CHAPTER 156: CHAPTER 135 YOUTH

After repeated experiments, confirming that the statue was not a type of Mutated Object with a clear function like "Spirit Summoning Paper," and it didn’t match any of the Alien types listed in the Academic Palace’s books, Li Ang finally decided to let Mo Si devour it to see the effect.

The moment he lifted the restrictions, countless Mo Si shot out rapidly, eroding the statue and devouring it completely.

The dark gold color seemed to deepen?

Li Ang raised his eyebrows, increased the output of Spiritual Power to Mo Si, and squeezed his palm.

His strength had also become stronger than before, and...

Li Ang listened intently and indeed heard a scattering of faint voices, like a multitude of people speaking all at once.

"Damn that Qian Wu, what’s so great about him becoming a minor manager at Jingde Bank? He won’t even lend me a thousand strings of coins out of old times’ sake to help me turn my business around."

"I’m so angry, I’ve been buying horse race lottery tickets for ten years and never won, but Li Si wins on his first try? Why does he get to be so lucky?!"

"Lady Wang actually dared to embarrass me at the banquet! Just wait until my lover returns from Luoyang..."

...

Mo Si can eavesdrop?

No, this seemed more like... sensing emotions.

Huai Rui once said that after he made a Jiao Yao specimen, he could see colors above people’s heads, distinguish their joys and sorrows, which is why he could advance smoothly in his official career.

This ability might originate from the statue itself, and after Mo Si devoured the statue, it too seemed to have acquired a similar superpower.

Li Ang listened even more intently.

Those faint voices appeared to come from the neighbors in Golden City Square, and the content was mostly negative emotions.

Jealousy, hatred, greed, desire, fear, arrogance...

Li Ang slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, and as he listened to these voices, his own mood gradually became irritable and oppressed.

"I really want to kill that wench."

"Why won’t he just die."

"I hate him so much."

An influx of negative emotions surged into his mind, making Li Ang clench his teeth, ball his fists, and command in a low voice, "Enough!"

BOOM—

Mo Si’s surface burst into azure flames, which vanished as quickly as they had appeared.

Those voices also immediately subsided.

Is this... Karmic Fire?

Li Ang watched Mo Si, which still had some sparks remaining, in astonishment.

Karmic Fire wasn’t exclusive to Buddhism; in Buddhism’s interpretation, Karmic Fire is the flame that burns sinners, the embodiment of one’s sinful karma, with more sins in life leading to greater suffering after death.

But in the Academic Palace’s interpretation, Karmic Fire was more like a physical manifestation of negative emotions.

Under special conditions, a person’s intense hatred could form into flames.

The most reliable evidence could be found in the historical records of the Late Sui period.

During a siege led by a warlord, a mother trying to protect her child struck him on the helmet with a stone.

The stone itself wasn’t very powerful, but inexplicably, the warlord burst into spontaneous combustion, his body engulfed in azure flames.

Any bandit who touched him was infected with the azure flames, thrown into extreme agony, running wild instinctively, seeking help from others.

One bandit after another caught fire, yet the town’s common people were largely unharmed.

The town was ultimately saved, and in memory of that mother, a statue was erected in her honor.

That town was none other than Xiangzhou, where Yong Hongzhong hailed from. On the way to Chang’an, he had shared this story with Li Ang and the others. It was the truth.

So, Mo Si, having devoured the statue, can now collect negative emotions from its surroundings and convert them into Karmic Fire? What is this? An Evil Spirit Knight?

Li Ang blinked his eyes, aware that due to the rare sightings of Karmic Fire, the Academic Palace hadn’t conducted much research on it—the last Demon Sect that had used Karmic Fire was eradicated by other Sects amid the chaos of the middle of the Former Sui period.

The absorption of negative emotions can be turned on or off at will. But it seems that it can’t be made directional.

Li Ang tried it out, and as soon as he used Heart Thought to control Mo Si to absorb negative emotions, all the dark thoughts on both sides of the street would come surging in.

No wonder Evil Spirit Knights always look like they have the temperament of an antisocial person on the verge of exploding. Listening to this kind of dark murmurs all day long, it’s enough to drive anyone mad.

He rubbed his temples and took out a piece of Mountain Copper from the box under the desk, feeding it to Mo Si.

The Karmic Fire formed by negative emotions could only be used temporarily. The enhancement of Mo Si itself was permanent.

I’m about to run out of the special metal I got last time; I need to figure out a way to get more. Although I still have some money, there are only two places near Chang’an City where Fine Gold and other materials can be bought and sold. One is the auction house monitored by the garrison, and the other is the Ghost Market...

The winter holiday ended quickly, and Li Ang hadn’t found the chance to purchase any metal materials.

At each city gate of Chang’an City, the patrols had intensified, and near the Ghost Market outside the city, there were also garrison soldiers patrolling.

It’s uncertain whether it’s related to the mutation of Huai Rui.

It doesn’t seem likely, considering that the Jiao Yao Infant, after all, is just a Third-level Abnormality...

Today was the opening day of the Academic Palace Zaiqian fourth year, and Li Ang walked absentmindedly across campus, lost in thought.

"Risheng, Happy New Year."

Dressed in new clothes, Yang Yu smiled and came over.

"Happy New Year."

Li Ang waved his hand in greeting.

Yang Yu had a rather good New Year. He was a family member of the Chonghua Square Yang Family who, after many years, had managed to enter the Academic Palace, and his elders treated him as the hope for the Yang Family’s future, showering him with gifts over the holidays.

As a result, the status of Yang Yu’s parents within the Yang Family had risen along with the tide, taking over more businesses and finally having the chance to show off in front of other branch families.

Li Ang asked casually, "How are things going with Miss Zhang?"

"Well, hehe, thanks to you, not bad."

Yang Yu chuckled. After Li Ang had proposed the blood type theory, Zhang Yuyan’s father, who served as Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, had quietly taken back the concubine into his estate, and no longer questioned whether the child of the concubine was his own.

At that time, it was Yang Yu who had funded the concubine and her child’s settlement.

With this connection, he had grown closer to Zhang Yuyan. Over the holidays, he even pretended to invite many classmates of the same year to go out for fun, but in reality, it was just to see Zhang Yuyan.

Hmm... It felt like that classic scenario at graduation where you hug the entire class just for the chance to hug one specific person.

Ah, the impetuosity of youth.

Li Ang shook his head and sighed at Yang Yu, who kept dumbly chuckling.

"Risheng, Qilang."

Yong Hongzhong approached from the Academic Palace West Gate and greeted them with a smile, "How was your New Year?"

"Not bad."

Yang Yu nodded, then suddenly realized, and looked at Yong Hongzhong in surprise, no longer stammering, "Hongzhong, you..."

"I stopped stammering."

Yong Hongzhong smiled faintly, "One of the benefits of reaching the Body Concealing Realm, magical, right? I asked Doctor Sun Pu, who taught us Herbal Medicine, and he said there were cases like mine before. A very small number of Cultivators would spontaneously recover from childhood ailments after advancing their realm."

"There are such effects too."

Both Yang Yu and Li Ang marveled, congratulating him.

Yong Hongzhong’s stutter was apparently a leftover from whooping cough he contracted as a child. Combined with the high expectations people had for him as the son of a provincial official, and being under constant psychological stress in a high-pressure environment, his condition had never improved.

Now that he was cured without further treatment, Li Ang and Yang Yu, as friends, were genuinely happy for him.

"If only everyone in the world could cultivate," Yong Hongzhong sighed, "then there would be fewer diseases and less suffering."

"Ha, if billions of people in the world could cultivate, breathing in and out together, absorbing nature’s spiritual energy, wouldn’t that lead to exhaustion of spiritual energy and the withering of all things?"

Yang Yu added casually, "All right, let’s go too. The Sacrificial Officer is going to give a speech for the new school year."