Chapter 525

"No, we cannot continue to open it."

After Xia De and Difa completely entered the area circled by black fountain pen ink on the map, Xia De suddenly said.

Difa was riding the horse, so Xia De observed the erosion state of the 【Dark Box】. Now more than half of the box's surface area had turned into light-absorbing black, and Xia De felt this already counted as a warning line.

"Alright."

Difa stopped the horse to make it convenient for Xia De to close the box again. But following the stop of the undead creature that had been running for two and a half hours, it actually shattered directly into a pile of bones, scattered in this pitch-black forest.

"It has reached its limit too."

Difa said with some annoyance, supporting Xia De so he wouldn't fall. Xia De hurriedly squatted down to close the 【Dark Box】 again.

"It doesn't matter, we are not far from the destination either."

Xia De said, holding the map and bringing his glowing finger close to it:

"Although the area of the 【Dark Domain】 can expand infinitely, the area of the core zone is very small. If there are no mistakes, even if we walk, we should be able to see Miss Miss Jia Lin Na in about twenty minutes."

"This area gives me a very strange feeling."

Difa carried the box on her back and whispered to Xia De, then held his hand. Only through this physical contact could the silver moonlight of unknown origin on Xia De's body help her weaken the influence of the darkness. Entering the core area of an Angel-level relic, even Difa was reaching her limit.

That feeling of being watched by something became clearer in this area, and at the same time, the residual shadows of the past in the air became denser. Something unimaginable must have happened in the core area of the Dark Domain.

"Be careful, walk this way."

Xia De looked at the map and continued walking in the black forest with Difa. The silver halo in the darkness had a strange feeling. When it reflected the surrounding scenery, it seemed to make the line of sight somewhat blurred.

Xia De thought about what might happen in a while, pondering the power he could mobilize in his hand. The voice in his ear suddenly sounded. Because of the heavy blasphemous elements in this area, she hadn't given any new information for a long time:

【Outsider, pay attention to the rear.】

"What?"

Subconsciously turning around to slash with moonlight, what he saw was a familiar face appearing like lightning. Before Xia De could speak, it brushed past the two, as if it didn't notice Xia De and Difa at all.

"That is... Sunlight Greatsword Hog Lunde of the Church of the Sun?"

Difa recognized who it was.

"Yes, it's a phantom."

Xia De said very affirmatively. The voice in his ear wouldn't be wrong about short-range targets.

"In other words, the darkness in the core area can already record phantoms from the short term?"

Difa asked.

"Probably so, but what is he doing running so fast?"

Xia De thought in confusion, and then continued forward with Difa. During this period, more real phantoms appeared one after another, most of which were Ringed Shushi from the church. Xia De and Difa even saw a phantom of Ivan Dac Nisi and the Blood-Crying Hermons once.

Continuing forward, leaving the forest corrupted by darkness, they entered a rural village that even sleeping people couldn't find. This was almost the source of the 【Dark Domain】. The villagers had long been melted by the darkness, and Hidden Servants were wandering everywhere in the village.

The houses were gnawed into disrepair by the darkness, and the walls had also turned into a pitch-black color. This was even more terrifying than the deep mountain ghost village Xia De had heard Mr. Riddle describe.

Carefully avoiding the demons, even if they accidentally attracted the attention of a few individuals, Xia De and Difa could still barely dodge by working together. And leaving the village and standing on the ridge, looking up into the far distance, Xia De actually vaguely saw a pillar that seemed to support the world in the depths of the darkness. But due to the overly deep darkness, he wasn't sure if it was an imagination he had bestowed upon the darkness.

"Difa, can you still persist?"

He turned and asked the black-haired girl. Although the maid's complexion was a bit poor, it was much stronger than when Luweiya arrived at Miss Miss Jia Lin Na's manor:

"No problem, I feel that Miss should be nearby."

There were only thirteen witches in the Sixth Era. Other women with witch power were those who had power shared by witches. Difa's witch power was of the same origin as Miss Miss Jia Lin Na's, and the two had a certain degree of sensing ability.

"Alright, we need to be careful next..."

Before he finished speaking, in the field shrouded in darkness not far away, blinding golden light erupted. Because his eyes had adapted to this darkness, when this light appeared abruptly, the tears in Xia De's eyes almost flowed out immediately.

Xia De heard a sound, a deafening sound:

【When the heavy sword falls, the scorching sun will illuminate the earth.】

"Sublimation Language!?"

Before he could react, Difa blocked in front of Xia De.

The scorching golden light impacted, almost violently sweeping away all the filth on this land.

"Heavy sword, falling, scorching sun, illuminate, earth. A follower of the Sun and Earth God 【Lantern Old Man】, the Sublimation Language of the Thirteen-Tier Sunlight Greatsword!"

Xia De, who was blocked behind Difa, heard her speaking. Even though it was her back in front of him, he could feel that the surroundings were becoming brighter and brighter, and the scenery around was changing.

"We were affected by the aftermath of the Sublimation Language. Don't move around, Xia De, we absolutely cannot enter the range of the Sublimation Language."

Blurred golden steps appeared behind Difa and Xia De, but this power was not enough to contend with the Sublimation Language of a Thirteen-Tier Ringed Shushi.

"Sublimation Language? Spatial Stability Halo!"

Invisible fluctuations spread from under Xia De's feet toward the surroundings. Overlaid with the witch's power, the light shining in the surrounding environment immediately subsided. The Sublimation Language possessed partial spatial power. Xia De, who was located at the edge of the influence of this powerful force, and Difa barely managed not to be pulled in.

Darkness reoccupied this place. The maid seemed to be injured, hummed, and was supported by Xia De.

"Is this the power of the Thirteen-Tier?"

Xia De took out a container of water to help her treat it. At this time, a strong light flashed abruptly in the high sky. Subsequently, two faint light spots appeared in the dark sky. One was golden and one was blood-red, both falling toward the area far away from the core zone, as if they were still chasing.

"Sunlight Greatsword won."

Difa said softly. Under the silver light, her complexion was recovering rapidly, her eyes fixed on the direction where the two light spots disappeared.

"I am not surprised. If the Blood-Crying Hermons could contend with the top Thirteen-Tier Ringed Shushi of the Orthodox Church, he wouldn't have been hiding in the New Continent for so many years. It seems that because of the church's obstruction, Dac Nisi and the Blood-Crying Hermons separated. Let's continue setting off, there seems to be something else ahead, the elements nearby are truly chaotic."

Xia De said, confirming that Difa's situation was still okay, and the two continued to move forward immediately.

What this field was originally planted with was completely impossible to distinguish. The corrosion of the darkness made all the plants in this area turn into something like mud, and stepping on it even made one feel that the shoes were also being corroded.

Continuing to walk forward, pieces of black stains like lichen or table salt that appeared on the ground began to accumulate into pieces of small black crystals, and became larger and larger as they moved forward.

"Very pure blasphemous elements."

Xia De took the risk to touch those terrifying black crystals. Subsequently, the color of his fingertips deepened rapidly, but was soon dispelled by the light from his fingertips.

"This is top-tier alchemical material. How is it that every place where a major event occurs has such a large amount of alchemical materials?"

He sighed and collected some with a small bottle he carried.

And Difa looked forward anxiously. She seemed to feel that Miss Miss Jia Lin Na's situation at this time was somewhat bad. But before seeing the red-haired Great Witch, Xia De and Difa encountered another group of strange women.

These women traveled together, and everyone's attire was exactly the same.

The upper body was a white gauze garment with abnormally large sleeves, the hem of which almost reached the knee position. The lower body was a black floor-length skirt. There were no decorations on the skirt, and the black belt at the waist tied the outer garment and the skirt tightly together.

But what attracted Xia De's attention more was that these women all covered their eyes with silver metal eye masks. But looking closely, those eye masks carved with fine patterns were clearly crowns, only they wore the crowns too low.

There were nine of them in total, walking together in the darkness. Clearly not seeing them holding any relics, nor feeling the effect of strange techniques or spells, but the women were still shrouded in a piece of white light.

Those white lights were distributed very evenly, as if they were glowing themselves.

The two sides were a bit far apart, and only Xia De could observe them. Xia De described his discovery to Difa, and Difa immediately showed a smile:

"They are nuns, nuns of the 【Spirit Cultivation Sect】."

"【Spirit Cultivation Sect】?"

Xia De knew this Ringed Shushi organization.

Although called a "Sect," they actually didn't have a unified faith, but believed that all things had spirits, so they revered nature, life, and death.

This organization was active in the eastern part of the Old Continent. Its members were mostly women, mostly lived simply, and were very fond of helping women give birth. Some child welfare organizations and hospitals were related to them. They often advocated some environmental protection claims, so they had some friction with the 【Church of Creation and Destruction】, the promoter of the steam revolution, but still belonged to a relatively gentle Ringed Shushi group.

Covering eyes with eye masks was a characteristic of the Ringed Shushi of the 【Spirit Cultivation Sect】. The sect believed that covering eyes could not only expand their "spiritual perception," allowing themselves to better perceive the spirituality of the world, but also lock their own spirituality in their bodies to better control the power of the four elements. ===== CHAPTER 526 =====