The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　He went straight to the "Cat Flower Shop," greeted the cats first, and then asked the shop assistant, "Miss Cat, has there been any progress in the development of the rabbit grass?"

　The saleswoman was pleased that someone was still interested in their new product: "Progress is going well. We should see results in half a month to two months at the latest. Dimon, do you think the rabbit grass will sell well?"

　Dark smiled and said, "Probably, after all, bunnies are so cute."

　Then he wandered around the secret room again, but did not buy any new cat grass.

　……

　This weekend.

　Dark spent more time learning the "language of magic".

　His progress is not slow; he has gradually mastered the basics.

　Pandora's guidance was like opening a window for him, allowing him to see the scene in the room more clearly, making learning much easier.

　And when he puts in the effort for it.

　Witt and Robert, however, ventured deeper into the secret passage once more, embarking on an adventure in search of treasure.

　Meanwhile, Emma Metis's research on the mural has reached a crucial point.

　On Sunday evening, Emma approached Darker and shared her research.

　Dark felt somewhat embarrassed, after all, he hadn't had any time to study the murals at all...

　But Emma didn't complain about it.

　She consulted many documents, asked senior students for advice, and conducted detailed derivations and analyses according to her own ideas before finally achieving some results.

　Dark moved to a corner and let Emma sit next to him.

　Emma couldn't help but smile slightly as she shared the results.

　She opened her notebook and whispered, "If my analysis is correct, this set of murals should be from the ancient era four ages ago, when there were still many gods, either living in the heavens or mingling among the people..."

Chapter 144 The Golden King and the Secret Treasure

　Dak never expected that Emma would actually be able to find out the origin of the mural in such a short time.

　She found a fragmented mark on the edge of the mural. With the help of an older student, she was able to restore the mark.

　Based on this mark, the possible age of the mural was determined.

　Thanks to the completeness of the documents in the library, she was able to find the correct historical records based on the dates.

　The murals date back to the ancient era, four centuries ago, and depict a complete story.

　Emma copied the story into her notebook.

　Dark took the notebook, flipped through it carefully, and hesitated before asking, "The destruction of the Golden Kingdom?"

　“Yes,” Emma said thoughtfully. “In fact, I was already researching information related to the Golden Kingdom before I found this mural, which is why I made such a fast progress.”

　As she spoke, she took a book from beside her and handed it over.

　Dak took the book and examined it closely; it turned out to be a novel titled "The Golden King and the Secret Treasure."

　Dark had long noticed that Emma sometimes read novels and biographies, and this book, "The Golden King and the Secret Treasure," was one she had been reading before Halloween.

　"Is this why those eight murals appeared in the secret passage?"

　Dak flipped through the book briefly and suddenly realized something.

　This novel tells a relatively popular adventure story, set in an era of gold rush.

　Someone discovered sand mixed with gold in the desert, and the news attracted countless gold prospectors.

　The protagonist, Joshua, who comes from the slums, is one of them.

　Joshua's mother died of illness because she couldn't afford medicine.

　Watching his mother close her eyes forever in pain, Joshua developed a strong desire and obsession with money.

　He stole, gambled, and robbed, gradually falling into the abyss.

　Upon hearing news of the gold sands, Joshua joined the frenzied gold rush without hesitation.

　The gold sand that gushed from the ground made countless people rich overnight.

　Slaves, fine wine, estates...

　Everything imaginable can be easily obtained.

　Joshua tirelessly traveled between the desert and the town, indulging in revelry day and night.

　until a certain day.

　The desert that was gushing out golden sand suddenly collapsed, and all the gold prospectors fell into an ancient city.

　That city was the City of Gold, the last capital of the Golden Kingdom.

　The king of the Golden Kingdom will forever slumber within the Golden City.

　The surviving archaeologists identified the inscription at the site of the crash and told Joshua and the other gold prospectors that the King of Gold had buried an endless treasure in his tomb—the secret treasure!

　In their quest to find the Golden King's secret treasure and become the new Golden King, Joshua and the gold prospectors are consumed by immense greed and venture deep into the city unprepared.

　……

　That's how the story begins.

　As for whether Joshua ultimately succeeded in obtaining the treasure or was permanently lost underground?

　Dark did not see the end.

　He put down "The Golden King and the Secret Treasure" and picked up Emma's notebook.

　The notebook contains excerpts of the story depicted in the murals, namely, "The Demise of the Golden Kingdom".

　There are a total of eight murals.

　It actually uses a more abstract descriptive method.

　The first painting depicts ragged poor people digging cartloads of ore from a mine.

　The ore inside is actually gold ore.

　The painting depicts miners digging for ore in a mine.

　The second painting depicts a blacksmith, half-naked, forging ore into standard square bricks.

　That's actually casting gold bricks!

　The third painting depicts merchants dressed in plain clothes selling basket after basket of bricks to nobles.

　In fact, they were neither merchants nor ordinary nobles.

　Instead, they were architects and ministers.

　The fact that a minister was sent to collect the gold bricks symbolized that it was the king's order.

　The fourth painting depicts nobles in rich attire using square bricks to build a tower-like structure on an altar.

　On the king's orders, the ministers began building the golden tower.

　The so-called "altar" represents the construction of the "golden tower" for sacrificial purposes.

　Or rather, the entire golden pagoda was a sacrifice!

　The fifth painting depicts thousands of humans praying for the arrival of a certain being beneath an altar.

　People prostrated themselves before the golden pagoda and began their offerings.

　In the sixth painting, a colossal beast, radiant with light, emerges from a black hole in the sky during a sacrificial ceremony.

　The golden beast god responded to the human sacrifices and awoke from its slumber.

　The seventh painting depicts a ferocious and greedy beast roaring as it devours all the offerings and humans.

　Everything will become a sacrifice.

　The eighth painting depicts a bizarre pattern formed by human blood and corpses on the ground.

　Only death is eternal!

　……

　The story itself is very simple: the king summoned a god for a certain purpose, but was devoured by the god.

　The term "god" was originally a name created by humans to express awe towards individuals who were far stronger than themselves.

　Whether it is a human-shaped, intelligent god or a beast-shaped, ferocious and cruel god.

　They are all gods.

　In the ancient times, because of the preciousness and immortality of gold, humankind associated it with "eternity" and constructed the identity "gold = eternity".

　The Golden King, possessing boundless wealth, followed this identity by building towers of gold as offerings in exchange for eternal life.

　But obviously, he failed.

　And this ultimately led to the downfall of the Golden Kingdom!

　……

　Emma enthusiastically shared her insights: "The Golden Kingdom has another name in historical records: the Eternal Kingdom! The so-called alchemy is the refining of gold, which is the pursuit of eternity, the pursuit of immortality!"

　"The Golden King is referred to as the earliest alchemist in many documents. He refined gold in his search for the way to immortality, and the Golden Kingdom was merely a byproduct of his research."

　"The Golden Kingdom was originally a kingdom built on desire, and it was ultimately destroyed by desire as well."

　"The beast gods depicted in the murals are not necessarily real gods; they may be the embodiment of desire."

　"And the essence of the entire mural is this last painting!"

　"I suspect it's a transmutation array!"

　……

　"The Golden King and the secret treasure, the fall of the Golden Kingdom, the earliest ancient alchemist, the Golden King, and the last one, a suspected transmutation array pieced together from human blood and corpses."

　Dak couldn't help but ponder it.

　While copying the murals in the secret passage, he felt that the eighth painting was particularly eerie. Therefore, he put in the most effort when copying it, depicting it with great detail.

　Even so, reconstructing a complete transmutation circle from a painting is still an extremely large undertaking.

　It can even serve as a subject for an entire academic career!

Chapter 145 Darkdemon Sleeps with a Beast

　Due to his limited knowledge, Dac was unable to offer his own opinions on the study of the murals.

　But Emma's research findings undoubtedly rekindled his interest in the murals.

　However, there is a difference in the order of importance; we cannot put the cart before the horse.

　Under the current circumstances, learning the "magical language" is of paramount importance, while the study of the murals can be pursued as a topic of interest.

　When he mentioned this.

　Emma then said in a serious tone, "Of course, my studies are the main focus, and research is just a hobby. I won't neglect one for the other."

　Then he returned to his seat with a happy expression.

　……

　Dark looked at the book "The Golden King and the Secret Treasure" that Emma had left behind, and felt a headache coming on.

　He also had a copy of Merlin's biography, but he only read the beginning of it.

　There are more and more books I want to read, but less and less time.

　He left the library with his books, deciding that "The Golden King and the Secret Treasure" would be his bedtime reading for the evening.

　The common room of the House of Nobles was still bustling with activity.

　Even though classes are supposed to start on Monday, students always stay out very late on Sunday nights.

　He sat next to Diana and Rose for a while, ate a piece of candy, and then went upstairs.

　But just as he was about to unlock the door, Dak suddenly stopped. He seemed to hear a slight noise from inside.