I'm Already the Richest Man, Why Did My System Just Arrive?

Chapter 179: Chapter 132: The Crow Fosterer Attacks

Zheng Xiu strode into the main hall.

Last night, he had come here with Feng Bei.

Now, he was alone, a painted scroll on his back. The candlelight cast his shadow, making a pair of one.

In the main hall, the old Monk with the long, grizzled beard still sat on his cattail cushion. Before him, the surface of the wooden fish was smooth with a patina of age.

The old Monk seemed to have sat there all night without moving a single inch.

As Zheng Xiu entered, he used [Scouting].

He discovered that the two doors to the main hall were brand new, the other cattail cushions had been moved, and there were fingernail scratches on the floor in one spot.

Sandalwood incense burned in the four corners, but beneath its tranquil and elegant fragrance, Zheng Xiu detected an indescribable odor.

The smell was faint, almost unnoticeable.

If he had to describe it, it was like... bird droppings.

Zheng Xiu’s expression was that of someone facing a powerful foe. He was even mentally prepared to unleash a Big Move. He stopped ten paces from the old Monk, his back to the exit, and bowed with his hands clasped.

”Zheng Shan, come to see Master Dengdeng.”

The old Monk nodded and raised his eyes to look at him.

The two looked at each other in silence.

Zheng Xiu took a deep breath, then chuckled softly to break the awkward silence. ”Master, don’t you have anything you wish to say to me?”

THWACK.

Master Dengdeng lifted his small wooden mallet and struck the wooden fish, producing a dull note.

Zheng Xiu took a step back.

’I must be having trauma-induced hallucinations.’ The moment the old Monk struck the wood, three words popped into his head involuntarily: ’Wait a moment.’

But this time, the old Monk didn’t say, ”Wait a moment.”

After a moment of silence, the old Monk sighed softly and finally revealed the truth.

”An old friend entrusted this painting to this old one, and instructed me to deliver it personally into the hands of Donor Feng Bei.”

’Just as I thought!’

Receiving the answer he expected, Zheng Xiu showed no surprise. He had already deduced this possibility back in General Town, when he and Feng Bei were ambushed by two members of Ye Weiyang’s Twelfth Moon. From the very beginning, this had all been a setup targeting Feng Bei. This wasn’t a question; it was a conclusion.

Zheng Xiu’s real question was...

”Why?”

As Zheng Xiu uttered this word, the temperature in the main hall seemed to drop several degrees along with his tone.

”This old one does not know.”

The old Monk lowered his head, closed his eyes, and sighed.

Zheng Xiu clenched his teeth. ’He’ll just say ’wait a moment’ if I try anything.’ He suppressed his anger and asked another question: ”Then let me ask you this: that old friend of yours, was it the Night Lord of Ye Weiyang?”

”Yes.”

Zheng Xiu frowned. ”No, you’re lying. You clearly said before that you were unwilling to give the painting to Feng Bei precisely because you knew she was with Ye Weiyang. You must have known what would happen if she got it. You clearly knew why it had to be Feng Bei! You knew all along...”

As he spoke, Zheng Xiu’s words caught in his throat. A look of astonishment spread across his face as a torrent of jumbled thoughts was suddenly split apart by a bolt of lightning, the chaos parting to reveal clarity.

’That’s right! Master Dengdeng said from the very beginning that he was unwilling to hand over the painting. The old Monk even urged us to leave. But Feng Bei and I paid him no mind, still fixated on that ’Cannibal Painting.’

’I can’t blame Chu Susu, either. When she successfully stole the scroll from the old Monk, I had every opportunity to return it.’

’Whatever the old Monk’s reasons were, he tried to persuade us from the start, telling us to just leave.’

’Before the three of us left, the old Monk left us with the words, ”Illusion and reality are hard to tell apart, black and white are hard to distinguish, right and wrong are hard to determine.” That must have also been a reminder to be wary of Ye Weiyang.’

’So, from the beginning, this disaster happened because of the choices Feng Bei and I made. We chose the painting. That’s why Feng Bei was devoured by it, and why both of us fell into the Night Lord’s trap.’

’All of this... it was his own damn fault!’

’It was he who, in his desire to delve deeper into the [Painter] Path, became inexplicably drawn to Gongsun Mo’s Ancient Painting. It was his greed for a ”Deceitful Object” that was ethereal, uncertain, and possibly nonexistent, that led to Feng Bei’s current predicament.’

The more Zheng Xiu thought, the more terrified he became, as if something was clearing the fog in his mind.

「Suddenly.」

It was like a sudden, profound enlightenment for Zheng Xiu. Everything that had happened, every little detail since the day he first heard about the ”Cannibal Painting” on the first of the month, flashed through his mind like a slideshow.

He awoke with a start, realizing that under the influence of the [Painter] Path, his thoughts and decisions had seemed no different than usual, yet he had become strangely obsessed with pursuing Gongsun Mo’s century-old Ancient Painting.

Every choice, every investigation... rather than walking the [Painter] Path, it was more like he was gradually forgetting that he wasn’t a true [Painter] Path Miracle Master at all!

Feng Bei, a true Mystic, had always been deeply secretive and wary of her own ”Path.”

He thought of the deceased Xu Shu. He walked the [Executioner] Path and likewise held an almost pathological obsession with Mystic Feng Bei’s [Executioner] Path. This obsession ultimately led to Xu Shu’s body being torn to pieces.

’Can Deceitful Objects bewitch people’s minds?’

’No, that’s not right.’

Cold sweat beaded on Zheng Xiu’s back. He shook his head forcefully, remaining silent. He quickly denied his own idea.

Deceitful Objects don’t bewitch people’s minds; Zheng Xiu was certain of that. His mind had been perfectly clear throughout his pursuit of the painted scroll. However, it seemed that once a Technique Master who had stepped onto a certain Path learned—or even vaguely sensed—the existence of that Path’s Deceitful Object, they would be involuntarily influenced by it. They would begin to desire that Deceitful Object from the bottom of their heart.

’But why had he overlooked this point?’

It would be one thing if others were ignorant, but Zheng Xiu had ”personally” experienced the tragedy of Baili Village twenty-one years ago. How could he not know that Mystics and Deceitful Objects themselves were not risk-free playthings?

This was also why Feng Bei had always called the annihilating Magic Power hidden in her hands an ”Omen”! Because in her eyes, the very act of becoming a ”Mystic” was, in itself, an Omen!