“Sorry, what did you say?”
The term “Original Sin Scholar” was not delarion, and it took Xia De a moment to barely grasp its meaning:
“What is an Original Sin Scholar?”
“Then you are not.”
The strange old man shook his head and led Xia De back towards the entrance hall:
“Your sin is high enough; you can go to the highest floor. Guest, please follow me, you will get what you want.”
After speaking, he no longer paid attention to Xia De and walked back towards the direction of the stairs. Xia De immediately followed him, knowing that in the 【Sin Manor】, if he wandered around without a guide, it would be extremely easy to be attacked by the things living there.
The interior decoration style of this building was quite uniform, somewhat similar to how old aristocratic mansions looked after gas pipes were installed. The golden decorations on the stairs and the oil paintings on the cracked walls all showed the former splendor of this place when it was still an ordinary house.
However, the red carpet on the floor gave Xia De a strong sense of unease. Because under the observation of Blood Echo, almost every part of this carpet had a red halo, which meant that this carpet was almost dyed with blood.
Before long, they arrived on the third floor, where the staircase extended into corridors on both the left and right sides. One side of the corridor had windows, and the other side had rooms. Each door had a rusty yellow metal plaque, but those plaques were all blank.
But before the lantern-carrying old man could lead Xia De to choose a direction, the ground suddenly vibrated.
“Earthquake?”
It wasn't a very strong Vibration, not even enough to make it difficult to stand steadily. However, as the building itself vibrated, Xia De heard an explosion from the second floor. At the same time, the faces in the terrifying portraits on the walls all uniformly looked downwards, as if something had gone wrong downstairs.
“What’s going on? Is Sicar Mountain having another earthquake? Or did something happen to this house?”
【The Sin Mansion has undergone a new change; as the ground vibrates, the malice here has deepened.】
“This way.”
The lantern-carrying old man didn't pay attention to the strange Vibration, and Xia De's question went unanswered.
He led Xia De to the left, opened the third door, and motioned for him to enter and wait:
“The trader in the manor will be here soon, please wait a moment, guest.”
When Xia De walked in, the door was closed by the hunchbacked old man.
Xia De observed the room; it was a spacious bedroom, fully equipped with antique-looking furniture such as a four-poster bed with pink drapes and gauze, a desk, and a wardrobe. There were even two small doors on one side, leading to a washroom and a cloakroom, similar to room layouts Xia De had seen in Miss Jialinna’s manor and Aurora Manor in Coldwater Port.
The room remained dim, with only the gas lamp on the desk lit. The gas lamp had a very classical design, completely different from the popular style of 1853. Xia De did not walk towards the desk but turned and grasped the doorknob. After testing it, he found that the door was locked, but he could open it using the 【Door Key】.
“Next is to wait. From the experience of the Ring術士 who have left this place in the past, a trader will soon ask me what I want to obtain from the manor. And among the inconspicuous middle options on the list, there is an option to leave this place at the cost of increasing one's own sin.”
Thinking this, he walked towards the desk. A blank piece of paper was placed face down under the lamp. Xia De was startled; when he entered earlier, there seemed to be nothing under the lamp.
His eyes had already caught sight of traces on the paper; a long-haired woman sitting in a rocking chair was outlined with very thin pencil lines.
The woman's body occupied less than a fifth of the paper's area, but her hair almost took up a third of the paper. Because it was only outlined with simple lines, the woman's face only had simple features, but when Xia De looked at that face, it actually smiled.
“Hmm?”
A deadly sense of crisis made Xia De instinctively raise the sword in his hand; this time, he reacted faster than the sword itself.
Clang!
The end of the black long hair actually shot out from the painting, wanting to pierce Xia De's forehead like an arrow, but it was blocked by the blade of the night watchman's long sword.
“That's not right, didn't the information say that this stage is completely safe? I didn't do anything against the rules!”
Thinking this, he thrust his left hand into the air, pulled out the bright yellow long sword, and with a flick of his wrist, cut off the black long hair that was trying to wrap around the night watchman. Compared to a greatsword, this type of long sword was more suitable for such movements.
Xia De quickly retreated, while narrowing his eyes to look at the paper:
“Ignite!”
The basic Miracle, Ignite, was no longer just capable of making paper smoke as Xia De's Ring術士 level increased. Furthermore, due to the 【Sin Manor】's enhancement of Xia De's strength and the elemental wine he drank at the Divine Wine Party, the power of the Miracle was greatly enhanced, so the paper with the whisper element was instantly ignited.
But as thick black smoke billowed out, a withered, bluish hand actually extended from the paper:
“This is clearly not the normal trading process of the 【Sin Manor】. What exactly happened? Is the relic out of control?”
Chains extended from Xia De's right sleeve, wrapping around the hilt of the long sword in his hand. The 【Night Watchman】 vibrated violently, as if disliking the 【Great Sin Chains】, but ultimately did not break free.
“Hmph!”
He suddenly threw the silver sword, its blade accurately piercing the palm of the hand that extended from the paper.
A sharp wail, almost piercing Xia De's eardrums. Black ink flowed from the bluish hand, and the gushing ink even extinguished the burning paper.
The hand suddenly broke free from the blade, and the white paper, now with blackened edges, swayed violently as it flew high into the air. As the paper trembled intensely, black long hair surged out from it like a river.
“Although I like girls with black long hair, this is clearly not that kind.”
He pulled the Great Sin Chains to retrieve the long sword, quickly retreating to the wall to avoid the wriggling long hair that had already landed. These were physical entities, and a burst of Moonlight would not cause much damage, and the other Moonlight series Miracles Xia De currently mastered did not have large-area damage capabilities, so—
The whistle roared, and bells chimed. In the surging steam mist, a corner of the Destiny Ring was revealed, and the 【The Witch's Light】 Ling Rune shimmered with brass aura:
“Felianna's Witch Light!”
He extended his right index finger forward, and golden light, with a melting everything posture, shone upon the surging black hair. As black smoke continuously rose, the hair quickly disappeared.
At the same time, Xia De raised his left hand and drew a silver Moon light towards the paper in the sky. The Moonlight cut off the hair wrapped around the paper and then disappeared, but immediately after, the 【Night Watchman】 was thrown out again.
And this time, the blade completely pierced the paper.
Another ear-piercing shriek, as Xia De experienced ringing in his ears and a headache, the paper exploded into fragments, and the black hair also disappeared. After the long sword fell to the floor, silence returned to the room.
The chains on the ground contracted with a clattering sound, and the sword hilt, following the chains, retracted into Xia De's sleeve, once again grasped by Xia De.
He vigilantly observed all parts of the room, preventing any other attacks, but there were no other abnormal phenomena in the room.
Only the self-igniting paper fragments on the ground proved that something had indeed actively attacked Xia De just now.
