Chapter 18
In the soft and clear halo of the bedroom, a hint of curiosity arose in her heart. She picked up the dry vine with her fingertips, took it out of the treasure bag, placed it in the palm of her hand, and looked at it carefully.
The tentacles were dry and rough, almost light and almost imperceptible, as if they would crumble into dust with the slightest effort. Apart from the unusual dark gold hue, she couldn't see anything unusual about them.
"Could it be that I was dazzled and picked up something useless?" She couldn't help but feel a little self-deprecating, and subconsciously rubbed the rugged lines on the surface of the dead vine with her fingertips.
However, at the moment when her fingertips accidentally brushed against a tiny bump on the withered vine—
Something unexpected happened!
The lifeless, withered vine trembled extremely slightly without any warning! Although the amplitude was so tiny that it was almost imperceptible, Lin Yibai clearly felt the throbbing!
She was so frightened that she pulled her hand back and almost threw the dead vine away. Her heart suddenly started beating like a drum.
She held her breath, opened her eyes wide, and stared at the dark golden vine in her palm.
——On the surface of the lifeless vine, where her fingertips had just touched, a very thin and faint golden light, thinner than the rising sun, flashed by!
The light was extremely faint, but as fast as lightning. If she hadn't been concentrating, she would almost have thought it was an illusion caused by dizziness!
And in that fleeting moment, an indescribable obscure aura, as if originating from the ancient times, was like an ancient consciousness that had been dormant for thousands of years, quietly awakening. It dissipated very faintly, and then disappeared without a trace, as if it had never appeared.
The withered vine returned to its dry, dead, and inconspicuous appearance, lying quietly in her warm palm.
The bedroom was dead silent, with only the sound of Lin Yibai's heartbeat, which was getting louder and faster, pounding against her eardrums.
She looked at the "dead vine" in her palm in disbelief, then suddenly raised her head and looked around - there was no one in the hall, and Luluo was still busy outside.
It was definitely not an illusion just now!
This piece of dead vine that she originally thought was "trash" she had picked up by mistake actually holds a secret?!
A huge wave of surprise and belated excitement washed over her like a tide. She carefully held the piece of dead vine in front of her eyes with both hands and looked at it carefully, and even her breathing subconsciously became extremely light and slow.
"What... is this?"
However, time passed slowly, and the fleeting tremor and light on the vine never returned. It simply lay quietly in her hands. No matter how she shifted her angles to examine it, or even tried to inject a tiny bit of spiritual power into it, it was like a stone falling on a stone, with no response at all.
"Could it be that I'm too nervous and have hallucinations?" Lin Yibai frowned, feeling a little frustrated in his heart.
The feeling of hope being ignited and then dashed was more exhausting to her than the constant despair. She poked the dead vine with her finger, somewhat unwillingly, but it still showed no reaction, as if silently mocking her fuss.
"Tsk, could this really be the garbage collected by that old devil?" She muttered softly and angrily threw the dead vine onto the small table.
The withered vine rolled half a circle on the smooth table and stopped, still looking lifeless.
Lin Yibai leaned back on the couch in frustration, his eyes swept across the bulging storage bag around his waist, and suddenly an idea came to him!
"——System Store!"
Even though that damn system is a rip-off, there are so many strange things in the store. Maybe there are records of similar things?
Thinking of this, she immediately concentrated and silently called the system in her heart.
【System store is open】
The translucent light screen reappeared before her eyes. Lin Yibai ignored the [Magic Weapons] she couldn't afford and the [Cultivation] items she couldn't purchase, and her gaze fell directly on the [Spiritual Medicines]. She quickly scanned the dazzling array of item names and icons, trying to find something similar in form or description to the withered vine.
“Ivy meets dead tree”? Not right.
"Ten Thousand Years Soul-Nourishing Tree"? The description doesn't seem right.
"Golden Vine Seeds"? Not really.
She searched for a long time, even trying to use her mind to input keywords like "dark gold," "withered vines," and "ancient," but found nothing. The screen either displayed "No matching products" or something completely unrelated popped up.
"Really, there isn't any..." The feeling of disappointment spread again. She sighed, moved her mind slightly, and prepared to close this frustrating store interface.
However, just as the light was about to fade, her eyes accidentally swept across the upper right corner of the store interface - there was a very inconspicuous, blank square box there, which she had never noticed before.
This is……?
Lin Yibai was stunned for a moment.
Why does this design look so much like the one in her previous life's online shopping app...
An absurd and heart-pounding thought suddenly flashed through her mind: This system... does it have a built-in photo recognition function?
——Who cares! It won’t hurt to give it a try!
With a desperate attitude, she tried to focus her mind on the blank box.
The next moment, the box was activated and expanded instantly, turning into a clear viewfinder with a faint light flowing around the edge, as if waiting for her to include the object to be identified!
"It actually exists?!" Lin Yibai was shocked. The "modernity" of this system was beyond her imagination. She quickly picked up the piece of dry vine thrown on the table and carefully placed it in the center of the viewfinder.
Silently chant in your heart: "Identify, identify, identify..."
The next second, the viewfinder flickered and quickly focused: images and data streams of the withered vines rapidly scrolled and analyzed on the light screen. In just a breath or two, the results were presented before her.
【Identification object: no root】
[Origin: Neither metal nor wood, born by chance. Rumor has it that it is a part of an ancient innate spiritual root, extinguished by the eons of thunder and lightning, yet within the endless silence, a wisp of immortal life force remains, capable of manifestation only by chance.]
[Status: Silent (Inactive)]
[Purpose: ??? (Data missing/Insufficient permissions)]
Lin Yibai widened his eyes, reading the words on the screen word by word, his heart pounding.
——Ancient innate spiritual roots! Eternal thunder tribulation! Eternal vitality!
Each of these words exudes unparalleled style and ancient atmosphere!
She had truly found a treasure! This wasn't just any ordinary item; it might even be the most precious treasure in Tengyan Patriarch's treasury!
However, after her ecstasy, her gaze continued to move downwards, and when it landed on the last [Purpose] column, the glaring "???" and "Missing data/Insufficient permissions" were like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing all her excitement.
So what is this thing good for, and how should it be used? And what does the "缘" in "summoning by chance" refer to?
She looked at the [Rootless] in her palm which had returned to silence again, and for a moment she felt as if she had obtained the scabbard of a peerless divine sword, but she didn't know how to draw the sword.
After a long moment, she sighed with mixed emotions and closed the shop.
*
At the same time, in a place that the morning light cannot reach, deep inside the Glazed Tower, lies a heavily guarded secret room.
The light here is dim, the air is cold, and the walls are engraved with complex confinement runes, which are faintly flickering at this moment.
On the stone platform in the center of the secret room, a young man lay quietly.
He had been dressed in the plain white robes of a Bodeng Sect inner disciple. His face was delicate, his eyes closed, and his breathing was long and even, as if he had fallen into a deep sleep. If it weren't for his extremely pale face, there would be almost no sign of anything unusual.
——It was the "sacrifice" that Su Hong and Shen Qing brought back from the scorched earth fishing village.
The stone door of the secret room slid open silently, and a dark figure slowly walked in.
Lin Wuya walked to the edge of the stone platform, the faint black mist swirling around him adding a touch of eeriness to the already chilly chamber. He lowered his gaze to examine the sleeping boy, his handsome face devoid of emotion. Only the dark red in the depths of his eyes, rapidly swirling, betrayed a hint of almost greedy desire.
After a while, he slowly raised his hand, and his slender fingers, like a piece of cold jade, pointed directly at the boy's eyebrows - that was where the sea of consciousness was, and also where the soul resided.
However, just as his fingertips were about to touch the boy's skin—
"Buzz!"
Unexpectedly, a ball of pale flame suddenly burst out from the young man's eyebrows without any warning, instantly wrapping around Lin Wuya's fingers, then transformed into a beast, roaring at him fiercely!
That flame was no ordinary fire. It did not emit heat. Instead, it emitted an extremely cold and destructive aura, as if it could freeze the soul and extinguish all life!
Lin Wuya's face changed, he withdrew his hand as if he had been electrocuted, and his body floated back a foot.
The pale beast fire seemed to possess life, leaping and rising on the boy's body, gradually forming a protective, transparent barrier. The roar was filled with warning and threat, as if to prevent him from approaching.
Lin Wuya felt a trace of icy pain lingering on his fingertips. Looking at the pale flame, there was no trace of anger or hurt in his eyes. Instead, there was an almost insane exclamation in his eyes.
"It's you... It's you!" He murmured softly, his voice distorted with excitement. "Soul-burning and soul-devouring, the flame of annihilation—it was worth it that I changed the course of that ship, sailing towards the fishing village, and was ultimately absorbed by this profound Yin body... Great! It's really great!"
The muscles on his face twitched slightly, and then he let out a suppressed but crazy laugh: "After two lifetimes of searching and a thousand calculations, now I have finally got you into my hands!"
The pale flame seemed to understand his words, and it swelled angrily, trying to pounce on him again, but it seemed to be bounded by an invisible boundary, unable to really move too far away from the boy's body. It could only burn violently in vain, emitting an even colder chill.
Lin Wuya stood at a safe distance, admiring the powerless and angry flames, his eyes filled with the fanaticism of controlling everything.
"No need to struggle." The laughter subsided, and Lin Wuya spoke softly, as if comforting a precious object, "Soon... you will be given a real use."
The light of the flames now shone on Lin Wuya's distorted face, making the dark red in his eyes look like a boiling sea of blood.
Violent and brutal.
The pale flame seemed to sense the deeper, cold malice in his words, which was far beyond its comprehension. It shrank slightly, and the burning smoke seemed to freeze for a moment.
After he finished speaking, Lin Wuya sneered and slowly turned around. His black robe sleeves drew a deep arc in the dim light.
The stone door of the chamber closed silently behind him, completely isolating the angry roar within. Dark blue runes dimly lit up one by one, following the man's departing footsteps, like countless silent eyes, watching a chess game about to begin.
——It has already been woven, and no one is destined to escape.
[Volume 1: Storm is Coming, End]
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