“You sold the Holy Grail of Blood to him?”
“Of course not. The sin he offered wasn’t enough. The Vampire was very displeased, so I fought him.”
The skinny humanoid creature chuckled, his throat sounding as if it was clogged with phlegm.
As for the result of the fight, it goes without saying.
“You didn’t kill him? Oh, you don’t look like such a kind person.”
“Why would I kill him? In this place, life isn’t worth much. The Vampire bore new sin to make me spare him, and I even told him how to get that Holy Grail with the least amount of sin. Oh, dear guest, here, the exchange of sin can fulfill almost any wish.”
Transactions at the 【Sin Manor】 can involve either giving up one’s own sin or bearing new sin. This can theoretically achieve a “Balance of payments,” but multiple transactions are highly likely to lead to the outcome of “meeting the owner of the Sin Manor” or “getting lost.” Therefore, if one can maintain rationality, choosing to leave immediately is the correct approach.
“Wait a minute, the first Vibration in the Manor, which happened when you two fought, wouldn’t it be because of…”
Xia De narrowed his eyes slightly, and the skinny creature once again let out an uncomfortable laugh from his throat:
“Yes, it was because of us. He fought the trader here, causing the Manor to become hostile to all guests.”
Xia De immediately gritted his teeth and turned towards the direction of the door:
“So that’s what it was! No wonder he ran so fast! I knew it couldn’t have been my fault… But if Armand Bernhardt was here, then who was it that ignited the flames on the first floor and severely injured that black-furred man just now?”
No matter who ignited the flames on the first floor, Xia De didn’t intend to leave this room immediately. Since he encountered a trader, he might as well make some transactions.
And when he expressed this desire, the skinny creature immediately said in an exaggerated tone:
“I guess you must be a more generous guest than that Vampire just now.”
“No need to praise me. Do you have this?”
Xia De rummaged through his pocket for the 【pirate's blood money】, and the creature in front of him immediately nodded:
“blood money, of course I have it, but how much do you want, guest?”
“How much do you have?”
“There’s one in the Manor’s treasury, and I also have one in my personal collection. If you want it, I can give you a very favorable price. How about you bear 1.1 units of perfect 【sloth】 on my behalf?”
Although the number sounds small, “perfect” level sin is enough to change an ordinary person’s personality. Even for a Ring術士, bearing so much sin will inevitably affect their soul. Although there’s a chance to obtain Ling Rune from it, “sin” is a very serious source of pollution, and even if the soul is strong enough, one cannot easily introduce this level of filth.
“Although those two blood money are relic, your asking price is too high. Can you lower it? 0.1 units feels acceptable to me.”
Xia De tried to bargain, but the creature standing by the window shook its head, not even intending to haggle.
“Then how about changing 【sloth】 to 【gluttony】? I’m even willing to bear more.”
Xia De’s gluttony originated from the evil god Lord of the Blood Banquet, so no amount of sin was a problem for him.
But the creature by the window still shook its head.
“You should at least give me a chance to bargain, right?”
This time, the skinny, big-eared fellow finally spoke, his cloudy eyes looking at Xia De:
“If you agree to this transaction, I can give you this lamp.”
He pointed to the kerosene lamp hanging on the bamboo pole. Its appearance looked very similar to the one held by the old man who led Xia De in, but it was more ancient.
“The flame in the lamp cannot be given to you. This lamp can collect fire seeds; even the most powerful flames cannot destroy it.”
In other words, the function of this lamp is merely to collect flames. Converted to relic grade, it should be the lowest Poet Grade.
“No, no, no, what would I do with this lamp? How about this: I’ll bear 1.1 units of 【sloth】 for you, and you give me two coins. Additionally, tell me how to leave the 【Sin Manor】 under the current circumstances.”
He expected the other party to still disagree, but unexpectedly, it hesitated for a moment and then nodded:
“Alright.”
“Huh?”
This time, Xia De was instead confused, but the skinny fellow stared at him with frighteningly large eyes:
“Do you want to go back on your word?”
“No, we can trade now.”
Transactions in the 【Sin Manor】 cannot involve lying; this is probably the only advantage of this creepy place.
First, Xia De handed the parchment recording his own sin to the other party. After both parties confirmed, the trader wrote “1.1 units of sloth · Perfect” on it with a pen.
Almost simultaneously, Xia De felt a strangeness within himself. The whisper element was abnormally strengthening, and at the same time, it felt as if someone had reached out and directly touched his internal organs. A feeling like stepping on excrement in an alley made him show a disgusted expression, but this change indeed gave him power.
Two contradictory feelings appeared in Xia De’s heart at the same time. A more direct impact was that the 【Sin Manor】’s influence on him intensified again. What was originally just a slight headache was now even more intense than the pain in his wrist when it was fractured just now. This building was accepting him, and when this feeling of acceptance reached a certain limit, he would officially become part of the relic.
“I don’t feel any personality issues for now, but it’s a pity I can’t use the 【Dark Dungeon】 to see the shadow under the trapdoor.”
He thought to himself, then spread his palm, allowing the trader to place the two blood money in his hand.
“What about the method to leave?”
“Normal methods are no longer possible, but there are two abnormal methods.”
He bared his yellowish teeth, extending two thick, short black fingers:
“First, go to the third floor and repent to the Manor’s owner, and you can leave. Second, go to the underground wine cellar. There’s a secret passage in the wine cellar, but that path is not easy. The sinful souls guard the path and won’t allow you to leave easily.”
It paused:
“Moreover, the owner has recently entertained a distinguished guest, tasting wine in the cellar. If you don’t want to die quickly, don’t pay attention to any other presences in the wine cellar.”
Xia De frowned. Although he had obtained the two coins, the two methods of leaving both sounded unreliable. Ultimately, fearing the power of the Manor’s owner, Xia De still decided to leave through the basement, after all, facing anything was safer than facing the internal owner of a location-type relic.
He didn’t waste any more time. After leaving the room, he went directly down the stairs to the first floor. During this time, he didn’t encounter the black-furred man who threw the cleaver again.
Upon reaching the first floor, the distortion of the corridor was more severe than on the two floors above. Moreover, the carpets, walls, oil paintings, and light fixtures all bore signs of being burned, and there was a smell of scorching in the air. The residual heat from the fire had not completely dissipated. It was as if a gas explosion had truly occurred here just now. Even though location-type relics are not easily altered internally by external forces, they were still greatly affected:
“There should be other guests on the first floor besides me and Armand Bernhardt, and they are stronger than both of us combined.”
The entrance to the underground wine cellar required going from the front corridor of the Manor to the back corridor.
He looked up at the charred ceiling, not too curious, and walked quickly down the corridor. The large fire that occurred on the first floor just now was truly astonishing. In the cracks of the walls, embers still remained, and the flickering sparks proved that the fire that burned all this was definitely not normal fire.
“Could it be relic-level flames…”
The heavy footsteps from ahead interrupted Xia De’s thoughts. At the turn of the corridor, the tall humanoid creature with a black-furred face and two sharp blades appeared again.
Moreover, his injuries were not only completely healed, but black patterns like rune chains had even appeared on his skin. This appearance was very similar to how Xia De looked when he devoured the desire flesh in the depths of Aurora Manor, both representing the power of sin.
“Doesn’t this mean I’m even less able to beat him?”
Xia De turned to run, but the cleaver, which had turned pitch black, had already flown over.
“Space Stabilization Aura - Raglai's Leap!”
The power to stabilize space and the power to transcend space were used almost simultaneously. Xia De’s body teleported less than half a meter to the right, letting the terrifying cleaver graze his scalp as it flew past.
“I’m not without the power of sin!”
The monster in the distance reached out, and the cleaver embedded in the floor behind Xia De flew back again. But as the knife passed by Xia De, Xia De held his sword with both hands and struck the knife down with a clang.
While the opponent tried to summon the knife again, Xia De took a deep breath, letting the Destiny Ring behind him fully manifest. This was his strongest combat state:
“Great Sin Chains!”
Pitch-black chains, as if capable of absorbing light, extended from his sleeves. With a clattering sound, they wrapped around the trembling cleaver. And as the cleaver was summoned back into the enemy’s hand, the chains wrapped around the hilt also extended to the opponent’s front.
The chains were as agile as tentacles, wrapping around the opponent’s right wrist from the knife hilt. Before the other hand could try to tear off the chains, the chains had already wrapped around that black-furred arm.
“It’s working!”
The Ling was flowing rapidly within his body, which meant the restraint was effective. Although it only wrapped around one of the opponent’s arms, the enemy’s strength was clearly weakening.
Both sides used this chain to tug against each other, and the Great Sin Runes representing 【greed】 and 【gluttony】 on the chains constantly vibrated under the two forces.
Xia De wanted the chains to wrap around the opponent’s entire body, while the black-furred man clearly wanted to pull Xia De over and stab him.
“Now—Moonlight!”
