Chapter 1329: Underground Crack

As for the high mountain where the Night Temple was located, Xia De had only checked the foot of the mountain and the inside of the cave during his two previous visits, but had never climbed to the top. After all, the gold mine and the Ancient God statue couldn't possibly be located directly on the mountain top.

And after Mr. Erfurt's reminder, Xia De also became interested in the mountain top, so he returned to the position where the three horses were tethered to the trees after seeing off the soul. But this time he didn't enter the cave, but walked a small circle around the foot of the mountain and successfully found the path up the mountain.

Calling it a path, it was actually just an area where the trees were slightly sparse. But since the scholar who had come here alone two years ago could reach the mountain top, there was no reason Xia De couldn't climb up.

The path up the mountain wasn't easy to walk. Perhaps Xia De and Mr. Erfurt had chosen different paths two years ago. From time to time, he still needed to turn the cat into a toy, then turn himself into a swarm of butterflies, or use the jump brought by Laglai to cross areas that were clearly impassable.

By the time Xia De finally reached a place a few dozen meters from the mountain top, it was already 5:20 PM that day. The sky was dim, and the sunset had long since appeared on the horizon.

The mountain was very steep, but a relatively flat, winding path appeared at the mountain top. Xia De held the cat and truly arrived at the mountain top, then widened his eyes to look at the white forest sea in the distance and the brilliant sunset even further away.

"Spring is probably really coming soon."

He sighed softly, then looked down. Beneath his feet was an extremely steep cliff. If it weren't for knowing there was a narrow platform below, no one would think of looking down from here under normal circumstances.

However, perhaps because of the angle, although Xia De barely saw the edge of the platform below, he didn't see the remains of the arches, nor did he see the three ladies preparing for the ritual.

"However, what was the interesting thing Mr. Erfurt mentioned?"

The relatively flat area at the mountain top was about the size of the second-floor bedroom of 6 St. Derand Square. Because no animals or humans had come here for a long time, there were no traces on the snow surface.

Xia De melted the snow on the ground with fire, and then discovered a broken stone base on the snow surface. Judging from the style, a stone tablet should have originally stood here.

"The style of the base is very ancient, not like the style of this era. However, where is the tablet?"

The naked eye couldn't find the broken stone tablet nearby, so Xia De used "Fiona's Witch Light" to melt the ground for inspection. His method was indeed correct. At a position about half a meter from the ground, he actually really found the buried, broken stone tablet. That tablet had been toppled for at least several hundred years, perhaps even a thousand years, so the tablet itself was almost merging with the mud on the mountain top.

Xia De reached out to brush away the dust on the surface of the stone tablet, but the moment he touched it, he felt the power of the miracle element. That element wasn't very obvious, but it did exist:

"Mr. Erfurt's soul could exist in a special form. Was it because he also felt something on the mountain top?"

The text on the upward-facing side of the stone tablet, which was the front, could still be barely recognized. That wasn't the text of the Sixth Era:

【May the sun shine upon the earth,

May the earth nurture all living things.

When the sunlight shines upon you and me,

May the earth be with you and me.】

"Praising the sun, is it? Not rhyming at all."

Xia De said softly, not understanding what this was written for. So he dug the stone tablet completely out of the mud. He had originally worried that the back wouldn't be clear anymore, but didn't expect the carvings on the back to be very clear as well.

The back of the stone tablet had some complex patterns and decorative motifs. Originally, there was no text. But at the top of the stone tablet, Xia De saw two lines of text that looked like they had been carved casually with a small knife. They were quite beautiful floral letters, using the language of the late Fifth Era:

【This is a riddle; the power of the sun can open the passage.】

"Hmm?"

Xia De raised his eyebrows, then looked at the next sentence:

【The Chosen One of the Earth will surely come to this place.】

"Hmm?"

He reached out to touch the traces, thinking uncertainly:

"Poem fragment?"

But it was a pity that only these two lines of text were carved on the entire stone tablet later; everything else was the original content of the stone tablet.

"This is interesting. The Chosen One of the Earth will surely come to this place, indicating that this place is indeed very important."

Xia De turned the stone tablet into a toy with canvas and put it away. The witch should be very happy to be able to get this. Then he looked up at the sun, which had already sunk nearly halfway at the end of the cedar forest:

"The power of the sun can open the passage... Sunlight Ray!"

The bright light emitted from his fingertips shone on the base of the stone tablet, but nothing happened. Xia De turned in a circle on the spot, letting the light sweep across the ground, but except for making the cat widen its eyes and try to jump down from Xia De's shoulder, nothing else happened.

"Not pure enough?"

Xia De then set his sights on the cat standing on his shoulder. Miya meowed, having a bad premonition, and then was held by Xia De with both hands around its waist and lifted high.

Facing the forest sea, facing the sunset, Xia De, who was holding Miya high on the mountain peak, took a deep breath and shouted loudly:

"Praise the sun!"

He waited quietly for a full half minute, and seeing that nothing happened, he slowly put the cat down:

"So it wasn't like this..."

【What exactly are you thinking?】

"She" smiled gently, and the laughter calmed Xia De's restless heart.

"Then give me some suggestions."

【The sunlight here is very sufficient in all four seasons. It's impossible to open the so-called passage just by receiving sunlight. So, you should find a place that doesn't receive sunlight on a daily basis.】

"Makes sense—Red Dragon Power!"

Xia De bent down, then exerted force suddenly, lifting the base of the broken stone tablet up hard. Nearly two-thirds of the height of the stone tablet base had already sunk into the mud, and beneath the base, it wasn't mud but stone. Xia De saw a quite ancient carving on that gray stone.

In the center of the circular pattern was a typical Holy Grail pattern, and the surroundings were covered with flowers and grass. Although it was the first time he had seen this pattern, Xia De still subconsciously understood what it was:

"The Holy Emblem of the Ancient God 【Mother of Earth】?"

He touched it lightly with his hand, then aimed his finger at the Holy Emblem:

"Sunlight Ray."

The bright light illuminated the Holy Emblem, and then the Holy Emblem actually gradually melted into the light. At the same time Xia De was surprised, a concave trace appeared on the stone, until it formed the pattern of a palm.

"What does it mean? This is..."

Xia De extended his hand and pressed it on the palm pattern. He felt as if he had touched some extremely heavy power, but also felt as if he had just placed his hand on the cold stone surface.

【Honestly, I've been using the source-switching app to catch up on books recently. The source switching is easy to use, and there are many reading voices. Both Android and Apple are fine.】

Suddenly, he heard an extremely heavy "thump" heartbeat, but then realized that it seemed to be his own heartbeat.

Some kind of power entered his body along his arm, and "Earth Power · Healing Aura" was enhanced. And that power finally reached the position of his eyes. Xia De's eyesight was already very good, but at this moment, he felt his vision become even better.

He took his hand away hesitantly, looked into the distance from the mountain peak, and then confirmed that this wasn't his illusion:

"But what does this represent? The secret passage? Could it be..."

After his hand left the stone surface, the pattern on the stone surface changed back to the appearance of the Holy Emblem. This time, Xia De held the cat with one hand and gripped the cat's tail with the other. After Miya tried hard to emit flames from its tail, the Holy Emblem illuminated by the flames melted again. But this time, what formed was the concave pattern of a small cat paw.

Xia De grabbed Miya's paw and pressed it on it as well, but Miya didn't show any abnormality.

He thought again, perhaps he could dig this magical stone out of the mud, but after trying, he found that this stone seemed to be connected to the entire mountain. So he gave up his idea, moved the stone tablet base back to its original position, confirmed that there was nothing else worth noting on the mountain top, and then walked down the mountain along the original path.

After re-entering the cave, Xia De didn't rush to walk upward to meet the three ladies, but lit the light at his fingertips to check the four walls of the cave. Afterward, he actually saw a quite obvious crack on the rock wall at the deepest part of the cave.

Although that crack wasn't enough for someone too fat to pass through, it was wide enough for Xia De.

"Hmm?"

Xia De walked over immediately and was very sure that he and Luweiya absolutely hadn't seen such an obvious crack when they checked in the afternoon. But now it appeared so clearly. In other words, the stone tablet on the mountain top was indeed useful; only after touching it could one see this crack.

"The passage to the underground, the key to opening the door is actually at the highest point... Whoever designed this, it's truly interesting."

He extended his finger into the crack, confirmed there were no strange element traces, and then walked in with Miya, who already wanted to eat dinner.

Inside the crack was a downward passage with a slope, with very obvious traces of artificial excavation. This passage wasn't deep, and the stone walls above, below, left, and right were all quite smooth.

Xia De only walked a few dozen steps forward before reaching the end of the passage.

At the end was an ancient double stone door. On the left door was a pattern of numerous butterflies, and on the right door was a Holy Grail pattern surrounded by flowers and grass.

"Key of the Door."

Xia De pushed the door with force directly, but after using the spell, he felt as if he were pushing a mountain. This indicated that this door was set with extremely powerful power to prevent it from being opened in an incorrect way.

Directly touching this door also led to another strange thing happening. In the dim environment, light actually appeared in Xia De's pocket. Xia De touched his pocket and found that the antique key he had gotten from Count Ge Lan Jie was actually flashing with light at this time. ===== CHAPTER 1330 =====