Chapter Sixty-Five: Things That Were Killed

After parting ways with Philena, Vilyric headed straight back to her room with her pet.

Passing by Leila and Renée’s room, Priestess Vilyric discreetly peeked inside and found that they had also returned and were asleep. It seemed nothing troublesome had occurred, which was a relief.

Tomorrow, Hilda should come by and inquire about the two winged sisters. If they weren’t present, it might be a bit tricky.

After locking the door, Vilyric quickly washed up and then jumped onto the bed with Little Dragon Daughter, pulling out the wordless book she had bought at the auction today.

Previously, in front of Philena and those winged people, the Priestess couldn’t directly take the item out for research, considering the high and ancient status of the things related to the Earth Mother Goddess, dating back over a thousand years.

It’s not good for ordinary people to be aware of such things; it might even endanger them.

Now, she could finally get started. Hopefully, it would lead to groundbreaking progress.

Even though it was nearly midnight, Vilyric felt no drowsiness. After all, both she and Xiao Guang had special physical qualities, so pulling an all-nighter was no big deal.

Not rushing to take out the stone statue that held Xi Fu Lin’s consciousness, Vilyric first placed her hand on the thick, coverless book, and a faint light emanated from her palm.

Before long, she frowned.

“Strange…”

“Master, what’s wrong?”

Little Dragon Daughter, who completely didn’t understand such things, could only watch Vilyric operate it. Having reached level 100, she also harnessed sp power, but she wasn’t as powerful as Vilyric. As a warrior of the dragon race, Xiao Guang’s main abilities concentrated on her physical prowess.

Moreover, Vilyric was ten levels higher than her. The level difference after reaching level 100 was much more pronounced, especially in areas like sp and advanced abilities such as magic.

“No… I can’t determine that yet. Perhaps I’m going about it the wrong way; I’ll stick to the planned approach.”

Vilyric took out the statue of the God of Sky given by Liliya, which she had previously returned to her spatial ring, and placed her hand on it.

[Xi Fu Lin, are you there?]

The small stone sculpture radiated a glossy cyan light, and soon, a voice flowed into Vilyric’s mind.

[Hmm, it seems you have obtained it. This body can feel a very strong resonance.]

[I have obtained it, but it’s a bit strange. I clearly infused the book with sp… Soul Power, just like before, but that thing showed no reaction at all and didn’t absorb any of the soul power.]

[To be honest, I can’t sense any soul reaction inside; it’s like an empty shell, completely different from what you had at that time…]

After hesitating for a moment, Vilyric decided to get straight to the point.

[Could you be mistaken?]

[How could that be? The strong resonance and call I’ve felt are still stirring my soul origin right now, just like last time; it makes no sense… Vilyric, place this body on that item, and I’ll try to communicate with it.]

[Sure.]

Following Xi Fu Lin’s suggestion, Vilyric placed the statue sideways on the cover of the wordless book.

At first, only a faint cyan light seeped downward, but at some moment, the statue suddenly erupted with a strong cyan glow, brightness far exceeding the usual brightness during Vilyric’s normal communications with it, nearly reaching the jade-like brightness from when sp was initially infused.

Wrapped in light, the statue floated up in the air, while the previously unresponsive wordless book also radiated dense cyan light, even opening by itself, revealing densely packed fuzzy characters gradually appearing on its pages.

Huh? There really are words?

In Priestess Vilyric’s original assumption, she thought the book was merely a shell that contained or sealed fragments, with no real content inside, but now it seemed to deviate from her expectations?

She squinted her eyes, trying to understand what the blurry traces on it might say, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t see clearly.

It wasn’t that Vilyric didn’t recognize this kind of writing; the main text itself seemed to be covered with a thick layer of frosted glass, twisted and contorted, completely unobservable.

Just as Vilyric was about to pull out her holy artifact-level translation glasses to try again—

*Thud.*

The suspended stone sculpture, held up by the dense cyan light, suddenly fell down, rolling on the bed for several rounds, losing its luster.

The barely visible writing on the paper also instantly vanished, returning to its original state as a wordless book.

“?”

Vilyric stared for a moment and quickly placed her hand back on the statue to re-establish communication.

[Xi Fu Lin, what happened?]

However, strangely, after waiting for a long time, there was no familiar voice running through her mind.

For some reason, a bad premonition suddenly bubbled up in Vilyric’s heart, and she called out several times anxiously.

[Xi Fu Lin? Xi Fu Lin, are you there? Respond to me!]

Silence. It seemed that the ordinary stone sculpture she held was just an unremarkable, ordinary stone statue with no special features, and the previous spiritual interactions were merely her fantasies.

Even the soul fluctuations that had been faintly swirling within the statue since it was first activated had almost completely vanished.

This isn’t good.

Though she was utterly confused, the current situation definitely implied that something had happened to Xi Fu Lin. The weakening of soul fluctuations was a very serious matter that couldn’t be taken lightly.

Fortunately, the resilient spirit bestowed by the divine race kept her calm even in such a sudden crisis.

After some thought, remembering how she first met Xi Fu Lin, Vilyric used her finger to channel a portion of sp into the statue.

Like sweet rain soaking into the soil, the stone sculpture emitted a faint pale cyan glow again, but it was almost imperceptible compared to before.

Oh, seems like it works!

At least it didn’t become unresponsive to external stimuli like that book.

Vilyric intended to assist, but she could feel that this absorption speed was already the limit of what the statue could handle. If she increased the output power, the statue containing Xi Fu Lin’s consciousness would likely explode with a “bang” immediately.

After steadily infusing sp for half an hour, even Little Dragon Daughter, who had been waiting nearby, was so bored she started dozing off. The statue, continuously receiving external nourishment, finally stopped absorbing and gradually stabilized.

[Xi Fu Lin, can you hear me? Are you still there?]

After a long time, just as Priestess Vilyric was beginning to feel gradually dejected, the familiar yet faint voice finally echoed again.

[…Vilyric, thank you so much this time; otherwise, this body might have faced the risk of direct dissipation.]

[It’s nothing; it’s not a big deal for me. But what happened to you? What about that book?]

After a moment of silence, Xi Fu Lin responded somewhat haltingly.

[Vilyric, do you know in what form our split soul consciousness exists?]

[Hmm? What do you mean?]

This time, Xi Fu Lin quickly provided an answer.

[Our core is the eternal soul origin of the Earth Mother Goddess, which remains undying even after splitting. But that doesn’t mean this body you refer to as Xi Fu Lin is the same; the same is true for other split souls. We can die.]

[The fragment consciousness within that book has already perished.]

   

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