"The Tattered Man has arrived in the white mask …"
Cries of alarm rang out in the simple room in the tower of the Ulthar Temple.
Looking at the figure, Atal's aged face was filled with excitement, shock and a trace of fear. "The prophecy, the prophecy has come true …"
Seeing Atal's reaction, the three people who had just walked in stopped in their tracks. Peacock and Malachite were about to perform the Ulthar salute but before they could do so, they turned to look at the nightmare man with confusion.
Here, only his robe was slightly ragged, and he was the only one wearing a white mask.
"Oh, the wise Barcé …" Atal mumbled.
At that moment, a thought crossed Gu Jun's mind.
Along the way, Ulthar was real, the farmhouses, the people and the cats proved that. The shrine was real, the age of the place and the visitors proved that. This could not be a trap set up by Peacock and the rest.
The Great Elder said he was the visitor in the prophecy but did the prophecy have any other content, would he be treated as a guest or be chased out?
If he was a guest, then no matter who Peacock and the rest were, as long as he could rely on Atal, he would be able to escape from them and even get to know their background.
Gu Jun was trained in psychology so he could see the fear in Atal's eyes but there was no disgust … He made a decision and took a step forward to say, "Not long ago, I met the wise man Barcé."
He said it in Chinese, he wanted Atal to understand what he meant.
"You …" Peacock's expression shifted and Malachite frowned. The nightmare man who had been mute for the past 3 days suddenly spoke.
Even though they already suspected this strange man could speak, for the past 3 days, he had either spoken through his mouth or through his eyes.
"Sir, what are you talking about?" Peacock asked softly.
Gu Jun ignored her. It did not matter whether they understood him or not. What he needed to do now was to take control of the situation. He looked at Atal, who was even more shocked, and said, "Barzai is on the white ship, ferrying people from different worlds. I have talked a lot with him on the ship."
"I already knew that Barcé the Wise is not dead." Atal's old face kept changing, but his voice was still murmuring, "His soul cannot rest because of prayer. Why do you have to pray pointlessly? Barcé the Wise, his soul is trapped on the white ship … "
"Mr. Atal." Gu Jun said in a low voice, "Barcé asked me to bring you a message. Wisdom and willpower can surpass the Earth Gods, but you can't resist greater power. That kind of power only needed to look at you once and you would fall into an endless nightmare. 'Don't look this way, 'said Barcé. "
At the time, he did not understand what the words "Don't look this way" in the vision meant. Now that he thought about it, it must have happened when they were climbing Hatheg Kola, and Barcé's last cry was directed at Atal.
"Ah …" Atal's face was filled with confusion, and he fell back on the ivory podium. "The Rag, indeed, indeed …"
Among the people in Ulthar, Neil, Hatheg, and Dylath-Leen, only one person knew what happened that year, and what Barcé said.
That person was Atal.
"Go back, don't look this way!" Barzai's horrified wails and the terrifying thunder were still ringing in his ears. At that time, he had closed his eyes and covered his ears. Then, he had jumped from the top of the mountain and landed on the snowy ground at the foot of the mountain. That kind of height should have taken his life, but he survived unscathed.
For many years, he did not tell anyone about Barcé's cries.
"The Rag." Atal looked at the ragged figure again, and there was respect in his old eyes. His voice was choked, "Is Barcé alright?"
"He still remembers everything." Gu Jun said, "But he has his own destiny."
Peacock and Malachite were stunned. At Ulthar, other than the cats, the most respected Great Elder of the temple, Atal, stood up and invited the nightmare man to sit on a wooden chair. He asked, "The Rag, why are you here?"
Suddenly, the situation changed, Atal appeared to be under the command of the nightmare man.
"Mr. Atal, I think you'd better entertain your two guests first." Gu Jun said as he sat down. It was not that he wanted to bite the hand that fed him, he just wanted to get to the bottom of the situation. He purposely said, "Even though I'm traveling with them, I'm not familiar with them and I'm not here with the same goal."
"Oh?" Atal thought that the two were his servants, so he looked at them and asked, "Young man, why are you here?"
After a brief moment of confusion, Peacock and Malachite quickly adjusted themselves to face this new situation.
"Mr. Nightmare Man." Peacock first turned to the man on the chair but she did not dare to look into the pair of hollow eyes. "No matter what you're saying, we mean no harm."
She then completed the unfinished hand salute to Atal. After introducing herself and Malachite, she continued.
"We're all practitioners of the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan. Even though this book originated from our tribe, due to many reasons, people often say that Barcé the Wise is the best practitioner and then it's you, Elder Atal. According to rumors, Barcé the Wise has studied the Pnakotic Manuscripts from Roma and the Pnakotic Manuscripts are crucial to understanding the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan. "
Gu Jun listened to this and he understood more …
"Rumors, the Pnakotic Manuscripts is just a rumor." Atal had returned to normal, "There is no such book."
"Great Elder, our people are in desperate need of this knowledge." Peacock's face darkened, "They are suffering, it was not easy for us to come here."
"The 'earth gods' that we are talking about …" Atal said something else. "They are just some earthly gods, not real gods. But they are protected by other, more powerful gods, and those gods … You and I are mortals, so we shouldn't talk about those powers. But it is these powers that bring suffering to your people, that is what you are looking for. "
Gu Jun listened and thought, 'In that case, the so-called' Earth Gods' are not as powerful as the Great Old Ones. '
'Perhaps they are existences like the Son of Misfortune?'
"Elder Atal, Mr. Nightmare Man." Peacock looked at them, "I beg you to listen to me tell you about the suffering of my people before you make your decision."
"No, any suffering …" Atal was about to say something when Gu Jun interrupted, "Let them speak, there's no harm in listening."
Of course, they could understand their language but not their inner thoughts. The R 'yleh worshippers could talk about the suffering of their people but it was better to listen first.
Atal sighed and decided to let them speak. Peacock frowned and started her story.
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