Chapter 909: The Road on the Lake

Because the wedding banquet on Tuesday night was too fierce, Xia De actually did almost nothing on this Wednesday. But by Thursday, it was time to continue dealing with the things in his hands.

After getting up early, he first used the manuscript paper in his hand to make an appointment to meet with the librarian Miss Danister in the evening. Afterward, he caught little Mia, who had finished breakfast and was walking around the house with high spirits, and in the struggle of this cat that was unwilling to go out, brought it to Huntington together.

Xia De had already left a letter for Sister Devlin in Midhillburg yesterday, and made an

He appeared at the White River Valley Vineyard half an hour earlier than the agreed-upon nine o'clock. To prevent the "Escape Ritual" from being affected by the Ancient God statue, he specifically left the wine cellar and set up the ritual in the vineyard's mansion.

The servants left to guard the vineyard in winter were not qualified to use the mansion, so the space here was very large. The old vampire who was responsible for guarding the warehouse in winter, although not knowing what Xia De was going to do, still provided him with help very cooperatively.

The first snow of Tobesk had already arrived, while Huntington City was still waiting in early winter.

Little Mia, who had come to Huntington for the first time, was clearly not interested in this strange place. However, the cats kept by the White River Valley Vineyard to catch mice soon annoyed it. After discovering that they had "ulterior motives" toward Xia De, the small orange cat puffed up its fur and "roared" for quite a while, scaring the three Carsonrick native cats, which were at least three times larger than it, into fleeing in a panic.

Xia De still did not understand why Little Mia possessed such a powerful deterrent force against its own kind.

When the time reached nine o'clock, as the ritual base array on the ground—which was completely different from contemporary occult rituals and should have had no effect—flickered with light, Sister Daifulin, with her head lowered and hands clasped together, appeared in that light.

Using the Relic 【Magician's Escape Box】 should have caused a slight sensation of being pierced by a sharp blade, but the Sister's expression did not change. After "seeing" Xia De holding the cat, she only gave a soft greeting, as if she hadn't traveled thousands of miles but was just visiting a neighbor next door.

After erasing the ritual base array on the ground, Xia De took the Sister into the space behind the hidden wall in the White River Valley Vineyard's underground wine cellar to touch the Ancient God statue and establish a waypoint. Because the Sister had already touched the statue in the ruined tower in the Sikar Mountains some time ago, she officially established the Midhillburg-Huntington teleportation channel.

Leading a horse from the stable, Xia De and Sister Daifulin set off, each riding a horse. Although a blind person riding a horse sounded very dangerous, Sister Daifulin, who still wore an eye mask, was indeed riding a horse.

They did not enter the city but headed straight west from the White River Valley Vineyard located on the great plains in the east of the city.

Xia De had originally worried that Sister Daifulin was not good at riding, but the amazing horsemanship displayed by this blind Sister even made Xia De wonder if the people of this world learned "horsemanship" as a basic course just like literacy.

Huntington was a bit cloudy today, but it did not hinder them from enjoying the scenery in the suburbs of this wine capital along the way. When they approached the Kaleck Lake in the west of Huntington marked on the map, Xia De signaled that Sister Daifulin could stop:

"Sister, the hint the 'Goddess of the Lake' gave me is to bring a sufficiently clever animal, and it can give us directions. So I chose this place. Let's walk around nearby now, try to forget our original purpose, and Little Mia will probably lead the way for us soon."

The main reason was that there were no villages or small towns nearby, so there was no need to worry about Sister Daifulin's peculiar attire being seen by others.

"Meow?"

Hearing its name mentioned, the cat lying on the horse's head looked at Xia De. It was ridiculous to say; after Xia De dismounted, he had originally intended to put Little Mia on the saddle, but the cat probably felt the scenery on the saddle wasn't good, or simply thought it wasn't high enough, so it climbed onto the horse's head itself.

And that black horse was actually not angry at all, very docilely supporting Mia the cat on its head, making this cat look like a cat-shaped "horse controller."

Sister Daifulin walked by Xia De's side, leading the horse, and the two walked along the country path by the lake. The temperature on the morning of early winter was not particularly low, but one could still feel the cold, sharp wind near the lake. In the past few weeks, the temperature had been dropping every day. The lake surface was not yet frozen at this time, but there were no fishermen to be seen nearby.

On one side of the country path was the great lake, on the other was wasteland with no discernible use, and in the distance, one could overlook a forest of withered trees, which also looked like an orchard that had been bought nearby.

The two chatted as they walked. Xia De talked about the matter of the fourth Chosen One discovered in Tobesk and informed the Sister of the clues about the "Secret Keeper" and the "Wise Man's Glow Stone." He also asked the Sister how she planned to deal with the "Pantanal Xiewu." This was a rare existence that could be burned as firewood by the First Fire, and the Sister could not let it go.

"Although I am a Gao Huan Ringed Shushi and also a Chosen One, compared to the mysterious Pantanal region, I am still somewhat lacking. The order is currently in the process of acquiring a private hospital in Huntington City. After developing it into a church industry, we will dispatch Sisters from the order to stay locally and launch an investigation. After one to two months of intelligence gathering, I will seek help from the Witch Council and go deep into the swamp with the Great Witches of the Council to find the seal location of the Xiewu."

This method, although time-consuming, was indeed quite cautious and appropriate. After Xia De expressed his appreciation, the Sister turned her head to "look" toward the west, which was the true location of the Pantanal Great Swamp:

"The Spirit Cult believes that all things have spirits. The blind Sisters of the order can keenly perceive the world. The Pantanal Great Swamp is not as simple as we think. Even though we haven't gone deep into that area yet, I can still feel those terrifying existences."

Although Sister Daifulin used the Delarion language, it was in an ancient grammar, and Xia De had to think for a while to understand it even after hearing it:

"Do you mean that the Pantanal region is as dangerous as the Sikar Mountains some time ago?"

"No."

The Sister shook her head slightly, and Xia De's gaze lingered on her silver-gray hair for a moment.

"It is far more dangerous than the Sikar Mountains."

"Ha~"

Xia De sighed, but he was not surprised at all. Not only was he not surprised, but he was also not worried at all. No matter how dangerous the Pantanal Great Swamp was, it had nothing to do with him. Although Huntington City was on the edge of the swamp, it was not in the swamp area after all.

The two chatted as they walked, and time passed quickly. Xia De and the Sister led the horses, the winter wind of the countryside blowing their clothes; the horse carried Little Mia, and Little Mia squatted on the horse's head, looking around. The cat's eyes looked at the strange scenery, and its cat fur was blown down by the wind; it looked like it was enjoying the feeling of the wind blowing.

At 10:43 in the morning, when Xia De asked Sister Daifulin about her understanding of the Truth Society, the cat suddenly turned its head to look at the silent lake in the distance, and then, as if it had discovered something, meowed softly:

"Meow~"

Its voice was not obvious outdoors. Xia De did not hear it at first and only noticed the cat's abnormality after "She" reminded him.

"What's wrong?"

Xia De immediately looked at the cat expectantly, reaching out to take it down from the horse's head. Unexpectedly, Little Mia jumped onto the horse's back itself and then jumped to the ground.

Xia De was stunned at that moment. Ever since he let Little Mia guard Grace and Helen during the Battle of Midhillburg, he had never seen this cat's four little paws touch the outdoor ground.

The orange-and-white young cat raised its head, twitching its pink nose and sniffing the air hard, then looked back at Xia De, and then stepped toward the river.

Xia De and Sister Daifulin then led the horses and followed down the river slope, discovering that the cat was heading almost straight for the shore of Kaleck Lake. The natural lakes in such wetland areas were always surrounded by wet mud, and the cat, which had always loved cleanliness, stepped directly onto it, but no paw prints were left on the mud.

Just as Xia De began to doubt again whether this cat was normal, he discovered that he and Sister Daifulin, and even the two horses, did not leave any footprints on the mud.

The cat continued to go deep into the lake shore and finally entered the lake. But it did not enter the water; instead, it stood on the lake water as if it had learned "water walking," looking back to signal Xia De to follow.

The lake surface under the cat's paws did not have a single ripple. The orange cat looked very energetic, and its constant looking back seemed to be scolding Xia De for walking too slowly.

"Yes, Miracle elements!"

【Hidden path ahead.】

"She" said with a smile in Xia De's ear.

Xia De tried to extend his foot toward the water surface as well and indeed found that there was a solid, invisible path above the rippling water.

It was just that he didn't know how wide the path on the water was and whether it would allow him and the Sister to walk side by side.

Sister Daifulin, as a knowledgeable Gao Huan Ringed Shushi, naturally knew how to handle the current situation.

Her slender fingers flicked forward, and several stones emitting different lights fell irregularly toward the water surface. Most of them fell into the water, while the few that "floated" on the water surface marked the location of the hidden path.

"Spell - Glowing Stone. Creates non-physical glowing stones. The stones can be maintained for a long time by consuming extra Spirit during spellcasting. The caster can judge whether the target glowing stone is created by themselves. In night exploration and ancient tomb excavation, it is often used to mark paths and judge height, and sometimes also acts as low-light illumination."

Sister Daifulin noticed Xia De's surprise and explained softly.

This should also be a basic spell, but it was a pity that Xia De's "Pink Book" did not have this type of spell. Although the list of basic spells in the "Pink Book" given by "Desire" was quite long, it was more inclined toward... practicality.

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