I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

Upon hearing Stone's explanation, Rum's expression immediately changed.

"He's a disciple of Daoist Heming. He's Byron? But isn't Master Byron capable of summoning spirits? He should be very powerful, so how could he be?"

Rum didn't understand.

"He and Gao De were plotting to seize Mr. Browning's estate and take over the manor."

Stone explained simply.

Upon hearing this, Rum jumped up again.

"What?! Gao De actually wanted to take this place?! Impossible! That bastard! Good riddance! They killed each other, they deserved it!!!"

He immediately started cursing, as if he himself, who had just wanted to avenge Gaode, was a fool.

"Also because of his intelligence, we now know that this manor does indeed contain the legacy of Daoist Heming, and that Gao De may have already figured out how to obtain this legacy."

Stone added.

Chapter 635's difficulty lies here.

evening.

Torrential rain.

This long and torrential rain has become a constant background noise. The floodwaters accumulated on the mountain continue to pour down, making the soil soft and muddy, turning it into a flash flood that washes over every tree in the forest.

This scene even led onlookers to believe that the cliffs surrounding the villa were formed by years of erosion.

Inside the room, Byron was eating the food in his bowl.

The broth and bread were what the servants usually ate, and Byron didn't fuss over it. As a street urchin, he could talk big at banquets or chat with the cooks in the kitchen. He wolfed down his food, which made Xia hungry just watching him.

"Give me one too..."

Sia then asked a servant for a portion, which she ate with Byron.

Byron tore the bread apart, soaked it in the soup, and put it in his mouth, even licking his fingers, looking extremely delicious. Xia followed suit and ate it too.

"This bread tastes just like the bread I used to eat on the edge of the Black Forest, especially on rainy nights. We would light a campfire, eat the bread with soup in the tent, and that was so cozy."

Xia commented.

"When I'm hungry, this kind of staple food is the most satisfying."

Byron nodded in agreement.

After the two had finished their meal, Byron ordered another glass of red wine. Without any elegance, he gulped down the wine in his glass, let out a satisfied burp, and then closed his eyes for a moment, seemingly contemplating the moment.

"Gordon didn't actually tell me everything about the mansion in detail, but in order to make me appear like a master, he did tell me some secrets he had discovered. You know, besides magic tricks, I had to demonstrate some kind of precognition or supernatural ability for them to believe that I could successfully summon spirits."

Byron spoke fluently, like an insurance salesman.

"For example, the paintings in this building are not just decorations, but are used to suppress something. The reason why these paintings are used, uh, it's called Ancient Capital, right? The reason why his works are used is because what needs to be suppressed is not quite in line with the power represented by Ancient Capital."

Stone was a little confused by Byron's words, but Lu Ban and Xia exchanged a glance.

They had experienced the "Mouth of the Madman" and knew that the works of the Ancient Capital were created to please a sealed god, and that those works were all tainted with the aura of this Great Old One.

According to Byron, the Great Old Ones that the Old Ones that the ancient capital pleases are not the same as the Great Old Ones that are suppressed in this mansion; in fact, they are even hostile. This is quite intriguing.

Different Great Old Ones also exist in the ruined capital, and their existence may be more clearly defined.

There are also several Great Old Ones in the alien realm where Lu Ban is located, but according to Lu Ban's understanding, they have all been sealed away. At least within Lu Ban's knowledge, there are no Great Old Ones walking on the earth.

As for the ruined capital, Lu Ban couldn't say.

He once saw a woman wearing a cheongsam, hiding her face behind a fan. Although such attire was common in the ruined capital, Lu Ban could clearly sense something was amiss that time. Looking back now, he realized that she was probably someone of high status.

Furthermore, the countless eyes he saw of the ruler of the ruined capital were incompatible with the Great Old One slumbering behind the gates guarding the ancient capital. (Gu Yu)

The ruined capital may also have more than one Great Old One.

Furthermore, based on Byron's words, Lu Ban speculated that the awakening of these Great Old Ones was far greater than that of the great beings on Earth who were completely sealed away and trapped in a state of blind madness.

As for the being to be suppressed, Lu Ban thought of the identity of Daoist Heming and figured it was either Fang Geng, the Lord of the Mountains, or the sealed mud monster.

"...So, by simply moving a painting, the power of that thing can leak out, causing some special events. I was supposed to use this method to get Mr. Browning's family to give up this mansion."

Byron was still talking while Lu Ban was thinking.

His strategy was simple: using the information provided by Gao De, he would move the paintings to slightly release the power of the suppressed entity. Even a slight contamination would cause hallucinations, and at that point, the uninformed Browning children would think the place was haunted. Gao De would then offer to help sell it, allowing him to acquire the Stormy Manor at a low price.

It sounds like courting death, and it actually is.

Not to mention that the effects of pollution on people are irreversible, the idea that one can control the power of those great beings is itself a form of arrogance.

Weakness and ignorance are not obstacles to survival; arrogance is.

No one can guarantee that these paintings have never been moved before, nor can anyone guarantee that moving them will only cause "a little" pollution. More likely, the pollution from the paintings that Browning originally collected here has become uncontrollable, which has amplified everyone's emotions, caused them to lose their rationality, and even led to hallucinations such as Lily wanting to strangle herself and Stone shooting himself in the head.

With this in mind, Lu Ban gained a completely new understanding of the objective of this mission.

It's likely that the nine-day summoning ceremony wasn't a scheme to resurrect Browning, but rather that on the ninth day after Browning's death, the seal here would completely break down, allowing the evil god suppressed by the mansion to emerge.

Only in this way can it match the difficulty of [Alienation].

Obviously, if they had just killed this highly suspicious Byron, they probably wouldn't have gotten this information. Everyone would have just thought that the person who caused the problem had been dealt with, and they would have waited for the ninth day to arrive, and then, under the corruption of the resurrected god, they would have been sent away.

However, if we were to act logically, after Stone found out the location of God's internal organs, he would never have believed Byron's words and would have treated him as a monster. In other words, the more rational a person is, the harder it is for them to discover the problem, and only when rationality is reduced to a certain level is it possible to choose this path.

What seemed like an unreasonable choice ultimately became the most reasonable one here.

Part of the difficulty of this task probably lies here.

Therefore, Lu Ban and his group's current task has become to find the sealing point in this mansion and perfect it before the ninth night of summoning souls arrives.

The sealing point is likely the "legacy" or "soul weapon" of Daoist Heming.

Thinking of this, Lu Ban suddenly had an inspiration. He looked at Stone and suddenly asked a question seriously.

"You said we came to attend Browning's funeral, so... where is his body?"

Chapter 636 Tribute

It wasn't until Lu Ban brought it up that Stone and Xia suddenly remembered this matter.

Since it was Browning's funeral, what happened to his body?

Even if the summoning of the spirit is real, shouldn't the ritual start with his corpse?

Why have they been ignoring this all along?

Stone sensed that there might be some supernatural force interfering with or influencing his cognition. He stood up and felt as if his brain was bound by something viscous and turbid, making it difficult for electrical signals to spread. It was as if he had been hit on the head with a club, leaving him in a daze.

Standing still, Stone was convinced that this was the result of some extraordinary force inflicting cognitive distortions on him, which were being gradually eroded.

It's like the world a person sees when they're drunk. Although their eyes understand what's happening, their mind goes through all sorts of thoughts. They can't even remember the names of familiar people, and instead, they might hug a stranger and burst into tears.

However, this change in perception was something that seemed so insignificant that they didn't even notice it.

In everyone's mind, Browning was already dead, so investigating his body was irrelevant; what was important was finding the soul artifact or legacy left behind by Crane Cry Taoist.

But is that really not important?

Browning maintained a youthful appearance until his death, and the condition of his body after his death, as well as whether he harbors any secrets, is crucial to the progress of the mission.

However, the three of them subconsciously ignored Browning's body, and even Browning's children did not notice it.

At first glance, this may seem like a minor incident, but upon closer examination, the extraordinary ability to confuse people, all in an attempt to cover up Browning's body, is indeed a very serious matter.

Xia immediately stood up, went to the door, and called out to the old butler.

Where is Mr. Browning's body?

The old housekeeper was taken aback by her question.

The old man's expression was shifting, as if he were recalling something or pondering something.

After waiting for a moment, the old butler suddenly came to his senses.

"How could I forget that my master's body is in the coffin in the main hall..."

He still seemed to be blaming himself for his mistakes.

“Take us to see him. Stone, you stay here and watch over him.”

"Sia said."

"no problem."

Stone nodded. Byron certainly couldn't just be left here; a Chosen One had to watch over him.

Led by the old butler, Lu Ban and Xi Ya walked towards the hall. Lu Ban was surprised to find that the largest room in the house was one they had never been to before, and it was right next to the room they had first arrived at.

It can be said that when they first came out of the house, if they followed the other direction led by the old butler, they would have seen the hall where the coffins were displayed.

Lu Ban has experienced many changes in cognition during his missions in other realms, but this is the first time he has seen a slight change in details lead to a major cognitive deviation.

Lu Ban's past cognitive changes mostly involved making it impossible to recognize something, being trapped in a time loop and unable to learn the truth, or being visually deceived into seeing monsters as teddy bears—all of which were large-scale alterations.

In this situation, it's easy to feel a sense of incongruity, since the gap between reality and what you see is too big. To cover up one lie, you need a thousand lies, which eventually leads to cognitive bias and exposes the fraud.

However, what Lu Ban and his group are encountering in this Stormy Mountain Villa is a very minor misdirection.

This kind of misleading doesn't even require supernatural powers; it only requires a certain amount of visual and verbal deception.

The closer Lu Ban got to the hall, the more he felt the anticipation of something about to be revealed.

It's like the last few tens of minutes before the college entrance exam results are released, and during the exam, several multiple-choice questions are uncertain, with only two options, giving you a feeling that the bigger one is coming.

Turning the corner, Lu Ban saw the door to the hall. He went inside and saw a coffin.

The coffin was pure black, sealed tightly, and the hall was decorated like a funeral parlor, with Browning's portrait hanging on it.

This photo was probably taken some time ago. Browning in it really does look like a man in his seventies or eighties, with a serious expression. The red candles flicker, making the hall seem dim. In the candlelight, there always seems to be something behind those shadows, something elusive and unpredictable.

Lu Ban arrived at the coffin. At first glance, there seemed to be no problem, but upon closer inspection, there were problems everywhere.

"These candles couldn't possibly last this many days without anyone replacing them."

Sia pointed out the suspicious points.

Even the old butler had forgotten about the existence of the mourning hall, so naturally no other servants came to refill the candles. So, what kept the candles burning?