Chapter 605: Crossing the Door of Death

"No!"

Xia De could not accept this result at all. Facing the cold, biting black wind, amidst the whispers and murmurs repeated by countless dead, he approached the two towering gray stone doors. At this time, on his body, the golden ember traces were really pulling toward the back like flames. The power he felt was even more powerful than the gods he faced in their saint forms.

"What exactly is death itself?"

Standing in front of the door, stepping on Priest Ao Gu Si's last footprints, he looked up at the full picture of the stone door in the darkness. All clues ended here; the priest had already crossed this door and gone to another world.

He stood there, pondering everything. Suddenly he raised his hand and pressed it on the stone door in front of him. The cold, biting feeling gave him the illusion of falling into an abyss. There was no need for "her" to give a prompt; Xia De himself felt what was behind the door.

Behind the door is "the end."

"Is it going to end here? Admit that Priest Ao Gu Si didn't lie, that he really has died, and then turn around and leave..."

Xia De asked himself, and then looked down at the burning fire-red thin line on his wrist.

"Crossing life and death, I have already come here, just turn back like this?"

He looked up again at the huge stone door, his eyes fixed on the "door," blood constantly seeping from the corners of his eyes. The artifact level of this door that divides death absolutely would not be lower than Sage level (Level 2).

"Are you willing?"

Xia De asked himself, his soul becoming cold and stiff because death was close at hand. All things have an end, and behind this door is the end.

【Then Outsider, what are you going to do?】

Even at this time, she could still chuckle.

"May I ask, if I also walk into that door, can I still turn back?"

He asked softly amidst the whispers of countless dead, not in his heart. The golden light on his body shone on the door in front, but could only form shadowy light and shadows.

【All mortals must die, and yet you want to turn back?】

She whispered in his ear, the ancient language was so beautiful.

【But you, who contain a drop of divinity in your soul and whose soul has been washed by two drops of divinity, can you really be considered a mortal?】

He felt the wind in his ear. Xia De was not sure if this was "her" appearance, or the wind of death.

"So, when I cross this door, can I turn back?"

【Only when you step to the other side can you be sure of this.】

"Is that so?"

Xia De exerted a little force with his right hand on the door. The stone door did not move at all. It seems he needs more strength.

【But I can guarantee that you can come back.】

"Because of that drop of divinity?"

For a god, crossing life and death is the simplest thing.

Xia De shook his head, moved from in front of the giant stone door on the right to the center of the two doors, letting the wind representing the end of all things blowing from the cracks in the door blow directly on his body.

His body became cold and stiff, and the physical strength and spirit that were slowly recovering completely fell into silence. The wind contained the original meaning of death, and he was getting closer and closer to the 【Death】 spiritual rune.

If he could obtain a spiritual rune in such a place, he couldn't imagine how powerful it would be.

He stretched out both hands, each pressing on a stone door, and then bent down slightly, exerting force from his waist, making his shoes sink into the mud on the ground:

"Ah~"

All the strength in his body was longing to push open this door, but the door did not move at all.

【No, it's because I am with you.】

She was chuckling, seemingly praising herself.

Xia De felt that he was being hugged, and this time it was not an illusion, because he really saw a pair of silver transparent arms wrapped around his neck.

"Help me."

He said softly, his voice in the empty darkness, only he could hear it.

【Do you still remember how to say it?】

She was still laughing.

"You are me..."

The steam whistle blew long, and the bell rang far away. In the scorching steam fog, the brass life ring covered with fine golden scars appeared behind Xia De. The black wind passed by Xia De's side and blew on the life ring, leaving scratches one after another on the life ring. The life ring seemed to be about to shatter because of this, but as the rust-like coating around the scratches peeled off, golden light traces flickered under the brass.

Unfortunately, Xia De didn't look back, so he didn't see this scene.

【... I am you.】

The pair of silver arms overlapped with Xia De's arms, but separated again at the palms. Two pairs of palms pressed on the cold and huge stone door at the same time. As the ten spiritual runes on the life ring behind Xia De radiated dazzling spiritual light at the same time, as the golden light traces representing divinity on his body became brighter and brighter, as the silver moonlight in his eyes became brighter and brighter—

Creak!

Xia De took a step forward, and the door was pushed open.

Dazzling white light shot into Xia De's eyes from the pushed-open door crack. As everything in front of him turned white, he vaguely heard the sound of tides in his ears.

Leaving all the items on his body in front of the door to prevent them from being affected, Xia De walked toward the white light.

The door slammed shut behind him.

【Outsider, you have stepped into death.】

【Outsider, you have a further understanding of "death" and "slumber."】

As for what death is, the outsider who had probably died once before coming to this world didn't know either. He originally thought that the world on the opposite side would be a void of empty darkness, or some strange and bizarre scenes, but when the white light in front of him disappeared, he actually found himself standing on the shore, facing the boundless water surface in front of him.

The sky was black and exceptionally low. Behind him was a stone wall that could not see the end left or right. The two huge stone doors were embedded in the stone wall, and only in front of the stone doors was there a beach where one could stand.

Although the sound of tides could be heard, the water surface under the black low sky was exceptionally calm.

Looking up, he saw a huge silver moon staying in the distance of the horizon, but only half of this moon was above the water surface. The other half sank into the black water surface and was completely invisible. That silver moonlight was so quiet, so strange, and even had a kind of maddening holiness.

Although the silver moon looked big, it seemed to be at the extreme distance of the boundless black water surface. The moonlight made the calm water surface show rippling waves.

The water surface was not empty. Shadows, countless white shadows were shadowy, with their backs to Xia De, standing on the calm and boundless water surface, as if they were moving toward the distance. The moonlight illuminated them, but their physical characteristics could not be seen clearly, and their distance could not be distinguished.

Xia De knew that these were souls. On this boundless water surface, the departed souls were moving toward the moon half-sunk in the water surface.

"Is it the Underworld Moon..."

It was extremely cold all around, and Xia De even felt that he had lost the ability to perceive temperature.

He looked down at his hands, the golden light in the cracks was still so dazzling in the darkness. He raised his hand to face the silver moon that was enough to make people go crazy, and the moonlight shone on his face through his fingers. His hands did not become transparent and were still entities with color. But he could feel the rejection of himself here, and could feel the power that once he fell into slumber again, it would be absolutely impossible to open his eyes again.

"Is this the world after death?"

He couldn't describe this place with any words, he just felt that he was extremely tired.

"Can you smile?"

So he asked in his heart, and then the familiar voice let out a chuckle:

【Strange request.】

The ancient language and the light laughter made Xia De's rapidly exhausted spirit feel a little better, and at this moment, a voice came from behind:

"This is not true death. Death is a concept, not a world. And this place is nothing more than the area closest to death manifested by people's cognition of death. Of course, you can also think of this as death, the difference is not big. But true eternal slumber and the Wall of the Unbelievers are at the end of the water. People come from the amniotic fluid of their mothers, so they eventually return to the water. This is the reason for everything you see."

Xia De turned his head to look. The old man wearing a priest's robe had his feet off the ground, embedded between the two huge stone doors behind him.

It was Priest Ao Gu Si. A pair of tattered white feathered wings revealing bones and flesh grew from his back, and most of the white feathers had been scorched, looking particularly terrifying.

The old man leaned against the crack of the stone door that had already been closed, the back half of his body seemed to be completely fused with the two stone doors, and the pair of wings were almost completely integrated into the stone door.

His feet were about half a person's height away from the ground, and the two wings spread from his back toward the entire stone door like tree roots sprouting. The huge scorched wings and bones were perfectly integrated with the death scene of the stone door itself, as if this door should have been like this.

Xia De's turning around also allowed Priest Ao Gu Si to see his face. The outsider stood with his back to the huge silver moon behind him, and the old priest widened his eyes in astonishment:

"Hello, Xia De... Hmm? Xia De?"

The exhausted old man had a few seconds where he could only make strange sounds with his throat, and was even unable to speak because of excessive surprise:

"Xia De? What happened? Did you die too?"

"Actually, I am more curious about how I pushed the door open just now."

Xia De smiled at the corners of his mouth, said softly, and then looked up at Priest Ao Gu Si on the door:

"I didn't die. Doctor Shi Nai De and the others entrusted me to come and find you. This is really not easy, you can't imagine how hard I tried..."

Except for being a little tired, the old man was not much different from when they parted at the Tobesk train station last time, and even his clothes were the same set. Priest Ao Gu Si seemed to always like to wear this priest's robe.

"How did you... Oh, aren't you curious about the wings behind me?"

The priest seemed to want to reprimand him, but in the end, he just asked exhaustedly. The voices of the two were almost silent in this death, but they could be clearly heard.

"Aren't you curious about the strange skin appearance on my body?"

Xia De asked. He was also adapting to this world. He didn't even open his mouth, but the voice appeared directly in the priest's ear.

The two looked at each other. Behind the priest was the stone wall written with the death scene, and behind Xia De was the silver moon half-sunk in the water and countless souls.

These questions, in fact, did not need to be asked.