm afraid I'm not up to the task."

"You can." Xun Wenruo's tone left no room for doubt. "The fact that your blood can sever the tracking threads of the Heavenly Eye proves that you have a restraining effect on certain types of demons. According to the descriptions that have been passed down, the strange phenomena of Cangwu Mountain are very likely related to demons of the 'water' element. And when you answered the question in the 'Northern Mountain Classic' this morning, you mentioned 'earth veins and water energy,' which shows that you are not completely ignorant of this path."

Lu Li's mind raced.

Seven hundred li to the southwest lies Mount Cangwu.

This is exactly the same coordinate as the one transmitted from the fragment.

Is this just a coincidence, or... is there some connection between Xun Wenruo and the fragment?

"Why did you choose your students, Master?" Lu Li asked the most crucial question. "There are many students in the academy whose cultivation surpasses that of theirs."

"Because you're inconspicuous," Xun Wenruo said bluntly. "The Yellow Academy's disciples come from humble backgrounds, have no connections, no powerful backers. Even if they die outside, it won't cause much of a stir. Besides—"

He paused, his gaze falling on Lu Li's right wrist, where a faint golden scar still remained.

"You have a secret. People with secrets are often better at protecting themselves than ordinary people, and they are also better at... uncovering other people's secrets."

These words are blunt, almost cold-blooded.

But Lu Li actually felt relieved. This direct connection of interests made him feel more at ease than insincere concern.

What benefits would the student receive if they agreed?

"Three benefits." Xun Wenruo held up three fingers. "First, the academy will provide you with ample travel expenses and supplies. Second, I will temporarily suppress my suspicions about you and give you time to prove your 'innocence.' Third—"

He folded two fingers, leaving only one.

"If you can return alive and resolve the strange phenomenon on Cangwu Mountain, I will personally vouch for you and promote you from the Yellow Academy to the Mysterious Academy. From then on, your monthly allowance will triple, and the entire library below the third floor will be open to you."

The conditions are so practical that they are impossible to refuse.

Lu Li knew he had no choice. To refuse meant confirming the suspicions, and his fate wouldn't be much better than Zhou Kang's, who was sealed in the stone slab. To accept meant at least a glimmer of hope.

When will the students depart?

"Now," Xun Wenruo said, "I've already had your luggage prepared and placed outside the bamboo grove. There's an old horse in the stable; it's not very fast, but it knows the way to Cangwu Mountain. You should leave now and get out of the city before sunset."

Lu Li stood up, bowed, and reached for the wooden plaque on the low table.

The moment the finger touched the wooden sign, something unexpected happened.

The fragment in his arms suddenly became hot, so hot that he almost cried out. At the same time, the black bird engraving on the wooden plaque suddenly came to life—not really, but a faint golden light flashed deep within the engraving, carrying a familiar fluctuation.

The fluctuations in the fragments are of the same origin.

Lu Li suppressed his shock, withdrew his hand, and held the wooden plaque in his palm. It felt warm and smooth to the touch, like holding a piece of warm jade.

"There's one more thing," Xun Wenruo said as he turned away. "The master of Cangwu Manor is surnamed Jiang, and his given name is Yin. When you see him, besides presenting the wooden plaque, you must also ask him a question for me."

"What did you say?"

"Does the promise made thirty years ago still stand?"

Lu Li noted it down, bowed again, and turned to walk towards the door.

Just as he was about to step out of the house, Xun Wenruo's voice came from behind him again, very soft, almost like a sigh:

"Lu Li".

Lu Li stopped walking without turning around.

"Before Li Muzhi died, he used his last bit of strength to write a warning on the monument," Xun Wenruo said. "The second half of that sentence was covered by blood, and we couldn't see it clearly until this morning. But this morning, after the spirit of the monument was triggered a second time, the blood faded a bit, revealing a few words."

The room was quiet for a few moments.

Then Xun Wenruo said, slowly and deliberately:

"Those words are—'Xiaoxin Academy'."

Lu Li's back stiffened.

"Now," Xun Wenruo's voice returned to calm, "you can leave."

Lu Li did not respond and stepped out of the house.

Darkness engulfed him again, but this time it lasted only a brief moment. When he could see again, he was already standing outside the bamboo grove. The morning light was just right, shining warmly on his face, a stark contrast to the cold and oppressive atmosphere of the quiet room just moments before.

Sure enough, an old horse was tethered outside the bamboo grove, with a bulging bundle slung over its back. Standing next to the horse was a person—Lin Qingyuan.

He had changed into a set of practical clothing, with a sword at his waist and a water pouch in his hand. Upon seeing Lu Li emerge, he gave him an impeccable smile.

"Junior Brother Lu, Master Xun asked me to go with you."

Lu Li's heart sank.

Surveillance.

Or, to put it another way, insurance.

"Is Senior Brother Lin also going to Cangwu Mountain?"

"Of course." Lin Qingyuan handed the water bag to Lu Li. "The academy should have sent someone to deal with the strange phenomenon on Cangwu Mountain. I happen to be investigating the case of Li Muzhi's death in the line of duty, so Mr. Xun asked me to travel with him. Firstly, so that we can look after each other, and secondly... so that Junior Brother Lu won't be alone on the road."

The words were beautifully spoken, but the meaning was quite clear.

Lu Li took the water bag and mounted his horse.

The old horse snorted, pawed at the ground, and turned southwest.

Lin Qingyuan also mounted his horse—a pure white steed, exceptionally magnificent, a stark contrast to Lu Li's old horse.

"Junior Brother Lu, please." Lin Qingyuan gestured.

Two horses, one in front of the other, embarked on the path leading to the academy gate.

Lu Li gripped the reins, his gaze sweeping over the familiar buildings of the academy—the library, the training ground, the history and classics hall… He had spent two years here, thinking he would study and take exams step by step, and perhaps after leaving the academy, he could obtain an official position and bring honor to his ancestors.

But now, everything has changed.

The fragment in his arms was still warm, and the black mark on his shoulder was still throbbing. The wooden plaque in his hand was as smooth as jade, and the black bird carvings on it shimmered in the morning light.

Lu Li raised his head and looked southwest. The sky was azure, without a single cloud; it was perfect weather for an outing.

But he knew that this path was destined to be fraught with danger.