Chapter 20 Records in the Classic of Mountains and Seas "If it's convenient, please let Hyun...

The advanced class had three classes that morning, with no fourth scheduled. Si Ling took advantage of this time to familiarize Xuan Chi with Hohenzollernburg and briefly brief him on the current state of the world.

Xuan Chi accepted all of this well, and finally plunged into the library and began to study hard.

This coincided with Si Ling's thoughts—for an ancient mythical beast sealed away for countless years, being released into this world was practically like an alien suddenly descending upon Earth. If one wanted to understand this world quickly, there was no more efficient way than to read extensively.

So she did not bother him, and went to Lingbo City again that night, found a cross-border courier from the underworld, and sent the two elixirs that Xuan Chi had given to Xie Bian and Fan Wujiu.

The next morning, Si Ling wanted to call Xuan Chi to have dinner together, but found that he was not in the room. Only then did he know that he had not returned from the library all night.

He still didn't come out until noon. Si Ling planned to go find him after lunch, but received a message from Xie Bian while he was eating.

Even though it was just the words on the screen, Si Ling could sense Xie Bian's shock: "Si Ling!!! Do you know how many years of cultivation those two pills took???"

"I estimate that he has cultivated for at least fifty years! The ancient beast has immense magical power. After Fan Wujiu and I ate it, our ages increased by eighty to ninety years!"

“This is too much!!!”

"I feel so unworthy of this gift and I wouldn't be willing to refuse it... and I've already eaten it! What should I do? How can I thank him? How about you kowtow to him for me!!!"

The last message made Si Ling laugh. She pressed the voice input button and put the Tongming Plate to her lips: "Master Bai Wuchang, have I been too nice to you lately?"

Xie Bian sent a voice message back: "Hahahaha, I was just kidding! But you should still thank him for me. If he needs any help in the future, please let me know!"

Si Ling's eyebrows twitched twice when he heard the voice message.

She and Xie Bian had been dealing with each other for a thousand years, and they could indeed be considered "acquaintances", but in fact, they were all doing official business and had almost no personal relationship. She did not really know Xie Bian's character.

Before this incident, her impression of Xie Bian was just as he said himself - "a damn bureaucrat."

But now it seems that Xie Bian is a good person - he has selfish motives, but he is also upright. Although he shamelessly asked Xuan Chi for a thank-you gift yesterday, when Xuan Chi actually gave him such a generous gift, he also showed enough kindness.

This person can be considered a good person both in the underworld and in the human world.

Si Ling thought about it and made a request on behalf of Hyun Chi: "Burn some fashion magazines for Hyun Chi, the kind that focus on men's clothing. I need to take him clothes shopping. It's too much for him to walk around school in armor every day."

Xie Bian agreed immediately: "Okay, I'll arrange it right away!"

Si Ling put away the Hell Disk and went to the library on the side of the castle. Lucifer had said that the library had a rich collection of books, but ghosts read very quickly, and most of the students had been here for dozens or even hundreds of years, so they had already read all the books they wanted to read. Therefore, the library was usually empty.

Si Ling walked to the double wooden door and saw that it was ajar, so he pushed it open and walked in.

This was originally a large banquet hall in Hohenzollern Castle. The banquet hall itself was rectangular, with a height of more than ten meters. There were tall windows on the north and south walls, two of which faced each other, and the main door was located in the center of the east side.

After Lucifer designated it as a library, two-thirds of the west side was filled with bookshelves, and the entire west wall was covered with bookcases reaching the ceiling, filled with a wide variety of books. The east third of the space was occupied by four long tables, each with chairs neatly placed on either side for students' convenience.

With such a layout, the view from the gate is very wide. As soon as Si Ling pushed open the door, he saw Xuan Chi - or to be more precise, he saw a clear pile of books.

The long table on the far left, near the center, had several piles of books stacked on top, forming a small wall on three sides. The people reading were hidden behind the wall and could hardly be seen.

Si Ling then went around to the far side and walked along the aisle between the left wall and the long table. When she got very close, she found that Xuan Chi was not reading, but hunched over the table. Although she could not see his face, she could clearly sense a sense of decadence.

"Xuan Chi?" Si Ling stopped beside him and called him softly.

Xuan Chi raised his head, his eyes were red and bloodshot.

Si Ling was stunned.

Because evil spirits don't actually need sleep. They sleep only for comfort, not for survival. Although staying up late to study is mentally draining, going for a walk or doing something else to relax can effectively help evil spirits recover. Staying up to the point of Xuan Chi is not an easy task.

"What's wrong?" She pulled out a chair next to her and sat down. Hyun Chi leaned back and stared at the pile of books in front of him: "Really, nothing..."

Si Ling: "What?"

"The Suhuang Clan..." Xuan Chi's eyes were hazy, and his laughter was as hoarse as rough sandpaper rubbing against an old rusty plate. "So many people from the clan... nothing was left behind."

Si Ling pursed his lips and noticed that what was spread out in front of him was a thick volume of "Classic of Mountains and Seas".

This wasn't the Shanhaijing (Classic of Mountains and Seas) currently circulating in the Porcelain People. That version was completed during the Warring States Period, and only a small portion remained. A more complete Shanhaijing existed in the heavens and underworld, nearly ten thousand years older than the mortal version. The Ghost Academy held this version, but it contained no mention of the Phoenix.

...In fact, even if we go back 20,000 years, to the time when Si Lingchu became a ghost, there was still no Su Huang.

Si Lingyin ignored the information and was silent for a moment before saying, "You know what? Although ghosts' memories are fragmented, almost all of them remember the scenes before their death. Most of them can even recall some scattered childhood fragments. These things will not be completely forgotten until they drink Mengpo soup before reincarnation."

Xuan Chi paused and turned his head slightly. The topic she suddenly brought up made confusion appear in his listless eyes.

Si Ling smiled, looked him straight in the eye and said, "But I don't remember anything."

"I remember my childhood, and I don't remember how I died. Even the name Si Ling isn't actually my name—" She scoffed. "I saw this name in a nearby cemetery when I first woke up as a ghost. I picked these two characters from those tombstones and put together a name. I've used it for 30,000 years."

"But you see, life continues like this." She lowered her eyelashes, a faint smile filled with only emotion, not sadness. "Compared to me, you at least have the connection to the Emperor of Heaven. Regardless of whether this connection ends in joy or sorrow, the world will still be bound to you. As for me, my only goal is to become an immortal—and I can't even clearly explain why I want to become an immortal."

"Can't explain the reason?" Xuan Chi was a little surprised, looking her up and down, "But you are obsessed with ascending to immortality."

——Although they had only known each other for a few days, he knew that she came to the distant West to become an immortal; when he mentioned the cause and effect spell, the first thing she thought of was whether this spell could help her become an immortal.

"It's just an inexplicable obsession." Si Ling shrugged self-deprecatingly. "Let's move on. There's no benefit in dwelling too much on the unchangeable past. It doesn't matter whether you're a human or a ghost."

Xuan Chi remained silent. Si Ling reached out to close the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" which was of no help. Suddenly, Xuan Chi said, "Overseas West."

"What?" Si Ling was stunned. Xuan Chi did not stop her from closing the book. He only said, "The country of Hans belongs to the Overseas Western Classic in the Classic of Mountains and Seas."

Si Ling shook his head: "That's impossible. The Classic of Mountains and Seas is about the Porcelain Country..."

"I have this place name in my memory." Xuan Chi lowered his eyes, his gaze dark, "The memory before I died."

Si Ling was shocked.

Although the saying that "Shan Hai Jing is a world map" has always existed, and many people in China today like to use this idea to make some "since ancient times" jokes, more mortals still think it is fictional, and ghosts think it records the ancient Chinese territory.

But now, Xuan Chi has confirmed this point of view.

She understood that he was simply dwelling on lost memories, trying to piece together some ancient conflict, and he had obviously not given much thought to what this meant when he said it.

But Si Ling understood what it meant.

...This means that in the distant ancient times, the footprints of Chinese gods had already reached here.

She thought of the murals in the underground caves again. The appearance of the old murals depicting Pangu and Nuwa in the Western country was itself a very strange thing, but the appearance of Xuan Chi allowed her to automatically complete the reason for the existence of the murals in her mind - she took it for granted that this ancient mythical beast accidentally came to the West and left those marks in the caves.

In this case, the existence of the murals is just an isolated event.

But if there is a complete record of this land in "Shan Hai Jing", it would be a different story.

Si Ling thought for a moment and had to remind Xuan Chi: "In order to avoid unnecessary conflicts, you'd better not tell anyone else."

Currently, both the Porcelain Kingdom's heavenly realm and the underworld are very rational and restrained in dealing with such cross-border affairs. Despite the rapid rise of the Western divine realm over the past few hundred years, neither Heaven nor the underworld has shown any interest in competing for territory. Many mortals have embraced Western religions and changed their afterlife, and the gods and Buddhas have shown no interest in interfering.

However, the attitudes of the folk fairies and ghosts are completely opposite to that of the official ones, and many people have long been unhappy with the expansion of the Western divine world.

If the fact that "Classic of Mountains and Seas" is the world's map is really publicized, Si Ling suspects that within 24 hours, hundreds of millions of fairies and ghosts will clamor to come and take back their homeland.

This didn't affect her much. Considering the several conflicts that had occurred after she came to the Ghost Academy, she privately didn't mind teaching these arrogant Western gods and ghosts a lesson.

But considering the old grudge between Xuan Chi and the Emperor of Heaven, she thought it would be better not to cause trouble for the Emperor of Heaven in such matters, so as to avoid making Xuan Chi's crime even more serious.

Xuan Chi had already read most of the history books of the Three Realms. After a moment's reflection, he understood what she meant and nodded in concentration, "I understand."

"Let's read something cheerful." Si Ling picked up the Classic of Mountains and Seas and walked towards the large bookshelf, intending to put the Classic of Mountains and Seas back and pick out some comics or other leisure books for Xuan Chi to read.

But just as she walked between two rows of bookshelves, the Tongming Plate suddenly vibrated.

She took out the Tongming Plate and saw a message from Lucifer: "Si Ling, if you don't have plans in the evening, please come to my office after dinner."

Si Ling was about to reply when Lucifer added, "If it's convenient, please ask Xuan Chi to come along."

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