Stepping over the picket gate meant officially entering the interior of the relic.
The concentration of whisper element varied abnormally greatly inside and outside the picket gate. It was naturally not as unbearable as the Fishbone Pirate Ship, but the pervasive influence unique to a location-type relic still made Xia De feel very uncomfortable.
It wasn't a severe headache or nausea, nor was it constant harassment from fragmented whispers. He felt a kind of desire; his own chaotic thoughts were very easily magnified here. Xia De even found himself thinking of retreating at the moment, and such a thought of escape would absolutely never occur to him.
"Oh, I need to focus more."
With his back to the picket gate behind him, Xia De closed his eyes and patted his head a few times. Good memories and thoughts could dispel those Random Thoughts, but the problem was that good memories could also trigger more unsettling thoughts. For example, thinking of Mia made him think of being cautious and turning to leave, while thinking of Luvia, besides the sweetness of affection, there was also...
As Xia De realized the unusual nature of these chaotic thoughts, standing inside the picket gate, he suddenly felt as if the surrounding sky grew dim. Dark clouds enveloped the forest clearing, followed by a pitch-black lightning bolt streaking across the sky, with a rumbling sound heard only a few seconds later.
The building, which had appeared clean and tidy under the autumn sun, became eerie as the light faded. Large patches of shadow, like crawling monsters, enveloped the exterior walls of the building, and strange figures appeared in the glass windows. In the courtyard inside the fence, the golden fallen leaves had decayed into mud, and the tree with the swing in the courtyard shed all its leaves within two seconds. The trunk and branches seemed to have completely lost their vitality in the moment, but their withered appearance was like a gray giant hand reaching out from the depths of the earth.
A rustling sound came from behind him. Turning his head, the black iron picket gate, the black metal, crawled like a snake, intertwining until it completely blocked the entrance, like a spider web. A common characteristic of location-type relics is that one can never leave unless specific conditions are met, which was proven on the Fishbone Pirate Ship that Xia De had experienced.
The light was dim, and a cold wind carrying a putrid smell blew over Xia De; everything around him was dilapidated. When the relic fully revealed its interior, Xia De finally felt a headache and intense discomfort. The whisper element affects any tangible and intangible entity; this element is an enemy of civilization.
"Although it's very uncomfortable, I can still bear it. It seems my sins are not particularly severe."
Xia De frowned and pressed his head. He now felt as if he had taken ten deep breaths in an alley full of garbage and feces, then spun around twenty times in place.
But besides the uncomfortable feeling, he also felt his power increase. All living beings who enter the Sin Mansion will gain an increase in power based on their sins; this can be considered a unique "field effect" of this location-type relic.
"This feeling now is no less than wearing those Witch Council accessories. Do I have so many sins?"
He was very puzzled but then shook his head:
"Let's leave here quickly. I hope Grandma Cassandra's information isn't wrong."
After glancing at the broken swing under the withered tree, Xia De walked towards the door of the building, which resembled a haunted house, and then reached out to knock on the black door. This was not a metal door, but a hard wooden door. However, the wooden surface had not been meticulously treated, so the texture of the bark was still clear.
But looking closely, those twisted patterns were clearly a language that could be translated. However, when Xia De tried to decipher the words on the door, a severe headache almost made him lose his Balance.
He leaned against the wall and rested for a while before feeling better. From this, he understood that the power of the words on this door was no less than most of the words he had encountered in this world.
Without hearing any footsteps, the door in front of him opened silently. A hunched, gray-skinned old man appeared inside the door, holding a lantern.
He looked at Xia De with droopy eyelids, and Xia De felt an even stronger whisper element from him.
"Are you a lost traveler?"
The other party used delarion, and his voice was unusually hoarse.
"No, I am a guest here to trade."
Xia De said, according to the information provided by Grandma Cassandra.
The Sin Mansion itself was a mountain mansion belonging to an unknown noble during the third epoch or fourth epoch. Later, something extremely terrifying happened here. Limited records from the Witch Council show that the owner of the mansion researched Knowledge of original sin, which led to the fires of sin burning everything, forming this terrifying Sin Mansion relic.
Once outsiders are identified as playing the role of a lost traveler here, they will be permanently imprisoned by the mansion itself as prey. Only guests who claim to be traders can receive courteous treatment. From experience, as long as no hostility is shown towards the Sin Mansion itself, the relic will not easily inflict harm on entering traders.
"Please come in."
The lantern-carrying old man said in a hoarse voice, stepping aside from the doorway to allow Xia De to enter. As Xia De entered the foyer, he noticed that the faint light on the foyer wall actually came from a gas lamp, and there were even gas pipes on the wall.
"This was a gift from a guest more than twenty years ago. We used his soul to redecorate this place."
The old man chuckled, leading Xia De into the interior of the building.
Outside the window was a terrifying sky where black lightning flashed from time to time, and the dilapidated courtyard easily brought to mind scenes from horror stories. Although there were dim gas lamps as light sources in the rooms, the atmosphere here was still extremely terrifying.
However, the light from the worn glass-covered lantern held by the old man was slightly stronger. Following behind him, Xia De examined the crack-like marks on the wall while trying to ask:
"Excuse me, is your lamp for sale?"
This lamp, taken outside, could itself be considered a relic.
"For sale, three complete souls, or take on a moment of the sin of slaughter for me."
The old man said in a hoarse voice, then suddenly stopped and looked back at Xia De:
"Guest, no need to rush. The trader will have everything you want. I can see that you have plenty of sin."
The two arrived at the deepest part of the foyer. From here, one could choose to go to the left or right corridors, or go upstairs via the staircase. But the old man stopped again:
"Guest, according to the rules, before trading, your amount of sin must be verified."
"No problem."
Xia De nodded, followed the old man to the right corridor, and entered the first room on the left. This room was very spacious, and there was only a faint gas lamp in the deepest part of the room.
Under the gas lamp was a table, and behind the table sat a bewildered man clutching a quill pen. His attire resembled that of an old-fashioned noble, but the craftsmanship of his red coat was not exquisite, making one wonder if his family had long since fallen into decline.
The old man stood at the doorway, gesturing for Xia De to approach, so Xia De stepped over the threshold, and the uncomfortable feeling was even more severe than before.
Walking through the dim room to the table, the man clutching the quill pen spoke, his voice extremely stiff:
"Press your palm on the paper."
There was only a single piece of parchment on the table, its edges seemingly scorched. Xia De placed his hand on it. A few seconds later, the man behind the table suddenly grabbed the quill pen and tried to stab Xia De's wrist, but Xia De agilely dodged it.
The other party glared at Xia De, took the parchment back, pierced his own wrist with the quill pen, and then wrote on the parchment with the blood-stained pen. After writing, he threw the paper to Xia De, showing no intention of communicating with him.
On the parchment, in twisted, worm-like characters, was recorded Xia De's "financial resources":
【Complete Soul (Powerful · Flawless · Holy · Balance · Darkness)】
【Gluttony (Rare) 10.5 moments】
【greed (Perfect) 9.9 moments】
【Lie (Normal) 8.9 moments】
【Promiscuity (Normal) 2.6 moments】
【desire (Normal) 1.3 moments】
【Blood Feast (Flawed) 0.7 moments】
【blasphemy (Flawed) 0.6 moments】
【Disloyalty (Flawed) 0.1 moments】
【Great Sin Chains】
"Hiss, my sins are even more than I thought."
His eyes lingered on the middle two lines for a moment, then looked at the last line:
"Great Sin Chains actually counts?"
Xia De was a bit surprised, while the other items were all recorded in Grandma Cassandra's information.
Everyone has a soul, and those descriptive words describe the characteristics of the soul. Among them, 【Powerful】 and 【Flawless】 represent the quality of Xia De's soul, while 【Balance】 and 【Darkness】 represent the soul's traits, which is probably related to Xia De's participation in the Selected One Ritual and his fulfillment of the ritual requirements.
However, 【Holy】 was very unexpected for Xia De, because it is said that only the most devout believers, who do good deeds throughout their lives, can receive such a description.
"Perhaps my 'life' was too short, and the number of ants I stepped on was less than others. Moreover, although I am not a good person in the standard sense, I haven't done many bad things either."
He thought to himself with amusement, and the sins listed after the soul description only extracted the more obvious characteristics, rather than listing everything. A normal person would not have more than 10 types of sins worth listing, otherwise that person would need to rest in a mental asylum or prison.
"Moment" is the evaluation of the quantity of sin here, while "Flawed", "Normal", "Perfect", and "Rare" are evaluations of quality.
Although Xia De possessed both Gluttony and greed Ling Runes, the former was drawn from the divinity of the Blood Feast Lord, and drawn twice, so it was normal for the former to reach the highest quality evaluation of "Rare."
"Besides Gluttony and greed, lying is unavoidable, desire is something any healthy person would have, Blood Feast is just a flaw so no need to mind it, blasphemy is understandable, and disloyalty probably refers to me delivering intelligence to an enemy country for money."
Xia De summarized his "medical report." The parchment he held should be considered everyone's deepest secret. After leaving here, he would not tell anyone this result.
【You only didn't analyze "Promiscuity."】
A whisper sounded in his ear. Xia De pursed his lips, his eyelids slightly lowered:
"That, indeed, is my sin."
She merely chuckled and offered no further comment.
So Xia De returned to the corridor, which was covered with a red carpet and adorned with golden wallpaper, holding the parchment, and presented it to the old man with the lantern.
The latter looked at the parchment in the faint light, and a hint of emotion finally appeared on his ashen, corpse-like face:
"10.3 moments of Rare Gluttony? How do you maintain your current physique?"
He was incredibly surprised.
"It's 10.5 moments, I can read this kind of writing."
Xia De reminded him. The latter showed no embarrassment, stuffed the parchment back into Xia De's hand, and then suddenly leaned closer. He raised the lantern in his withered right hand, his cloudy eyes scrutinizing the young man with the sword from a very close distance:
"You can read it? Are you... a Scholar of Original Sin?"
