As he delved deeper into the ritual, he discovered that the basic principles of the ritual left behind by the Witch Emperor were very similar to those of the small sealing ritual Sister Devlin had taught him.
The only difference was that Sister Devlin's ritual was scaled down and avoided steps that required the use of Witch power.
This also meant that the Spiritual Cultivation Order, where Sister Devlin was located, inherited some Knowledge from the fifth epoch.
In total, it took a full hour for the three of them to barely complete the arrangement of the ritual site.
Xia De's hands and feet were cold, and the two Witches also looked like they were about to collapse.
The small bells hanging by the wall jingled with the black wind, and the pulled silver threads tangled the Witches' hair, forming a pentagram pattern centered around the well.
Most of the runes on the walls had been refilled, and the ground had been re-buried with ritual materials.
The Witches were greatly exhausted, but they still braved the wind with Xia De and came to the well.
The power of death permeated the Gap from this place, and the golden afterglow on Xia De's body, as well as the light from the two Witch accessories, became even brighter.
But even so, they knew they had to leave this place as soon as possible.
So far, besides himself, Xia De only knew of two people who could stand in such an area unharmed.
One was Priest Augustus, who possessed the power of the original angel, and the other was Sister Devlin, who possessed the Original Fire.
"Miss Aurora, let me do it; don't get too close."
Xia De reached out his hand, and the lady with long wavy brown hair could only hand him the comb.
He braved the wind and walked directly to the edge of the well, reaching out to press against the outer wall of the well to prevent himself from being blown down by the cold black wind that seemed to freeze the soul.
The wind pulled the golden light from the cracks on his body backward, making him look as if golden flames were burning on him in the eyes of the two Witches:
"I'm going to drop it, get ready."
Xia De shouted loudly, but his voice was very low due to the characteristics of the Gap.
His right hand, holding the comb, came directly above the well opening, and the golden afterglow and iridescent light spots surged upwards with the black wind.
He knew he couldn't delay any longer, so he loosened his hand, and the comb fell.
Almost simultaneously, a golden light lit up behind him, and Miss Aurora's twelfth-order Golden Staircase appeared at the same time as Grandma Cassandra's tenth-order Golden Staircase.
The light of the staircases illuminated this place, illuminating the mottled murals and the peeling runes.
The Witches' power permeated outwards, and spiritual light spread along the silver threads.
At the same time, the well opening also spewed out rainbow-colored light, briefly illuminating Xia De's face and this circular space.
Xia De also used these lights to see some antique remnants and stone carvings of unknown purpose by the wall, which the Witch Council would surely move away later.
"It seems to have succeeded."
Xia De breathed a sigh of relief, wanting to retreat to a safe place and wait for Grandma Cassandra and Miss Aurora to restore the ritual.
But at this moment, a voice whispered in his ear:
"By the well, there's a handprint."
"What?"
It wasn't that Xia De wasn't careful enough; it was that the wind here was blowing so hard that he couldn't open his eyes.
Fortunately, "she"'s senses were not limited by these.
"Where is it?"
"Touch to the right... A little higher... Slowly downwards... Yes, very good, you should have felt the finger marks."
Xia De did feel the finger marks.
The handprint on the outside of the well opening seemed to have been pressed into the hard black stone by someone with sheer force.
One must know that even these winds representing death had not been able to leave a trace on the well opening over two epochs.
The Witches were busy controlling their power, clearing the ritual channels along the incomplete ritual traces, and had no time to pay attention to Xia De.
So, Xia De placed his hand over the slightly smaller handprint, wanting to see what would happen.
"Oh?"
The woman's hesitant voice sounded in his ear, and Xia De also received a prompt:
"Outsider, you have obtained "Witch Echo Violet Marshall, Guardian of Witten."
"What?"
He surprisingly took his hand away and saw the handprint on the well wall glowing faintly with golden light:
"That Witch Emperor, she died here?"
"She" had said that Xia De could only absorb echoes from the death place of a Witch with voting rights.
"A powerful enough Witch can leave an echo while alive.
For example, Mana Feilianna."
"But Miss Feilianna is..."
He wanted to say that Miss Feilianna was a genius Witch of the fifth epoch, but upon closer thought, a Witch who could become the Witch Emperor at the end of the fifth epoch might not be inferior to Miss Feilianna in talent and power.
Looking down at the handprint on the well wall, it was still glowing, and becoming brighter and brighter.
Xia De temporarily retreated, then heard an unfamiliar sigh in his ear.
It was a woman's voice, very young:
"Is the seal finally giving out?"
With Xia De's dumbfounded expression, a translucent figure of a woman wearing a silk robe appeared from the light of the handprint.
She had long hair and a delicate yet solemn face.
She had a pentagram earring in her left ear, while her right ear was empty:
Miss Aurora and Grandma Cassandra looked over in surprise:
"Xia De, what did you do?"
The shadow merely talked to herself, completely ignoring the three of them.
She walked at a leisurely pace from the well to the wall, then circled the round wall.
As she walked, the golden hue on her body left clear traces by the wall, further reinforcing the seal's effect.
Finally, the figure of the Witch Emperor Violet Marshall walked back to Xia De:
"The situation is very serious, Witches of later generations, it seems you have truly encountered great trouble."
"Are you talking to me? But I'm not a Witch."
"I'm not talking to you; this is just a talking shadow that recorded my words, and it must be triggered by a Witch of the Council.
Besides helping you reinforce the seal, this shadow can also detect the condition of the Gap.
From the current situation, the collapse is almost at its brink."
The shadow was looking at Xia De as she spoke.
Xia De hesitated and took a step to the right, so the shadow also turned slightly.
Clearly, this imprint could track the person who triggered it:
"I don't know how long your epoch is from mine, but from the current situation, the best solution is..."
Xia De and the two Witches looked at her expectantly.
"...Run quickly.
The material world is so vast; abandoning this area and designating it as an inaccessible forbidden zone would not be a great loss.
After all, safety first."
The shadow said with a serious expression.
As a top Great Witch of the fifth epoch, Miss Violet Marshall's appearance was absolutely top-notch.
She had a standard oval face, with long hair draped behind her, and even without seeing the details, one could tell how luxurious her robe was.
"Run?"
Xia De didn't expect the other party to offer such a suggestion.
Although this advice was very practical, they certainly couldn't do that.
"Of course, there are other ways.
The boundary of life and death is almost a natural phenomenon and cannot be completely resolved, but we can change our approach.
If we can't solve the Gap, then solving the countless undead within the Gap can also re-Balance life and death."
This was a good idea.
The cause of the impending great disaster was the excessive accumulation of death's power.
But if most of the undead in the Gap were cleared, the outbreak would naturally cease to exist.
A smile reappeared on that face:
"It's just that in our epoch, no Witch was confident enough to achieve this.
The specific steps are as follows—
First, open a huge and stable Gap from the material world to outer space, and it must be large in scale."
Just this point alone could not be achieved in the sixth epoch.
"Then, at that Gap, connect a passage to true death."
This was even more impossible.
Even Xia De could only open a crack leading to death; connecting was out of the question.
"Finally, delve into the Gap and find a way to lead all the undead within the Gap into the material world, then guide them from the material world into the opened passage, and thus step into death."
The last step was even more outrageous.
Not to mention how to guide the undead, just bringing so many souls into the material world was a disaster in itself.
"The souls within the Gap cannot enter death through the Gap's passage because this is the boundary.
Therefore, a new Gap must be opened in the material world to allow those souls that have lingered from ancient times to the present to complete the process of the material world to true death again.
I don't know what kind of power the people of this epoch possess, but in any case, I wish you luck, future Witch; may the ancient god Chaos Witch be with you."
With a light laugh, the figure of the fifth epoch Witch Emperor dissipated into golden light points:
"Besides that comb, I also left a scroll of parchment.
I hope it can help you."
Most of the light points dispersed into the ritual site, using their last strength to help strengthen the seal.
A small portion of the light points, however, gathered at Xia De's chest and slowly entered his chest.
That warm power swept away all the discomfort he had felt since entering the Gap.
At the same time, the inspiration - The Witch's Light Ling Rune responded to the power from the fifth epoch, and a brand new power was conceived.
"Hmm? Only the comb and parchment? Where did the time key come from?"
The time key has no fixed way of appearing; it is always found in remote corners.
The key just now probably appeared silently after the fifth epoch's seal was completed.
The Witch's power permeated his soul, and following his instincts, the Ling Rune connected with the new power.
Xia De extended his right index finger towards the ground, and a scorching ray of light shot out, leaving a bright trail in the air, while the heat quickly disappeared with the black wind.
However, this ray did not leave a mark on the ground.
"Outsider, you have obtained the Miracle Sunlight Ray."
"Outsider, you have received the Witch Emperor's blessing: The malice of the Gap's undead towards you is greatly reduced.
Duration approximately one week."
