Chapter 1554

Xia De took his hand off the wall, straightened his back, and raised his head to look again at the entire family tree that spread downward from the very beginning:

"One person in the first generation, two in the second, three in the third, up to six in the sixth. This seemingly ordinary, ancient, and mad family breeding here has ultimately left behind these roots whose life or death is still unknown, and every branch has the possibility of producing more descendants; it really makes one sigh with emotion. If the lifespan of the Edwards family conforms to that of normal people, then..."

He suddenly asked in his heart:

"What were the core spirit runes of the Folen brothers at the top of the opera house last time?"

【Space, Agelessness, Twin.】

"What have you thought of again?"

Seeing that Xia De was again speaking only half a sentence, the pharmacist lady asked again. Xia De shook his head again, which clearly made the female sorceress somewhat annoyed:

"I have discovered that you have little interest in the Edwards' research on the elixir of life, but are instead interested in the Edwards' descendants. If possible, can you tell me what exactly you are trying to do?"

"This can be said—my mentor discovered a letter from the Edwards family from a hundred years ago, which had an important ritual symbol on it, and that symbol is related to my mentor's secret research. My mentor asked me to investigate the Edwards family to find the meaning of the ritual symbol."

"Having a young Six-Ring sorcerer like you as a student, your mentor must be either very beautiful or very strong." "Or both."

Xia De smiled and looked at the pharmacist lady again, tentatively asking:

"Are you interested in that ritual symbol?"

"Interested, but I am not a member of the Edwards family."

The pharmacist lady said, and then added sarcastically:

"However, I am quite surprised that you say you are not interested in the elixir of life. Living people all fear death; this is human instinct. Perhaps you just haven't reached that stage yet."

"I have the 【Leaf of Eternal Youth】."

Xia De said very cautiously:

"And my high-ring sorcerer friend shared with me some of the Fifth Era Witch Emperor's, um, secret arts of agelessness."

He continued to probe this lady, but her expression remained as usual.

"I have witnessed very real death. To me, the meaning of living does not lie in living itself, but in the process. I am not a philosopher and cannot speak of many grand principles. I can only say that mortals are destined to die, and I cherish every second of being alive, cherishing everything I have now."

The outlander who had lived a second life was truly moved by his own words:

"Compared to a longer life, a life of quality, a life that can feel warmth, is the most precious."

The female sorceress's eyes drifted for a moment, and her voice became inexplicably softer:

"A life that can feel warmth—it sounds as if you have died before."

Xia De smiled without refuting. Perhaps because she knew Xia De's purpose for investigating, the pharmacist lady's tone became much gentler afterward:

"Eternal life can also be seen as a curse. That you can realize this shows that you are smarter than most sorcerers. Now, memorize this picture; your mentor will surely be very satisfied. I bet that no matter how well-informed he or she is, they definitely wouldn't be able to investigate these clues."

"Yes, unless seen with one's own eyes, who else could know that the Edwards family, after leaving Green Lake Town, would produce so many descendants?"

Xia De looked at the blood-colored root diagram:

"And what I am even more curious about is who exactly continued writing the history of the descendants. Or perhaps, this picture itself has the power of automatic continuation?"

Copying this picture did not take time; Xia De memorized it after one look. After returning home, Xia De could use the 【Silver Moon Library】 to extract the book and then copy it again.

Confirming that Xia De had memorized all the content, the pharmacist lady used another potion to "wash" the content off the restaurant wall. While waiting, Xia De said:

"It seems the Edwards family really..."

"... values family members very much."

"Why do you say that?"

"They put the family tree on the wall of the restaurant, so that everyone can see it when eating. But come to think of it, the information for the sixth generation of Edwards has already reached the bottom of this wall. If they have more descendants, wouldn't this wall be unable to fit them?"

As he said this, he looked at the pharmacist lady and suggested another possibility:

"Or, the person who originally made this picture intended for the family to end with the sixth generation, or perhaps the sixth generation completed some kind of mission?"

"Why are you looking at me? I don't know these things either."

The pharmacist lady glanced at him, and Xia De nodded:

"Then thank you for being able to come to the island with me. This trip went very smoothly."

"This is not free; that piece of mountain copper is worth me doing this."

As they spoke, the two intended to leave the mansion. Xia De did not think there were any more clues here that he could easily find. He planned to investigate the Green Lake area further, and if there were clues, he would come to the island again. In any case, he could walk on water and run faster than that steamship.

"In addition, if you have any special metals like mithril or adamantine, you can also contact me. I purchase such scarce goods long-term."

The female sorceress mentioned again, and Xia De joked:

"If I have a Philosopher's Stone, will you buy it?"

The pharmacist lady clearly did not consider this sentence to be true. She rarely showed a smile, which was evidence that her opinion of Xia De had changed:

"Of course I would buy it; I would sell all my assets to buy it. Do you know, before the Edwards family was destroyed, they really released news that they wanted to purchase a Philosopher's Stone. But they were just ordinary people, how could they..."

She suddenly frowned and, together with Xia De, looked at the thick fog at the entrance of the building. Xia De also shut his mouth. Although his eyes still couldn't see anything, his perception had already discovered that two people were moving toward here. The other party's level was clearly not as high as the lady accompanying Xia De, and their perception ability was far inferior to Xia De's, so they had not yet discovered Xia De and the other.

"I remember you said that it's not certain that someone will come to the island even once in a few months."

Xia De said softly, and the pharmacist lady frowned slightly:

"Now is not the time to talk about this. I didn't expect to encounter others either. However, who would come here? There is clearly nothing left on this island."

She took out another glass tube the size of half an index finger from her small bag; inside the container was a silver liquid like mercury:

"You go and deal with those two people, at least leave one alive."

"Wait a moment, why should I go alone? Even if you cannot exert the power of a high-ring, you can still work with me; wouldn't that be more convenient? Also, what is this that you gave me?"

Xia De asked in surprise.

"Men always have so many questions."

The female sorceress complained and threw the small bottle to Xia De:

"You just go. My situation is very complicated right now; if I can avoid taking action, I will try to avoid it. This liquid can allow you to directly use a low-ring sublimation language once. Although the effect is slightly worse than a prepared sublimation language, at least there are no side effects."

"Ah?"

Xia De scrambled to catch the glass container thrown to him, and "She" by his ear said gently:

【Without a specific area as a condition, you cannot use a low-ring sublimation language to summon the past half-witch in any case.】

"Miss, to deal with these two people, where would I need a sublimation language?"

He then stuffed the glass tube into his pocket and even patted it to prevent it from sliding out:

"When you want to ask questions later, I also want to listen from the side."

The female sorceress glanced at him and nodded:

"As long as you are not afraid of getting into trouble, you can. I'll remind you: those two people are about the same level as you, so don't be too careless."

"I know, that's why I said to let you rest assured. Don't look at me as young; actually, my combat experience is very rich."

As he spoke, he pulled a black key from his chest and whispered a sentence the female sorceress didn't understand. As light flickered under Xia De's feet, the key in his palm extended to both sides until it formed a pitch-black wooden staff. The pharmacist lady raised an eyebrow:

"A relic? Or a magic staff? It's really rare; no wonder you are so confident."

"Yes, I rely on this weapon."

Xia De walked toward the thick fog.

He did not rely on his early discovery of the other party to launch a sneak attack; if the other party were people from the church, that would be bad. He kept walking forward until the two sorcerers, whose senses were clearly dull, also stopped and looked at him; only then did Xia De stop.

At this moment, both sides could clearly perceive the existence of the other, but in the fog, they could only see the blurred figures of the other. "Who are you?"

Xia De asked directly, but the answer he received was one of the two suddenly waving his hand at him.

Fragmented light flashed through the fog. Xia De raised his hand and used the 【Staff of Yggdrasil】 to block forward. Hearing a soft "bang," the glowing but nearly transparent "boomerang-like" weapon was knocked away by the long staff.

But it wasn't over yet. The deflected boomerang entered the thick fog, spun around, and then turned back to strike at Xia De again. "This is... a spiritual weapon?"

Xia De raised an eyebrow. Except for Sister Daelin's ice-colored scythe, he had rarely encountered an opponent as skilled in using spiritual weapons as himself:

"Spiritual weapons are not omnipotent either!"

This time, he didn't raise the long staff, but instead used his empty right hand to slash upward violently. The "Moonlight Slash" attached to his palm flashed through the fog—even the pharmacist lady behind Xia De couldn't capture the details beyond that streak of light—and the boomerang shattered into points of light in the fog.

The shattering of the spiritual weapon did not distract the enemy. The two figures, whose appearances could not be seen in the fog, quickly separated, and then, while casting spells, approached Xia De from the left and right. Xia De then shook the long staff in his hand, and several moonlight rings from the top of the staff flew toward the two one after another.