Chapter 371: Inquiry

It started to rain in the afternoon.

The patter of rain accompanied by the autumn wind caused the temperature to drop by several degrees.

However, the temperature was still at an appropriate 20 degrees in the bookstore.

Ling Ping’an sat at the counter and filled out his electronic contract.

First was the title of the book, author’s name and then all kinds of electronic signatures.

He clicked send after everything was done.

Not long after, the editor on the other side sent him an emoji.

Ling Ping’an snapped his fingers, “It’s done!”

Then he looked at his current stats -172 collections, 210 recommendations.

Not bad at all!

He crossed his legs and began to look forward to his results after the recommendation.

The five ‘Bai’ of the central plains… Here came your opponent!

He slightly curled his lips and was very pleased with himself.

Just like every time before, he was still full of confidence this time.

He even changed his Egame label – a man is a youth until he dies!

…

Han Li walked out of the cave where she was hiding.

Sunlight fell on her body. Her figure as a demon hunter was enchanting and well developed and her skin was moist and lustrous.

Her eyes were shining like gems.

The murmurs in her ears were no longer as rustling as before.

Instead, they had a different flavor.

When she listened carefully, it seemed to be some kind of electric wave, like the Morse code from a long time ago though it was extremely chaotic and illogical.

However, Han Li felt that she could understand some of it.

Sizzle… Sizzle…

She stretched out her hand and gently lifted it up towards the sunlight in front of her.

She then slowly lifted up some things in the light.

These were psionic power!

She gently mixed them together and twisted the psionic power into threads.

Slowly, they were woven into a small dragon that wandered between Han Li’s fingers.

With a gentle wave, the dragon turned into specks of light and dissipated into the air.

Behind Han Li, Little Ai was dumbfounded.

“It’s equivalent to the control of divine power at the pseudo-god level…” She thought, “No! It should be a subtle control ability that only true gods have!”

As a descendant of Vandera clan, Little Ai recalled some of the past.

Through reading The Book of Escodale that her father had left behind, Little Ai had a clearer understanding of the past of the Vandera clan.

Therefore, she knew that this was an ability that only a true God could possess.

With such an ability, as long as this human girl didn’t die, she would definitely able to raise her throne high and ignite the divine fire.

And the location she was born in had hundreds of millions of people.

This meant… she could rely on this location to establish her own divine system.

“Let’s Go!” Han Li turned around and waved at Little Ai, “We should go report to Minister Wang!”

It was time to remove all accomplices and strongholds left behind by the abyss on earth one by one.

Only in this way they could take the initiative in future wars!

…

Elizabeth flapped her steel wings and dragged a huge decendant of Diablo to the sky above Steel Temple.

She let go her hand and the decendant of Diablo fell into the center of Steel Temple.

Its flesh and soul were quickly disintegrated by Steel Temple.

They turned into strips of psionic power and nourished the great temple.

“Not enough… Not enough!” Elizabeth looked at it and shook her head gently.

The North American continent had been integrated by her.

The humans kept recovering the lost land and the decendants of Diablo were compressed outside the area of Fort Apocalypse.

In time, reclaiming the entire continent would no longer be a dream.

However…

The decendants of Diablo who remained on Earth were just inferior being that the Diablos who occupied Mars, the moon, Jupiter, and the sun despised and gave up.

Their quality was too inferior for Steel Temple.

She raised her head and the pair of emotionless and colorless eyes looked at the sky.

In the depths of the starry sky!

She knew that if she wanted to nourish Steel Temple and prepared it as a residence and holy place for The Soul of Machine to descend, she would need at least one Diablo as a sacrifice.

She would water it with its flesh and blood by sacrificing its soul.

“Let’s take it slowly…” Elizabeth landed in front of the temple.

Her steel wings automatically retracted.

She raised her head and looked at the temple. She squatted down in front of the two altars that were surrounded by steel and mechanical prayers.

Inside the altar, there were colorful essences extracted from the souls and flesh of the decendants of Diablo.

She gently grabbed a handful of them.

These were all good things.

They were much more useful than the quartz of Diablo!

They not only could be used as energy, even a small crystal could provide a steel factory with electricity for a day.

They were also food and medicine!

By diluting them into clean water, one crystal could save 10,000 people from hunger and disease. It also had the effect of eliminating the pollution of the Diablo!

It was precisely because of them that the new generation bred by the Mechanical Sect did not need to undergo mechanical modification surgery when they were still young.

They could grow up healthy and happy just like the children of the Void Storm.

This was precisely the teachings of The Soul of Machines.

He said, “The path of steel is materialistic because machinery is the truth.”

And materialism needed everyone to be clear about oneself. One especially needed to understand the fragility of one’s own flesh and blood.

Only in this way, they would understand the truth and holy prayer of The Soul of Machines when they grew up. The prayer stated ‘flesh is weak, but steel is eternal’. Only then they would devote themselves wholeheartedly to the path of steel and machinery.

But…

The actual use of these extracted essences was to make mechanical relics.

They were to go to the owner in the fog and exchange for the classics from machinery and steel!

As Elizabeth released the book slowly, the crystals fell back into the altar.

A crisp sound was heard.

“It’s not enough!” Elizabeth said.

The Truth of Synthetic Beings recorded the mechanical relic was a kind of mechanical sacred object mentioned by Bodhisattva Gatling of Nanwu during a lecture.

The Truth of Synthetic Beings also stated clearly that when Gatling Bodhisattva was walking deep prajna paramita for a long time, he saw all dharma was empty and that all misfortune would be destroyed! For the relic, one thousand was ten thousand, ten thousand was one thousand. They were the same.

It was a mechanical sacred object!

It was a relic of Buddhism that could destroy all life and transcend all living things.

Only such a treasure could be exchanged for the sutra from its owner in the fog and help the people to ascend to the mechanical paradise!

That was why it was so hard to refine.

Not only did it take the flesh and soul of countless decendants of Diablo to extract the essence, it would take hundreds of thousands of devout believers to recite the mechanical sutra every day.

With its Buddhist dharma, it could influence the Diablo’s thoughts lingering in it, suppress and crush the consciousness pollution in it.

Eventually, they coalesced into mechanical relics.

The idea was collecting the thoughts of common people to refine the evil of the Diablo and form the path of steel.

Thus, one crystal was enough to destroy an entire life, crush matter, extract the void and transcend everything.

Even the future Buddha of Steam and Steel praised it: the relics were the image of all dharma. They were images of people, images of me, and images of all living beings. Holding one was better than two… Many was good and great was beautiful. Amitabha, Amitabha!

As she thought of this, The Truth of Synthetic Beings in Elizabeth’s hands shone brightly.

She flapped her wings and soared into the sky.

The Mechanical Saintess set out on her journey again.

For the true dharma… She would pay any price!

…

In the evening, the rain finally stopped.

A sanitation vehicle drove past the streets.

Ling Ping’an sat at the counter and was bored to death.

There were still no customers today and even the collection of novels didn’t increase much.

He leaned against his chair and watched the news on the television.

“The Yongzhou Cauldron found in the River of Womanhood has been verified by experts to be authentic!”

“Currently, the relevant departments are carrying out preservation and maintenance on it…”

“It is estimated that the public will be able to see the true face of this treasure of civilization in the Imperial Capital Museum in the second half of next year…”

“The discovery of Yongzhou Cauldron in the River of Womanhood further proves that since ancient times, Nanzhou Kingdom has been a sacred and inviolable territory of the Federal Empire…”

Ling Ping’an felt a little helpless when he heard this.

The missing Yongzhou Cauldron of the Qin Dynasty had gone into the River of Womanhood?

Could it be that the remnant citizens of the Shang Dynasty had returned after their exile to Beizhou Kingdom and specifically took away Yongzhou Cauldron from the Sishui River?

How could this be possible?

On the contrary, there was a saying on the internet that was more practical.

Sishui River was connected to the Huai River and Huai River carried the Yongzhou Cauldron to the sea. After two thousand years, it was carried into the River of Womanhood.

This story…

Hmm…

It was as magical as the scallops that ran away a few years ago but at least it could be explained.

At least, it could not be proven as wrong in theory.

Of course, there was another explanation.

That was, in reality, the nine cauldrons of Shang Dynasty and Zhou Dynasty were not the same set.

Each dynasty had their own nine cauldrons.

Therefore, it could be explained that one of the remnants of the Shang Dynasty had taken it and crossed Beizhou Kingdom to Nanzhou Kingdom.

However, whether this theory was true or not would depend if they could find any relevant evidence from the discovered Yongzhou Cauldron.

Apart from that, there were still some rumors on the Internet.

Some people were really poisoned by feudal superstitions.

They actually said that Yongzhou Cauldron was a divine artifact. One cauldron could suppress a country.

If these people didn’t write novels, it would really be a waste.

Thinking of this, the news on the television had already changed into another scene.

The lands of Nanzhou were singing and dancing.

The brothers and sisters of the Shang Dynasty had even put on their traditional costumes and started to play the musical instruments left behind by their ancestors.

Amidst the melodious music, the descendants of Shang Dynasty had tears streaming down their faces.

One by one, tears welled up in their eyes in front of the television.

The discovery of Yongzhou Cauldron was an explosive event for the Nanzhou Kingdom and Beizhou Kingdom.

A faint singing voice could be heard from outside the screen.

“Heaven’s fated bird descends to give birth to Shang Dynasty. The houses in the land are filled with the light of the Earth!”

The people were singing and dancing in the square and on the road.

Ling Ping’an pursed his lips and smiled as he watched.

At this moment, his phone rang.

He picked it up and saw that it was a video call from his aunt.

Ling Ping’an opened it and saw that his aunt was wearing a loose bathrobe and standing in front of a huge floor-to-ceiling mirror.

She looked at Ling Ping’an proudly and asked, “Little Ping’an, look, where am I?”

Ling Ping’an shook his head at a loss.

“I’m at Xuanniao Hotel in Nanzhou!” His aunt said arrogantly, “And it’s the super suite of Xuanniao Hotel!”

“One night, at least tens of thousands of Yuan!”

Ling Ping’an was dumbfounded, “So expensive? Your unit is willing to reimburse?”

“Of course!” His aunt said happily, “Why don’t you see how much I’ve contributed!”

A bright idea suddenly occurred, Ling Ping’an asked, “Aunt, is Yongzhou Cauldron related to you!?”

“Hehe!” His aunt smiled proudly.

She waved an envelope in her hand, “Do you see this?”

“Just the bonus here…”

“is…” She thought for a moment and said, “Tens of thousands!”

“So much money?” Ling Ping’an was shocked, “Then, Aunt, you’re rich!”

In his mind, his aunt was at most a helper in the team.

Therefore, it was normal for her to stay in this hotel as a member of the team and the bonus was only tens of thousands.

“Hehe!” His aunt laughed out loud. “Little Ping’an, do you want me to bring something back for you?”

Ling Ping’an immediately shoke his head like a pellet drum, “Aunt, the things you brought back last time I haven’t even opened them yet!”

Last time, the big and small bags that this aunt brought back from Beizhou were all kept aside by Ling Ping’an.

It was mainly because he was lazy!

Unpacking was very troublesome.

His aunt’s expression immediately turned ugly, “Little Ping’an!”

Ling Ping’an quickly changed the topic and said, “Aunt, Aunt, did my mother used to go to Soul Tavern in the nearby park for a drink?”

When his aunt heard this, she frowned and carefully recalled for a moment before answering, “I’m not very sure!”

Her sister was truly a favored child of the heavens!

At the age of eighteen, she received admission notice from Imperial Central University. Then at the age of twenty, she received her degree in advance and switched to studying biology. At the age of twenty-two, she inexplicably married an ordinary man.

At that time, his aunt was still young, only a little over three years old, so she couldn’t remember clearly.

At the age of twenty-three, her sister gave birth to a child and it was this little nephew.

In her memory, Ling Ping’an was always serious.

Drinking?

Well, she liked to drink a little but she rarely went out to drink.

“Why do you ask this?” Li An’an asked.

“Last night, I found a puppet doll made by my mother at Soul Tavern…” Ling Ping’an said.

“Oh…” Li An’an nodded. She didn’t think too much about it. After all, when her sister died, she was only in her teens and was still in middle school.

However, after thinking about it, she became curious again, “Why did that doll stay in that bar for so long?”

“I don’t know!” Ling Ping’an said, “That’s why I’m asking you!”

“Well, I don’t know either!” Li An’an pouted. She seemed to have thought of something. She took her phone and walked into the room, “Little Ping’an, Little Ping’an… Weiwei is here too. Do you want to say hello to Weiwei?”

As she said this, she was eager to do something.

Ling Ping’an knew at a glance that his aunt had no good intentions. He quickly said, “Forget it…”

“Aunt, I have something to do here… I’ll hang up first!”

He then immediately turned off the video.

Looking at the video that was turned off, Li An’an stomped her feet angrily, “Useless guy!”

However…

She thought of the sorority next month and was happy again.

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