Chapter 513: Mantou Really Misses You

Did it hurt?

Xiao Xin scratched its head.

Zhu Leng didn't usually seem to feel pain, did he?

Could Zhu Leng be enduring it on purpose...

"So you mean the person in this photo didn't have their soul power forcibly taken away?"

Xiao Xin asked.

"That's right."

Ning Wei nodded.

"With such a massive amount of soul power leaving no soul fragments or signs of resistance, there are only two possibilities. Either the person was extremely cooperative and voluntarily extinguished their soul power, or... it faded away naturally."

"Okay! Thank you for your cooperation!"

Xiao Xin bowed deeply to Ning Wei, then made a swiping motion in the air.

A small vortex opened up. Xiao Xin dove into it and vanished.

"Is that the new little messenger he mentioned?"

Ning Wei chuckled.

"It's definitely a bit more efficient than me."

Mid-laugh, he realized something was wrong.

"Wait a minute. If he had this little guy to deliver letters from the start, why did he need me? Could it be that using it requires strict conditions... or... was it tracking me?"

After thinking for a moment, Ning Wei let it go.

Being tracked was in the past anyway.

He was under house arrest now. If he wanted to escape, the only thing he could rely on was the hint he'd gotten from that woman back then.

"Haa..."

He pillowed his hands behind his head and let out a yawn.

A month ago, he never would have imagined he'd one day end up under house arrest.

"It's not too bad, actually. Worst comes to worst, I'll just marry the person. I just hope they aren't too..."

Ning Wei muttered, chuckling at his own words.

Unconsciously, his thoughts drifted back to the photo he had just seen.

"Whose flesh was in that photo? Such terrifying soul power... Conservatively speaking, it could easily encompass the entire history of the Great Prison."

Ning Wei frowned slightly.

"If that guy is still at the Summit, he might not necessarily be weaker than the Chief Warden..."

While he was lost in thought, a sudden knock came at the door.

"Young Master, I'm coming in."

Ning Wei didn't reply. Soon, the door was pushed open.

A man in a black robe stood outside, clutching a Codex.

It was the same Deputy Warden who had appeared to persuade him back when Ning Wei and Cen Ji were fleeing for their lives.

"Young Master, you're here. Why didn't you answer? I thought something had happened to you."

The man smiled.

Whether from disease or from birth, his eyes had no whites or irises; each entire eyeball was pitch-black.

"If I told you not to come in, would you actually listen?"

Ning Wei smiled disdainfully.

"Just spit it out."

"It's like this."

The man didn't dwell on Ning Wei's silence, nor did he mind his condescending tone. Instead, he said, "The date of the Wedding has been changed. It's set for this day. What do you think?"

The man bowed slightly, presenting a white piece of paper in his hand with a date written on it.

This movement highlighted just how tall the man was.

It wasn't as noticeable in everyday conversation, but even while bowing, he was still half a head taller than Ning Wei, who was close to 1.8 meters tall. Ning Wei looked at the date and frowned.

"You set the date for three days before that woman's trial?"

"Is there a problem?"

The man looked at him, a meaningful glint reflecting in those pitch-black eyes.

"Heh."

Ning Wei pillowed his hands behind his head again and laughed.

"That guy is using that woman as a last resort, isn't he? So my Wedding is the second-to-last resort?"

"I don't really care, but having it so close to that woman's trial date is just bad luck."

Hearing this, the man expressionlessly put the paper away.

"Whatever day your Wedding takes place is automatically an auspicious day. There is no need to worry about such things."

"Is that so? Then I suppose I should thank you."

Ning Wei watched the man open the door to leave and asked, "Will you give me a gift on that day? I'm really looking forward to it."

"Of course. Your subordinate has already prepared a grand gift for you. I hope you will like it."

The man turned back, glanced at Ning Wei, and shut the door.

Ning Wei smirked, saying nothing.

Damn it, he wanted to see what kind of good stuff he'd receive that day. If it was a real treasure, he'd accept it before executing his plan; otherwise... heh. Not long after the man left, Xiao Xin leaped out from the corner again.

"Hello! We meet again! This is a letter from Zhu Leng!"

Xiao Xin handed the letter to Ning Wei and said, "Zhu Leng also wants you to look at this photo! He wants you to see the situation in it. Just like the last one, it's a photo of soul power."

Ning Wei looked at the new photo of flesh in his hand, his brow furrowing even tighter than before.

"The situation in this photo is almost identical to the last one. Both show fading soul power, but the condition here is much worse. Moreover, the person who made these cuts was far less experienced than the previous one. Many of the incisions aren't clean. Look... these saw-like marks here are typical of a novice's handiwork."

"Wait, no. This person shares a lot of the exact same habits as the previous surgeon. For example, the force applied right at the start of the incision..." As he kept looking, Ning Wei's eyes widened, as if he'd figured something out.

He lifted his head and handed the photo back to Xiao Xin.

"Tell your master that the body this flesh belongs to is in even worse shape than the last one. The previous body likely possessed immense soul power from birth, which slowly faded over time. But the owner of the flesh in this photo had a massive amount of soul power forcibly thrust upon them, only for it to recede later. This kind of forcefully imposed power causes tremendous damage to the body."

Xiao Xin nodded.

"Okay, thank you!"

Seeing Xiao Xin's little face scrunch up as it answered, Ning Wei suddenly spoke up just as it was about to dive into the vortex.

"Is this a photo of your master's body?"

Xiao Xin paused, then dived into the vortex without answering.

The Desolate Forest.

By the river.

The crowd stared at Yan Jing, whose forehead was covered in beads of sweat, and secretly gritted their teeth.

This guy in front of them was absolutely the most ruthless of the ruthless.

Performing surgery on himself.

Taking pictures of himself.

And then stitching up his own wounds.

And doing it all with pain magnified who knows how many times.

Searching their hearts, everyone present knew not a single one of them could go to such extremes.

Wasn't it just a matter from thousands of years ago? Did he really need to go all out like this?

Soon, Xiao Xin returned and relayed Ning Wei's answer to Yan Jing.

Yan Jing nodded. He looked at Xiao Xin with a somewhat pale smile.

"Thank you, Xiao Xin."

"It's nothing."

Xiao Xin hurriedly rushed forward and hugged Yan Jing's neck, whispering softly, "Zhu Leng doesn't hurt. No pain, no pain."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Go get some rest first, Xiao Xin."

After sending Xiao Xin off to rest, Yan Jing turned to the group.

"Let's continue our deduction. It's now been confirmed that the massive soul power inside Wen Xu and Wen Xu's sister wasn't their true soul power. It was a temporary implant that could fade away. You know what I mean?"

"My current theory is that Wen Xu's sister possessed a certain type of soul power, and she transferred a portion of it to Wen Xu. After she died, this soul power residing in Wen Xu's body gradually began to fade."

Returning to Wen Xu's sister's new body.

Yan Jing didn't say that last sentence out loud.

"Continue the deduction."

He instructed.

"So our initial deduction should be partially correct."

The Fat Man said, "Wu Xu's sister served as a human cauldron."

"She contained a tremendous amount of soul power within her body, perhaps even involving the power of a Deity. Therefore, the Wizard Alliance targeted her. They wanted to extract this soul power, so they used Wu Xu to pressure her."

"And Wu Xu's sister refused to yield."

"Or there was an accident." Bing Yao still stuck to her accident theory.

"Whether it was an accident or not," Huo Tong said, "there are two points we can verify right now."

"She died. And the Wizard Alliance failed to get the soul power."

The Fat Man nodded.

"Right after that, the soul power inside Wu Xu also began to recede. The Wizard Alliance noticed this, so they decided to squeeze out the very last bit of value from him."

"They made Wu Xu take the fall."

"With this, everything basically makes sense."

The crowd nodded in agreement.

From their current perspective, this was the most logical deduction.

Yan Jing nodded.

"Good. You all did well."

"Now, here is a reward for you."

"You have a choice."

"Either..."

Yan Jing materialized a vessel containing a heart of reaching the summit and some pills in his hand.

"You can choose to advance to the Eighth Tier, which is what you call the Celestial Immortal Realm."

"Or..."

He had Xiao Xin summon a vortex portal, smiling as he looked at them.

"You can choose to go home."

Staring at the two rewards placed before them, everyone's breathing instantly grew heavy.

Advancing to the Celestial Immortal Realm went without saying; it was the very reason they had entered the God Storage Land in the first place.

If not for this, they wouldn't have slumbered for thousands of years in vain.

But going home...

That was simply too tempting!!!

They could barely even believe that Yan Jing would let them leave so easily.

Only Bing Yao managed to maintain a shred of rationality as she looked at him.

"The option to go home doesn't seem to benefit you at all. You're not going to use this as an excuse to toss the disloyal ones among us into a Space Rift to die, are you?"

"Of course not."

Yan Jing smiled.

"But you will have to sign a contract with me. You must guarantee that even after you go home, you will stay in contact with me and provide me with more information regarding Wu Xu and Wu Xu's sister."

The group was in disbelief.

Bing Yao looked at Yan Jing.

"Do you have a grudge against Wu Xu?"

Yan Jing smiled helplessly.

"You have half a minute to choose."

Half a minute...

Hearing such a short time limit, the group panicked a little.

The Fat Man was the first to speak.

"I choose to go home. I'll sign the contract with you."

So what if he reached the Summit?

Would he just continue to be trapped in this prison as an inmate?

To him, there was no difference between being here and being in the God Storage Land.

He would rather go home.

Even if he didn't become a Celestial Immortal, and even if everything had changed.

At least he could go back and take a look, to see how his homeland was doing.

"I'm going home too." "Me too." "Me too..."

Like a single stone stirring up a thousand waves, after the Fat Man spoke, the black-haired woman, the man in white silk, and Bing Yao all immediately chimed in.

One after another, they chose to return home.

"Alright."

Yan Jing nodded.

"Come over here and sign the contract."

Soon, Yan Jing simulated an ancient Wizard Tribe contract based on Wen Xu's memories.

The group signed the contracts.

Yan Jing arranged for Xiao Xin to send them home one by one.

In the end, only Huo Tong remained.

"Why aren't you going home?"

Yan Jing looked at Huo Tong.

"I came here to become a Celestial Immortal."

Huo Tong shook her head.

"I cannot return before I achieve that."

Her expression was incredibly resolute. Yan Jing nodded.

"Fair enough. The Wizard Tribe needs someone in charge."

Upon hearing this, Huo Tong suddenly remembered something and her eyes widened.

"They... they seem to have all been converted into members of the Wizard Tribe..."

"Yeah."

Yan Jing chuckled.

"Returning home in glory as a member of the Wizard Tribe should be quite the experience..."

Huo Tong stared in disbelief.

"It's impossible for them to fully gain anyone's trust. You could even say that no one will trust them completely, so..."

Yan Jing smiled.

"So they have no choice but to trust me."

"Someone has to look for clues from back then for me."

"I need more information on what happened to Wu Xu and his sister afterward."

"You're too ruthless." Huo Tong couldn't help but roll her eyes at him. After hesitating for a moment, she asked, "So why are you so hung up on Wu Xu's matters?"

"Don't you think Wu Xu and Wen Xu are very similar?"

Yan Jing smiled.

"But that doesn't mean..."

Huo Tong stopped mid-sentence and shut her mouth.

If she could actually figure out the hidden meaning behind Yan Jing's words, she wouldn't be asking in the first place.

Taking a step back, if she had thought things through a bit more back then, she wouldn't have ended up in the God Storage Land at all.

"Iya, iya~~"

As the two talked, Xiao Xin returned and threw itself into Yan Jing's arms.

"I might have to trouble you for a little bit longer, Xiao Xin. I need you to deliver one more letter for me."

Yan Jing smiled apologetically and rubbed Xiao Xin's head.

The little guy was truly exhausted today.

"Iyaya~"

Sure enough, Xiao Xin hugged Yan Jing affectionately, acting a little spoiled to show that it was tired.

"Alright, delivering it tomorrow is fine too."

Yan Jing chuckled and handed the letter to Xiao Xin.

"Give this to Mantou and Old Chen tomorrow."

"Iyaya?!!"

Hearing Mantou's name, Xiao Xin instantly perked up.

"I'll go today! Xiao Xin is fine!!!"

Xiao Xin patted its chest.

"Are you sure you're okay? Maybe we should just wait until tomor—"

"Iyaya!!!"

Without waiting to hear any more from Yan Jing, Xiao Xin drew a vortex, dived inside, and disappeared.

Just like that, it wasn't until late into the night that Xiao Xin finally returned, burrowing straight into Yan Jing's arms.

"Iya, iya~"

Hearing Xiao Xin's voice, Yan Jing, who had been sleeping soundly, sat up and took the letters Xiao Xin handed over.

There were two letters in total.

The handwriting on the first one was crooked and slanted, looking like crawling earthworms.

One glance was enough to tell it was from Mantou.

[To Yi Ji]

[Yi Ji, Mantou really misses you.]

[Mantou will come find you soon.]

[Mantou likes Yi Ji (crossed out)]

[Yi Ji (crossed out)]

[Yi Ji (crossed out)]

[Yi Ji, can you please write a few more letters to Mantou from now on?]

[Thank you, Yi Ji]

Yan Jing read the letter over and over again.

If there was anyone he felt truly sorry for, anyone who could rival or even surpass the caretaker who raised him, it was only Mantou. Teacher Shen got his revenge, Fei Yu resolved the Source of Mutation, Zeng Qing got her enterprise, Bobo's fleet expanded, and even Rose had enough to eat. Xiao Xin got a camera, Tianwei became a star... Even Bing Yao and the others got to go home.

Only Mantou... had nothing.

Everything she had was just what he had forcefully shoved into her hands.

He knew that was never what she actually wanted.

Staring at the handwriting on the letter, his hand unconsciously tightened its grip.

After carefully tucking the letter away, he opened the next one.

The handwriting on this one was noticeably neater.

[I finally received your letter.]

[Old Sin City has gone through quite a few hurdles along the way, but it is expected to return very soon.]

[However, this will trigger a public referendum across multiple Domains. I wanted to ask for your opinion.]

[The current situation is not optimistic.]

[If possible, I hope to have a talk with you.]

[Chen Nian]