Xia De, in the dense fog, stopped. After looking around, he asked in his mind, “Is there a problem?”
This was naturally formed fog, very different from the fog behind the white fog gate. Not only was its density far less than the latter, but it also felt very “real.”
“No.”
Xia De then took a deep breath. The humidity in the fog was extremely high, and there was an indescribable putrid smell that made him cough uncontrollably.
“Is there a problem now?”
“Extremely weak elements, all four elements are present.”
“That means these fogs might also be related to Between Life and death.”
Thinking this, he continued to walk forward. Without the sun’s guidance, Xia De was very worried he would get lost in the Woodland.
After only a few steps, Xia De stopped again. This was because, in the white fog ahead, a strange human-like figure vaguely appeared, seemingly floating in the air.
“What is that?”
He raised an eyebrow.
Accompanied by a cold wind moving through the dense fog, the figure suddenly moved towards Xia De. It was not a physical entity, but a pure spirit. He could barely make out that it was a male soul. Its feet were suspended in the air, as if it had a rope around its neck and was being hanged. In a few flashes through the white fog, it had already arrived in front of Xia De.
“An evil spirit? So, the negative effect of that strand of hair hasn't disappeared yet?”
With a swipe of his finger in the air, the brilliant Moonlight swept forward in a line parallel to the ground. The pure Moonlight directly struck the evil spirit’s body, splitting it into two halves, upper and lower. The Moonlight continued to fly backward, breaking a large tree behind it, then flying deeper into the dense fog.
Even Ring術士 of the same level would find it difficult to withstand Xia De’s Moonlight, let alone an evil spirit.
As the large tree fell to the left with a heavy sound, the lower half of the soul’s body turned into ashes and disappeared, but the upper half of the body still floated towards Xia De.
As the opponent approached, Xia De felt as if a rope had been placed around his neck, choking him. But while his breathing was obstructed, he consciously held his breath. With his physical fitness, he could go tens of minutes without breathing.
The choking sensation on his neck grew stronger, but Xia De did not use Moonlight again. Instead, he took out the “Mind Crystal Ring” from his pocket and put it on his right index finger.
“I’ve always been curious what effect Mind Blast has on spirits.”
He endured the pain in his neck, took two quick steps towards the floating evil spirit, and then pushed his right hand forward, pressing it against the cold spirit.
Resentment, along with the evil spirit’s strange soul power, tried to invade Xia De’s body, but it was easily blocked by Xia De’s spirit.
The Miracle Soul Echo allowed Xia De to directly touch spirits, and this seemed to enhance the effect of Mind Blast. A transparent ripple appeared in his palm, and then the evil spirit, which seemed to have died by hanging, was suddenly thrown backward as if struck by a heavy blow, while some black light traces floated from its body.
The evil spirit’s outer shell disappeared, revealing the soul’s original appearance inside.
“The combination of these two Miracles works so well?”
While Xia De was surprised, he saw the soul reach out to him, as if wanting to receive final salvation from him.
“I saw a giant flying bird—”
It was in carson rick, and only half a sentence was left before the soul completely disappeared.
“Flying bird?”
Xia De looked up at the sky covered by white fog.
“Also, where did this evil spirit come from?”
Xia De frowned slightly, looking at the surrounding dense fog, and had a new hypothesis.
“Could it be that this abnormal white fog is also emanating from Between Life and death beneath Sicar Mountain?”
This hypothesis was very plausible, because during Xia De’s descent from the mountain, he encountered three more evil spirits in the foggy Woodland. One looked like its head had been blown apart by a shotgun, another was completely shattered, presumably crushed by a heavy object or fallen from a height, and the last one’s cause of death was unclear, but its combat power was far stronger than the first two, requiring two Mind Blasts from Xia De to shatter.
It was unclear if it was due to Xia De’s Miracle, but before each soul dissipated, it would leave some strange words. Some were about themselves, some were observations from before death, and some were completely meaningless.
Each of them appeared from the fog and then rushed directly at Xia De. Although the negative influence of that strand of hair would attract evil spirits, Xia De had been safe and sound when he walked this path a few days ago. This indicated that the appearance of these evil spirits was definitely related to the white fog.
Because he took a wrong turn and was delayed by evil spirits in the mountains, Xia De finally arrived in the City at 4:13 PM, taking twice as long as when there was no fog.
He had prepared for this trip, bringing most of his relics with him, except for god's gift box and the Soul Fishing Rod. Therefore, after entering the City, he did not wander around but went directly to House of the Blind.
Ms. Michelle was already waiting for Xia De.
“A carriage will take you to Sister Devlin.”
A carriage was parked at the back door of House of the Blind. Xia De was relieved that the coachman had not covered his eyes in any way.
“Will Sister Devlin be there later too?”
Xia De was very curious.
“Yes, Sister Devlin will preside over the ceremony for you,” Ms. Michelle said. Seeing Xia De’s confusion, she explained, “This kind of ceremony to communicate between life and death is best presided over by the most spiritual individual, so Devlin is the most suitable candidate. Besides—”
She hesitated, standing by the trash can at the back door of the three-story House of the Blind building, pulling the doorknob, and whispered, “Regardless of whether this ceremony succeeds or not, whether you can successfully rescue Priest Augustus, this itself is a valuable experience for the Holy See. After all, few people are willing to take such risks themselves, and also have the ability to enter the world of the dead to save their friends or relatives.”
The “entrance” found and secured by the Holy See was on the outskirts of the City, more precisely, in an abandoned manor at the foot of the mountain. That area was almost within sight of the Sicar Mountain Woodland, but this was definitely not a remote area of Middlesburg. Because the environment was very good, local nobles liked to demarcate Woodland at the foot of the mountain to build their manors or grand houses, and foreign nobles also liked to purchase manors nearby. Even the royal family had their own holiday manor at the foot of Sicar Mountain, which was somewhat similar to Sophia Manor in Coldwater Port.
As for the manor this time, it was a very famous haunted manor in the area. After Xia De learned the destination, he remembered that this manor, known locally as “Russell Manor,” was mentioned in the Middlesburg material provided by Leia.
Its previous owner was Viscount Russell. This viscount had a strange personality and no relatives, living in the manor with two servants. About 58 years ago, because the manor had not paid its gas bill for half a year, the gas company sent people from the City to check the situation, only to find that the viscount and the servants had all died in the manor, their bodies almost completely decomposed.
No one knew what had happened there, perhaps a robbery, or some other terrible event. But from then on, the manor was abandoned. Its ownership was sold by the viscount’s distant heir to Middlesburg City Hall, and no one dared to take it over afterward. Except for workers who came for regular maintenance, almost no one else set foot there.
“Sounds so scary… Wait, isn’t this similar to Saint Delan Square Six?”
Xia De thought in the carriage. Of course, its ill repute was not as great as that of Saint Delan Square Six.
After all, Xia De’s house had genuinely seen multiple owners die and disappear, with the cumulative death toll definitely exceeding three digits, so much so that the church had to purchase ownership and seal it for many years, and even after the seal ended, another owner died. Russell Manor, on the other hand, had only seen three deaths.
“It’s nothing special.”
Thinking this, Xia De lost interest in the haunted manor.
