“Xia De, do you know that once you come to this world, you can’t go back?”
“Don’t worry, I can go back,” Xia De said easily, then asked Priest Augustus, “So, what exactly is going on? Why did you cross the Death Door? What exactly went wrong here?”
The Priest shook his head. “Since you have already appeared here, I won’t explain the 【Life and Death Gap】. Simply put, after I accidentally fell into the Gap, due to my sensitivity to the power of death, I realized that there was a big problem here.”
“What problem?”
“The world of the dead and the world of the living should not communicate. All the Gaps in this world are expanding. From the second epoch when it first appeared to the sixth epoch, this initial and largest Gap is about to collapse.”
“Excuse me, what does ‘collapse’ mean?” Xia De still didn’t understand.
“It’s very simple. The world we are currently in is a pure world of the dead, and the power accumulated here should only exist here. But with the Between Life and Death, the power of death permeates the material world, causing the Gap to become larger and more numerous.”
Sister Devlin’s material had mentioned this point.
“The Gap devours living people every autumn to Balance the power of death and delay the outbreak of death. And the Church has no way to destroy all the Gaps, so they can only continuously reinforce the seal, but this also leads to more and more souls accumulating in the Gap unwilling to leave.”
Judging by the number of souls Xia De saw just now, the souls in the Between Life and Death were far more numerous than the living people in the Middelburg area.
“Isn’t the Church sealing it well?” Xia De asked again. “Not only did they prepare a large ritual in the real world, but they also arranged a massive divine ritual within the Gap. Everything is fine.”
The Priest shook his head again. “I can clearly feel death, feel the horror of this terrifying place. Even if the Church has been sealing it since the fifth epoch, there will come a day when death will truly communicate with reality, and the underground of Middelburg is about to collapse. Xia De, only I can feel that the power accumulated here will have a major outbreak in a very short time. Therefore, I voluntarily crossed the Death Door and sealed this place.”
So, after the Priest disappeared, the missing persons cases this autumn suddenly stopped, which was actually a form of sacrifice.
“If a great disaster is about to happen, then just tell the Church, right? We should trust the Church,” Xia De said again. In fact, it was very strange for him, a shallow believer, to persuade a senior clergyman to trust the Church.
“No, it’s too sudden. Once the Gap collapses, the outbreak of death will be more severe than any previous disaster, and it will definitely appear before the end of this year. Unless a God is summoned, with the power of mortals, it will be impossible to resist the death pouring from this door into the real world. There will be no warning, it will only be a matter of a few minutes, and everything will be over. And even if the God summoning ritual is prepared in advance, it will take at least twenty minutes for the final steps.”
The Priest sighed, meaning that even if the God summoning ritual succeeded, the gods could only help mortals deal with the disaster after the accident occurred.
“I have such power, and I happened to come here. I think this is my mission. To die here as the savior of all, using my soul to guard this door, I think this is the best outcome.”
“So, as long as this door is sealed, the trouble in Middelburg can be solved?” Xia De narrowed his eyes slightly. If it was really just like this, he might have a way.
But the Priest surprisingly shook his head again. “I got some information in the Gap. The church guards here don’t know where they went, and they didn’t even stop me from approaching the Library. In short, there are a total of three channels that communicate with death in the Between Life and Death formed in the Middelburg area.
The Death Door at the foot of Sicar Mountain is sealed and guarded by the Orthodox Church, and now I am reinforcing the seal.”
Only then did Xia De realize that the Church had only sealed one-third.
“The channel on the mountainside of Sicar Mountain is barely guarded by the seals left by the Witch Emperors of the previous epoch, but it seems there are some problems. The white mist that emerges from the mountainside every autumn is due to the loosening of the seal. But the Church temporarily cannot find the location of that channel. The Witch Emperors, fearing the seal would be destroyed, hid it.”
This was the first time Xia De knew that those Witch Emperors had done things other than pleasure and conflict. He originally thought those women only exterminated rare animal species, concocted cosmetics, or spent a lot of gold on inventions that ordinary people couldn't use at all.
“Finally, the channel at the top of Sicar Mountain is guarded by an Ancient One, hot and full of vitality. I can only barely feel its existence—it is very powerful.”
The Priest glanced at the burning red thread on Xia De’s right wrist. Xia De also looked down at his hand and suddenly asked a question:
“Priest, did you spread your wings behind you in Sicar Mountain?”
He asked, and the Priest shook his head. “No.”
So, the hanged ghost soul Xia De met when he went down the mountain, who said he saw a “giant flying bird,” was definitely not Priest Augustus.
“Then, if these three channels are sealed, can this matter be resolved?” Xia De asked again, and the Priest still shook his head.
“The channels are not important; what’s important is the Between Life and Death. As long as that place exists, more channels will appear sooner or later.”
“Hmm, destroying the Gap will solve it?”
“The Church has not found a way to this day, and even if it did, it would cause millions or even tens of millions of souls to flood into the real world, most of which would turn into evil spirits in the moment.”
Xia De imagined the scene of seven, eight, nine, or even ten-digit numbers of evil spirits appearing in Middelburg:
“Then what about arranging a God summoning ritual in advance and letting the Orthodox Church solve the problem? Let the gods destroy the Gap and guide those souls to true death.”
“Xia De, there are many 0-level relics in this world, and there is still a lot of suffering in this world. Why haven’t the gods solved all this and made everything in the world happy and beautiful? No, it’s not that they can’t, but that the divine descent ritual has limiting conditions, not just the cost of materials, but also secrets we don’t know. Before it is confirmed that mortals alone cannot cope, the Church will not easily summon gods and let them appear on this land under steam.”
Then, the impending disaster of the Gap shattering and the outbreak of death seems to be an insoluble problem. It cannot be completely resolved, only continuously sealed, until the day it can no longer be sealed.
“This world is really dangerous,” Xia De couldn’t help but exclaim.
A smile appeared on the Priest’s tired face. “I’m glad you realized that. There is only one world after death, but there is more than one Between Life and Death. The history of this one probably goes back to the second epoch, which is why it is so terrifying, and why you don’t need to worry about other Gaps. Xia De, if you can leave, then leave. I’m glad to have met you. Look, my luck is really good.”
This time it was Xia De’s turn to shake his head. He turned around and looked back at the calm water, at the shadowy souls standing on the water. Moonlight illuminated his face. He was actually still very surprised that he had truly crossed death.
“You said you could stay here to guard this door and prevent the outbreak of the power of death?”
“Only this channel below the mountainside. I can only do what I can do.”
The Priest looked at Xia De’s back from above. “I have blocked the outbreak before the end of this year, but I can’t say what will happen to the other two channels. However, not pouring out from the door at the foot of the mountain means giving the Church more time after the accident occurs. Speaking of which, I couldn't do it alone, thanks to you—”
“Me?” Xia De hesitated. “I don’t seem to have done anything, right?”
“When I pushed open the door deep within the Natural Church in the Between Life and Death, there was no light here.”
“No light?” Xia De squinted at the half-Silver Moon at the end of the boundless water. “Didn’t this Nether Moon originally emit light?”
“No, there was no moon originally,” the Priest’s voice was calm.
“None?”
“Yes, originally, there was only boundless Darkness and emptiness here, no moon. But when you summoned me into your dream, the world of the dead infected your dream, but it didn’t seem to have any effect on you. And the light of that huge Silver Moon in your dream also shone in here—”
The Priest on the door also looked up at the Silver Moon at the end of the water.
No one spoke. The silver light illuminated the faces of the Outsider and the Old Priest. In the world of the concept of death itself, they both felt puzzled by this. Xia De suspected that this was because the divinity in his soul had infected the Ling Rune 【Silver Moon】, and then a trace of the divinity’s power had permeated this world, forming this moon.
The burning thread on Xia De’s wrist suddenly became hot. Sister Devlin was reminding him that it was almost dawn and he had to return quickly.
“I don’t know if this is a permanent change or a temporary one, but your dream changed this place. The appearance of the Nether Moon guiding death has indeed stabilized death and delayed the impending disaster,” the Priest whispered.
“Xia De, leave. Someone must guard this door.”
“Even if this seal is reinforced, the other two places might still have problems. I think the best way is actually for the Priest to leave with me. The role you can play in reality is greater than you being here alone.”
This was the truth. Priest Augustus seemed particularly familiar with death and knew many things the Church didn’t. If they wanted to prevent the outbreak of death, the Priest providing intelligence to the Church in reality would definitely be a great help.
Priest Augustus obviously knew this truth, but he still shook his head. “This Death Door is about to collapse. I must be here.”
“Priest, I will reinforce the seal,” Xia De said. Priest Augustus looked at him.
“You don’t know how much this place is—”
“I know. I can clearly, incredibly clearly feel how cold, how empty, how quiet this place is.”
Xia De took a deep breath. He still had his back to the Priest, looking at the Silver Moon. That Silver Moon was enough to drive any ordinary person mad, but to Xia De, it felt incredibly familiar.
“Priest, I can even break into the Darkness Domain and kill Ivan Darkness. Can’t I create a Miracle again?”
“So it really was you. But how is it that Iluna Bayas of the Sun Church is also your friend?”
Priest Augustus was speechless. After a moment, “How much of the seal can you reinforce?”
“I’ll know after I try, but I think it won’t be completely useless. It can delay for a while, giving the Church time to come up with a solution. Priest, do you believe me?”
Another moment of silence. “Alright.”
The sound of wings flapping came from the door behind him. Xia De knew that Priest Augustus was coming down from the door.
“Xia De, there are other living people in the Between Life and Death. I sent them to take refuge in the Dawn Church in the Gap. I will leave first later and lead them back to the real world. I cannot casually enter the Between Life and Death, but leaving is no problem. We will appear in the mountains of Sicar Mountain, and after leaving here, everyone except me will lose their memories, as the Gap is not a place where living people should exist, so you don’t have to worry about this.
After you reinforce the seal, you must also leave immediately. If you stay here for a long time, you will also get lost.”
Xia De knew this. In fact, according to his 【Time Perception】, it was only half an hour until dawn.
“That’s good. So many missing people walking out together, the Church won’t suspect your identity. As for future communication with the Church, it can be done through other means. Priest, it’s better not to expose the matter of the correspondence student.”
“Okay.”
The sound of footsteps grew closer. Priest Augustus appeared beside Xia De, standing shoulder to shoulder with him, but the wings behind him were gone.
The two stood on the tidal flat by the water, looking in the direction where countless souls walked, looking at the half-Silver Moon in the sky. Moonlight illuminated their faces, illuminated their eyes. Perhaps, the scene they saw at this moment was not entirely the same.
A moment later, the Priest whispered, “Xia De, thank you for coming specifically to save me.”
“Priest, you’re not trying to take advantage of me and say you’ll treat me like a grandchild later, are you? No, no, I’d still rather be your friend,” Xia De said jokingly. The Priest shook his head.
“At least I know who I should leave my inheritance to in my official will.”
“Don’t mention death again, Priest. I’ve encountered that word too frequently this week. Speaking of which, if, like in those knight novels, a young princess was waiting for my rescue instead of you, maybe—”
He realized that saying this was very ominous, so he immediately stopped the topic. The Priest smiled and shook his head, handing Xia De a charred feather.
the moment Xia De touched it, a prompt appeared in his already numb senses that half of his hand had completely lost feeling, and he heard a prompt in his ear:
【Outsider, you have touched the whisper.】
“This is the power of death, which can grant you a Ling Rune related to death and help you strengthen the power to seal the Death Door. Only in a place like this can I bestow such power. In the real world, I am just a two-ring human Old Priest,” the Priest laughed at himself.
“Xia De, no matter what, you must return in time.”
PS: Remember, there are three channels: mountaintop, mountainside, and foot of the mountain. The unknown Ancient One, the Witch Emperors, and the Church.
