Chapter 723: All Things are Equal, All Living Beings Must Die

Compared to when they were mortals, the current state of Grace and Helen was clearly very wrong. This wrongness refers to their mental state. It seems that entangled in the Whispering Elements, they eventually moved towards chaos.

Meeting an old friend from a long time ago not only didn't make Xia De feel happy, but instead made him worry about the future of the twins. At the last moment when the disaster in Midhillburg was about to end, they, as the guardians of the seal, actually appeared, which was clearly not a good sign.

It's just that Xia De was powerless about this for now and could only wait for further developments.

Taking back his cat from Miss Swift outside the door, he then went upstairs to bid farewell to Grandma Cassandra, and then took a carriage to the Loranta Manor located in the northern part of the city. That was Miss Afuluola's temporary residence in Midhillburg, and the manor itself was Grandma Cassandra's property.

Xia De was going to visit the "Reborn One" Joey Barton again in the afternoon, but he wouldn't invite the Twelfth-Tier witch Miss Xiwei Afuluola to go with him, because this time he wanted to talk to Mr. Barton alone about the sensitive topic of the Chosen One.

And going to the manor to visit Miss Afuluola, besides the fact that after the witch came to Midhillburg, Xia De had only seen her once at the Fire Festival banquet, so he thought since there was nothing to do, he could see her more, he also borrowed from Miss Afuluola that piece of witch jewelry of hers, which was the Sage-level Relic 【Ancient Witch's Golden Ring · Right One】 that could provide all-around buff effects for Ringed Mages.

Joey Barton was related to the Truth Society, and Xia De would definitely not rush over without any preparation.

When he arrived at the manor, it was already noon. Miss Afuluola, who had just received guests from the Chamber of Commerce, invited Xia De and the cat to have lunch together.

During lunch, she asked about the "ritual" yesterday and confirmed that Xia De had already met Grandma Cassandra's teacher.

"Yes, it can be considered someone I knew before. I met her when I was in Tobesk, but I didn't know she was also a Ringed Shushi at that time."

Xia De used this excuse to prevaricate. It could be seen that Miss Afuluola was very suspicious of this, but in the end, she didn't ask more:

"Just be careful yourself. The more beautiful a woman is, the more she will lie."

The witch held a soup spoon and said, signaling the servant to pour red wine into her glass again.

After lunch, Xia De got the ring from Miss Afuluola, who hadn't asked anything, and then set off again with Mia.

After parting with Iluna last week, Iluna had already reported the matter of the 【Truth Society】 to the Church, and it was said that there had been small progress. But for now, the Church hadn't been able to find the Crow Club from the Truth Society, because Pig Tail Alley was no different from when Xia De came the first two times.

Even when Xia De knocked on the door, the person who opened the door was the same one. He also recognized Xia De and naturally remembered "John Watson" who came with two different girls, so he directly led Xia De to the deepest room on the first floor of the club and met Mr. Joey Barton.

The room was still the same, but the crow in the birdcage at the door seemed to have been replaced.

When sitting down, Xia De curiously asked why the original crow was gone. Mr. Barton, who was wearing a headscarf, said quite sadly:

"After you left last time, it died for no reason, as if it was scared to death. The crows in the club have all been specially cultivated and have high spirituality and humanity. I really don't know what happened to it, it just died suddenly."

Xia De, holding the cat, comforted:

"You also said last time that normal birth and death are natural laws, there is nothing to worry about. Mr. Barton, you should bless it for living through this life... However, an artificially raised crow was actually scared to death, that is a rare thing..."

Xia De looked around pretentiously:

"Recently, I often hear rumors of ghosts in the city, and even when I came by carriage just now, the talkative coachman also mentioned this point. Perhaps you should be careful, maybe there is some dirty thing nearby... How about preparing some refined salt and sprinkling it at the door."

Mr. Barton shook his head:

"Using salt to exorcise demons is just a superstition of country folk; you can't use this to deal with ghosts. However, there is indeed a lot of news about ghosts in the city recently. Midhillburg this autumn is really not peaceful. If you are worried about the harassment of evil spirits, I can give you an amulet. Oh, of course, it's a free gift, I don't rely on selling this to make money."

Saying this, he actually really wanted to stand up and get the amulet that could drive away ghosts for Xia De, but was stopped by Xia De.

Mr. Barton then asked:

"Mr. Watson, then this time you came alone, are you going to continue fortune-telling for your pet cat Sherlock? I noticed that you didn't bring other female companions this time."

"Yes, it's still fortune-telling for it."

Xia De scratched little Mia's chin, then looked around, confirming that there were indeed only two people, one cat, and one crow in the dim room:

"However, before fortune-telling, I want to talk to you."

"Of course, I only receive one guest every half day, and chatting with guests is also part of my work scope."

"I want to chat about... some private matters. You can understand it as, I want to collect material for my new book."

"Oh, is that so."

Joey Barton nodded, stood up with difficulty, then limped to the door, picked up the pole standing behind the door, stood on tiptoe very reluctantly, and used the wooden pole with a hook at one end to pick open the blue cloth curtain beside the cage, letting the cloth curtain cover the cage.

Actually, he didn't need to do this at all, because that crow looked as obedient as the previous one. After Xia De brought Mia the cat in, it shrank in the cage and didn't dare to move.

"Sometimes the eyes and ears of crows are very sensitive, they are very spiritual."

Mr. Barton explained with a smile, then limped back, signaling that Xia De could speak.

"May I ask, what do you think of death?"

Placing Mia on his lap, Xia De officially entered the main topic.

Regarding Xia De's question, Mr. Barton was obviously stunned:

"This is really a profound question, but no matter what, I must remind you not to give up your life easily."

"Please rest assured, there are too many existences in my life that I cannot let go of."

"That's good."

This man, who was clearly middle-aged but looked like a deformed child, sighed:

"Death, I have had many feelings about this in the past few decades. Although I don't consider myself an excellent writer or author, if I wrote down my inner thoughts, it would probably be enough to publish a book. I think death is the end of a journey."

"Please elaborate."

Xia De made an expression of being very interested. Mr. Barton clasped his large hands together, his two thumbs rotating against each other:

"Perhaps the background and identity of everyone at birth are different, and the growth trajectory in the future is also different, but for us mortals, the fairest point of life is that everyone will have birth and death."

"Yes, everyone will have it."

The figures of Helen and Grace behind the gauze curtains jumped into Xia De's head.

"After walking through a long journey, fall into eternal slumber with satisfaction and regret. Perhaps some people's lives are full of flowers and embroidery, some people's are full of dry bones, some people are walking uphill, some people are walking back and forth between the top of the mountain and the valley, and some people even walk backwards..."

He paused, clearly thinking of himself:

"But no matter what, everything will return to death. All things are equal, all living beings must die—I revere death, and that is the reason."

"All living beings must die... well said, it is indeed so."

Xia De nodded, then revealed an awkward expression, while Mia was looking up at the birdcage:

"Mr. Barton, it's a bit embarrassing to say, I asked someone to inquire about you."

Joey Barton was not surprised:

"Yes, a rich person like you couldn't trust a strange guy like me so easily. However, what I am more curious about is, what did you find out?"

"I learned about some strange past events. After you were born, you suffered from a strange disease. When you were very young, your body aged rapidly, so much so that although you were still a child, you looked like an old man on the verge of death. But as you grew older, your aging body grew younger and younger, as if growing in reverse. As for now, Mr. Barton, although you look like a child now, your actual age should be over forty."

"Yes, I didn't expect you to know so much."

"No, no, no, I only know this much."

Xia De hurriedly shook his head:

"I know some powerful friends locally, so I was able to investigate the past records. But I really don't know about your experiences after leaving Midhillburg. What I want to understand today are these stories. Of course, if you have past events you don't want to recall, we can also talk about other things."

"Hiss~ is that so... that's not a pleasant experience. If you want to know, we can also talk about it. I don't feel ashamed of my illness."

Mr. Barton sighed, staring at the teacup in his hand:

"My memories of childhood are mostly hospital beds and the scenery outside the window. After being sure that Midhillburg couldn't cure my reverse-growth disease, my parents sent me away to live with relatives to continue treatment. The family I was born into is not as rich as yours, so saying it was for treatment, it was actually thinking of letting me see the world while I was still alive."

"Did you find a cure?"

"The irony of fate is here. The gold pounds were spent, but there was no effect. If it wasn't for the medical school willing to use my body as research material and give some subsidies, and as I grew older, my health got better and better, it would actually be very difficult for me to live to adulthood." ===== CHAPTER 724 =====