Law of the Devil

“This here should be used to hide people.” Gargamel laughs at the conclusion.

“My dear mouse Prime Minister.” Du Wei snappily pointed to the egg like rooms: “Based on your opinion, how many people do you think these rooms can fit? 500? 800? Hell… If it was a place to take refuge, the less that knows about it the better. Why go through all this trouble? Can it be that even when taking refuge one must have separate rooms to sleep?”

Lastly, Du Wei measured the height of the rooms and was left with even more questions on his face: “My dear Gargamel! You must have been a mouse for far too long and forgot a normal person’s height. Take a look. Although these cellars are both deep and big in size, the rooms are not high at all! If an average man were to go into these rooms, the best they can do is curl up into a ball!”

After a pause, Du Wei looked back at Gargamel: “Also, aren’t you surprised? Despite walking for so long, do you notice anything?”

“…… No.” Mouse shakes his head: “There’s nothing here but empty space.”

“It is exactly the empty part that is weird.” Du Wei frowned: “This place is underground! Despite this fact, we haven’t come across anything after walking for so long. Normally speaking, an underground construction would be deprived of light, thus making it ideal for rats, snakes, and centipedes to live in…… But do you see a rat here? Do you see a single centipede or any insect for that matter? I’ve been observing this place very carefully; there wasn’t even an ant around. Don’t you find this surprising?”

Gargamel finally became speechless.

Coming to the end of the tunnel, what welcomed Du Wei is a wall.

“This is the end.” Gargamel speaks: “I’ve been here before and didn’t find anything. Do you want to turn back and have a look in the other direction?”

Du Wei did not reply, instead, he only stood there in silence while looking at the wall like he was thinking over some kind problem.

“Something is not right here.” Du Wei suddenly shakes his head: “Something doesn’t fit in here.”

Pointing to the wall, then to the tunnel behind him: “As we were coming here, I always felt this place followed the basic principles in architecture….. But here, the very end of the tunnel shouldn’t be blocked by a wall! Have a look, the ground may seem flat but is in fact a slope that is subtlety heading up. If this place was used to store things then this spot should be the highest point in this labyrinth. Since they built it like that, this spot should have been some kind of cellar or room and not a slab of wall.”

“Then….. What’s behind this wall? Can it be some kind of secret room?” Gargamel also became interested by this theory.

“We will know once we tear down this wall.” Du Wei smiles.

This wall in the secret tunnel was built using the dense rocks of the Northwest. For an average person, this job may pose some difficulty, but it’s another story for a magician.

Conjuring up a spell of the earth attribute, Gargamel easily tore apart this compact wall like it was made of tofu.

Once cleared, the first thing to welcome the two is a giant gust of foul smelling odor. When Du Wei first got a whiff of this smell, he nearly fell backwards into a somersault by how disgusting it was: “My god, what is in there! Can it be a toilet?”

Like him, Gargamel also had a face like he would faint at any moment: “I fear the outhouse can’t even match this stink!”

Behind the wall is indeed a secret chamber. Since it was sealed for so long and was suddenly reopened again, the stale gas pent up inside all gushed out at once when an opening was found, hence the reason for what just happened.

Not willing to go into the room in its current state, Du Wei with his nose tucked into his shirt hastily conjured up a gust of wind to blow away the remaining gas. Only by doing this did he gingerly walk in.

Pulling out a magic crystal from his pocket, he casually injected a bit of magic into the thing to activate it. Immediately the chamber was illuminated with light.

Under the effects of the light, countless dust particles could be seen in the air. As Du Wei looked around, he was taken aback by what he saw. And like him, Gargamel exhaled loudly from the back: “My god, what are these things?!”

Scattered across the ground are numerous corpses…. No, the correct wording is skeletons!

Who knows how many years had passed, the flesh on these bodies were already decayed to the point where only the bones remained….. Just thinking of the foul stench from earlier left both mouse and man wanting to puke on the spot!

As for the dust particles in the air, they were most likely the dried up flesh of these corpses after being left here to rot through the years.

Du Wei looked pale. If he wasn’t forcefully keeping it in, he might really be puking right now.

Nevertheless, his curiosity still got the better of him. Steadying his breath, he leaned his body over to begin his examination of the bones.

Arguably, bones will still corrode with time even if it is stored away for many years! But these skeletons were exceptionally strange.

First up is their texture! Although some parts of the skeletons were a shade of black from oxidization, there is clearly a hint of metallic luster in them!!

Strange, how can the skeletons of a living creature have a metallic sheen?

Enduring the nauseating feeling inside, Du Wei tore a piece of his robe off to wrap around his hand. Then gently tapping the bones, he came to the conclusion that these bones are exceptionally hard! If these were normal bones, they would be very brittle to the touch due to the loss of calcium,

It’s no wonder these skeletons remained in such perfect conditions even after their flesh had rot away!

And the second point gave Du Wei the willies!!

These skeletons… … Does not appear to be human!!

Or to be precise … … They are very close to being human-like, but not human.

For example: the skeleton before him may have the general outline of a human, but from their volume and height, these things were more like midgets…. Nevertheless, their bone structure indicates their bodily strength was above the norm.

Can it … … Be … … the dwarfs from those of legend?!

Then there are the other skeletons present. Their structure was very similar to that of humans, with the exception of certain isolated places such as teethes, head, and fingers……

Glancing back at Gargamel, Du Wei found this mouse in a dull like state.

“Gargamel.” Du Wei’s smile looked like he could go through someone: “Do you know what these things remind me of when I look at them?”

“What?”

Du Wei takes in a deep breath:

“Do you still remember the strange creatures that were killed by the dragons atop of the Holy Mountain? Those half man half beast races that were exiled to the far off lands by god?”

Gargamel was speechless!

There is no doubt that … … these skeletons before the two is clearly the same stuff!

There are a total of six skeletons in the room. After checking them all, he found two of the skeletons were likely dwarfs based on their small statute with the remaining three looking like beastmen monsters.

But what surprised Du Wei the most was the last one and also the sixth skeleton.

“Oh god! Gargamel, come look! It’s a human, a genuine human!!” Du Wei screamed aloud. Stooping down, he kneeled beside the last skeleton lying there on the floor.

Based on the shape of the bones and the skull features… … This is obviously a human skeleton! So strange… … Why among so many monsters is there a human?

Stranger is that this human skeleton is tucked away from the rest as it huddled against the corner of the room. From its position, this individual was facing the corner and still maintained the posture of having its hands reaching out towards something.

Gently touching the bones, Du Wei was surprised to find that this human skeleton was just like the rest in how metallically hard it was.

He can still understand the weird biology if it was a monster, but a human? How did this individual become like this?

Du Wei just blanked out there as questions kept coming one after another.

Suddenly. Gargamel came over to Du Wei’s side like he had discovered something: “Du Wei, look! What is that on the wall!”

“Oh?”

Upon hearing these words, Du Wei’s focus unintentionally went towards the gestured location. He was careless before due to being overly excited, but with Gargamel’s reminder and the help of the illuminating light, he can finally make out the carvings engraved into the wall.

From the posture of this dead man, it’s likely these carvings were made by this individual.

Also … … These markings were quite deep. Since there’s no tool around, this can only mean this guy used his very own fingers to carve it out.

“The design……” Gargamel’s tone suddenly became very strange.

Carefully staring at the patterns, Du Wei eyes was filled with complex emotions running from surprise, fear, and curiosity…..

The reason is because this pattern is clearly a waving flag!

A flag with a ferocious skull that looked like it was grinning at its recipient!

Blood Skull Flag?!

The Shaman King’s Blood Skull Flag?!

At this moment, Du Wei’s heart was beating so hard it was like a drum roll. Why is the mark of the Shaman King inside the empire’s land and in a secret chamber of the governor’s mansion for that matter?

Can it be that this dead man here is a member of the prairie tribes, a shaman??

Then there are also the monsters here, what’s the explanation for them?

How can there still be exiled creatures on the Roland continent?

In the end, a clue was finally located by Du Wei after pushing aside the deceased man’s skeletal body.

Inscribed atop of a rock slab hidden underneath, several lines of texts were left behind.

From how careless these words looked, it was clear the person responsible for them was in quite a hurry. He’s fine with it being a total mess to read, but how can someone write half his message in one unknown language and the other half in the Roland Empire’s language? Clearly the writer was not of sound mind before his death. Thinking it over, Du Wei can only conclude the unknown part is the language used in the desert prairie.

The message is as follow:

“The last experiment was a success … … But the result also proved my failure. ‘White River’s Sorrow’ (Mr. Blue Ocean’s brother that was mentioned before), you were correct my greatest student. It’s a shame that only now do I understand this point. Although I’m unwilling, but the last test subject is already dead….. (The next segment is written in the unknown language) The human body cannot tolerate it and I have proven it with my own flesh and blood…… (Again, the next part in the text cannot be read) I finally realized your move of superseding the post of Shaman King was correct. It is you who are most fit to rule over Snowy Mountain. Indeed I am but a madman; however, the blood skull flag should still have my name!”

From here, the rock slab suddenly had a large vacant space in-between the top and lower end of the message. It was quite obvious the writer was not only using his fingers to inscribe this message, he was also in an awful lot of pain from how deep those scratch marks were.

The last paragraph was easier to read:

“I don’t know how many years it will be before then, but if someone can see this then you are the one i have chosen. Doesn’t matter if you are a Roland citizen, prairie native, orc, elf, or dwarf…… I will give you the greatest treasure in my possession! Hidden underneath the rock slab in the left corner of this room is the shaman craft I have honed all my life! Whether you like it or not, you will be my fourth disciple if you learn it!

In return, I bestow upon you a mission……

One day in the future, go up to the snowy mountain and tell ‘White River’s Sorrow’ that even though he beat me and stole my title as Shaman King, I had never regretted taking him as my disciple!”

Lastly is the signature:

“Snowy Mountain’s 364th generation Shaman King, Gu Lanxiu! May the sacred Blood Skull Flag watch over the Snowy Mountain for all eternity!”

Reading it all in one breath, Du Wei was frightened by what he just learned.

A Shaman King? This guy is actually the former Shaman King?!

Gargamel that was standing next to him also finished the text at this time. Looking up, both mouse and man stared at each other with a very odd expression, unsure what to say.

Keeping silent for a long time, the first to break the silence was Du Wei’s long sigh: “This really is a big find!”

Scratching his head with his paw, Gargamel could only smile wryly: “Alright, so this thing was written by a guy named Gu Lanxiu and is supposed to be his will. In addition, he is the former Shaman King….. After being defeated by his own disciple named ‘White River’s Sorrow’, he was forced to leave his home and come to our Roland Empire…. Also……”

“Enough, Gargamel.” Du Wei waved his hand, his smile a bit strange: “This will here brought a lot of information…. But it also brought a lot of questions!”

“But why is a Shaman King in the Roland Empire? More importantly, why is he a governor of a province? Then there’s the question of this maze underneath the mansion?! Why did he go through so much trouble to build this underground labyrinth?” Gargamel was puzzled by all this.

Du Wei pricked his brow: “It just so happens I can answer the question.”

Pointing to the last inscription on the stone: “I just so happen to know of this Gu Lanxiu name.”

Then he slowly explains, “When I first came to the Northwest, I checked out all the lord and governors that had ruled over the Desa Province in the past few decades. This Gu Lanxiu was already the governor of this place 35 years ago. His reign lasted for more than a decade and it just so happens that when the war broke out 20 years ago is when he passed away! According to the documents, he is the last governor of the Desa Province before this province became the domain of the nobility. Then as events continued, this place was eventually put into the hands of Governor Bohan and then later into my hands.”

Looking at the mouse’s astonished expression, Du Wei adds in: “I read this from the official documents of the empire…. You know it too; I never forget anything I’ve read before.”

“Please, someone help me……” Gargamel moaned loudly: “A former Shaman ending up in the empire after falling into ruin can still be explained… But how in the world did he end up being a governor?”

“This … … I can’t explain it.” Du Wei shakes his head.

What Du Wei didn’t know is……

If a disciple of the Snowy Mountain like Mr. Blue Ocean can become a respected scholar that even the royalty has to pay heed, then how difficult can it be for a former Shaman King to become a governor? Also, he seems to forget the Desa Province is a wasteland in the middle of nowhere. Anyone with a bit of power would avoid this place like a plague. Looking at it from this point, it really isn’t all that surprising for a powerful being like a former Shaman King to pull off something like this without too much difficulty.

Looking at each other, Gargamel immediately jumped up and yelled: “Quick, flip over that stone! Didn’t the Shaman King say he left being his life’s skill?….. I’ve always been interested in the natives’ shamanistic art!”

However, after the two flipped over the stone slate, they were left stunned by what they saw.

This Shaman King named Gu Lanxio did not lie because he did indeed leave behind a book. Apparently, this thing was soaked in some kind of chemical to keep it from decaying.

However … … both Du Wei and Gargamel could not understand a single text on this damn thing!

“It’s the language of the Prairie natives.” Gargamel sighs: “We need to translate it.”

Unlike the disappointing face on the mouse, Du Wei gave a sinister smile that would give anyone the creeps: “Translate? Did you forget there are over 20,000 prairie natives outside the city? When it comes to candidates, we can slowly take our pick!”