Chapter 1895: The Cross and the Blood

The light in the rain and fog that Xia De saw before entering the town was the glow from sporadic streetlamps and the gas lamps shining from a few windows. There were no townspeople to be seen on the streets in the dead of night, but if one closed their eyes and listened carefully, they could vaguely sense the sound of heartbeats coming from within the houses amidst the rain.

This meant the town was truly "alive." If Green Lake Town had never fallen into decay, the town on that real island should have been exactly like this.

Although he was anxious to head deeper into the island to find Megan, Xia De still entered a house by the roadside to check the state of the townspeople sleeping inside.

As expected, although there were heartbeats, what Xia De actually saw after pulling back the quilt were humanoid, non-natural creatures pieced together using alchemy and necromancy. These "townspeople" would not be awakened by Xia De's actions, and their bodies were firmly fixed to the beds by tree roots that had pierced through from beneath the floorboards.

Those tree roots not only bound the "townspeople," but the ends of the root hairs mostly pierced into parts like their wrists and ankles. Xia De looked closely and could observe the slight sucking motions made by the tree roots; the blood in the townspeople's bodies was being absorbed into the roots bit by bit.

As for those tree roots that even had to pierce through the first-floor ceiling to reach the bedroom, they all originated from deep beneath the town. This should have the same source as the massive root system at the bottom of the Green Lake Cemetery. When Xia De wanted to use 【Nightwatcher】 to sever a section of the root for research, the root hairs at the ends of those roots actually trembled like insects and oozed red and cyan pus.

Not staying in the townspeople's houses for too long, Xia De followed his memory and walked toward the south of the town, in the direction of the old Edwards mansion atop the hills.

The further he moved toward the old Edwards mansion in the center of the island, the lighter the rain became and the thicker the fog grew. When Xia De had passed about one-third of the town, he heard the buzzing sound of voices again in the increasingly dense fog.

Continuing forward, crossing the next intersection and walking straight, those buzzing sounds gradually merged into one, and Xia De heard that these were numerous different voices chanting the same sentence.

Continuing forward, those figures draped in black rain capes appeared one after another in the fog.

Everyone was kneeling on one knee on the ground, with the black spiral emblem of the "Unifiers" hanging around their necks, their hands clasped together as they chanted sentences like "The Edwards family leads us to eternal life" and "The Unifiers lead us to escape the cage of the world."

This looked like a gathering of cultists, but according to the regulations promulgated by the Orthodox Churches, they were not cultists. First, this matter did not involve a true Evil God; second, Laplace Klein Howard had not demanded any worship.

He was merely gathering followers.

Even though there were people in every household in the town, it seemed as if half the residents of Green Lake Town were gathered here. These townspeople in black rain capes were gathered at the only five-way intersection in the very center of the town. And the direction they were kneeling and worshipping toward was exactly the center of the intersection.

Gazing into the distance, a huge cross stood there, and one could vaguely see two different people tied to the front and back of the cross. After Xia De squinted slightly, he discovered that it was clearly Mr. Soren Green and Miss Helena Green.

The distance was too great, and there was dense fog, so Xia De could not see what state they were in. There were too many townspeople here, and he knew that if these townspeople were nearly immortal like those in the cemetery, he had no time to eliminate them.

"Red Butterfly Avatar."

With a slight leap upward, his entire person transformed into a swarm of scarlet butterflies, rushing straight toward the higher sky. After reaching a sufficient height, he flew toward the center of the intersection under the cover of the dense fog.

It was indeed the Green siblings tied to the front and back of the cross. Root hairs surging from beneath the street stones held them firmly there. Both were in a state of unconsciousness; although they appeared to be in no immediate danger to their lives, the tree roots were also sucking their blood, and if this continued, they would only grow weaker and weaker.

Since he had made a vow with Maria Edwards to protect the Green siblings, Xia De would naturally not break his word. The red butterfly swarm gradually descended in altitude, and finally, Xia De stepped on the very top of the cross and stood there.

He raised his hand, preparing to summon a large snowball in the fog, then use the Chains of Sin to connect the four snowballs to form a closed space, and then use Moonlight Thorns to block the surrounding townspeople from surging forward.

But those townspeople kneeling on one knee had no intention of standing up. Even when Xia De snapped his fingers and four massive snowballs descended from the sky—he could even feel the cross vibrate because of it—those townspeople still did not move.

"Is it different from the cemetery?"

【Watch your feet.】

"She" suddenly reminded him. Xia De looked down and discovered that the root hairs binding the Green siblings were almost fused with the cross and had climbed and spread to his feet before he knew it.

So Xia De leaped lightly to the ground. Seeing that the townspeople all over the intersection still had no intention of acting, he raised the long sword in his hand toward the root hairs attached to the cross.

*Clang! * With a sound, those gray root hairs squirmed to avoid the edge of 【Nightwatcher】. The blade slashed onto the black metal cross, but the root hairs forcibly fixed it back together before the cross could break.

Xia De frowned slightly. After taking a step back, he watched as the dense gray root hairs emerging from the ground quickly covered the ground. They squirmed and gathered together, finally transforming back into the appearance of Laplace Klein Howard in front of the cross.

It was just that compared to the flaming half-body from before, this figure composed of squirming tentacles was much more bizarre.

Although he didn't know what the situation was, Xia De still raised his sword and swung forward. The dense root hairs were severed by Nightwatcher, but then the plants squirmed and healed themselves. The tiny root hairs that fell onto the sword blade even grew and climbed, trying to wrap around it. After Xia De swung his sword, he wanted to retract it, only to find that he couldn't pull it back.

Xia De gripped the hilt, and the gray root-hair humanoid's newly grown right hand wrapped around the sword blade, and the two sides were deadlocked for a moment.

In the past, when Xia De used Nightwatcher, he had never encountered such a situation. The special effect of this angel-level longsword against evil meant that no one dared to touch the silver sword blade directly with their hands. But now, this humanoid grown from tentacles, with short white tentacles swaying in the rain around its body, was actually not judged as evil by 【Nightwatcher】.

This meant that 【Nightwatcher】's special attack effect against evil could not be brought into play at all.

"Do you think I have no way to deal with you?"

Bright red flames flowed along the hilt to the blade, and at the same time, fire-red cracks appeared on the inside and outside of Xia De's hands. The effect of "Ember of the First Flame" only appeared when Xia De encountered extreme danger, and the power and warmth that suddenly surged within his body at this moment seemed to come from the power he felt when shaking hands with Sister Delage in the fire not long ago.

But regardless, the fire-red light had already appeared in the gaps of the root hairs wrapping around the Nightwatcher blade. As Xia De lifted the sword upward, the flaming blade easily sliced through those gray root hairs.

Without hesitation, he continued to thrust forward, and the swung longsword left trails of fire in the fog. Although these root hairs were not affected by Nightwatcher's properties, the flames containing the power of the Primordial Flame were still their natural nemesis.

The dense, burning root hairs quickly fell all over the ground, but after that humanoid completely collapsed, more root hairs surged from underground, transforming back into the appearance of that diviner.

He had no intention of continuing to fight with the sword-wielding Xia De. While taking a step back, the numerous townspeople who had been whispering behind him asked Xia De together:

"Do you really want to waste time here with me?"

"What do you mean? Wasting time, isn't that you?"

Xia De asked the humanoid in front of him.

The townspeople from all directions opened their mouths and answered together again:

"The family banquet is about to begin. If you do not arrive at the banquet hall before the first outsider to step onto this island sets foot on the pier, even if the key is still in your hand, you will no longer have the qualification to attend the banquet."

"Since you gathered your descendants to attend the family banquet, what is this for?"

The flaming longsword pointed at the Green siblings on the cross. The townspeople in the fog and rain said together:

"To brew that wine of eternal life, this requires a process."

"Do you know? I hate guys who brew wine the most!"

The longsword swung forward again, but even Xia De, who was swinging the sword, knew that this strike still didn't have much effect.

"You can bypass this place and continue forward."

The overlapping voices said together, and the root-hair humanoid made a gesture of invitation toward the cross again:

"Or, I can tell you how to save them."

"Are you forcing me to do as you arrange?"

"No, this is your own choice."

The townspeople said the answer in unison:

"The blood of the Edwards will water the fullest fruit on the tree. Although the twin siblings are peculiar, they have not stepped into the supernatural, and the power of their blood is far inferior to others. Use your blood to replace their blood; or find that exotic blood containing vast spirit and possessing spatial talent to water the family roots for them."

"You want my blood? You brought me to this island, was it just for this?"

Xia De frowned and asked. The root-hair humanoid shook its head slightly, and all the voices around praised:

"I can feel that you are seizing the power of the Edwards Ascension Art. This doesn't matter. Since I chose this path, fate will surely arrange an opponent for me."

"God-Caller, you are a person outside of fate, you are the variable that should not exist in the 'Whispering Poetry', you are the guest under the stage, you are the inevitability drawn in by a series of mistakes. No one can plan your fate; I am merely providing you with choices. How to do it depends only on your determination. The Edwards family welcomes your arrival."