The Eighth Uncle-Master Ancestor patted himself down, but couldn't find anything, so in the end, he just stuck out his finger, wanting to leave a mark on the little fellow.

After thinking it over, nowhere seemed right; this little guy might just become the next generation's Heavenly Master, so leaving the mark on his body… not a great idea.

In the end, he left a mark on the sole of the kid's foot instead. The mark wasn't much, but it could intimidate other zombies, and regular evil spirits shouldn't be a problem.

The two elders didn't feel there was anything weird about being dragged by Wen Yan so far away.

Being cautious is absolutely right—very well done.

The little guy lost his toy and immediately started bawling.

Wen Yan left with the two elders. After Jia Jinfeng came in, she gave the group a look and went to comfort the little one.

Wen Yan wanted to keep the two elders for a bit longer, but the two of them said they were going to visit Qing Xuzi, that stinky old Daoist was nearby anyway.

In the afternoon, Wen Yan was about to call the Seventh Great-Uncle Master for dinner, but when he called, he found out that the two had already left on their own and even took Qing Xuzi with them when they left.

Their presence here attracted too much attention. Even if nothing happened, trouble might find them—better to leave anyway.

Wen Yan could only apologize over the phone, saying sorry for making the two elders go through all this fuss.

The atmosphere at Fuyu Mountain as a whole is really good, which definitely has a lot to do with how the elders set an example and teach by word and deed.

At the very least, from what Wen Yan heard, people from Qingcheng are all a little eccentric, and their cooperation with the Scorching Sun Department is the closest. Now, looking back, it probably has a lot to do with Qing Xuzi, this Daoist priest who always talks about believing in science.

That night, after dinner, Wen Yan's room was filled with all the things he'd brought from home.

The Sparrow Cat, the little zombie, and Wen Yan were sitting together, looking at the Sparrow Cat Fossil placed in the middle.

"Are you sure this is really your ancestor's corpse?"

"I'm positive."

"Do you think I'm dumb? It's been over a thousand years—how could it become a fossil?"

Wen Yan looked the fossil over from left to right, and after staring at it for a good while, he pulled out that weathered stone sculpture he'd brought from the warehouse last time, from another box.

After putting the two items side by side, Wen Yan finally figured out where that sense of deja vu was coming from.

The fossil of the Sparrow Cat ancestor's body looked very complete, with lots of detail, and it really did seem to have the feel of a dried corpse, with a stony texture.

The stone sculpture, on the other hand, had weathered details that were blurred and indistinct. It looked just like a once-masterful stone carving, now battered by centuries of wind and snow, slowly becoming what it was now.

Put together for comparison, you could clearly see that the two textures looked really similar—just like objects made from the same material: one hadn't been weathered for a thousand-plus years, and the other had been ravaged into oblivion by the elements.

"Didn't you say if we found your ancestor's body, you could reclaim your ancestor's glory? I even wasted one chance to freely choose a treasure to bring this back for you. Go ahead, it's your show."

Wen Yan put away the other stone sculpture, stepped back a bit with the little zombie, and let the Sparrow Cat do its thing.

The Sparrow Cat circled the fossil a few times, then raised a paw to dig under the fossil's wings. With a swipe of its claws, stone flakes fell off in a flurry.

A crack opened up in the fossil, and suddenly it started moving. The wings that were covering its face slowly dropped, revealing a face that—even turned to stone—was still unmistakably that of a patchwork cat.

The left and right sides of the face were strikingly different colors.

The fossil's eyes widened, an air of ferocity flooding out. Instantly, the Sparrow Cat went airplane-ears and curled into a little ball.

But in the next moment, the ferocity vanished, as if it had finished some kind of verification.

Two streams of light shot out from the fossil's eyes, weaving themselves directly into the Sparrow Cat's body. The fossil settled back to its original position—this time, completely petrified. The clear, sharp details on the surface faded in mere seconds, as though caught in millennia of wind and weather, turning it into an ordinary stone sculpture.

The Sparrow Cat, curled in a ball, poked its head up a bit and looked around, ears slowly going upright again.

"Are you done?"

"All done."

"So, how do you feel? Where's that inherited glory of yours?"

"I… I don't really feel anything." Even the Sparrow Cat sounded a little embarrassed.

All it remembered was that it needed to find its ancestor's remains and inherit its ancestor's glory, but what that actually meant—it had no clue.

Wen Yan shook his head, looked left and right, and didn't see anything different. The Sparrow Cat was still just as timid as before.

Whatever, he hadn't really expected much anyway—at least the Sparrow Cat could let this obsession go, and quit fretting about it all the time.

Wen Yan placed the stone sculpture he'd brought together with the fossil, comparing them again—this time, they looked even more alike.

That weathered feel was incredibly similar in both.

He copied the Sparrow Cat, stretched out a finger, and tapped gently on the statue's chest, scooping out a few flakes of stone—nothing happened at all.

Finally, when he tapped the top of the statue's head, he suddenly felt something slip into his body.

His eyes closed involuntarily, and his consciousness seemed to appear in a strange, illusory place, an area just about ten feet in all directions, all around him nothing but emptiness.

There, a creature appeared—a one-eyed, three-tailed demon that looked kind of like a lynx.

And ahead of him, on a stone standing upright, a line of text slowly appeared.

"There is a beast, shaped like a wildcat, with one eye and three tails, called a Huan. Its cry is like the noise of a hundred, and it can ward off evil, cure spiritual affliction."

As the line of words took shape, the demon circled and sank into the stone, which began to crack. In the end, only a lifelike statue remained.

Wen Yan opened his eyes again, his consciousness snapping back. He stared at the statue in front of him, a bit dazed—it looked even more weathered than before.

He focused on some new thoughts slowly emerging in his mind, and finally understood what this actually was.

This was a book—a book of inheritance, but not one that passed anything through words on a page.

No wonder it had felt weird just now. He'd been wanting to ask why those words were all ones he recognized.

Only this kind of transfer could survive thousands of years, and still transmit the knowledge perfectly whole.

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