Chapter 3428: Year 334 of the Fifth Era

【Outsider, you have stepped into the "Corridor of Time."】

【A message from the Ancient God, "Father of the Infinite Tree":】

【Autumn, Year 334 of the Fifth Era, Eastern Continent, Whispering Hills.】

【Event: Seeking Lodging.】

【Duration: Fifty minutes (1/3).】

Standing in the white fog, Xia De panted heavily. After leaving the 【House of Falsehoods】, the terrifying mental corruption brought by the powerful Whispering elements vanished instantly. At this moment, he even wanted to embrace the white fog before him:

"It's a good thing I didn't use the key this morning."

He sighed with this thought once more, then felt surprised by the time:

"Year 334? So early?"

This was the very beginning of the Fifth Era. Before this, the earliest time Xia De had visited was the year 903, when he first met Chloe mountaineering in the Silver Mountains, but that was still over five hundred years later.

Year 334 was even more distant from Miss Violet and Theresa, who lived at the end of the Fifth Era, than they were from Xia De's own time. This almost meant that it was unlikely Xia De would encounter any acquaintances during this adventure.

Unless, like Miss Wilde, the Green Dragon Maid from the Ash River Valley-Otherworld Academy, a companion who had also traveled through time appeared; but the probability of that was truly too low, even lower than the probability of Xia De encountering a new Fire-Holding Nun.

However, it didn't matter if there were no acquaintances; perhaps other witches could solve the predicament he currently faced. Even if they couldn't, he could seek help from the god who would likely appear, though whether the other party would be willing to help him was uncertain.

"At least it bought me time to think of a way to escape. Emilia and Claire must be very worried about me... I hope I don't encounter an Evil God this time."

Then he thought of the last 【Lord of the Grave】; that entity had been quite generous:

"At least let it not be an Evil God like the God of Vampirism."

【You have obtained additional information.】

【The figure of the Father of the Infinite Tree watches you.】

【The Ancient God of Time gives you a trial:】

【Assist the Old God, "Lord of the Walls," in selecting suitable guests for the inn.】

【The Father of the Infinite Tree will grant you a reward: Link any one of your existing incantations with the 【World】 spirit rune, and the miracle-Ophiomancy (Snake Transformation).】

Xia De in the white fog breathed a sigh of relief. He had touched the holy emblems of three Evil Gods before opening the door, and just a moment ago, he had been worried that this would lead to encountering them this time.

Fortunately, the "Lord of the Walls" encountered this time was a well-known benevolent god of the Fifth Era. Its believers were quite widespread, covering almost the entire material world, because the entity was the "Guardian of Homes and Dwellings." Many mortals, even if not believers, would pray to it when moving into a new home.

Although this god had almost no records of divine descent and its church was not prominent, people were still willing to believe in it.

Many records about this god and descriptions of its believers were unearthed in the Sixth Era; this was undoubtedly a benevolent god. Devout believers only needed to place its holy emblem in their homes to prevent evil spirits from invading.

And this Old God departed around the mid-to-late Fifth Era; now it was still the early Fifth Era, so there was no need to consider those matters.

"The reward is to transform an incantation into a miracle; that's quite good... Ophiomancy doesn't seem very useful."

Xia De had already chosen which incantation to transform at this moment, but that would have to wait until the task was completed. As for the Ophiomancy that granted him a brand-new form, Xia De treated it as non-existent; his cat, wolf, and dragon forms each had their uses and advantages, and he no longer needed new forms.

This time, he entered the 【Corridor of Time】 by opening a door, rather than using the door at home, so after entering this white fog, there was no chance to retreat, nor was there a chance to double the duration of his stay.

Deep in thought, Xia De took a step forward in the fog, and the white fog slowly parted like a stage curtain. This time, Xia De did not appear in a coffin; beneath his feet was a wooden floor, overhead was a blackened, damp ceiling, and beside him were dilapidated wooden tables, chairs, and furniture like wardrobes.

"Indoors? That's a rare situation."

There was no light source indoors, and "Dark Vision" only allowed Xia De to see objects within a range of less than two meters. He raised his hand, wanting to summon moonlight, but an instinctive sense of danger made him give up on doing so.

At this moment, he was facing the room door, and when he turned around to look back, he saw the room's window. The good news was that this window was real, not the kind of window painted in the 【House of Falsehoods】.

The window was nailed shut with layers of wooden boards, but there were still gaps that allowed Xia De to look out. Although he knew it was dangerous, Xia De still walked to the window, and then he saw scorched earth and a pitch-black sky like an abyss through the gaps in the boards.

The reason his vision could see so far was that there were some white, glass-shard-like specks in the black soil providing faint light.

The surrounding terrain was not flat; small, rounded hills, neither high nor steep, rolled on in the darkness. This was the "Whispering Hills." And the building where Xia De was currently located seemed to be at the top of the highest hill nearby.

Suddenly, Xia De moved away from the window gap at high speed. In that instant, he felt something dangerous from the darkness outside looking straight at him. He touched his eyes and felt wet blood. The other party could injure Xia De with just a glance; that was something far more dangerous than the 【House of Falsehoods】.

The dark room now became even more eerie, and there seemed to be other things in the parts of the darkness he couldn't see clearly. Based on experience, the Father of the Tree would definitely throw Xia De into a dangerous place at the beginning, so he walked to the room door as quietly as possible.

As his right hand pulled the doorknob, he felt a cold hand rest on his shoulder from behind. At this moment, almost all the heat in his body was drained away, his body shivered subconsciously, and then Xia De opened the door quite stiffly and walked out.

Not until the room door closed behind him did the stiffness caused by the extreme cold disappear.

"Evil spirit demon."

He was very certain that the thing that appeared behind him just now was definitely that kind of ancient demon. Fortunately, the other party did not chase him out; Xia De had no desire to fight such a thing in such an unfamiliar place:

"The task says this is an inn... I've probably guessed the current situation."

There was also no light source in the corridor, and his vision could still only see objects within two meters. The corridor was very dilapidated; although there was no moss growing on the wooden floor, the surface was covered in mud and filth. The temperature inside the inn was probably around five degrees, and the air had a damp, moldy smell; it looked like it had been abandoned for a long time.

Xia De moved a few steps and observed that there were room doors on both sides of the narrow corridor, and each door had a room number plate hanging on it. For example, the door Xia De had just walked out of had a "1022" number plate, while the door opposite "1022" had a "1098" number plate.

Just how to interpret these room numbers would require him to continue exploring to know.

He could walk left or right, but because his vision was limited, Xia De didn't know which end would lead to the stairs. 【Enhanced Spatial Perception】 was restricted here and could not be used. Just as Xia De was about to rummage for a coin to try his luck by flipping it, "She" whispered a reminder to Xia De:

【When you appeared just now, although you were facing the room door, you were actually slightly to the left.】

So Xia De walked two steps to the left, and a dim orange-red light appeared in the darkness ahead. He continued forward in the direction of the firelight, taking the opportunity to observe the room numbers on other doors, and then saw "1025," "1085," and "1002" in succession.

"They all start with 10."

At a position separated by one room from the "1022 Demon Room," Xia De saw that the room with the "1024" number plate was the source of the firelight. The wooden door was tightly closed, not even having a gap, yet Xia De saw the firelight.

Although he didn't know what this meant, repeated experience showed that firelight in the darkness was generally a "safe stronghold." He stood outside the door and listened for a while, and after confirming that no indoor sounds could be heard in the corridor, he knocked on the door with his finger.

Xia De's force was not very great, but when that knocking sound broke the silence of the moment, there was still a sense of horror like detonating a steam bomb in a grand auditorium.

Knock, knock, knock~

After knocking, he waited for a while, but no one opened the door. Xia De guessed that the people inside were probably also frightened. He then gripped the doorknob, wanting to push the door open himself, and as expected, he found the door was locked from the inside, and this door could not be selected by the "Key of Doors."

"Excuse me, can you open the door? I know there is someone behind the door. I don't know how I came here, but I swear I am not a strange thing."

He said to the room door, but there was still no movement. Xia De looked back at the darkness on both sides of the corridor with some unease:

"I have a lot of supplies on me; perhaps I can help you. And I believe in the Moon Goddess, the Old God-Sage of the Moon. I know you or you all are very cautious and unwilling to let strangers in, but I am truly not a bad person. We who have unfortunately ended up here should help each other; I swear the help I can provide exceeds your imagination."

There were definitely things standing in the darkness on both sides of the corridor at this moment. The room door still didn't open. Xia De took a deep breath:

"Old God-Lord of the Walls."

A moment later, the room door really opened a crack, allowing more firelight to emerge from the room. It only opened for less than a second before closing again, but this time was enough for the agile cat to dart into the room.

"Don't move!"

The stern female voice pointed at the beautiful silver cat and said, but upon seeing the silver cat's luxurious color and cute appearance clearly, her tone softened slightly. However, the cat immediately turned back into Xia De's form within a ball of silver light. After seeing that it was a man, everyone in the room made attacking gestures toward him:

"What exactly are you?"

"Calm down, ladies. Just as I said just now, I am a human." ===== CHAPTER 3429 =====