“Outsider, do you have a new perspective on death?”
“She” suddenly asked softly.
“Perhaps, death is not always the worst outcome.”
Xia De replied in his mind, then felt the box he was carrying shaking slightly. He realized that it was already Monday night in the material world, and even by his internal clock, it was long past Mia's mealtime.
So much had happened on the way that Xia De almost forgot about the cat in the box.
Thus, under the curious gazes of the people around him, Xia De threw the woman bound by chains behind him to the ground, then squatted down and set the box down, carefully sliding open the lid. To prevent the Between Life and death from affecting this still-living cat, Xia De placed his hand on Mia's head inside the box, preventing her from rushing out.
He looked down into the box again and saw the cat curled up inside, looking up with pitiful amber eyes at Xia De outside.
“Oh, my Mia.”
Seeing Red Butterflies still fluttering around, he carefully picked the cat out of the box and held her tightly in his arms. As expected, whether it was the effect of the Red Butterflies or the Divine Radiance on Xia De at the moment, Mia was not affected by the Gap.
However, when the cat was fully taken out of the box, a copper-colored curved hook tied with a white string was hooked to her tail.
“Oh, what is this?”
Xia De then realized this was this week's “gift,” and it had once again been “taken” by Mia. The requirement for this gift was to give gifts to two different friends this week. The value of the gifts was not specified, but they had to be sincere gifts.
“It seems that God wants children to learn how to make friends.”
He stood up, holding the cat, his mood, which had been depressed by the story of the twins, improving slightly. Just as he was about to explain to Grandma Cassandra why his cat was here, his hand already touched the slender copper hook:
“Oh? Miracle element?”
The hook was not a relic, nor an ordinary item, but rather a special material containing the power of divine spells. Before Xia De could speculate further, the voice in his ear already provided the answer:
“The material of this metal hook is exactly the same as the material of the god's gift box.”
“So that’s it, these are the scraps left over when The Innocent Creator made the box.”
Xia De then understood:
“But why give me such a strange thing? Materials have different uses in different hands. In the hands of mortals, at most, it would be an extremely sturdy, indestructible hook with sacred properties that easily conducts spirits. It….”
The reason the god's gift box is the “god's gift box” is not because of the material, but because of the maker.
But Xia De suddenly frowned, looked suspiciously at Grace and Helen, who were still embracing each other in the Red Butterfly swarm not far ahead, and then surprisingly opened his mouth and looked at the sky:
“He, he’s really that bored?”
His surprise and fear reached their peak, and at this moment, Grandma Cassandra's voice came from beside him:
“Xia De, who is this?”
She was asking about the woman bound by the Great Sin Chains.
“Oh, this is one of the four ‘nails’ that were resurrected. While Miss Helen Black and I were going up the mountain, we encountered people from the Truth Society. They tried to make a location-type relic lose control, and from it, they captured this woman.”
Xia De held the cat, who was squirming in his arms:
“I think it’s better to throw her into the big crack over there and let her return to death. Only death can fight death, that’s what the Ancient One on the mountaintop told me.”
“That’s good.”
Grandma Cassandra nodded; of course, she wouldn't pity this innocent woman. Dust to dust, ashes to ashes, the dead should not return. Xia De was about to manipulate the chains to send the woman to the edge of the crack, but he stopped again, because Sister Devlin spoke:
“Mr. Hamilton, please let me do it. I can use this to help the Ancient One suppress the Gap.”
Xia De nodded, so the Sister calmly bent down and picked up the woman from the loosened chains. Then, escorted by Xia De, she bypassed Helen Black and Grace White, who were embracing each other in the Red Butterfly swarm, and came to the edge of the crack.
The black wind whistled, blowing Sister Devlin's robes and long hair. She held her hands out in front of her, supporting the woman who had fallen into a frightened slumber. But the Sister did not directly throw the woman down the crack; instead, after softly telling Xia De to move away, she quietly said in an ancient grammar:
“Fire, burn.”
First, cracks appeared on her fair hands, and the glow of the Original Fire shone through the cracks. The cracks and glow then spread throughout her body, forming a reddish appearance similar to Xia De's current “Divine Radiance” state on her clothes and skin.
However, when the flames touched the woman she was holding, the flames immediately began to burn fiercely. The crackling sound even drowned out the howling wind, and the light of the burning flames temporarily illuminated the surroundings, even brighter than the Red Butterflies nearby.
The Sister's expression was serious, but Xia De could see that her hands were already burned by the flames. The traces of First Fire were pulled back by the desolate wind, and the Sister seemed to be ignited herself.
She did not wait any longer, but gently tossed the woman in her hands into the large crack on the mountaintop in front of her.
The flames extinguished as the burning body disappeared. She lowered her arms, and Xia De saw the burn marks on the Sister's hands slowly healing.
“Having Grandma Cassandra bring me here to witness the ritual was itself for the purpose of transmitting a little warm flame to the Ancient One on the mountaintop. In the past, it granted me the Phoenix fire, and now, I am willing to repay her with the warmth of First Fire.”
Although Sister Devlin was also very powerful, she could not, like Helen, casually open a path to this place.
“Can this suppress the Gap's loss of control for a long time?”
“Only temporarily; ultimately, it still depends on the Church's ritual.”
Probably noticing Xia De looking at her hands, Sister Devlin subtly tucked her hands into the sleeves of her gray-black silk Sister's robe:
“Grandma Cassandra knew you were the person her teacher was waiting for when you first came to Middlesburg.”
She said softly, to prevent the Witches behind her from hearing:
“In the Witch Council, if there is only one person who will never harm you, it must be Grandma Cassandra.”
After speaking, she turned and left the front of the crack, and Xia De followed by her side. Now he knew the reason for the Old Witch's friendliness towards him, but he wanted to know even more why the Spiritual Cultivation Order had always been benevolent towards him.
He was very certain that, at least so far, all his past actions had not been related to the Spiritual Cultivation Order.
When the group left the Gap and returned to the top of Sicar Mountain in the real world, the moon was already hanging in the night sky.
Xia De had many things he wanted to say to Grace and Helen, who were nestled together, and many things he wanted to ask them. But it was already late, and the whisper elements on them were terrifyingly strong, so it was not a suitable time for conversation.
Sister Devlin and the Witch master and apprentice went down the mountain with the twins, while Xia De returned to the ruined tower halfway down the mountain. Although he hadn't engaged in too many intense battles, he had experienced so much today that it was time to go home and rest.
“I can go see Dorothy.”
He held Mia, looking at the moon on the mountaintop in front of the ruined tower:
“She might like this story... No, she hates sadness.”
