Chapter 20: Something Is Amiss, and It Is Not as Expected

When they woke up the next day, the sun was already high in the sky, well into the morning hours. Lin Zhao was in an excellent mood; after all, he finally felt the passage of time here.

"By the way, do you have clocks or anything to keep time here?" Lin Zhao asked.

"Do you mean a sundial?" Ji Yaoguang glanced at the purple sun in the sky. "Since the Purple Sun, there has been no distinction between the four seasons, so people carry sundials to get a rough idea of the time."

As he spoke, he plucked a twig from his headpiece. The slender branch grew in his palm, quickly shaping itself into a beautifully carved sundial. Its face was flat, with a wooden needle pointing skyward in the center, and the marks of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches around the perimeter to indicate the hours.

"What about at night?" Lin Zhao was not entirely satisfied.

"At night, there are hourglasses and water clocks," Ji Yaoguang said, not quite understanding why Lin Zhao was so obsessed with precision. However, if Zhao wanted it, he would see it done. "If you want to know the time at any moment, take this."

He plucked another twig. "This branch grows a leaf every quarter-hour. If you tie it to your wrist, you can track time precisely to the quarter throughout the twelve hours of the day. After a day, the leaves wither and start to regrow. This is how I kept time when I was in the Vast Sea."

Lin Zhao picked up the thin twig, about to tie it to his wrist, when a sudden thought struck him. "You can use the growth of trees to keep time, right? What about the source? How long can this branch last?"

Ji Yaoguang curled his lips slightly, hands clasped behind his back, looking confident and composed. "Such objects aren't for combat and require almost no witch power to maintain. Based on the witch power contained within the twig, it will last for at least a thousand years without issue."

"The power of the mystical side is truly useful sometimes!" Lin Zhao marveled. "Could we try a different way?"

Ji Yaoguang nodded. "Tell me."

"Alright," Lin Zhao said, immediately using his claws to sketch on the bluestone floor. "Basically, we need a round dial in the middle. It doesn't need to be big, just the size of a grape, but it needs twelve markings. Don't put the wooden needle upright; lay it flat..."

"How would a flat needle tell time using the sun?" Ji Yaoguang asked, puzzled.

"You can make a branch grow leaves," Lin Zhao replied confidently, "surely you can make the needle move on its own?"

Ji Yaoguang pondered this. "...That makes sense."

"And I want three needles of different lengths," Lin Zhao continued. "The shortest for hours, the middle for minutes, and the smallest for seconds... It would be best to have a number in the center for the date. You have a calendar system, right?"

"We do," Ji Yaoguang wiped his forehead.

"It would be even better if it glowed in the dark, and it should have a chain on the side of the dial. The timing must be accurate. Since your manual method will surely have errors, it’s best to have it automatically recalibrate with the sun every so often..."

"Very well..."

"That's it! That is the kind of timer I want!" Lin Zhao said with satisfaction. "No other questions. Can you make it?"

"No problem, though it will take some time," Ji Yaoguang calculated. "I will align the timing today and should be able to give it to you tomorrow."

"Excellent! This is my thanks." Lin Zhao leaned in, reached out to stroke his smooth cheek, and after "consuming" his daily offering, he found his face so pleasant to touch that he added another stroke.

Ji Yaoguang’s heart skipped a beat, and he blushed. "That is a very precious token of gratitude. Next time, feel free to tell me in advance so I can prepare to receive it."

Lin Zhao leaned closer, amused. "If I didn't tell you, would you not accept it?"

"You know my combat reflexes are decent," Ji Yaoguang said, his gaze lowered, speaking softly as a preemptive warning. "If you don't warn me, I might have an instinctive reaction—like grabbing your hand—so please don't get angry..."

*Is he acting coy now?* Lin Zhao chuckled. "Fine, I've got it."

He would just treat it as a surprise exercise for his reaction speed. It wasn't like he could retaliate, could he?

The two shared a smile, both satisfied with the outcome.

They moved on. Lin Zhao looked at the Great Wall, which had returned to calm under the sun. "So, what's next? Are we heading to the inner city?" He was looking forward to finally entering the human settlement.

"We are, but first we need to sell some grapes." Ji Yaoguang pulled a basket woven from vines from behind him, filled with a large haul of fresh grapes. "The entry fee for the inner city is much higher than for the outer city."

The money they had earned yesterday had been spent on their stay at the Great Wall, leaving them with only a few seashells.

Lin Zhao picked up a dark purple grape. "Wow, so sweet. Much sweeter than the mulberries you gave me. Are you playing favorites?"

Ji Yaoguang blushed, coughing slightly to hide it. "No, my witch power had only just begun to recover back then; I couldn't make them as ripe."

Lin Zhao felt there was more to the story, but it didn't seem important, so he let it go. "Since your natal totem is being corroded, is it safe for ordinary people to eat these grapes?"

"It's fine," Ji Yaoguang said confidently. "These are condensed from my secret store of witch power. They aren't corroded and aren't part of my natal totem."

"Secret store?" Lin Zhao recalled the first time he met Bo Ren, who had said, "That is not how you use witch power."

...

"Heaven creates all things, and all things have spirits," Ji Yaoguang explained, giving him a lesson on the basics of witchcraft that had evolved over ten thousand years. "The original meaning of a 'Witch' is the method of driving the spirits of all things. Ten thousand years ago, witches relied on beast soul totems. Later, as all things perished, they could only rely on the souls of fierce, alien creatures. To compete with these alien souls, witch lineages innovated, beginning to excavate the 'secret stores' within human spirituality, discovering that the soul and spirit hold the keys to unlocking divine and demonic power."

"Using witch power to unlock the first secret store in the six souls allows one to strengthen the physical body with the power of dragons and elephants; this is the Human Witch stage. Unlocking the second secret store in the soul allows one to resonate with heaven and earth, driving the power of the land to move mountains and rivers; this is the Earth Witch stage. Unlocking the third secret store, where the totem soul is engraved into the spirit and merged with the totem, is the Heaven Witch stage." Ji Yaoguang looked at Lin Zhao and added, "Someone like you is at the Human Witch stage."

Lin Zhao thought these three categories were simple enough. "Then what about the Witch Gods? And what stage are you?"

Ji Yaoguang replied tactfully, "Above the Heaven Witch is the ability to fuse with the fundamental laws of heaven and earth—that is my level. The Witch Gods can change the laws of the world. For instance, the Twelve Witch Gods, also known as the 'Time-Keepers,' hold dominion over the seasons, the five elements, reincarnation, life, and death. My father, the First Time-Keeper, is the God of Space."

"Hiss," Lin Zhao imagined it. "Space is the four directions, and Time is the past and future. Your father seems quite formidable..." He couldn't help but scrutinize Ji Yaoguang. "If that's the case, is your strength a bit lacking?" Thinking about it, Ji Yaoguang couldn't even defeat the remains of the Black Tortoise in the ruins.

Ji Yaoguang remembered the great upheaval of those years, the light that severed everything... He shook his head with a resigned smile. "It is a bit lacking, but it's enough to build a nest for you."

"Then how do I unlock the second secret store?" Lin Zhao asked, eager to try.

"That..." Ji Yaoguang hesitated, phrasing it carefully. "At the very least, you'd need your physical bloodline to awaken another little wing, wouldn't you?"

The little bird had only just hatched, and his body had only grown a few feathers. He wanted to unlock the second secret store? Imagining a downy, newly hatched chick leaping about, Ji Yaoguang couldn't help but smile.

*Tsk, he's getting ahead of himself.*

"What are you thinking about?" Lin Zhao looked at him suspiciously. "If you have nothing to do, put on that basket and let's go sell grapes!"

"Right." Ji Yaoguang immediately wiped the smile from his face and hoisted the basket. He was handsome and dignified, his necklace and headpiece showing his noble status, yet the basket on his back didn't look out of place; instead, it added a sense of wild, carefree charm.

He tapped the wall of the Great Wall, and a stone tile immediately rose to lift them to the small plaza below the city.

The plaza was bustling with noise, as if the zombie tide of the night before had left no impact on the people here. Various street vendors were lively and busy.

Lin Zhao led Ji Yaoguang to the fruit stall owner from yesterday and quickly sold the grapes along with the basket. Of course, the price was much lower than the day before, given the quantity.

"...Thank you, sir. I wish you prosperous business." Lin Zhao took the two small golden seashells, pinched them, and weighed them; they didn't seem to be made of gold.

"It's alright, just getting by," the fruit vendor was talkative. "I only started this fruit stall a few years ago. The Di Kingdom has changed a lot; they built orchards. In the past, us commoners couldn't afford such precious things—things that have no nutritional value other than tasting good—before we died."

Lin Zhao froze. "Before you die?"

The vendor's smile faded slightly. He pointed to the grapes, which were laid out individually. From time to time, people with sorrowful faces would come up, holding a small piece of 'sacred wood' to trade for a few grapes.

They didn't go far, just to a structure resembling an altar, where a fire was burning.

Below the altar, more than a dozen armored warriors were kneeling, bowing silently toward the fire.

Lin Zhao saw a child of about ten, dressed in rough hemp clothes, clutching a warrior's arm and sobbing. "My father can still be saved! You can't burn him! Father! Say something! When Mother died, she told you to take good care of me! She was bitten in half and handed me to you, telling you to take care of me!"

The warrior bowed his head deeply, his body trembling uncontrollably, but he didn't look at the child once.

"He has already been corroded; he cannot be saved." Someone pulled the child away. The child bit the man's hand hard, struggling with all his might.

The man said coldly, "Have you forgotten? Your mother was bitten to death by a hidden 'Corroded One' after it turned into a living corpse. Do you want your father to become like that too?"

The child froze. He let go, and as he slumped to the ground, he let out a heart-wrenching wail.

From start to finish, the warrior remained kneeling, never once looking at the child.

"Brother," the warrior who had pulled the child away whispered, "the compensation for your service is enough to support him until he reaches the Human Witch stage. If he studies well, maybe he can even be recommended to the Great Mountain Monastery..."

The warrior finally raised his head. He didn't answer; he simply tightened his cloak and rose, walking toward the roaring fire.