Chapter 1288

Xia De had no idea what the witch was thinking right now; he drew that silver greatsword from the air. As Xia De's power continued to grow, the appearance of the 【Moonlight Greatsword】 was also gradually changing. Compared to the past, the runes flowing along the blade of the greatsword had become much more distinct.

The light from the greatsword itself was enough to illuminate the surroundings. Xia De leaned forward slightly, while the lady behind him leaned out, resting her hand on his shoulder.

Suddenly, it was unclear which animal moved first, but then the animals that had half-surrounded the two of them charged toward them together.

"Heidun Seal!"

As Xia De thrust the greatsword into the soil beneath his feet, the surface of the golden, hemispherical shield shimmered with flowing light as it expanded.

The moment the animals touched the shield, the golden flowing light exploded like lightning. Although the strange animals that pounced looked terrifying, they were merely animals with greater strength; under the explosive effect of the 【Heidun Seal】, they were sent flying backward, and a large number of them died on the spot.

"Simpler than I imagined."

Xia De said to the witch behind him. Miss Bernice was still curiously examining those animals:

"Although I really want to experiment here... let's purify this place, and then we will continue moving inward."

Soil and petals were scattered together by Xia De, and this time, while casting the spell, the "Earth Amulet" he had obtained from the 【Plague Merchant】 was still tied around his right wrist.

With that precious stone rune, the surging spiritual energy was even more active than before. Plus, for some reason, the "Mad Earth" here was not severe, so it was easily purified completely. When the spiritual energy vanished, the Soil Grail floated up from the soil to face Xia De; the ancient rune engraved on the grail was 【Conservation】.

"Is fertility also a power of the earth?"

Xia De asked curiously. The Witch of Earth nodded, then added:

"That Sage of the Silver Moon also possesses powers related to promoting fertility."

Xia De did not quite understand the power of this grail, so he planned to study it after returning.

After the Mad Earth was purified, the animals that should not have existed also all died, but one would imagine that before long, new "residents" would move in here.

According to Sister Daifulin's map, there should be man-made stone stairs chiseled upward inside the cave. Xia De and Miss Bernice searched for a long time without finding them. In the end, the witch simply held Xia De and flew upward, landing on a very obvious man-made platform before they finally saw the stone stairs, which had almost lost their original appearance.

The stone stairs still existed, but the edges had long been worn smooth, and the originally flat surfaces of the steps had become pitted and bumpy, almost merging with the cave itself.

Following the stone stairs, they walked upward along the cave wall, and before long, they turned into a small cave inside the cavern. Continuing upward, they finally saw the light at the top.

Avoiding the annoying spiders and using flames to clear away animal droppings in the cave, they finally arrived at this high-altitude exit of the mountain cave at nearly two o'clock.

Squinting his eyes, which were unaccustomed to the light, he walked toward the radiance. The view outside the cave was extremely open; this was a long, narrow platform chiseled into the steep cliff face. Looking up, there was an almost completely vertical cliff wall, with the mountain peak about one or two hundred meters away; the smooth cliff face did not allow for passage by any means. Looking down, there was a slope with an angle of about seventy or eighty degrees, leading straight to the cedar forest below. If one were to fall from here without preparation, there would certainly be nothing left of them.

The height here was extremely high; apart from taking the cave path, it was almost impossible to descend from the peak or climb up from the foot of the mountain in the form of rock climbing.

"It really is spectacular. I didn't expect there to be such a place near the Lende Valley."

Miss Bernice walked up behind Xia De and couldn't help but exclaim.

This long, narrow mountain platform faced west. Looking out into the distance, one could see the slightly gloomy winter sky, see large stretches of cedar forest, and even see the Ailong River winding through the distance, embedded in the forest like a silk ribbon.

On the platform, from the cave entrance toward the end of the long, narrow platform, magnificent stone arches stood every twenty meters, totaling three. All the stone arches had been damaged; only the pillars of one arch remained well-preserved, while the rest only had half-pillars and the bases of the pillars remaining.

Traces of paint could be faintly seen on the pillars, but it was impossible to tell what had originally been painted. The carvings on the surface of the pillars had also disappeared due to wind and sun exposure, making it impossible to identify what had once been written here.

"Sister Daifulin said that at least around the year 800 of the Sixth Era Common Calendar, villagers from nearby would still come to worship. However, as the scope of Lende Valley City expanded, the people in the mountain villages gradually went to the city, and this place completely fell into ruin."

As he spoke, he touched the base of the arch's stone pillar with his hand, feeling the vicissitudes of time. It was hard to imagine who had built this place; these arches were not built by stacking stones, but were carved from the existing rock when this platform was chiseled out.

"In the worship of the moon, 'three' is a very important number."

The witch, having finished looking at the scenery, said to Xia De:

"Passing through three arches also carries the meaning of passing the test of the three moons. If I am not mistaken, the most important location of this ruin should be on the other side of the three arches; passing through the moon is the dark night."

The ground of the platform was quite flat, not at all like a ruin from the previous era. Xia De and Miss Bernice walked through the ancient arches together, but at the end, they could not see anything; it was just a flat, open space.

The sun cast the shadows of the arch's remaining pillars obliquely onto the ground, silent and highly impactful.

"I originally thought that at least I would be able to see an altar or a statue."

Xia De said, turning his face to meet the afternoon sun:

"I didn't feel anything at all."

"Wait a moment."

The witch looked at her feet. After her right boot lightly stepped on the ground, a wind from nowhere swept across the dust on the ground, but there were no patterns on the ground either:

"I thought there would be a holy emblem drawn on the ground."

They searched carefully on this long, narrow platform again, but had to admit that apart from those remaining pillars, there really was nothing here.

Fortunately, Xia De also had experience with this kind of situation:

"It seems we have to wait until night. Since it is a Dark Night Temple, there might be clues at night."

Miss Bernice also agreed that they should wait until night, but before that, Xia De actually had other thoughts:

"Look at this."

He said, taking the mithril cube out of his pocket. So far, the cube had already given Xia De three stories, namely "The Forgotten Church," "St. Perry Cemetery," and "The Stonemason Society Secret Room." Although this Dark Night Temple located in the mountains was not in the Lende Valley urban area, it still belonged to Lende Valley, so Xia De wanted to try his luck.

He didn't hold much hope, but unexpectedly, when the mithril cube was held by Xia De facing the afternoon sun, fine characters actually appeared on one of its faces.

However, the content revealed by the cube was very different from Xia De's guess—

【Lende Valley Gold Mine—

Legend has it that an easily exploitable gold mine is buried beneath Lende Valley, and even the founding of this city is related to it. However, no one has been able to find that source of wealth to this day. An ancient nursery rhyme circulates among the villagers, and that rhyme truly points to the location of the gold mine: where the moon sets, beneath the deep night. But the greedy will surely be wrapped and devoured by desire. A gold mine is not necessarily able to redeem our souls.】

"Huh?"

Xia De rubbed the surface of the silver cube with his fingertips, read the text on the silver cube with the help of "her," and then looked around in surprise:

"I am clearly in contact with the Dark Night Temple right now, how could rumors of a gold mine appear... the gold mine is where the moon sets, beneath the deep night... hmm..."

The witch was also greatly surprised and looked at their feet almost immediately:

"Although I am not a local, I have heard of the gold mine legend that has circulated in Lende Valley City for a long time. Isn't the person who founded this city in that legend also someone who made a fortune from a gold mine? Moreover, it has been rumored in the city recently that Stone Osenfurt found a gold mine in the mountains."

"But we all know that is fake; it was actually to cover up that silver mine mountain off the coast with an unknown ownership, to prevent others from snatching it before mining. I even let Margaret entrust the Cerces Higher Medical Academy to investigate... could it be that there really is a gold mine locally?"

Xia De said, and then thought of another thing:

"When I found Osenfurt's ring at the bottom of the river, I also picked up a piece of gold ore. Now that I think about it, since Osenfurt and Prince William's gold mine is fake, where did that piece of gold ore come from?"

Miss Bernice also had a look of surprise on her face:

"Speaking of which, the river where you picked up the gold ore is..."

"The section of the Ailong River that flows through the east of the city."

The two looked up at the "ribbon" embedded in the cedar forest not far away; that was the Ailong River. After a moment of silence, the witch blinked her eyes:

"The rumor of a gold mine in the city is actually a story fabricated by Osenfurt. As it turns out, the gold mine actually exists, while the silver mine mountain is highly likely to be fake. This is really..."

"Black humor."

Xia De said a very fitting term:

"Especially for Prince William. I even suspect that, evil—I mean Osenfurt—he knew all along that there really was a gold mine locally; he was playing Prince William."

The witch shook her head slightly:

"If Osenfurt really knew about that gold mine, his cooperation with the Prince would certainly have been smoother, so I tend to think he didn't know."

Xia De also thought he didn't know, but even if the Stone Mirror Demon didn't know the location, it was certain that the gold mine really existed.

Miss Bernice then suggested:

"Since there is still a long time until dark, let's look for it. I hope we can have some gains. If we can really find the gold mine, I will buy the Royal Opera House in Willendale too!"