Ye Tiancheng felt a sense of heaviness after listening. Anyone would feel the same upon hearing such a story. However, he remembered why he was seeking this information.
Therefore, Ye Tiancheng said, "So, what does this story have to do with everything we are investigating now?"
A Zi shot him an impatient glare. "Are you trying to get fat by eating one bite at a time? Why are you in such a hurry? Even if you're pressed for time, you don't need to rush this story-telling session. Did I say I was finished?"
Ye Tiancheng could only express his helplessness, "It's my impatience. Please continue."
A Zi then proceeded. He later learned that the reason the Taoist priest lied and did such a thing was simply because the child's birthdate was in an yin year, yin month, yin day, and yin hour. From body to soul, the child was excellent material.
Everything that happened back then was within the Taoist priest's calculations, including the death of the brothel owner and the burning of the brothel. These were all orchestrated by the Taoist priest.
As for whether the Taoist priest was a true Taoist, A Zi didn't know. However, A Zi had broken his vows and killed the Taoist priest for revenge. It was when he killed the Taoist priest that he accidentally swallowed something the priest had taken out.
Ye Tiancheng sensed something and indeed heard A Zi say that the thing he swallowed was a fragment of the Fuxi Qin. A Zi spent some time and gradually learned to utilize the Fuxi Qin fragment. Eventually, when A Zi settled in this place, he used the Fuxi Qin fragment to construct this space.
At that time, A Zi never imagined that the space he constructed would eventually become his prison.
This time, Ye Tiancheng couldn't hold back. After hesitating several times, he finally couldn't help but speak, "Wait, wait!"
A Zi truly lost his temper this time. He glared fiercely at Ye Tiancheng and said, "You better have something important to say, otherwise... What's your problem? Can't you wait until I'm finished speaking? Interrupting halfway is too impolite!"
Ye Tiancheng apologized to him, "Sorry, sorry. It's just that there's a very important matter. I have a question, a very, very important question."
A Zi scrutinized Ye Tiancheng's expression. Seeing that he wasn't playing games, he raised his chin and said, "Then ask quickly, or I'll forget where I was."
Ye Tiancheng replied, "Don't worry, I'll remember. I'll give you a hint later."
"What I want to ask you is, when did you swallow the Fuxi Qin fragment, and how many years ago was that?"
When Ye Tiancheng asked A Zi this, he did not doubt the authenticity of the Fuxi Qin fragment A Zi swallowed. This was because he himself had collected other Fuxi Qin fragments, and the resonance between them was undeniable. Therefore, the Fuxi Qin fragment A Zi swallowed was definitely real.
The problem lay precisely here. A Zi had been wandering outside for some time after swallowing the Fuxi Qin fragment before constructing this space. This space then gradually formed the Oddity Market. This was a major issue!
If, at that time, Fuxi Qin fragments were already scattered outside and Ye Tiancheng had not collected them before, then what were the Fuxi Qin that Ye Tiancheng had previously possessed and used, and which was later snatched away by the woman in red?
Or was the Fuxi Qin he obtained at that time not complete, which was why he needed to collect Fuxi Qin fragments everywhere now?
A Zi frowned, feeling stumped. He tried his best to calculate but eventually gave up, asking Ye Tiancheng, "Is this question important? How could I possibly calculate it accurately?"
"When I was alive, I was a fox demon for over three hundred years. Later, I became human and then died. That was still considered ancient times by you humans. I can't remember how ancient it was, it was so long ago."
"After I constructed this space, I found that I couldn't leave. I was trapped inside. After staying here, my perception of time gradually became blurred. It's not that I don't want to tell you, it's that I don't know myself. However, I can give you a more definite time range."
"After I established the Oddity Market here, many evil spirits gradually settled in. Many of the evil spirits here have been living for hundreds, even thousands of years, so it's definitely been a thousand years."
"So, what's the point of you asking this question? Is it really that important?"
Ye Tiancheng fell silent, falling into a bit of self-doubt. The little fox also vaguely sensed some issues because of some of Ye Tiancheng's experiences, which the little fox had heard about even if she hadn't participated.
A Zi waited for Ye Tiancheng's reply for a long time and was getting impatient. He heard the little fox whisper to him, "Of course it's important, because my elder brother had a Fuxi Qin before, but it was stolen later."
"Later, for some reason, the Fuxi Qin turned into fragments again, so my elder brother is collecting Fuxi Qin fragments again."
A Zi felt something was wrong and asked, "How old are you and your elder brother?"
The little fox replied, "As for myself, I'm not too sure. When my elder brother found me, I couldn't remember my past. But my elder brother is only in his early twenties now."
A Zi was speechless. His first reaction was, "This is impossible. Either the Fuxi Qin your elder brother had before was fake, or it was simply incomplete."
"How long have I swallowed this fragment? It's not like I spat it out without me knowing, the Fuxi Qin was reassembled, and then after it broke again, I swallowed it back."
Not only A Zi, who said this, but even Ye Tiancheng and the little fox, who heard it, knew how absurd this possibility was.
Ye Tiancheng rubbed his temples. Thinking that pursuing this issue now seemed meaningless, he could only say, "Then it was probably incomplete. The Fuxi Qin I had before was also assembled after I collected Fuxi Qin fragments. Perhaps it was incomplete at that time, but I didn't notice."
Ye Tiancheng also didn't doubt that the Fuxi Qin he originally possessed was fake, because he had held that Fuxi Qin. This was why Ye Tiancheng was even clearer that the Fuxi Qin fragments he was currently collecting were no different from what he had obtained before.
If it weren't for this reason, Ye Tiancheng would have doubted his own existence.
A Zi opened his mouth but ultimately refrained from mocking. "Alright, I didn't expect such a misunderstanding. Anyway, I can be absolutely certain that what I swallowed was a Fuxi Qin fragment, and I swallowed it a long time ago. It can't be fake."
"Oh, where was I just now? Didn't you say you would remember? Give me a hint."
Ye Tiancheng almost forgot. After thinking for a moment, he said, "You said that after arriving here, you constructed this space, but you didn't expect it to become your prison."
With Ye Tiancheng's reminder, A Zi remembered, "Oh, yes, it's here. In the beginning, I constructed this space and it wasn't open to the outside. I just wanted to recuperate here properly because I had died, and my physical body had separated. Since I was dead, I was a soul."
"If I drifted outside for too long, it wouldn't be a good thing for me. Moreover, at that time, I felt I wasn't strong enough yet, and swallowing the Fuxi Qin fragment would be very dangerous, making me easily targeted by others. After all, you understand the principle of 'possessing a treasure invites trouble'."
"Before I died, I had experienced what it was like to transform into a human form, so even after dying, I was still somewhat unwilling. Although I willingly died for someone, I still wanted to be human."
"So, after losing my physical body, I started thinking about how to get another one. The result is what you see now. It took me a lot of effort, and I finally merged with it, achieving a very good integration, as if it were original."
As soon as he said this, Ye Tiancheng grasped something, as if understanding part of why A Zi couldn't merge with his original physical body.
A Zi continued his story, "After I ensured my strength was sufficient and I had a new physical body, I finally wanted to leave. But it turned out like this, I could never leave."
"Later, I discovered through research that this should be related to the Fuxi Qin fragment. However, if I want to peel the Fuxi Qin fragment from my body, I must leave this place. But if I want to leave this place, I am constrained by the Fuxi Qin fragment. This creates a contradiction, trapping me in my current predicament."
"During this period, I gradually opened up my space, and then the Oddity Market slowly appeared within the space. This was not something I created; it was gradually formed by the evil spirits coming and going in my space. It's just that because they are in my territory, I have restricted them."
"We can be considered mutually beneficial. They prevent me from being too bored here, to the point of wanting to die. And for many of them who are willing to stay in my space, it's for my rules, seeking protection. Because in my space, I do not allow killing. If they encounter any trouble outside, they can save their lives here, which is how the current situation came to be."
This formed a perfect closed loop, and the Oddity Market truly appeared this way.
"My physical body also followed the resonance and found its way here after I opened this place. When I first discovered that physical body, I had considered reclaiming it, after all, it was my original physical body."
"But perhaps because it had been separated for too long, and I already had a new host body with which I had integrated very well, and a new soul had also attached itself to my physical body. Although it should be that my physical body, driven by instinct, randomly swallowed things, and then pieced together undigested things to form such a host soul."
"In any case, roughly due to this reason, my physical body and I were likely considered two independent existences, and thus, we could no longer merge."
"Later, I researched why my current form couldn't leave the space. I discovered that it might be because of the separation from my physical body, and there's a high probability of this being the reason. But I couldn't go back no matter how hard I tried, so in the end, I could only maintain the current situation."
With this, A Zi finally concluded his narration, having roughly explained his situation.
After listening, Ye Tiancheng felt a headache. Every time he wanted to obtain a Fuxi Qin fragment, it became more troublesome than the last. He felt his vision darken, unable to imagine what the next difficulty would be.