Seeking Truth with a Sword

Chapter 362 - 316 Bookworm Immortal (4K)

The Ink Silk Fly fluttered its wings and settled on the edge of the shelf’s middle layer, gazing down.

Nestled in the middle layer, the insect greatly resembled a domestic silkworm. It was pure white, as thick as two fingers and as long as a palm, with two rows of prolegs on its underside and fine, soft golden threads growing from its back. It was curled into a ball, lying in a nest constructed from book pages.

How was this thing used again?

Li Ang recalled some of the books regarding Alien species he had read in the Book Collection Pavilion. The Bookworm Immortal... this type of Alien insect, which fed on book pages and lived on text, was first documented in the Pre-Qin Period. Because they never forgot what they consumed, they were revered as immortals, capable of regurgitating any text they had eaten in the form of silk threads. Back then, every state cultivated specialists to communicate with the Bookworm Immortals. The higher the quality of the books a Bookworm Immortal consumed, the longer its lifespan. The longest recorded lifespan was five hundred years. However, breeding them was extremely difficult—a Bookworm Immortal would only lay eggs once in its lifetime—which led to their numbers gradually decreasing over the generations. Consequently, those who could communicate with Bookworm Immortals also grew fewer. During the Jin Dynasties, Bookworm Immortals were relatively common. Some noble families or even local magnates kept one or even several. But in my era, the entire Yu Country only has Bookworm Immortals in a dozen or so places, such as the Academic Palace, Great Ming Palace, and the Zhu Zuo Bureau. Some people in the states—even common folk—aren’t even aware of their historical existence. During the Han Dynasty, officials specifically responsible for managing Bookworm Immortals were called Destructive Insect Officials. They began their training at a young age, spent all their time with the Bookworm Immortals, and personally fed them various books. Whatever books the Bookworm Immortals ate, these officials had to read themselves, or at the very least, know the table of contents. When using them, the Duxian Official had to manipulate specific golden threads on the Bookworm Immortal’s back to make it regurgitate the designated documents...

The fly, controlled by Mo Si, rubbed its forelimbs together, then, after a moment’s thought, plucked two golden threads from the Bookworm Immortal’s back.

The slumbering Bookworm Immortal immediately rolled over and awoke, its mung bean-sized eyes reflecting the image of the Ink Silk Fly.

It paused, somewhat anthropomorphically, as if puzzled why a fly, not a human, had awakened it. But after a few seconds of hesitation, it still went RUSTLE RUSTLE RUSTLE and spat out a tangle of black and white interwoven silk.

The silk was initially quite moist but quickly dried and hardened, forming paper-like sheets. And the text on them...

The *Nine Provinces Spring and Autumn Annals* by Sima Biao, the Western Jin Secretarial Assistant? This book detailed the chaotic history at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. If the history Doctors from the Academic Palace saw it, they would be thrilled, but it was of no use in the current situation. Again!

The fly stretched out its appendage and plucked a few more golden threads from the Bookworm Immortal’s back.

With a rustling sound, the Bookworm Immortal spat out book pages again.

*West Capital Miscellaneous Records*—useless. *Er Ya*—useless. *Han Shu: Yi Wen Zhi*—useless. The *Jialan Dragon Breathing Technique*! A Cultivation classic of the Jialan Sect! It could be used for Spirit Vein training and Body enhancement. If mastered to a profound level, one could possess the power of ten dragons and ten elephants. But it required maintaining a pure yang body for one’s entire life... So, that’s pointless. Huh? Why is there also an adult-content version of *Luo Shenfu* with several thousand extra words? The opening line was, "Cao Pi’s results were far from satisfactory." This temple certainly keeps quite the collection, doesn’t it?

Li Ang looked at this version of *Luo Shenfu*, apparently written by some literatus from an undetermined dynasty, his expression quite intrigued.

However, this was understandable. According to ancient texts, Bookworm Immortals had an enormous demand for books. The content had to be meaningful, non-repetitive text; useless drafts from handwriting practice or students’ copied assignments would be utterly scorned by Bookworm Immortals and not eaten at all. Therefore, any faction that bred Bookworm Immortals would import all sorts of miscellaneous books in large quantities. Better to have an overabundance than a shortage. Among them, there would invariably be some bizarre inclusions.

Searching this way will take forever to find any clues. Forget it, I’ll do it myself.

Li Ang controlled the fly. It flew down from the middle layer and landed in front of the Bookworm Immortal.

HISS—

Mo Si extended from within the fly’s body like fine tentacles, reaching towards the Bookworm Immortal.

The plump Bookworm Immortal seemed to sense the imminent danger. It instinctively contracted its body, its golden threads standing erect on its back, and its mouthparts gaped slightly, as if about to scream in alarm.

But the Mo Si was faster. With a SWISH, it enveloped the Bookworm Immortal, instantly penetrating its outer membrane and taking control of its body.

So this is... the Bookworm Immortal’s ocean of consciousness?

Li Ang felt as though he were in a pitch-dark space, countless shards of light floating all around, each shard representing a book or an article. It was somewhat similar to his own Otherworld Memory Palace, albeit smaller and much more disorganized.

Li Ang held his breath and focused, acclimating to the Bookworm Immortal’s consciousness interface. With a mere thought, the myriad light shards began to swirl and flow, vast amounts of text unfolding before him. He could read directly, no longer needing the Bookworm Immortal to spit out threads.

Effective!

Li Ang took a deep breath. He controlled the rest of the insects, sending them flying towards locations where the Jialan Sect might have hidden other Bookworm Immortals, to search through their documents one by one.

The true history of the Jialan Sect...

He multitasked, rapidly searching for information. Until—

BUZZ!

A brilliant Buddha Light suddenly illuminated half the sky, emanating from the direction of the dining hall.

「At the same time, in the Grand Hall.」

"What exactly are we looking for?" Xia Jun, merged with the shadows under the effects of a Ghost Travel Talisman, frowned and asked.

"Clues to get back." Jiu Fenghai, hovering faintly in the air, observed the four Jialan Ancestor Statues positioned before the Grand Hall’s Buddha. He casually remarked, "Back when we were in the ruins of the Grand Hall, three Buddha statues suddenly rose to attack us. Then, we arrived at the Jialan Sect from three hundred years ago. As for the reason, these Buddha statues are the prime suspects—especially the one that’s missing three hundred years from now. Come take a look."