12dz Chapter 180 Six Erzhen
Chapter 180 Six Erzhen
Liu Er did not answer immediately.
He squatted before the crack, his ears twitching slightly, as if listening to water, or perhaps to the old bones buried in the earth. The dim light illuminated half his face, the other half hidden in darkness. His expression, unusually, lacked its usual playful antics.
Chen Fan stood to the side, not urging him.
Yang Jian lowered his Heavenly Eye slightly, while Sun Wukong, carrying his staff, tapped his fingers against the shaft. Xuanzang, holding the tent flap, stood firmly. Si Mo turned the corner of a page, his pen hovering, not falling.
After a long while, Liu Er finally spoke.
"I heard you."
His voice was very soft.
"Not the current sound."
Chen Fan looked up.
"What year?"
Liu Er smiled.
"That day, the mountain hadn't crumbled yet."
He reached out and pressed his hand against the crack in the stone. The moment his knuckles touched it, the stone surface emitted a muffled thud, like someone knocking on a door from afar.
Six Ears twitched its ears again.
"Don't argue," he said.
Sun Wukong snorted and didn't move.
Liu Er closed his eyes, as if immersing himself in the sound. When he opened them again, his lips were clenched.
I heard two people.
"One of you will take the ledger."
"One of them took a name tag."
Chen Fan stared at him.
Liu Er continued, "The man who brought the account books read out a string of page numbers. He said, 'Have you finished recording things on the Buddhist side?'"
"The person with the name tag should reply, 'The Heavenly Court side is all assembled now.'"
Xuanzang raised his head, his Adam's apple bobbing.
Liu Er imitated that old phrase very well.
"Then, the bookkeeper monk said, 'The mountain lord's bones must be recorded separately. The left side goes into the Buddhist register, and the right side goes into the heavenly register.'"
The courtyard fell silent.
The wind blew in through the cracks in the warehouse door, causing the corners of the paper to flutter slightly.
Liu Er did not stop.
The naming official chuckled and said, "Don't write 'bones,' write 'monkey.' Monkeys are easy to raise."
The accountant monk then asked, "What about the outer shell?"
The naming official replied, "Throw him into Flower and Fruit Mountain. Place the rebellious bone source in its shell and nurture it with a monkey's heart."
Sun Wukong suddenly looked up, and the staff in his hand fell to the ground with a thud.
The sound was muffled.
Liu Er didn't look at him, but stared at the crevice in the rock, as if afraid of missing the next sentence.
"There's still one person who hasn't spoken."
"He's behind."
Everyone called him the accountant.
Chen Fan's fingers tightened slightly.
"Did you hear me?"
"I heard you clearly," said Liu Er. "He didn't show his face, he just reached out and turned a page. There were no names on that page, only a blank space. He said, 'It's fine to leave it blank. It's easier to fill it in later if it's blank.'"
Si Mo pressed the pen between his fingers, but did not write.
Liu Er lowered his head, and a few strands of hair fell from his forehead.
"I also heard the sound from that day at Qieshan."
"It's not thunder."
"It's a knife."
"The mountain lord cursed first, and it was a very vulgar curse. Then someone laughed and said, 'Don't struggle, just write this down and it'll be over.'"
Yang Jian's gaze darkened.
"Who is the mountain lord?"
Liu Er paused for a moment.
"The original mountain lord," he said, "was neither a monkey nor a demon. He was the earliest gatekeeper of this mountain. As long as the mountain existed, he was there. When the mountain fell, he fell too."
Chen Fan did not respond.
Liu Er listened for a while longer, as if trying to salvage the last bit of dust from the chaotic noise.
"There's one more thing."
"Let's keep the 'rebellious' element in its shell for now. Once the monkey's heart is ready, then we'll open the tent."
Xuanzang asked in a low voice, "Where is the shell?"
Liu Er raised his head, the smile gone from his eyes.
"Flower and Fruit Mountain".
"At the foot of the eastern cliff, beside the old spring."
"There's a remnant buried there."
Sun Wukong slowly bent down and picked up the staff.
He didn't swear.
But that hand gripped it very tightly, and the rod made a soft cracking sound.
Chen Fan looked towards the crevice in the rock, his voice very low.
"Can you tell the exact location?"
"Yes." Liu Er nodded. "The residual source isn't large. It's still active. It's been fed with monkey hearts from outside. Those crazy monkeys from a few years ago didn't go crazy on their own; it woke up a few times."
Upon hearing this, even Bai Ya frowned.
The group of mindless monkeys on the outer edge of Flower Fruit Mountain back then weren't actually causing trouble; someone was secretly adding fuel to the fire.
Chen Fan closed the ledger.
"Walk."
Sun Wukong followed immediately.
Liu Er stood up first, patted the dust off his knees, and muttered, "If I had known I would have to listen to the bones this time, I wouldn't have eaten so many fruits. My ears are about to burst."
No one laughed.
But as soon as that joke came out, the atmosphere in the courtyard eased a little.
It was almost dawn when the group left.
The sea breeze outside the port was still cold. The ropes on the dock had been hanging there all night, heavy with moisture, and water dripped from them at the slightest touch. Chen Fan didn't look back, leading his men straight towards the old site of Huaguo Mountain.
That place has been mostly abandoned.
The stone steps had collapsed, vines were entwined around the railings, and the old spring was half-buried in the soil. As soon as Liu Er arrived here, his ears twitched, and his steps slowed down.
"It's right down here."
He squatted down and tapped his fingers on the ground three times.
"Empty."
Baiya and the Bull Demon King worked together to pry open the rubble. Sun Wukong, finding it too slow, simply used the end of his staff to lift up half of a blue stone. Underneath, a corner of a black wooden box was revealed, with two old nails still embedded in the side, their heads worn shiny.
Si Mo opened the booklet and held the tip of his pen to the box.
Sure enough, there was a line of small characters on the lid of the box, but it was mostly covered with mud.
"Anti-Bone Source, Outer Shell."
Chen Fan glanced at it and didn't let anyone touch it.
He asked Xuanzang to bring the green lamp closer, and then asked Liu Er to listen to it again.
Liu Er crouched down, pressing his ear close to the seam of the box, as if listening to a snake that had been buried for many years.
"There's nothing else inside," he said. "Just a broken kernel. And a blank page of the ledger."
Chen Fan reached out and pressed down on the lid of the box.
"open."
Sun Wukong swung his staff and smashed it down.
The black wooden box cracked open with a snap. There was no loud explosion, only a wisp of stale, gray smoke escaping. Inside lay a black core the size of a fingernail, with half a sheet of paper pressed beside it. The paper was blank, except for a very faint stamp in the corner.
Two words.
Set up an account.
Yang Jian recognized the mark at a glance, and his eyes grew even colder.
"It's him."
Chen Fan picked up the half-page and casually lit it on the lamp.
The paper first curled up, then shrank, and finally turned into a clump of black ash, which scattered when the wind blew.
Sun Wukong stared at the black core, raising his staff to smash it.
Liu Er reached out and stopped him.
"Don't rush," he said. "It still wants to hear the monkey's heart. If you strike it, it will follow the lingering sound."
Chen Fan looked at him.
"Do you have a solution?"
"Yes." Six Ears grinned. "Let me hear it."
After he finished speaking, he leaned down and brought his ear close to the black core.
The next moment, he froze completely.
It was as if an extremely long, old sound was climbing straight up from the bottom of the box.
When Liu Er opened his mouth, his voice had changed, as if he had shaken out the plaster from the walls decades ago.
The accountant monk said, "This time, we can't afford to miss anything."
The naming official said, "It doesn't matter if we miss one. Monkeys are easy to fool."
The person who set up the account said, "Don't lie. Keep him in check. Keep him in check until he admits it himself."
He paused, sweat slowly beading on his forehead.
"Later, he said one more thing."
"Don't leave this remnant of the source to the outer heavens. Leave it on Flower Fruit Mountain. One day, someone who can hear the true voice will come and claim it."
Chen Fan's eyes darkened.
"So that's why you were let in?"
Liu Er looked up, his smile tinged with bitterness.
"I wasn't let in."
"I was standing outside that day."
"They thought I couldn't hear."
"But I happened to hear it."
He raised his hand and pressed down on the black core.
Listen carefully.
The black core jolted violently, as if trying to escape.
Before it could move, Sun Wukong's staff had already slammed down.
Click.
A crisp sound.
The black core shattered in two, revealing a bit of grayish-white bone powder inside, which was swept away by the wind as soon as it hit the ground. A hollow sound followed from below the old spring, like a well that had been buried for many years finally breathing its last breath.
Liu Er slowly straightened up, his ears drooping down.
"It's over," he said.
Chen Fan didn't reply immediately, but took the half of the golden hoop out of his pocket and placed it next to the broken core.
The golden hoop neither lit up nor made a sound; it simply lay there quietly.
It's like finally recognizing the place.
That evening, Chen Fan led his men back to the port area.
People from the Heavenly Court came to investigate, and the Buddhist sect also sent an inquiry letter. Chen Fan only replied: The old debts have been settled, there's no need to look for the person who set them up.
Later, Yang Jian personally sealed that page of the "Establishing Accounts" record in the Heavenly Court's old archives into the fire. A blank space was also missing from the Buddhist monks' register of accounts. That person never appeared again; only one line of deletion marks remained on the record, as if someone had slowly sliced across it with a knife until the paper was fuzzy.
The person who set up the account was neither imprisoned nor did he defend himself.
He was removed from the general ledger.
That was the outcome he feared most.
In late spring, another rain fell on Flower Fruit Mountain.
Liu Er remained by the old spring, guarding the collapsed stone steps. He no longer feigned madness, nor did he joke anymore; he would only occasionally listen to the wind, discerning from it which sound was a new branch breaking and which sound was old wood rotting.
Sun Wukong returned to the mountain and led the monkey troop to rebuild the orchard.
Xuanzang moved his study closer to the harbor, teaching his children to read and also instructing them not to blindly trust account books.
The Bull Demon King and his son remained guarding the Flaming Mountain, sending wine during festivals and no longer mentioning going down the mountain to steal their way.
Chen Fan was still the accountant.
He put the last volume of the ledger into the iron box and pressed it down at the bottom of the storeroom by hand. That night, he neither turned the pages nor lit a lamp.
The following spring, the lamp in front of the port gate lit up again, illuminating a string of newly hung peach wood plaques under the eaves.
A gust of wind blew by, and the sign tapped lightly, making a crisp sound.
Liu Er stood by the spring and listened for a while, then turned around and waved to Chen Fan.
"That's all."
Chen Fan nodded and closed the ledger.
"That's it for now."
After the rain, the sky cleared, and the peach blossoms on the mountain were in full bloom.
The story is over.
Chapter 613 Recovering from Flower Fruit Mountain
The peach wood plaque still sways under the eaves.
A gust of wind blew by, and there was a soft tap.
Liu Er stood by the spring, his earlobe suddenly twitching, and the laziness on his face vanished instantly. He raised his hand to press his right ear, tilted his head to listen for a long time, and his brows furrowed little by little.
"It's not over yet."
Everyone in the courtyard stopped what they were doing.
Chen Fan had just pressed the iron box back to the bottom of the warehouse when he heard the sound and turned to look at him.
"What did you hear?"
Liu Er didn't answer immediately. He took two steps toward the water curtain door, his shoes making a soft crunching sound as they stepped over the wet stones. He then pressed his ear against the stone wall, as if listening to see if anyone was breathing inside.
After a few breaths, he turned around, his voice very low.
"There's something else inside the outer shell of Flower and Fruit Mountain."
The white dragon horse reacted first: "Outer shell?"
"Hmm." Liu Er pointed to the sky and then to the ground. "This is the source, and that is the shell. We only pried open a crack in the door before. The real place where things are buried is still inside that old mountain skin of the present world."
Chen Fan didn't say anything, walked to the spring, and looked down at the water.
There was no shadow in the water, only fine ripples, as if someone tapped the basin from a distance.
With a flick of his wrist, the inkstone fell into his palm.
The printing surface is a bit hot.
"Can the coordinates be fixed?"
Liu Er closed his eyes and listened for a while longer, sweat slowly forming on his forehead.
"Yes. It's right below the old stone platform at the Water Curtain Cave."
How deep?
"It's not deep." Liu Er opened his eyes and exhaled. "It's sealed very tightly. There are two layers of old seals on the outside, one from Buddhism and one from Heaven. It's as if they're afraid that the thing inside will run away on its own, and also afraid that someone will dig it out."
Zhu Ganglie clicked his tongue.
"Were the Buddhist sect and the Heavenly Court sealed off together?"
"Then it's not just any ordinary dirty stuff."
The Bull Demon King placed the wine jar on the ground, rolled up his sleeves, and said, "Just tell me the location. I'm an expert at smashing mountains."
Chen Fan looked up and glanced around.
Sun Wukong is still investigating the source of the rebellion in the hidden crevice and won't be able to return for the time being. Yang Jian is guarding the second page of the pen and cannot leave either. Right now, only these few people can act immediately.
He went over the options in his mind and didn't hesitate any longer.
"Open a temporary waterway."
Si Mo approached, carrying the tent: "You're going to hold this up all by yourself?"
"That's enough. We're not sending a large army, just three people."
He raised his hand and made a fleeting stroke on the surface of the spring. A flash of black light appeared on the inkstone, and the spring water instantly split in two. A thin, long black slit appeared at the bottom of the water, as if someone had cut a gash in the ground with a knife. No light came from the slit, only a cold wind pushed upwards, causing the peach wood plaque under the eaves to rattle wildly.
Xuanzang brought over a lantern and first held it up to the edge of the crack to shine a light on it.
As soon as the light drew near, an old pattern immediately surfaced from the crack.
On one side is a lotus platform with an imprint.
On one side is the imperial seal, a name stamp.
The two stripes interlock and bite together, like two hands pressing down on the same cloth.
The white dragon horse's eyelids twitched.
"The old power still exists."
Chen Fan nodded: "That's why we need to dig even deeper."
After he finished speaking, he raised his hand and pressed it against the edge of the crack, the veins in his palm bulging slightly. The spring water on both sides began to tremble, and small stones fell into the crack. Temporary waterways like this will backfire if they are used for too long. He didn't have time for idle talk and looked directly at the three of them.
"Go in. Don't touch the seal over there yet. Six Ears will give you the coordinates, White Dragon Horse will find the way, Old Ox will hatch, and Old Pig will retrieve it. Come back immediately after you get the item."
Pigsy shouldered his nine-toothed rake, grinning with a roguish air.
"This job sounds nice."
The Bull Demon King stepped to the crevice and glanced back at Chen Fan.
"Can you handle things here?"
"Even if you can't bear it, you have to bear it."
"OK."
The white dragon horse was the last to move. Before leaving, it suddenly took off the leather pouch from its waist and put it in Si Mo's hand.
"Leave the sample print here for now. In case something over there touches it and makes a mess, I need to be careful with my clothes."
Si Mo took the leather pouch and nodded.
Without further delay, the three stepped into the channel one after another. The wind suddenly intensified in the crevice, like a tidal wave rushing into their ears. Once the last piece of clothing hadn't gotten inside, Chen Fan tightened his grip, closing the opening to just a thin line.
The area around the spring fell silent again.
Only water droplets fell from the eaves.
Chen Fan neither sat down nor let go. He half-squatted by the spring, his palm pressed against the crack, and soon a buzzing sound filled his ears. It felt like two layers of something were being forcibly pulled together.
Six Ears stood guard on his left, their ears remaining perfectly still.
"arrive."
"explain."
"Ahead is the outer edge of Huaguo Mountain. The mountain is still there, the waterfall is still there, but it's lifeless. Like an empty shell."
Chen Fan didn't even look up.
"Keep listening."
Liu Er listened attentively while whispering the message to the outside world.
"The white dragon horse has already entered the cave."
"The old stone platform is still there. It's three feet to the left of the platform, and there's a hollow sound coming from it."
"Hmm... there really is something under the stone platform. The outer layer isn't soil, it's an old crust, like someone took melted mountain skin and flattened it."
The other side's reflection was quickly mirrored in the spring water.
The shadow was blurry, but you could still make out what it looked like.
The white dragon horse squatted beside the stone platform, its fingers tracing the edge inch by inch. Pigsy squatted even lower, pressing his ears to the ground, and gently tapped the ground with the handle of his rake. On the third tap, a muffled sound came from the ground, like an empty can.
Before anyone could give the order, the Bull Demon King had already taken a half step back and stretched his shoulders.
"This is it."
The white dragon horse raised its hand to stop him.
"Recognize the seal first."
He rinsed the water and wiped the bottom of the stone platform with his sleeve. Once the dust was gone, two old seals were indeed revealed underneath.
The round one on the left has a half-lotus pattern on it.
The square one on the right has a name in ancient seal script at its center.
Zhu Bajie's eye twitched after he finished reading.
"It really is a double ban."
The White Dragon Horse's voice was steady: "The Buddha's old seal presses down on the outer edge to prevent it from rising. The Jade Emperor's naming seal is fastened to the center line to prevent it from being listed in the first volume. One is to press down on the shape, and the other is to lock the position."
Annoyed by his words, the Bull Demon King asked directly, "Can I smash it or not?"
"Yes. We need to do it one after the other." The white dragon horse looked at him, then at Pigsy. "Break the outer shell first. Once the naming seal is loosened, the thing inside will try to squeeze out through the gap. Old Pig, your recycling seal needs to be fast; if you're even a moment slower, it will dissipate."
Pigsy spat out the grass stalks from his mouth and turned the rake sideways.
"Understand."
At the spring, Chen Fan suddenly looked up.
"Six Ears".
"I'm listening."
"Tell Old Niu not to smash it in the exact center. The naming seal is most likely buried under the heart stone; smashing it will be a waste of time."
Liu Er immediately relayed the message.
A moment later, the Bull Demon King grinned in the spring shadow and took half a step to the right.
"I know it."
The next moment, he steadied himself, his shoulders and back sinking down. He didn't take out the iron rod; instead, he used his fist. The fist rose slowly, but when it landed, the entire old stone platform trembled violently. The outer layer of the mountain first caved in, then with a "crack," a thin crack appeared around the edge.
The waterfall swayed slightly.
The outer shell of Huaguo Mountain emitted a muffled sound, as if a breath of stale air, which had been trapped inside for a century, was finally leaking out a little.
The half-lotus seal of the Buddhist temple shines first.
A flash of golden light appeared, as if trying to cover the crack again.
The Bull Demon King cursed under his breath, and his second punch was even harder, slamming straight into the edge of the crack created by the first punch. The entire outer shell instantly shattered, creating a half-foot-deep crater, with debris flying everywhere. The lotus seal held for two breaths before "crackling" into several pieces, golden dust falling down like raindrops.
"Old pig!"
Pigsy was already waiting.
He rushed forward, but instead of stabbing the rake in, he turned it around and used the grooves on the back of the rake to scrape hard against the edge of the naming seal. The black ash curled up instantly, like a piece of old skin being torn from a crack in the stone. The seal, under pressure, emitted a harsh grinding sound, and ink oozed out stroke by stroke.
There was also a very faint whistling sound mixed in with the ink.
The white dragon horse's expression changed.
"They're out."
It wasn't a living thing; it was more like a mass of old gas compressed into a core, trying to escape through a crack. As soon as it emerged, the recycling patterns on Pigsy's back lit up, and with a quick contraction and curl, they forcefully caught the mass of black gas and pulled it aside.
"Get out here!"
A patch of blackish-gold immediately appeared from underground.
It was only the size of a fingernail, but its light was very heavy, like a spark buried in coal ash.
The white dragon horse's eyes narrowed.
"That's it. The Monkey Heart Stone."
The Bull Demon King raised his hand and cleared away all the broken shells around the edge of the pit, while Pigsy took the opportunity to rake out the black gold stone completely.
The stone wasn't big, but when it landed in his palm, it felt like a small piece of hot iron. Zhu Bajie's palm burned, and he almost dropped it.
"Damn it, it's still jumping."
That stone really was jumping.
thump.
a bit.
The message traveled across the spring water to the Ninth Original Field.
The temporary channel beneath Chen Fan's hand suddenly bulged, almost collapsing. His vision went black for a moment, and a metallic taste rose in his throat. Si Mo reached out to support him, not daring to utter a sound.
Liu Er froze completely.
"The mountain is facing the earthquake."
Not only the spring, but even the wall behind the old warehouse began to tremble slightly. The peach wood plaques hanging under the eaves clattered together one after another. The ledgers in the iron box at the bottom of the warehouse also rattled, as if countless thin sheets of paper were turning pages inside.
The lamp in Xuanzang's hand flickered, casting alternating shades of green and yellow on everyone's faces.
Chen Fan swallowed the blood in his mouth and asked in a low voice, "What about the Ninth Origin Arena?"
Liu Er's ear tips trembled, and his voice was even lower than before.
"It moved too. Not collapsed, but moved in sync. As soon as that rock came out, it was like bones suddenly connecting the two sides."
In the reflection of the spring, the black gold monkey heart stone is still beating.
With each jump, the Flower and Fruit Mountain in the mortal world trembled once. The Ninth Original Field also trembled once. The ripples in the water, the patterns on the rocks, and even the rhythm of the falling water curtains on both sides all converged in one direction.
The white dragon horse stared at the stone and suddenly understood something.
"The shell is not empty."
"It has been keeping the heartbeat of the true source."
The Bull Demon King understood and replied in a gruff voice, "After being suppressed for so many years, it's still not completely dead. That means this mountain was originally capable of bearing weight."
Pigsy shoved the Monkey Heart Stone into his robes and yelled, "Don't just stand there, let's go back!"
But just as he pressed the stone close to his chest, a crack appeared beneath the stone platform.
The line wasn't large, but it was very deep.
An old line of characters slowly emerged from within.
It is neither a Buddhist seal nor an imperial edict.
There are only four characters: crooked and twisted.
—The Master of Flower and Fruit Mountain.
The white dragon horse stared at those four words, a chill running down its spine.
This wasn't newly sealed.
This is the original title that was already preserved in the old shell.
By the spring, Chen Fan watched the words emerge from the water, his fingers slowly tightening. The missing column in all the previous account books seemed to have finally sprouted from the ground.
He exhaled, his voice a little hoarse.
"Bring the stone back. Don't touch those four words yet."
Liu Er immediately relayed the message.
The white dragon horse responded, raised its hand to roll up the water curtain, signaling the two to retreat. The Bull Demon King glanced back one last time at the cracked old stone platform, his gaze falling on the four characters, then stopped smashing and turned to step into the crevice on his way back.
As soon as the three entered the channel, the surface of the spring became chaotic. The veins on Chen Fan's hand bulged, and the inkstone was almost too hot to hold. Fortunately, in the next instant, the Bull Demon King burst out from the crack, shattering two blue bricks upon landing. Pigsy followed closely behind, clutching the black-gold monkey heart stone tightly to his chest. The White Dragon Horse appeared last, pressing the edge of the channel inwards with its hand.
The crack closed.
The spring water splashed back to its original position.
The courtyard was quiet for a couple of moments.
The next moment, the entire Ninth Origin Field trembled simultaneously.
It wasn't the slight tremor I felt earlier.
This time, it was as if something heavy, buried for many years, had turned over on the ground. The old warehouse door bolt slammed shut, a deep echo came from behind the water curtain door, and even the dark crack in the distance seemed to light up for a moment.
Pigsy placed the Monkey Heart Stone on the ground.
The stone landed, but it kept bouncing.
thump.
thump.
With each jump, a ring of ripples appears on the surface of the spring.
With each jump, everyone could hear it, and there was another place on the other side of the mountain where the sound echoed back.
Chen Fan looked down at the black gold stone, and a glimmer of light finally appeared in his eyes.
"Found it."
"The shell isn't ruined."
"It still recognizes this heart."
Chapter 614, page 2, opening.
The monkey heart stone is still bouncing on the ground.
One sound after another, no rush.
The ripples on the surface of the spring spread out in concentric circles, crashed against the shore, and then bounced back. It was as if an old tendon in the mountains had finally been reconnected.
Sun Wukong squatted down first, pressing his palm down on the black gold stone.
The stone arched slightly beneath his palm.
He lifted his eyelids and looked behind the water curtain door.
"I've really admitted it."
Chen Fan nodded, not responding to that. He picked up the green lamp, took two steps forward, and the lamplight, suppressing the shimmering water on the ground, illuminated a thin ink line along the edge of the stone, slowly creeping towards the old warehouse.
The white dragon horse caught up and asked in a low voice, "Is this for rewriting?"
"It's not a rewrite," Chen Fan said, looking at the ink line. "It's the beginning of a new stroke."
Si Mo was holding the tent flap, her fingers constantly gripping the corner. Hearing this, she swallowed hard.
"The tenth time?"
Chen Fan hummed in agreement.
"Someone wrote about it the previous nine times."
"It's my turn now."
As soon as he finished speaking, the ink line on the ground suddenly leaped up and darted straight into the crack of the old warehouse door. A rustling sound came from inside the wooden door, like someone turning pages through the back of a sheet of paper. Immediately afterward, the half-open yellow paper on the second page stood up on its own, its edges curling into old creases, and the unfinished ink mark on the paper became bright again.
Everyone entered the room together.
The room still had that damp smell. The scent of old wood, ash, and stale paper mingled together. When the lamp was lit, the iron hooks on the four corner shelves were exposed, and the tattered samples hanging on them clinked and jingled softly.
Chen Fan walked to the front of the page.
The second page hung in mid-air, only an arm's length away from him. The paper was densely covered with small handwriting, each line squeezed tightly together, as if deliberately preventing anyone from breathing.
At the very bottom, a column has just appeared.
For samples from the Hong Kong area that are missing their names, the sample must be corrected within three days. Otherwise, the old sample will be collected and the sample will be merged into the "No Name" field.
After Bai Ya saw it clearly, his face immediately darkened.
"Three days?"
"This isn't life-threatening."
The old deacon panicked; his beard was trembling.
"There are more than just one or two people whose names have been lost in the port. Searching for old accounts, going through old files, matching old seals—three days isn't enough! Some people don't even have their birth certificates anymore, how are we going to replace them?"
Si Mo pushed the tent forward.
"Can the judgment be amended?"
The second page remained unchanged.
Only a ring of black slowly seeped out from the edge of the paper.
Chen Fan raised his hand and pressed the seal on the pen.
As soon as the ink touched the paper, the entire sheet trembled slightly, as if blood vessels were opening in the center of the page, and fine ink spread along the paper's grain. The feeling was strange; it didn't feel like holding a pen, but rather like reaching your hand into an old well, where something was groping upwards along your fingertips.
Sun Wukong stood half a step behind him, his golden cudgel held horizontally on his shoulder, without making a sound.
Chen Fan stared at the appendix, his voice flat.
"One thing can be changed."
"Only one line needs to be changed."
Under the lamp, Chen Fan was standing in the shadow behind the paper again. It was still that face, still those eyes that showed no emotion.
"Think it through before you commit."
"The second page gives you the right to edit the appendix, not the main text. You can make minor changes, but you can't change the core. But every time you make a change, the person who created the account will wake up even faster."
The white dragon horse turned its head to look at him.
"Wasn't the person who built the account book dead?"
Under the lamplight, Chen Fan said calmly, "Those who keep accounts die the slowest."
The room fell silent for a moment.
Only the flickering lamplight tilted to the side, as if suppressed by some unseen force.
Chen Fan did not turn around.
"How can we write it in a way that leaves room for the Minato Ward to maneuver?"
Under the lamplight, Chen Fan looked at the mark on his palm and said after a couple of breaths, "Didn't you already make up your mind?"
Chen Fan's fingers slowly tightened.
"If the real names of the samples from Hong Kong are found, the deadline for merging them can be postponed."
Si Mo was startled and immediately looked up.
"Consolidation timeframe?"
"So, you mean that if the three days that were missed can be made up for later as long as the real name is found?" The old deacon reacted the fastest, raising his voice.
Chen Fan nodded.
"right."
"What it wants now is not for people to die, but for the samples to be returned to their storage. As long as this sentence is added, once the samples are found to their true names, it cannot take them away as overdue, but will have to give them back the days that should have been given."
Baiya exhaled.
"This will get people back from the abandoned pool."
"We'll take care of whoever we can."
After listening, Sun Wukong only asked one question.
"Will it recognize it if I write it down?"
Chen Fan looked up at the second page.
"recognize."
"It must abide by the rules it has set for itself."
After saying that, he pushed the pen and seal forward.
The paper immediately softened, like ice being scalded by fire, melting into a narrow opening. The ink spread outwards from the edge of the print, slowly forming a line of characters.
If the real names of samples from Hong Kong are found, the deadline for merging them can be postponed.
As the last character for "limit" was written, the entire sheet of paper suddenly plummeted downwards. At the same time, the four walls of the old warehouse made a clicking sound, as if countless tiny locks were closing simultaneously in the dark.
Si Mo stared at the new words, her eyes instantly reddening. She held back her words and first opened the ledger, quickly checking the missing entries in the port area.
As soon as the first volume was opened, words began to float on the pages.
The verdict was changed after three days.
A new plan will be made in seven days.
The white dragon horse was stunned.
"It's changed again."
The old deacon rushed over, bent over, and began to read each word carefully. Halfway through, his hands began to tremble.
"Seven days... not three days anymore."
"It's been postponed to the seventh day!"
The stuffy atmosphere in the room finally dissipated a little.
Even the guards at the gate straightened their backs a bit.
Seven days isn't long, but it's more than four days longer than three. It's about whether the port can retrieve the names scattered everywhere and whether they can get the living people out of the accounts before the old seals are recalled.
Bai Ya gritted his teeth, turned around and left.
"I'm going to the port."
"First, go through all the records of the old warehouses, stilted houses, and shipwrecks. If any match is found, we'll find the answer tonight."
The white dragon horse fastened the sample bag tightly.
"I'm going to North Street and the riverbank."
"Many old surnames are hidden over there."
Si Mo picked up the living tent and began taking notes as he walked.
"I'll go to the ranking list. I'll rescue the children first, then the elderly. Those without surnames, those with nicknames, and those whose names are no longer valid—I'll record them all separately."
They started moving as soon as they finished speaking.
This time, no one dawdled.
Three days turned into seven, like adding another piece to a rope that was about to break. The addition wasn't very neat, but at least it could hold people back.
Chen Fan, however, did not move.
He was still standing in front of the second page, staring at the small clump of newly formed black ink in the corner of the paper.
Chen Fan didn't leave under the lamp either.
The two people are separated by half a page of old paper; their shadows overlap and then separate again.
Chen Fan spoke first.
"You've been helping me all along."
"What's the point?"
Chen Fan smiled slightly under the lamp. It was a faint smile, as if he had borrowed it from a distant place.
"I'm telling you, you're not dead yet."
Chen Fan looked at him.
"Who died in the first nine deaths?"
"They're all dead." Under the lamp, Chen Fan raised his hand, pointed to the page, and then to the mountain outside. "Some died before the port samples were retrieved. Some died when the naming lock was closed. Some got the corner of the first page, thinking they could correct the text directly, but before they could get the print back, the person was erased before they could even finish writing half a word."
He paused for a moment after saying this.
"There was another time when Sun Wukong didn't return to the mountain."
Sun Wukong stood behind, his eyes darkening.
"Didn't reply, so what?"
"Huaguo Mountain has no main storyline," Chen Fan said under the lamp. "The mountain doesn't recognize the heart, and the heart doesn't recognize the shell. The main column of the supplementary mountain will remain empty, and the Nine Locks master map will merge elsewhere. Once it's merged, the port area, the old warehouse, and the live accounts will all become a set of dead accounts. In that round, I was the only one left watching the second page turn yellow."
The only sound in the old warehouse was the crackling of flames.
Chen Fan recalled the old, shattered marks in front of him, and the trailing ink marks under the name wall, and suddenly realized that those things were not left all at once.
It is nine times.
People have come here nine times.
I failed to get across it nine times.
Under the lamp, Chen Fan whispered, "Only this time, Sun Wukong returned to the mountain. The Monkey Heart Stone also returned to its shell. The main storyline is connected, and I'll only open the second page to you then."
"I'm not helping you."
"I'm betting I'll survive this time."
After listening, Chen Fan didn't speak immediately. He raised his hand and rubbed his temples, suppressing the chill that seemed to seep into his bones from the paper.
"You guessed half right."
"You'll have to rely on me for your other half."
Chen Fan didn't respond under the lamp, but simply raised his chin towards the end of the page.
"Look again."
Chen Fan bowed his head as he gestured.
At the very end of the second page, where the space had been empty, new words were now slowly emerging. The words appeared very slowly, stroke by stroke, as if deliberately meant to be seen clearly.
If you want to change the text on the first page, you must first take back the operator's seal.
Sun Wukong cursed first.
"There really is someone in charge."
The white dragon horse had just reached the door when it saw the words and took a half step back.
"Who holds the operator's seal?"
The old deacon's face turned pale.
"The first page of text... isn't that the general ledger?"
"If you can correct the text, you can also change the main column, the naming lock, the recycle bin, and even the old notes that were suppressed back then."
Si Mo stopped and looked at Chen Fan.
"Is the next step to seize this seal?"
Chen Fan reached out and touched the line of text at the end of the page.
The moment my fingertip touched it, a faint warmth immediately spread across the edges of the characters. It wasn't the warmth of lamplight, but the warmth of someone who had just finished writing and hadn't gone far yet.
He withdrew his hand, a trace of ink remaining in his palm.
"right."
"The second page only gives us a breather. If we really want to get the accounts completely corrected, we need the first page."
Sun Wukong slammed his golden cudgel into the ground with a thud.
"Then go get it."
"Whoever tries to stop us, we'll smash them."
Chen Fan turned around and glanced at him, a rare smile on his face.
"Don't smash it yet."
"Find the person first."
"Anyone who can write the first page of the main text won't hide far away. Since he knows I put pen to paper on the second page, he should start investigating me tonight."
The flame of the lamp suddenly shrank.
Outside the old warehouse door, a breeze blew through the corridor, making the hanging tattered seals tinkle. The sound was thin and fragmented, and after listening for a while, it sounded like someone fiddling with an abacus in the dark.
Chen Fan tucked the pen and seal into his sleeve, picked up the lantern, and turned around.
"The port area will first run seven days' worth of accounts."
"Keep the money coming in. Keep the mountain lord in check. Six-Eared Serpent on the lookout, Yang Jian guarding the lock, Xuanzang keeping watch on the lamp. Nobody should cause any trouble."
He walked towards the door, his steps slow.
When I reached the threshold, I paused again.
"besides."
Everyone looked at him.
Chen Fan turned his face to the side, the light only illuminating half of his eyebrows and eyes.
"From now on, I will be the one to settle this score with Flower Fruit Mountain."
After saying this, he took a lantern and left the old warehouse.
A night breeze blew in my face, and the lamplight flickered upwards, illuminating a small section of the dark path under the corridor. The sound of the spring still lingered in the distance, the echo of the Monkey Heart Stone still resonated, and I could faintly hear voices coming from the harbor. Busy, hurried, yet with a touch of liveliness amidst the chaos.
The second page slowly closed behind him.
Before the paper was sealed tightly, the last line of text lit up again.
The operator's seal is currently in the possession of the writer of the first page.
A flash of ink, and it sank completely.
Chapter 615 The Old Seal Strikes Back
As soon as Chen Fan took three steps out of the old warehouse with his lantern, the night above the port area seemed to deepen.
It's not a dark cloud.
It looked like someone had flipped two old stone slabs over and pressed them down straight down.
The first tone is "zhong".
It's so boring.
It's like it's being tapped through a thousand layers of paper.
The second tone is not like a bell, but like a wooden ruler used to turn pages in an official's office, slammed onto the table.
The noise from the people on the port side immediately became chaotic.
Someone is running.
Someone looked up and shouted.
Some children were so frightened that they cried, but their voices seemed to stop halfway through, sounding hollow.
The white dragon horse leaped onto the roof first, glanced up, and its expression changed.
"It's not a sample print."
"It is a positive seal."
Everyone looked up at the same time.
Two large seals hung in mid-air.
The one on the left was dark gold, its edges worn, yet its surface was dazzlingly bright. A ring of tiny Buddhist patterns hung around it, similar to the overlapping imprints in the old warehouse, only much heavier. Before it even landed, every wooden plaque in the port area had already begun to heat up, and the characters on the plaques shrank back stroke by stroke, as if trying to shrink back into the old paper.
The one on the right is colder, bluish-black, square and regular, with densely packed name squares inlaid along its edges. A long ink line trails down from the bottom of the seal, all the way to the port streets. Whoever the ink line touches, a small gray character appears above their head, like the name tags that old government offices hung on prisoners.
Xuanzang recognized it at a glance, and his hand holding the lantern tightened.
"Qualitative seal."
Yang Jian also saw the other one, and the vertical mark between his eyebrows split open.
"Life Register Seal"
The voice just fell.
Both seals pressed down simultaneously.
There is no wind.
Dust rose from the ground first.
One after another, the newly erected plaques in the port area reversing verdicts reverberated, cracking the peach wood and seeping black ink from the cracks. The small plaque at the warehouse entrance that read "Ding Twenty-One Returns Home" was the first to go dark, the words looking as if someone had wiped them off, leaving behind a stain that looked like dirty water.
Si Mo suddenly hugged the tent to his chest.
The ledger pages turned by themselves, making a rustling sound.
All the names that were just written on the paper are sinking.
It sank back to its original column.
Old case.
The tower guard turned pale.
"It's being changed back."
"The entire case has been reverted to the old one."
Bai Ya cursed and rushed over to support the card rack. But as soon as his hand touched it, a gray mark appeared on his arm, with four words emerging from it: "Remnant of a former offender".
His eyelids twitched, and he punched the pillar with his backhand.
The pillar was broken in half.
The words haven't fallen off.
The sound began to echo from all directions of the port area.
Crying, shouting, banging on the door.
Those whose files had just been retrieved from the old archives all had gray characters floating above their heads. Some were labeled "Fugitive," some "Fake Records," and some were even more ruthless, directly stating "Old Traitors Not Yet Eliminated."
Chen Fan stood motionless under the corridor.
He looked at the two seals.
This isn't a place to kill.
This is to rewrite the person's story.
Once the name reverts to the old format, anything done afterward will be for nothing.
"Guard the tent first."
Chen Fan shoved the lamp into Xuanzang's hand, then pressed down on the curtain in Si Mo's arms.
"Don't let it flip to the bottom."
Si Mo gritted his teeth and nodded.
But the pages were turning faster and faster, the edges of the paper curling up. She couldn't hold them down with both hands, and her shoulders trembled. The ledger was like a live fish, desperately trying to wriggle out of her arms.
Xuanzang stepped forward and placed the green lamp in the center of the curtain.
As soon as the lamp flame touched the paper, a Buddhist chant rang out from the side of the seal.
not tall.
Very dry.
It's like a crack in a dead tree.
"No double judgment shall be made for any existing rulings."
As soon as the sound came out, the middle page of the tent turned white, and the lamp flame dimmed.
Xuanzang did not retreat.
He lifted the hem of his monk's robe, sat down directly on the ground, pressed his knees against the corner of the tent, and tapped the blank page three times.
"Provisional general ledger, commence."
Snapped.
The last page of the ledger popped open.
Originally there were no words above, but now three black lines have suddenly appeared. The tops of the lines are crooked, as if they were hastily added. The first line is the current residence, the second is the witness, and the third is pending verification.
Xuanzang looked up at the sky, his voice calm.
"You gave me the old order."
"I am remembering people of today."
"As long as the person is still alive, the debt isn't considered dead."
The qualitative impression sank downwards.
The golden light, like a millstone, pressed directly onto the three black lines. Xuanzang swayed, and blood immediately appeared at the corner of his mouth. He didn't wipe it away, but instead pressed his palm down even harder, his knuckles rubbing a red mark on the paper.
"Write!"
He shouted at Simo.
Si Mo was startled awake, grabbed his pen, and buried himself in writing.
"Ding Twenty-One, currently residing at East Sixth Wharf, is a witness and tower keeper."
"Ahe, originally without a surname, now lives at South Pier Bridge, witness Baiya."
"Zhao San Niang was mistakenly recorded in the old register; now she has seven neighbors as guarantors."
With each line she wrote, the accounting became a little more stable.
The qualitative print is pressed down one inch.
The general ledger was pushed back an inch.
On the other side, the seal of destiny also moved.
It didn't rush to the living tent.
It's aimed at people.
The dark lines hanging down over the port area suddenly tightened, as if someone were drawing a brush on the clouds. Everyone with gray characters on their faces lowered their heads, as if a stone had suddenly been hung around their necks.
Yang Jian raised his hand and grabbed the three-pointed, double-edged sword, which landed in his palm.
"This thing doesn't recognize the current name, it only recognizes the old name."
Chen Fan turned to look at him.
"Can it be disassembled?"
Yang Jian stared at the square shell outside the seal, his eyes colder than the night.
"able."
"Use the old rules to dismantle its old shell."
After saying that, he pushed off with his feet and soared into the air. His third eye opened fully, and a cold white light sliced across, first illuminating the four corners of the Register of Fate. Sure enough, there were locks on the four corners, and the locks were wrapped with dense small characters, all old notes, such as "Name determined at birth", "Registered and cannot be changed", "Those who violate the register will be punished together".
Yang Jian read each one aloud.
The sound wasn't loud.
With each line he read, he moved the knife forward an inch.
"In the seventh volume of the Heavenly Laws, supplementary entries must not deviate from the original names."
"In the ninth volume of the Heavenly Laws, if a child's given name is lost, a substitute name may be established."
"The Heavenly Laws are not attached at the end. Wartime refugees are first registered in the Survivor Register, and then their fate register is updated."
Upon reading this, he suddenly turned the blade and plunged it directly into the lock in the lower right corner.
Click.
The outer shell of the Destiny Register Seal had a crack.
The people on the street below all breathed a sigh of relief, as if the weight on their chests had been lifted a little.
Seeing that there was a way, the white dragon horse immediately leaped onto the other side of the roof and threw up the sample prints it had brought out from the old warehouse.
"then!"
Yang Jian caught the seal with one hand and pressed it directly into the crack.
The sample print is not large.
But when you fasten it, it feels like a nail.
The seal of destiny trembled, and the outer layer of bluish-black shell began to peel off, revealing the yellowed paper texture inside.
Chen Fan's eye twitched.
"Paper?"
"Not in Indian script."
"It's an old roll cover."
As he said this, the seal on the Buddhist side suddenly trembled.
A crack appears in the center of the seal.
A thin, dry hand reached out from inside.
He was still clutching half of an abacus in his hand.
Next, there are people.
It was an old monk. His robe was only half intact, and his chest looked like it had been scorched by fire, with patches of black and yellow. Half of his face was covered with old wax, while the other half had skin as thin as paper, but his eye sockets were bright, so bright it was irritating.
He stepped onto the edge of the seal, looked down and circled the area, first examining the living tent, then the mysterious treasury.
"Private general ledger, amend my old one."
"You dare to write?"
Xuanzang looked up at him; there was still a bit of blood at the corner of his mouth.
Who are you?
The old monk laid the abacus horizontally.
"An old Western accountant, a monk who keeps accounts."
After he finished speaking, another crack appeared in the other seal of destiny.
First, there was a tattered corner of an official's robe.
Then there's a hand holding a pen.
Finally, a tall, thin man emerged, wearing an old crown. His face looked as if it had been painted with ink, with only his nose and mouth clearly visible. He seemed to be standing on a sheet of paper, with scattered names written all over the hem of his clothes.
When Yang Jian saw him, his eyes darkened.
"Naming Officer".
The afterimage looked up, its voice high-pitched and flat.
"The old government office has been abolished, but my position remains."
"Within the tenth cycle, the register shall not be altered or falsified by outsiders."
The accountant monk also spoke up.
"Within the tenth cycle, old rules shall not be overturned, old sins shall not be absolved, and old categories shall not overstep their bounds."
The two voices merged.
The entire port area was shaken.
The newly erected wooden sign cracked again.
The last few lines of writing on the ledger were already shaky when the last stroke of the pen began to tremble.
Si Mo tilted his pen, and a drop of ink fell onto the paper, making a black dot.
Bai Ya looked up and cursed, "Go to hell with the tenth time! I haven't even seen you the first nine times, why should I acknowledge your past grievances!"
The accounting monk didn't even look at him, he just lifted the abacus.
The inscription "Remnant of the Old Offender" above Bai Ya's head immediately dropped downwards, pressing down on his brow.
Sun Wukong is not here.
At this moment, the port area lost its toughest weapon.
Chen Fan took a step forward.
Another step.
I walked all the way to the edge of the corridor and stood at the very end of the light.
He didn't look at the two mutilated bodies; instead, he glanced down at the stone slab beneath his feet. There was old ink and new ash in the cracks of the slab. The new ash pressed down on the old ink, while the old ink pushed outwards; neither was willing to give way.
He suddenly smiled.
"I see."
The accounting monk narrowed his eyes.
"What are you laughing at?"
Chen Fan raised his head.
"I'm laughing at your impatience."
"We've only just started the second page, and you guys come down here in person."
"This shows that the old accounting offices and government offices are really afraid of people finding out their secrets."
The naming official said coldly, "Outsiders, people without status, have no right to comment."
Chen Fan nodded.
"right."
"I never intended to argue with you."
He raised his hand and slapped the first page of his handwriting directly onto the pillar.
With a snap.
The light suddenly shot out along the ground.
From the old warehouse entrance, it darted all the way to the port street intersection, then up those newly cracked wooden signs. Each sign flashed briefly, but enough to make out the original words on it.
Ding Twenty-One.
Ah He.
Zhao Sanniang.
There's more.
The moment those names appeared, the people in the port who had been stunned seemed to have been given a push. The tower guard was the first to come to his senses, picked up the nearly broken plaque, and held it above his head.
"This is the person we found tonight!"
"Anyone who wants to collect it has to ask us first!"
The old deacon, also panting heavily, stepped forward, leaning on his wooden cane.
"I've guarded the old warehouse for half my life."
"I know better than you which pages are fake and which have been switched out."
He stood unsteadily, but his words were firm.
People in the neighborhood started shouting.
First, there was a sound.
Then came a whole area.
"I vouch for Zhao Sanniang!"
"Ahe ate at my house for three years!"
"Ding Twenty-One's case is not old; his mother is waiting for him at the east end!"
As soon as the voices started, the pressure of the seal was delayed by half a beat.
The accounting monk's eyelids twitched, and he frantically moved the beads on his abacus.
The naming official also picked up his pen and made several strokes in the air, intending to rewrite those voices back into the blank space.
This was exactly what Chen Fan had been waiting for.
He turned around abruptly.
"Yang Jian!"
"Has the shell opened yet?"
In mid-air, Yang Jian slashed down with his sword.
The outer shell on the right side of the register of fate suddenly cracked open, revealing a yellowed, curly old book with wormholes all over the edges of the pages.
"It's open!"
Chen Fan pointed at the old booklet, his voice hardening.
"Don't kill people."
"Seal the scroll!"
Without uttering a single wasted word, Yang Jian turned his blade and slashed horizontally at the outermost layer of the scroll.
The sound of tearing paper filled the air instantly.
The naming officer's figure suddenly swayed, and half of his shoulder faded away.
At the same moment, Xuanzang pressed down with both palms, and the third column of the temporary general ledger was fully formed.
To be verified.
Once those three words were uttered, the definitive impression could no longer be suppressed.
The old rules could cover up a dead case.
It's not acceptable to wait for verification.
It's not considered a conclusion until all the kernels are processed.
Xuanzang raised his blood-stained lips and smiled at the accountant monk.
You said I'm not qualified to write.
"Then let's go through this account together until dawn."
One by one, lights came on in the port area.
The two old seals are still there.
The two crippled bodies had not yet retreated.
But for the first time, they stopped in mid-air and couldn't press down any further.
Chen Fan stood at the very front, picked up the green lamp, and moved it forward an inch.
The lamplight illuminated the new names on the ground, and also the cracked old shell in mid-air.
His voice wasn't loud.
But everyone in the port area heard it.
"The old seal has arrived."
"Then let's see who calls the shots on this page today."
Chapter 616 Two Disabled Officials
The lamp was moved forward an inch; the flame didn't grow larger, but it stabilized.
Two disfigured figures hung suspended in mid-air, one on the left and one on the right, like two shadows torn from old paper. The one on the left wore a monk's robe with long sleeves, and held a thin bone pen in his hand. The one on the right wore an official's robe, the hem of which swayed gently even though there was no wind, and held one narrow paper slip after another between his fingers.
People in the port area retreated to the back, and no one ran around.
They'd seen it all along the way. When they were truly scared, they didn't shout; instead, they gritted their teeth and stared at the backs of the people in front of them.
The accountant monk glanced down at the ground.
The new names on the ground were lit up, line by line, none of them long. Some were porters, some were children who had lost their surnames, and two were the names of dead people who had just been pulled from the old warehouse that night.
He smiled and pointed with the bone pen.
"New accounts are the easiest to change."
The pen tip fell, and a sheet of gray paper instantly spread out in mid-air. Not a single word was written on the paper, but everyone standing in the harbor felt a heaviness in their chests, as if someone had categorized them through their bellies before copying them onto the paper.
Xuanzang took a step forward with the lantern, his face pale.
"He's defining it."
"First, write down living people as samples, then return them to the old cases."
Chen Fan was prepared, pressing the pen seal even tighter in his palm, but he didn't move his feet, only staring at the gray paper.
On the other side, the naming official had already unfolded the first slip of paper.
The paper tag was thin, yet its edges were frighteningly sharp. As soon as it straightened up, the ink marks on the cracked names on the wall all jolted, as if recognizing it.
"Chen Fan".
The naming officer read out the first one.
With a flick of his wrist, he aimed straight at Chen Fan's forehead.
Sun Wukong swung his cudgel and smashed it. The cudgel struck the paper slip, but it only made a series of crisp sounds. The paper slip folded, turned a corner, and stuck to Chen Fan's shoulder again.
"Damn, it can even recognize people."
Sun Wukong stomped his foot and chased after him, his staff forming a straight line. This time, he wasn't smashing paper, but rather the naming official's hand.
The naming official raised his sleeve to block, half of which was torn to shreds, but he retreated three zhang (approximately 10 meters) and the second slip of paper was already between his fingers.
"Sun Wukong".
"Mysterious Treasury".
"Si Mo".
Each time a name is read aloud, a thin black frame appears on the ground, as if marking out a spot for the person.
Si Mo was holding the tent, his back was soaked with sweat.
She knew better than anyone how troublesome this was. Bookkeeping was like archiving, naming was like locking the door. The former gave you a source, the latter directly crammed you into that name. Once the name was accepted, all subsequent explanations were just nonsense.
"Don't answer!"
She called out to the person behind her.
"Don't respond to anyone who calls out to you!"
Chen Fan hummed in agreement, his gaze still fixed on the accountant monk.
The bookkeeper monk had already begun writing on the gray paper with his bone pen. He wrote extremely fast, each stroke light and seemingly effortless, yet each stroke sent shivers down one's spine.
"The cases involve relocation of residents in the port area."
"The former subordinates of Huaguo Mountain were recovered under unusual circumstances."
"The author of the second page exceeded his/her authority."
As the last four words were uttered, the flame of the green lamp suddenly shrank.
Chen Fan felt as if he had been hit in the chest with a dull thud, and his feet sank. He looked down and saw a light gray checkered pattern rising from the edge of his shoe.
"Chen Fan".
Xuanzang lowered his voice.
"It needs to reserve your spot first, then it will seal the second page."
Chen Fan did not respond.
He simply raised his hand, took the green lamp, and placed it directly into Xuanzang's hand.
"You and Si Mo, turn up the witness statement."
Si Mo was taken aback and looked up at him.
"The witness column? That empty column in the ledger?"
"right."
Chen Fan stared at the bookkeeper monk, speaking rapidly.
"It can define itself because it claims to be the Lord. It can affix labels because the name wall recognizes its authority. We are not competing with it for the main column, but for witnesses."
Xuanzang reacted first, turning around and pressing the lamp onto the tent.
The ledger flipped open by itself with a clatter, the pages stopping in the middle, and sure enough, there was a narrow, almost invisible blank space at the very edge, as if it were for someone to make marginal notes.
Si Mo's hand trembled slightly.
"Nobody has ever touched this before."
"Let's do it now."
Chen Fan took a step forward, and the gray line under his feet had already climbed up to his calves.
"You write down what you saw and heard tonight, Xuanzang writes down where Foyin came from, and I will sign the document. Don't write any judgments, just write down what you saw."
The accountant monk then looked up, and for the first time, the smile was gone from his face.
"The witness board is not for you."
Chen Fan grinned.
"You've practically written me off as a sample, and now you're telling me who it belongs to?"
As soon as he finished speaking, he slapped the pen and seal onto the account book.
With a snap.
The entire book of loose-leaf account paper suddenly became bright and shiny.
Without further hesitation, Si Mo picked up his pen and wrote: "Tonight, the old seal is pressed into the port. The bookkeeping official first provides a sample, then determines the case, without showing the original order."
Xuanzang then wrote: "The names of the deceased officials are recited aloud, and the names are sealed by slips of paper. The origins of these slips are neither Buddhist edicts nor divine decrees."
The two lines of text had barely been written when the gray paper on which the accountant was keeping the records wrinkled.
It felt like someone was pulling it from behind, and the written words slowly became blurry.
Chen Fan raised his hand and emphasized the witness column with his fingertip.
"Add one more sentence."
"Everything written tonight is witnessed by people, by lamplight, and by the old treasury's seal."
As soon as those words were spoken, the flame of the lamp shot up half a foot higher.
The bookkeeper's bone pen trembled, and a roll of extremely old yellow paper suddenly fell from his sleeve. The roll of paper seemed to have been sewn into the cuff of his sleeve, and when it fell, it still had two broken threads attached to it.
Si Mo had sharp eyes and immediately noticed that the scroll of paper did not have Buddhist seals or celestial patterns.
There was only a tiny black character.
account.
"Original text!"
She shouted it out.
Sun Wukong didn't need her reminder; he leaped into the air first, his golden cudgel sweeping across, aiming straight for the roll of yellow paper.
The naming officer suddenly cut in, throwing out a dozen slips of paper at once, like a dozen thin knives, specifically targeting Sun Wukong's wrists and the head of his staff.
"You dare touch the main text?"
Before he finished speaking, his third eye opened.
Yang Jian remained motionless, standing beneath the port gate beam, his third eye on his forehead gazing directly at the naming officer's chest.
This photo is not of its face, nor of the sign in its hand.
It was the constantly pulsating ink core inside his official robe.
"Found it."
Yang Jian's voice was cold.
"It is not in the name of the Jade Emperor."
"The root of its life register in its chest is not connected to Lingxiao, but is connected to the general ledger interface."
Even Xuanzang was stunned when he heard this.
The Buddhist sect is not in charge, nor is the Heavenly Court.
The two remaining officials they suppressed tonight were merely hooks at the execution level.
Chen Fan's heart sank, but his eyes shone even brighter.
"Yang Jian, cut off its core."
"Sun Wukong, stealing the article!"
"Xuanzang, don't let the witness stand broken."
The three people moved almost simultaneously.
Yang Jian flipped his three-pointed, double-edged sword, the blade not striking his body, but directly aiming for the dark spot on the naming official's chest. The naming official hastily retreated, raising his hand to affix seven slips of paper, each bearing an official's name. The Kitchen God, the River God, the City God, the Judge... the slips of paper exploded one by one, as if temporarily borrowing old names from various places for protection.
Yang Jian didn't even look at them; with a flick of his Heavenly Eye, the borrowed official titles turned white on the spot.
"They're all just peeling skin."
The blade advanced another half inch, and with a soft "poof" sound, a palm-sized blackboard was revealed in the namer's chest from under his robe. A thin needle was nailed to the center of the board, with an extremely long and thin ink line trailing behind it, stretching straight up into the sky, its end invisible.
On the other side, Sun Wukong smashed three slips of paper with his staff, then grabbed half of the rolled-up yellow paper with his left hand. The accounting monk let out a strange cry, and his bone pen slammed onto his wrist. Suddenly, all the definitive words on the gray paper rushed towards Sun Wukong.
"Samples, archive, seal old categories!"
The three words are like three lumps of wet mud; once stuck on, they sink.
Sun Wukong's shoulder swayed, and his movements actually slowed down a bit.
Chen Fan rushed forward and placed his hand on Sun Wukong's back, the ink seal on his palm burning hot.
Look over here!
He wasn't shouting at the monkey, he was shouting at the roll of yellow paper.
"The witness section is open, and the original command has been presented. The person in charge tonight is unknown, the source of the order is pending verification, and the previous determination is temporarily suspended!"
This sentence sounded like it was squeezed out between teeth.
But it happens to be useful.
The roll of yellow paper shook twice in Sun Wukong's hand, and a corner of it unfolded on its own.
The writing on the top is extremely faint, as if it was written and then erased; only the first few lines are still legible.
"At the Western Port, if the operator on the second page goes over the bar, two disabled officials will be dispatched to verify the name and identity."
"If you encounter a testimony written in reverse—"
The word is cut off in half here, and the image behind it was forcibly torn off by someone.
But those two sentences alone are enough.
Si Mo stared at the paper, a chill running down his spine.
"They knew all along that someone would write the testimony backwards."
"This wasn't a last-minute visit."
The blue lamp in Xuanzang's hand flickered, yet it still steadily illuminated the account pages.
"It's not Buddha, it's not heaven, it's that someone left an interface on the main ledger. Whoever touches the second page will be investigated."
The fire in Chen Fan's eyes completely subsided.
He suddenly understood.
Over the years, they've smashed Buddhist seals, dismantled heavenly laws, and raided old warehouses, thinking they were dealing with both sides. Now, seeing this interface, they realize there's another layer above. Buddhism and Taoism are like two hands; the one truly wielding the pen is mostly behind the scenes.
The bookkeeper monk could no longer hold on.
As soon as the witness column opened, words began to leak from its gray paper. The names of those people in the port area who had been categorized by it fell off the edge of the gray paper one by one, landing on the ground and revealing their true forms again.
The kind and gentle look on its face was shattered, and its mouth was torn all the way to its ears, like an old painting that had been torn askew.
"You think you've won?"
It stared at Chen Fan, its voice sharp and dry.
"The second page was merely a trial page."
Yang Jian also sliced open the blackboard on the naming official's chest with a single stroke. The fine needle broke, but the ink line did not immediately disperse. Instead, it trembled wildly in mid-air, as if searching for a new landing point.
Yang Jian raised his hand and grabbed the piece of thread, snapping it in two.
The naming official collapsed on one side of his body on the spot, but he was still laughing.
"The tenth time."
It squeezed out those three words from its throat.
"If you go to the tenth page... the person who created the book will write it down himself."
As soon as he finished speaking, both broken bodies shattered together.
There was no blood, and no flesh.
There was only a pile of ashes, a broken pen bone, and the blackboard that had been pried open.
The port area was quiet for several breaths.
None of the people behind dared to speak first, and they even held their breath.
Si Mo first closed the curtain, then pressed his palm on the cover and held it down for a long time before finally suppressing the slight tremor.
"It's not Buddhism or Taoism investigating us."
"They are just the bottom two floors of gatehouses."
Xuanzang, carrying a lantern, looked at the tattered yellow paper.
"Accountant setter... Head office..."
He paused for a moment, then said in a low voice, "So what we've been smashing all along is just the sign hanging outside."
Sun Wukong tossed the yellow paper to Chen Fan and stretched his aching shoulders.
"Then keep smashing it in."
"If it dares to write, I'll go and break its pen too."
Yang Jian sheathed his sword, and the third eye on his forehead slowly closed.
"Don't rush."
"Before this thread broke, I saw it turn northwest. It wasn't in Heaven, nor was it on Mount Ling."
Chen Fan took the yellow paper and glanced down at the blackboard on the ground.
There is a line of very fine characters engraved on the back of the board, like a note left by the craftsman.
"Name approved by Yi Jiu, assigned to the external interface of the general ledger."
He finished reading the words and suddenly laughed.
There wasn't much of a smile on his face; it was more like he was letting out a breath he'd been holding back for a long time.
"Okay, we've finally reached the door."
He bent down to pick up the broken pen and then put the blackboard into his pocket.
"Seal these two items into the old warehouse first."
"Si Mo, go back and check the Yi Jiu sequence. Xuan Zang, copy down the fragments of the original destiny text. Yang Jian, keep an eye on the direction of that line. Old Sun—"
Sun Wukong picked up his staff and raised an eyebrow at him.
Chen Fan raised his hand and pointed to the group of people behind the port area.
"You stand guard at the gate all night."
"If they fail to reach the core tonight, they'll most likely try another hand."
Sun Wukong grinned.
"become."
The wind picked up at the port, and the ashes from the paper on the ground were blown around and swirled into the distant ditch, where they quickly turned into a wet, black mess.
The green lamp is still burning.
The flames illuminated the new name, and also the fragments of text in Chen Fan's hand.
After this battle, no one felt relieved.
The old seal is broken.
The general ledger at the top, however, was only partially opened.