Cicia narrowed her eyes and re-evaluated Angel: "Your intelligence sources are really puzzling. Even the Wise Sovereign, who seldom appears, is known by you. I’m really curious, where did you learn that the Sovereign belongs to the Triclops Blue Demon clan?"
Angel: "Have you heard of the Book Elder? Or, have you heard of the Mirror Lady and the Tree Spirit?"
Cicia raised an eyebrow: "The three major Ancestral Spirits of the Barbarian Cave were quite famous during my lifeti."
"You an, these Ancestral Spirits told you?"
Angel: "I co from the Barbarian Cave. I have a good relationship with the Ancestral Spirits. If you want to et them, I can arrange it later. However, the Mirror Lady is currently sleeping, the Book Elder is in the library and hard to disturb, so only the Tree Spirit can et with you."
Cicia snorted softly: "Sly guy, you completely evaded my question, you’re deceiving ."
Angel’s expression remained unchanged, but he was startled inside. Has Cicia’s intelligence returned to normal?
Cicia waved her hand: "However, it doesn’t matter. If you really want to know that old guy’s identity, there isn’t an impossible way. Although it seldom ventures out, it often sends so subordinates to explore the outside world and even submits manuscripts to so magazines."
Angel: "It writes as well?"
Cicia: "Are you surprised? Honestly, I was surprised too when I first heard it, and it seed absurd. But it indeed does submit works and communicates indirectly with other Wizards. By the way, the long-running Magical Energy Array here is due to its constant modifications and supplents, said to be the outco of its exchanges."
Angel showed an expression of sudden realization: "No wonder it’s called the Sage; it really understands the importance of cognition and communication. Alchemy keeps innovating; to avoid being left behind in the old days by the new era, staying updated is essential."
"You seem not to have found its news through submissions? Never mind, if you don’t want to say, I won’t ask."
Cicia’s attitude underwent a complete change; though her expression remained indifferent, her words and actions were much milder.
"By the way, I rember it published a book separately, seed to be so research topic, and even sent a copy." Cicia: "Anyway, I’m not interested, because the research is too boring."
As Cicia spoke, she sohow produced a booklet, tossed it casually, forming a parabola, landing in Angel’s hand.
"If you like it, it’s yours."
Angel: "Aren’t you revealing the Wise Sovereign’s pen na like this? Won’t it care?"
Cicia cocked her head, her black hair covering half her face, a look of complete indifference: "It hasn’t forbidden from passing on its writings, besides, keeping these in my Box only pollutes my Box."
The disdain in Cicia’s eyes was visibly apparent.
Angel muttered under his breath: "Is it necessary to act like that? An Alchemist’s book, even if it’s not great..."
As Angel’s muttering reached halfway, it abruptly stopped.
Because he opened the booklet and saw the content... uh, familiar content. In fact, not long ago, Angel had even used an Illusion Technique to materialize it for others to peruse collectively.
Indeed, it was that book "Record of the Varied Postures of Witch Eye and Ghost Intermingling"!
Author: Blue Chunk.
Angel never associated the Triclops Blue Demon with the author of this book, but knowing the result, thinking back, it sohow made sense.
For instance, to write such a unique "Diary of Ghosteye Witch Observation," you must find a place rich in Ghosteye Witches; otherwise, how can you observe varied intermingling postures?
And the outside work area happens to be filled with Ghosteye Witches. Most importantly, these Ghosteye Witches were initially cultivated by the Triclops Blue Demon.
Also, the author’s pen na seems to hint at sothing.
Blue Chunk... Blue Chunk...
Isn’t the Triclops Blue Demon just a giant Blue Chunk? Of course, one could say it’s more like a blue mountain of flesh.
Thinking this way, the reasons are sufficient, the logic coherent.
However, a conclusion is just a conclusion; if it doesn’t allow the logic to be coherent after knowing the answer, that would be strange.
"What? Have you read its book?" Cicia saw Angel’s expression change.
Angel nodded: "I have had the honor to read it."
Cicia sneered: "Then your level is not that great."
Angel instinctively replied in a familiar tone: "Ignorant as I am, naturally, I need to supplent my knowledge of various types. Besides, I’m not even twenty yet..."
"Shut up." said Cicia, rubbing her forehead, the veins on her hands faintly visible.
Angel fell silent, suspiciously looking at Cicia.
"Alright, you’ve already said enough. I know you’re not even twenty, you don’t need to keep, keep repeatedly ntioning it!" Cicia: "Do you know what topic won hate most? Correct, it’s the age topic. I don’t want to hear any age-related topics from you again."
Angel stared at the seemingly ireful Cicia, after pressing silence for two seconds, shrugged: "Alright."
"Pardon my lapse. Continue asking, what else do you want to know?" Cicia tidied her loose hair by her ear, regaining her composure.
"My second question is still about the Wise Sovereign."
Cicia looked puzzledly at Angel: "You just ntioned other purposes for being here; could it be related to it? Let be clear, although its individual strength isn’t great, it is unbeatable in the underground aqueduct. With just your team, don’t think of confronting it. If you provoke it, you won’t even know how you die."
"Our target isn’t the Wise Sovereign either; we just need to pass through the hall where the Wise Sovereign resides to go another way." Angel: "To avoid provoking the Wise Sovereign and cross through the hall safely, we learned from outside Demon spirits that the Wise Sovereign is very fond of a Wood Spirit from the Hanging Jail Stairway, so we plan to find the Wood Spirit and bring it to the Wise Sovereign."
After Angel briefly explained their plan, Cicia showed an expression of understanding: "So your target in the Hanging Jail Stairway is that cowardly and timid Wood Spirit?"
Angel: "Has Lord Cicia seen it?"
Cicia nodded, recalling the Wood Spirit, her facial expression indescribable: "t it once, but I’ve never seen such an odd Spirit. Not only cowardly and timid but also stingy. The rule here is to trade precious items for a ticket to pass, and I got so annoyed eventually that I didn’t even ask for its most precious thing, just let it give sothing random. But it was still so stingy that I had to forcibly take sothing off it; otherwise, it would’ve pretended to be dead here for decades."
Indeed, Cicia’s Box is relatively safe; that Wood Spirit can feign death among many Ghosteye Witches for years and doing so in her Box for decades seems quite fitting with its character.
As Angel mused this, the image of this Wood Spirit sketched in his mind beca more vivid.
Yet, Angel also felt a bit puzzled: "Given that the Wood Spirit’s character is so peculiar, what does the Wise Sovereign possibly see in it?"
Cicia: "I’m curious about that too, perhaps a similarity in character? When you et the Wise Sovereign, you could ask for verification and tell next ti."
After a pause, Cicia lowered her eyelids: "Never mind, perhaps there won’t be a next ti. When the Wise Sovereign cos to , I’ll ask myself."
Angel blinked: "Whether there is a next ti, that’s hard to say. Perhaps we’ll et often in the future?"
Cicia: "What? Are you thinking of taking Cicia’s Box away? I’m telling you, that’s not happening, I won’t leave here unless..."
Angel: "Unless what?"
Cicia made a gentle "shhh" gesture with her index finger: "Can’t say."
Although Cicia seed to say "can’t be told" openly, she created a scene with the black mist around her.
The content of the scene was simple and could be sumd up in a single word: rebirth.
Angel pondered, was Cicia hinting that only when Naraku City, this "withered wood," was reborn, could its shell leave here?
Angel could not ask directly, after all, Cicia was bound by an oath, the hint was already the limit, if Angel broke the hint, it would instead cause Cicia to be punished by the oath.
Angel: "Maybe there’s a way to leave without bringing your shell, and we can et often."
Cicia: "Alright, I look forward to you bringing the answer to why the Wise Sovereign fancies the Wood Spirit next ti we et."
Cicia thought Angel ant he would often co to this ruin, so they could et often.
But in fact, Angel had no plans to revisit this ruin in the short term, unless it was Naraku City in the Nightmare Realm.
What Angel referred to as eting often, undoubtedly ant the Wilderness of Dreams.
The release of the Wilderness of Dreams was imminent, and giving Cicia a heads-up was no big deal. Besides, in Cicia’s place, where no one cos for hundreds of years, giving her a hint early would not lead to a leakage.
Moreover, Angel was contemplating observing Cicia further, to make sure she wouldn’t harbor ulterior motives, so he could let her guide Dororo.
And how to observe her? Surely, bringing Cicia into the Wilderness of Dreams would enable full-ti surveillance.
"Now you know my short-term goal. Does Miss Cicia have any suggestions for ? Whether it’s searching for the Wood Spirit or any other way to pass through the palace of the Wise Sovereign?"
Cicia thought for a mont: "A millennium ago, borrowing passage from the hall of the Wise Sovereign was very difficult. It seems only the daughter of the Warden was favored by the Wise Sovereign."
"Speaking of which, originally the two sides of that hall were clear paths. Later, the Wise Sovereign occupied one side to build his residence, which was quite inexplicable. I don’t know where you want to go, but the Underground Aqueduct extends in all directions; you could find another entrance, so you wouldn’t have to bypass his hall."
Angel: "Now the outside world is filled with ruins, and finding an entrance to the deeper layers is very difficult..."
Cicia: "Then I can’t help. I never rember the roads anyway."
Angel: "If I didn’t bypass it and insisted on taking the Hanging Jail Stairway?"
"Then there’s no way around it, apart from appealing to his interests, gaining favor through the Wood Spirit, I can’t think of another thod."
"If I encountered the Wise Sovereign, and said I was introduced by Miss Cicia, wouldn’t that work?"
Cicia cast a sidelong glance at Angel: "Don’t use my na to bluff outside, and even if you did ntion my na, it doesn’t necessarily an he’ll let you through. So, you’d better follow your own idea and go find the Wood Spirit."
"Where is the Wood Spirit then?" Angel asked.
Cicia: "How would I know? I’ve never been out."
Angel: "..." All the buildup, only to ask in vain.
Cicia: "Anyway, it’s inside the Hanging Jail Stairway; since I haven’t been there, I don’t know exactly where, but you don’t need to look at the upper levels, it’s definitely not high up in the Hanging Jail Stairway."
Angel: "Because the upper levels of the Hanging Jail Stairway are broken?"
"Is this told to you by the soul of the outside demon?" Cicia said while changing her posture. She crossed her left leg over her right, and the high heels made of starry sky crystal swayed with her movent: "Indeed, the upper levels of the Hanging Jail Stairway are broken, but even if they weren’t, do you think that coward would dare go up?"
"There are so sealed magical creatures in the higher levels, and, even a millennia ago, there were many traps in the higher levels; now space rifts are even commonplace. That coward absolutely wouldn’t dare go up, I suspect it didn’t even reach the third level."
Previously, when talking about the Wood Spirit, it was said it couldn’t go to the upper levels because those levels were broken. Now Cicia’s explanation aligns with that, but is more detailed.
After all, Dororo only heard about how cowardly the Wood Spirit was, but Cicia experienced firsthand how cowardly the Wood Spirit truly was.
"If it hadn’t even reached the third level, then it should be easy to find." Angel muttered to himself.
"Easy to find in the first three levels? From your tone, have you been to the Hanging Jail Stairway?" Cicia looked at Angel with curiosity.
Angel naturally wouldn’t admit it, so he casually fabricated: "Although Naraku City is now in ruins, most of its history subrged in the torrent of ti. There are always those who rember the past still living today."
"I’ve gathered so intelligence from them; it’s said the Hanging Jail Stairway has at least twenty levels. The higher the level, the larger the internal space. Since Miss Cicia ntioned the first three levels, then each level might only have one or two cells, searching shouldn’t be very difficult."
Angel had ascended the top of the Hanging Jail Stairway in the Nightmare Realm before, but at the ti, he didn’t count the levels.
This couldn’t be blad on Angel not counting, as many levels overlapped, alternated, resembling complex illusion spaces, making it hard to determine if it was one layer or multiple layers, and there were many unexplored places, so it was unknown if there were branches.
But based on his personal experience, the Hanging Jail Stairway likely had around twenty to forty levels.
Cicia: "Every ti you ntion the source of intelligence, you tell a long story, vague and unclear, it always feels unreliable..."
"Never mind, it doesn’t matter where you heard it. What you ntioned is only the apparent number of levels. Certain specific levels have expanded prison spaces. So, taking everything into account, there must be at least a hundred levels."
"But if you’re only looking for the Wood Spirit, you don’t need to worry about these, because expanded prison spaces are generally in the middle or upper levels. The first three levels don’t have expanded prison spaces."
Angel nodded, he vaguely rembered the first three levels seed to be single rooms, with limited space. If the Wood Spirit was really hiding in the first three levels, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find... right?
Angel: "Regarding finding the Wood Spirit, can Miss Cicia offer more advice?"
Cicia twirled her hair with her fingers unconsciously, leisurely tapping her foot, silently contemplating.
After a while, Cicia said: "I rember the Wise Sovereign ntioned before, that because the first few levels aren’t very dangerous, the Wood Spirit doesn’t deliberately hide, but is still inconspicuous."
"If you really can’t find it, just go ahead and destroy everything, it’ll get scared and definitely show itself."
Angel: "..." That’s a great idea... not.
"... Is there a gentler thod, after all, we need to bring the Wood Spirit to et the Wise Sovereign, and the Wise Sovereign didn’t forcibly take it away, doing this would probably make the Wise Sovereign more resentful."
Cicia snapped back to reality with an "oh right" expression: "Indeed, you’ve got a point."
Angel suppressed the urge to retort and continued: "Then does Miss Cicia have any other plans? Sothing gentler, we don’t wish to harm the Wood Spirit."
Angel was already hopeless, but Cicia’s occasionally off-track intelligence appeared to be back online.
Cicia: "Yes."
"If among the visitors this ti, there is soone who knows Divination, they can use a tracking technique to determine its location."
Angel: "Tracking technique?"
Cicia nodded: "I ntioned before, I forcibly stripped sothing off it and sent it away. This item cos from the Wood Spirit, so using it as a dium for tracking, finding it won’t be hard."
Angel’s eyes lit up, this thod seed feasible. Even if not using tracking, sensing pheromones or energy waves might find the Wood Spirit.
"Then can Miss Cicia let see what the Wood Spirit left behind?"
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