Chapter 622: Phoenix

Since the police have found the murderer and think they have discovered the truth, this case can be considered to have come to an end. According to the general rules, the hotel owner still needs to go to the police station to make a record, but when Xia De indicated that he needed to talk to the boss, the sergeant immediately indicated that the record could be made tomorrow.

"It's like this, I want to understand some things related to the local fire worship tradition."

After sending away the police and the murderer, and the body was lifted away on a stretcher, the uneasy hotel owner Mr. Tels greeted Xia De to the hotel backyard. Now only here is no one, and the two talked by the chicken coop.

"This~ I thought it was checking taxes... cough, cough, I mean no problem."

Mr. Tels was obviously relieved:

"I believe in 【Lord of All Things】, which is a faith my father had. As for fire worship, I think this can also be considered a part of the faith of the Lord of All Things, after all, fire is also a part of nature."

"But I want to know, is there any strange legend about fire worship here? I am actually a writer..."

The bearded shopkeeper obviously didn't believe it. He thought for a long time before hesitatingly saying:

"There is indeed. I heard my parents mention this when I was a child. It is said that under Sikar Mountain, there is a huge creature that can spit fire. A long, long time ago, it protected the ancestors who lived on this land."

"How many messy things are there under Sikar Mountain? This wouldn't be the ancient one who sealed the channel at the top of the mountain? Spitting fire... giant dragon?"

Xia De thought in his heart, and then asked hesitantly:

"What is that huge creature?"

"I don't know about this."

Mr. Tels shook his head, but said again:

"Father mentioned that before the Nature Church entered Midhillburg, our ancestors believed in and worshipped fire. Later, the ancestors accepted the faith of the Nature Church and recognized that fire is a part of the Lord. But even so, that primitive fire worship period left some symbols and records, and was accepted by the Nature Church as a part of itself. Now in the Midhillburg area, some indigenous people whose ancestors lived here will write specific symbols on the kitchen wall to pray that mountain forest fires will not occur, which is also a part of the local architectural style and folk customs."

What Mr. Tels described is the process of faith integration in the Sikar Mountain area. If studied carefully, it is enough to write a good paper such as "A Study on Primitive Fire Worship and Faith Integration in Midhillburg."

Unfortunately, Xia De is not a folklorist:

"Can I visit the hotel kitchen?"

"Of course, please this way."

He took Xia De into the kitchen, and Xia De indeed found some ancient or modern characters related to "fire" on the wall, but these did not have much meaning.

He also wanted to ask Mr. Tels some things, but the hotel owner suddenly patted his head:

"I remembered, father also left a red stone, let me bury it under the kitchen floor, he thought this could resist fire."

"No, no, no need to dig it out."

"No need to dig, I don't believe in this superstition, so I didn't bury it at all."

Mr. Tels said with a smile, and then rummaged in the warehouse alone, finding an irregular, approximately circular red stone. It doesn't look like a ruby, but rather like some kind of crystal:

"This is for you, thank you for helping to settle the trouble of the police."

Mr. Tels said, but Xia De still insisted on paying.

"Look at it against the sun, sometimes you can see beautiful patterns inside, this is probably some kind of optical phenomenon."

Mr. Tels reminded again, so Xia De picked up the stone and aimed it at the sun. Constantly trying to adjust the position of the stone, and finally, he saw the scene in the red stone—

It was a huge bird flying with its wings spread.

Slightly surprised, he put down the stone:

"This doesn't look like a pure-blooded giant dragon, could it be—Phoenix?!"

It was 3:30 in the afternoon when he left the hotel, and Xia De was ready to go to the intersection of Oak Street and Punjab Street to wait for Priest Ao Gu Si. With his hands in his pockets, looking left and right at the empty carriages parked on the street, he turned his head to look at Sikar Mountain in the distance:

"Is there a Phoenix in this mountain? Is the fire worshipped in the local traditional fire worship actually it?"

That shouldn't be a god, just an exceptionally powerful ancient one.

"It's really interesting, how many secrets can this mountain and this city have?"

At 4:20 in the afternoon, Xia De successfully waited for Priest Ao Gu Si at the street corner. He was worried that the church would send someone to follow the priest, so after seeing the priest from afar, Xia De nodded to him cautiously, and then took the lead to turn to the first alley on the left of Oak Street.

Unexpectedly, the old priest chased up immediately:

"Oh, why are you walking so fast? Do you really treat me as a young man of your age?"

The priest asked, and after Xia De said his worries, he shook his head immediately:

"Rest assured, I didn't arouse any suspicion. After all, what is different between me and the other missing persons?"

Since the priest said so, Xia De felt relieved.

The two first sat in a small tavern on the street for a while, and the priest told Xia De what happened after he led the missing persons to escape from the 【Boundary of Life and Death】 yesterday. After that, it was dinner time, and Xia De unceremoniously asked Priest Ao Gu Si to treat him to a meal in a restaurant in the city.

Xia De took a huge risk to go deep into the 【Boundary of Life and Death】 to rescue the priest, which made Priest Ao Gu Si very moved, and it was no problem to treat him to a meal.

And the old priest, who was quite familiar with this city, finally chose the Mandonges Restaurant at the foot of the mountain in the south of the city. This restaurant is located in the southern suburbs of the city, and the location is a bit remote, built against a cliff. The restaurant uses a pure wooden structure, building stairs and dining spaces on the rock wall. Except for the relatively spacious first floor, each floor is a small room, and the degree of protrusion of the rock wall affects the size of the room. And the other end of the room is several large windows made of glass, and in the room on the third floor of the top floor, you can barely see half of the city.

The terrain here is very high, and it is not in the urban area, plus the price is a bit expensive, so those who eat at Mandonges Restaurant are rich people. People in formal wear and evening dresses in the restaurant shuttle under the light of gas lamps. In contrast, Priest Ao Gu Si, who changed into casual clothes, and Xia De, who had no clothes to change, looked very inconspicuous.

The dish style of Midhillburg city integrates the characteristics of the north, the south, and the mountains, forming a style different from Tobesk's typical northern dishes and Cold Water Port's seafood dishes. And in the current autumn, the price of mountain goods is exceptionally low. Although game that is expensive in Tobesk is not cheap here, at least Xia De and Priest Ao Gu Si can afford it.

This may also be because the capital region itself has a premium.

During the meal, Xia De told the priest about his observations in the afternoon and sighed that there are really many Kassenrik people in Midhillburg.

"In fact, there are many foreigners in Tobesk, but most of them are not within your range of activities. As for Midhillburg, most of the foreigners who come here are merchants, so you see them a lot."

The old priest said happily:

"I heard the bishop of the local church mention that at least 20% of the permanent population of Midhillburg is not from this country."

"Oh, this number is really exaggerated."

"After all, it is one of the largest cities on the eastern border."

The old man stirred the thick soup in front of him with a soup spoon.

"If these people knew what was under our feet, Midhillburg probably wouldn't be as lively as it is now."

Xia De stomped his foot, and Priest Ao Gu Si shook his head, lowering his voice:

"Regarding the 【Boundary of Life and Death】 and the possible death impact, it seems impossible to evacuate the citizens in this city in advance."

"Why? For possible political and economic impact?"

"Of course not. Because... the existence of a prosperous big city above the 【Boundary of Life and Death】 is itself a part of the seal. The Boundary of Life and Death connects to true death, so there must be enough living people at the other end, so that it can form..."

"Balance."

Xia De said, which was considered to understand the priest's words.

"Then that place, is it really... Unknown Level?"

He asked again, after all, the 【Ring Mage Order】 of the non-Orthodox Church was just guessing.

The priest nodded cautiously:

"The boundary itself contains three channels, which can be considered a complete Unknown Level."

The 【Desire】 that Xia De encountered in the basement of the Aurora Mansion in Cold Water Port was also Unknown Level. At that time, 【Desire】 did not show any combat power. Now thinking about it, even if it was sealed by divine power for hundreds of years, the other party's ability was definitely not as simple as what Xia De saw.

"What does the church plan to do?"

Xia De also lowered his voice, using a knife to deal with the meat steak on the plate:

"Behind that door, on the open space before the water area, the crimson bonfire is burning. Before that bonfire goes out, the door at the foot of the mountain will not have problems. And when that bonfire goes out, I will have a sense."

That bonfire is the external manifestation of the "Kiss of the Tree" sealing the door of death. Because it is Xia De's maze, even if the two are in different worlds, Xia De can vaguely know the general situation. Moreover, his strange spell 【Door of Death】 can open a slit at any time, allowing Xia De to look at "that side" to confirm the burning state of that bonfire, so he can know the information about the channel at the foot of the mountain in the boundary at any time. ===== CHAPTER 623 =====