Priest Augustus's blood-red halo indeed appeared at the entrance of the cemetery, and there was only one continuous shadow, indicating he had only visited once within 24 hours. However, Xia De could only see the Priest's figure entering the misty cemetery but did not see him reappear.
“Strange, did the Priest climb over the fence and run into the mountains?”
Xia De followed the Priest's figure into the cemetery, not particularly worried about evil spirits. Theoretically, unless an evil spirit was formed due to a relic or other external factors, it posed little threat to a Three-Ring Arcanist like him.
After all, even if one turned into an evil spirit due to resentment, it was merely the power of a single soul. There was no reason for the power of human resentment to be stronger than the power a Ring術士 obtained by risking danger to diligently study ancient texts, touch Old God relics, and pursue mad Old Gods. Although Ring術士 power was idealistic, it still adhered to basic principles.
Because the Priest had already obtained the location of the tomb from Ms. Michelle of the House of the Blind, he did not look for the cemetery caretaker but walked purposefully on the flagstone path among the tombstones and successfully found the tombstone inscribed with “Matilda Fox.”
The tomb was located under a large, leafy pine tree in the center of this cemetery area, and Priest Augustus's figure lingered there for a long time. Xia De was unwilling to pry into others' privacy, but the overlapping blood-red halos undoubtedly indicated Priest Augustus's feelings when he sat down and looked at the tombstone.
“He couldn't hold her hand when he was young, which is a lesson for me; I must hold on tight.”
“But your hands don't seem to be enough.”
Her voice suddenly appeared, almost startling the somewhat melancholic Xia De.
“Don't underestimate me too much. Also, are you sure this mist is okay?”
These white mists spreading from the mountains were even more exaggerated than the smog produced by Tobesk's industrial development. Not only was the humidity extremely high, but the visibility in the mist was even worse than Xia De had imagined.
“At least for now, it's fine.”
Xia De then opened his mouth and took a deep breath, inhaling a small amount of mist into his lungs. Because he inhaled a bit too fiercely, he couldn't help but cough:
“Now?”
“No problem.”
Xia De nodded, bent down to straighten the wilting white chrysanthemums placed in front of the tombstone, and then prepared to continue searching for Priest Augustus's whereabouts.
His eyes scanned the surroundings, and not far away in the mist, a transparent soul was floating, but it was confined by a corpse and could not move far. Such harmless souls would soon depart if left alone, so Xia De paid it no mind.
After the Priest's figure rose from the ground, he did not return the way he came but walked towards the small chapel in the center of this cemetery area, presumably wanting to inquire about the daily management of this tomb.
However, the Priest did not reach the chapel. Xia De followed his figure from another small path among the tombstones, back onto the flagstone path of the cemetery area. After only a few steps, Priest Augustus's figure suddenly made a startled, then defensive, movement.
“What?”
Xia De realized that he might be close to the truth.
Priest Augustus, having been attacked, did not linger to fight but turned and ran towards the entrance of the underground cemetery further away. The red halo clearly depicted the Priest's fleeing figure; he had to admit that although he was a bit old, he was still very agile.
“What attacked the Priest?”
Xia De did not follow directly but looked left and right, returning to the cluster of tombstones and finding the floating soul he had seen earlier.
He stopped at a tombstone inscribed “Joel Pown,” and the cause of death written on the tombstone was heart disease at the age of 47.
Mr. Pown's soul was exceptionally transparent, and his expression was relatively peaceful. Although it was unknown why he remained, such a soul was harmless.
“Sir, excuse me, did you see anything strange appear near here yesterday afternoon?”
Xia De walked over and asked very politely. The cemetery was already sparsely populated in the afternoon, and with the addition of the mountain mist, Xia De didn't have to worry about being seen talking to “air.”
The soul still retained basic rationality, but it merely glanced at Xia De, expressionless, and did not speak.
Xia De raised a finger, his expression becoming a bit more serious, and Moonlight appeared at his fingertip:
“Sir, did you see anything strange yesterday afternoon?”
Seemingly fearing the Moonlight in Xia De's hand, Mr. Pown's soul finally spoke:
“Lend me your body for a day, let me experience a healthy life again, and I'll tell you.”
Xia De's face showed a threatening expression, and the Great Sin Chains from his sleeve shot towards the soul's forehead, but then abruptly stopped at a distance of only a pinky finger from the soul, the sharp metal at the end of the Great Sin Chains pointing at it:
“You, speak.”
The terror and defilement of the Great Sin Chains could be clearly felt even by living people, let alone a soul. Mr. Pown was clearly frightened and turned to run, but he was bound by his corpse beneath the ground and thus could not escape:
“I know! Yesterday afternoon, an old gentleman in a Priest's robe came here and encountered a monster that jumped out of the grass. It was humanoid, covered in rotten brown flesh, with a strange, triangular prism-shaped head, and it was crawling on the ground. Oh, that thing was truly terrifying! Just seeing it, I felt as if my soul was shaken.”
“Ghoul?”
Xia De frowned. This was the lowest-level undead creature taught in the first year of Ring術士 studies, even lower than a skeleton. The upper and lower limits of this low-level undead creature's species vary greatly; if Priest Augustus encountered a very powerful ghoul, it was indeed possible that he couldn't handle it.
“But how could there be a ghoul in a public cemetery? And, could Priest Augustus, who is proficient in death power, actually be harmed by a mere ghoul?”
Xia De bid farewell to the soul he had frightened and continued to follow Priest Augustus's footsteps. Priest Augustus headed straight for the underground cemetery, but the door leading underground was locked, so the Priest's figure shattered the lock without hesitation.
The cemetery caretaker had already replaced the lock, and the lock now blocking Xia De's way was new. He opened the new lock and entered the underground cemetery, which, though free of mist, was colder than the surface.
Although Xia De's eyes could see in the Darkness Domain after the adventure, his vision was not clear, so he still lit the Moonlight on his fingertip. Of course, there were also gas pipes in the underground tomb, and the walls had ancient gas lamps. But Xia De did not want the old cemetery caretaker, who managed the place, to be startled by seeing the gas meter for the tomb's gas pipes suddenly turn.
The air underground was exceptionally stuffy, with a putrid smell. Following the Priest's figure, who was fighting and retreating, he arrived at the deepest part of the cemetery area. Judging from the metal plaque hanging at the corner of the passage, this area contained the earliest underground tombs of this cemetery, excavated more than thirty years ago.
The Priest did not enter any of the tombs but retreated to the wall at the end of the passage, where an unlit kerosene lamp hung. Subsequently, the red halo that Xia De had been following disappeared.
“Hmm? Has the Blood Echo's effect ended?”
Xia De turned to look behind him; the clear trajectories of the figures were still present, but the last figure indeed disappeared beneath this wall.
“Hidden wall? Are there two Space Labyrinth exits in Middlesburg?”
Hot steam surged from the narrow tomb passage, and runes of flickering four-colored spiritual light floated on the Destiny Ring. The light of Time-Space shone on the plain dirt wall in front of him, but nothing happened.
However, something on the ground illuminated by the spiritual light seemed to be reflecting. Xia De bent down to pick it up and found it was a brass pendant with a missing part of a circle. The brass-colored incomplete circle was the holy emblem of the righteous god, Mr. Dawn. This pendant must have been left behind by Priest Augustus; Xia De had seen him wear this ornament.
“Looks like I didn't go the wrong way, but why did he disappear? Is there a mechanism? Or does this wall require a secret word to open? Or, does the Priest actually know Miracles like ‘Wall-Passing’ or ‘Earth-Traveling’?”
Xia De narrowed his eyes, making the last figure left by the Priest into a continuous action. The figure retreated to the dirt wall, turned its back to the wall, and made a gesture similar to casting a Miracle. Then, the Priest suddenly disappeared, his last action still casting, as if the Priest had been instantly erased from the world by a giant eraser.
“What exactly happened? Are there any elemental traces?”
“Outsider, you need to put your hand on the wall for something to come.”
Xia De turned to look in the direction he came from; the deep tomb passage was devoid of any light or shadow, but he also heard footsteps.
Those were clearly not human footsteps, but rather like a four-legged animal running at high speed. The sound came from the adjacent tomb passage; Xia De's actions just now seemed to have awakened something resting there.
As a series of footsteps grew closer, Xia De's right hand drew a cross in the air, letting the cross remain in front of him.
Under the illumination of the intersecting light of the cross, a terrifying monster finally appeared in the distant tomb passage: its body covered in rotten flesh, hands and feet on the ground, a swollen head, and yellowish teeth protruding.
“It's a ghoul, indeed.”
Because of the unfortunate's hair, Xia De would attract evil spirits or undead creatures more strongly for a period of time. This was probably why the cemetery caretaker here was not attacked when dealing with the damaged lock, but Xia De was attacked as soon as he arrived.
“Was it this that attacked Priest Augustus yesterday?”
Thinking this, Xia De kicked, sending the intersecting cross of Moonlight suspended in the air forward.
The tomb passages in the underground cemetery were already narrow, and the arc light Xia De drew with his hand almost completely blocked the entire passage. But when the monster from afar met the intersecting Moonlight, it suddenly darted, squeezing through the gap in the intersection.
“So agile?”
In just a few leaps, the terrifying monster, exuding the stench of decay, had already darted in front of Xia De. Not only was its appearance terrifying, but seeing it up close, an inexplicable sense of fear directly appeared in Xia De's heart; this was the inherent fear power of the undead.
However, for Xia De, who had once faced Terror Castle, this fear had little impact.
First, he casually threw out a beam of Moonlight, forcing the agile ghoul to dodge, then Xia De pointed his finger forward:
“Silver Moon!”
A burst of Moonlight appeared in the cold tomb passage. This Moonlight itself possessed a sacred attribute, with extraordinary lethality against undead creatures.
Indeed, in the holy silver, almost pure white light, the ghoul, emitting black smoke from its entire body, quickly retreated. This creature's vocal organs were completely damaged, so it could not express its anger and fear with screams. But this silent stillness seemed even more terrifying.
“Felian...”
He had intended to then use Felianna's Witch Light to melt the opponent's limbs, but this Miracle's power increased with proximity, and Xia De absolutely did not want to get close to that thing.
“Raglai's Leap.”
He had prepared the spell materials even before entering the underground cemetery, so before the Moonlight at his fingertip receded, he stepped forward and then appeared behind the retreating ghoul.
The Moonlight in his hand drew closer to that terrifying thing, and this seemed to provoke its ferocity. It suddenly turned and bared its rotten mouth at Xia De, then, enduring the terrible injuries of black smoke erupting from its body, it lunged at Xia De.
