Chapter 1664: The Temple of

"The avalanche could not hinder the travelers' determination to reach the destination. All the travelers worked together, allowing you to survive the avalanche. Although you felt physically and mentally exhausted because of this, fortunately, there was not much road left. At noon, you camped and rested at a safe location, looking forward to what else you would encounter in this last day of adventure. After a short rest, it was time to set off again. With the map obtained, the unicorn will lead you to what kind of destination?"

The deity signaled the witch to flip the next card, but Xia De asked the witch to wait a moment. He asked Chloe beside him:

"Chloe, what did you come to the snowy mountain for?"

The firelight made her silver long hair even more elegant, and the petite witch shrank her body and leaned against Xia De, shaking her head gently:

"No need to worry about me. Even if I fail to complete what I want to do this time, I can go again next time. Go do your things first."

She said understandingly.

"No, no, I want to understand in advance what else is waiting for us on the mountain."

So Chloe nodded, and under everyone's gaze, introduced:

"I came to this nameless snowy mountain to explore an ancient legend for the Academy. It is rumored that witches wandering on the mountain top have a chance to encounter an ancient temple. And that temple has the power to exchange one's own self for others' happiness."

"Wishing again?"

This made Xia De think of the bottle he encountered when traveling on the ship.

"No, it's not wishing, nor is it a malicious trap. According to local legends and the Academy's preliminary investigation, that ancient temple located at the top of the snowy mountain is very likely the former sacrificial place of the ancient god of fate—【Mr. Ring】. This is a place to reverse and change fate, but it is also a place to pay a price. So, the Academy sent me, a demigod witch, to investigate in person, although I haven't found the ancient building so far... of course, letting me come is also because my country is closest to here."

The ancient god 【Mr. Ring】, also known as 【Ouroboros】, is the god worshipped by the Fortune Teller Association, presiding over functions such as 【Fate】 and 【Reciprocal Cycle】. So far, Xia De's understanding of this ancient god only came from Luvia's few words. And Xia De already understood very well last summer what consequences wanton manipulation of fate would cause.

He looked worriedly at Miss Andriana the witch and Clara the maid. The light of the swaying campfire made the expressions on their faces uncertain, and they also guessed what they would face next.

Chloe said softly to them:

"I don't know what situation the person you are looking for is in now, but if she can still be saved, I will help."

"Thank you."

Miss Andriana thanked her softly, reaching out to flip the card, but suddenly asked Xia De:

"His Majesty said that the temple is very hard to find. Does this mean that even if we climb to the top of the mountain, we might not necessarily find it?"

"Yes, so, we need clues."

The witch nodded gently, one hand picked up 【Vientiane Impermanence · Space】 and placed it in front of her eyes, and only then flipped the next card. Completely as expected, the card face was the ancient temple ruins standing in the blizzard.

This was different from the sacrificial ground where the 【Spirit Cultivation Sect】 was located, because it had been left unattended for years, the temple depicted on the card had almost become ruins, with only a small amount of architectural debris still stubbornly standing in the wind and snow.

The deity opened his mouth and said:

"The unicorn broke through the wind and snow and finally led the travelers to the destination of the map. And welcoming them in front was the ruins of the temple left by the ancients. Through the introduction of the Silver Cat, you know that mortals once worshipped fate here, but that is already a story of the old era. Now, only these ruins are left for you. So, in the afternoon of the last day of the journey, will you bypass the ruins and continue forward, or search these ruins carefully?"

The god asked with a smile. This sentence was asked to the brown-haired witch, and Alela Andriana answered very firmly:

"We want to search these ruins."

The surrounding scenery did not change, which meant that everyone didn't actually need to do it themselves:

"The unicorn made a decision, so the travelers became busy. The loyal dog sniffed the scent, the parrot flew to the sky to find traces, the unicorn walked alone in the ruins, and the traveler under the moon and the Silver Cat searched for the remains of miracles together."

Everyone's senses had problems at this moment. They were clearly still sitting in the camp, but their vision, hearing, smell, touch, and perception of elements and spirits were as if they had truly explored the ruins.

They saw a group of people coming to the top of the snowy mountain against the wind and snow. The unicorn used a card and a golden horn to open a path that didn't originally exist. Thus, the group passed through a narrow and winding ice-sealed path and came to a huge archway guarded by two wind-eroded statues.

Even if they didn't reach it in person, standing in front of that archway, it felt as if they had truly touched the trajectory of fate. The temple had become ruins, but ancient power still existed here. They prayed softly to themselves and then entered the archway to investigate separately.

"I smelled the perfume of my sister; she definitely came here!"

Clara the black-dressed maid said very firmly.

"There are no traces of battle here; I didn't find any traces of Laks's miracles."

The witch said regretfully.

"I saw that in the direction of the mountain top from the center of the ruins, there are the most complete architectural ruins!"

The bard reminded loudly, as if everyone was really in the blizzard of the snowy mountain.

"Yes, we reached that place."

Xia De looked at the air in front of him and added:

"Chloe and I saw it; we saw a table, and... a stone statue, a female stone statue. She really looks like Miss Clara."

"Be careful, even if the ancient god has gone far, the power of fate still remains here. This makes me very uneasy; everyone, do not approach that table, and do not touch that stone statue easily."

Chloe reminded everyone.

Having confirmed what they were looking for, the five people's sensory abnormalities disappeared. Amidst the slight shaking of the ground, the table and the female stone statue seen by Xia De and Chloe appeared near the campfire.

Except for the deity who was still sitting, everyone stood up and surrounded it. The stone table had been exposed to wind and sun for an unknown number of years, and at this time it was covered with dense wind-eroded small holes. The table was rectangular, and the female stone statue stood at one end of the short side. The vivid expression was a smile of relief, as if she were still alive in the previous moment.

"Sister!"

The maid, who had always been very calm, ignored Chloe's warning and hugged the stone statue, but halfway through, she turned into a black hound. Because of her height, she could only snuggle at the foot of the stone statue. Fortunately, nothing happened. The light of the campfire illuminated two entangled shadows, one large and one small, but could not melt the snowflakes on the side of the stone statue's shoulder.

No one dared to touch the table. The unicorn walked over first, touched the stone statue with her horn, and then said to Xia De, who was stopping two cats from fighting—mainly Mia was doing it:

"The soul is still inside the stone statue."

The experience in Randall Valley at the beginning of this year made Xia De know a lot about this kind of living person turned into a stone statue.

He nodded:

"If the soul is still there, I can try to rescue it. I have a miracle that turns stone and mud into living flesh and blood."

As he said, he reached out and pressed on the arm of the stone statue. He didn't perceive any elemental reaction, which meant the stone statue was just ordinary stone:

"Active Mud."

Brilliant golden light bloomed from under Xia De's hand. The petrified arm actually turned into a clean white arm instantly. But immediately after, the restored part of the body turned back into stone. Xia De tried to use the miracle again, but it had no effect anymore.

"Don't try to cast spells anymore; she paid the price, so she was turned into stone. It's not that your power has no effect, but after the miracle takes effect, she is petrified again. She is destined to be stone; fate has given her such an ending, you cannot change this point."

The silver cat driven to Xia De's shoulder by Little Mia reminded, and the cat stretched out its paw and pointed to the other side:

"That is very ancient power, related to this table."

"Fate?"

The black hound transformed from the maid remained coiled at the foot of the statue, refusing to leave, while the unicorn was still trying hard to cast a spell to undo the petrification, but she couldn't even succeed for a single moment like Xia De.

It was the parrot transformed by the bard who discovered the clue first:

"Look, there are complete patterns under the dust on the table."

It flew in the air and looked more carefully, so the silver cat held by Xia De blew a breath. A violent wind blew past, sweeping the dust on the table clean. Xia De walked to the table and saw the crisscrossing patterns on the stone tabletop, connected to each other to form squares, like a Rod card gambling table, or like the "Game of Life" gambling table he had seen with Mr. Riddle in the Fortress of Terror.

The dust that was blown away did not fall to the ground with the snowflakes, but gathered into a faceless humanoid at the other end of the table. Because there was not much dust on the table, the humanoid was quite thin, and the dust constituting the body was trembling all the time, and even through his body, one could still see the scene of the misty forest behind.

This was not Chloe's spell effect. The power of miracles and fate made everyone vigilant. The trembling dust moved within his body in a wonderful trajectory, like stars, and like dense raindrops falling into a pool, causing ripples.

The dust humanoid didn't mean to attack them; it pressed its hands on the table:

"You have trespassed into the temple of fate; what kind of fate is guiding you?"

Xia De was most familiar with this kind of strange conversation, so he coughed and answered:

"Lost blood relatives, lost lovers, we came here to find the girl cursed by fate. Gatekeeper of fate, can you tell us why she turned into stone?"

The dust figure "looked" at Xia De:

"So it was the moonlight shining here; this ancient light is truly nostalgic. The cursed girl came to gain more power for her lover, and to cross the gate of the supernatural for her sister. She paid for herself and harvested her wish."

This answer was quite simple and clear, and even Chloe, who knew the least about this matter, understood it.

"You see, her wish has already been realized. The witch harvested the power of the unicorn, and the black-dressed maid has already transcended the mundane. Fate has always been so fair; this point has never changed."

The dust figure added.

"I want to exchange back my sister, use me to exchange! I deserve it, it was my jealousy of my sister, it was I who gave her the suggestion to go out to find power, it was me, it was me... I am willing to pay everything, as long as my sister can come back."

The black hound jumped onto the table and said to the dust figure.

"Of course not, fate has already made a choice, this is unchangeable."

"Then use me..."

The unicorn said, using her horn to pick up the hound on the table and throw it onto her back:

"It's my fault. If I could have discovered the problem at home earlier, I wouldn't have let a rift grow between the sisters. This is my fault, please let me redeem myself." ===== CHAPTER 1665 =====