Volume 3 Journey Chapter 71 The Eight Trigrams Man

  Aivan immediately shook his head, and with a wave of his hand in front of me, said: "Alick, how can you think that? First, can a cemetery be built inside a palace? A cemetery should have tombstones, right? Have you seen any?" I shook my head, about to speak, but Aivan immediately pressed his hand against mine, stopping me from opening my mouth. He continued to spout nonsense: "Secondly, don't always think of me as so despicable. What's the big deal about stealing? When a person dies, it's like a lamp going out - no trace is left behind. The things that are left behind are ownerless objects. Since there's no owner, whoever gets them first owns them, right? You say... we're just explorers, yeah, that's all. But when you say it, it sounds so ugly, like we're grave robbers." After finishing speaking, he looked me up and down with a disdainful gaze, making me feel like he thought I was an unsophisticated country bumpkin, a narrow-minded person, an old fossil...

  I know I'm no match for his eloquence, so I don't bother to waste my breath arguing with him. I simply nod in resignation and wave my hand at him, saying: "Don't try this on me, we all understand each other's intentions. Since you're here, let's just go take a look. I won't refuse to enter just because I see through your actions, nor will I be completely free of guilt just because you make some flippant excuses. Just lead the way ahead."

  Evan said with a radiant face: "That's right, you go and it's fine, the rest has nothing to do with me. We've always cooperated tacitly, I hope this time is the same." Evan led his sister ahead with an elegant demeanor, and I could only sigh and follow them.

  We walked deep into the palace, and Evan stopped at a corner, pointing to a pile of rubble and said to me: "It's right under this, I deliberately piled up these stones on top of it when I left last time to cover up the entrance. This time with you, Mr. Magician, it seems that I don't need to bother moving the stones."

  I rolled my eyes at Evan and said, "Huh, so you're calling me to be a laborer now? You say I'm so unlucky for what reason?"

  Ivan chuckled and said, "Those who are capable have to work harder, right? For you, it's not even a breeze, so just lend a hand, okay? If I get exhausted, who'll show you the way? Alik, don't you think so?"

  After all, I had to do it myself. I muttered the incantation under my breath and moved my fingers lightly, causing that pile of stones to float up and quickly form a nearly two-meter-tall stone giant. I cast this same spell three times, and three stone men appeared before us.

  I nodded in satisfaction as I gazed upon my masterpiece. Indeed, combining the communication methods of the spirit tribe and elements with human spellcasting has allowed me to easily cast high-level magic now. If Professor Ankhara were here, she would surely praise my creativity. Ever since witnessing Professor Ankhara's casting of this magic, I have conducted thorough research on it, especially after joining the spirit tribe and learning from their magician Soyer. My mastery of this magic has reached an unprecedented level; even the rock giants I summon can possess simple thoughts of their own. Although they may not be as massive as those summoned by Professor Ankhara, my spellcasting speed is faster than ordinary methods, and it also possesses a certain degree of enemy recognition ability, as well as flexible application of martial skills in combat. This is something that no magician throughout history has ever thought possible or achieved – I can grant true life and soul to the creatures I summon. They are capable of making judgments on their own, determining friend from foe, and choosing the appropriate methods to counter their enemies.

  The giant's work efficiency was very high, and he quickly grasped the intention. In less than half a day, the large pile of remaining rubble in front of us was quickly cleared away. I don't know where Evan was, but with a pull of the mechanism, a rumbling sound came from underground, followed by a black hole that could only accommodate one person at a time. Evan gestured to us, and the three of us crawled in one after another.

  I was the last one to walk in, and when I did, I saw a long passageway. The passageway was very long and seemed to be sloping downward. I estimated that this passageway led to some place underground. Evan was holding a torch and lighting up the torches on both sides of the wall of the passageway one by one.

  I found that the floral patterns on both sides of the Yongdao were actually a group of murals, and the content of the murals seemed to be continuous. I stood under the dim torches and looked at these murals carefully.

  Evan urged me somewhat impatiently, "Come on, what's there to see in these things?"

  "I said, 'What do you know? With your reckless attitude, it's a miracle you've made it this far. Don't you know that since this is a tomb, you need to understand some things about the tomb owner in order to enter? Otherwise, you won't even know how you died. Luckily, I learned many things from my mother when I was young, including some knowledge of noble funeral customs, especially those of this abandoned city on a remote island. I've also read stories about it in books.'"

  Xī Lù heard that there was a story to be told, and immediately became interested. Although her face was covered, I clearly felt her curiosity. She had long forgotten the things I had offended her with, and urged me to tell her about the legends of this city.

  I nodded and said: "It's okay if you want me to talk, but after I finish talking, I also want to ask you a question, and you must answer me honestly."

  Xilu thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I promise you, you can start talking now?" Evan chimed in from the side, "Xilu, you don't even know what he's going to ask yet, how can you so casually agree to it?" After finishing, Evan turned his head to me and said, "How about this, you ask your questions first. If Xilu feels embarrassed, she can choose not to answer, and you can also choose not to tell this story."

  It's still Evan being clever. I chuckled and said: "Alright, then Xi Lu, I've always been curious, why do you keep covering your face and refuse to show your true self?"

  Xī Lù listened to my words and said with great disdain: "I thought it was some kind of problem, but it's actually just this. I didn't expect you, a man, to be so gossipy. Not only are you gossipy, but you also put your mind to prying into things, not being open and honest at all. For this kind of question, even if you weren't qualified, I could still tell you."

  I awkwardly touched my nose, thinking to myself, "Geez, I don't even know you, and our relationship is still pretty tense. It's weird that I'm asking you this question." But my mouth said: "Yeah, I think I'm quite nosy too, just not as nosy as your brother. He's always snooping around about me, always trying to take advantage of me, making me do all the hard work."

  Ivan, who was standing beside me, chimed in, "Hey, what's with dragging me into this? Geez!" I ignored his complaint and asked Xilu, "So tell me, why do you always cover your face?"