“You haven’t gotten it yet?” Xia De asked. The Witch, eating an apple, smiled. “Yes, Xia De, you are very perceptive. It’s indeed ‘not yet’. The Threaded Text was submitted to the gods last time. The book of nameless sacrifices, which records the power of the sun, was found but sealed, making it temporarily unobtainable. However, the yeger scroll, which records the mystery of death, has no seal and can be acquired now. We had planned to wait until the long black snow ended before retrieving it, but since you’ve appeared, let’s go get it now.”
She glanced at Miss Samuel, whose face was pale and who was trembling as if she had a severe cold.
“Peggy, you stay here and look after the luggage and my apprentice. Xia De, you come with me; the black snow doesn’t seem to affect you.”
“Yes, I am immune to instant death powers.”
“That makes things more convenient.”
She stood up, her cloak covering her lace-up ladies’ tall cloth boots. Seeing Xia De staring at her boots, she teased, “If you like looking, then there’ll be time during this journey, and you can look as much as you want.”
“I didn’t mean that…”
“It’s fine.”
She motioned for Xia De not to explain further, then led the way out the door.
All the surrounding ruins were part of Gaddis Library, but due to the collapsed buildings and other strange reasons, it was impossible to reach all corners of the Library from the antechamber where the bonfire was. Therefore, they needed to find another entrance to delve deeper into the Library.
And as they left the antechamber, the undead, revived by the black snow, noticed them again.
Miss Olanorde took Xia De’s hand and brought him into the air again. Together, they temporarily dispelled the evil spirits in the air with Moonlight, but they did not relax their vigilance.
“Be careful, it’s not just spirits that can fly.”
“Roar!”
The astonishing roar even made Xia De worry it would cause an avalanche, and a black dot appearing in the distance amidst the black snow seemed to be—
It was a gigantic skeleton, with two wings on its back and bone spurs all over its long tail. Red light flickered in its eye sockets, vaguely reminding Xia De of Darkness’s Human Pus form.
“Bone Dragon. There are too many ruins buried in Dead Silence Valley; Gaddis Library is only a part of it. This one flew over from somewhere else. Xia De, hold on tight to me.”
Against the black snow, the Thirteenth Golden Staircase glowed brightly.
“Moonlight Greatsword!”
This was a familiar name, but the greatsword that extended from Miss Olanorde’s hand was almost a hundred meters long.
“Hmph~”
The translucent, clear yellow weapon swung forward in a sweeping motion, swirling with wind and snow, almost turning the sky yellow. The skeletal giant dragon had no chance to dodge and was reduced to wreckage under the sword.
The greatsword disintegrated into scattered points of light flying in all directions, and Miss Olanorde pulled Xia De into a pitch-black cave entrance on the side of the cliff. Once inside the building, the undead outside quieted down again.
“That Moonlight Greatsword was truly amazing just now.”
Xia De released Miss Olanorde’s hand and praised her from the bottom of his heart. She clapped her hands, then summoned three fireballs to orbit around her, providing light at the same time.
“Moonlight Greatsword is a very ancient Miracle, simple and effective. Over the long years, its users have developed many forms and effects. If there’s time, I can tell you all about it in detail, but for now, please follow me.”
After surveying their surroundings to ascertain their location, they walked deeper along the gloomy passage. Their boots crunched on the dusty floor, and the musty smell was so strong it was almost impossible to breathe. This path was very strange; there were no doors or windows on either side, only mottled murals, and at the end of the passage, there was no path, only a life-sized statue standing against the wall.
By the light of the fireballs, Xia De saw the statue. It was a robed skeleton, tightly embracing a stone slab with its bony arms. The statue was made of bronze, but its surface was already heavily rusted, having likely stood there for countless years.
The rust on its surface made the metal uneven, which ironically made the skeleton appear as if it had sprouted dense bone spurs, making its appearance even more bizarre and terrifying.
The more he stared at it, the more Xia De felt that something was wrong with it. When his eyes met its hollow eye sockets, a suction force seemed to try to pull Xia De’s spirit into it.
A pale hand blocked Xia De’s eyes, Miss Olanorde cutting off Xia De’s gaze from the skeleton.
“Don’t look at it. This is not something a living person should come into contact with.
I once heard my teacher mention this: Soul-Forging Skeleton. People of the second epoch used distorted Knowledge to create forbidden alchemical weapons, similar to the so-called ‘Giant Divine Soldiers,’ they were servants of ancient extraordinary beings. That stone slab is the yeger scroll. We discovered it when Fiona encountered an accident, but because we had to send Fiona back, we never got around to retrieving it.”
Saying this, she stopped Xia De behind her, then reached out to touch the stone slab held by the skeleton.
A faint cracking sound appeared, and Miss Olanorde’s palm actually developed bleeding cracks. She withdrew her hand, and as green smoke covered the surface of her hand, the cracks slowly healed. This was an elf’s healing spell.
“Malice towards the living is a characteristic of this evil alchemical weapon. Originally, it would have been more troublesome; I’d have to temporarily transform myself into an undead creature to deceive this statue, but since you’re here, Xia De, you retrieve it.”
She motioned for Xia De to step forward.
“But I am also a living person.”
“For this epoch, you haven’t even been born yet. Don’t worry, nothing will happen.”
A smile appeared on her lips as she took Xia De’s hand and led him closer to the skeleton statue.
Since she said so, Xia De carefully reached out his hand. Nothing happened during the process of extending his palm. It was only when his hand was about to touch the stone slab that the skeleton suddenly moved.
It didn’t attack, but its arms moved to block Xia De’s hand, preventing him from touching the stone slab.
“You are not living… What are you?”
The monotonous voice spoke a language Xia De had never heard before; it was probably the language from the era when the skeleton was created. After Xia De translated it for Miss Olanorde, he replied, “I am human.”
“You are… one who has died and been resurrected?”
“Yes.”
Xia De had indeed entered and exited through the gate in front of that body of water, so he could indeed be considered someone who had died and been resurrected. Speaking of which, the third Chosen One’s two conditions of “eyes related to death” and “almost able to achieve resurrection from death” both applied to Xia De. His eyes could see undead that even normal Ring術士 could not.
“Answer one question, and this book can be given to you.”
Xia De raised an eyebrow, and after asking the Witch behind him again, he replied, “Of course, what question?”
“What is death?”
After translating it for Miss Olanorde, she wanted to answer, but Xia De smiled and stopped her.
“I know this question, I am quite clear about it.”
Saying this, his unextended left hand gently swiped in the air, and a black Gap immediately opened. Behind the Gap was the shallows in front of the tranquil water.
That was not the underworld, but merely a conceptualized location that appeared due to the observation of the living concerning the concept of “death,” and thus it lacked the concepts of time and space. Theoretically, anyone, in any epoch, from any location, opening a passage to this place would arrive at the same position. However, precisely because of observation, what should have been the same “position” became different.
Therefore, at this moment, behind that Gap, there was no Xia De’s “Kiss of the Tree” bonfire, no Nether Moon light, and no Death Door located at the foot of Sicar Mountain.
“Look, this is death. The True Death.”
Xia De said softly, as if marveling at the beauty of this Miracle.
Miss Olanorde took two steps back, looking at the Gap in horror. The skeleton also did not respond immediately, as if it too was startled by Xia De’s actions.
“True Death…”
Accompanied by crackling sounds, the skeleton uttered its last few words, then collapsed with a crash, scattering into a pile of completely rusted metal wreckage.
The stone slab of the yeger scroll fell among the bronze wreckage but did not shatter from the fall. Xia De learned his lesson and did not dare to examine the stone slab closely. He glanced at the stone slab’s position out of the corner of his eye, then took off his outer coat, intending to wrap it up.
“Xia De, that Gap just now was…”
“It leads to the concept of death itself; it can be understood as the True Death.”
Xia De briefly explained, and Miss Olanorde certainly understood.
“I once stepped into death through the relic Death Door and then returned. Yes, through the power of the god we saw in Thousand Tree Forest, the yaobian gate.”
“Death Door… Are you referring to a double-opening stone gate with stories of death carved on it?”
Miss Olanorde asked suspiciously. Xia De nodded, preparing to pick up the stone slab from the wreckage.
“Have you seen this gate in this epoch too?”
“Yes, but why did you enter that gate?”
The pointy-eared Witch frowned and grabbed Xia De’s wrist, preventing him from squatting down, wanting to confirm if he was truly still alive.
“In the present, this gate is an instrument of torture, the most terrifying instrument used by the Supreme Witch Council to punish Witches who have made mistakes. We don’t use terrible punishments like hanging or beheading; that’s undignified. Condemned Witches walk into the Death Door and then step into death.”
“What exactly happened between the fifth epoch and the sixth epoch?”
This was the question in Xia De’s heart. An instrument of torture wielded by the Witch Council in this epoch actually became a key relic in the hands of the Orthodox Church in the next epoch, used to assist in sealing the Gap. The changing of epochs buried too many truths, and even an investigator like Xia De, who could walk through past times, could not know all of them.
“I’ve never heard of a living person being able to walk out from behind that door again,” Miss Olanorde added. And unfortunately, Xia De had heard of two.
