Chapter 1079: The Pantanal Swamp

Limited by the narrow space of the alley, the dense bookshelves could not be fully expanded, but the scene was already terrifying enough.

"Wonder—Domain of Knowledge!"

The position of the Baron's voice did not change; he did not intend to rely on these bookshelves to trap Xia De and escape. The wind and snow could not blur his figure. Reijin Puxia intended to let this fellow, whose identity remained unknown, stay here forever.

"Then, farewell. I will remember you..."

He suddenly frowned and looked up at the sky. The next second, he snapped his fingers. With a muffled boom, all the surrounding bookshelves exploded.

The sound of the explosions was continuous, causing even the earth to tremble. When Miss Galina and Miss Sylvia descended from the sky, they saw Xia De walking out from the ruins of the alley. The silver moonlight greatsword in his hand dissipated into silver light spots, and a dagger was embedded in his chest.

"He got away again. It's a pity I didn't see what power those bookshelves possessed; they certainly weren't just capable of self-destruction."

Xia De coughed. Having used the "Heaton Seal" to withstand the explosion, he had also suffered not-insignificant injuries.

"Wonder—Domain of Knowledge. A Wonder I've never heard of. Unlike other Wonders, it doesn't change the environment; it changes the rules."

"Let's not talk about that for now. Are you alright?"

The Duchess asked with concern. After a light wave of her hand, the figures of the three disappeared together.

"I'm fine."

Xia De pulled out the dagger embedded in his chest, which Reijin Puxia had sneak-attacked him with before leaving.

"It only damaged my clothes."

He unbuttoned his coat to reveal what was inside: three palm-sized stone slabs placed tightly against his clothes. The Silver Moon slab had protected Xia De's heart, and the dagger hadn't pierced through at all. These three slabs were not large, and they were not Relics representing "Whispers," but divine items representing "Miracles." Plus, the clothes worn in winter were naturally thick, which was why Xia De had brought them out.

"I wasn't talking about your clothes. I was asking about your right hand—why is there such an intense curse?"

Miss Galina asked with concern. Xia De shook his head.

"I used a very dangerous weapon, but it doesn't matter; it will fade away soon."

"Come this way, the carriage is over here."

Miss Sylvia led the way. The three quickly left the area; the explosion just now had caused a much greater commotion than last Sunday's, and they could not remain at the scene.

"He is afraid of you, and didn't have time to use his full strength. Oh, Reijin Puxia appeared for the Sage's Glow Stone. He now has at least four stones—yes, at least four. He was also injured; I used a very special bullet, though I don't know if his companions can heal those curses."

"We just encountered a high-ranking Ringed Shushi from the Pantanal Voodoo Society; they were likely there to meet the Chosen One. We left one of them behind and learned that they have a method to teleport directly into the deep temple in the swamp. Unfortunately, we couldn't extract what that method was before their soul was taken by a Xiewu. This must have been a contract signed while they were alive."

Miss Sylvia said. Xia De turned to look at the smoking alley behind him, watching the residents who, despite the blizzard, were still sticking their heads out of house windows to watch the excitement after hearing the noise.

"Even the pursuit of a wise man must be balanced by a scale. A wise man who has lost his restraints is no longer a wise man. Leijins Puli Xia, the original sin of arrogance does not belong to me, but to you."

【What do you want to do?】

"She" asked with a smile, her voice as clear as ever amidst the blizzard.

"Since he says knowledge is power, then let him see just how much power an Outsider truly possesses."

(Little Mia is running...)

The area generally known as the "Pantanal Great Swamp" covers an area approximately three-fifths the size of the Rommel Mountain Range that spans the central and eastern parts of the Old Continent. If one were to set out on foot from Huntington City to reach the island in the center of the great lake directly named "Pantanal Lake," even with a suitable guide and encountering no trouble along the way, it would be basically impossible to reach the destination before the end of winter by rough estimation.

Moreover, given the danger level of the Pantanal region, it is not easy to avoid encountering any trouble.

By the Sixth Era of the Old Continent, there were actually not many areas recognized by the Zhengshen Sect as "forbidden zones." Although the core area of the Pantanal Great Swamp was not a true "human forbidden zone" formed by out-of-control Relics or the coverage of evil god power, it was still a quite dangerous place.

It was not just extremely dangerous ancient alien creatures that existed there; Relics, demons, and even monsters that could not be classified might be encountered in that region.

In earlier years, Kassenrick and Delarion had each dispatched troops to station themselves in the central lake island area of the swamp. Those soldiers who retreated were directly seized by the Sect and declared sacrificed. This also reflects how strange this region is. Probably only a local supernatural organization like the Pantanal Voodoo Society could glimpse the secrets of this swamp region, but everyone believes that even the Voodoo Society certainly does not understand all the ancient secrets here.

Xia De did not know what method the Sect's Ringed Shushi used to go directly to the center of the Great Swamp, while the ladies of the Witch Council planned to borrow the power of Relics and the Council itself, with the Space Great Witch Miss Sylvia opening a spatial channel to arrive directly near the destination.

Doing this in the material world is quite dangerous. When Professor Kajia first taught Xia De about spatial knowledge, he pointed out that there are countless dangers in the spatial rifts of the material world, and even small-scale spatial movements like "Lagley's Jump" require attention to the continuous time of spellcasting.

But fortunately, the witches had the 【Witch Council】 left behind by an Ancient God as support, so there was no need to worry too much that such large-scale spatial jumping would cause too much trouble.

The spellcasting materials were provided directly by the Council. In the basement of the Purple Flower Manor, Miss Sylvia, with the help of Xia De, who also had spatial talent, set up the basic framework of the ritual and taught him the precautions for spatial rituals while conducting the ritual.

After Miss Galina, Miss Aurora, Miss Sylvia, and Xia De had lunch together, the four gathered in the basement to prepare for departure. The accompanying witch followers were only three ladies of the Ninth Tier, all of whom were Miss Aurora's people. Bringing only three was not because of a lack of manpower, but because even if Miss Sylvia tried her best, she could not carry too many people across space.

"Alright, we are ready to set off."

A golden thread was tied to everyone's wrists. Miss Sylvia was the person at the very front, the Twelfth Tier Miss Aurora was at the very back, and Xia De was in the middle. After confirming that everyone was ready, the Space Great Witch took out the prepared Relic 【Astral Chalk】 and drew the shape of a door in the blank area in the center of the complex star map ritual base on the wall.

The Relic was handed over to the female Shushi assisting the ritual for safekeeping. At Miss Aurora's signal, the female Shushi at the basement door extinguished the lights. Darkness descended for a moment, but the next second, one candle after another lit up. The ladies standing by the wall were all wearing gray cloaks, holding golden candlesticks.

Miss Sylvia took a golden candle from her sleeve and shook it, and the candle was lit:

"The princess in the castle will not understand that the freedom to walk in the world is what we pursue."

"Meeting a witch at a crossroads overgrown with lavender, where are you going to pick that bunch of herbs."

Miss Sylvia sang softly. This was the first time Xia De had heard this lady sing; her singing voice was exceptionally gentle.

Except for Xia De, the other five ladies preparing to depart all bowed their heads slightly and drew the holy emblem of the Ancient God 【Chaos Witch】 on their chests. At the same time, the ritual symbols were thrown into specific positions by the ladies assisting the ritual, and the walls of the entire basement were glowing slightly.

But only the star map ritual base in front of everyone flashed with dazzling silver light.

"Picking up white snow on the top of a snowy mountain, watching the sun in the depths of the desert."

"If you can meet us, my dear girl~~"

Miss Sylvia, holding the candle, stepped forward, and the people behind her followed closely. She was the first to pass through the door drawn in chalk on the wall, but when Xia De crossed that door, he discovered that behind the door was actually the ancient corridor leading to the Witch Council.

Stepping on this ancient road, the smell of the decay of time rushed toward his face. Everyone remained silent, only the witch holding the candle in front continued to sing gently:

"Please call our names softly, please ask your doubts."

"In the flower bushes where lilies bloom, or, in the place where sunflowers face west."

This was not the first time Xia De had stepped on this road leading to the Council, but this time it seemed a bit different. It was more ancient, more decayed, and shorter. An inexplicable intuition told Xia De that this was not the same road.

"Please put on a beautiful dress and pick up the purple thyme."

"The person who loves you and the person you love are all here, in this hall filled with sunshine."

In just half a song's time, the end had already appeared in front. But that was not a white fog door, but a silver light door identical to the one when entering this long corridor.

Miss Sylvia, singing the last sentence gently in a low voice, was the first to walk out, and the others followed in order.

Passing through that light door, the cold wind carrying snowflakes hit his face, making it impossible for him to open his eyes immediately. And the strange touch under his feet showed that this was a swampy shallow water area filled with mud and snow.

The surroundings were entirely composed of tall, withered trees rooted in mud and ice, and the peculiar stench in the air was quite severe. This was only winter; if one were to enter the Great Swamp region in summer, Xia De feared he would be unable to breathe through his nose at all.

He raised a hand to his forehead to shield himself from the wind and snow, turned his head to look back, and discovered that the spot where everyone had emerged was a crooked, broken wall.

Looking around further, he realized this was a large clearing in the Snowy Forest, where the surrounding trees were already sparse compared to those further away. The remnants of colonnades, walls, and buildings scattered everywhere indicated that this was some ancient ruin within the Great Swamp.