Plague Doctor

Chapter 172: Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan

Translator: Lonelytree

Gu Jun’s hand lightly caressed the front cover of the spell book. The paper felt unfamiliar to his touch. He turned over to the first page. There was a line on it. It appeared to be the book’s name. It looked like Chinese Calligraphy but not in any language format that he could understand. He could barely make out the characters ‘Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan’. Over the course of time, this spell book must have taken on different monikers, which meant that its original name was impossible to find as well as its original author.

“Do you recognize this type of writing?” Gu Jun showed Wu Siyu. The latter shook her head. “This is the first time I’ve seen it. I do not think we have a writing system like that.”

She threw another piece of the bread into her mouth. The bread did not look that special, but the taste and texture were quite spectacular. It even triggered a melodious tune in her mind. But whenever she turned to look at the name of the book, it felt like she was looking down into an abyss. Barzai did warn them to be careful of it.

“Perhaps this is how Chinese is written where Mr. Barzai is from.” Gu Jun felt like even though the old man came from Earth. It might not be the Earth that they were familiar with. The spell book should be originally written in Oracle Bone Script, but the later copies might have different translations. He first flipped through the whole book and realized with shock that other than the first few pages, the words in the rest of the book were blurred out like they had been ruined by water.

“Mr. Barzai, what’s wrong with these pages?” Gu Jun held open the book and turned to the old man. Granted it was a gift, but there was no reason to scam them, right?

“As I’ve said before, the original consists of seven separate scripts, so they have to be read in sequence,” the old man replied evenly. “They might be inscrutable to you, but from where I stand, they are as clear as can be. How can you build a house without its foundation?”

Gu Jun understood the lesson. It meant that he had to study it chapter by chapter. Thus, he turned to the first chapter. As strange as the script was, Gu Jun and Wu Siyu could still read it with some effort. However, the content of the chapter itself was quite confusing. There were statements like, ‘Action comes with shapes, not lost’ and ‘no sun no moon, no sky no time’. It felt like they could understand each character individually, but the way they were matched together held no meaning.

“It’s like I am reading those prescription notes of yours,” Wu Siyu said.

“At least drug names have a chemical structure to follow, but this does not,” Gu Jun countered. He was reminded of Teacher Orlem’s lecture in his previous illusion. The spell books had their own mental power and life source. Barzai had mentioned something of the same effect. Even Landon had written that in his notes, the content itself was not that important. The important stuff was the power within the content. One that had to be embraced and feel it with one’s mind.

“Let’s give it a try.” Gu Jun turned to ask Wu Siyu for help. Should he show any anomalies, she would wake him up immediately. Then he sharpened his focus and channeled it to receive the content of the first chapter. He abandoned the attempt to discover their literal meaning but allowed the characters to flow into his mind and feel the power that they formed. Drugs had chemical structures. Perhaps spells had their own unique structure as well... just like a biological organism.

Gu Jun was suddenly reminded of a theory in biology.

‘Structure determines function.’

It was the structure of wings that determines the function of flight; it was the structure of the lungs that determined the function of the respiratory system. Thus, the difference between human beings, birds and necro-skins, was delineated. The structure of protein determined the function of the enzyme; the structure of DNA determined the function of the gene, the structure of nerves determined the function of actions and thoughts...

From that, he was reminded of the school of Connectomics, the study of connectomes or comprehensive maps of connections within an organism’s nervous system to understand the functional mechanism of the brain. The so-called ‘mental power’ might belong to this category... the extremely complex range of synapses, nerves, and connective network.

‘Allow its mental power to transmute your own, allow its life force to transmute your own.’

It hit Gu Jun then. The lesson from Mr. Orlem was not an analogy; it was quite literal. The mysterious power was resonating with his own body. Learning spells would literally transmute the structure of one’s nervous network! It was an actual biological transmutation!

The corruptive patterns underneath Chen Defa’s bones... were they not similar to some kind of nervous network?

It was like a door had opened in his mind, but while the light rushed in, so did waves of shadows. It was as if he was back outside the cavern, and Chen Defa was summoning the giant bats. He could feel the strange resonance around him...

“Hmm.” Gu Jun forced himself to snap out of it. He was going to stop the training for now because there were still too many questions to be answered.

“The first chapter appears to be some kind of summoning spell,” he told Wu Siyu. “But I have no clue what it might summon.”

Wu Siyu had no comment, but the gray-bearded man looked rather surprised. He mumbled, “You are incredibly talented, young man.”

Gu Jun saw the chance and tried to ask him for more information. “Mr. Barzai, learning spells will morph one’s mind and body, yes?”

“You have already come that discovery?” The old man turned to study him. “You are specially gifted it seems, so in that case, you should understand how a normal body and mind could be a receptacle for superhuman powers. The study of spell books will change you, but whether that is a good or bad change, that is for you to decide.”

With pleated brows, Gu Jun reached for his head. As he expected... if human beings had enough research into connectomics, if they could read neural mapping as clearly as electrical mapping, then they would have a deeper understanding of their mutation when Phecda was dissecting the head of the red-robed leader from the Afterlife Cult and the zombie, Chen Defa.

“Mr. Barzai.” From that, he had another question. “Will the reader mutate into another existence when they have finished reading it? In that case, can they still study other kinds of spell books?”

That was probably one of the sacrifices made by Carlot Doctors.

“There are endless sources of superhuman powers,” the old man said. “It is futile to assume that you will encounter every single one of them.”

Gu Jun nodded slightly. That was true... The spells trained by the R’yleh Cult were different from the zombies, and the zombies had their own spells that were different from the Carlot doctors. They each had their own deities and higher existences that they worshipped, different power sources that they derived from. Therefore, spell books appeared to be able to be categorized based on their source of power. After one had decided to study a particular type, one could only research deeper into that particular school.

“So, what kind of source does this book derive its power from?” Gu Jun inquired. Was it Earth’s gods?

“Curiosity kills the cat,” the old man answered. “Learning the first chapter will not change you in any way. That change will come only in the third chapter.”

“Okay.” Gu Jun was silent. This was similar to how one would pick a job system in online games. One had to take many considerations into account before making the decision because the decision was irreversible. Based on his current condition, learning spells that derived their power from the Goddess of Life appeared to be the most appropriate, but... they were not exactly spoilt for choice at the moment. Gu Jun asked a few more questions, but the old man appeared to be done talking to them.

After that, Gu Jun had Wu Siyu try to learn the first chapter. She could sense her mental power blossoming even though it did not come as naturally as it did with Gu Jun.

The mist still hung heavily around them. They discussed the contents and implications of the spell book. It had been about five to six hours since they boarded the ship, and it was then that they saw the shadow of an island peeking out of the mist before them. From their vantage point, the island was quite small, but there was a high mountain range, and dangerous reefs ringed the cliffs. There was also a jungle that seemed to hide all sorts of threats.

Gu Jun looked at the island, and his instincts told him that was their destination.

“That is where you are heading. Get ready to disembark,” the old man said casually. “A storm is coming.”