Chapter 1185: Descent Coordinates, Collective Exorcism

"Niya, how are you feeling?"

"It seems I've suddenly become a bit more relaxed."

"Let's find a place to sit for a while; we'll stay a bit longer!"

As he spoke, Xia Duo led Niya to a stone bench at the edge of the plaza.

Beside the bench was a statue of a person. Xia Duo had never been here before, so he couldn't help but take a few extra looks, and Niya immediately began to introduce it:

"This is the statue of Archbishop Andongni. This archbishop sacrificed himself during an Orc Tide, and it is said that he later transformed into light and ascended to the Kingdom of Radiance."

She had visited here several times and was quite familiar with the statues and buildings here, though her perception of Holy Power was not as intense as Xia Duo's.

"So it's a figure from three hundred years ago!"

Xia Duo saw the introduction of Archbishop Andongni's life on the base of the statue, but there was no mention of him transforming into light and ascending to the Kingdom of Radiance as Niya had said.

It seems this is the difference between official history and legend.

Of course, it is not impossible that Archbishop Andongni went to the Kingdom of Radiance after his death; after all, the Kingdom of Radiance truly exists.

Previously, he had seen Netherese farmers pioneering in the Boundless Wilderness, and he had heard of Netherese Mages researching Magic in the Kingdom of Radiance; he had even heard that the Underworld of the Lord of Death could also be considered a kind of destination.

Of course, there is also the new Shenguo opened up in the Outer Planes by the Princess, the God of Exploration and Protection, which also contains some Netherese Reincarnators.

However, where exactly people go in the Outer Planes after death, and what the mechanism behind this is, Xia Duo still hasn't figured out to this day.

Perhaps it is related to Faith, but it is not entirely so; there must be secrets related to the essence of the world contained within.

After sitting down on the bench, Xia Duo told Niya to remain vigilant, while he himself began to re-trace his memories, still tracing the memories from the Great Arena this morning.

Then, he was pleasantly surprised to find that when tracing the memories, the mysterious patterns left behind after the demons died were different from before.

Whether it was the line drawings resembling demon figures or those mysterious Fuwu with unknown meanings, they had all lost the abnormal characteristics he had perceived before—they no longer glowed, as if they had become ordinary patterns in ordinary memories.

Perhaps it was just as Iolum said: he had been contaminated with Demon Aura when he passed by the demon death scene earlier, and now that he had come to the plaza outside the Great Temple and received the blessing of Holy Power, the Demon Aura had been cleared away immediately.

Subsequently, Xia Duo focused his mind and quickly entered a state of extreme concentration, and the situation of the small space around his Soul, illuminated by the radiance, was also quickly brought into his Perception.

At this time, in that small space around his Soul, there still existed intermittent images of the Netherese village in the Boundless Wilderness, like an unstable signal, as well as images suspected to be a swamp somewhere in the Abyss.

This made Xia Duo feel a little disappointed.

He had originally thought that the blessing of Holy Power could also clear away the images of the Abyss in the small space around his Soul!

However, although the images of the Abyss still existed, those mysterious patterns left behind after the demons died were nowhere to be seen.

At the same time, a premonition originating from his bloodline suggested that if his Soul were to head to the Outer Planes, it would no longer be pulled by the Abyss, but could freely decide its destination, whether to go to the Boundless Wilderness or the Abyss.

Perhaps those mysterious patterns were the so-called "Demon Aura," used to attract Demon Summoning practitioners and channel flow for the Abyss!

And those images of the Abyss were merely a coordinate that allowed his Soul to descend into the Outer Planes!

If understood this way, Xia Duo would feel much better; being contaminated with the so-called "Demon Aura" had not brought any harm, but instead had provided a new coordinate for an Outer Plane that could be descended into.

However, when it involved demons and the Abyss, he would not let his guard down; if something were to truly go wrong, it would really be "the enterprise having only half-begun and falling midway"!

In the future, he would still need to check from time to time to see if those mysterious patterns would stage a comeback; this was probably the only bad thing about this experience!

Returning to the Arcane Union, Xia Duo heard people talking about the Snow Melting Competition. After calling over a low-level Deacon to ask, he learned that the Seven Cities Council had officially announced to the public that the Snow Melting Competition would be further postponed.

Previously, Elkamon, representing the Seven Cities Council, had announced a postponement of two days, but now, it had been postponed to five days later.

"Could it be because of the demons?"

Xia Duo and Niya looked at each other, and the two of them instantly made the same guess.

Immediately after, on the morning of the second day, news came from the Seven Cities Council that at noon, a Prayer Ceremony would be held at the Glory Plaza outside the Great Temple for the Elf and human who had died unexpectedly in the Arena yesterday.

Generally speaking, the Great Temple in Seventon rarely held large-scale celebrations, especially in the current situation where there were not many people; the Holy Power obtained from the Holy Tide was often insufficient to cover the expenses.

But now, at the request of the Seven Cities Council, the Great Temple had done just that.

Xia Duo immediately understood the thoughts of those above: to "exorcise" all potential people who had been contaminated with Demon Aura; generally, such large-scale activities had many benefits.

If nothing else, even for those just coming to watch the excitement, they could at least get a blessing—curing illnesses if they had them, and strengthening the body if they didn't.

However, Xia Duo and Niya did not participate in this kind of activity; those like them who had connections had long been informed in advance about the existence of Demon Aura, and those who needed to go receive a blessing had already gone.

The two of them strolled around the Old City District for a while in the morning, then Niya went to Giles Tower to apply for advanced materials on Magic Web Background Fluctuation research, while Xia Duo went to a small tavern near Jilan Tower to keep his appointment with Lord Collins.

"Lord Xia Duo, I didn't expect this year's Snow Melting Competition to be even more exciting than last year's; a demon incident actually occurred!"

"Yes, who could have expected such a situation!" Xia Duo sighed and drained the wine in his cup in one gulp.

According to the original agreement between him and Lord Collins, the two were supposed to discuss the matter of opening up the Keman trade route after the Snow Melting Competition, but with such an incident happening, five days of time had suddenly opened up in between.

Let alone a Senior Arcanist, even an ordinary Mage would not waste time so casually.

Collins was very efficient and soon made a relatively detailed summary and plan for the current and future output of spices in his Territory.

The main purpose of the two meeting this time was to exchange views on this matter; for this reason, Xia Duo had specifically asked Aoruipusi about some conditions of the spice market within Keman last night, so he could be considered well-prepared.

At the wine table.

Xia Duo quickly finished reading the materials brought by Lord Collins; Lord Collins's sincerity was very sufficient, and the materials he provided were very comprehensive.

Among them, the variety of spices was very rich, including many of the ancient spices he had mentioned before that had long since gone extinct in the Elf World.

It seems that one can find not only ancient Magic Items and materials in ancient ruins, but also ancient plant seeds.

Xia Duo did not ask where the long-preserved spice seeds were found, but instead raised a question based on the materials the other party had brought—