I am the Ruler of the Kingdom of Mysterious-Chapter 382 - 346: The Source

Zheng Xuan and Xia Chan fled to the foot of the mountain, the village had already become a haven, but the earthquake suddenly stopped.

Xia Chan felt something was wrong, she looked back toward the mountain, the Black Tai Sui hadn’t spread out, only stopping at the edge of the mountain, and Sang Que hadn’t come out either.

"Sister!" 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Xia Chan closed her eyes to carefully sense the hair she left on Sang Que, but there was no response.

"Little sister, we better leave here first," Zheng Xuan advised.

Xia Chan thought about it, yet she firmly believed that Sang Que would surely be fine; her sister told her to leave, so she would swiftly leave, making sure not to lag behind.

Xia Chan followed Zheng Xuan and the others as they continued to retreat.

Zheng Xuan was filled with doubts about this mission; his orders were to protect Sang Que and uncover the secret behind Wu Family Village. They hadn’t even begun the investigation when such a major mishap occurred.

Right now, all they could do was actively handle the aftermath, reduce casualties, seal off the information, and prevent the impact from spreading further.

Zheng Xuan didn’t know how Sang Que was communicating with the research institute. This time, quite a few people were deployed, and it only took three hours to complete the electric grid around the village.

Xia Chan was always standing at the entrance of the village, looking in the direction of Lishi Mountain, waiting for Sang Que, as they didn’t know what she truly was, no one dared to approach her rashly.

After the earthquake ceased, many tabby cats emerged from various places, meowing and gathering within the ruins, waiting with Xia Chan for Sang Que.

At dawn, finally a figure appeared amidst the distant ruins. Xia Chan’s eyes lit up, and she immediately sprinted over.

"Sister!"

Sang Que was holding a scroll, her face deathly pale and extremely exhausted. She hadn’t encountered anything too perilous, it was just that too much information suddenly filled her mind, causing a mental overload, her reactions somewhat slow.

Sang Que allowed Xia Chan to hug her, watching as one cat after another came over, she weakly said, "I owe it to you for saving me this time, or I would have died again."

Xia Chan released Sang Que, breaking into a smile through her tears.

A drone flew overhead, its camera facing them. Sang Que initially thought to send Xia Chan back first, but since she no longer had a trigram, she couldn’t open the gate for now, so she had to keep Xia Chan with her.

"Little Chan, soon sister needs to meet someone to handle some matters, you follow me, don’t speak or use your powers randomly, okay?"

Xia Chan nodded vigorously, appearing very obedient.

Sang Que looked up at the drone and said, "Lead the way."

Following the drone, the two left the electrically locked area and reached the temporary command post established by the research institute. In the distance on a vacant lot, a helicopter was parked, Xia Chan curiously approached but was pulled back by Sang Que grabbing her collar.

Sang Que entered the tent and, as expected, saw Ye Changqing sitting at a long table waiting, with two middle-aged men beside him, dressed in camouflage, with significant ranks.

The three stood up, Ye Changqing exchanged polite words with the two men, and they temporarily left the tent.

Neat footsteps followed, and a squad fully armed surrounded the entire tent, at all four directions, each side with a special device, jamming all signals, ensuring the safety of the conversation between Sang Que and Ye Changqing.

Sang Que brought Xia Chan to a chair by the table, opened a bottle of water, and handed it to Xia Chan.

Xia Chan curiously played with the bottle, extending her tongue like a kitten to lick the bottle’s mouth, confirming it was water before she cautiously drank.

Ye Changqing had been observing Xia Chan, the report on her from his subordinates was unbelievable.

Ye Changqing was now very curious about Sang Que and everything around her, feeling like he had never truly understood this young girl.

Sang Que sat down and spoke, "Ask whatever you want to know."

Ye Changqing withdrew his gaze from Xia Chan, smiling kindly.

"First, explain the situation here, the commotion was too great, people above are watching, I have half an hour to provide a reasonable explanation."

Ye Changqing pointed at his watch, indicating he was under a lot of pressure.

"Don’t worry, so far, it seems that thing won’t leave the range of this mountain."

Sang Que leaned back in the chair, pondering for a moment, truly had no idea where to start, finally decided to get straight to the point.

"I now suspect this place might be the source of the Dark Power, all the ghosts in the world exist because of this place."

Ye Changqing was initially relaxed, upon hearing Sang Que’s words, he sat up straight, unable to restrain his shock.

"Don’t be agitated, I said maybe, I’m not certain. It’s just that when I encountered that Black Tai Sui... well, that thing, let’s call it Black Tai Sui, it might not be, but it very much resembles the Black Tai Sui I read about in novels. When I came into contact with Black Tai Sui, I seemed to see scenes, it was a ritual, a sacrifice to the Mountain Ghost, you know the poem about the Mountain Ghost ritual?"

Ye Changqing adjusted his glasses, "I know it, I’ve studied it, there are many interpretations of that ritual poem, some believe the woman in the poem is the Mountain Ghost herself, while others believe she is a Witch seeking the Mountain Ghost in the mountain, the poem describes the mental changes during her search."

Sang Que nodded, "The scene I saw was of an ancient Witch from Chu State entering the mountains seeking the Mountain Ghost during a sacrificial ritual. To them, the Mountain Ghost was a deity in the mountain, riding the Red Leopard, followed by the Wen Li. After the sacrifice, when she returned from the mountain, the Witch claimed to have seen the Yunmeng Marsh of the Divine Country, and strangely acquired some Divine Power, making the beasts of the mountain extremely close to her, especially the Wen Li."

Ye Changqing pondered, "In the poem ’Nine Songs·Cloud Lord’, the Lord of Clouds resides in Yunmeng Marsh, he’s a Divine of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, a true divinity. Legend has it that the other deities mentioned in the Nine Songs also live in Yunmeng Marsh. However, the Mountain Ghost is quite special among them, as it’s an unordained deity."

"That’s not important, what’s important is at that time the Witch was believed by other sorcerers to be the earthly embodiment of the Mountain Ghost. They believed she had acquired Divine Powers, and one day could ascend to immortality and reach the Yunmeng Divine Kingdom. The Witch indeed lived for a long time without appearing to age, always looking like a young girl. Eventually, this Witch was eaten by a group of people."

Ye Changqing was stunned, "This is the scene you ’saw’?"

Sang Que nodded, "I don’t know if it’s an illusion or ancient memories preserved by resentment that I acquired. In this memory, I became that Witch, lying on an altar, watching that group of people tear me apart and consume me bit by bit, their purpose being to gain the Witch’s Divine Powers."

Ye Changqing nodded solemnly, "The custom of human sacrifice was very prevalent during the Shang Dynasty, in ancient times, such an occurrence is very likely, what happened afterward?"

Sang Que frowned in recollection, "After the Witch was eaten, her remaining bones turned into Black Tai Sui, and the Dark Power emerged from there. Everyone in that area was cursed, people slowly died off, and the Evil Spirits they imagined began to appear, haunting the region, bodies strewn for miles around, yet the only one who survived and wasn’t cursed was the Witch’s daughter."