Ch. 102 - Oblivion Bead's Mutation

He feared that Baili Xiao would forget him, and that one day, even the Lord of Samsara might forget him too.

He didn’t have many loved ones, but each of them meant everything to him.

“Master, do you think… one day even you might forget me?” Chu Yang stood at the window, gazing at the darkening sky.

“I won’t,” Old Mo said reassuringly. “If the Forgotten Daoist could leave behind this Yin Pearl, then it means he found a way to remove it from his body. There must be a way. We just haven’t discovered it yet, don’t worry.”

Chu Yang nodded, but his expression only grew more sorrowful.

…

Early the next morning, Chu Yang woke up, washed, and headed toward the Palace of Paintings, hoping he might blend into the crowd and sneak in.

By then, the entire western region of Violet Sun City was jammed with people. As Chu Yang reached the base of the palace and looked up at the surreal structure, his face darkened.

Three Paragon Meridian Realm elders stood guard at the palace entrance.

As the mass of disciples moved toward the entrance, no one escaped their scrutiny.

“Master, what should I do?” Chu Yang asked anxiously.

“There’s no getting into the palace. Missing out on a chance like this is minor, but being caught by three Paragon Meridian experts? You wouldn’t stand a chance,” the Lord of Samsara replied with a sigh.

“So we’re just leaving?” Chu Yang asked, unwilling to accept it.

“Let it go. An opportunity isn’t worth your life,” Old Mo answered firmly.

Chu Yang nodded, albeit reluctantly, and quietly slipped away from the crowd.

With nearly every disciple in Violet Sun City having entered the Palace of Paintings, the once-bustling city suddenly fell eerily quiet.

As Chu Yang walked down an empty street, he felt utterly disheartened. The hidden danger of the Forget Dust Pearl in his body remained unresolved, and the long journey to the palace had been for nothing.

“Hey young man, want to take a look at my collection?” Just as Chu Yang was about to leave the city, a vendor by the roadside tugged on his sleeve.

The vendor smiled. “These items ward off evil and bring good fortune. You look down and unlucky, maybe something here could turn your luck around?”

“No thanks,” Chu Yang said, shaking his head. But he glanced at the vendor’s stall.

Laid out were strange items: statues of deer-headed human-bodied beings, octopus-like creatures, and other things Chu Yang had never seen before.

They all looked like ordinary ceramics, obviously fakes designed to scam the naive.

Just as he was about to look away, a yellow-covered book caught his eye.

By all accounts, it seemed to be just an ordinary book. But for some reason, when Chu Yang's gaze landed on it, a sense of familiarity stirred within him, and even the Forget Dust Pearl inside him began to tremble.

“Young man, these are all items I’ve collected over decades. Who knows, there might be a hidden treasure in there,” the vendor said eagerly. “Not long ago, someone bought a dusty old jar from me and found it full of Dust Blood Stones. Ask around, there’s risk, sure, but also lucky breaks.”

“Old Chen, you trying to scam newbies again?” a burly man nearby laughed.

“Don’t talk nonsense, Old Wu!” the vendor’s expression darkened. “Wasn’t that Dust Blood Stone incident real?”

“It was,” the man said with a chuckle. “But come on, you’ve been selling this junk for decades, and someone hit the jackpot once.”

“That’s because the others weren’t lucky. This young fellow, though, looks special, I bet he’ll find something,” Old Chen huffed.

Chu Yang squatted in front of the stall and picked up a few oddly shaped ceramics.

Although his target was that book, he couldn’t be too obvious or the vendor would raise the price.

“How much is this?” he asked, holding up the deer-headed figure.

“You’ve got a good eye!” the vendor smiled. “This statue has a legend behind it. Deep in the Myriad Beast Mountains, there’s a tribe of beastfolk who worship this form as their ancestral totem. I found this statue there. It might be tied to their inheritance. One-price deal, 10,000 spirit crystals.”

“Do I look like a fool to you?” Chu Yang asked with a smile.

The vendor chuckled awkwardly. “Alright, maybe that price was a bit inflated. I’ll give you a better deal, 1,000 spirit crystals. That’s fair, right?”

“I’ll give you 200 spirit crystals, for two items. Deal?” Chu Yang grinned.

He could tell the vendor had made the statues himself. They weren’t worth even ten crystals.

“Come on, bump it up a bit. I’ve got to make a living,” the vendor said with a strained smile.

“Fine. 250 spirit crystals. If that’s too low, I’ll walk,” Chu Yang said as he took the spirit crystals from his storage ring.

He picked up the deer-headed statue and was about to choose another, like the octopus-shaped figure, but paused.

“This statue looks too new, probably just came out of the kiln. I’ll pick something more convincing.”

The vendor smiled awkwardly. Some of the items were cheaply bought; others were made by himself. The cost was barely ten spirit crystals per piece.

After thinking for a moment, Chu Yang grabbed the yellow-covered book instead.

As Chu Yang walked away, the vendor happily hummed a tune.

…

Back in his room, Chu Yang tossed the statue aside and eagerly examined the book.

The moment he held it, the Oblivion Bead trembled even more violently inside him.

He flipped through the book, it was just a plain novel in everyday language, with a shallow and meaningless story.

He reread it several times but found nothing special, until he noticed that the cover’s inner layer felt thicker than it should.

Using his sword, he carefully sliced it open, and found a sheet of paper hidden inside.

Chu Yang could tell immediately that this was the true source of the Oblivion Bead’s reaction.

As he held the paper, the Oblivion Bea inside him released a surge of warm energy.

That warm current burst from his body and fused with the paper.

In a flash, the paper glowed brilliantly and merged with the warm stream, then returned once more into Chu Yang’s body.

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