Chapter 1374: The Content of the Ritual

"Is it possible that the pollution here had too much power drained away by the flower-selling girl from earlier?"

Luvia asked, and Xia De deeply agreed:

"It is indeed possible. I don't know if you heard about what happened on Tuesday. The distortion there that connected directly to the source of the earth also lost its pollution characteristics because the Evil God drained its power."

He took out soil and petals, grasped the Earth Rune Stone, and then cast "Earth Power: Healing Aura," purifying the place quite easily. Because the pollution here was truly mild, the Holy Grail that eventually formed was only the size of an ordinary wine glass, and the inscription on the cup body was "Blossom." Luvia had seen records of this kind of Holy Grail in the Church. Fresh flowers grown using this cup would bloom more brilliantly, and the flowers could also possess some unique effects.

Thus far, Xia De still held five Holy Grails: Healing, Metal/Stone, Conservation, Memory, and Blossom.

After purifying the black mud, Luvia followed him in, and together with Xia De, they inspected the place. It was not a very large secret room, a storage room built in some unknown era, with many rusted longswords and armor placed against the wall. Because the degree of rust was so severe, it was impossible to even sell them as antiques.

Besides those rusted cold weapons, there was also an iron chest that looked very heavy placed against the wall on the other side. The chest was not large, but it was tightly bound by iron chains, and the old-fashioned lock was completely rusted shut.

Xia De used his Moonlight Greatsword to hack through the chains, and after he and Luvia opened the chest with great effort, they saw that it was filled with brownish-red metal blocks.

"Gold bricks."

Luvia took one out, weighed it in her hand to guess the density, and then used the gold brick to tap against the wall to listen to the sound:

"The surface is rusted, after all, it's been here for such a long time. I'll test the purity."

Saying this, she summoned flames to scorch it: "The purity looks quite good."

"Gold bricks, is it? I didn't expect such a harvest."

Xia De counted the number of gold bricks in the chest, but to his surprise, after picking them up, he discovered that only the top layer was gold bricks; underneath were square jewelry boxes. Inside those jewelry boxes of various sizes and styles were all kinds of valuable or inexpensive jewelry.

At the same time, they also discovered a line of small text engraved on the chest:

"1124, although the Kingdom of Karsinric had not yet been formally declared, I saw when reading local history on the airship that the Randall Valley region had already been conquered by then."

Luvia said, and Xia De nodded:

"It must have been funds raised by the resistance army, temporarily stored here, but for some reason, no one came back to retrieve them... How about we donate a quarter to the local Sun Church, a quarter to the local Dawn Church, and split the rest? That way, at least half of this money will be used for its original purpose."

The resistance army no longer existed, but this was, after all, money raised by the citizens of Randall Valley.

"Of course, that's good; I just happened to have my eye on a few new dresses."

And so, Xia De turned these gold bricks and jewelry into toys to pack and take away. He would transport them to Tobesk. When the Randall Valley matter was over, he would go to Old John's to sell them for cash and then make the donations separately... It was just that when they were doing a final check of these antique items, Xia De discovered something at the bottom of the chest that absolutely should not have been there:

"A sapphire earring?"

The earring seemed to have accidentally slipped out of one of the jewelry boxes and fallen to the bottom of the chest. After Xia De picked it up, he discovered that a drop of blood was sealed inside the gem with glass.

His intuition told him that this was the last item Stone Ossenfort had asked him to find. It was just that Xia De could never have imagined that this thing would be hidden here.

If not for Luvia's wondrous fate-guided path, Xia De could not think of any possibility of him finding it, other than seeking help from Luvia.

"Is that the thing the devil asked you to find?"

Luvia also

had heard Xia De talk about the devil, and she curiously examined the earring:

"The ring is at the bottom of the river, the medal is in the stone, and the earring is in the secret room of the sewer. If, according to your thinking, these were all hidden by the devil, then it really didn't want Ossenfort to find these things at all."

"The ring is already in his hands; he asked me to return the medal and this earring to him together."

"Why, are you going to find him tonight? Maybe in a few hours, you'll be able to get it."

Luvia asked with a smile. Although Xia De was very tempted, he still shook his head:

"Can't be too hasty. I'll write him a letter on Monday morning, and then arrange to meet on Monday night or Tuesday. Returning this to Ossenfort, he might be able to use it to resist the devil. Anyway, there aren't many days left; I can wait a bit longer. I have the patience... it'll be mine sooner or later."

The earring was carefully put back into his pocket:

"Luvia, you really were a huge help today."

"Then, to thank me, would you like to have dinner together? Just the two of us, and then you can go to Huntington afterward."

And so, Luvia issued the invitation with reserve, and added: "If you want to call Luvia, that's fine too."

"Then, Miss Luvia Beias, would you be willing to have dinner with me on foreign soil?"

Xia De said, and the seventeen-year-old girl nodded, turning away to hide her smile. Compared to the wealth found earlier, Xia De's invitation was the thing that made her happiest today.

After having dinner with Luvia, Luvia returned to the church, and they arranged to meet Xia De and Luvia at the Abundant Earth Hotel tomorrow morning.

Xia De went to the Wilde Opera House to say hello, and then returned home. After feeding Mia dinner, he took the cat, who seemed not to want to move after eating, and headed to Huntington.

Starting from the White River Valley Vineyard, which now belonged to Margaret, Xia De first went to the manor of his friend, the vampire Mr. Bernhard, only to find that Mr. Bernhard was still in Willendale and hadn't returned.

And so, he rode his horse directly to the west of the city. Because he had no definite destination, he rode his horse freely under the moonlight, and when he felt it was about right, he stopped by the shore of a large lake. Then, leading the horse, he pulled Mia out of his pocket and placed her on the head of the large date-red horse.

"Meow~"... Mia's meow sounded quite reluctant, and upon hearing the cat's meow, the horse automatically walked toward the surface of the lake.

Huntington was now in the season where the snow was gradually melting, but there was still ice on this nameless lake. The man, the cat, and the horse walked on the ice, and when they reached the center of the lake, they discovered a large hole in the middle of the surface, and the light of the three moons was reflected on the water under the hole:

"Every time, there's a new trick."

Xia De muttered, and then leading the horse, he jumped directly into the ice hole.

He didn't feel himself getting soaked; instead, he felt himself landing as softly as a feather. When his feet touched the ground and he looked around, he had already arrived at the island in the center of Cherub Lake. He had always come here during the day in the past, and seeing Cherub Lake at midnight for the first time, he felt he was seeing a different kind of beautiful scenery. Releasing the reins of the horse to let it graze on the island at will, Xia De took Mia and walked toward the center of the island.

There was a little snow on the island, but the central lake of the island was not frozen. "Water Walking" could not be used here, but this time, when Xia De wanted to summon his small boat, "She" told Xia De to just walk on it.

And so, without using any supernatural power, Xia De walked directly on the water.

And under the moonlight, the Cherub Angel, wearing a white robe, knelt on one knee praying under the angular rock covered in runes in the center of the small lake. After she finished praying and stood up, Xia De greeted her: "Good evening, sorry to disturb you."

"It's fine, I already know what kind of enlightenment you seek."

The angel stood holding her staff, emitting a

soft white light in the dark night. Two months later, she was still the same as before:

"But you should know the rules: to obtain enlightenment, you must complete a trial."

"No problem, please test me, and then tell me how exactly I need to piece together those three God-Summoning rituals."

The angel shook her head:

"Actually, it's not as complicated as you imagine, Wise One. You have already learned the whole truth, you just haven't seen the unnecessary things clearly. Now that the earth's turmoil has begun, what you, standing on the earth, lack is the final realization."

"Hmm... actually, you can just tell me the content of the trial directly; I really don't understand."

Xia De said hesitantly, patting the cat on his shoulder. Although this cat had been here with Xia De, it still seemed curious about this place.

"The answer is here."

A scroll of parchment flew from the sleeve of her robe toward Xia De:

"Complete my trial: use wisdom, not force, to crack the test that the Stone Mirror Devil—Goethe—will give you shortly."

Xia De looked at the parchment in surprise, and it contained simple content:

"I haven't completed the trial yet, and you're telling me the answer directly?" The white-robed lady holding the staff revealed a smile:

"This answer, haven't you already guessed it? The content of the Chosen One ritual has never been important; it's impossible that it would require twelve different sacrifices. Therefore, overlapping sacrifices are the key. Coming to find me this time was just to verify your own guess."

"I understand." Xia De nodded:

"But are you sure the content of the trial is to play a game with a devil?"

"This will allow you to gain more." The angel said calmly.

Salted Fish Aviator reminds you: remember to collect after reading. ===== CHAPTER 1375 =====