357 Ecdysis (2/2)

”It has been hibernating in the seal of the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, but probably around the time when the Black Vatican went to Shanghai to trouble you, the seal of the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon became unstable, allowing it to appear in Hangzhou or the lake as it wished.” Tangyue brought Mo Fan out to a place where they could see the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon.

With a glance, Mo Fan could see three stone statues that looked like cauldrons standing on the surface of the water. It was likely that they were supported by extremely long beams under the water.

They were positioned in a special triangular formation, with equal distance between them. The cauldrons had a small flame flickering inside them, which appeared as a reflection on the surface of the water.

”It has the Eyes of Terror, which plant a Seed of Terror in living things that are weaker than it. The seed will grow deep within the soul, and the prey won't know that it has grown into a giant tree. When the prey sees the snake again, it will drop to its knees subconsciously, overwhelmed with fear. Its prey would not have the courage to oppose it,” Tangyue explained his condition to him.

”I think so too. Only a woman like Miss Tangyue is able to stop me from sleeping. Any other demon beast won't be able to do that,” Mo Fan chuckled to pretend that he was relaxed.

”Smooth tongue!” Tangyue rolled her eyes at Mo Fan.

Tangyue had taught Mo Fan the way to overcome the fear. It was fairly simple. As he meditated, when the snake's face appeared, he would have to insist on staring at it without altering his gaze. As long as he overcame the fear once, the Seed of Fear would no longer sprout. Otherwise, he would be trapped in the nightmare forever, losing his inner peace.

---

Mo Fan went off to make his attempt. It sounded fairly simple from Tangyue's explanation, but it was not the case when trying to do it. Even though he was only confronting the fear in his Spiritual World, he was still soaked with cold sweat.

However, the effect was instantaneous. The fear soon disappeared, just like the sweat that had evaporated on the wind.

As the fear disappeared, Mo Fan felt like paying the so-called 'god' a visit now.

On second thought, he decided not to take the risk. Maybe it was actually not fond of outsiders. It would be a disaster to him if it ended up implanting some spiritual haze in his soul.

---

”I thought I could find out the reason why it showed itself in the city from you, so we could take some precautions. It turned out that you're as lost as we are, ” said Tangyue as she was taking a walk.

”Please, I don't think I can be any help for things at that level,” said Mo Fan.

”Why, don't you want to help me?” Tangyue blinked her eyes.

”It's not that I don't want… wait, since when did I say I'm helping you?” Mo Fan was startled.

”When you agreed to come. I tell you the secret, and you'll help me with something that has been a headache to me for quite some time.” Tangyue opened her eyes wide. It was a mature, glamorous face, but yet she pretended to be naive.

”...” Mo Fan was left speechless.

As a matter of fact, he felt like he was being tricked here! It felt like Tangyue was already planning her trick when she asked him here and decided to tell him the secret...

”Tell me then, what is it that you need?” asked Mo Fan with a wry smile.

”The god needs to go through ecdysis every ten years, and the next cycle will be happening fairly soon. The Head of the Magic Court and Heiyu has made me responsible for it, and asked me to choose a few outstanding candidates. During the ecdysis, the god will be extremely weak. It's the only weakness that the god has, thus its natural enemy or those with evil thoughts will try to make use of this opportunity to target it. Prior to the ecdysis, it will be fairly sensitive. It will go berserk as long as it detects a slight threat, which is the main reason why it appeared in the center of the city. Normally, if we don't open the seal, it wouldn't show itself,” said Tangyue.

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Ed. Note: We'll skip over the scene where Mo Fan pulls out his phone to look up what ecdysis is, too.