I loaded the Mysticism panel.

Chapter 247 The Debate on Tradition (Bonus Chapter 28 for Monthly Tickets)

Mrs. Mary took a sip of her tea.

While she was drinking tea, Richard asked her about something that had been on his mind for a long time.

"Mrs. Mary, what exactly happened in the city last night...?"

Mrs. Mary put down her teacup.

She raised her hand and gently pushed it towards the center of the coffee table.

The coffee table then changed.

That warm yellow light condensed into a pool of water whose depth could not be discerned.

The image emerged from the water.

Richard recognized that technique.

Then, he continued to look at the water.

The image floated on the water's surface.

It's a neighborhood in the city.

"Take a look at this section first," said Mrs. Mary.

Richard saw that the entire block suddenly fell into dead silence at a certain moment.

The whistles, chains, and voices all disappeared.

Mrs. Mary explained, "This is the area where the intruder passed through last night."

Wherever it goes, the reflection there will be half a beat slower.

People in the neighborhood heard their names being whispered behind them in the middle of the night.

Richard heard it last night too.

Mrs. Mary continued, "Everyone in that area had the same dream."

They dreamed of an eye without eyes.

Then the eye opened and looked at them.

Richard was horrified.

It's connected.

Everything is connected.

When Mrs. McNeil reached behind the responder and pulled out the fourth card.

The card was revealed by itself.

What was exposed was an eye without a pupil or an eyeball.

"These are the intruders from last night."

At the time, it was battling two local garrison experts.

After Mrs. Mary finished speaking, she swept her hand across the coffee table, wiping away the puddle of water: "I won't show you any more of the footage."

Her tone became almost teasing: "Your inspiration is still just that of a weaned baby."

Feeding too much at once can cause indigestion.

Richard smiled, feeling a little relieved.

Mrs. Mary gently swirled her teacup, seemingly lost in thought:

"Well, since we've come this far, I, this old woman, will just say a few more words to you."

You might think this is useless now, but you might find it useful later when you remember it.

She raised her palm and extended two fingers.

"First of all, the first thing I want to talk about is the Great Way."

Those are the five that you wrote down in your book.

The road north was paved smoothly and evenly, with road signs one after another, all written very clearly.

Those who choose this path will have an easy time, because people from thousands of years ago have already traversed it and filled in all the pitfalls. Those who come after only need to keep their heads down and move forward.

Richard asked curiously, "And what about the second one?"

"It's a narrow road, a small, nameless tradition. No one will fill in the potholes for you, and no one will put up road signs for you."

Mrs. Mary chuckled as she finished speaking:

"But about these two roads, I've heard... of course, I've only heard about them."

Once you reach the top, things will look different.

The summit of the Great Way is welded shut.

Mrs. Mary drew a horizontal line on the coffee table with her finger.

"Those who walk the main road, even if they make the fire burn brightest, can only ever be experts at best."

Further up, there's that door called "Master," which they couldn't possibly break open even if they rammed their heads against it.

Richard's Adam's apple bobbed slightly, realizing what Mrs. Mary was about to say next.

Mrs. Mary: "But the top of the narrow passage, it's said, wasn't welded shut..."

Never mind, never mind.

Mrs. Mary changed the subject, pointing to a patch of her face that was difficult to see:

"These are things that experts worry about. I, a knowledgeable old woman, am telling you all this with such conviction, as if I've seen it all myself, it's really..."

She seemed to smile and said, "Just take these words as casual conversation after tea. Once you hear them, forget about them and don't take them to heart."

The two of us, one of us hasn't signed his name yet, and the other is just living a quiet life in this small corner of Huayue Street.

Whether the gates of heaven are closed or not is none of our concern.

Richard couldn't help but ask, "So... were those two local experts from last night on the main road or a narrow path?"

Mrs. Mary said she wouldn't tell, but she still answered Richard:

"One is the setting sun, the other is the setting fire; both are on the Great Way."

Last night's incident was a trap set by the two of them.

They laid bait in the city, luring the out-of-town guest out of where it was supposed to be.

Richard asked, "Why bring it out?"

"We want to crush it before it can firmly grasp a territory that is 'out of their reach'."

And the result?

Mrs. Mary stopped speaking and spread her hands.

"We still couldn't kill it, and it escaped back with a body full of wounds."

Mrs. Mary looked at the boy in front of her, thought for a moment, and then swallowed back what she hadn't said.

The Abyss tradition is an exception.

This is the deepest, most dangerous, and most alluring road in the narrow lane.

The door was not welded shut.

Fast and strong.

But Mrs. Mary had no intention of revealing this secret to the boy before her.

Too many promising talents are ruined because others point them to this path too early.

Once they started walking up, they couldn't stop.

They went straight down, and then burned into a series of old cases that no one wanted to mention.

The young man before me has managed to nurture a cycle so cleanly and resonate so deeply with the strange objects; he is a rare and promising talent.

That is precisely why Mrs. Mary was even more determined not to let him go astray.

"Alright."

Mrs. Mary: "That's enough for today."

After thinking for a while, Richard finally spoke up about something that had been weighing on his mind.

"Mrs. Mary, old Bige... Mr. Bigelow is in Bristol now, investigating a matter."

I thought you were his teacher, so if you could…”

"Little Richard."

Lady Mary interrupted him softly: "Bigelow's affairs are none of your concern."

Richard asked doubtfully, "Aren't you worried about Mr. Bigelow?"

He tried desperately to read something from Mrs. Mary's face.

Unfortunately, Lady Mary's face was never clear to him; he could never even see it clearly.

Lady Mary said in a calm tone, "My students are scattered throughout most of the empire, from the capital northwards."

I accept every single one that comes my way; I never refuse.

Those who went missing over the years, those who never returned, those who lay down and never got up again... I can't remember anymore.

She paused for a moment: "Of course, the first few times, I couldn't sleep at night."

But as time went on, I gradually came to terms with it.

If I'm this old, why should I still have to worry about each and every one of them?

"My old bones would have fallen apart years ago, how could I possibly be sitting here refilling your tea?"

Richard fell silent.

Mrs. Mary: "Actually, there is only one thing I can teach them."

That is, how to survive a few more years in this industry.

That's it, I've already taught you all.

They have to walk their own path from now on, step by step.

I can't deliver it, and I can't do it for you.

After Mrs. Mary finished speaking, Richard stood up.

He bowed respectfully to the woman behind the coffee table, whose age was impossible to discern.

"I've memorized the chapter that was crossed out."

Mrs. Mary responded.

"Go back and chew slowly. Some things can't be swallowed in one gulp. Just put them in your mouth and chew them a few more times."

Only by thoroughly understanding this will you be able to open your mouth and speak when you encounter something stronger than yourself in the future.

"Yes."

Richard turned and walked toward the copper plate door.

When he reached the doorway, the doorway dissolved on its own.

Outside the door, the soot-colored sunlight from the outer street of Huayue Street shone through.

Just as Richard was about to step out, he turned back for one last look.

The woman was still holding a cup of warm tea, sitting beside the coffee table.

Even through the warm yellow light filling the room, that face was still indistinct.

The newspaper featured a portrait of an exceptionally beautiful woman.

Beside the coffee table was a face whose features were so disjointed they seemed impossible to reconcile.

And then there are the ordinary guests who find their way here.

Did they see the same thing as Richard did?

Which of these is real and which is fake?

Or perhaps they were all real, all the same person.

It's just that different people see it as wearing different masks...

Richard didn't think any further; he needed to return to Ashford House.

In the afternoon, his aunt would also give him extra lessons.

There are only two days left before the training courses start.

…………

After Richard left.

Mrs. Mary sat at the coffee table for a long time.

The room was filled with mirrors reflecting each other, but the person sitting in the very center was not reflected at all.

Mrs. Mary raised her hand and formed her tarot cards.

She didn't think about Richard, nor about the student who wanted to build a temple.

Instead, he remembered the most inconspicuous disciple.

She has had many disciples.

There are geniuses who come along only once every few decades, and there are also diligent but mediocre people.

Mrs. Mary began shuffling the cards.

The way she shuffled the cards was the same as the method she taught Richard and every one of her disciples.

First, think clearly about what you want to ask in your mind.

She stopped when she washed it for the seventh time.

She cut the cards and drew the first card from the deck.

Once turned over, the card didn't immediately settle down.

Under her gaze, the human figure drawn on the card began to twist very slowly.

Several layers of deep water pressed down on it, and after countless acquisitions, translations, and finally, the outline barely managed to see through.

The Hermit (Upright)

On the card, an old man wearing a cloak stands alone in the darkness.

He was holding a lamp in his hand.

Mrs. Mary's lamp.

It means: living a solitary life, walking a lonely path all by himself.

Now, he wants to take out the lamp that he has always carried in his hand to light his way, and put it elsewhere to provide illumination.

The sign doesn't say who it's for or what it illuminates.

The card simply said that he wanted to remove that one and only glimmer of light from himself.

Mrs. Mary gently placed the first card on the coffee table.

Then, she drew the second one.

The second one is even more sluggish and difficult to discern than the first.

Mrs. Mary calmed herself down and waited for the deep waters to settle down before she could see the cards clearly.

The Hanged Man (Upright)

A person is hanging upside down from a tree by a rope.

One of his feet was bound, while the other was loosely dangling.

Head down, hair hanging down.

Mrs. Mary read this page very slowly.

The Hanged Man card represents suspension and sacrifice.

Turn yourself upside down and look at the world from a completely new perspective.

The key point is the position in which he was hung upside down.

It can be seen from the card that this person voluntarily put his foot into the noose.

He deliberately hanged himself.

Someone else tied the rope for him.

Mrs. Mary looked at it for a long time.

Beneath several layers of deep water, no other outlines emerged upwards.

Lady Mary could only deduce that the Hanged Man had hanged himself.

But it's impossible to tell when, how, or for whom the hanging occurred.

A detective can tell that someone is going to their death, but they can't tell what time that person will leave home, which road they will take, or whose knife they will fall on.

Mrs. Mary then removed the second card and placed it next to the first card.

She drew the third card.

But when she picked it up, her hand froze.

[Judgment - Right Position]

An angel peered down from the clouds, blowing a trombone.

Beneath the sound of the horn lay a group of coffins.

Inside the coffin lay the dead, lying flat.

One by one, they sat up and began to speak.

Mrs. Mary began to read the bugle, reading the names of the dead who had sat up.

The Judgment card tells a story of summoning, reckoning, and an echo that only comes after death.

What is meant to be heard will eventually be heard.

The accounts that need to be settled will eventually be made public.

The most important horn of this card is sounded from the outside.

But it was the deceased himself who sat up.

After a moment of contemplation, Mrs. Mary deciphered the meaning of the cards.

That disciple spent half his life dealing with corpses.

This time, he wouldn't listen to the corpse; he would speak for himself.

On the dimly lit card, something appeared on the face of the deceased who sat up.

Lady Mary looked closely and saw it.

This is a smile.

She knew that smile all too well.

Her disciples, who spent their entire lives hiding in the corner, looked down upon by everyone.

This is the kind of smile you get after finally doing something right.

There was not a trace of fear in her smile.

After the bugle call ended, darkness returned.

All three cards are upright.

But all that led to them was death.

Mrs. Mary stopped what she was doing and did not draw the fourth card.

Frankly, there's no need to smoke anymore.

Because of the fourth card, she was asking about something she couldn't see clearly.

Pulling it out won't help; you can't see it.

That is the life of a prophet.

Mrs. Mary placed the three cards that had already been drawn on the coffee table in order.

The hermit took out a lamp.

The Hanged Man had put his feet into the noose.

During the trial, the deceased spoke for himself.

Mrs. Mary carefully put the cards back together, one by one.

Her thoughts drifted away.

I remember back then, she repeated the same sentence to each of her new disciples over and over again.

Only one student took those words to heart.

In his entire life, not a single corpse he examined was related to him.

But what he wants to investigate now is himself.

He wanted to turn himself into evidence.

"...What a silly child."