Chapter 3365

Xia De was silent for a few seconds and reached out to place his hand on the tombstone in front of him. A moment later, he carefully took the 【Ye Zi of Eternal Youth】 from his pocket. After examining it for a moment, he asked:

"Sister Daifulin, do you know what the Tree Father gave me in this leaf?"

"You said it was a spiritual rune."

"Yes, Miracle - Jealousy."

Then he looked up and placed the leaf in front of his right eye. The sunlight illuminated every vein on the leaf, and the golden light flowed along the veins, then entered Xia De's eyes and became a part of his soul.

The Destiny Ring appeared from behind him. The third spiritual rune of the Ninth Ring, Miracle - 【Jealousy】, was successfully obtained after Enlightenment - 【Ice and Snow】 and Whisper - 【Sword】. Subsequently, the 【Dark Moon Grace】 taught to Xia De by the owner of the tombstone in front of him was also transformed into a strange art associated with this spiritual rune.

Clearly, "jealousy" was not a deadly sin that belonged to Xia De, but at this very moment, facing Sister Belen's tombstone and with his back to Sister Daifulin, Xia De felt that he actually fully understood what kind of sin this was, and also knew how two generations of sisters separated by a thousand years had each gotten rid of this deadly sin.

Obtaining this spiritual rune here really gave him a feeling of "destiny." Because of this, 【Jealousy】 successfully became the ninth rune on the "Chain of Deadly Sins," and Xia De didn't even need to hold a ritual to add this sin that didn't belong to him.

"Jealousy..."

Sister Daifulin repeated softly. Xia De withdrew his Destiny Ring and put the Ye Zi of Eternal Youth into his pocket. He also felt a bit of relief, though only a little:

"When night comes, I will use moonlight to make a bracelet, and I will still need your help to put it back into the box and bury it again. The golden bracelet... well, let's call it the 【Bracelet of the Grave Saint】 from now on, and you, Sister Daifulin, will hold it. I will let the moonlight accompany Sister Belen here."

He paused for a moment, then turned to Sister Daifulin and said:

"Of course, if you need it, I can also make an identical moonlight bracelet for you."

The sister shook her head:

"The moon is already by my side."

Xia De really smiled this time. He reached into his pocket again, and this time he took out a small piece of silver metal fragment. This was a souvenir from this time adventure, and like the strange art 【Dark Moon Grace】, 【Coffin of the Underworld】, and that drop of divinity, it was a harvest from this time.

Now the fragment was still there, but the eye mask had long been repaired. He looked at the fragment of the eye mask in his hand in a daze, and then asked:

"So many sisters are buried here; do the sisters of the 【Spiritual Cult】 often come to sweep their graves?"

"No, the mission has been completed, the body has returned to the flame, and the soul has gone to the end; there is actually nothing here. But in their spare time, some people will come here to clear some weeds."

Xia De then looked up at all the tombstones he could see around and in the distance. The wind in the mountains blew, blowing the sister's robe and also blowing the corner of Xia De's clothes.

The winter wind was not cold, but had a different kind of gentleness. The cat narrowed its eyes to enjoy the leisure of the moment, and the Fire-Bearer and the contemporary sister watched them at this moment.

Their stories, their lives, were all here.

"Although that is a soul from the Fifth Era, if you need it, I can open the Gate of Death and try to call her, just like calling the teacher last year (Extra 3)."

The sister said softly again at this time, but Xia De shook his head while holding the fragment in his palm:

"No need. The flame remains, so the sisters remain. Let's go, there are still three scattered flames, and we still have a long way to go; this is a road that all the sisters here have never walked. They will bless us; the flame remains, so they remain."

He looked at Sister Belen's tombstone one last time, then turned and walked in the direction he came from, and Sister Daifulin followed behind him.

The cat clawed at Xia De's shoulder and looked back, and some strange scenes were reflected in its large amber eyes.

The bodies of every generation of sisters would eventually turn into firewood and burn out. Although nothing would be left, there would always be some burning ashes left behind. From the oldest times to now, I don't know how many ashes have remained here.

And today, after the story about death and rebirth, tombstones and the dead, jealousy and letting go, reunion and eternal parting ended, the ashes scattered all over the cemetery were touched by someone's words.

Although these ashes were still just ashes with twinkling sparks at this time, when the very end came, the awakened power would eventually have some effect.

He was not chosen by Sister Daifulin; he was chosen by the flame.

Melancholy but not sad. At this moment, looking up at the bright sunshine in the mountains, he remembered the past when he and the cat rode in a coffin and appeared before the castle under the blue sky.

The sunshine at that time was also so bright, but that was already thousands of years ago.

(Dragon Maid is cooking tea...)

The feather of the Requiem Angel was then handed to Xia De by Sister Daifulin in the sacrificial grounds. Coming from the Fifth Era to the Sixth Era, the feather was no different from when Xia De first saw it in the Secret Keeper's hut. Xia De even used the feather to tickle the cat's nose, and then the cat didn't interact with him for a long time.

Although the traces left by Sister Belen were few, in addition to that tombstone and the things under the tombstone, Sister Daifulin also found a copy of the "Scripture of Eternal Sleep" in the Great Library of the sacrificial grounds. That was certainly not the one the group brought out from the wasteland, and it was not even Sister Belen's copy.

According to Sister Daifulin's judgment, this was a handwritten copy by a sister from the end of the Fifth Era, later than the era when Sister Belen lived. This book lay quietly in the Great Library of the sacrificial grounds, but no one noticed it. It wasn't until Sister Daifulin began to investigate Sister Belen that the book appeared.

This incident could also be considered a successful delivery of items by the ladies of the Fifth Era to Xia De's era, and it could almost be considered the most successful one to date. Even the attempts by Miss Feilianna and the others were not as stable and efficient as this one.

Perhaps the fate of the flame had long been entangled with Xia De, or perhaps Sister Belen had discovered some secret. But Xia De only hoped that the next time he found a gift left by the ladies of the Fifth Era, it would not be accompanied by news of their death (Note).

"In addition, I also discovered some things in the 【Tombstone Wasteland】."

When walking up the steps with the sister towards the sacrificial grounds, Xia De, who was still a bit melancholy, suddenly thought of another thing:

"At that time in the Grave Keeper's hut, I treated Sister Belen's injuries and rekindled the flame in her body that had been suppressed by the power of evil objects. After the treatment, she returned the rekindled flame to me, and I gave the flame back to her..."

【Actually, there's no need to be so detailed.】

"She" reminded him softly, and Xia De immediately stated the conclusion:

"I found that in this process of repeated transmission of the flame, although my spirit was consumed a lot, the flame also became more solid and heavy. Although the effect was only significant in the first few times, I could feel the flame changing subtly afterwards."

Xia De raised his own question:

"Is this a method of strengthening the flame that I haven't discovered? Or is it because my fire and Sister Belen's fire belong to different eras, and this strange phenomenon only appears when they blend together?"

Sister Daifulin could not give an explanation. After all, there hadn't been a "Fire-Bearing Hero" for many years, and naturally, there hadn't been an object for sisters to pass the flame back and forth for many years.

So Xia De suggested that he and the sister try to "exchange flames." After the two returned to the underground of the sacrificial grounds and sat down by the brazier, they held hands together.

The flame first flowed from Xia De's body into Sister Daifulin's body, and then returned to Xia De's side. The spirit was indeed consumed violently during this cycle of exchange, but in Xia De's view, the flame did not change.

Sister Daifulin, however, said:

"Your flame is indeed different from mine. In the exchange just now, the main body of the Primordial Fire I hold was also affected by the flame in your body and changed. Yes, it is more stable and heavy."

Using these two words to describe the flame is actually not very appropriate, but they both understand what it means.

"That is to say, I exchange flames with Fire-Holding Sisters from different times and spaces, which can enhance the flame I possess, and then after returning to the present, it can directly enhance the main body of the First Fire... Does this mean the First Fire has burned the paradox?"

Xia De still didn't understand, but Sister Daifulin understood:

"The flame is always just a flame, and the Primordial Fire has time uniqueness. Perhaps this is not a characteristic of the flame, but your characteristic."

"My characteristic?"

"You brought the temperature of the First Fire that was lost in various times and spaces back to me, allowing the characteristics that the flame possessed because of different sisters on different timelines to be superimposed in our era. I never thought that the flame could be strengthened like this."

But meeting sisters from the past is not a simple matter. The Outlander has used 16 normal time keys so far, but has only encountered this one—the time at Black Sand Wharf was a soul, so it doesn't count.

As for the 【Dark Moon Grace】 that Xia De learned from Sister Belen, this strange art is actually called "Grace of the First Fire" in the hands of the sisters, and it is a large-scale healing strange art derived from the flame.

Although this strange art no longer exists in this era, other sisters have developed other very effective healing strange arts in modern times, so Sister Daifulin did not learn it from Xia De. The sister just asked Xia De to write down the content related to this strange art when he had time and put it in the Great Library as a reference for future sisters.

After retrieving the feather and the scripture copy, Xia De chatted with the sister about the matter of Fatumonst Island. After agreeing to come again tonight, he said goodbye to the sister and returned to Tobesk. At this time, it was already lunch time.

Xia De saw Priest Augustus in the underground potion workshop, and he was still sighing, but Xia De didn't forget to ask:

"Priest, why are you always here recently instead of seeing you at the church?"

"Because you always come to find me when it's almost time for lunch."

The old priest said while carving those "Angel Alloys," and then didn't forget to ask:

"After you brought the cat to me, you sighed five times within three minutes. What, have Annette and Louisa finally had enough of your debauchery, so they decided to dump you together?"

PS: Why didn't Miss Violet pass messages or items through Sister Belen's tombstone—because she wasn't sure it would really work, and putting too many things at once would definitely fail.

She believed she could find a way, so there was no need to use someone else's tombstone.

PS2: I feel that the story of this key is written quite well, especially the ending part.

(End of chapter)