Chapter Twenty-Two: The Reversed Seed Hidden Deep
His chest was tightly bound with strips of cloth; every labored breath felt as if rough iron chains were strangling him, scraping and tearing with agonizing pain. Zhou Xiaoxiao’s last words—“The sky is about to change”—stabbed into Lin Mo’s chaotic consciousness like a poisoned needle dipped in ice, echoing coldly and heavily within him.
The large communal room was as silent as a tomb. In the corner, a few laborers curled up tighter, even their snores ceased, leaving only the oppressive sound of breathing. Zhou Xiaoxiao stood by the bedding, his silhouette hunched in the dim light, no longer the slick, joking servant, but more like a stone statue bent beneath the weight of a mountain. He faced the door, his gaze piercing the battered panels, fixed upon the churning, gray-white, viscous fog outside. In his eyes, Lin Mo saw emotions he had never witnessed before—panic, fury, malice, and a weighty despair.
Time crawled by in suffocating silence. Every heartbeat tugged at Lin Mo’s chest, painfully constricted, as though he were being buried alive. The cold “stone” within his chest, after consuming much of his blood and vitality and being rooted by that strange green glow, had fallen into an eerie quiet. Its beat was still heavy, but no longer wild—now sluggish, as if digesting after a feast. The faint warmth was utterly gone, replaced by a cold swelling deep at his core, and... a slow, determined sense of growth, as if something was feeding on its power, quietly multiplying in the shadows.
That strange, vibrant green... “Reversed Seed”... what was it?
Lin Mo’s fingertips unconsciously dug into the cold, damp straw mat beneath him. Zhou Xiaoxiao’s startled whisper was branded into his heart. Reversed Seed? Was it that uncanny sprout? It had rooted itself in the fragment of the Void Heaven Scripture... what did that mean?
At that moment—
Bang!
The crooked wooden door was violently flung open! A gust of wind, thick with moisture and a rusty, bloody stench, swept in, making everyone shudder!
A laborer stumbled in, pale as a sheet, lips trembling, eyes filled with indescribable terror. His pant legs were caked in slippery mud, and he slipped, collapsing onto the icy, muddy floor. He didn’t even try to rise, just pointed outside, his voice quivering uncontrollably:
“Dead... dead! Steward Wang... Wang is dead!”
Silence! Deathly silence instantly enveloped the room!
Wang Skinscraper... dead?!
All the laborers shot up their heads, shock and disbelief written across their faces! Lin Mo’s heart was seized by an icy, crushing grip!
“Nonsense!” An older laborer in the corner barked, his voice trembling.
“It’s... it’s true!” The messenger, near tears, his voice sharp with fear, wailed, “Just now, the patrol found him... at the edge of the forbidden ground... under the collapsed cliff at Ghost Cry Ravine! There’s... only half a body left! His guts... his guts are hanging out! His face... his face is so rotten you can’t recognize him! Only... only that steward’s robe... and the copper badge on his belt...” He was incoherent, shaking violently, clearly terrified out of his wits.
Ghost Cry Ravine! The collapsed cliff!
Lin Mo’s breath stopped; a freezing chill locked his limbs. That place! It was where he’d been chased by the Rockbone Lizard, fallen, where Su Li’s divine sense was shattered! Why was Wang Skinscraper dead there?! Was it coincidence? Or... was it because of Lin Mo?!
Did Zhao Qing kill him to silence him? Or... was it the terrifying Rockbone Lizard... or the man-eating fog Zhou