As the sun set, the thick fog that had enveloped Middlesburg for three days grew even denser. Xia De, feeling somewhat down, left Count Dalalak's mansion with Priest Augustus, leaving only the grieving Old Butler to clean up the mess.
Once the nails were removed, those blurry memories would gradually return, and the Church should also be able to determine the disappearance of the third nail based on the next anomaly on Sicar Mountain. As for Xia De and Priest Augustus, no one would know they had ever been there.
Walking along the street into the distance through the thick fog, Xia De looked down at the rhode cards 【Ancient Fairy Tale: sleeping princess】 in his hand:
"Priest, do matters of life and death always make people sad? I have no relation to that Count, but I still feel sorrow for his passing."
"That's normal, young man. I've witnessed countless partings of life and death in my lifetime; such things are truly too common. Although many people have said it before, I still want to emphasize that since we are alive, we must cherish the present moment and leave no regrets."
The Priest rubbed his pipe. Xia De nodded, solemnly adding the card in his hand to his deck, and assimilating it into the deck using the Miracle 【Treasured Possessions】:
"Speaking of which, Priest, back in the Count's study, I gestured with my eyes that I wanted to play rhode cards with the Count. How did you interpret my gaze?"
Xia De still remembered this. The Old Priest smiled:
"Your meaning was too easy to understand—before sending off the Count, I wanted to get rhode cards from him to satisfy my rhode cards collecting habit. See? Wasn't my guess accurate?"
He had actually completely misunderstood.
Priest Augustus returned to the Dawn Church, while Xia De ventured up the mountain through the thick fog, preparing to return home. The journey was not smooth; the road into the mountain was temporarily blocked by Mi Fort local police. According to the news released by City Hall, due to the recent heavy fog in the mountains, for the safety of citizens, from today, the seventeenth day of the withered leaf month, for a period of two weeks, from 6 PM daily to 7 AM the next morning, no ordinary citizens without special passes are allowed to enter the mountainous area.
Such a simple blockade certainly couldn't stop Xia De, but it also meant that the Church had realized the urgency of the situation, and Sicar Mountain at night was truly very dangerous.
On the way up the mountain, the thick fog almost made Xia De lose the correct direction. And the spirits patrolling in the fog also caused him considerable trouble.
Even if the 【Night Watchman】 longsword in his hand could ignore the obstruction of the thick fog to detect the location of powerful spirits from a distance, and the Witch Emperor's blessing could reduce the malevolence of the spirits, Xia De sometimes still had to face enemies head-on.
To combat the spirits of Mi Fort, he had actually prepared some methods. For example, the special alchemical item "Spirit Dispelling Amulet" bought from Old John, and the simple magical potion "Spirit Dust" he tried to make himself. The former could make spirits subconsciously unwilling to approach, while the latter could directly cause damage to spirits and also served as a warning when sprinkled around a tent during an overnight stay.
But these conventional methods were useless against the powerful individuals among Mi Fort's evil spirits. As soon as Xia De entered their detection range, the evil spirits would immediately pounce on him.
After two earthquakes, the power of those top-tier evil spirits from the Gap was no less than that of a Middle-Ring Ring術士, and even Xia De had to deal with them cautiously.
If it was just dealing with one enemy, it was nothing, but who knew how many souls that should have departed were hidden in the thick fog of the mountain. So, during combat, if he accidentally moved the battlefield too far, Xia De would have to face attacks from two or even three enemies simultaneously.
Directing Death, Mind Blast, Sunlight Ray, Light Spell, Silver Moon Slash... Miracles were cast in turn, and the 【Night Watchman】 cooperated with the Moonlight Greatsword and the Chaotic Time Blade countless times, leaving streaks of light and shadow in the fog.
Even though he could use the Moonlight Illusion to hide at night, when Xia De approached the ruined tower in the mountains, three spirits, shrouded in thick fog, were still following him. One was a headless woodcutter, one was an armored knight with a longsword, and the last one was a two-headed tiger.
Xia De didn't know what that tiger had gone through during its life.
He almost fled into the ruined tower, only to find that the fog inside the tower was actually very thin. Turning back to look out, in the thick fog outside the tower, the three spirits merely circled around, as if fearing something, not daring to break in at all.
Xia De then felt relieved. He had originally been worried that one day he would walk out of the hidden wall and suddenly be attacked by spirits.
"Since you don't dare to come in..."
He temporarily placed the longsword aside, crossed his arms over his chest, aimed at the direction outside the tower door, drew intersecting arcs of light, and then turned sideways and charged forward:
"I won't be polite."
These evil spirits had chased Xia De all the way, and he definitely had to get his revenge.
(Mia is running...)
After solving the third nail, Xia De suddenly realized he had no more goals in Middlesburg.
He first stepped into that City in early autumn to rescue Priest Augustus, and during that time, he met many, many people. But now, if he looked at his notebook, apart from meeting Grace and Helen next week, everything in Mi Fort was over.
Of course, the Chosen One and Gap issues had not yet been resolved, but that was the Church's problem. As for who this Chosen One would be and how the ritual would be performed, those were still unknowns.
For this reason, Xia De visited the Prophet Association again on Friday morning. When he met Vice President Mark, the middle-aged man in a suit jokingly said to Xia De:
"You come almost eight times a week, and each time you use your cat as an excuse. Next time, you don't need to bring your cat. Who here doesn't know that you're here to see Luvia Annett?"
People came and went in the lobby on the first floor, but because they were near the reception desk, the young ladies in uniform all laughed.
"It's your working hours now; I can't just call her out alone. That wouldn't be proper."
Xia De was not embarrassed. He still paid the divination fee and then met Luvia in a private divination room on the second floor.
The good news that the third nail had been successfully removed naturally had to be told to Luvia. But Luvia, after listening to Xia De's account, became somewhat worried:
"The 【Life and Death Gap】 is an inconceivable-grade relic. Although it cannot develop consciousness itself, it will not be indifferent to this. Once you remove all four nails that fix the Gap and the material world, the Gap might erupt prematurely."
"So, the Church will carry out the nail removal and ritual preparations together. According to Iluna, as soon as all the nails are dealt with, the ritual will begin immediately."
"The problem is, what about the clown taken by Joey Barton?"
Luvia asked, furrowing her beautiful brows in thought:
"Anything involving the Chosen One must not be taken lightly; anything can happen around them... The Association headquarters plans to send two High-Ring Prophets, probably arriving in Mi Fort this weekend, specifically to divine Joey Barton's location. But the matter should not be that easy to resolve."
"The current problem is, what exactly is this Chosen One Ritual?"
Xia De placed the soft Mia cat in his arms on the table; it lay there, unwilling to move at all:
"Items related to the ancient death god, and an understanding of death itself, these two points are essential. Besides that, the fragmented page also mentioned that the ritual location is a boundary area Between Life and death, and the candidate performing the ritual must personally kill a resurrected person."
He counted these requirements on his fingers:
"But this is still not a complete ritual. I'm very curious if Joey Barton will know what the ritual truly is."
"He will definitely know; this is the Chosen One's destiny."
Luvia said, hesitating for a moment:
"I recently inquired about the whereabouts of a poet-level relic 【dandelion coin】 from a friend in another region. If I'm lucky enough, I'll get it this weekend, and then I can use it for divination. If not, that 【diviner's silver coin】 can also be used."
"Should I inform Sister Devlin that she is the second candidate? To let her prepare in advance?"
Xia De asked, and the purple-eyed girl narrowed her eyes slightly:
"Xia De, what kind of person do you think that Holding-Fire Sister is?"
"Reliable, calm, kind, and doesn't talk much."
Luvia pondered for a moment:
"Then, provided she won't leak the secret, tell her about the candidate. The Spiritual Cultivation Order led by that Sister, since it's a modern branch of an ancient god cult, it shouldn't be difficult to find items related to ancient god power. We must be prepared. I actually hope Joey Barton dies before performing the ritual... That way, Sister Devlin becoming the Chosen One is currently the best outcome."
The reason they didn't want Priest Augustus, the third candidate, was because neither Xia De nor Luvia wanted to involve the Priest in such a life-threatening matter.
"No problem."
Xia De nodded, but still felt a vague unease in his heart. What he was most vigilant about now was not the Gap issue, but the Vampire's problem. What Armand Bernhardt, who came to Middlesburg from a southern country with his nephew in autumn, wanted to do, he still only had initial guesses.
And if this guess was correct, with Xia De's current state, he couldn't guarantee that he could control the entire situation. After all, he only lacked the last Ling Rune for Four Ring, and Four Ring was almost within reach. However, he only had the last drop of his divinity left.
"Outsider, what do you want to do with this power?"
A whisper came from his ear.
"I, with one drop of divinity, the united Church and Academy, the Vampires who don't know what they want to do, the missing Joey Barton, and the Ring術士 organizations coming from other places—there are quite a few players at the table now. I believe I see the situation most clearly, but I also understand most clearly how dangerous the upcoming events will be... Perhaps, Joey Barton isn't the biggest trouble."
