Lumian didn't understand what the illusory river he saw or sensed represented. He could only guess that it might be a symbol of fate. He followed the instinct of "Fallen Mercury" and raised the tip of the knife to pick up a mercury-colored symbol in the river.
As soon as he came into contact with the river with mercury-colored waves, scenes flashed through Lumian's mind:
The "noodle man" is performing the mysterious sacrificial dance: the "noodle man" is frightened by the black thorn symbol and crawls on the ground: the "noodle man" captures the flesh and blood scattered in the ruins of the dream to fill his stomach: the "noodle man" tries to get close to the circle of "walls", but seems to be afraid of something, and each time he only goes deep enough and then returns on his own: the "noodle man" has his head chopped off by an axe...
Is this its entire "life" since the beginning of this cycle? Lumian realized something and tried to stab the tip of the "Fallen Mercury" towards the group of mercury-colored symbols representing the death of the "Noodle Man", which was the end of the illusory river.
It was too big and too heavy, and he failed.
At this time, the mercury symbols began to fade, the illusory river gradually disappeared, and the images that appeared in Lumian's mind quickly became blurred.
Is there a time limit? Lumian didn't dare to take his time to choose. Based on the principle of proximity, he turned the silver-black evil dagger towards the fate of the "noodle man" who was frightened by the black thorn symbol.
The mercury-colored symbol that seemed to be formed by a self-entwined stream was pried open, shrank inward and solidified into a drop of liquid, which seeped into the blade of the "Fallen Mercury".
The next second, the illusory river disappeared completely, and Lumian could no longer see the fate of the "Noodle Man".
He looked down at the "Fallen Mercury" and saw that the layers of evil symbols on the silver-black blade were swaying gently like water, as if they were endowed with some kind of vitality.
They were already dizzying enough to make people feel dizzy, but now they looked even more evil.
“Success…” Lumian whispered to himself with satisfaction.
The current "Fallen Mercury" is considered complete.
After that, as long as he could use this evil dagger to injure the fire monster in battle, he could exchange the fate of being "shocked by the black thorn symbol" with the other party.
After wrapping the blade of "Corrupted Mercury" with a black cloth and inserting it back into the belt around his waist, Lumian simply dealt with the body of "Noodle Man" and took it to a half-collapsed building. He destroyed the last support of the house and let the stones and wood fall down, burying everything inside.
After doing this, Lumian went back to the area where the fire monster appeared.
This time, he did not get close to observe, but collected footprints and other traces, taking the time to identify which ones were left when the target deliberately went around in circles and which ones were its actual route.
It took nearly two hours for Lumian to gradually grasp the daily activity range and action patterns of the fire monsters, and a hunting map naturally emerged in his mind.
He spent some time going through all the preset battlefields, looking for natural traps that could be used.
After an unknown amount of time, Lumian rubbed his forehead and decided to go deeper into the ruins while he still had some energy, to take a look at the circle of "city walls" and accumulate intelligence for subsequent exploration.
He did not take it lightly and performed the sacrificial dance once more, half-activating the black thorn symbol.
With this "amulet", Lumian quickly moved forward along the same route as last time.
He encountered some monsters on the way, but they either turned around and fled just when they were about to attack, or disappeared into the distance. The deeper he went, the more such situations he encountered.
Finally, when the burning sensation in his chest from the second ritual dance disappeared, Lumian once again saw the "city wall" made up of a mess of twisted houses.
He rested for a while, and when his spiritual strength recovered a little, he danced the sacrificial dance again.
The sometimes sonorous and sometimes gentle dance ended, and Lumian dived in the direction where he encountered "Corrupted Mercury" with the black thorn symbol on his head.
After passing the room where the fire had gone out, he slowed down, fearing a sudden attack.
After walking for a while, Lumian felt that the light in front of him had become noticeably dimmer, as if there was some huge object in the sky blocking the falling light, or the sun was located directly behind his current position.
Lumian subconsciously raised his head and looked towards the sky, but he could see nothing there except thick fog.
Unable to find the reason, he had to pull out the "Fallen Mercury" and carefully entered the area ahead.
In an instant, he seemed to have gone from day to night.
Of course, this was just an exaggeration. Lumian felt that a more accurate description was that the weather had changed from foggy to overcast.
Almost at the same time, he yawned subconsciously, and the fatigue that had already appeared became stronger in an instant.
“No, I can’t sleep…” Lumian forced himself not to close his eyes, and retreated away from the dim and gloomy darkness of the “foot of the mountain”.
His spirits recovered a lot, and although the fatigue was still there, it was at least bearable.
“I fall asleep as soon as I go in, and the deeper I go, the sleepier I feel?” Lumian muttered silently, turned around and walked in another direction.
After performing a sacrificial dance midway, he came to an unfamiliar area again.
On his right was a "city wall" of stacked doors and windows, on his left was a wasteland connected to a circle of building ruins, and in front stood brown trees.
In the ruins where there was not even a blade of grass, the trees seemed to be extremely flexible, entwining and hugging each other, forming a wooden wall five or six meters high.
The wooden wall is covered with many green branches and leaves, which is lush and verdant, completely different from the dead and desolate surroundings.
If it hadn't blocked the road to the back of the "city wall", Lumian might have praised it for its "tenacious vitality", but now, he could only express his inner dissatisfaction with the dirty gesture of raising two middle fingers.
He could actually choose to take a detour and enter from the other side of the dream ruins, but he was not familiar with that place at all and his spiritual power was almost exhausted, so there was no need to take the risk.
Lumian yawned unabashedly, and with the burning sensation still in his chest, he began to return the way he had come.
When Lumian woke up, some morning light had seeped in through the thick curtains, outlining the clearer contours of the desk, chairs, wardrobe and other furniture in the room.
"It's still early..." He muttered silently, turned his head and looked at Auror beside him.
Aurore's golden hair was scattered on the white pillow, her eyes were closed, and she was sleeping soundly.
Her right hand grabbed the top of the quilt, and she wanted to turn over from time to time, but she stopped herself instinctively. Her brows wrinkled slightly, and then gradually smoothed out.
Lumian probably knew why his sister behaved like this: she had too many bottles and jars hidden in her long dress to prevent possible accidents. If she slept on her side or on her stomach, they would definitely hurt her.
“It’s really hard…” Lumian sighed silently, his expression gentle and his heart peaceful.
After looking for a while, he withdrew his gaze, carefully got out of bed and walked out of the bedroom.
He came to the side balcony where he could climb to the roof, and stretched his body while facing the red light in the distance.
Less than a minute later, Valentine came out of the room, stood in the corridor, looked at him and said, "Are you welcoming the sun too?"
His eyes became gentle, and his usually cold expression was filled with approval.
Can I say no? Lumian smiled:
"yes."
Valentine nodded with satisfaction, walked into the balcony, and stood straight facing the rising sun.
He then opened his arms, half raised his head, and whispered:
"Praise the sun!"
"Praise the sun!" Lumian had no choice but to follow suit.
Valentine folded his arms, crossed them in front of his chest, closed his eyes and prayed for a while, then opened his eyes and said to Lumian:
"If the cycle can be successfully resolved, I will introduce you to the bishop of the Dariege region, or would you rather go to Bigor?"
"I prefer Trier," Lumian replied with a smile, "but where to go is not up to me, but my sister."
Valentine nodded, did not continue the topic, turned around and walked into the corridor, patrolling back and forth.
Nothing happened until eight o'clock, so the two went downstairs and worked together to make breakfast.
Not long after, Ryan came down to help. At around nine o'clock, Leah also got up, and only Auror was still sleeping.
"What are your plans for today?" Ryan took a bite of toast and turned his head to ask Lumian.
Lumian thought for a moment and said:
"Leaving Aurore alone at home, we can't let her face a possible attack alone.
"The remaining two will go out with me to replenish food and bring back a few buckets of water. Haha, we have to hold on until the Twelfth Night."
The village of Cordu did not have running water yet. When Aurore was building this house, he installed a water tank on the top. As long as it was replenished and disinfected regularly, it was equivalent to having running water.
“Well, these things need to be done before Lent,” Ryan agreed.
Lumian then smiled brightly:
"Oh, there is one more thing. We need to visit Mrs. Pualis and see if we can persuade her to help us investigate the dead wizard and owl in the tomb."
As expected, Lumian saw Valentine frowning and Ryan's smile was a little stiff.
Leah took a sip of water and said with a smile:
"I'll stay here to keep Aurore company."
"No problem." Lumian agreed on behalf of Ryan and Valentine.
Things came to a point where the two gentlemen had to agree to go to the executive officer's residence in the morning.
After breakfast, the three of them walked out of the semi-underground two-story building and headed towards the old tavern.
On the way, they passed by the home of shepherd Pierre Berry.
Lumian's heart moved, and he said to Ryan and Valentine:
"Let's go see what's happening with the three sheep."
He remembered the bleating of the sheep he had heard last night.
Ryan and Valentine, knowing what he meant, did not object.
After walking around for a while, the three of them arrived behind Berry's house, but what they saw was an empty sheepfold.
The three sheep were gone.