Chapter 3341: [Ring of the Ice-Hearted Walker]

The young girl had her own little thoughts, and this sentiment was felt by the outsider beneath the setting sun. It was truly like the winter sun, not particularly warm, yet still comforting.

"The cultist just now held an Angel-class Relic; even without my guard, I would have been deceived.

But the people in the town may have truly seen a plant resembling the Tear Fern. Fate guided you here, but your luck led you to meet Ellie... What happened after you entered the forest just now? Did you see a golden humanoid?"

Xia De asked again, and Miss Larson nodded quickly:

"I entered this forest half an hour ago and saw Ellie and Mia about ten minutes ago. I saw them standing still, so I walked toward them. Then that golden thing walked out of the forest. Before I could react, Mia let out a soft 'meow~'."

She paused, because she herself could not fully understand what happened afterward:

"The golden thing must have had self-awareness, right? It looked at me, then at Ellie, and finally walked toward Ellie. Then Ellie, carrying Mia, smashed that thing to pieces."

"Smashed to pieces?"

"Yes, charging forward with its head down, its horn glowing. Ellie is truly amazing."

"Ungh~"

The unicorn then rubbed against Xia De's arm, clearly understanding it was being praised. The cat had already darted to the top of the unicorn's head, then leaped forcefully, landing directly on Xia De's shoulder.

"Ellie?"

Xia De took out an apple and handed it to the unicorn, then gently patted the cat. Although the unicorn Ellie was only just an adult, she could still be considered an adult individual, and the rank of an adult unicorn in the classification of dangerous abnormal creatures is the same as that of a pure-blooded giant dragon.

It might not be able to defeat that demon for various reasons, but dealing with a Ringmaster's summon was no problem.

"But... why did fate not affect Ellie? Or did the priest not expect his opponent to be a unicorn?"

Then Xia De looked at the cat on his shoulder; with Xia De present, it no longer wanted to stay on Ellie's back.

Xia De and Miss Larson soon returned to the Snow Mountain Hall, where Claire was waiting for them. The witch apprentice admitted her mistake to her teacher, believing it was her carelessness that led her into the enemy's trap.

However, Claire was more concerned about whether she was injured, while Xia De explained the matter of the Unification of Ten Thousand Numbers and the Puppeteer's Script:

"In this way, the Script belongs to the Unification of Ten Thousand Numbers, the Spindle belongs to the Misfortune Cult, leaving only the last Mirror unknown as to which faction it belongs to."

"They are all Xieshen Sects."

Claire said with great unease, and Xia De nodded:

"Do you remember when you went missing at night back then and were attacked by the Pantanal Pantanal Xiewu 【Heartless Worm】? It seems now that the owners of the three Relics were searching for Miss Larson, but they located you instead.

I said at the time that the three Relics did not attack you together; there were contradictions between them, so at least two factions must be mutually hostile."

At this moment, they were standing in the banquet hall of the Snow Mountain Hall. Xia De was waiting for Elder Harald; he still needed to confirm the matter of the Snow Mountain Spring:

"The Unification of Ten Thousand Numbers and the Misfortune Cult certainly will not be eternal allies, but in finding and eliminating candidates from other factions, their interests are basically consistent. Therefore, the faction holding the Mirror in the end, consistent with my previous deduction, should be a neutral faction or one leaning toward goodness."

As Xia De spoke, he thought again of the source of the power disturbing fate that he had felt in the cave lake today, which was scattered in four directions.

Besides the location relatively close to the small town that he paid special attention to, he was also concerned about the one in the city, after all, a Relic daring to appear directly in the city was quite bold.

Although the location of the Relic in the city was very vague, Xia De could roughly describe a range. So Miss Larson fetched a map of the City of Time Wheels, spread it out on the long table in the banquet hall, and Claire pointed directly to the most conspicuous building in the area circled by Xia De:

"The one you sensed wouldn't be this, would it? The Prophets' Association."

The Prophets' Association happened to be located in the northeastern part of the circle.

As for the fact that Miss Larson was found by the Unification of Ten Thousand Numbers today, this matter must also be guarded against. If there was a first time, there would certainly be a second time. As fellow candidates for the Chosen, Miss Larson, who did not possess a Fate-type Relic, was clearly the one at a disadvantage.

In fact, the Witch Council was already preparing a corresponding Relic for Miss Larson; it was just that the Relic was originally planned to be brought together when Xiyi arrived, and unexpectedly, this incident happened before Xiyi's arrival.

Therefore, after listening to Xia De recount the events just now, Claire briefly asked about the Ice Castle, then took a bottle of red wine obtained from the castle and entered the Council with Xia De, wanting to ask Xiyi exactly when she would arrive.

Originally, she did not really want other witches to arrive in her heart, but for the sake of her student, she now wished Xiyi would appear before her immediately with the Relic.

(Side Story 8 - The New Daily Life of the Witch Council)

And when Claire returned with news from the Council—that is, when she came down from the second floor of the castle—Xia De was discussing the ring with Elder Harald.

An ice-blue metal ring was placed on the table, and a certain cat was obviously squatting excitedly beside the ring, waiting only for Xia De to hand it over.

Elder Harald's expression was very serious, repeatedly confirming with Xia De the location where he found the ring and the circumstances at that time. Seeing Claire return from the "restroom," he beckoned her to come over:

"Claire, come and look at this ring."

The cat was somewhat displeased by Claire's action of picking up the ring, but it knew this thing would definitely return, so it was not in a hurry.

Claire held the ring in her palm and examined it carefully. The ice-blue metal was of unknown material, but the metal was very cold, and when touching it, not only did the body feel it, but even the soul felt it.

Besides the calligraphic runes on the surface reading 【Your struggle with me is the tempering of the essence of will】, the surface was exceptionally smooth. After receiving permission, Claire put the ring on her finger, frowned slightly, and then took it off:

"Grandfather, is this the Keeper-class 【Ring of the Ice-Hearted Walker】 lost by the tribe?

Upon wearing it, it greatly suppresses the restlessness of one's own spirit, suppresses loopholes in the heart, and can also exert a very strong suppression effect on Ringmaster loss of control; however, upon wearing it, one cannot use any clone-type secret arts or miracles, which also means that avatars formed by one's own dark side triggered by unique Relics and secret techniques will not appear."

Holding the ring, she looked at her apprentice, while Xia De thought of the 【Ouroboros Ring】 obtained in the Vesta Forest; although it could transform curses into a creature's tail, for creatures that already had tails, the curse would be guided into the tail, after which the tail would fall off and become another self to hunt down the original body.

The effect of the 【Ring of the Ice-Hearted Walker】 could just resist the negative effects of the 【Ouroboros Ring】 on creatures with tails:

"What is the negative effect of this Relic?"

"It can only be used by Ringmasters who wield ice power. The essence of the ring is to freeze the heart, making the heart perfect and flawless. If a Ringmaster without ice power uses this ring, their soul will be frozen directly. This is not the kind of effect in the Witch Emperor's castle where freezing occurs but does not cause immediate death; this negative effect can kill directly."

She placed the ring back in front of Mia, then said with confusion:

"This ring has been passed down through generations within the tribe, but I remember that about three hundred years ago, the Relic went missing. Did Xia De find this?"

"Xia De?"

After hearing this strange name, Elder Harald glanced at Xia De but did not say much:

"He said he found it in a pool beside the Central Spring. Didn't you pass by there yesterday?"

"Grandfather, I don't know what was at the bottom of the lake; I certainly didn't go swimming at the bottom of the lake."

The witch immediately stated, and Xia De explained:

"Even if one dived to the bottom of the lake, they might not have discovered it. This ring was worn on a skeleton submerged in the silt, and for some reason, the ring worn on that finger bone did not manifest the Whisper Element. I am certain that taking this Relic away would not affect the Dark Lake, so I brought it, but I did not move that finger bone."

"This Relic involves an old matter concerning the Fatu people."

Elder Harald then signaled for Xia De and Miss Larson beside him to sit down and listen to the story, a story that Claire knew:

"The Relics in the tribe were passed down through generations of priests. About three hundred years ago, this ring was passed into the hands of a very talented young man. Of course, his talent was not comparable to Claire's.

That year, some accidents occurred. The young priest's younger brother accidentally fell off a cliff while playing on the mountain. When he was found, he was down to his last breath. He was not only injured from the fall; before being discovered, he had been bitten by something unknown. At that time, the tribe possessed a secret medicine, now lost, that could save the child, but that secret medicine needed to be used during the All-Souls' Festival. The tribe had a clan rule: nothing could delay the All-Souls' Festival."

He sighed; Xia De could guess what came next in the story:

"So that child died in the end?"

"Yes. The young priest thus came to hate the tribe. He did some terrible things within the tribe... Although he was young, he must have discovered something on the snow mountain, for his power increased rapidly to a terrifying degree in a short time. But after all, he was only one person, and in the end, he was defeated by the elders and the ring mages of the Zhengshen Sect who came to help.

He did not die; instead, he chose to leave the island and vanish. But before he left, he declared that he would one day return for revenge.

This 【Ring of the Ice-Heart Walker】 and two other relics were taken away by him together, thus lost to the tribe. When I heard this story in my youth, I kept thinking that perhaps one day in the future, his descendants would return with the relics taken from the tribe at that time. Who knows what unexpected stories might unfold then? But I never expected that the 【Ring of the Ice-Heart Walker】 had never actually left this holy mountain."

PS: Illustration for this chapter: "Mia's Nine Rings · Ring of the Ice-Heart Walker"

PS2: The side story is in the next chapter.

(End of this chapter)