Chapter 95: Array Diagram
"Sister Fang, our family's library is huge! We have all kinds of books!" Xie Wanning chattered as she pushed open a heavy sandalwood door.
The room was softly lit and filled with the faint scent of ink and the unique aroma of old paper.
The bookshelves are towering, reaching all the way to the ceiling, and are densely packed with countless books.
It contains classics, histories, philosophical works, local chronicles, medical texts, divination and astrology, and even some lost craft manuals, all categorized and organized in an orderly manner.
Its collection of books far surpasses that of ordinary noble families and is comparable to that of some small religious sects.
Fang Li strolled through it, marveling at the sights.
She even found several miscellaneous notes on basic Qi cultivation, identification of rare herbs, and even some regional spiritual phenomena in an inconspicuous corner.
"Your family... even collects miscellaneous books from the cultivation world?" Fang Li picked up a small booklet with yellowed pages, which recorded the characteristics of a spiritual herb that was almost extinct.
Xie Wanning leaned over for a look, then proudly raised her little face: "Of course! My dad says, 'Know yourself and know your enemy!' It's never a bad thing to know more!"
"Impressive, isn't it!" Xie Wanning said in a low voice, with a hint of pride. "This is the culmination of generations of our Xie family's savings! Many of these books can't be found anywhere else! My brother loves to hang out here researching things; it's so boring!"
As she spoke, she skipped and hopped to the end of a row of bookshelves, where a decorative bronze crane candlestick stood.
She stood on tiptoe, wanting to touch the pearl that the crane was holding in its beak.
"Ouch!" Suddenly she slipped and lost her balance. Her hand instinctively grabbed at something haphazardly and landed right on the joint of the crane's raised wing.
Click.
A slight click of a mechanism was heard.
The bookshelves next to it, which seemed to blend into the wall, silently slid inward by half a foot, revealing a narrow hidden compartment behind them.
Both of them were stunned.
The hidden compartment was small, and it contained only one scroll.
It appeared to be an array, neither quite a skin nor quite a skin, carrying an indescribable sense of ancient weight. It was casually bound by a black silk thread, its edges somewhat torn.
Driven by curiosity, Xie Wanning reached out and took it out, untangling the threads and carefully unfolding it.
A dazzling array of formations appeared before the two of them.
The array patterns are profound and mysterious, intertwined and blurred in most areas, with some parts missing. However, the remaining core structure still exudes a chilling feeling.
Most strangely, the moment the array was unfurled, Fang Li keenly sensed that the remaining patterns on the array were extremely similar to the spiritual energy fluctuations emitted by the black powder.
In one corner of the array diagram, there is a mark that has been deliberately worn away. Its shape is strange, resembling neither a claw nor an eye, and it exudes an eerie aura.
"This is...?" Fang Li's pupils contracted slightly, and alarm bells rang in her mind.
Xie Wanning was also startled, her hand trembled, and the array diagram almost fell to the ground: "Ah? This... how come there are things hidden here? I... my father definitely doesn't know there's this!" She was a little flustered, as if she had discovered something she shouldn't have.
"Host!!" The system's urgent voice rang in Fang Li's mind, "High-dimensional energy residual imprint detected! The array structure has an extremely high degree of homology with the demonic energy sample! Host! Quick! Record it! Record it with all your might! This may be the key!"
Fang Li immediately focused her mind, rapidly imprinting every detail and every pattern of the broken array diagram, including the blurry mark, into the depths of her consciousness. At the same time, she urgently cried out in her mind: "System! Synchronize and back up! Highest precision!"
[“Scanning! Full analysis in progress…material analysis…energy trajectory simulation…mark comparison database…host, this thing is probably something special!”]
Seeing Fang Li's solemn expression, Xie Wanning realized that things were not simple. She hurriedly rolled up the array diagram again, stuffed it back into the hidden compartment, and pushed the bookshelf back into place until the slight clicking sound rang out again, indicating that the mechanism had been reset.
She patted her chest, her face pale, and whispered to Fang Li, "Sister Fang, please... let's pretend we didn't see anything, okay? Please don't tell my parents! I'm scared..."
Fang Li took a deep breath, suppressing the shock in her heart, and nodded: "Okay, let's pretend we didn't see it." But in her mind, the array diagram was already clearly imprinted.
Just then, the door to the library was gently pushed open. Xie Chen walked in, a smile on his face: "Wan Ning, are you bothering my junior sister again? Mother sent me to find you for tea and refreshments..."
His words trailed off. His keen eyes caught Xie Wanning's barely concealed panic and the lingering shock on Fang Li's face. His gaze swept over the bookshelf that had just been put back in its place, and the faint, unusual fluctuations in the air that resonated subtly with the black powder sample in his arms.
Xie Chen's smile vanished instantly. He stepped forward, his voice low and unusually serious: "What...did you touch?"
Xie Wanning shrank back in fright.
Fang Li hesitated for a moment, then whispered, "Senior Brother Xie, Wan Ning... accidentally opened a hidden compartment, inside which is a scroll... a very ancient array diagram."
Xie Chen's expression changed slightly. He immediately walked to the bookshelf and quickly pressed several specific points on the crane candlestick. The bookshelf slid open silently again. He took out the array diagram, quickly unfolded it, and glanced at it.
When his gaze fell upon the intricate and eerie array patterns, especially the blurry mark in the corner, his pupils suddenly contracted, and his expression instantly became extremely solemn.
He immediately rolled up the array diagram again, gripped it tightly in his hand, glanced at Xie Wanning and Fang Li with a complicated expression, and said in a deep voice, "This matter ends here. You have never seen this before, understand?"
Xie Wanning nodded quickly.
Fang Li solemnly replied, "Understood."
Xie Chen took a deep breath, carefully put the array diagram into his sleeve, and looked at Fang Li with a solemn tone: "Junior Sister, this matter is no small thing, far beyond what we expected. This thing... has great implications, and is definitely not as simple as the mischief of ordinary demons. We should not stay here any longer, and we need to go to the capital as soon as possible to find out the truth."
He paused, then looked out the window: "I will inform my father and prepare to depart immediately."
Half an hour later, in front of the Xie residence.
The carriage was ready. Su Wanqiu held Xie Chen and Fang Li's hands, earnestly instructing them, her eyes full of concern and reluctance: "Chen'er, Miss Fang, this trip to the capital is fraught with danger, so please be careful in everything you do..." She then secretly slipped a small brocade pouch to Fang Li, "Inside are some emergency funds and Xie family tokens, which may come in handy."
Xie Zhiyuan stood at the door, his face calm, his gaze deep. He glanced at Xie Chen, then looked intently at Fang Li, and finally simply cupped his hands in a respectful gesture, saying, "Take care." Those two words carried immense weight.
The group boarded the carriage, its wheels turning as it sped away from the misty, rainy Jiangnan region, heading towards the capital, a place where fortunes were turning.
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