Chapter 2578: Strange Art - Wall of Sighs

"Are you really okay?"

Xia De confirmed one last time. The witch put one hand on her waist:

"As long as you are here, it will definitely be okay."

She flicked her hair lightly, then signaled her followers to retreat outward temporarily, and even Miss Bell walked into the forest.

"This move is something I prepared for promoting to the thirteenth level. You stand behind me now, don't be accidentally injured."

The witch ordered Xia De, and Xia De had to follow suit, but didn't forget to warn:

"You are still in a cursed state, don't cast spells with full force."

"Yes, I know."

She summoned the ten-ring life ring in her human state. Xia De saw that her core spirit runes were the standard three 【Death】, 【Mimicry】, and 【Inspiration】. Her right hand took out a gray stone as a spellcasting material, and the golden eyes finally revealed a serious look:

"This is a stone taken from a tombstone of at least a hundred years. It is the most commonly used spellcasting material for witches of our lineage: Strange Art - Wall of Sighs!"

Core spirit rune - 【Death】, miracle - 【Boundary】, blasphemy - 【Living】 bloomed with light together. The gray tombstone was thrown by her into the burning campfire in the forest clearing. Subsequently, a hum seemed to come from the depths of the earth. Accompanied by the originally hot flames suddenly turning into black smoke, and in the slight tremor of the earth, beside the unconscious Father Francois, a rough gray square stone wall slowly rose from the mud.

The death aura that burst out from the cracks in the ground caused the withered yellow leaves on the ground to quickly turn scorched black. The golden forest added more shadows that shouldn't have appeared in an instant. The gloomy wind blew around, and even the 【Night Watchman】 in the box Xia De carried on his back shook violently.

The gray square stone wall was not built with bricks and stones, but it was a whole piece of stone itself. On that rough wall, densely packed and overlapping terrifying corpses were piled up like fossils, and as they were exposed on the ground, those corpses stretched out their arms from the stone wall.

The black-gray-haired witch's face also became as pale as her apprentice's at this moment, but there was a smile on her face because the spellcasting was successful. She turned to look at Xia De, but vaguely saw cracks and scorching firelight in Xia De's eyes.

And the unconscious Father Francois was awakened by the stimulation of this powerful undead power, but before he could react, he was grabbed by those arms.

Hands, feet, back of the knees, arms, neck, shoulders, dry arms grabbed every part of his body, but they didn't hurt him, but brought him to that "Wall of Sighs," making him stick to the wall with his back, motionless, as if he was also going to be pulled into that gray stone wall.

And the wall emitting black mist had stopped rising, and the height was already about one story high. The forest, which was sunny just now, was now as gloomy as a midnight cemetery. Although Xia De didn't know this strange art, he also knew it was quite unusual.

And Father Francois's face was pinched by five different hands at this moment. He could only stare at his surroundings but couldn't speak.

The panting Miss Winslet then said to Xia De with a smile:

"He can't see anything, hear anything, or feel anything now. I let him perceive what he can perceive. Ask now. Once he is on the 'Wall of Sighs,' no one can lie."

This strange art didn't look like it was going to lose control, and compared to transformation, this strange art was indeed consistent with her seat in the council, so she was even a little imperceptibly proud when she spoke.

"Can you reveal what the true effect of this strange art is? I see this doesn't look like a strange art developed purely for interrogation."

Xia De then asked, and the witch was also happy to answer this question:

"This is the wall that divides life and death, standing between the living and the dead. Anyone facing it can only sigh. This is no longer just a thirteenth-ring strange art. Even if I could touch the legendary demigod, it would be enough for me to use. Defense, summoning spirits, opening the channel of death, changing the battlefield, the effects of this strange art are diverse."

"This is the top achievement of the great witch of the death lineage, created and perfected by successive witches since the Sixth Era."

This was very similar to the "Witch Secret Art - Domain of Revelation" mentioned by Miss Belindell. The countess said that the secret art even allowed her to survive in the "Special Light Area," which could inform her of the general source of all supernatural phenomena within the domain and automatically convert her own spirit into resistance effects. This was the top spell she mastered, the top creation of the prophecy school among ancient witches.

Of course, thinking about the power of witches could be left for later. Xia De opened his mouth and asked the priest on the wall:

"Then I will start asking—are you Father Francois of the Willendale Diocese?"

Those hands that grabbed and pinched the priest's cheeks forced him to open his mouth. Xia De even felt that it was them pinching his throat and cheeks to speak:

"Yes!"

Father Francois's voice was hoarse and gloomy, but very stable. It's just that his expression was quite panicked. All the muscles on his face seemed to be mobilized to resist the act of "speaking," but unfortunately, a

"Very well, then was it you, fifty years ago, who forced the time traveler you encountered to pass the potion across time for you?"

"Yes!"

He answered again, and the miracle was still functioning normally; the spreading black mist only surrounded a small area nearby and showed no signs of continuing to flow outward:

"Third question, in 1809, why did you appear in the Creekwood Town parish?"

This was the year Baroness Kaming was robbed; the Baron was threatened during that era.

The priest on the wall was still being controlled by the arms of the corpses to speak:

"I had just started working that year. According to church regulations, young priests like me from large parishes are periodically sent to be stationed in other places for a period of time, to let us understand the different situations in various regions. The location I was assigned to was the Creekwood Town parish."

Xia De nodded and explained to the lady beside him:

"My friends in the church have mentioned similar things... Next question, how did you discover that time traveler?"

"I arrived in Creekwood Town in the spring of 1809. At that time, the town was expanding. Originally, there was only the Church of Nature, and we, the Church of Creation, were latecomers, so we often interacted with the heretics of the Church of Nature.

That summer, I followed a Fourth-Ring and a Sixth-Ring senior into the woods at night with two Fifth-Ring mages from the Church of Nature to search for the 'giant deer-headed monster' reported by the townspeople. We ran into big trouble; the opponent had extremely strong mental attack capabilities, and in the end, I was the only one who survived.

They said a lot of things while facing death in fear, among which the Fifth-Ring mage from the local Church of Nature described some vague things about time travel. But he was already insane at that time, so I only knew from this that there were rumors of time travel in the area, but I didn't know if they were true."

The hoarse and strange voice sounded as if it came from the legendary "Hell." Of course, even if "Hell" exists in this world, it should only be the home of alien demons and not the final destination of the dead.

The answer he gave was long, and Xia De and the witch listened carefully:

"After that accident, I kept recuperating in the town while collecting more rumors about time travel in the area. Finally, I dug up the grave of that sacrificed Fifth-Ring mage from the Church of Nature and quietly broke into his home in the town, finding what he had hidden in the basement. From this, I learned that time travel did indeed exist. Although he knew many things, all he left for me was a large batch of potions and alchemical materials, and the method for detecting time travelers."

Xia De and Miss Winslet exchanged a look:

"This behavior of yours... what happened afterward?"

"I knew from the beginning that my talent was poor and it was impossible for me to advance to the Middle Rings. But I didn't want to die so early; I worked hard to become a Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi back then just to live long enough.

The 【Time-Sharing Potion】 was something I intercepted and prepared while I was still in Willandale using materials from clearing out a cultist stronghold. After obtaining the method to detect time travelers in Creekwood Town, I had a plan to use the other party to hide and deliver that potion for me.

The only written material left by that dead Fifth-Ring mage said not to try to seize a channel that anyone had already used, otherwise, triggering time instability would lead to a faster death."

By this point, the expression on his face had become manic due to terror and struggle.

"So, in order to live longer, you dug up your companion's grave and even threatened him with the lives of his whole family to make him work for you?"

Xia De frowned as he looked at the old man on the "Wall of Sighs":

"Looking at you, besides the 【Time-Sharing Potion】, you must have used other methods to try to extend your lifespan... have you killed people for the sake of immortality?"

Xia De believed that if he could control himself, he would rather bite off his own tongue than tell them the answer, but this miracle was simply too powerful:

"Only five people; their birth dates were special and met the requirements for the potion's ingredients."

"Are you even worthy of being a priest, a person like you?"

Even the witch couldn't help but ask.

"What could I do?"

Because she used a question, the priest on the wall had to answer:

"I didn't want to die! Since there was a way for me to live longer, why not use it? I knew I would die sooner or later, but I feared death. Who doesn't fear death? To stay alive, these costs were worth it!"

Xia De originally didn't want to waste words on him, but at this moment, he couldn't help but say:

"I met someone just yesterday who caused the death of his whole family due to his own cowardice, but in the end, he was willing to pay with his own life to atone for his sins; then today I met you. You seem brave and persistent, waiting bitterly for fifty years for a potion, but your soul hasn't grown at all in these fifty years. You are still as cowardly as you were fifty years ago."