Chapter 571

The crimson moonlight penetrated the not-too-thick curtains and sprinkled on the desk that had been turned yellowish by the light of the gas wall lamp, manifesting its own presence that could not be ignored.

Lumian flipped through the newly bought Highland language textbook and waited for more than half an hour before finally seeing the "Doll" messenger deliver a reply from Lady "Magician."

This letter wasn't long, only two pages:

"Let's start with the simple part.

"Combining the patterns, symbols, and structures of that ring, although I still can't accurately interpret the meaning of that sentence, I have already been able to determine its composition form and the actual role of different short sentences.

"It is divided into three parts:

"The first part should be used to precisely point to that ring, preparing for the subsequent stimulation of special traits and the injection of energy contained within the language;

"The second part is to inject the energy carried by the words themselves into that ring in the form of resonance, etc., stimulating the 'magic circle' composed of patterns and symbols. You can treat the sacrificial ring as a charm, and the second part of the words is equivalent to its designated, special opening incantation. This doesn't need to pry into supernatural forces, as it can achieve the purpose with the unique energy contained within itself, but it requires prior guidance;

"I suspect the third part is a ciphertext, a ciphertext attached to that ring. That is to say, when the sacrificial ring has fully stimulated its special traits through the words of the first two parts, it will record and carry that last part of the ciphertext and enter the sea to pass it to something.

"Do you understand? The sacrificial ring is roughly equivalent to a special key, which needs to be stimulated to be used, and it also needs a corresponding password to cooperate, so that this key can open the target 'door.'

"Heh, the actual meaning of the sentence 'Oh sea, I will marry you as a symbol of my conquest of you' is roughly equal to 'Certain key, unlock and open the channel, the password is xxxxxxxxx.' Of course, if it were really translated, it would definitely be very different from this, but the essence should be like this."

Seeing this, Lumian couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth.

When successive "Sea Viceroys" chanted such a sentence with the mentality of marrying the sea, if there were people who understood the corresponding language listening nearby, they would probably laugh until their stomachs hurt.

What sea, what marriage, what conquest, it turns out to be unlocking, opening the channel, and entering a password!

If this interpretation were told to Juan Oro, Lato Giallo, and others, I don't know what kind of expressions they would have.

No, they definitely wouldn't believe it. They've been wrong for one or two thousand years, the wrong has become a belief, become a persistence, become a heritage, no one would be willing to admit that it was wrong.

Anyway, it can achieve the same effect, why do you care how I understand it or translate it!

Lumian calmed down the amused mood, turned to the second page of the letter paper, and continued to read the content behind:

"Next is the more complex part:

"The two patterns you saw in the basement of the 'Sea Viceroy's' mansion have a long history, and can even be traced back to the early Fourth Epoch.

"They are both mystical signs and coats of arms of ancient nobles, one of which originates from your acquaintance, no, familiar angel, Amon!

"That part of the pattern that looks like a clock symbolizes the 'Worm of Time,' which is the coat of arms of the Amon family."

"Worm of Time"? The coat of arms of the Amons? Why is it Him again! Lumian's eyes narrowed, inexplicably having the feeling of going around in circles and still being in the Amon pile.

What does the ancestor of Milo Village, the Sea-Praying Ceremony of Santa Harbor, and the specialness of that sea area have to do with the Amons?

On the surface, there is no connection at all!

As Lumian's thoughts raced, he suddenly felt that it was traceable that the Sea-Praying Ceremony and the Angel King of the "Marauder" pathway once had a certain connection:

Among the core members of the "April Fool's Day" who participated in the prank of the Sea-Praying Ceremony, the "Bard" is a Beyonder of the "Marauder" pathway, the "Mad Lady" belongs to the adjacent "Apprentice" pathway, and they also prayed to "Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings" who could deeply influence the "Marauder" pathway for help.

Although these couldn't directly point to the Amons, since so many "Marauder"-related things gathered here, it was entirely understandable that the Sea-Praying Ceremony itself involved the "Marauder" pathway.

Lumian exhaled, lowered his head, and planned to see what Lady "Magician" said:

"Those layers upon layers of doors come from the Abraham family. Yes, one of the five great noble families of the Tudor Empire. I once told you that in the Tudor Empire, only five families obtained hereditary duke titles, namely Abraham, Amon, Antigonus, Jacob, and Tamara. Among them, the Abrahams control the 'Apprentice' pathway. Remember, many times, 'Apprentice' can represent sealing.

"Therefore, there is reason to believe that the Sea-Praying Ceremony is more ancient than previously estimated, and can be traced back to before the destruction of the Tudor Empire in the Fourth Epoch, and it is very normal and reasonable for you to encounter things related to the Tudor Empire, isn't it?

"Do you understand the essence of the Sea-Praying Ceremony now? No need for me to explain it again, right?

"I'm starting to suspect that the ancestors of Milo Village got the meaning of that sentence wrong from the beginning, so they expanded the sea sacrifice and vigil parts that came from the revelation, and had a long, thousand-plus-year, incomparably absurd marriage-to-the-sea ceremony. And this is very likely a manifestation of that person's wicked personality. Without affecting the specific results, He likes to play a joke that ignores the fate of others on everyone very much.

"Look, look, this is a prank. Those guys from the 'April Fool's Day' should really learn well.

"If you haven't figured out the corresponding problems, you can write to me again.

"By the way, 'Lie' now has an additional temporary ability that can only be maintained for half a month, the ability to steal a certain amount of power from the target. But this power cannot be maintained for too long. For ordinary people, it might be half a year or a year, but for you, because it conflicts with your own power, it won't exceed a week."

Lumian withdrew his gaze from the letter paper, his mind a mess:

"Does Lady 'Magician' mean that the specialness of that sea area originates from the ancestors of the Abraham family and a certain Amon? The core part of the Sea-Praying Ceremony was designed by these two great figures at the Angel level, who guided the ancestors of Milo Village in Santa Harbor and left behind revelations, letting them hold that ceremony year after year?

"Because of Amon's wicked personality, the ancestors of Milo Village misunderstood the true meaning of that sentence, thinking it was to marry the sea, and thus, the core part of the Sea-Praying Ceremony became more and more complex, and the expanded links became more and more, becoming a large-scale prank that lasted for thousands of years?"

After roughly sorting out Lady "Magician's" speculation, Lumian re-examined the essence of the Sea-Praying Ceremony:

"Appeasing the specialness hidden at the bottom of that sea area, that is, that 'palace'?

"'Apprentice' represents sealing... 'Marauder' is stealing...

"Stealing..."

Lumian suddenly lowered his head and looked at his left chest.

He understood the essence of the Sea-Praying Ceremony!

Finding a husband for the sea, appeasing its rage, sincerely pleasing it, and obtaining corresponding bestowals—this is completely an absurd reason found by the ancestors of Milo Village after being misled!

The essence of the Sea-Praying Ceremony is stealing bestowals!

That "palace" at the bottom of the sea was sealed by the "Apprentice" pathway, but the ancestors of the Abraham family were worried that as time passed, the power of the seal would weaken and that "palace" would gradually recover and strengthen, so they asked Amon to design a ceremony to regularly extract the power gathered by the "palace" every year, so it couldn't truly break through the seal.

Therefore, after every Sea-Praying Ceremony, that sea area would become quiet, without too many big winds and waves, while the failure of last year's ceremony allowed the "palace" to gather a certain amount of power, so the "sea" had an abnormality, shipwrecks increased, and the "Death Navigators" left that special sea area more frequently.

Why it can only enter that sea area when the stars are in a special position, why it must follow a specific route to arrive at the destination—all because only at that time would a tortuous and complex channel appear in the outer seal!

Lumian stood up with a swish and paced forward a few steps.

After figuring out the essence of the Sea-Praying Ceremony, he also understood the repeated attitude of the "Earth Mother" Church:

Initially, the clergy of the "Earth Mother" Church who hadn't investigated destroyed Milo Village and ended the Sea-Praying Ceremony, but saw the coats of arms representing the two great Tudor Empire nobles at the bottom of that building, stopped the last step in time, and later, they found that they had to send saints at the Saint level to deal with the specialness of this sea area every year, and even had to have high-end power guard here for a long time, which was very troublesome. Thus, after the Sea-Praying Ceremony was revived, they tacitly approved of the rebuilding of Milo Village.

Anyway, for them, the Sea-Praying Ceremony doesn't affect innocent people or destroy local order for the most part—every "Sea Viceroy" must have a certain sea bloodline, and although "Handmaidens of the Sea" will suffer the ending of turning into humanoid lizards after getting old, at least they can change their own and their family's fate, and enjoy decades or even longer of power and wealth.

As for those "Handmaidens of the Sea" who want to pursue love, the "Earth Mother" Church estimates that they would tacitly approve or even help them escape. Otherwise, the probability of success would be very low.

"So, why did the Abundance Order encourage me to investigate the Sea-Praying Ceremony, and why did Noelia give some information while concealing key information?" Lumian just had such a doubt when he thought of the answer.

The one really fishing isn't the Fishermen's Guild, but the "Earth Mother" Church!

The failure of last year's Sea-Praying Ceremony made the "Earth Mother" Church worry that similar problems would occur this year. After seeing Louis Berry put on the posture of investigating the Sea-Praying Ceremony, they simply encouraged him to do it, letting the potential saboteurs hiding in the dark all contact him, float to the surface, and then catch them all in one net!

Phew, Lumian exhaled and turned the focus back to the purpose of the "April Fool's Day."

Now, he was very sure that the "April Fool's Day" wanted to open the seal of that special sea area.

Last year was the first step to lifting the seal, but it was far from the degree where that "palace" at the bottom of the sea could break through the seal. This year they would definitely manufacture similar things again, otherwise, if they waited for the Sea-Praying Ceremony to succeed, their prank last year would be equal to being in vain!

The problem now is, how will the core members of the "April Fool's Day" do it, and how will they seize the benefits represented by that "palace" and avoid the corresponding dangers? Lumian looked at the gas wall lamp emitting yellowish light and fell into deep thought.

…………

A week or so passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was the day of the Sea-Praying Ceremony.

Lumian had just finished breakfast when he heard the sounds of various musical instruments from the street outside.

He revealed a smile, wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin, and stood up to walk toward the window where the bright sunlight was shining in.

(End of chapter)