Chapter 1 Dozens of Demon Hunters

Dozens of demon hunters—including the "normal faction demon hunters" who had previously been captured by the Elder Council and imprisoned in the Spirit World Clock Tower, as well as the Elder Council's own high-ranking members—sat neatly on either side of a long table, motionless and silent, as if they were wooden puppets, frozen there blankly. And Anderhill ignored this scene, naturally walking into the hall, slowly looking around, and then finding a place at the long table to sit down.

Next, there was no movement.

"They are..." Lily cautiously slipped into the hall, waving her hands in front of those demon hunters sitting blankly, but no one responded, "Are their souls out of their bodies?"

The strange atmosphere of the scene put everyone on alert. Hao Ren had the data terminal adjust the early warning radar to its most sensitive state, and followed Lily closely, gripping his spear. He passed by a Council demon hunter who seemed to be of high rank. His collar was decorated with silver trim, and his collar and cuffs had extra embroidered crests, which were the marks of a master or elder. The high-ranking demon hunter lowered his head slightly, his empty gaze falling on the candlestick not far from the table. Hao Ren reached out and patted his shoulder. The latter shook slightly, seeming to turn his eyes to look at the shoulder, but quickly turned back.

"Their souls seem to be imprisoned deep in their consciousness, and their perception is isolated from the outside world," the data terminal buzzed as it flew around the long table, checking the state of each demon hunter. "Hmm... there are some other discordant points, but it will take some time to analyze."

"This is... Elder Lu Xi Weida," Bai Huo came to Hao Ren's side, "a high-level instructor of the Elder Council. He is stationed in the Spirit World Clock Tower all year round, responsible for conveying the instructions of the Saints and organizing the Holy Magic Seminars."

"Anderhill mentioned the seminars," Hao Ren nodded slightly, "So what are these people doing here - I mean, under normal circumstances?"

"The Saints possess the knowledge of ancient times and the lost ancient witchcraft. In order to prevent these things from being lost, they must pass on the knowledge, but due to the pollution of taboo mysteries, low-level demon hunters will be corroded and cursed if they directly listen to the voices of the Saints. Therefore, the Saints will summon the demon hunters with the strongest mental power every once in a while to teach a small amount of knowledge, and then let them pass it on to their respective apprentices," Bai Huo explained seriously. "The wisdom of the Saints is as vast as the sea, far exceeding the limit that ordinary biological brain structures can bear, so they will only choose some suitable things to teach their descendants as needed, and the seminars are therefore held frequently."

"So this is the scene of a certain Holy Magic Seminar - if everything is normal," Hao Ren said, wiping the long table casually, "Huh?"

He was surprised to find a lot of dust on his fingers, and upon closer inspection, a thick layer of dust had accumulated on the long table.

"The Spirit World Clock Tower only lost contact with the outside world a day ago?" He looked at Izhaks not far away.

"That's what the scouts reported," Izhaks nodded. "What did you find?"

Hao Ren pointed to the dust on the table: "According to the density of airborne particulate matter measured by the terminal, it takes at least seven or eight days for dust to accumulate to this level. Unless the Elder Council went crazy and no one has cleaned the house since then, I'm afraid this 'ghostly' state in the tower has lasted for more than a week."

Lily blinked, "Many of the smells on the first floor of the Clock Tower are 'new,' and the gatekeeper's room was just tidied up, not like it's been abandoned for a long time."

"So this situation started from the second floor..." Hao Ren frowned slightly, looking at the head of the long table. If it was a seminar, then that position should be that of Saint Bedolis, but now there was only an empty chair there. The leader of the Holy Magic Seminar was not here. The demon hunters in the room were just "listening to the teaching" in the air. "Saint Bedolis... Anderhill still remembers this name in a chaotic state, so this Bedolis should be related to the current situation."

At this time, a demon hunter responsible for checking the surrounding situation suddenly shouted: "There's a road here!"

Hao Ren ran over to check the situation. He saw behind a huge ancient stone sculpture, a crack in the wall large enough for two people to pass side by side. On the opposite side of the hole was a dimly lit corridor. Elizabeth leaned her head and glanced into the corridor: "There seems to be another hall on the other side. Where does this lead?"

Tutan's voice was a little uncertain for the first time: "...I don't know now. The structure of the Spirit World Clock Tower has become very strange. In fact, even the room in front of us shouldn't be in this position... These illogical roads have all appeared this time."

As Tutan said this, the little demon Elizabeth had already jumped into the hole in the wall on her own, strolling towards the depths of the dark and deep corridor: "It's okay, it's okay, I don't feel any danger~"

"This bear child..." Hao Ren muttered, and could only quickly follow.

Tutan looked back at the dozens of demon hunters who were sitting silently on both sides of the long table, like ghosts. He left a few warriors to take care of the situation here, and then led the rest of the people into the hole in the wall.

The interior of the Spirit World Clock Tower was completely disordered. The route he had roughly judged before was probably no longer reliable. In this case, there was no need to stick to any direction. Any suddenly emerging entrance was worth exploring.

Elizabeth held a fireball the size of a washbasin to illuminate the way ahead. The little demon girl didn't think this gloomy and weird place was scary at all. The way she strolled around and jumped around was like she was on an outing. Izhaks and Hao Ren next to her were quite cautious, paying attention to whether any demons or ghosts would suddenly jump out of any corner.

But in the end, the road was calm. After passing through a long corridor, what appeared in front of everyone was a place like a large library.

The extremely vast hall extended endlessly in all directions, and huge bookshelves were arranged like towering city walls. The bookshelves were filled with ancient books and scrolls dating back to even before human history. Between these vast collections of books, you could see many stone platforms floating in mid-air. These platforms were furnished with tables, chairs, and writing tools, obviously prepared for the library's visitors.

Hao Ren and the others suddenly entered this solemn and imposing place from the gloomy corridor, and were immediately stunned.

"Library?" Tutan was surprised. "...I didn't expect it to be connected to this place..."

Vivian asked curiously, "Is there anything special about the library?"

"The library is 'outside' the Spirit World Clock Tower, a space that we can't explain the most. We have tried to map the structure inside the Spirit World Clock Tower. Although the connection rules of most building areas are very strange, they can at least be roughly placed within the Clock Tower. Only the library, its entrance will appear between the fourth and tenth floors according to certain rules, and the channels behind each entrance are structurally impossible to lead to a facility inside the tower - they will extend straight to the outside of the Spirit World Clock Tower, sometimes even a straight corridor several kilometers long. So we have always believed that the library is a closed space floating outside the Spirit World Clock Tower. Due to some mapping rules, its entrance is restricted to certain floors inside the Clock Tower. According to the rules, the entrance to the library will only appear above the fourth floor, but it appeared here... In other words, even the most basic mapping rules are wrong?"

Tutan walked forward while talking about the various secrets of this wonderful library: "...This room has incredible power. The longer you stay here, the more acute your thinking will become, and you will even develop some perceptions and understandings beyond physical experience. Before this transcendent perception crushes your nervous system, you can easily understand the most profound and difficult knowledge. Therefore, we put the most profound and difficult books here. Only master-level demon hunters are qualified to read the classics in the library, and even master demon hunters cannot stay here for more than two days."

"I like coming here," Bai Huo said softly, "I stay for a whole day."

Tutan blurted out, "I know you often sneak in manga to read."

As soon as he said this, Hao Ren, Vivian and others were stunned. They looked at Bai Huo incredulously, Lily staring: "You read that stuff too?"

"Can't a demon hunter have personal hobbies?" Bai Huo turned his head away a little embarrassedly, "This is the quietest place in the Spirit World Clock Tower, and once I start reading, the instructor won't nag next to me..."

Tutan shook his head: "If he knew you were hiding manga in the Encyclopedia of Magic Potions, he would definitely nag you all day."

What else could Hao Ren say? He could only say that the life of demon hunters in reality was indeed rich and colorful, and not the same style as in fantasy stories...

Just then, the corner of his eye suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure flashing past between the bookshelves in the distance.