Chapter 890

Qian Chen and the three members of the Quinn group arrived at an abandoned clock tower in Kafas.

This place was very close to Miskatonic University and was once an auxiliary building of the Palace of Arcane Contemplation.

The clock face was embedded in an iron frame with a diameter of eighteen feet, with the numbers of the Solar Empire inlaid with twelve star sapphires and over one hundred and eighty tiger's eye stones, and large pieces of stained glass pieced together to form the clock face.

Behind the surface of these stained glass pieces, there was also a huge whale-oil lamp that could illuminate the entire clock face!

The perimeter of the clock face was decorated with gilding.

The whole thing was installed on this clock tower, which was about seventy-eight meters high.

Quinn stared at this towering clock tower and clicked his tongue: "The stronghold of the Original Sin Sect you mentioned wouldn't be here, would it? Are you crazy? This is the Wisdom Clock!"

"A famous landmark of Miskatonic University, a building that represents the wisdom heritage of Miskatonic..."

Gable added calmly: "It is also the headquarters of the largest society of wizards and researchers of the occult, the All-Knowing Tower!"

At this moment, even Elijah uneasily tugged at his brother's sleeve. If the Original Sin Sect's stronghold was really established here, it could only be said that it was indeed crazy enough, and it was enough to prove the power of the Original Sin Sect in the past.

"In fact, the two biggest sources of members for the Original Sin Sect were the Spiritual Cultivation Society and the All-Knowing Tower."

Gable stared at this great building and sighed: "In the middle of the Fourth Era, half of the members of the Spiritual Cultivation Society secretly joined the Original Sin Sect, and in the All-Knowing Tower, this proportion was as high as eighty percent."

"So why wouldn't it be built here?" he asked rhetorically.

"At that time, the All-Knowing Tower was the Original Sin Sect, and the Original Sin Sect was the All-Knowing Tower. And back then, we were confident and tolerant enough to even allow other researchers to retain their own paths, sects, and identities while joining the All-Knowing Tower."

"And what about now?" Qian Chen asked calmly.

Gable was a bit dejected: "Now the All-Knowing Tower is absolutely the secret group that most wants to kill us! After all, in that war thirty years ago, we sabotaged them too badly! Nowadays, the All-Knowing Tower has almost become the private property of the wizard path. They study intangible arts and secret knowledge, while those masters who once wanted to explore the origin of mystery are long gone!"

Qian Chen nodded: "Give the Book of Orange Lamp to them! Develop them back into our people..."

Gable nodded slightly; the wizard path was definitely no match for the Path of the Orange Lamp.

After obtaining the wizard path of the Book of Orange Lamp, the All-Knowing Tower would definitely experience a major split.

"What is the method to open the stronghold left behind by the Original Sin Sect?"

Quinn looked at the clock tower in front of him and asked curiously: "An underground palace? A secret room? Or... now that the clock tower is abandoned, no students will enter anymore. If the All-Knowing Tower is still entrenched inside, it won't be easy for us to infiltrate, right!"

Gable stared at that huge clock face.

Quinn also looked up with interest: "This mechanical clock is said to be something Miskatonic University spent hundreds of thousands of pounds to order from the Royal Association of Machinists!"

The boy from the New World sighed with emotion: "The top floor of the entire clock tower is full of extremely complex gears and springs, a clock mechanism built according to the planetary gear system! It is said that the core nine-layer gear was built according to the most advanced celestial planetary gear system at the time, completely simulating the operation of the solar system!"

"And thirty years ago, after an accidental fire, this mechanical clock broke, and even the Royal Association of Machinists couldn't repair it, which led to the closure and abandonment of this clock tower."

"The board of trustees discussed whether to replace the planetary gear and balance instrument system with the simplest, but also the most advanced, escapement and gyroscope system of today."

"But it ended because of the fierce opposition from the conservative trustees..."

Quinn sighed: "Miskatonic University is just like this; while being radical and seeking innovation in academics, its atmosphere and traditions are extremely ancient and conservative..."

At this moment, Quinn suddenly discovered that Gable was glaring at him fiercely.

He sneered and looked at the stagnant hands on the top of the clock tower: "Conservative? Too many people have forgotten tradition, and they don't understand the greatness of tradition at all!"

"The Royal Association of Machinists certainly couldn't repair this clock, which can be called a miracle! They were just a group of craftsmen who built the mechanism and gear system within it! The planetary gear and balance instrument system are not just complex machines used to calculate time, but a whole set of astronomical secret rituals pointing to the Hours and the solar system!" Gable said excitedly.

"This set of cutting-edge clock tower secret rituals can be called the culmination of Fourth Era classical astronomy, astrology, and the emerging mechanical school. It can point to time with incomparable accuracy and guide the spirituality of the Twelve Hours."

"See those ancient Solar Empire numbers inlaid with gemstones?"

"Each one will pour the most primordial spirituality in the spirit world into it as the hands rotate; one hour can accumulate a bit of spirituality... and it is spirituality that comes directly from the Great Hours."

"The most advanced, the most primordial spirituality!"

"To avoid the direct interference of the Hours' spirituality, we divided the twelve hours of a day into twenty-four hours, so that each gemstone would be influenced by at least two Hours. With such mutual interference of spirituality, it avoids the act of staring directly at the Great Existence..."

"Thirty years ago, the Wisdom Clock was the most powerful secret artifact of Miskatonic."

"The secret ritual named 'Time' flows endlessly; we could even move the clock and reverse time!"

"And this set of powerful secret artifacts, in addition to the Wisdom Clock, which is composed of planetary gears and balance instruments and directly controls the power of the Hours."

"Also includes—"

"The Guiding Lamp, which burns Leviathan whale oil, was blessed by the Pope of the Holy Church, and was built using fragments of the sacred lamp of that year;"

"The Miskatonic School of Architecture, and the wizard tower built by the combined efforts of Miskatonic's wizard path—the All-Knowing Tower;"

"And the reflection of the tower that we of the Original Sin Sect built in the spirit world and the abyss—the Shadow in the Mirror!"

"So, how could the Royal Association of Machinists maintain this secret ritual?"

"They couldn't even repair the Wisdom Clock; they were just a group of craftsmen. Without the occult societies of Miskatonic designing and arranging the secret rituals, the planetary gear system, the balance instrument, and the eternal movement, they wouldn't be able to build it even if they used another era."

"In fact, if it weren't for the hour, minute, and second hands being preserved, and the ten thousand phase disk engraved with countless runes and secret ritual tracks being mostly preserved, Miskatonic would have been asking various societies to repair it for twenty years after the war, and only then barely repaired the appearance of the Wisdom Clock."

"But the eternal movement that was completely destroyed in the war, the balance instrument snatched away by the Holy Church, and the mostly damaged planetary gear system could never be rebuilt!"

"After all, in the war thirty years ago, the major societies representing Miskatonic University in the most cutting-edge fields of occultism and the Original Sin Sect all suffered great blows and have not recovered to this day. Without our Original Sin Sect, the balance instrument and the eternal movement could never be created again!"

Qian Chen looked at the high tower under the moon, tapped the shadow under his feet, and said: "The ruins of the Original Sin Sect wouldn't be inside the reflection of the high tower in the spirit world and the abyss—the Shadow in the Mirror secret ritual, would they!"

Gable nodded: "If the Original Sin Sect were still in charge, then as long as one stepped into the reflection of the high tower and obtained permission, one could step into the Tower of Reflection located in the gap between the spirit world, the abyss, and the present world, which is also where the Original Sin Sect's headquarters at Miskatonic is located."

"But if no one is presiding over this set of secret rituals, one can only step into the reflection and enter the tower at the correct time, when the hour hand, minute hand, and second hand point to specific positions."

"It is precisely to preserve the headquarters of the Original Sin Sect."

"So when we failed thirty years ago, we fought to the death to destroy the eternal movement, but we didn't expect that in order to restrict us from entering the headquarters again, the Holy Church actually took away the balance instrument that balances the spirit world and the abyss and stabilizes the gap between the three realms. And other societies actually allowed them to do so..."

Gable gritted his teeth in hatred...

Qian Chen rolled his eyes at him, as if he had a lot of affection for this clock tower, but the result was that it was you yourselves who destroyed it!

"Now the Tower of Reflection has lost its balance instrument, and the Tower of the Abyss and the Tower of the Spirit World have merged, becoming very terrifying!"

"But we can still enter the porch at the bottom of the tower, which is the place where the present world, the abyss, and the spirit world intersect. Relying on the Great Mirror that maintains the present world, it can barely maintain stability." Gable said: "I just snuck in through a secret path!"

"How to get in?"

Qian Chen thought for a moment, then suddenly raised his hand and said: "Wait... I know!"

Gable's face showed confusion; this secret had been searched for by the entire Miskatonic occult society and the Holy Church for thirty years.

If it weren't for the clues left by his grandfather, he would have had no possibility of discovering this secret.

But in Gable's heart, Qian Chen was already God's carrier in the human world, near omniscient and omnipotent, so he respectfully waited for Qian Chen's decision.

Qian Chen held out his hand to Gable. He respectfully took out a broken pocket watch from his bosom and handed it to Qian Chen, and Qian Chen adjusted the hands to the correct position through the broken face.

"Even the most powerful secret ritual must obey the secrets of its foundation."

"Time... is the most fundamental and powerful secret of this world. So, first of all, you need the correct time. I guess it's between 0:05 and 0:15, the last twenty seconds of each minute and the first twenty seconds."

Gable's face showed horror; he stared blankly at Qian Chen, his lips moving slightly.

Qian Chen smiled: "No need to be surprised. As long as you know that the Hours are the foundation of this world, you will understand. The Lamp Father opened up the spirit world and the true world, so it represents the foundation and origin of the entire secret ritual—its sacred time is Zi! It is 23:00 to 1:00, and the Lamp Father's spirituality is the most powerful when it is enough to open up the spirit world and the abyss reflection, which is exactly 0:00!"

"But the foundation of your Original Sin Sect is the Path of Original Sin, which is the Blood Cup, so there is also the power of the Cup Mother. The Cup Mother's sacred time is Chou: 1:00 to 3:00, but it needs to be represented by the minute hand. So it is 5 minutes to 15 minutes."

"As for the final second hand, falling into the abyss requires the help of the power of the Vortex and the Corpse, while entering the spirit world is best done with the Lamp and the Mirror, so the second hand points to these moments."

"That is the timing to step in!"

"But the Holy Church must also think so, and even the All-Knowing Tower has retained the secrets within... This is not hard to guess. So, for these thirty years, there must have been clergy from the Holy Church and scholars from the Gao Ta on duty around 0:00."

"They will be staring at the position of the reflection of the high tower under the moonlight."

Quinn looked at the pocket watch; it was already 4:00 AM! It had long passed the correct time to enter.

Qian Chen glanced at him: "Why do you think the Original Sin Sect wanted to leave this secret path?"

Naturally, it was to... force their way in at the wrong time!