Acai's Sky

On the third day after defeating Wu Ling, Ah Cai found an ancient book in the teahouse.

The cover of the book was worn and covered in dust and cobwebs. Ah Cai carefully picked up the book, blew away the dust, and flipped open the pages. The words on the pages were obscure and difficult to understand, seemingly from an ancient script.

A Cai frowned and studied the words in the book carefully, trying to find some clues.

She called out the Wisdom Eye that temporarily resided in the [Exchange Pavilion] in her hand, hoping it could help her decipher it.

Zhitong tilted his head, looked at it for a long time, and said, "Master, I only recognize part of these words. It seems to be about the history of Yinwu Tea House and the clues of a mysterious treasure."

"Mysterious treasure?"

Ah Cai's eyes lit up, "Perhaps this treasure is related to our mission."

She decided to continue studying the book and unravel its secrets.

...

On the morning of the fourth day, Acai was awakened by Nuomituan's paw tapping on her cheek.

The white-haired old man who usually poured tea for them was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a woman in a moon-white skirt.

The woman had a bamboo hairpin stuck diagonally in her hair and was kneeling in front of the tea table boiling water. The curling tea smoke lingered between her eyebrows, making Ah Cai feel a little dazed, as if the person in front of her had walked out of an ink painting.

"Master, look!" Jin Yuanbao suddenly poked her arm with his tail.

Following the direction pointed by Jin Yuanbao, Ah Cai noticed two ancient books placed on the tea table - "Li Ren Tie" and "Ming Yuan Juan".

Dried tea specimens are sandwiched between the yellowed pages, emitting a faint aged fragrance, as if sealing up countless dusty stories.

Just as Ah Cai reached out to touch the ancient book, the glutinous rice ball in her arms suddenly made a low hum.

Looking up, the petal lights hanging between the beams moved automatically without wind, and the pale pink petals trembled slightly, as if issuing some kind of warning.

Ah Cai was shocked and suddenly realized that whenever an untrue thought flashed through her mind, these petals would react.

"It seems that here, we can only tell the truth, it's a pity that it's not a dare!" A Cai whispered to himself.

She took a deep breath, calmed down, and recalled the separation and injustice she had experienced.

When she mentioned the "lone boat," she couldn't help but think of the lines from Li Bai's "Farewell to Meng Haoran on his Way to Guangling": "The lone sail fades into the blue sky, leaving only the Yangtze River flowing across the horizon."

The mighty river and the lone sail drifting away seem to be right in front of you.

When it comes to "injustice", the story of Dou E in "Snow in June" immediately comes to mind. This unparalleled injustice throughout the ages makes people feel sad and angry.

As soon as he finished speaking, a magical scene happened.

A wisp of white mist slowly rose from the originally empty teacup.

The white mist rolled and changed in the air, gradually condensing into the scene described in the poem - first a solitary boat drifted away in the waves, and then turned into flying snow all over the sky.

At the same time, the rich tea aroma filled the air, which was even mellower than ordinary tea.

A Cai carefully picked up the teacup and took a sip.

The warm tea flows down the throat, bringing a warm feeling.

[Ding, player's soul concentration +10]

However, the next second, something strange happened.

Her shadow suddenly separated from her body and began to twist on the wall, as if controlled by an invisible hand, writing garbled characters.

"This...what's going on?" Ah Cai rubbed his chin with his fingers and thought.

She tried to reach out and touch the shadow, but just as her fingertips were about to touch it, the words disappeared instantly, leaving only faint marks on the wall.

At this moment, Xuantian suddenly flew to her shoulder, gently patted her cheek with his wings, and motioned her to look at the bronze mirror in the corner of the teahouse.

Ah Cai turned her head and saw herself in the mirror maintaining the same posture as before drinking tea, as if time had stopped at that moment.

The mysterious characters on the wall, and their arrangement and combination, are exactly the same as the star pattern formed naturally by the tea leaves in the teacup.

Ah Cai suddenly understood and began to carefully observe the shape and patterns of the star map.

At this moment, the woman pouring tea suddenly stood up, and in the process of moving, half of the yellowed imperial examination list accidentally slipped out of her sleeve.

Ah Cai quickly stepped forward to pick up the list, and when she looked closely, she found that the date was 600 years different from the current year.

This discovery made her heart move, and she vaguely felt that this list was inextricably linked to the characters on the wall.

"Perhaps, this is the key to solving the mystery." A Cai murmured to himself.

She squatted down and carefully drew the shape of a star map on the ground with tea, trying to guide the shadow to move according to the map.

As the shadow slowly moved, the blurry characters on the wall gradually became clearer. Ah Cai then discovered that these characters were actually ciphertext written in reverse.

She picked up the bronze mirror and reflected the light onto the wall, trying to restore the ciphertext.

However, no matter how she adjusted the angle, she could never fully decipher it.

At this moment, Brahma suddenly flew to her ear and whispered, "Master, perhaps the answer lies in that Scroll of Injustice."

Ah Cai was shocked and immediately opened the "Scroll of Redress".

Between the yellowed pages, there are records of many old unjust cases. One of them, about the cheating case in the imperial examination six hundred years ago, caught her attention.

The protagonist of the case was actually the name of a successful candidate on the list.

Ah Cai carefully compared the list with the clues in the ciphertext, and suddenly found that the number of strokes of each name on the list corresponded to the position of certain characters in the ciphertext.

She excitedly called the animals to help. Nuomituan used his claws to count the strokes on the ground, Jin Yuanbao and Brahma were responsible for comparing the star map, and Feiyue and Golden Raccoon were vigilantly observing the surroundings to prevent any accidents.

After much thought and repeated verification, Acai finally solved the puzzle.

It turned out that these secret codes were clues to the answers to the imperial examination questions of that year.

The Yinwu Tea House exists precisely to expose this old injustice.

When Ah Cai cracked the last character, the entire teahouse suddenly shook violently.

More mysterious runes appeared on the wall, echoing with the star map and secret code, forming a huge formation.

The woman who poured tea slowly walked to the center of the formation, with a gleam of relief in her eyes.

"Congratulations, you've solved the mystery that has plagued the teahouse for six hundred years."

The woman's voice was soft but firm. "Back then, I was one of the victims of this unjust case. To uncover the truth, I hid clues throughout the teahouse, waiting for the right person to uncover them. Now, the truth is finally coming to light."

As the woman finished speaking, the roof of the teahouse slowly opened and a golden light shot up into the sky.

In the light, scenes from the imperial examination sixty years ago emerged one by one, with the ugly faces of the cheaters and the grief-stricken expressions of the victims clearly visible.

Acai and her beasts seemed to be in that period of history, witnessing the arrival of justice.

However, things do not end there. As the truth is revealed, an evil force suddenly emerges from the ground.

The thick fog suddenly turned pitch black, and eerie cries emanated from all around the teahouse. The once-sealed souls, awakened by the revelation of the truth, swore to make those who had committed evil pay, filled with resentment.

In the darkness, a huge figure slowly emerged.

It was a monster formed by resentment, its body twisted and deformed, emitting a disgusting smell.

The monster opened its bloody mouth and pounced towards Acai and others.

Acai quickly opened the [Money Shield], and the golden light illuminated the surrounding darkness.