“Priest, please rest assured, I will be fine. You should leave first. Oh, one more thing, I left many empty bottles outside the Door. Could you leave some of your blood in one of them?”
Xia De originally didn't plan to use the blood of anyone in his group. Although everyone had their own stories, their stories didn't seem "special" enough. But Priest Augustus was different. Once he crossed that Door, it was equivalent to him jumping between death and life once. Xia De felt that this kind of blood would also be useful.
The Old Priest, although puzzled, still nodded:
“Okay, that's simple.”
He turned and left. Xia De, holding the charred black feather, looked at the silver Moon and heard the heavy sound of the stone Door being pushed open behind him. The Priest indeed had a way to repeatedly jump in death, and when Xia De turned around, that Door had already closed.
In other words, Xia De still had to figure out a way to leave death himself.
“Are you sure I can leave?”
He couldn't help but ask again:
“If I rescue the Priest but get left behind myself, that would be too ridiculous.”
【Confirmed, and there's no need to use Divine Radiance.】
Xia De touched the stone Door and then tried the 【Key of the Door】. The Miracle could indeed be used, but trying to turn his hand to open the "lock" was like wrestling with the entire world.
But it didn't matter. Once he confirmed that the 【Key of the Door】 was also useful for this Door, he knew exactly what he needed to do.
As for the subsequent sealing, he now only had one last drop of Divine Radiance left. He absolutely could not consume the Divine Radiance on sealing this Door, otherwise he wouldn't even have the Divine Radiance state, and he wouldn't be able to pass through the Gap Between Life and Death to return to the manor at the foot of the mountain.
He wanted to use a Miracle to seal this Door. Coincidentally, he did possess a Miracle that could be used for sealing.
Looking at the feather in his hand:
“whisper element. Indeed, the Priest’s wings and the power of death all came from that inconceivable-grade relic that went out of control in Tobesk when he was young. So, Priest Augustus isn't actually the third Chosen One?”
He clutched the feather and looked at the low black sky. His Destiny Ring silently appeared in the hot steam mist behind him. Ten Ling Runes of four types, facing the enormous half-moon in the distance, quietly emitted spiritual light into the dark world.
And with the appearance of the Destiny Ring, the shadowy souls patrolling the water surface seemed to stop in their tracks.
The world of the dead seemed to completely stagnate at this moment, but Xia De, who had already closed his eyes, did not see this scene:
“Kiss of the Tree.”
The white souls did not turn to look at the only living being in death, but looked at the silver Moon in the distance.
That Moon slowly rose from the farthest reaches of the water, and the half-moon above the water transformed into a full silver Moon. Then the silver Moon slowly glided above the dark sky, embedded in the low sky.
The white shadows standing on the water looked up at the sky, the water shimmering, unsure if it was reflecting the light of the silver Moon or the reflection of souls. And beside Xia De, the wind rustled through the treetops, and the reddish-golden bonfire in front of the stone Door crackled.
The giant tree stood above the stone Door, its roots firmly clinging to and imprisoning that Door, its canopy seemingly piercing the entire sky. Its branches extended towards the black, calm water, and death could not make the branches wither.
However, the power of the Mystic Lock 【Kiss of the Tree】 was still severely restricted. The Thousand Tree Forest did not appear; only that cluster of bonfire and that giant tree appeared. The Mystic Lock's range was limited to the mudflats in front of the Door, not extending to the water representing the path of departure, nor did it change that stone Door.
Xia De took a deep breath, pressing the feather in his right hand to his chest. Then, he stood under the tree, like all the souls on the water, looking up at the silver Moon in the starry sky above.
Moonlight illuminated Xia De's face through the Gaps in the tree canopy, and the Nether Moon was reflected in his pupils. The black feather in his hand melted into his chest, and his heart completely stopped beating at the moment, a familiar coldness spreading throughout his body. Standing in True Death, gazing at the Moon Directing Death, for a moment, he clearly felt the sensation of his last moment in his homeland before coming to this world:
“So, I really did come back from death.”
Black-iron spiritual light gathered on the rapidly rotating Destiny Ring, and some imperceptible phosphorescence flew from the calm black water, as if even the Moonlight converged on the Destiny Ring.
【Crossing the Gap Between Life and Death, passing through the Death Door, you have truly entered death. This is the closest place to the end, this is the final resting place for all souls.】
【You have witnessed the end of death, pushed open the Death Door, and touched the power of the first angel - Jakael.】
“Hmm?”
【...You heard the "whisper" from death.】
The Destiny Ring rotated, not only was the black-iron whisper light enriching, but even the surrounding darkness was continuously entering the Destiny Ring. Xia De believed that no one had ever truly touched death in death.
【Outsider, you have inscribed the black-iron whisper Ling Rune - True Death.】
Although it wasn't the more general Ling Rune of 【death】, 【True Death】 seemed to possess more power, and—
“False Immortality, True Death?”
Xia De shook his head, guiding the power of his eleventh Ling Rune behind him to make himself more accustomed to this darkness. It was almost dawn outside, and he couldn't waste time.
The canopy of the giant tree was swayed by an unknown wind, rustling under the enormous silver Moon. Xia De wondered if it was his imagination, but after 【True Death】 took shape, this place seemed to become more real, yet also more ethereal.
The souls looking up at the silver Moon seemed to have the light of the silver Moon within their bodies, and beside Xia De, that reddish-golden bonfire suddenly flared up.
In the material world, the Old Continent, the Kingdom of Delarion, Middlesburg was in the early morning before dawn on the twenty-third day of the harvest month, but before the first ray of sunlight shot out from behind Sicar Mountain, a slight Vibration of the ground woke the citizens.
Middlesburg was originally a mountainous area prone to earthquakes, so the City was not alarmed by this. Only a few people noticed the abnormal light in the night sky, and even fewer stood by windows or in front of their homes, gazing at the towering Sicar Mountain, and saw an abnormal reddish-golden aurora behind the mountains, floating like a ribbon in the night sky.
It covered a small part of the southeastern sky, and under the starry sky, the light flickered, occasionally changing into red, blue, green, and purple hues.
“Aurora before a big earthquake?”
The light was so dreamy and splendid, but no one knew what this strange light appearing with the earthquake actually was. Only Ring Sorcerers with better eyesight could discern that the light vaguely reflected a huge body of water, yet also resembled a tree with a massive canopy.
The earthquake disappeared after just one tremor, and the reddish-golden aurora, like a floating ribbon, also vanished with the disappearance of the earthquake, as if it was just a collective hallucination before dawn.
At the Russell Manor at the foot of Sicar Mountain, the bonfire that had burned all night still hadn't extinguished, but the fire streams spread throughout the manor became increasingly faint.
The blind nuns looked "up" at the light above Sicar Mountain, and no one spoke. Only Sister Devlin, the leader of the order, still maintained the posture of cupping a flame in her hands, her back to the bonfire, facing the open main Door of the manor, her head bowed and motionless.
Her hands were clasped in a cupping gesture, and through the cracks on the backs of her hands and fingers, in the firelight and embers, her skin was almost transparent, allowing her hand bones to be seen.
An old figure, at some unknown moment, stood beside the nun, looking up at the fading aurora on the mountaintop:
“It's so pretty. This reminds me of the night sky I saw when I followed the former Speaker to the far north and visited Saint Byron's when I was young.”
“Madam, what is this light?”
Sister Devlin asked softly, her tone still as cold.
“Another world is reflected in the sky. This indicates that a High-Ring Sorcerer has used a power that can be called a true Miracle, such as a Mystic Lock. Yes, someone has temporarily completely sealed that Door at the foot of the mountain. It's incredible, but how was it done? Could it be that the 'Silver Watcher' from Saint Byron's has arrived? I remember that they haven't yet thoroughly investigated the matter of Ms. Mana Feilianna from a while ago.”
Qi Na Cassandra coughed:
“That's not important, after all, sealing only one of the three passages doesn't have much meaning. Speaking of which, has he not returned yet?”
“No, I've already reminded him that dawn is coming.”
Sister Devlin replied.
The old witch shook her head. Although elderly, her face still showed the charm of her youth:
“He really doesn't make things easy for me. If he gets lost there, I think little Jialinna will never come to see me again in her life.”
