Full-Time Magister: I Had No Intention of Reaching the Dimensional Throne

Chapter 90 Lingling's Perseverance

"I'm sure! There are many cities in the south of our country. Today I witnessed the disappearance of a primary school student. Those disappearances that happened elsewhere that I didn't witness are also happening. For every human child or woman who disappears, there is one more mountain spirit."

The number of people who go missing each year may not be too high now, but what about years from now? What if someone eradicates them all then? The ordinary people who have sacrificed their lives during this period are real!

When she said these words, Lingling's expression was full of determination. Although her face and voice were still young, her mind and thoughts far surpassed those of an average adult!

When faced with demons and difficulties, she never hesitated or retreated!

"We can indeed leave this hidden danger to chance with all sorts of excuses, pretend that we've dealt with this mountain spirit, and then there's no problem."

But because this problem is always dangerous, and those who are getting closer and closer to the demons' prey are real people.

She might be a little girl similar to me, perhaps the sister of an older brother, the daughter of a father, or an important part of a family.

Even if we solve the problem of the mountain spirits, other things will emerge along with them in the future.

Lingling's eyes were bright, just like her voice at that moment.

"But Grandpa! What has been done will be done again! I believe that even if there are no more spirits in the world by then, there will be others to solve the problem."

After saying that, she turned to look at Bai Mo and asked, "What do you think?"

"You're right, there's nothing wrong with that, but I'll only fight and protect you."

Lingling rolled her eyes. This lazybones, doesn't he know how to use his brain?

Looking at Lingling, Old Man Bao seemed to see again that same determined man, indifferent to difficulties and dangers.

"Now that you've made your decision, Grandpa will support you."

With a wave of his hand, Old Man Bao slowly walked up to the attic.

While Lingling and Baimo were discussing how to find out about the mountain spirits, they concluded that they knew too little about them and needed to learn more first.

Old Bao came down from the attic again. He waved his hand at the empty space next to the sofa, where a cubic meter of books was neatly stacked.

Faced with their questioning gazes, Old Man Bao slowly explained:

"These are some records about mountain spirits. Take a look and you might find some answers. I'm going to have lunch now."

Lingling glanced at Bai Mo, "Half for each of us!"

"I want to watch it too!"

"As a summoning mage, you should know more about various demons and summoned beasts, but you don't even recognize a mountain spirit. Obviously, you haven't mastered it yet."

"Sigh~" Bai Mo sighed, reaching for two books, one for Lingling and the other for himself, while saying:

"This mountain spirit is clearly an alien species. I haven't even finished reading about the demons and monsters of Kyushu yet, so how could I have the mind to pay attention to the unique products of other places?"

Lingling ignored him, her intelligent and bright eyes already scanning the text at a glance.

Bai Mo opened the book in his hand. The book in his hand was called "Yuanxian Zhiyi," which was a book that told the story of what happened in a county in Ningzhou during a certain period of time.

The content is varied and includes a bit of everything, including mountain spirits.

The text describes how mountain spirits were said to have appeared in Yuan County at that time. People described the mountain spirits as having dark faces, broad bodies, lots of downy hair, and upturned heels.

It was completely different from the appearance of the mountain spirit that Bai Mo saw.

Therefore, it was very easy for mountain spirits to be discovered once they infiltrated the city.

Bai Mo certainly didn't think that the people at the time were blind and just scribbled randomly. It was simply that the mountain spirits looked like that back then.

Demons can also evolve. Just like the dust storm demons of the Northwest, heat and fire are their natural enemies, so they selected a group of offspring who are not afraid of fire.

To verify his guess, he spent the next period of time looking up descriptions of mountain spirits from different dynasties and counties in Ningzhou.

Sure enough, it was discovered that the descriptions of mountain spirits differed in the local gazetteers of each dynasty, and even at the beginning and end of each dynasty.

Clearly, just as the Dust Storm Demon Grasshopper adapts to its environment and evolves, so too does this Mountain Spirit.

They need to eat human children or women to reproduce, so they are constantly evolving to resemble humans and becoming more deceptive.

Lingling, on the other hand, was reading a miscellaneous book that said that 1,300 years ago, a small town in Ningzhou had a demon that resembled a human.

This has led to a continuous disappearance of children and women in the city. The city lord knows that these are demons called mountain spirits, which he encountered in his village when he was a child. They have begun to infiltrate the city again.

So the city lord, imitating the people in his village when he was a child, found a kind of grass called the Wind-Seeking Flower and placed one in every household in the city.

When the Seeking Wind Flower was placed in the house where the mountain spirit was hiding, it suddenly stirred up the surrounding air currents and floated up.

Lingling seemed to be deep in thought as she read this.

Lingling knew that the Wind-Seeking Flower was a good choice for finding wind-type demons in the wild by using its pollen.

She guessed that something on the Wind-Seeking Flower had reacted to some characteristic of the mountain spirit, which caused the sudden movement of air currents and the phenomenon of it flying away.

She didn't know what this phenomenon meant.

At the same time, she didn't rush to find Feng Hua. This method is over a thousand years old; if it were still effective, the mountain spirits wouldn't still exist today.

The information still needed to be investigated, and as Lingling finished reading through one strange and unusual book after another, like this miscellaneous notebook, she discovered that the facts were just as she had guessed.

The simple method of finding mountain spirits by searching for wind flowers no longer works two hundred years after the records in that miscellaneous book.

In the beginning, as long as this Wind-Seeking Flower was planted in a city, village, or near a home, it would create gusts of air and make its petals float when a mountain spirit approached.

After simply searching for the Wind Flower proved ineffective, Ningzhou actually experienced a period of chaos caused by mountain spirits before people finally found a solution again.

That is to use the flesh and blood of the mountain spirit as a guide to refine a special wind-seeking guide. Once this wind-seeking guide gets close to the mountain spirit, it will attract the surrounding airflow and float up.

The materials used to guide the wind have been constantly changing, from the flesh and fur of mountain spirits, to the essence of flesh and blood, and then to the blood essence.

Only the main ingredient, the Wind-Seeking Flower, remained unchanged.

However, the records about these things remained unchanged in the previous dynasty, and the same is true in modern times.

This book, which records the use of essence and blood to find mountain spirits, is very thin and old, and obviously not everyone can find or see it.

Lingling wasn't sure if this method still worked. She wanted to try it out now, but decided to finish reading the rest of the book first.

"Gurgle~~~"

A barely perceptible whistling sound.

Bai Mo's ears twitched. He looked up at Lingling, then at the time: 7 p.m.

So he closed the book, told Lingling what he had seen and compiled about the evolution of the mountain spirit's appearance and his guesses, and then yawned.

"I still need to cultivate. You should go eat too. I'll stay here tonight and we can study together tomorrow. Don't worry, the books are right here."

Lingling nodded, intending to rest for a while and have a meal. She wasn't afraid of what the mountain spirit next to her might do, as her grandfather had already used magic to imprison it.

While slurping her noodles, Lingling thought about the information Bai Mo had told her about the evolution of the mountain spirit's appearance.

Her intuition told her that this had something to do with the method she had seen of using the Wind-Seeking Flower to identify and find mountain spirits, and how it changed over time.

I spent another two days reading through the pile of books that Old Man Bao gave me; the later books were all about mountain spirits.

They were described in detail as being distributed not only in southern Kyushu and northern and southern Taiwan, but also throughout Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia consists of small countries, some of which have even chosen to give up because they can't find any mountain spirits. As long as they reproduce quickly, the mountain spirits can't defeat them.

Some bizarre countries have even considered transforming themselves into hermaphroditic beings like mountain spirits, so that they would feel like they belong to the same race and avoid being killed or eaten.

Some books analyze the different abilities of mountain spirits with different attributes, how mages should deal with mountain spirits in battle, and their impact on Southeast Asian countries.

Bai Mo poured himself a glass of lemonade, then poured Lingling a glass of milk. He walked out of the bar, placed the milk next to Lingling, and sat down on the other side.

"How is it? Is the Wind-Seeking Guide, made by combining the Wind-Seeking Flower and the Mountain Spirit's Blood, effective?"

"No." Lingling shook her head, glanced at Bai Mo, and said calmly:

"I've looked up the 'Wind-Seeking Flower' plant. The phenomenon that it can cause mountain spirits to levitate by manipulating air currents is only recorded in ancient times; this phenomenon no longer exists."

"Could it be that the Wind-Seeking Flower has lost its effectiveness?" Bai Mo frowned.

"No, the fact that the Wind-Seeking Flower has been used for thousands of years proves that it is effective. We need to find a new method."

"I suspect that some kind of trait in the mountain spirit reacts with the Wind-Seeking Flower. Initially, this trait was very strong, so the ancients only needed to plant this flower nearby to prevent danger."

"But as the mountain spirits evolved, they not only became more like humans, but also gradually hid or eliminated this trait within them."

Lingling picked up the milk beside her, took a sip, and continued:

"That's why later on, the flesh and blood, and even the essence of mountain spirits, were needed to make the Wind-Seeking Guide, which caused this reaction to occur again in places where mountain spirits were present."

"The mountain spirit should still have this substance in its body, but it's not in its flesh and blood or in its essence. I plan to collect some of its brain, bones, marrow, and internal organs to try. There will be results eventually."

Lingling spoke these words with a calm expression.

"Tell me if you need anything. I'm going home today. My family says someone wants to see me, they're being very secretive."

After Bai Mo finished speaking, he saw that Lingling only nodded, so he finished the water in his cup and went out.

Back home, when I arrived at the reception area, I saw a man dressed in field training uniform, his face covered in dust.

He looked a few years older than Bai Hanxing, with a handsome and dashing face and a pair of calm and wise eyes. He sat upright on the sofa, but appeared somewhat casual.

Bai Shan was pouring him tea when Bai Mo arrived, and he sensed it as soon as he arrived.

The man's gaze shifted to him, his eyes gentle, just like the smile on his face. He simply said:

"I apologize for bothering you, but I couldn't resist my curiosity and wanted to learn more about the totem you found."

After saying that, he noticed the puzzled look on Bai Mo's face as he sat opposite him, and then smiled sheepishly:

"Hi, it's been so long since I've visited anyone, I've lost my manners and forgotten to introduce myself. My name is Jiang Shaojun!"

"Hello." Bai Mo nodded, but was somewhat surprised. Having seen the whole of France, he naturally knew this Jiang Shaojun.

It can be said that he was of great help in finding the totem, but what surprised Bai Mo was that he was still alive.

"Why do you want to consult me ​​about totems?"

In response to Bai Mo's question, Jiang Shaojun smiled, his face radiating fervor and determination.

"I am very interested in them, and at the same time, I have been entrusted by a big shot for a certain matter."

Jiang Shaojun spoke vaguely, not because it was a highly confidential matter, but because he didn't want to use righteousness to pressure people.

He just came to ask for advice.

But Bai Mo naturally knew what he was talking about. The important person was none other than Speaker Shao Zheng.

He conceived the idea of ​​finding and awakening the ancient totems sleeping on the land of Kyushu for the sake of the strategic plan of a 20,000-mile coastline, and entrusted this task to Jiang Shaojun, a man who was extremely passionate about totems.

"So, what do you want to know? I may not know more than you do," Bai Mo asked bluntly.

"Tell me about your encounter with the hollow willow tree. Also, could you show me the totem?"

"Can."

A flash of silver light appeared in Bai Mo's hand, and spatial magic surged as he placed the silver hairpin spear, which had transformed into a spear over three meters long, on the coffee table in front of him.

"This is the totem artifact of the hollow willow tree; I call it the Silver Hairpin Spear. Before this, I had only heard the name 'totem.' The story of the hollow willow tree begins with a mission."

After slowly recounting what he knew about the hollow willow tree, Bai Mo picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip. As for the silver hairpin spear, he had already put it away. Then, he looked at the man deep in thought before him and asked:

I don't know if this will be helpful to you.

"There are also connections between totems. For example, the legendary Xuanwu has two descendants, Baxia and Xuanshe."

The reason I'm asking you these questions is to examine your totem vessels, to understand the information and patterns associated with the totems, and to see if I can find other totems through them.

Jiang Shaojun said calmly, "I used to work with animal totems, so I have been exploring this area, but so far I haven't gained much."

This is the first time I've seen a plant totem, but judging from your description, this willow should be a source totem. I just don't know if it has any branches. But anyway, if it recovers, the demons should be safe.

Bai Mo nodded, not agreeing with him, and then took him to see the hollow willow that was already eight meters tall.

Jiang Shaojun could tell at a glance that this totem had just recovered and had only reached the level of an advanced-stage warrior. However, he had heard that Bai Mo had only brought it back for less than half a year, so its recovery should not be slow.

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(End of this chapter)