"The Du Gongbu Collection," named after Du Fu’s former position as Inspection Minister of the Ministry of Industry, contains six volumes with over a thousand poems and more than thirty papers.
It seems Mo Si isn’t pointing to the book itself, but to a page within one of its volumes...
Li Ang opened the book and slightly released the constraint on Mo Si, allowing it to emerge from the skin of his fingertip and slither toward the tome.
Mo Si finally locked onto a page printed with the poem "Night Travelling Thoughts."
Li Ang gently pinched the page and noticed it was thicker than others, as if several sheets were glued together.
Pondering, Li Ang drew a Dagger from his waistband. He carefully inserted the blade into the edge of the page, gently pried it open, and then slowly tore it apart with both hands.
Separating the two pages revealed an old, tawny paper hidden between them.
Li Ang gripped the Jade Pendant at his waist, ready to activate the Protective Talisman at any moment. With tweezers in his other hand, he extracted the paper from the interlayer and placed it on the table.
The paper had a leather-like texture, and its surface was smeared with a clump of murky ink. As the old paper was exposed to the air, the ink on it seemed to come alive, moving around the page, now visible, now hidden.
Li Ang raised an eyebrow. Inanimate, non-living objects that exhibited paradoxical and unique behaviors were classified as ’Alien.’
The formation and emergence of such Aliens followed no particular pattern.
Some Aliens were exceedingly dangerous, requiring the Academic Palace and the garrison to subdue and control them regardless of the cost. Examples included an iron rod that continually generated thunderstorms in its vicinity, and ivory chopsticks that caused flesh to necrotize and rot upon contact with bodily fluids. Conversely, other Aliens were benign, such as a soft stone that could serve as a pillow, or a hemp rope that could quickly clarify murky water when immersed in it.
As Li Ang pondered whether this yellow paper was a type of Mutated Object that needed to be turned over to the Academic Palace for containment, the ink on it gradually stabilized, transforming into clear strokes—horizontal, falling, vertical, and pressing.
These strokes then automatically assembled themselves into lines of text.
"Great Wilderness Prison Sky Finger"
"Buddha’s Furious Fire Lotus"
"Heavenly Demon Technique"
Li Ang stared at the paper, which was crammed with the names of Cultivation Techniques, and was taken aback. He picked up the paper for closer examination and finally confirmed that these were only names of techniques, without any actual content.
The corner of Li Ang’s eye twitched. "Title fraud, huh?" he grumbled. "Are you joking with me? What use do I have for a bunch of techniques with no content?"
As if hearing Li Ang’s complaint, the writing on the paper changed once more:
"[Young Master A○’s grades are not satisfactory...]"
Li Ang facepalmed. "Stop, this thing is useless."
"[My name is Yang Jian, and by the time you read this, I am already dead...]"
"A strange sheepskin scroll, is it?" Li Ang muttered, rubbing his forehead. The writing on the yellow paper kept changing, but it only showed things from Li Ang’s own memory. Examples included the names of martial arts techniques, storybooks, images, even flying money notes with denominations of one thousand or two thousand strings of coins, and leave approval slips issued by an Academic Palace Doctor.
It seemed the paper would automatically display whatever text or patterns the Observer wished to see.
What is this? An automatic reader, or a Spirit Communication Card?
Li Ang shook his head. His mind already possessed a Memory Palace formed by fragments of Otherworld memories. However, the yellow paper could only reflect what was already in the Observer’s mind; it couldn’t conjure things out of thin air or fabricate non-existent information. Thus, it couldn’t present ’detailed plans for rapid industrialization,’ ’the results of the next horse race in Chang’an City,’ or automatically complete homework.
It wasn’t prophecy or divination, merely mind-sensing.
According to the Academic Palace’s classification of Aliens, this ’Spirit Summoning Paper’ poses no significant direct threat to individuals or human society. It’s not the type that harms or kills upon contact. It’s also relatively simple to store and control; it has been kept between book pages for so many years without issue. It should be similar to the nightmare bell in Yizhou, classified as a Level 5 Mutated Object.
Li Ang silently mused, The question is, why is Mo Si drawn to it?
Previously, Mo Si had only shown a desire to devour gold and silver, and special metals. Even in the Academic Palace’s Book Collection Pavilion or outside Dongjun Tower, it hadn’t shown any specific interest in books or Mutated Objects.
Could it be that this paper was placed in the book by the Sword Immortal himself? These volumes of the Du Gongbu Collection were printed in The Tenth Year of Dali, which was five years after Du Gongbu’s death. Li Taibai was a close friend of Du Gongbu. It’s possible that upon returning from the Endless Sea, he inserted this Mutated Object into the Du Gongbu Collection. Out of remembrance for an old friend, did he place a Mutated Object capable of evoking treasured memories into his friend’s poetry collection...?
He paused, then a sudden thought struck him: Wait. If Mo Si was drawn to this because it sensed the aura of this Mutated Object, doesn’t that mean I could use this trait to search for other Mutated Objects left by the Sword Immortal, or perhaps even other Tombs of Clothing?
"Young Master, dinner is ready."
Chai Chai’s voice came from outside the study.
"Coming," Li Ang called out. He stored the Spirit Summoning Paper and stepped out of the study.
Based on his experiences so far, the powerful Mo Si fully qualified as a rare and influential First-level Abnormality. The treasures hidden within other Tombs of Clothing were likely of similar caliber. Moreover, the fact that Mo Si devoured gold and silver without increasing in weight was particularly strange and unsettling. Having it reside within his body always made him somewhat uneasy. It would be best to find other items left by the Sword Immortal, or even his last testament, to understand Mo Si’s true nature.