Chapter 1185: Clues to the Cemetery

That statue was extremely realistic. Although it might be a real stone statue, since it appeared here, it was highly likely that it was a living person who had been petrified. When Xia De bent down and tried to pull it up, he found that the back of the statue was almost integrated with the earth. Obviously, if they hadn't appeared at this time, the earth would have completely swallowed this human statue soon.

The statue's clothing and appearance were like a hunter nearby, and even the scabbard could be seen at the waist, while only the muzzle of the old-fashioned musket on the back remained on the ground.

But it was a pity that the soul was no longer there; this was permanent petrification. The difficulty of restoring the statue in front of him to a living person was the same as turning any random sculpture into a normal living person.

"He didn't die because of petrification, but because of this."

Miss Bernice also walked over. The experienced witch pointed to the position of the hunter's chest, where there was a piercing injury that was not easy to detect. Although the witch didn't like to approach men, it didn't matter if it was a man's statue:

"It looks like a needle-like weapon directly pierced the heart. Look, the stone next to the wound has no obvious peeling feeling, indicating that the wound existed before petrification."

"Was he attacked before petrification? Then he wasn't killed here. Someone killed him elsewhere and threw the body here."

No-error update @ And, the other party seemed to know the problems of this land very well.

Xia De judged, but there was no blood, so he couldn't track it at all.

"It should be a Ringed Shushi. It's really interesting, who would run to such a remote place?"

Miss Bernice looked around, but because it had been snowing, there were no footprints on the snow.

"Wait a moment, I will use the power of time to stop it."

Xia De stood up from beside the stone statue:

"Echo of the Past."

He narrowed his eyes slightly, and the sound immediately entered his ears. This time the luck was quite good. The man's voice appearing in his ears was obviously not his own voice:

"Just throw it here, be careful, don't step over it, otherwise I can't save you."

"Understood."

This was still the voice of a man, and he seemed younger. Then there was the sound of a heavy object falling into the snow, probably the corpse being thrown here.

Xia De made a gesture of silence to Miss Bernice, and even the unicorn understood Xia De's gesture and stopped walking.

The sound continued:

"The target is nearby, right? If we kill the guide and still can't find it, we would have wasted three days in the forest."

This was still the young man's voice.

"It's nearby. This is the result given by 【Puppeteer's Notes】. Since the price has been paid, how could there be a problem?"

The voices of the two gradually became smaller, which meant they were moving away.

Because there wouldn't be more human voices in this kind of wilderness, Xia De didn't worry about not finding this sound next, so he temporarily stopped his strange art effect:

"People from the 【Blood Spirit School】, using the Angel-level relic 【Puppeteer's Notes】 to find something nearby. This hunter was a guide they paid for. Because they were already close to the destination, they killed him. This is very consistent with the style of those people."

The witch observing the surroundings frowned slightly:

"【Blood Spirit School】? Didn't they... last year... what are they looking for here?"

"Is it possible that it is also the tomb of that 'Saint Perry'?"

Xia De proposed a guess.

"It's possible, but no matter what, let's chase and see. No, you need to rest now, don't cast spells again. I will ask the earth, and I can continue to track their tracks."

The witch said, and Xia De didn't object:

"I can only confirm that they appeared here within three days, and I can't confirm the specific time. Chasing them now will probably have no results."

"It doesn't matter, after all, we are just here to try our luck. Disguise yourself, we might encounter enemies in a while. Oh, it's the witch's eyeshadow, this is also given to you by Galina? But isn't this only usable by witches?"

The red-gold eyes looked at Xia De suspiciously, but didn't ask more. The two then led their respective horses. Originally, they were worried that the unicorn would run away, but unexpectedly, it happily followed behind Xia De. When Xia De bent down from time to time to clear the snow to check under the snow, the little beast would also use its hooves to flip the snow surface and pretend to check seriously. Being touched by Xia De, it would happily call out again. It really liked Xia De.

Xia De didn't know what kind of ability the witch's "Listening to the Earth" was (Chapter incomplete!)

, but she didn't show any hesitation or pause, and after setting off on horseback, she went straight forward in the sparse creek forest toward the northwest.

No-error update @

The destination was very close to the land Xia De had dealt with. In less than ten minutes, the witch stopped and signaled Xia De that he could dismount.

At this time, they came to the vicinity of the rock wall that was not steep in the mountains. On the roughly drawn map Xia De bought in advance, this place was not even specially marked.

Footprints still didn't exist, but the traces of Ringed Shushi fighting were clearly visible. There was an obvious sharp weapon chopping mark on the rock wall, and the wood stubble of the broken trees around, although frozen, could still be judged to be broken not long ago. 【1

Brushing aside the layer of snow, one could see traces of an explosion; looking closer, a collapsed black tent was half-buried in the snow.

Xia De pulled the tent out from the snow, and inside, one could see some remaining living supplies, and in the corner, there was even a half-eaten apple and the first volume of a pirated "Hamilton Detective Stories" in Karsinrik.

Miss Bernice, meanwhile, turned over the layer of snow near the tent and saw the remains of an extinguished campfire:

"My Earth Listening can only track them to the vicinity; the earth is unwilling to continue informing me of their whereabouts. It seems they built a campfire here to spend the night last night, and the size of this fire was clearly not just for preparing a meal."

"And then they encountered an attack in the night... Let me listen."

Xia De used 【Echoes of the Past】 again. After frowning slightly, he could only hear the sounds of an extremely chaotic battle, as if he were trying to listen to people talking in the house across the street through a noisy thoroughfare; this was a very obvious characteristic:

"The power of time is interfering; I cannot hear any sounds either."

"Even if the 【Blood Spirit School】 can defend against one tracking method, there is no reason they could defend against two simultaneously, especially since your time power is inherently difficult to defend against. Moreover, they were caught in a battle with an unknown enemy in this vicinity in a hurry; there is no reason they would still be thinking about preventing themselves from being tracked."

Miss Bernice frowned slightly:

"Search the vicinity; perhaps there will be bodies."

The two horses remained tied to the trees, while the unicorn happily followed Xia De around. Whenever Xia De bent down to brush away the snow to check beneath it, the little beast would also use its own hooves to turn over the snow surface, pretending to be very serious as it lowered its head to inspect. When Xia De casually patted it, it would happily let out a cry; it really liked Xia De.

Soon, Xia De's 【Echo of Blood】 discovered faint bloodstains beneath the snow surface. Following the traces, he found that the bloodstains constantly led further away. Continuing the pursuit, they arrived at a nearby mountain stream, where the bloodstains went straight into the ice and then completely disappeared.

Xia De stepped onto the ice and discovered an ice hole that had not yet frozen solid. After the blood was diluted by the river water under the ice, Xia De could no longer see those bright red traces.

"The other party jumped into the river to escape; this should have happened last night or early this morning."

Xia De said after returning, while Miss Bernice was examining the slashing mark on the rock wall:

"I sensed the power of the sun; it is highly probable that it was caused by the Solar Sect's high-tier miracle, 'Sunlight Greatsword'."

Xia De's 【Moonlight Greatsword】 came from the miracle of Mr. Hoge Lunde, a Thirteenth-tier sorcerer of Tobesk known as the "Sunlight Greatsword," so he was very familiar with this miracle:

"I have heard friends from the Solar Sect say that there are not many high-tier sorcerers who master this miracle in the current era, so it is impossible for it to appear here... Could it be that the cemetery of Saint Pery is nearby?"

Miss Bernice was not wearing her hood at this moment; her curved golden hair fell from both sides of her cheeks, and her cheeks were flushed red from the cold, but this did not affect her appearance at all; instead, it made her look even more... pitiable:

"There is such a possibility; they likely triggered some kind of defensive mechanism of the cemetery. My Earth Listening and your time power being unable to track them could also be because of the Saint's cemetery."

Xia De squeezed the small silver cube in his pocket, confirming that the silver cube had no reaction:

"It is now two-thirty in the afternoon."

He sensed the time:

"Although I don't know how they managed it, it seems to have been at night. The local rumors and stories about the 'Saint Pery Cemetery' also mostly take place at night. It would be better to return to the city now to handle my own affairs and then bring along combat-ready artifacts and alchemical weapons. We will return in the evening, and we will also set up a tent here to spend the night."

(Chapter not finished!)

If the two of them stayed out all night, others would worry.

"No problem, but I am worried that the 【Blood Spirit School】 will send others to come again. If the other party escaped last night, as long as they didn't die on the road, they have likely already rendezvoused with their companions."

The witch said this while setting up a simple alert ritual nearby; if anyone else came to this area, she would be able to detect it when she returned:

"One must be cautious about such things; you know, my combat power in the Council is not strong, and I might not even be able to beat Granny Cassandra. Safety first; in the evening, besides us, I will bring my followers. Although the 【Blood Spirit School】 has more high-tier sorcerers than the Golden Dawn, after all, this is not their territory."

After speaking, she hummed again, looking quite confident.

Updated without errors @

Having made up their minds, the two set off to return to the city. The unicorn did not need Miss Bernice to lure it; it took the initiative to follow them. Its intelligence was sufficient, and it knew that it was difficult to survive alone in the mountain forests during winter.

This time there was no need to take a detour; riding horses, they returned to that grassy farm on the outskirts of the Randel Valley in just over an hour. Of course, the unicorn could not be brought into the city, so it was temporarily placed on the farm. It was not put in the stable; Miss Bernice specially arranged a room for it to rest. The snow-white little beast saw that Xia De was about to leave and somewhat reluctantly bit the hem of his clothes. Only after Xia De told it that he would return in the evening did it bid him farewell quite sorrowfully.

To be continued.