The Record of Unusual Creatures

While what happened to Zhao Xi was indeed bizarre, there were little doubts left. To be frank, the process was rather simple: Regardless if the goddess had really perished or not, the shred of will she left in Coldpath when she fell, survived. This will contained only a single sentence, yet it had wandered within the Netherrealm Clock Tower for centuries. Being at the wrong place at the wrong time, Zhao Xi had come into contact with the will and became its host, while she lapsed into a deep coma. Such was the power of a god; even a simple will after their fall was enough to knock a powerful demon hunter out cold.

Hao Ren had used the sleeping pod to recreate Zhao Xi’s spiritual signature and that triggered the divine will, which was embedded deep within the demon hunter. While the sleeping pod was a civilian equipment, it was still created by the Xi Ling Empire. The serial number alone was enough proof that it was a holy item, and when divinity met with divinity, the goddess’ will that was intertwined with Zhao Xi’s soul was activated, turning into a holy word.

About half an hour later, there was a clamor from the streets. Hao Ren saw the street lamps lighting up again one by one from the window. It looked like the little devil had managed to fix the transformer, which was much taller than her. But even after the street lights were back on, the power was not restored in Hao Ren’s house. lt seemed that what Y’zaks said was true. The much more delicate internal wiring was totally burnt out, and it would take a lot of time as well as effort to fix it.

Vivian went to pull out a few more spare light bulbs from the drawer and had her bats bite on to them. She then sent them to various points of the house to light the place up. While this idea was somewhat odd, having light restored to the house calmed everyone down. Hao Ren peered at the still shaken Zhao Xi and spoke to Liu Sheng, “Looks like she’ll need at least a night to recover. Why don’t you guys just stay here for the night? We’re out of rooms, so can you make do with the living room?”

Liu Sheng hesitated a little, wanting to decline. But before he could even speak, Vivian cut him off. “We’ve already extended our invitation, stop being a fussy pants. Both number one and number two head honchos of the demon hunters are already here. You don’t have to stress yourself out.”

Liu Sheng’s expression immediately turned glum as he heard that. “It’s exactly because of that I’m stressed…”

Lily on the other hand, was happily nudging Vivian by the arm. “Battie, Battie! Is the number one me? Is it me?!”

Vivian immediately threw her a sideways glare. “Roll off, you’ve already died 6,000 years ago, and you’re at most a former king. I haven’t even resigned yet.”

The cat looked up and meowed. “Nyassup?”

Vivian and Lily snapped back at the same time. “Nothing to do with you!”

At that very moment, Y’lisabet pushed the main door open. The little runt’s face was covered in soot, and her big eyes glowed brightly amid the dark background. “Finally fixed it! The entire transformer was burnt out. Phew, what a work… Thank goodness I’m just that good.”

“Since we’ve nothing to better to do, let’s go rest.” Hao Ren looked at everyone in the hall. “Leave everything else for tomorrow.”

That being said, it was still early, and even if they did go to sleep, it would be difficult to fall into slumber. However, sitting around in the living room idling about would accomplish nothing either. Seeing how worn out Zhao Xi was, every one of them dispersed and returned to their rooms. Vivian pulled out two blankets from the drawer and sent them to the hall for Liu Sheng as well as Zhao Xi to use. The two demon hunters thanked the ancient vampire profusely.

Hao Ren did not return to his quarters, rather he headed for the empty field behind his house, trying to get some peace and quiet in order to think things through.

Rollie was also not the sort to just lay down and sleep. Noticing that Hao Ren did not say anything, she swiftly followed him into the field. Perhaps she was still shaken by the divine aura, as the dumb cat was surprisingly obedient. She quietly squatted next to Hao Ren and played with her tail without disturbing him.

A moment later, Hao Ren heard the door opening behind him, and Vivian’s voice rang, “What are you thinking about?”

“I have some ideas.” Hao Ren did not turn back. “Why is it always me running into such things? Running into the goddess’ ‘will’ just by pure luck?”

Vivian did not put too much thought into it. “What’s so weird about that? You’ve been running into all sorts of bizarre situations all the time. Who asked you to take up this job?”

“All the previous stuff could be explained away, but this time around… the probability of this coincidence is just way too minuscule.” Hao Ren shook his head. “Zhao Xi’s a normal demon hunter amongst a legion of them. Why was she specifically chosen as the host of the will? My relationship with her is a familiar acquaintance at best. So, why did I actually think of checking her and Liu Sheng out? I was just planning to take a stroll, and suddenly just thought that I needed to visit the town center and find the two of them. Whereas Zhao Xi had become the host of a divine will at the same time. If anything had gone wrong in this series of events, I would’ve missed today’s clue, and Zhao Xi could’ve had her soul permanently erased by the divine will. If that happens, there’ll be nothing left at all. Don’t you think that this ‘divine will’ was just waiting for me to meet it?”

“You’re probably just overthinking things.” Vivian came up next to Hao Ren as she spoke softly. “Everything in this world is an amalgamation of coincidences, but most people won’t bother digging deep into it. The case with the goddess of creation is simply just too unique. Her… ‘last words’ were also rather… special, so that’s got you on your nerves. Need me to make you some herbal soup to ease those nerves?”

“Uh… I’m fine.” Hao Ren waved his hand reflexively and was reminded of the last time he got Vivian to boil some herbal soup. He had the bright idea of throwing Lil Pea into the pot. That little rascal ate quite a few of the herbs within the soup as she swam, and as a result, both Hao Ren as well as Lily were wide awake until midnight after they took a bowl of the fish soup. Meanwhile, Lil Pea slept all the way to noon…

After dispelling all the nonsensical memories from his mind, Hao Ren pulled something out of his Dimensional Pocket.

The ebon blade, the Godslayer.

“Actually, I was reminded of this.” Hao Ren lightly waved the ebony longsword around. Rollie, who was still playing with her tail, was suddenly attracted to the sword. The feline’s natural instinct filled her with both curiosity and alarm as she gazed at the shining blade. Her tail slowly pointed upwards and she took a few steps back, letting out a threatening purr at the Godslayer.

“You mean to say…” Vivian appeared to have caught on to something.

Hao Ren nodded. “Raven 12345 said this before: Intertwined in this sword is the causality of the goddess of creation. Once I get a hold of the sword, it will ‘lead’ me closer towards the goddess. And now, I think it’s starting to have an effect.”

“You’re suspecting that Zhao Xi’s case was due to this intertwined causality?” Vivian’s eyes widened. “Is causality such a powerful thing?”

“Truth be told, I don’t like this explanation. It doesn’t fit our style. There’s one other way to explain it that I can well accept—the intertwining of information. I’m not sure if Zhao Xi’s case is 100 % related to the Godslayer’s information intertwining, but I’ve asked Zhao Xi about some details she’s managed to recall. After some calculations, I realized that she didn’t pass out upon entering the Netherrealm Clock Tower. Instead, she only totally lost consciousness the moment I touched the Godslayer.

“How are you so sure?” Vivian did not seem to think that it was plausible.

“Zhao Xi mentioned something,” Hao Ren continued. “She vaguely remembers a group of demons appearing in the armory within the Netherrealm Clock Tower, and her consciousness faded after that scene. When was that? That was the moment we departed from the ritual chamber, and Lanina had sent scouts ahead while she waited for our news. I’m pretty sure when I saw the Godslayer, Zhao Xi made contact with the divine will of the goddess. So, I can boldly assume that both things happened at the same time.

As Vivian heard Hao Ren’s postulation, a chilling sensation rose within her. “Why does this feel very creepy?”

“We don’t have to worry too much. As of now, we’ve only experienced the goddess’ goodwill so far.” Hao Ren also tried to calm himself down. “Plus, you yourself were created by the goddess’ lifeblood. If we’re talking about intertwined information, you’re probably just about as connected to the goddess as the sword is. But any intertwined information on you for some reason is unable to appear.”

Vivian nodded. She had, after all, gone through so much. This news alone would not throw her into a panic. After calming down, she looked at Hao Ren curiously. “So, what do you plan on doing now?”

Hao Ren raised the Godslayer. “Who do you think knows more about the goddess’ final moments than this sword? Every time I pick it up, it starts buzzing in my ears like it’s communicating a whole load of things. Therefore, I want to talk with it, and see what this bugger’s going to say.”

A clueless expression was all Vivian could muster.