I Am Your Natural Enemy

”Burial Scripture”—Wen Yan had heard of it before. There were actually many versions, and even more commentaries; he’d seen Guo Pu’s annotated edition in Lord Zhu’s study.

The copy Scholar Tu got, who knows if it was the one he remembered.

This guy was pretty skilled. He probably managed to get his hands on the genuine scripture, and with his solid foundation, he could actually understand it. That was an advantage no one else had.

It’s a pity he strayed from the right path—and he was fully aware of it, too.

When Wen Yan talked with Scholar Tu, he had this feeling: the guy thought he’d gone astray and would die a bad death, but what he feared more was karma, not the Scorching Sun Department coming down hard on him.

There’s a difference there.

Wen Yan read through the stories Scholar Tu had written—plain, straightforward, but somehow still full of ups and downs.

When he’d almost finished reading, Scholar Tu was brought in.

Seeing Wen Yan, Scholar Tu wasn’t all that surprised. He’d been wondering earlier—so late at night, even if visits were allowed, those hours were long over. Who could still come to see him at this hour?

After Scholar Tu sat down, Wen Yan casually tossed a pack of cigarettes on the table.

Scholar Tu lit one for himself, and said,

”I was just thinking just now—maybe someone wants to know where that Burial Scripture is. But seeing you, I get the feeling you wouldn’t make a special trip just for that, would you?”

”No, it’s just that someone tried to break into the prison,” Wen Yan replied.

”Ha...” Scholar Tu let out a laugh. ”Who the hell’s lost their mind, trying to bust someone out of this detention center? Do they really think the Scorching Sun Department is that easy to mess with? Are they tired of living or what?”

”As long as, after the breakout, they leave Divine Land from a certain place and never come back, then there’s no need to worry about what’s behind them.”

When he heard that, Scholar Tu’s expression changed slightly. After a moment’s thought, he asked,

”Is something trying to slip through the crack?”

”You really do know a thing or two,” Wen Yan said.

”Some ghosts came out from a crack at Mount Zhongnan not long ago. I heard the Scorching Sun Department caught most of them.

I’d met one of them before, and heard about what it’s like over there.

I really don’t get it—someone who looks pretty strong as a ghost still lives like a dog on the other side.

Some of these guys here, they’re already like stray dogs in this place. What makes them so sure that crossing over, they’ll suddenly toughen up?

Those ghosts who came from over there—at least the ones I met—said once they’re here, they aren’t planning on going back.

Even if they hide out somewhere random around here, at least they don’t have to worry about closing their eyes for a second and getting stomped to death by something.”

Talking about this, Scholar Tu sounded almost dismissive.

”You guys aren’t looking for a crack to cross over?” Wen Yan had actually thought they all wanted to go.

”I’m just looking for ancient tombs, trying to verify what I’ve learned and maybe pick up some wondrous items in the process.

I never planned on going to the other side. What’s so good over there?

Everything I know, over there, might end up useless.

Anything I want to do, none of the conveniences are there.

If I accidentally get poisoned, there’s nowhere to find a cure.

I don’t want to go—but some do. Even some demons and devils want to go.

They all feel crushed under the Scorching Sun Department’s boot—can’t take it anymore.

All I can say is, everyone’s got their own ambitions.”

Wen Yan mulled over this—he didn’t really agree with those guys, but he could understand the logic.

In a lot of things, people, demons, ghosts—really, they’re all the same.

There’s always this mysterious filter on places you’ve never seen or experienced.

But just because of that, Wen Yan thought, if the Scorching Sun Department wanted to stop them, it was probably going to be damn hard to do.

This was already the second crack.

And this crack, unless something unexpected happened, had likely been there a long, long time.

It should be even more stable than the original one at Mount Zhongnan, but as far as the current evidence showed, it was a bit smaller.

Hmm. Strictly speaking, the crack inside this tomb was the third one found so far.

The first one was kept down by the Old Celestial Master—that one’s the biggest and the most stable. The second is the crack at Taiyi Observatory.

If this keeps up, a fourth or fifth might pop up in the future.

Trying to stop things from the other side coming here is, in a way, easier than keeping things here from going over.

”Do you know who—or what—wants to cross over?”

”No idea. Some news, once it starts spreading, can never be held back. Who the hell knows what things want to go over.”

”Those guys who came to you—do you know what they wanted?”

Scholar Tu took a deep drag, let out a sigh.

”Probably couldn’t find the way, so they wanted me to guide them, I guess.”

”The big tomb on the other side got hit too, but they didn’t make it across.”

Scholar Tu paused, thought back, then grinned and let out a laugh.

”Then they must be missing something. There’s a stone sculpture—based on my experience, that thing was the only object in that tomb that didn’t match the burial conventions. I took it at the time.”

”Where’d you put it?”

”I know the rules here. The Supervisors can’t give us anything extra.

But, some people can bring stuff that’s allowed when they visit.

Before my sentence’s finalized, I’ll need enough time to finish my writing.

And, I want a pack of cigarettes every day, and tea to drink.

If you can do that, before they shoot me, anything you want to know—as long as I know it—I’ll tell you.