Chapter 698: Diviner and Diviner

Xia De set off from home at seven o'clock in the evening, arrived in Midhillburg, walked down the mountain all the way, and found Sister Delyth who was waiting. She had two other nuns from the 【Spirit Cultivation Society】 beside her, but the only one who finally followed Xia De into the mountain was this cult leader.

The two returned along the path Xia De took down the mountain. During this period, Xia De also explained that there were other people in his home in Tobesk, but they were absolutely trustworthy, so the nun did not care.

I don't know if it was bad luck, but they actually encountered an evil spirit during the process of entering the mountain. This evil spirit was in the image of a headless man holding a kitchen knife, with terrifying secret texts carved all over his body. With the appearance of an inexplicable fog, he rushed toward the two people walking in the dense forest with the kitchen knife.

Because they were entering the mountain at night, 【Night Watcher】 held in Xia De's hand discovered the evil spirit first. After the strengthening of two earthquakes, the power of the evil spirits in the mountain had increased to a terrifying degree. He made preparations to deal with it, but before he could make a move, Sister Delyth threw a ball of fire toward the direction of the evil spirit.

That evil spirit didn't even have a chance to leave any last words before being burned away directly.

"The Primordial Fire has an extraordinary effect on souls."

The Eleventh-Ring nun said calmly, then signaled for Xia De to continue leading the way.

At 7:40, the two arrived in front of the ruined tower in the mountain and, under Xia De's guidance, jumped into the basement.

Moonlight shone into the tower from the door without a door panel and illuminated 【Traveler's Travel Door】 located in the basement through the trapdoor.

"Nun, this is it."

Xia De introduced.

The weight of this door was very exaggerated. When it was transported to St. Theresa Square, it was Dr. Schneider who helped move it to the second floor. Just now, when Xia De moved it out of the hidden wall, he almost couldn't catch his breath and was mocked by the voice in his heart as "excessive exercise in the afternoon."

Sister Delyth reached out and rubbed the wooden door panel:

"No problem, I will wait for you to open the door here."

"Okay."

Xia De nodded, pulled the key off the door, hesitated for a moment, and then walked toward the wall at the end of the basement. The process of opening the door by shining spiritual light on the wall would definitely be "seen" by the nun. Although this exposed his secret, for the sake of the safety of his home, he had to do so.

A corner of the life ring appeared. Under the brass spiritual light of 【Space】, the hidden wall disappeared.

The nun who was "watching" here let out a soft exclamation:

"So that's how it is; it is the space labyrinth left behind by that ancient god."

"Nun, do you know this?"

Xia De turned his head, somewhat surprised.

"The history of the cult is very long. We have recorded some stories from the ancient era. Before the thirteen ancient gods left, they each left behind a space, among which the legacy of the space ancient god 【Primordial Crack】 is the 【Space Labyrinth】. I didn't expect that I would be able to see it."

Since the nun already knew about this, Xia De nodded:

"Yes, I indeed shuttle between the two places through here. Nun, please keep it a secret."

"No problem."

He recalled again that Luweiya had mentioned that the 【Spirit Cultivation Society】 was actually a branch of the ancient Death Church, so he asked curiously:

"Sister Delyth, do you know what the space left behind by the ancient god 【Ancient Death God】 is?"

The nun held her hands together in front of her, her head lowered slightly. Under the silver eye mask, her fair face set off the color of her lips even more. The corners of her mouth curved; she seemed to want to make a smiling expression:

"The 【Soul Cemetery】."

Returning to St. Theresa Square by touching the ancient god statue, then returning to the second floor from the basement, hugging Mia, and then coming to the third-floor corridor with Luweiya.

Xia De himself rarely used the third floor, but Luweiya had been stargazing here for more than a month, and Mia also liked to go to the third floor for walks, so it was not too deserted here.

Because 【Traveler's Travel Door】 would cause big trouble if used in a space-anomalous area, Xia De turned the key in Room 1 on the third floor, which was the stargazing room temporarily occupied by Luweiya, where Luweiya had confirmed there was absolutely no problem.

With a click, Xia De took two steps back and, together with Luweiya and the cat held by Luweiya, saw the key suspended in the air extend into the shape of a door in all directions.

After the metal base with carvings was completely formed, Sister Delyth pushed open the door and walked out.

Crossing thousands of miles to Tobesk City did not make the nun show any expression. On the contrary, she first noticed Luweiya, and Luweiya was also curiously observing this nun who also had divination abilities.

In an instant, both of them froze at the same time. More accurately, it was Luweiya who froze, while Sister Delyth just stopped there without moving. Xia De didn't know what her thoughts were; she was always like this.

The usage time of 【Traveler's Travel Door】 had begun to count down, but under the moonlight outside the window, the two ladies were motionless.

Xia De hesitated, wanting to speak, but felt it was not a good time to talk. He frowned slightly, guessing that this might be a unique communication method for diviners.

【It shouldn't be.】

"Why?"

【Notice her shadow.】

The shadow of Sister Delyth, who was wearing a black-gray silk nun's robe, was not unusual, but the shadow at Luweiya's feet had actually turned into two, and they were two identical ones. This was not a result produced by optical phenomena, but a supernatural phenomenon.

"What's the situation... um?"

Just as Xia De noticed the shadow, the shadow merged again. At the same time, under the moonlight outside the window, a shadowy figure appeared behind Luweiya. It was very blurry; Xia De even thought he was not seeing it with his eyes, but capturing it with his spiritual sense.

Xia De had seen this figure; it was a phantom of Luweiya who looked slightly more mature. She was really very blurry. Even though Xia De and Luweiya were standing so close, he almost couldn't see what kind of expression that slightly incomplete figure had.

"What's wrong again?"

After that figure appeared, it gradually disappeared behind Luweiya. Luweiya seemed to have just come back to her senses and greeted Sister Delyth in a low voice:

"Good evening, Nun, I am Xia De's friend Luweiya Anate... Sorry for the rudeness just now; I just haven't seen a diviner with such a unique temperament as you. I work at the Diviner Society and also know some divination."

"Good evening, Miss Anate."

Sister Delyth acted as if nothing had happened, walked out of the room under Xia De's guidance, and came to the third-floor corridor.

The gas lamps in the corridor were lit. The style of the gas lamps was a cat carrying a lamp, which was specially chosen by Tifa for Xia De.

The nun asked Xia De to wait a moment, then took off her silver eye mask and looked at the empty corridor in front of her, while Luweiya, holding Mia, leaned against the door frame and looked at them. After learning that there was an entrance to an alien space in the familiar house, Xia De felt that this corridor had also become eerie.

After waiting for a full minute, the nun gathered her hair again and put on the eye mask:

"There is indeed an entrance to the boundary here. But the range is very small, only covering half of the corridor. I have seen the boundary between life and death in many places, but this one is the smallest."

Compared with the Interstice that included the entire Sikar Mountain and surrounding areas, the problem of No. 6 St. Theresa Square was just a small problem.

"Is there a way to seal it? Two evil spirits have already run into the house through this entrance recently, and that really scared my cat."

Xia De asked, and the nun thought for a moment and nodded:

"The range is very small, and it is easy to seal. It's just that sealing is not the fundamental solution; every two or three years, you will need to reinforce the seal."

"That's certainly no problem."

Xia De nodded immediately, thinking that perhaps two or three years later, he would have already run to St. Byrons in the far north. But before leaving here, perhaps he could inform the church about the house's problem.

The nun could not stay here for long. Taking advantage of the time, Xia De asked Sister Delyth to observe the situation on the third floor as much as possible within the range allowed by the door.

The 【Spirit Cultivation Society】 had divination methods different from ordinary diviners. Believing that all things had spirits, they could perceive the world from different angles. Therefore, before Sister Delyth left, she gave Xia De a suggestion:

"If this were a house I lived in, I would sell it immediately."

"Why?"

Only for this matter, Xia De would absolutely not do it.

"There is too much misery and misfortune here, and the problem with this house is definitely not just the third floor. I once accepted a commission to visit a famous haunted house in Karsenrik, but the danger level there was definitely not comparable to here. No. 6 St. Theresa Square, right? I had only heard of its reputation before; I didn't expect the problem to be so serious."

But even if the problem was more serious, Xia De would not move away. He considered himself to have known all the secrets of this house. Now that the problems in the basement and the third floor had been solved and all safety hazards had been eliminated, Xia De believed that living here would be quite safe.

3 minutes and 12 seconds passed in the blink of an eye. Sister Delyth returned to the basement of the ruined tower on Sikar Mountain through 【Traveler's Travel Door】, and after Xia De greeted Luweiya, he also returned to the ruined tower from the basement, intending to send the nun to the foot of the mountain before going home.

Sister Delyth was of course much stronger than Xia De, but since it was Xia De who invited her to the mountain, he had to send her back no matter what. This could also be considered a kind of gentlemanly demeanor.

The night on Sikar Mountain was quiet and peaceful. Entering late autumn, even the night in the mountain forest seemed to have completely entered a deep sleep.

On the way down the mountain, the nun dictated to Xia De the ritual used to seal the entrance to the small boundary between life and death. The ritual was not complicated, but some materials were difficult to obtain. But for Xia De, who could travel between Coldwater Harbor and Tobesk, these were not problems.

"Your diviner friend has a problem."

After saying the content of the ritual, the road down the mountain had only been walked halfway. It seemed bad to be awkwardly silent, so when Xia De tried to introduce a new topic, Sister Delyth said abruptly.

"Oh, I know."

Xia De looked up at the starry sky above his head and said softly:

"I have known for a long time."

The nun was silent for a moment:

"Her 'other self' is not normal; 'she' is entangled by a very terrible curse. This curse was not imposed by humans; it is more like a natural phenomenon, as if the world is disgusted with her."

Only the 【Spirit Cultivation Society】, which advocates that all things have spirits, could easily see this point.

"Yes, that is the curse of time."

Xia De said softly again, feeling a bit melancholy in his heart for some reason.

"Then she must have done something that seriously violated normal time rules... I cannot imagine what one would have to do to attract such a terrible curse. The world would never have such strong malice toward an individual."

The nun finished speaking and fell silent, and Xia De, who was thinking about Luweiya's problem, did not think of a new topic. After a long while, he broke the monotonous sound of the lady's boots and the gentleman's leather shoes stepping on the fallen leaves. The howling of wolves came from afar, and the city at the foot of the mountain was lit up by gas lamps:

"Nun, regarding Luweiya's problem, can you perform a more in-depth perception?"

"She needs to keep still in front of me and let me take off my eye mask to look directly at her. Moreover, that terrible curse is not something mortals can solve. You at least need to know what she has done to know how to break the curse."

"I understand."

Xia De nodded, sent the nun all the way to the foot of the mountain, and then turned and walked back into the mountain forest facing the moonlight.

Walking out of the basement, he found Luweiya on the second floor, holding Mia who looked very reluctant, and looking a bit sad.

"Luweiya, what's wrong with you? Why do you look in a bad mood?"

The purple-eyed girl stood by the window looking outside the square. The room was too bright, so the glass in front of her reflected her and Mia's expressions like a mirror.

That clever cat also noticed Xia De from the reflection of the window glass and immediately struggled, wanting to escape from Luweiya's embrace.

"Nothing, it's just that when I saw that nun just now, some strange scenes appeared before my eyes..."

She turned around, her ruddy lips twitched, and her purple eyes stared at Xia De:

"I saw Sister Delyth dying in flames. Her whole body was covered with fiery red cracks, and in the end, even her corpse was burned to ashes. She handed a weak fire to me, entrusting me to inherit her duty and look after that primordial flame."

"Primordial flame?"

Xia De frowned slightly and stopped his steps.

He had indeed told Luweiya about the death prophecy of the "reverse growth" man Joey Barton to him and the nun, which was dying in a collapsed tower at the beginning of the year and dying as ashes more than ten years later. But out of the promise to keep secrets, he had not told Luweiya that the fire in Sister Delyth's hand was a Grade 1 relic 【Primordial Fire】.

"Is this a true prophecy made in a flash of inspiration?"

Xia De asked. A diviner could indeed see fragments of the future in a certain instant. But the guess Xia De made, even he himself didn't believe it. After communicating with the nun tonight, he had a vague guess about Luweiya's situation, but he didn't dare to be sure:

"It's okay, everything in the future won't necessarily develop according to your prophecy."

He walked over and hugged Luweiya, and Little Mia finally found a chance to "escape" from the embrace:

"It's as if you didn't always think that our group would always have only four people? But I appeared this summer. Oh, I also remember the expression you had when you first saw me at Lake View Manor."

"Yes."

The purple-eyed girl nodded gently.

"What you saw was just a possibility. Besides, you don't know Sister Delyth at all. Even if the nun really wanted to entrust that Grade 1 relic to someone, it couldn't be you."

"But the future..."

"Sixth Era General Calendar 1853, late autumn..."

Xia De imitated "her" tone and then glanced out the window:

"... The Day of the Red Moon's Dark Radiance. Luweiya Fiochi Anate, you have once again witnessed that unknowable future, but standing beside you at this moment, besides yourself, is the Outsider outside of fate who hides secrets in his heart."

He hugged Luweiya and looked at her beautiful purple eyes at close range:

"Time imposes a curse on you, but fate is blessing you. The magnificent epic has already begun. After the curtain rises, why be confused? You are not walking alone. The person who awakened from blind stupidity is by your side. When two hands are held together on a midsummer night, you should understand—this is the beginning of the epic, it is the story of you and him."

Luweiya finally smiled:

"What is this? The poem of fate you wrote for me?"

"No, no, this is just stating facts."

Xia De said.

"Well then, Xia De, perhaps you are better at pleasing girls than I thought—may fate bless you and me."

As she spoke, she hugged Xia De's neck with both hands and kissed him passionately, but when that gentle feeling flooded into his mind, Xia De, for some reason, actually felt that he was kissing two people.

"What is this strange feeling... wait."

He pushed Luweiya away temporarily, very unromantically:

"You haven't told me yet, is Sister Delyth the first candidate for the 'Death' Chosen One?"

"She is not, but she has other problems. The first candidate for Death should be between the person of reverse growth Joey Barton and our friend Priest Rat Augustus... Xia De, at a time like this, is it really okay to ask this question?"

She asked reproachfully and then hugged Xia De again.

"Meow!"

The cat standing on the back of the sofa cried out in dissatisfaction, thinking that it had been ignored by Xia De again.

Then, under the light of the gas lamp, this cat actually saw the human woman's body appear with a double image. A blurry shadow almost completely overlapped with her body. Four arms hugged Xia De at the same time, and the one kissing Xia De was two identical faces.

"Meow?"

The large amber eyes were full of curiosity. This cat could not understand this strange phenomenon.

"Xia De..."

In the purple eyes, it seemed to contain the secrets of the whole world. Xia De believed that even if the witches were unparalleled in beauty, Luweiya's eyes were still the most beautiful.

"What's wrong?"

Under the gas lamp in the living room, she showed a gentle smile. Their shadows were intertwined, just like their already intertwined fates:

"Can you satisfy a small wish of mine?"

"Of course, what wish?"

"I probably have to hold the 【Leaf of Eternal Youth】... Tonight, I want to be a knight."