Published at 8th of April 2023 9:32 am

Chapter 417: Return Of Life

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Lin Jie was taken aback, blinking several times as she stared at the stone slab emitting an eerie red glow.

He, too, had learned some transcendent abilities from Silver and knew that such abnormal phenomena did exist in Norzin, just that they had disappeared into history and Lin Jie wasn't certain if they still survived now.

But at the very least, the Witch of Life wasn't the stuff of legends but a true ancient divine entity.

And she was also an old acquaintance of Silver's.

Lin Jie shut the main bookstore door. The sky outside was already dark, and Joseph had returned and was up to something in the basement.

Lin Jie also hoped that Chairman Maria would be able to return home safe.

The ancient stone tablet emitted a dim light, much dimmer than the bookstore lights, but it seemed to be gradually gaining in intensity. Lin Jie carefully scrutinized the stone tablet, finding the inscription on it obscure and difficult to read.

According to the meaning of the inscription on this stone tablet to pinpoint her location, this thing was very likely the 'wedge' used by the Witch of Life. Which meant to say, this stone tablet might be used to find a path.

As for where this path led and where it went, it was difficult to say.

However, there's quite a chance she will find her way here... Lin Jie mused. Silver had been quite easy to get along with before, but he didn't know how the Witch of Life would be.

At this point, Lin Jie decided he wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight and would wait and see what this stone tablet was all about.

Having come to his decision, he meticulously searched through the books and research materials on the bookshelves.

After interacting with Silver and high-level academics like Andrew, Lin Jie had obtained quite a lot of information and knowledge about ancient times, though he had only touched on a portion of it. Now, it was time to continue this research.

Lin Jie picked out several useful books and placed them on the table.

In Lin Jie's current outlook, dragons and elves that were once recorded in Azir's ancient times were once real and incredibly powerful existences with incomparable strength and capable of miraculous feats.

And in the records, the Witches akin to creators who controlled everything in the world were even more frightening existences.

Silver, for example, whom Lin Jie was more familiar with, had casually taught him some abilities that enabled him to thwart an attack by the Path of Flaming Sword, protecting Joseph and Vincent in the process.

Silver herself probably had a profound level of knowledge and power that Lin Jie couldn't even imagine.

And as one of the Four Primordial Witches, the Witch of Life probably wasn't inferior to Silver in terms of power.

Lin Jie still felt a little nervous as his thought processes reached this point.

I'm just an ordinary bookstore owner, yet here comes a day where I know two Primordial Witches. No one would believe me if I said so.

Lin Jie flipped open several books that researched the Witch of Life and started to read them seriously.

In Legend of Primordial Life, written in the Third Era, it was said that the four Primordial Witches didn't have a cooperative relationship. While they knew each other, each of them had differing beliefs and ideas. These came to be the Azir continent's embodiment of the rules.

Among them, the Witch of Life was the kind, compassionate protector, and sympathizer of humanity. In a sense, she was the mother of humanity.

She arrived with lighting and flames, brightening up the originally chaotic world. The existence of flames allowed humanity to build their own homes, but wherever there was light, there was darkness.

And darkness was the breeding ground of the evil god and dream beasts.

At some point, the darkness invaded Azir, contaminating people's minds and causing countless people who witnessed it to die or go insane.

Lin Jie frowned. This passage did not detail how people fell into fear and madness. It was vague and dubious. However, it seemed that this period of time was later referred to as the "Great Pestilence," and the last elf king who died from madness, Candela, was regarded as the source of the plague.

But in truth, the darkness was the cause of the 'contamination.'

Candela was just a poor soul who got blamed due to history being distorted.

Next, Lin Jie went through an ancient book from the Second Era, which was the time of the elves—Ancient Elf Kingdom.

Inside, like the previous book, were legends about the Witch of Life protecting humanity. However, it said that the Witch of Life didn't give fire to humanity and that it already existed from the beginning.

In this book, the Witch of Life believed that elves and ancient dragons became proud, arrogant, and cruel due to their overwhelming power, and thus, the Azir continent under their control was headed toward destruction.

She believed that only the humans she loved could become the masters of this world.

Therefore, she constructed a bonfire and protected all humans when darkness descended. As a witch, she also taught humans many knowledge and skills while allowing humans to reproduce, and eventually, she exhausted her power and fell while protecting humans from the invasion of the evil god.

She was neutral, friendly, and a good witch, but in the Second Era, when elves existed, the Witch of Life was described as a selfish and weak entity in this book.

However, when the era got closer to the age of humans, the kind image of the Witch of Life came to be.

The Primordial Witches were the embodiment of the rules of the whole Azir continent, and perhaps the Witch of Life was the embodiment of human life.

Lin Jie flipped through several more books about the Witch of Life. These books were mostly similar, some were exaggerated, but they all included stories of the Witch of Life using fire to resist darkness.

Ahh, this 'darkness' seems to be rarely recorded. Lin Jie rubbed his chin as he mulled.

However, in some documents, the darkness was referred to as the 'evil god'—this evil god didn't even reveal its face, but its mere arrival caused the entire era of elves to perish.

In this way, while it seemed a bit selfish to only favor humanity, it was precisely because the Witch of Life preserved the spark of human life that allowed the Norzin of today to exist.

Lin Jie flipped through the book, propping his cheek with one hand. He didn't know how long he had been reading, and drowsiness set in.

As if wandering for a long, long time and finally finding its way back, a red, misty light started swirling in mid-air around the stone tablet, and the temperature of the entire room began to heat up.

Meanwhile, Lin Jie had fallen into slumber.

"Huuu..."

Lin Jie felt as if he had been bumped into someone and awoke. He glanced to see who it was, but merely saw a fleeting shadow.

Blackie?

Lin Jie's eyes widened as he saw the stone tablet in front of him glowing like a cluster of flames. A wisp of smoke swirled around the tablet and passed through it.

The brightness of the tablet intensified, and the smoke gradually spread, slowly taking on a blurry humanoid female form.

Half of her face was surrounded by flames, while the other half was covered in scales. She floated in mid-air, with slightly drooping wings spread out from her back. All around her, the flames flowed to the ground like a cape.

Lin Jie's mouth was agape from surprise, and he was speechless for quite some while.

She… she really came?!

The Witch of Life finally opened her eyes, which were filled with pure white light, and the first person she saw was Lin Jie.

Lin Jie took a deep breath and gave her what he felt was his friendliest and most respectful smile. "Hello."

However, what happened was that the Witch of Life's expression did turn when she saw Lin Jie.

Lin Jie greeted her earnestly, "Hello, I'm Lin Jie, a..."

"It's... It's actually you?" The Witch of Life couldn't believe her eyes and frowned as soon as she saw Lin Jie.

"Y-you've come back!" exclaimed the Witch of Life in disbelief.

Lin Jie pointed to himself in puzzlement.

The Witch of Life's expression gradually turned fearful and grotesque, like Maria before her. "S-so, it's like this..." she muttered.

Frowning, Lin Jie asked in bewilderment, "Are you mistaking me for someone else?"

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