Ruins of the past

"A gift?"

"Whose gift?"

Chu Qiguang didn't know, but when the purple flames around the Ring of Foolishness burned and the strangeness in it reached his eyes, he knew that the thing was called a gift.

A sharp burning pain came from his eyes, as if fire was burning his eyes.

In almost an instant, Chu Qiguang felt that his eyes seemed to be completely burned to ashes, but they returned to their original state the next moment.

At the same time, a secret appeared in his mind again.

‘The eyes of seekers...it is said that the first seekers were able to see the gifts given by heaven. ’

'But after an unforgivable mistake, everyone's eyes were blinded by reason. ’

'And now, these eyes allow humans to see things they are not allowed to see. ’

He raised his eyes and saw that there was still a faint eye of an oil lamp in front of him, and the darkness surging around him seemed endless.

"No change?"

Chu Qiguang looked at his body subconsciously, his expression suddenly suffocating.

Then he saw that his shadow reflected by the light seemed to have turned into a puddle of black mud, and some kind of living thing was writhing in it.

Chu Qiguang stepped back cautiously, and the living creature seemed to feel something and shot out with a swish.

Seeing this scene, Chu Qiguang's energy and blood burst out in an instant, the flesh and blood of his legs swelled, and he had already dodged like a phantom.

But despite his extreme dodge, the living creature followed him like a shadow and wrapped around his calf without being affected at all.

But Chu Qiguang didn't feel any real tactile sensation to his calf that was clearly wrapped.

Only then did he stop and take a closer look, and found that what was wrapped around him... was a tentacle stretching out from the shadow.

The tentacles were as thick as human forearms, green and black in color, and looked weird and deformed.

After wrapping up Chu Qiguang's calf, it was still twisting and curling slightly, like a real living thing.

But when Chu Qiguang reached out and touched it, he found that his hand intuitively passed through the tentacle, as if passing through a phantom.

Then Chu Qiguang walked around again and found that as the shadow under his feet changed, the tentacles were always attached to his body... following him like a shadow.

Only when he walked into the darkness where even the firelight could not cast a shadow would these tentacles disappear from his eyes.

"Is this... a gift?" Chu Qiguang touched his eyes, with questions in his mind.

"This tentacle... I can only see it after my eyes have been modified by the Ring of Foolishness."

"That means this tentacle has already been wrapped around my body?"

"But is this tentacle some kind of strange creature? Or some kind of phantom? Some kind of symbol?"

Chu Qiguang thought for a long time but couldn't figure it out. He could only walk to the desk again, picked up the "Inquiry into the Origin of the Immortal Way" and started reading.

Because of the Ring of Foolishness just now, he had completely forgotten the contents of the book.

Now he was about to take a closer look at why he got such a pair of eyes after dedicating the contents of this book to the Circle of Foolishness.

After reading "Inquiry into the Origin of the Immortal Way" from cover to cover again, Chu Qiguang had memorized all the contents in the book.

But he still didn't know why the Circle of Fools was interested in this book.

"The content of this book is nothing more than an exploration of its origins compiled together based on some rumors, unofficial histories, and oral accounts from Shenxian Taoists."

"Judging from the author's self-report, there may be some errors in it."

"Is the Circle of Fools interested in the history of the Immortal Way?"

After thinking about it, Chu Qiguang was a little confused, but the Ring of Foolishness on his chest still radiated a trace of heat, and the purple flames rotated slightly outside the black hollow.

"Find another one to read?"

An uncontrollable curiosity welled up in Chu Qiguang's heart.

But not long after he walked towards the bookshelf, a voice came from behind him: "The midnight is coming, and the big library will be closed. Aren't you going to leave?"

Chu Qiguang turned around and saw the janitor walking out of the darkness. His pale face was gradually exposed to the firelight and he smiled silently at him.

Chu Qiguang subconsciously looked at the gatekeeper's feet.

Then he discovered that in the opponent's mud-like shadow... there were two tentacles stretched out, one on the left and one on the right wrapped around his legs.

The end of one tentacle is still slightly curled and twitching.

"What's wrong?" The gatekeeper looked at his feet and said, "Tired? Or...did you see something you shouldn't have seen?"

Chu Qiguang's expression changed slightly and asked, "What do you mean?"

The gatekeeper said faintly: "Mysterious knowledge always makes people fascinated and crazy, but sometimes reading too many books will always produce some conjectures or even hallucinations. At this time, you are about to become possessed."

"Are you possessed?" Chu Qiguang nodded, but he realized that what he saw was not an illusion, let alone possessed.

Next, Chu Qiguang followed the janitor out of the big library and asked on the way: "Will the big library be closed before midnight every night?"

The gatekeeper nodded: "It closes at midnight every night and opens after noon. If you want to come over and read, don't forget this time."

The two of them walked one behind the other and gradually disappeared into the endless darkness.

…

In Chu Qiguang's dormitory, Li Chu, who looked a little shy... was dragged in by the dark-skinned Zhang Haizhu.

"Come on, come on!" Zhang Haizhu carelessly pulled the other person to sit at the desk, picked up his notes and said, "Didn't you say that you didn't remember everything in class? Take mine and copy it."

Li Chu nodded, thanked him, and quickly opened Zhang Haizhu's notes and started copying them.

Seeing the performances of so many geniuses today, Li Chu also felt a lot of pressure.

Because he didn't take all the notes in class, he wanted to borrow someone else's notes to copy as soon as he returned to the dormitory. When he met Zhang Haizhu, he was called over.

But after flipping through a few pages, Li Chucai smiled helplessly and said, "Haizhu, your notes are not all mine."

"Eh? Really?" Zhang Haizhu scratched his head in embarrassment.

Jiang Longyu, who was reviewing his lecture notes, sneered when he heard this.

Zhang Haizhu glanced at Jiang Longyu when he heard this and was too lazy to pay attention to him.

Li Chu asked: "Jiang...Mr. Jiang, can you lend me your notes? I didn't remember everything in class."

Jiang Longyu said bluntly: "I won't borrow it."

Zhang Haizhu said: "Ask him what he borrowed. I think he almost fell asleep while listening to it in class. I'm afraid he doesn't have as much as me."

Jiang Longyu laughed, and while looking at the handout in his hand, he sighed: "Alas...this handout copied by lecturer Yi Shuang is good in everything, but there is too much content, and I can't even finish it."

"Forget it, I'd better go find the lecturer and tell me more."

As he spoke, he stood up, put the lecture notes in his hand into his cabinet, and found a big lock to lock it.

"I'll say it again, if anyone secretly takes my things, don't blame me for reporting it directly to the instructor and having them kicked out."