"The Fountain of Youth…"
Belle frowned upon hearing this. "You really have this thing that sounds weird, strange, and dangerous. Do you really believe in that mysterious person?"
Ellis said, "No, I don't believe it."
"The Fountain of Youth, the thing that is said to make you immortal after drinking it, how can it be obtained so easily?"
"Even if it is true, if you give me this thing, there must be some secrets hidden in it that I don't know… My knowledge of mysticism also tells me that for something like this that sounds incredible, just knowing it itself means danger."
The three avoidance rules in the world of mysticism: don't look at what you shouldn't look at, don't listen to what you shouldn't listen to, and don't know what you shouldn't know.
If you want to live well in the world of mysticism, curiosity is the last thing that should appear.
Tang smiled on the side and said nothing about it.
"After the mysterious man gave me the item, I immediately tried to trade it out, but..." Ellis stroked his hair in annoyance.
"But at this time, those people who usually don't pay attention to a small figure like you, all of a sudden know that you have the Fountain of Youth." Tang took over the topic, "It's a very low-level method, but it can't withstand the instigation of the extraordinary behind the scenes."
Sequence 8 of the Witch Path, the name of the potion is called Instigator.
Even without using extraordinary abilities, the instigation of these witches is still effective.
"No... Well, you're right." Ellis sighed, "I tried to find the source of the news, tried to find the trace of the mysterious man, but I found nothing, as if the mysterious man had never appeared."
"And the mysterious man didn't come at the agreed time of the transaction... In fact, after I noticed something was wrong, I contacted other people and planned to trade the 'Fountain of Youth' directly. It would be better for me and us to throw away this obviously problematic thing than to keep it with me."
Belle glanced at Tang, who nodded and said concisely: "I didn't lie, but I didn't tell the whole truth either."
Ellis glanced at Tang.
Tang looked back.
Ellis cleared his throat and could only continue, "Then, the organization I contacted that wanted the 'Fountain of Youth' all died."
He paused and looked at Bailey.
"Belle, do you still remember the 'Pirate Feast' half a month ago?"
"'Pirate Feast'? Many pirates have disappeared recently, big pirates, people have been talking about this..." Belle immediately linked the two together, "Did they die at the 'Pirate Feast'?"
This was a feast for all pirates held on that island half a month ago.
These sea plunderers will put out the things they have plundered for nearly half a year, whether they are people or things, whether they are related to mysticism or not, as long as you can afford the price, you can buy them there in those days.
It can also be regarded as a gathering among pirates.
Ellis made this deal with one of the organizers of the Pirate Feast, a big pirate who had several large ships and was also a mid-sequence pirate.
After all, the rumor about the "Fountain of Youth" was spreading all over the island. Rather than letting the situation develop and letting some unknown guys watch from behind, it would be better to trade the things directly, at least to have peace.
After confirming that the mysterious man could not be contacted, the news of the "Fountain of Youth" spread like wildfire. Ellis, who had many years of pirate experience, knew that he had been targeted.
As for the "Fountain of Youth", whether it is really a panacea that can make people immortal or not, the big pirates he contacted are quite interested in it.
The Fountain of Youth is deep in the Sonia Sea, and people can live forever if they drink a sip... Regardless of whether this legend is true or not, it will make many pirates who like adventure and chase excitement do some things that go against reason.
For example, chasing something that sounds wrong at the name, there are always people who think they will be the lucky one, or they think they can solve this kind of trouble.
"We agreed to make the deal at that time, and I took the Fountain of Youth with me."
"Then, when I arrived at the place of the deal, I found out..."
"They are all dead."
The bodies were hanging on the sails, hanging alone, swaying with the sea breeze.
The big pirate who wanted to buy the 'Fountain of Youth' was pierced from top to bottom. He seemed to have encountered something incomprehensible before his death. His expression was twisted and weird. He raised his head and looked at the crimson moon hanging high in the sky.
They died on their own decks, died that night.
"The rumors about the Fountain of Youth suddenly disappeared at that time. It seemed that all the desire for this thing disappeared because of the death of the big pirate."
"But I can feel that those eyes are still staring at me."
"Death did not end because of this."
Ellis lowered his head and narrated dejectedly, "Like a plague, death spread among pirates. Many people who knew about the Fountain of Youth died on their ships unknowingly when the night came and the sky held up the red moon."
"Their bodies were hanging upside down on the sails, and the bodies swayed with the sea breeze, making one sound after another of objects hitting the pillars..."
Belle's face began to look bad, but Tang seemed to have known it from the beginning. He sat aside and listened quietly to this ghost story in the sense of mysticism.
Suddenly, Tang's head moved and looked out through the window.
Dark clouds floated in the distance, and it seemed that it was going to rain heavily on the sea.
The sea breeze and waves became violent at this time. The gloomy sky, combined with the terrifying and bizarre stories that sounded in the ears, gave people a feeling that those dead pirates would drive a ghost ship out from the place covered by dark clouds.
And the story told by Ellis did not end there.
"After that, I always heard very strange sounds..."
"It seemed to be the panting of something, depressed, painful, desperate, something in the distance called me, wanting me to go somewhere... Sometimes I think, if I open the bottle of the 'Fountain of Youth' and drink what's inside, I should be able to rest in peace..."
"You drank it?" Bailey exclaimed, seemingly not noticing the abnormality outside the window.
The monocle worn in Tang's right eye socket flashed a subtle light, and he kept looking out the window.
"Belle, I'm not stupid enough to drink something that's obviously problematic." Ellis coughed softly, "After I noticed the problem, I sealed it up with some methods, but the results seemed to be ineffective."
He said, "Now I can hear calls from far away every night. It's a very strange feeling..."
"Then, I threw the sealed 'Fountain of Youth' into the sea, hoping that this thing won't cause too much impact."
"And the whispers have indeed weakened a lot because of the departure of this thing... I think there shouldn't be any problems after a while."
Rain fell from the sky, and the sky was dark, without a trace of light.
It was a drizzle that fell on the deck at first, and then it poured down. The waves rolled up, and the lonely wooden boat sailed forward in the storm, struggling to move forward in the violent sea wind and huge waves.
But the power that was pushed forward by the 'error' obviously would not stop because of this degree of natural disaster. This kind of weather was not a threat to a high-sequence Beyonder who possessed multiple seals.
Natural disasters, without the influence of Beyonder power, would hardly threaten Tang.
But——
"The boat… has stopped."
At some point, the boat that was supposed to be driven by mystic power stopped in the center of the sea. Even though the oars were still swinging, they did not drive the wooden boat forward even one step.
Countless things as thick as seaweed floated up from the depths of the sea, grabbed the bottom of the wooden boat, and tied it in place like an anchor, passively accepting the scouring of the waves and wind.
Those things tightly grasped the bottom of the wooden boat and continued to climb.
"I threw that thing into the sea, and it should sleep forever in the depths of the ocean, drifting on the seabed with the ocean current."
Neither Ellis nor Bailey realized that there was a problem with the ship itself, and their conversation continued.
"It is rumored that the 'Fountain of Youth' comes from the depths of the Sonia Sea, and it is a unique treasure on the sea."
Suddenly, several black shadows appeared in the distance.
Those seemed to be other ships, floating on the dark and deep sea, moving slowly in the storm, approaching the wooden boat.
Tang stood up at some point, walked to the window, and looked into the distance.
"But after a few days, the bottle containing the 'Fountain of Youth' returned to me. At first, I saw the familiar bottle and didn't remember it..."
In the distance, there were several ships.
There was no one on the deck, no sailors pushing the oars, the waves swept in, and the ships sped along with the waves and the strong wind.
On those ships, there seemed to be something shaking on the masts.
A tooth-grinding sound came from the bottom of the ship, as if something was breathing.
"Hu——"
"Hu——"
"But that is the 'Fountain of Youth', it has not been discarded by me, or rather, it is just a dream of mine that I discarded it."
Tang took out the Sun Scepter from the system space. The three-meter-long dark golden scepter still exuded a sense of stagnant decadence in the dark world.
Faintly, Tang could hear the singing of countless souls praising the sun. Since the Sun Scepter took a portion of the extraordinary characteristics of the Ocean Singer, this singing has become louder and louder.
"Shut up for a while, and then you can sing for those people over there."
He said in his heart.
Then the Sun Scepter really shut down.
This thing is well trained by the system.
Tang waved the Sun Scepter in his hand and asked the system to give an appraisal to the other two people present.
After confirming that they had not suffered irreparable pollution, Tang lowered his eyes to the bottom of himself.
He adjusted his monocle, "The pollution of the Fountain of Youth is transforming this area."
The conversation between Ellis and Bailey continued, as if they were completely unaware that the world had changed.
"The 'Fountain of Youth' sent by the Witch Cult is special."
"The Fountain of Youth itself does not have such a strong polluting nature. The reason why the Fountain of Youth sent to Ellis is special is probably related to the countless spiritual pollution mixed in the God War Ruins and the divine power of various gods."
"And, I'm afraid it is also closely related to a place."
Binxi.
Tang thought of this place in his mind.
Binxi Town, later known as Banxi Port, the pollution leaked from the Source Disaster City turned that place into a ruin washed by the Storm Church's lightning.
But that place is not close to here, let alone the God War Ruins. Except for the Witch Cult being idle, Tang doesn't think there is any possibility that the Fountain of Youth will wander around there and then appear in Ellis's hands.
"Moreover, there may be more than one Fountain of Youth, and not only Ellis... The Red Angel Three-in-One Hot Pot is suspected to have been polluted by the Source Disaster City of the Witch and Hunter, and was solved by Adam, or the Ancient Sun God, and became the main material of the Blood Emperor Potion."
His sight passed over the splint and turned a fish into a secret puppet. Through the fish, he entered the real vision of Euclidean space and saw the huge phantom under the ship.
From the perspective of a cryptographer, it is a brand new, indescribable monster formed by the twisting of countless pollution and marine life.
From an intuitive perspective, it is a swollen, huge, human-like corpse floating on the seabed.
The corpse has no facial features, only four dark holes, which represent the eyes, nose and mouth respectively.
The human-like him, or her hair, was like a gorgon, and the seaweed-like hair was wrapped around the wooden boat that Tang was riding, binding it in place. Even with the power of mysticism, it still couldn't move forward even a step.
In the distance, the shadows that were speeding in the storm and waves revealed their true faces one after another.
They were pirate ships, and they were ghost ships.
There were no living people on the ship. The ghost poles hung one human body after another. They had rotted, revealing the white bones. They kept opening and closing their mouths to the living, as if they were saying something.
But no matter what it was, it was a kind of spiritual pollution, a kind of madness that could get out of control if heard.
After all, skeletons can't speak.
Tang glanced at the two people behind him, and then snapped his fingers with the hand that didn't hold the sun scepter.
On the little finger of the left hand, the ring of the "master" glowed silver in the dark night.
Ellis and Bailey stopped talking.
They looked at Tang together, and then they encountered a miracle created by a top magician.
They were instantly transferred to the Never-Ending Theater in Tingen, thousands of miles away.
(End of this chapter)