The square stone table had only the area where the oil lamp was placed illuminated.
Beside the table was a round stone stool, which seemed to be fixed to the ground and could not be moved.
Mr. Riddle lifted his robe and sat down, while Xia De stood behind him.
As Mr. Riddle sat down, a soft 'poof' sound came from across the table.
In the thick darkness of the other half of the room, which could not be illuminated at all, a faint yellow flame appeared.
Almost symmetrically to the kerosene lamp by Mr. Riddle's hand, a burning white stub of a candle appeared on the edge of the table on the other side of the stone table.
The candle had been burned before, with wax accumulated at its base.
Its light was still as small as a soybean, but at least it illuminated the other half of the table, and also illuminated a figure in a black robe and hood, who had appeared at some unknown time and was sitting on the other side of the table.
This scene was particularly terrifying; before this, the darkness on the other side of the room was completely impenetrable.
Therefore, neither Mr. Riddle nor Xia De could confirm whether this figure had been sitting there silently watching them talk the whole time, or if they had just appeared.
The appearance of the stranger made the air in the room seem to instantly turn from gas to solid, freezing the entire room.
Not only did Xia De feel his body constrained, but the pressure on his spiritual perception made him frown.
Mr. Riddle grunted, falling onto the stone table in front of him, and it took him a long time to lift his head, supporting himself on the table.
Some faint golden light appeared on Xia De's clothes and skin; the information Mr. Riddle provided was actually correct.
This table truly summoned a god.
However, the pressure the other party exerted on them upon appearing was not even as strong as that of The Innocent Creator, who claimed to have “no power.”
Xia De guessed this was because the method of summoning the deity was not a ritual, but the use of this inconceivable-grade relic.
The other party was not the true form of a god, not a Sage-level, but could only be considered a phantom of a god.
But this was also very reasonable; after all, from Mr. Riddle's statement, the purpose of summoning the god was for a gamble, and if the gamble could not proceed due to the god's appearance, then it would be putting the cart before the horse.
The light from the bowl-like black porcelain oil lamp and the short candle finally allowed Xia De to fully see the tabletop in front of him.
The surface of the square stone table was not smooth; in front of both the black-robed figure and Mr. Riddle, there were ten rectangular grooves each.
The twenty grooves were arranged in two parallel columns, and from all the square grooves, tiny channels extended towards the center of the square table.
These twenty densely packed channels connected to each other, making the table surface resemble a complex circuit diagram that an Outsider had seen in their hometown.
“God!”
Xia De and Mr. Riddle bowed their heads in greeting to the other party; this was the most basic respect.
However, no sound or movement came from the black-robed figure.
Instead, amidst the terrifying pressure that solidified the air, the corpses by the wall were affected by this power and began to chant in low voices together, a scene that truly made Xia De's scalp tingle.
“This is the game of life!”
“Ten chances, place your life scenes in order.”
“A pathetic life.”
“A lamentable life.”
“A ridiculous life.”
“A terrifying life.”
“The god will compare the life of a believer with yours.”
“Each life interacts.”
“Until the end.”
“Ten lives versus ten lives.”
“The winner can leave!”
“Praise our Lord!”
The corpses repeated this passage three times in three different tones before stopping.
This was probably the rules of the gamble: the ten lives not only had to be compared with the opponent's, but their own lives would also interact in a chain reaction, generating a more powerful force.
But Xia De still didn't understand:
“What is victory? What is the comparison of lives?”
But the corpses did not answer.
Mr. Riddle, who was sitting, raised his hand, signaling Xia De not to continue, and he said in a dazed tone:
“I probably understand; to use all the wonderful moments of one's life to contend against another person's life...”
He placed his hand over the first groove on his left, and after a long time, he moved his hand away.
And in the previously empty groove, there was now a playing card perfectly embedded within it.
It was a colored card, and on its face, Mr. Riddle was huddled beneath a tombstone, with a large, terrifying shadow behind the tombstone.
Although it was a flat image, to Xia De, it had a strong three-dimensional feel, and even the patches of shadow seemed to be wriggling on the card.
Golden text slowly appeared at the top of the card, and when deciphered, its meaning was 【Resurrection of the Deceased】.
“I once encountered a powerful evil spirit.”
Mr. Riddle looked down at the card, and Xia De showed a surprised expression.
It seemed this gentleman's life experiences were even richer than he had imagined.
“That was about ten years ago.
To obtain some precious wild medicinal herbs, I ventured alone into the eastern mountains of the South Continent and lived with the villagers of a small mountain village for three months, but...”
“You discovered that those villagers had long been dead, and you were actually living with the deceased for three months under an illusion.”
Xia De said.
“How did you know?”
Mr. Riddle was quite surprised.
“Well... that's a very common story in my hometown.
Sorry to interrupt your story, but Mr. Riddle, how did you escape?”
It wasn't that Xia De looked down on the ancient Prophet in front of him, but with the power of an ordinary person, let alone a village of the undead deep in the mountains, he might not even be able to contend with an ordinary evil spirit.
The middle-aged man showed a puzzled expression:
“How did I escape... I apologize, my memory is a bit blurry.
Having lived here for so long, it seems I've lost quite a bit of my memory.”
Fortunately, Mr. Riddle recalled for a while and still provided an answer:
“It was one twilight, I came back from gathering herbs and stood at the village entrance.
A sudden whim led me to look at the village through a mirror, and then I realized I was actually standing in a dilapidated cemetery.
I was terrified, curled up under a tombstone, not daring to move.
Those evil spirits called my name, peering at me from all around, but they couldn't catch me no matter what.
I dared not move until dawn again, then I hurriedly fled.
When I encountered an adventure team entering the mountains, I was almost starving to death... Later, I consulted a witch from the association, and she also didn't know how I survived.
People followed the map I provided to search for that cemetery again, but they couldn't find it.”
Xia De didn't know how to evaluate Mr. Riddle's experience, but it sounded very much like he had encountered a powerful relic.
And according to the description, a relic of such a large scope and containing so many evil spirits would definitely not be rated lower than Sage-level.
And in the moment of their conversation, in front of the black-robed god across the table, the first square groove lit up, and a card also appeared in the groove.
It was a pretty woman, a witch, with her right hand raised, pointing to the sun in the sky.
Black light flowed out from the 【Resurrection of the Deceased】 groove, following the slender channels on the tabletop; golden light also flowed out from the card groove of the witch pointing to the sun, following the channels on the stone table.
The two streams of light met in the middle of the table.
the moment black and gold connected, large phantoms of evil spirits appeared above 【Resurrection of the Deceased】, and a small phantom of a woman appeared above the groove in front of the god.
Two illusory images, like projections, flew towards the center of the table under Xia De's astonished gaze, and then they actually started fighting.
The battle lasted for five minutes, after which they retreated back to the top of their respective card-filled grooves, waiting for their companions to appear.
Xia De was dumbfounded, not because he was surprised by the scene just now, as he had read all sorts of strange stories in his hometown.
He just felt that compared to his previous two time exploration experiences, this one was truly... too interesting.
“Mr. Riddle, do you have any other strange experiences?”
Although he knew this emotion was inappropriate, Xia De still asked his companion beside him with some excitement, hoping to hear more stories.
The thick-browed middle-aged man in the brown robe frowned tightly, then suddenly raised his hand and slapped his sparse-haired head:
“Sorry, I know I've experienced many things, but I really... Dragon!
Yes, I once encountered a dragon!”
Amidst Xia De's surprised and excited expression, the man in the brown robe placed his hand over the second groove beside him.
After Mr. Riddle's hand was removed, a colored card was embedded in the groove, and the image on it was Mr. Riddle running wildly in a forest, with a huge creature breathing fire in the sky behind him.
Golden text appeared at the top of the card, appearing like flowing fire, and its meaning was 【Dragon Disaster】.
Unlike the pigeon-like dragon Xia De saw in the Mystic Lock - Barren Wilds, the dragon that appeared on the card was a true pure-blood dragon in the genuine sense.
There are no recorded sightings of such creatures in the sixth epoch, and even in Saint Byron's textbooks, dragons are only depicted in sketches, so this could be considered Xia De's first time seeing a true dragon's appearance.
That dragon was even uglier than Xia De had imagined; it seemed the drawings in Saint Byron's textbooks had been beautified.
“This was an experience I had when I was twenty years old.”
Mr. Riddle held his forehead, trying hard to dig information from his mind:
“That year, I... went on vacation with my friends to the Black Forest in the southern part of the East Continent.”
Xia De found it hard to imagine what kind of person would vacation in a forest with such a name.
However, given this gentleman's life experiences, he was probably quite keen on such adventures.
“We found a cave entrance on the cliff face of a small forest hill, and we bet on what kind of animal's nest it was.
Unable to agree, we climbed in together to check, and then...”
He showed a sad expression, but his memory became smoother:
“Only I survived.
That dragon probably thought we were trying to steal its things and chased me for a long distance before being driven away by a witch living in the Black Forest.
But then that witch said that I had attracted the dragon and caused it to burn down the forest, and she forced me to sign a contract, requiring me to plant a hundred saplings in the forest every year until my death or until all the losses were filled.
If I didn't go, my soul would constantly feel the pain of being burned... I had just finished planting this year's quota before setting out on this journey.
Next year, the year after, and the year after that, I still have to continue doing it.
This has become a lifelong responsibility for me, which is why I can remember this experience.”
Xia De kept a straight face and offered no opinion.
Judging by the degree of disgust fifth epoch witches had for men, Mr. Riddle being punished to plant saplings annually was a very minor punishment.
