Chapter 1330: The Butterfly Family: My Life

"The lock corresponding to this key is here? In other words, the Heart of the Earth is here?"

Xia De guessed, but there was no keyhole on this door, so the key was useless. However, there were four hexagonal indentations on the door, which looked like they were used to place stones or gems.

"Four stone keys? Why is it always this kind of mechanism?"

Xia De muttered.

【Do you like five keys?】

"No, no, let's stick with four."

He temporarily placed Miya on the ground, then rolled up his sleeves and extended his hand to press on the door:

"Fossil to Mud!"

The stone under his palm indeed turned into mud. Xia De quickly extended his hand toward the inside of the stone door. But in the next moment, a huge force was transmitted from the door, and Xia De, who was completely unprepared, was sent flying. He flew a full five or six meters away before crashing onto the ground, rolling a few more times on the ground before stopping.

"Oh, that's quite a kick~"

"Meow!"

The cat trotted to Xia De's side. Seeing Xia De supporting his body with his mud-covered right hand to climb up, it stepped back again without approaching:

"I knew it wouldn't be that simple."

He picked up the cat with his left hand, which wasn't covered in mud, and placed it on his shoulder:

"Butterflies and earth... I'm afraid I still have to find the Ge Lan Jie family for the keys here."

【Do you think this is...】

"Mr. Laiman's tomb, it's highly likely to be here."

Xia De didn't look at the stone door again, but summoned his own life ring, letting the spirit light of the 【Space-Time】 spirit rune shine on the wall. Sure enough, the smooth wall to the left of the stone door gradually disappeared under the illumination of the spirit light, revealing a hidden path. Xia De let out a sigh of relief; this meant that today's long journey had some gains:

"At least I found the Ancient God statue."

"Meow~"

Miya meowed, and Xia De, who knew this cat well, said:

"I know it's time for dinner. We'll go eat after we explore this place in a while."

Illuminating the silver moonlight at his fingertips, holding the cat in one hand, he cautiously walked into this very familiar hidden path. The passage wasn't long, and he soon reached the circular space at the end. The moment Xia De's eyes focused on the statue located in the center of the circular space, the statue began to emit light autonomously, illuminating this space.

"6 St. Derand Square, beneath the cliff of Cold Water Port, the old tower in the Sikar Mountains, the White River Valley vineyard, the Pantanal Lake lighthouse, the Forgotten Church, and now there's this one—the seventh place."

Xia De was very satisfied with this result, and this circular space wasn't empty besides this statue.

Opposite the exit position, like a stone pulpit used by a priest in a church, sat a thick, large book with a red cover. The book itself didn't show any traces of being damaged by time at all. Xia De approached and saw the gilded book title on the cover:

【The Butterfly Family: My Life.】

"Sure enough, this is Mr. Laiman's tomb."

Xia De sighed slightly, then flipped open the title page of the book. The dark blue ink seemed to be mixed with gold powder, making those floral letters sparkle—

【Memoirs of Fred House Laiman.】

Continuing to flip backward, the page behind it still had a few lines of text on the white paper, only the letters were smaller:

【Thanks to Ms. Brecht and the Sect for their help in building the tomb; thanks to Sister Perry for her constant care; thanks to my wife, Lillian, Mira, and Lifany, for accompanying me throughout my life; finally, thanks to that gentleman, that god, and everything else. May the earth be with you and me.】

"Took away three, huh... Sister Perry said Mr. Laiman died of heart failure at the age of 63... That's also quite impressive."

Xia De showed a smile, closed the book, and planned to take it back to read slowly. This book was left behind by Mr. Laiman of the previous era. Because it used special ink and paper, it could survive for a thousand years without damage. What was recorded on it were Mr. Laiman's memoirs and stories related to butterflies. If Xia De hadn't guessed wrong, reading this book should provide an opportunity to obtain a spirit rune or a strange art.

Picking up this thick, large book, he discovered that there was a groove on the stone platform beneath the book, and in that groove lay a hexagonal, crimson gem. Xia De picked up the gem and measured it with his finger, then turned to look toward the exit:

"Got one out of four. The answer to the riddle is right next to the riddle itself; it's truly interesting."

Regarding the matter of this tomb, the memoirs should have recorded relevant content. Since there was nothing to do recently, Xia De planned to take it home to study carefully.

Of course, before leaving here, Xia De didn't forget to temporarily turn Miya into a toy, then touched the Ancient God statue and officially established the seventh space waypoint. After doing all this, he left the passage behind the crack with satisfaction, clutching the book.

When Xia De walked a few steps in the cave and looked back, that crack actually disappeared. Xia De, surprised, approached the position of the crack again, and it appeared again after he got close:

"It seems it's not a one-time thing; I don't have to climb to the mountain top every time."

When Xia De, in high spirits, climbed to the top from inside the cave with Miya and the large book, and arrived again at the narrow cliff edge where the Night Temple was located, the last ray of sunset had already disappeared on the horizon.

【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.】

The three ladies were standing together at the end of the three ancient stone arches, on the open space branded with the sun, moon, and star pattern, talking about something. The camp had already been moved here, the campfire was burning brightly, and the symbols for the ritual had already been placed on the ground. It seemed everything was ready.

They soon noticed Xia De, who was walking over excitedly, but the ladies didn't immediately ask about the book Xia De was holding. The purple-eyed girl said quite worriedly:

"Xia De, we let you go play by yourself this afternoon. What have you been doing?"

They were all looking at Xia De. He was currently covered in mud and dirty snow, his clothes had several obvious tears, his right hand was covered in mud, his boots had almost changed color, and his hair looked like it was covered in a layer of dust.

Although the phrasing of this question was a bit strange, Xia De still said happily:

"I did so many things this afternoon! I had a fight with a tiger, and I won. Then I played a game of Luo De cards with a soul under a tree... Well, two games. Then I climbed to the mountain top to sweep snow, held Miya to watch the sunset, and found the poem fragment left by the Witch Emperor. Finally, I went to the bottom of the mountain, found the Ancient God statue and the hidden passage, and discovered this!"

He showed the book in his hand to the three ladies in front of him:

"The gains from this trip are truly huge."

"Really, still like a child."

Luweiya said, walking toward Xia De:

"Change your clothes. You must take a good bath after returning to the city... I'll ride Miss Benanisi's horse later."

Xia De was truly very dirty, but Luweiya still pulled Xia De's sleeve, dragging him toward the camp.

The blonde witch said with a smile:

"Just now we were discussing what you might be doing this afternoon. Luweiya was very certain that you would definitely find someone to play Luo De cards with. Even if you couldn't find anyone, you would play cards with strange things."

"It seems Luweiya was right."

Miss La Se Si on the side also said with a smile. They returned to the campfire in the camp together. After Xia De took out a new top, pants, and boots, they helped him change his clothes together—the winter clothes were very thick, and Xia De had other clothing inside his pants.

"Actually, I can change my clothes myself..."

He muttered in a low voice, but it seemed no one was willing to pay attention to him. After changing his clothes, Luweiya used a comb to help Xia De comb his hair, Miss Benanisi summoned a large mass of water to help Xia De wash his hands, and the four of them started eating dinner.

They sat around the campfire, eating the sumptuous dinner exchanged for that ruby while listening to Xia De recount his experiences this afternoon. 【Ancient Fairy Tale · Cinderella】, the stone tablet toy, the key that was no longer glowing, the memoirs, and that crimson gem were all taken out by Xia De. By the time he finished speaking beside the crackling campfire, dinner was almost over.

"I'm still very curious about what you knew that made you so certain there were secrets nearby, and that you really found so many things."

Luweiya said in a low voice, but she didn't intend to ask. She played with that crimson gem:

"So, you think there are other secrets in the tomb of Mr. Laiman, who married three butterfly girls in the Fifth Era?"

"Yes. Sister Perry said Mr. Laiman left some things for me in the tomb that might be of help to me. And the secret here is not just the tomb of butterflies."

According to what the long-haired Luweiya said, there was power directly representing the Ancient God 【Mother of Earth】 near the Night Temple.

Xia De suspected that the antique key he had gotten from Count Ge Lan Jie was meant to be used here. The evidence was that the text used on the stone tablet on the mountain top was clearly earlier than the era Mr. Laiman lived in. Xia De suspected that the crack already existed here, only Mr. Laiman had rebuilt a part of the area behind the crack into the place where he rested.

"I still need three gems to open that door, but I think there should be clues in the memoirs. I even think the lock corresponding to the key is deep in the tomb. It just so happens that I still have to wait a week or two before I can see and deal with that demon. And only after dealing with the demon will the guardians be willing to truly appear. As for the Chosen One of the Earth..."

Xia De didn't continue. Miss Benanisi said:

"You and Luweiya, are you really sure the guardians are the Chosen Ones of the Earth?"

She was holding that stone tablet toy. Since it was related to the Witch Emperors, the Council would naturally collect this stone tablet.

Before this, Xia De hadn't revealed the relationship between the Chosen Ones and the guardians, but the witch had vaguely guessed it, after all, all of Xia De's actions were centered around those guardians. ===== CHAPTER 1331 =====