Chapter 60: Legend
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The steam engine of the White Eagle Federation had already increased its speed several times, currently moving at a rate of about 50 kilometers per hour.
The lengthy train was traveling across vast open fields, with the aroma of grass and plants wafting in from the opened windows.
Su Lu rubbed his eyes, yawned, and covered his face with a magazine as if he was falling asleep.
Using this disguise, he began to use the professional skill of the [Spirit Medium] – Soul Trance!
Thunk!
It felt like falling from a high place in his dream.
His body twitched and the surrounding scene abruptly changed.
Everything in the carriage lost its color. Everyone’s facial expression became numb, and the world was covered in a hazy veil.
Turning his head, Su Lu could see his ‘body’ in a strange way. The magazine conveniently masked his eyes that were rolling back into his head.
That’s right!
When the [Spirit Medium] performs Soul Trance, the expression of rolling eyes is exactly like the shamans seen on TV in the past! This made Su Lu quite embarrassed.
He glanced around and made another discovery.
“I wasn’t flung out of the train immediately… Does this mean the Spiritual Body in Trance uses its body as an anchor?”
Due to lack of practice, he didn’t dare to explore rashly and could only wander near his body.
He first stood next to the girl in the next seat and looked at her, but she didn’t seem to notice at all.
Then, he waved his hands in front of the old couple opposite him, but received no response.
As his exploration range expanded, Su Lu grew more courageous and passed through the carriage block to spy into the next compartment.
“Meow!”
At this moment, a black cat squatting beside a woman suddenly raised its head, letting out a meow towards Su Lu as if giving a warning.
‘Animals, especially cats and crows, are very sensitive to spiritual bodies… but that’s about it!’ Thinking of a recorded fact, Su Lu waited without panic.
“Domy, my dear Domy!”
A chubby woman beside them picked up the black cat, caressed it gently and asked, “What’s wrong?”
The black cat’s pupils were filled with confusion. As it was stroked, it made purring sounds of satisfaction. It seemed to have completely forgotten what happened earlier.
‘It seems that they can only sense changes but unable to directly observe the source…’
Su Lu nodded his head, moved through the wooden wall once again, and entered the third carriage.
The atmosphere here was strange, with several hefty men showing fierce glances.
‘They couldn’t be bandits, could they?’
Surprised, Su Lu dived into their luggage bags, and after finding no dangerous weapons, he relaxed and returned to his own carriage.
As the duration of the Soul Trance elongated, he began to sense many unfavourable signals.
For instance… the level of weathering and aging of the surrounding items is becoming increasingly terrifying, with iron-made goods full of rust – all ominous signs.
‘The danger of Soul Trance does not only lie in the potential threat of meeting dangerous spiritual bodies but also lies in the risk of being affected and assimilated once the distance becomes too great or the period spent wandering the Spirit World becomes too lengthy!’
Compared to the body, the soul is just too fragile.
Su Lu returned to his own carriage, prepared to return to his body.
At this moment, he suddenly focused his gaze.
Among the old couple opposite him, the elderly man who had been dozing off seemed to be in an abnormal state.
Traces of spiritual energy seemed to be trying to escape from his eyes, nose, and other orifices.
This wasn’t him preparing for spell casting, but rather seemed like his life was nearing its end!
“Aging and death… these are the unpreventable horrors of mankind!”
Su Lu returned his soul back to his body, quietly watching the old couple in front of him, his eyes filled with complexity.
From their outward appearance, they looked extremely loving and healthy.
But only he knew that the old man’s body was nearing its limit, barely able to hold onto his soul.
‘I hope he can hold on a bit longer, I really wouldn’t want to see him die in front of me!’
Su Lu looked utterly helpless.
Although people never really confronted their own mortality in this world, if someone died inside the carriage, he and the other passengers would certainly be questioned by the railway police. It would be bothersome, very bothersome. He hoped to avoid any troublesome situations as much as possible.
“Excuse me!”
He initiated the conversation, chatting with the elderly couple opposite him: “Are you headed to Posey Port?”
‘Yes!”
After exchanging a glance, the more energetic wife replied: “My husband and I are from there, but we haven’t been back for a long time. This time, we plan to settle there.”
“Returning… to your hometown, huh?”
Su Lu murmured to himself. It was very obvious that the old man had some premonitions. His innate instincts sensed something, which was why he was insistent on fulfilling some of his wishes.
“Hi, I’m Dora!”
The girl sitting next to Su Lu seemed unable to bear the silence in the carriage from before any longer. Seeing Su Lu start the conversation, she immediately started chatting: “I’m a journalist, planning to conduct an interview in Posey Port!”
“I’ve just graduated and am planning for an interesting graduation trip!” Su Lu calmly replied.
“Oh, so you are a university student?”
Dora’s eyes lit up, an added sense of awe appearing in them.
In this era, university students were highly treasured intellectuals, considered as the reserve force of the upper class society, and could receive widespread respect everywhere they went.
People like her could only land a job as a journalist and enjoy a decent income, solely because they graduated from a common law school and could write articles.
“Well… St. George’s University!”
Su Lu casually chatted with her for a bit: “Although Nia City isn’t that far from Posey Port, the train journey still takes several hours. Why did they send you for an interview?”
His underlying question was whether something major had happened in Posey Port recently.
“I had no choice…” Dora’s expression fell: “Newspapers require sales, and we journalists are sent to any place that we can be sent to. Without good, first-hand, explosive news, it’s hard for us to get a break…”
“Talking about newspapers… I remember when I was young…” The old man opposite them seemed to have something jogged his memory: “Back then… The Federation didn’t have newspapers, only stories that were passed from mouth to mouth… In Posey Port, there was a legend about the Beak Monster.”
“Beak Monster?”
Su Lu raised his eyebrows, showing evident interest.
Indeed, during the Twilight of the Gods, when the power of a Transcendent was hidden, the exploits of some Transcendents became ghost stories.
And now, these could very well be true.
“Yes, Beak Monster…” The old man began to reminisce, a slight rosy color appearing on his cheeks: “This is a spooky tale from my hometown of Posey Port. It’s said that the Beak Monster isn’t just one person, but a group! They have faces like crows, and they act in the night. Wherever they go, they bring misfortune! They’re also called ‘Death Crows’!”
“Misfortune?”
Dora habitually took out her pen and paper: “Why have I heard they were mysterious doctors who could heal many diseases?”
“Haha…”
The old man shook his head: “That is also one of the beliefs, but what I heard as a kid was horror stories. It was said that wherever they passed, there would be diseases and plagues. They even liked to cruelly dismember corpses….”