Chapter 118 Yin Peach Blossom (48) The Vice Leader said, "He will come..."
"Looking at it now, that's certainly true," the vice-leader said.
Xi Rui understood. The Vice Master could confirm that Xie Tan was an observer, but whether he was the Eye of Observation was determined through this collaboration.
"So he went back to the past? But he's not in these scenes." Xi Rui suddenly realized the key point: "The Eye of Observation is above observation, so it cannot be 'observed'."
The Vice-Chancellor said, "But if the Eye of Observation intentionally leaves clues, observation can also retain corresponding memories."
Xi Rui's eyes flashed: "Observation Seven." Another Xia Wujin.
"She wasn't observing seven, she was observing ten."
Xi Rui recalled the divination he had mentioned: "Observe the seventh, which is Xie Tan."
The vice-leader did not answer, which was tantamount to Xi Jinping's tacit agreement.
"How long has this guy been hiding? Why is he only showing up now? What kind of conspiracy is he brewing?"
Xi Rui couldn't find any information about Xie Tan's past; all of that information was fabricated by the religious group.
The Vice Master was shrewd and foresighted. He knew that this was an ally who could work together to deal with the Black Goat. Xie Tan, on the other hand, was not one to sit idly by and wait to be schemed against. This guy came to Di University, leisurely and carefree, waiting for the cult to come knocking on his door. He was definitely intentionally "seducing" them.
After a few rounds of probing, both sides realized that the other was intelligent and capable of cooperating, so they quickly reached an agreement.
Xi Rui said, "Those observations were imprisoned by the Black Goat before they became observations. Did he escape? Hmm... If it was him, the Black Goat probably suffered a lot and was outmaneuvered several times."
But he still had doubts. Of all the black goats he had encountered and those he had observed, none of them knew of Xie Tan's existence.
It's as if this person appeared out of thin air.
“The black goat doesn’t have that ability,” the vice-leader said.
But he didn't deny that it was hidden away... Ha! Who's so powerful as to hide such an ultimate weapon? Xi Rui wondered.
The vice-leader didn't say anything more, and Xi Rui didn't ask any more questions. He recalled the previous conversation, so Xie Tan went back to the past and left an impression on Xia Wujin. As a result, after Xie Tan returned, the ghost bride had dreamlike fragments of memory and let Xia Wujin go.
Although Xie Tan had his own motives, he did not forget the young lady's request and helped her escape the crisis of Yin Tao Hua.
Xi Rui felt a little relieved, but then began to wonder when Xie Tan had started targeting Chang Mingai.
"Even in the fog, you could see other lines, right?"
Xi Jinping paused for a moment.
Yes, he saw the dangers Chang Mingai had encountered because of him in the past. Those were things he had experienced, things he remembered, but there were also one or two times... he had no recollection of them at all.
This must have happened in another timeline.
But he wasn't observing, so why would he see it?
Moreover, he was caught up in those hallucinations without realizing it. It was only when he actually saw Chang Mingai that he tried to distinguish whether it was the real person or another hallucination, and realized that the previous hallucinations had contained several "abnormal beings".
They are the hands of a clock.
"That's the effect of the fog from the smoke mirror, but the lives trapped in it are caught up in all sorts of fates and almost lose the ability to think, making it hard to notice. Observation can more clearly capture the incongruity. As for you, you've figured it out too. You only 'woke up' after seeing the hands of the clock."
Xi Rui smiled, revealing no emotion whatsoever: "My lord, what exactly happened to that pointer? When we first obtained it from the Immortal Realm, we had no idea it possessed such power, and we almost missed out on the treasure..."
“Chang Ming’ai,” the vice-leader said casually, “is the person chosen by the leader.”
"...Oh? She's just an ordinary person, why would the cult leader value her?"
Then, Xi Rui learned the whole story.
The cult leader valued Observation Two and sent a portion of his gods to the town to test its performance. He used the souls that had accidentally fallen into a dream town as a test subject to see what would happen if they were placed in the mountains. However, only one person realized something was wrong and began to investigate the person behind him. She believed this was the key to leaving the dream.
But to her surprise, the cult leader appeared first and made a deal with her, promising to wake her up during the Water Festival in exchange for her doing things for him.
Unfortunately, the leader did not expect that Xie Tan would intercept him. In the fairyland, Xie Tan had Chang Mingai awaken by obtaining the hour hand of a clock.
Xi Rui had rarely seen the leader. The owner of the cult was often "out of the house," and no one knew his whereabouts. Most believers might not see him for several years. All the affairs of the cult were handled by the vice leader, as if the vice leader was the real controller of the cult.
Therefore, Xi Rui was not familiar with the leader, but as the deputy leader's confidant, he had the honor of meeting him once or twice. The leader even teased him a couple of times because he was favored by the deputy leader.
Although he hadn't seen the whole picture, based on the rumors and intelligence he had gathered, he knew that this cult leader was definitely a very difficult person to deal with and quite... cold-blooded.
The Vice-Sect Leader stopped there, but he knew the crueler truth behind those words.
Those who unexpectedly fell asleep upon hearing the songs of the "femme fatale"... it was not an accident at all.
The cult leader needed to test the second group of Observers, which is why these people had the accident.
Chang Mingai was the unlucky one who became one of them.
That person must have his own plans. He only appeared in front of Chang Mingai because he needed a clever errand boy and a handy tool.
Once the objective is achieved, and given that it concerns observation, or even the cult leader's secrets, would he really leave any survivors?
According to what he found out, apart from Chang Mingai, none of the other victims who were unexpectedly put into a deep sleep survived; they had all died in the sacrifice and riot during Observation 2.
The cult has plenty of talented individuals. The cult leader thinks he has no shortage of loyal and capable people. That person doesn't seem to have the patience to train someone from scratch. No matter how intelligent and talented Chang Ming'ai is, she is not irreplaceable. What is there to hesitate about or feel sorry for? Silencing her is her original fate.
Perhaps this is the case in most timelines.
But no, Chang Mingai survived and even seemed to become a favorite of the cult leader, a subordinate who worked for him.
This is quite rare. The leader is a loner, and no one knows what he does. He passes on any tasks to the vice leader. When he needs people, he simply issues orders to the followers. They use them and then discard them. The followers never even see him.
Where else can Chang Mingai receive such treatment? Compared to others, it can be said that he is highly regarded by the cult leader.
All of this can only have one reason.
The hands of the clock were on Chang Mingai's body; that thing had become one with her.
She is now "the hand of the clock".
To achieve this result, we must go back to the fairyland. Xie Tan used Zhu Fengliang's trap and also used him to deliver the golden pocket watch into her hands, allowing Chang Mingai's main body and Bubble's clone to merge.
Finally, Chang Mingai's original body was awakened ahead of time, while the clock hands obtained by the bubble clone were preserved.
So that's how it is... Xi Rui originally suspected that everything was planned by Xie Tan, and that Chang Ming'ai was just a pawn. In the end, she was indeed a pawn that Xie Tan had ulterior motives for, but she was also saved by Xie Tan.
Regardless of Xie Tan's motives—whether it was to control the clock's hands or to prevent someone from obtaining it—in the end, he actually saved Chang Mingai.
"What exactly is that thing?" Xi Rui asked.
"What color is the pocket watch? And what about the hands?"
It was golden, a darker kind of golden, and the hands were the same… Xi Rui suddenly thought of the sky that flashed by in those images.
That wasn't night, and that wasn't a solar eclipse.
He recalled the black goat's bleating, which meant... the black sun had descended.
That half-solid, half-transparent gold edge is this color.
Is the pointer also a "piece of flesh" of the sun?
“That, like the Eye of Observation, is a part of God’s power, a kind of ‘time travel’,” the vice-leader said. “I speculate that ‘time travel’ and the Eye of Observation’s ability to ‘see through’ timelines are combined into one, which is the ability of the god in the Smoke Mirror to transcend time, only they have been separated.”
The ritual that Xie Tan changed was a brief "reunification".
Xi Rui sighed, "Sigh, cooperating with this guy is both fascinating and dangerous."
“This is necessary,” the vice-leader said softly. “To deal with the Eye of Observation, it must also be the Eye of Observation.”
Xi Rui's eyes widened slightly: "You mean, there is actually already an eye of observation within the Black Goat?"
That's right, otherwise why would the order be so cautious about an old lion that has truly degenerated into a sheep?
They really are a bunch of old fogies.
After his superior finished speaking, Xi Rui presented the most important intelligence he had gathered on this trip: Qi Shiheng's interpretation of the Black Goat prophecy, and her statement that the prophecy was still incomplete.
The vice-leader seemed thoughtful, then said calmly, "Understood."
Xi Rui didn't ask any more questions. Anyway, he was the one who was handling Xie Tan's affairs. The Vice Sect Leader would inform him of any tasks.
"My lord, I still have a question. Could the situation in these images be mistaken for a solar eclipse? But such a phenomenon has not occurred in the last hundred years, so it must be from another timeline."
"You said that there are countless possibilities at every moment, which would give rise to countless world lines, but you didn't mention the existence of parallel worlds... So, there is only one world. Then how can countless lines coexist, or is it that only one line can become reality?"
Instead of answering directly, the vice-leader suddenly asked, "Have you returned the book you borrowed?"
"Hmm? Oh, the book on mythology studies? I don't have it yet, but I've finished reading it. It's in my dorm, I'll return it tomorrow."
"Now that you've finished reading, you should know that interpreting Aztec mythology using the concept of 'cycles' is not accurate."
Xi Rui slowly continued, "A more accurate way to put it is 'cyclical destruction,' with 'destruction' being the key."
"After all, it's a black smoke mirror," the vice-leader sighed. "You're right, those are abandoned timelines, which means they're heading towards destruction."
Xi Rui's eyes turned cold; this was truly...
"It's terrifying, isn't it? Just like those ghosts and monsters that are beyond our comprehension and possess all sorts of abilities," the vice-leader said with interest. "Is everything we are experiencing now the only predetermined reality... or is it a 'possibility' that can be abandoned at any time?"
Xi Rui heard his superior continue, "That depends on the Eye of Observation."
Xi Rui's eyes flashed: "Do you need me to pass on a message for you?"
The vice-leader said, "He will come looking for me."
The indistinct voice gradually faded into the distance, calm and indifferent, as if it were saying something that was bound to happen.
Xi Rui wondered to himself, "Does Xie Tan know about the Vice Leader?"
Even if they didn't know at first, with Xie Tan's terrifying mind... they should have found out by now.
Xie Tan, upon seeing this, fell silent.
Thank you, he'll find out now. He knows too much in a day... He himself doesn't even know he knows so much.
That's so convoluted.
But after sorting through the intelligence and some details from the past, he realized... he did know.
Xie Tan sat on the edge of his bed in the master bedroom, touching the words on the ancient book, somewhat lost in thought.
So it was that person.
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