Chapter 733: The Witch Emperor's Gift

"Is this some kind of proverb? The front is the passage connecting to death; it is indeed a dead end."

Xia De reached out and touched the stone tablet, confirming that it was just an ordinary object. But based on Xia De's understanding of the Witch Council, this stone tablet would probably be taken away and collected by the great witches after this matter was over.

"This is truly interesting."

He went around to the back of the stone tablet and found that there was also text on the back. But unlike the neatly written letters on the front of the tablet, the text on the back was like a sloppy mathematician leaving traces on the edge of a piece of paper at hand while calculating.

Even the text on the front and back were not the same type:

"This is..."

He squinted and leaned in to look, discovering that these were sentence fragments:

"... Deep into the boundary land, kill the resurrected. Before death..."

He read these words aloud, and after a moment of thought, he frowned:

"Fragments of a poem?"

Although these words were very short, the grammar and sentence structure were very similar to what Xia De had seen on the stone figurines in Mr. Pasolo's funerary objects.

"This doesn't look like a sentence to judge the identity of the Chosen One, but rather like a requirement for the Chosen One's ritual... The location of the ritual needs to be at the boundary between life and death, and the person holding the ritual must have killed someone who died and was resurrected. Then, before true death, certain things need to be done..."

He recorded these words; they might be useful.

Continuing inward, after leaving the platform, it was another long, narrow passage. The howling black wind containing the power of death was now almost at the same level as the depths of the natural church in the Narrowed Space.

A fierce battle had clearly occurred here; the ground was covered with a layer of black withered bones, and silver powder and holy water used to ward off evil were sprinkled on the bones, looking like traces left half an hour ago. Although Miss Aurora and the others entered earlier, it seemed that solving the troubles Xia De did not encounter had taken a long time.

When first entering the passage, the passage was very narrow, but after walking a few dozen steps, it opened up. Unlike the outside passage, the walls of the passage here were flat stone slabs, and there were vaguely unrecognizable traces on the walls.

The wind containing the power of death forced Xia De to extend his right hand to block his face, and he vaguely saw light ahead.

After quickening his pace, he soon saw the witches' followers stopping in the passage. Two-thirds of them were casting spells to resist the howling black wind, and the lady among them, who was at the ninth ring, even held a bead emitting a hazy green color, using the power of nature to resist death.

Mia the cat would probably like this kind of round bead.

The remaining one-third of the people were using special black ink with the scent of cinnamon and roses prepared in advance to smear the mottled ritual symbols on the walls.

The black wind could not blow away that rich scent, at least not at close range.

After more than two thousand years of baptism, the ancient runes and murals originally existing on the walls were already very blurred. These were the outermost ritual base arrays of this seal, equivalent to the silver threads and the charms and bells on the silver threads that Xia De saw in the natural church.

"Miss Swift! Where are Miss Aurora and Granny Cassandra?"

Xia De asked, and the crowd made way, allowing him to come to the wall.

Granny Cassandra's young apprentice, Miss Rita Swift, was directing the sorceresses to restore the ritual traces on the wall according to the council's records, and she replied:

"Mr. Hamilton, how did you get in? Teacher and Miss Aurora have moved forward; the core of the ritual is ahead."

"I want to go inside and take a look; do you have any words you need me to bring?"

Seeing that Xia De wanted to continue forward, the young girl with flaxen hair hurriedly blocked him:

"Please do not continue forward; Teacher said that the front is not a place we can approach, as it is truly only a thin line away from death there."

"It's okay."

Xia De shook his head:

"Granny Cassandra has taken me to see the seal on the mountaintop; I can handle it."

It was not curiosity that made him want to walk inward, but rather the thought that since he had already seen the channels at the foot and top of the mountain when rescuing Priest Augustus and reuniting with Helen and Grace, going to see the channel on the mountainside meant he hadn't wasted most of the autumn in Midhillburg.

"In that case, please be careful."

Seeing that Xia De was very persistent, the young girl threw him an oval, smooth gray rune stone.

The front and back of the rune stone each had a glowing, large rune; the front looked like a tree-pattern spiral, and the back looked like the veins of a leaf.

These were runes in the Elven language, with the meanings of "life" and "health" respectively. This kind of rune stone could help resist the wind of death, and according to the knowledge of the elves Xia De had obtained, he believed that if the materials were complete, he could also make similar alchemical products himself.

"Please be careful!"

"Rest assured."

Xia De waved his hand and continued walking forward against the strong wind.

The area where Miss Swift and her group were located was the widest part of this passage. Walking further forward, the passage narrowed again, and the power of death became more intense.

When that cold, sharp wind left the first wound on Xia De's face, and the golden radiance inside the wound dragged out a glow toward the rear, he knew he was almost at the end.

The appearance of the divine radiance made Xia De even more powerful at this moment. Therefore, when a rustling sound appeared in front of him and a pile of bones that had clearly been scattered not long ago reassembled into a pitch-black skeleton, Xia De did not feel panic:

"An undead that can be resurrected?"

Any monster that could exist in this zone extremely close to death had to be taken seriously. Xia De frowned, holding the 【Night Watcher】 in his right hand, looking at the black bone sword in the black skeleton's hand.

The two charged at each other almost simultaneously, and the moment they clashed, the two swords touched. After a crisp sound, the 【Night Watcher】 and the black bone sword were bounced away at the same time.

The black skeleton spat a cloud of black mist at Xia De, but before the mist could touch Xia De, it was dispersed by the radiance of the divine radiance.

Holding the sword with one hand, he stabbed forward, accurately hitting the skeleton's right hand bone. After knocking away the black bone sword, Xia De took a step back, held the sword with his right hand and retracted it slightly to his left chest, took a deep breath, then exploded with all his strength and quickly stabbed forward.

Relying on his powerful physical fitness and the power that had surged at this moment, the three swords stabbed out in an instant almost turned into afterimages in the black wind. The golden spots on his arm formed a thick, golden pillar of light in the air at this moment.

By means of the 【Blade of Chaotic Time and Space】, six swords appeared almost simultaneously within one second. The 【Night Watcher】 exerted its power against evil excellently, and as Xia De retracted his sword and pressed his wrist, cracks appeared at six points on the skeleton's surface, and then it scattered back into a pile of withered bones.

Braving the wind, he walked quickly to the side of the black bone sword, only to find that the bone sword had also scattered into bone fragments, which disappointed Xia De, who thought he could pick up a bargain. Only then did he continue forward, and as the golden spots on his body became brighter and brighter, there were even glowing spots like fire embers dragging behind Xia De:

"How on earth did Miss Aurora and Granny Cassandra walk to this point?"

Even he felt that moving forward was very strenuous.

After walking another twenty steps or so, the temperature of the badge detecting witches hanging on his chest finally overcame the temperature of the black wind, allowing Xia De to feel its existence. Continuing forward, the passage continued to narrow, finally ending at a stone door that could only allow one person to pass.

The stone door itself had a seal, but it had already been broken by the witches. At this moment, the door was pushed open, and there was a symbol like a holy emblem on the door, the main body of which looked like an upside-down question mark. Xia De suddenly had a feeling that this symbol was the holy emblem of the Old God 【Chaos Witch】.

After walking out of the stone door, outside the passage was a circular space about the same size as the venue of the 【Witch Council】.

Pitch-black wind wandered within it, and Xia De had to squint to see that in the center of the space was a water well. Violent black wind sprayed out from it; this was the passage located at the mountainside.

It was very empty here; apart from that water well and the stone door that had been opened, there were only the mottled ritual traces on the walls, the trash by the wall, and the bronze skeleton by the wall opposite the stone door.

Miss Aurora and Granny Cassandra were currently standing in front of that metal skeleton. Because of the sound of the wind and the rich power of death, they actually did not notice Xia De's arrival until Xia De walked closer, and they were surprised to see the dense golden cracks on Xia De's body.

"Daphne also had this manifestation, but it was fiery red. Did she share the fire with you?"

Granny Cassandra asked, and Xia De shook his head.

Only then did he notice that both witches were wearing jewelry that could directly open the council passage. Miss Aurora's was the 【Ancient Witch's Golden Ring · Right One】, and Granny Cassandra's was the golden button on her chest; presumably, this was the 【Ancient Witch's Golden Button】 among the thirteen pieces of witch jewelry.

It was precisely these two pieces of jewelry that helped them successfully reach this point.

"Xia De, why did you come? No, how did you get in?"

"Since Miss Galina could take a fancy to me, I naturally have my own merits."

He extended his finger, and even the silver light at his fingertips seemed to be swaying in the wind. This rusted bronze skeleton in front of him looked very familiar.

"Xia De, this is..."

Granny Cassandra wanted to introduce it, but Xia De had already recognized the thing in front of him:

"This is a Soul-Casting Skeleton, a forbidden alchemical weapon made by people in the Second Era using ancient knowledge. Like the 'Giant God Soldier' discovered in the underground ruins of Tobesk, it is a servant of ancient transcendents. Oh, the Witch Emperor at the end of the Fifth Era could actually produce this kind of thing?"

Although the details were slightly different, the thing in front of him belonged to the same type as the skeleton guarding the "Jager Scroll" that Xia De saw in the Dead Valley of the Fifth Era. It was just that this time, what the skeleton was holding was not a stone slab, but a stone box.

"You know this too? Then there's no need to explain. Granny and I believe this was left by that Witch Emperor Violet Marshall as a gift for those who came later."

Miss Aurora did not look very well; staying in this kind of place for a long time, she also couldn't hold on:

"But we are all living people; taking the box will definitely lead to a fight with this skeleton. In this kind of place, none of us want a battle to break out."

"It's okay, I'll do it."

Xia De said and reached out his hand.

In the Fifth Era, Miss Olanod used the reason "You haven't been born yet, so you don't count as a living person" to let Xia De touch the skeleton once. At that time, Xia De understood that this thing had no malice toward him; it was definitely not because of time, but because he had entered the land of death.

Sure enough, after reaching out his hand, he was only blocked by the skeleton, not attacked:

"Answer me, in the void before the birth of the world, besides those ancient gods, what else was there?"

That Witch Emperor probably reset the language for this skeleton; what it spoke was the ancient language of the Fifth Era. This time, the question was different from what Xia De heard last time, but he also had the answer:

"The Primal Fire."

Mr. Edmund of the 【Light-Guiding Cult】 had said that the 【Primal Fire】 was used by the Old Gods to illuminate the world before it was born.

The skeleton blocking Xia De's arm retracted, and the bronze hand bone held the stone box, lifting it toward Xia De.

"Look, this is very simple."

He said with a smile to Miss Aurora, and then the three of them watched together as the stone box turned into powder in the black wind.

On the skeleton's hand bones, only three items remained. A comb emitting rainbow radiance, the material of which looked like ivory; a wooden key, which looked very familiar to Xia De; and finally a roll of parchment, which looked longer than the 【Book of Pink】 manuscript given to Xia De by Desire.

None of the three items had rotted in the black wind, but only that wooden key was a relic.

"Time Key?"

Xia De was slightly surprised; judging from the sparsity of the wood grain on the surface of the key, this key was still a time key leading to the Fifth Era.

"Since it is a time key, then it is yours."

Miss Aurora reminded him and reached out to take that comb:

"What is this? It doesn't look like a relic, but... it's very beautiful."

"It is a substitute for the ritual core left by the guardian of Weidun."

Granny Cassandra, who had taken the parchment and unfolded it, said. The old witch stood beside Xia De, reading the content on the parchment in the wind, squinting her eyes with the help of the light on his body:

"This is a letter from that Emperor to those who came later, containing some historical information, some knowledge, and... yes, at the end, it is the complete content of the seal. To facilitate those who came later to repair the ritual, she condensed the ritual core into this comb. Throwing the comb into the water well, combined with guiding the use of the witch's power, can repair most of the ritual. But if you want to repair it completely, I think our preparations are not enough."

"Then what materials does the ritual need... Could it be that with just this comb, you are going to repair this large-scale ritual empty-handed?"

Xia De asked.

"Of course not; we have prepared some things to be used in advance. Besides that, the ritual materials also include this."

Miss Aurora brushed her long hair:

"A great witch's hair is enough to serve as a spellcasting material, especially in rituals within the witch system; hair is often used as a ritual material. Although the ring sorcerers of the Sixth Era don't know this, this was common knowledge in the Fifth Era."

Seeing Xia De hesitate to speak, this lady with curly brown long hair added:

"I know what you are thinking. Oh, young knight, manipulating the growth rate of hair is the most common secret technique of witches. Apart from the vicious 'baldness curse', nothing can stop us from having beautiful hair."

Seeing that Xia De was really fine standing in this kind of place, the witches divided the blue lizard blood ink and the special Nim silver alloy wire among the ritual materials to Xia De, letting Xia De help restore the dilapidated ritual site together. And part of the knowledge in 【Witch Echo · Feilianna】 also helped Xia De better understand the work to be carried out. ===== CHAPTER 734 =====