The man had died long ago, his body had decayed, leaving only the eerie white bones, as if he was sitting cross-legged.

Lu Ban knew that this posture was very difficult to maintain. When the body decayed and the flesh withered, the skeleton would surely fall apart. To superstitious people, the ability to maintain this posture was the firm will of the deceased. However, in Lu Ban's opinion, it was probably just the influence of some supernatural power.

Thick black mist was entwined on the gray bones. The pollution spread from the bones, fighting and intertwining with other pollution in the entire cave.

Lu Ban saw that on the wall of the cave, there were some words carved with something unknown.

These characters are not the language of the Wasted City, but the language of Lu Ban's world.

Although it has been weathered by the years, it is still clearly recognizable today because it was engraved so deeply.

"The dead pay tribute to those who are dying."

Lu Ban did know a Latin proverb, which roughly meant that the dying salutes you. It was what soldiers said in response to the general's call before going to war.

This sentence is obviously derived from that sentence.

As for the meaning...

Lu Ban held the token in his hand. He came to the table and flipped through the words written in the language of Feidu.

The paper of these books has also been soaked in pollution, which is why they have remained intact for so many years.

One of them records many foreign secrets and pollutions in a messy handwriting. The content is similar to the "Heming Nine Chapters Secret Scripture". It seems that Taoist Heming successfully comprehended the foreign knowledge and founded his sect after reading this book.

So, maybe Taoist Heming is the Xuanjun of a certain generation, who abandoned his duties and went to the abandoned city?

Or maybe, Taoist Heming is also a chosen one by God, and his mission is similar to Lu Ban's, which is to become a Xuanjun. After he came here, he read these, and after returning to the abandoned city, he founded a sect?

Lu Ban closed the book and opened another one.

There are a lot of handwriting left here, and except for the Feidu language at the beginning, the others are texts that Lu Ban can easily understand, and they seem to be written by different people.

[I must stay here, I can't leave here, I can only stay here, no, I want to leave here, I can't stay here, I want to go, I want to go, let me go, haha, I get it, I'm not needed here, hahaha]

[They all betrayed me. I could have just ignored them. No, this is impossible. I can't think like this. I have to wait. I have to wait. It hurts so much. I feel so bad. He is about to come out. Don't do this. Please, don't do this. I shouldn't be here. I regret it. I regret it.]

[Go to hell, all of them go to hell, those people don't deserve to live, I can wake him up, I can do it, let this place be destroyed, hahaha, destroy them all, I can do it, let them pay the price for their betrayal, no, wait, I need to sober up, think about why I came here, be firm]

The earliest Wasted City text was obviously written by someone who had fallen into madness. The language was incoherent and it was impossible to tell what the content was, just like someone who had been tortured for a long time.

From then on, the language that Lu Ban could understand were all diary-like texts.

Lu Ban saw that most of Xuanjun's successors would stay in this cave for some time to absorb and learn the contents of the notes left by Xuanjun.

Then, they left with the knowledge and returned to their homes to strengthen, or rather, pollute, the power of their bloodline.

Because they were exposed to pollution beyond human limits in the caves, they all contracted various diseases and eventually died early.

However, Lu Ban did not find any trace of Taoist Heming, and was not sure when he came here.

Lu Ban glanced at the person sitting here, and was curious about what made him stay here.

According to written records, he had experienced extreme struggles and wanted to escape, but some stronger emotions made him stay.

Lu Ban flipped through the last record.

The words on it are all the language of the abandoned city, recording the things buried on this mountain.

"The Great Old Ones..."

The Old One known as "Fang Geng" was sealed and bound in Jiangcheng Mountain. The Old One, who was originally as huge as a galaxy, became the size of a human after being sealed and lost most of his power. He became blind, stupid, and confused, unable to recover in the long chaos.

But even so, the power of the Old Ones is difficult to suppress.

Fang Geng's power caused changes in the mountains, shifts in the earth, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and other disasters, and the people living near Jiangcheng Mountain were polluted and gained supernatural powers.

The ancestors of the nine classes are the ones who have endured pollution and knowledge.

The so-called Xuanjun is not the king of the underworld, but a sacrifice.

Xuan Jun will bear the pollution from the previous generation of Xuan Jun. While greatly improving himself, he also becomes the front line in the fight against Fang Geng's pollution.

The pollution that Xuan Jun himself possessed and the pollution that Fang Geng possessed formed a form of mutual contamination and confrontation. However, Xuan Jun alone could hardly fight against the great Old One, even if He was in a tight seal.

Therefore, Xuanjun continues to be passed down, and each Xuanjun will endure endless torture and spend the rest of his life in confrontation with that great existence.

All of this is just like the novelist Gudu who constantly created horror stories to please the gods. The descendants of the Nine Classes also resist the erosion of the Old Ones by polluting themselves.

When Lu Ban saw this, he finally understood the meaning of the words engraved on the wall.

The person who has died is the original Xuan Jun, and those who are going to die are the millions of Xuan Juns that will follow.

The dead pay tribute to those who are dying.

Lu Ban also understood what those crazy words meant.

After becoming Xuan Jun and learning about the past, the successors must have felt conflicted, regretful, and unwilling. Perhaps some of them, like Taoist Heming, betrayed their mission and fled.

But the vast majority, the vast majority of Xuanjuns, like the original Xuanjun, chose to inherit this mission amidst the struggle.

And Lu Ban may be the key to ending all this.

After all, in modern times, there is no longer any legend of the Nine Traditions, and Jiangcheng Mountain doesn’t seem to be anything unusual. Even the town next door and the weird amusement park are more frightening.

This means that Jiang Chengshan’s issue should have been resolved.

only……

"The pollution has worsened a lot. This is no longer a simple pollution confrontation. Has someone triggered the seal?"

Lu Ban felt the call from the mountains ringing in his ears, and the subtle whispers suddenly became loud.