“Speaking of which, I wanted to ask earlier, where did this sword come from?”
Luvia asked curiously.
“I got it while adventuring with the doctor. This is an Angel-level longsword. Unfortunately, I can only hold it for a very short time.”
Xia De hadn't had time to talk to Luvia about this sword yet.
“Oh, that’s truly impressive.”
Dorothy also said,
“So, that’s why you asked me to temporarily look after your cat on Monday. But what exactly did you and the doctor do to get a relic of such value?”
Both girls looked at Xia De curiously. Xia De glanced at the doctor, who quickly shook his head:
“Let the Detective speak; it was mainly the Detective’s credit.”
“Hmm.”
Xia De couldn’t say that the doctor had swallowed an Infernal Demon, so he could only keep his mouth shut:
“That’s also a secret, a not-so-important secret.”
Since Xia De claimed to have a way to solve the problem on the third floor, the others did not linger and left after a few words. After all, Xia De had called them so early, and most of them hadn't had breakfast yet.
After Xia De bid farewell to his friends in the foyer, he did not turn to go upstairs with Mia, who was watching him from the stairs, but waited a while longer in the foyer.
A knock on the door indeed sounded; it was Luvia who had returned.
“Are you still going to Middelsburg today?”
She asked directly, and the two went upstairs together to continue their conversation.
“Of course.”
“There was another Vibration there. The last Vibration led to the emergence of evil spirits and the strengthening of those terrifying guys’ powers. Who knows what will happen this time.”
Luvia said with a worried expression.
“The problem is not just that.”
Xia De motioned for Luvia to sit down, while he waved his hand, drawing a black crack in the air. Luvia immediately closed her eyes; her power was not enough for her to look directly at “death.”
And Xia De, through this crack, looked at the tidal flat in front of the calm waters illuminated by the Nether Moon, and the reddish-gold bonfire on the tidal flat, which was a seal trace of the 【Kiss of the Tree】 Mystic Lock. The flame was somewhat weak:
“The seal I left has been severely weakened after two Vibrations. Unless I take the risk and push open that Death Door again through the Gap, once a third Vibration occurs, the effect of the Kiss of the Tree will completely collapse, and the situation will revert to before I arrived in Middelsburg.”
Actually, Xia De wanted to say “before the Priest sealed it,” but he had promised the Priest not to reveal his secret. And although the Miracle 【True Death】 could allow Xia De to directly enter after the Death Door through that crack, doing so would directly complete his transition from the world of the living to the world of the dead, and his soul and body could not withstand such a change, thus he had to pass through the Gap for the transition.
“No, no, you can’t go again. Do you want to die again? If you managed to escape last time, it’s not certain this time. Don’t forget that after two Vibrations, the Gap itself has also undergone new changes.”
Luvia stopped Xia De’s idea:
“The key now is the third Chosen One. The poem has indicated that he or she can solve this big trouble.”
But the problem was that four coins were not enough for divination.
“I understand. I will enter the Sin Mansion today and try to get that blood money.”
Xia De picked up the longsword on the tea table:
“We can’t wait any longer, even if it’s not for whether Middelsburg can still exist, but to get ahead of the Church and the Academy. Iluna told me last night that the Church is already taking action. Once I can get enough coins, almost all current dilemmas can be solved.”
“Wait a moment, I will perform a divination for you, to see if this trip will be smooth.”
Luvia reached into her pocket and took out a silver coin with a blasphemy element. This was the Document-level relic 【Diviner’s Silver Coin】 that Iluna had applied for from the Sun Church. Even a Ring術士 who had not studied divination could use this coin to enhance their own inspiration and capture more traces of fate when making a two-choice decision.
And for a Ring術士 proficient in divination, this was almost a “divination amplifier.” Although it had the flaw of misleading fate and thus causing oneself to fall into a fate trap, this coin was extremely useful for any Diviner.
Luvia asked Xia De for a strand of his hair. She rubbed the hair with one hand and tossed the coin with the other. In her purple eyes, light seemed to glow, and the tossed coin did not fall but kept spinning in the air for a full half minute before dropping.
Luvia closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened them:
“I cannot see if there will be a life-threatening danger on this trip, but I can confirm that you will encounter an old acquaintance from a distant place in that Secret Keeper Level 【Sin Mansion】.”
“Old acquaintance?”
“Not someone you met in Middelsburg, but an old acquaintance from a distant place.”
Regardless, acquiring new coins was the most important thing at the moment.
His home was not safe now, so after seeing Luvia off, Xia De brought the cat from the church back and sent it to Dorothy, asking her to look after it. Only then could he leave Tobesk City with peace of mind.
The location of the 【Sin Mansion】 was even closer to the mountain peak than that ruined tower in the mountains. In the information provided by Grandma Cassandra, this relic, rated as Secret Keeper Level, usually does not stay in one location for more than three weeks. And when Xia De stepped out of the ruined tower and felt that the blood money he carried with him could still sense similar coins, he knew that the 【Sin Mansion】 was still on Sicar Mountain.
Because of yesterday's Vibration, Xia De was still very worried about encountering evil spirits on the way up the mountain. But his luck was very good this time; of course, it might also be because Sicar Mountain in the morning is not foggy, so the journey was relatively peaceful.
However, the arrival of late autumn had turned most of the green, which Xia De first saw here in early autumn, into golden yellow. The leaves falling from the branches not only dyed the ground golden but also left the branches bare. This scene, he wondered, whether it presaged the fate of the City below the mountain.
And although he did not encounter evil spirits, Xia De did encounter a team of Orthodox Church Ring術士 on the way. He knew their identity because they were using divine spells to drive away mosquitoes in the mountains as they walked and sprinkling holy water on the ground, seemingly surveying the terrain.
It seemed that the large ritual led by the Natural Church was really about to begin.
At 9:23 AM, Xia De, carrying the 【Night Watchman】, arrived at the outskirts of the 【Sin Mansion】 and saw the three-story building surrounded by a fence with black spikes through the leafy woods.
However, to Xia De's surprise, as he looked towards the main entrance of the building, he happened to see that door silently close. He didn't know if some unlucky fellow had accidentally stumbled in, or if the souls captured by the relic inside the 【Sin Mansion】 were at work.
The night watchman longsword was sheathed and held by Xia De. When Xia De walked out of the woods and officially stepped onto the gravel path leading to the manor, the sword immediately vibrated slightly. But when Xia De passed through the black fence gate, which was entangled with thorn decorations, the sword returned to its original state, as if it knew that the wielder was determined to approach a dangerous place.
