"I see. This is the path to demigodhood that Miss Carina has been searching for."
Standing in the glowing white fog, Shad held the cold oval ice crystal tightly, thoughtfully. The extremely cold temperature stimulated his palm and reminded him that this special souvenir finally belonged to him.
Looking up in front of me, in the white mist is a giant tree connecting heaven and earth. It has a well-developed root system and a lush crown. The tree lines on the transparent trunk record the story of time and years.
Although there was no wind, the branches and leaves were still swaying in the white mist. A warm feeling washed over Shade's body and soul, dispelling all the negative states.
"But can Miss Chloe's journey really be repeated? In other words, can someone else's path to becoming a demigod be taken a second time?"
Shade asked himself, and then saw two leaves overlapping and falling down in the swaying tree canopy.
He overlapped his hands, and with a feeling of loss again, he held them above his head to catch the two fallen leaves. In this way, he now had four leaves of eternal youth in his hands.
The shadow of the giant tree gradually became blurred, and the white mist in front of him also dissipated. But before Shade completely exited the corridor of time, he heard "her" voice:
The Outsider, the Father of the Infinite Tree, sensed the power of the evil in the Pantanal.
"Um?"
For a moment, Shade hoped that the power of the Treefather could kill the evil creature directly. Although this would mean no firewood for the nun, at least the battle would be much easier.
Message from the Father of Infinite Tree:
This is the resentment born from the dying plants in the material world.
"I see... It really is an ancient evil."
The white mist in front of him dissipated, and Shade was still sitting on the stone beside the campfire by the lake in the same position as when he left. At his feet were his relics and alchemical items. The two leaves and the cold ice crystal in his hand represented the end of another adventure story.
With Shad's return, although the coldness of his body and soul had been driven away, the terrifying coldness of the top of the Silver Mountains was still brought out a little, and he almost immediately heard the rustling sound of ice coming from the lake.
Fortunately, the frozen area was only a small area on the lakeside illuminated by the campfire.
Stranger, you have returned to the present time.
Message from the ancient god "Father of the Infinite Tree":
Infinite time protects you.
Holding two leaves in his hand, he was about to tell Iluna about the magical experience just now, but he saw Iluna holding up the Night Watchman like a silver torch and walking into the lake with a flushed face. Shade could clearly see that there was a struggle on her face, as if she couldn't control her movements at this time.
"I was only gone for three seconds, wasn't I? What happened?"
Doubts suddenly arose in his heart. After the powerful miracle element brought by the shadow of the Infinite Tree Father disappeared around him, he almost immediately felt traces of another extremely terrifying element, which was the whispering element.
He heard the sound of water splashing on the surface of the lake where snow was falling, and he heard the seductive laughter of beautiful women playing in the lake.
Even though he didn't see what appeared in the lake, he instinctively thought of a beautiful naked lady in white, laughing and playing in the dark lake under heavy snow. This strange scene not only did not make Shade feel terrified, but instead aroused some of the most primitive desires of human beings.
"oh!"
He jumped up as if he had jumped from the spot, and stood in front of Iluna. The bonfire illuminated Shad's slightly panicked face, and he stared at the dark lake with wide eyes.
The beautiful woman's head was smiling at him in the lake, and her head appeared outside the ice, as if she was using it as the edge of a swimming pool. That beautiful face was right at the edge of the bonfire light, and the light and shadow intertwined on her face. It was impossible to describe it with any adjective, as if all the beautiful features in the world were concentrated on that face.
Xia De saw the shadows of familiar girls in them, even the purple eyes were extremely similar to the color of Luvia's eyes.
She looked at Xia De with glowing eyes, biting her lower lip with her white teeth, leaving an inconspicuous red mark. Her hair covered her fair forehead, and the water droplets on her wet hair slid down her face and fell into the cold lake along her neck, making people imagine what kind of charming figure was under her neck.
The panicked Xia De already knew what he had encountered:
"desire!"
He did not hide his hostility and panic at all. He had already known what the Level 0 Relic meant during the Battle of Midhill Castle. His body completely blocked Iluna, and when he spoke, he realized that his voice was so hoarse:
"Why are you here?"
"Long time no see, interesting soul."
The woman said in a slightly hoarse voice that in the snowy night, a truly glowing white arm stretched out from the lake, the upper arm was placed on the ice, the forearm was raised, and the little finger was hooked into the black hair wrapped around the ear.
The bright and charming eyes looked at Xia De with a smile, but Xia De could clearly see the greed in those captivating eyes.
"Father of the Infinite Tree, shouldn't you protect me when I complete my mission and return to the present time? Why..."
Maybe she has no hostility towards you.
Shade didn't believe this judgment at all. He tried to use his body to shield Iluna. When the 17-year-old girl first faced the desire for a level 0 relic, she was just as unbearable as Shade was in the basement of Aurora's mansion in Coldwater Harbor. After Shade appeared, she sobered up a little, hid behind Shade, grabbed the corner of his clothes, blushed and lowered her head.
Even if she didn't look directly at it, the image of the "mermaid" had already penetrated into her heart with just that one glance.
"Let me see. Gluttony, greed, sloth, and now wrath. Not bad, really good."
The hoarse female voice continued, her voice was extremely clear in the wind, even though the two sides were ten meters apart.
Behind the beautiful woman's head, there was a loud splashing sound in the lake. Xia De immediately thought of the huge mermaid's tail slapping the water, but then he remembered that the "mermaid" in front of him was not a real mermaid.
Xia De no longer wanted to recall the essence of desire.
"Can rage be considered desire?"
Shad asked, and the beautiful woman laughed softly, her laughter touching the hearts of the two people present. Shad clearly felt that Iluna behind him trembled.
"I'm here because someone called me. It's an ancient ritual that uses the crystal of desire as a sacrifice. They probably didn't know what they would summon before using the ritual, and they were very surprised when they saw me. However, those humans don't seem to know what I am."
She smiled and said, the water surface was heaving, but her smooth chin and arms were always above the ice, and her huge body under the water was stirring the bottom of the water wantonly.
Xia De also has this special material called "Crystal of Desire". He has decided to sell it as soon as possible after returning home.
"What did they ask you to do?"
Shade asked, and desire really answered him:
"Some souls were offered as a sacrifice so that I could stop those who tried to land on the island by the lake. But I knew you were coming, so I came directly to you."
She bit her lip again, and for some reason this look reminded Shade of Miss Chloe.
The black night was so deep that even the falling snow could not sense how cold Xia De's heart was. Compared with the chosen one, he even thought that desire was more difficult to deal with, but fortunately, the other party seemed to have no ill intentions this time:
"You don't have to worry. I can guarantee that among the so-called 'tests' that prevent people from landing on the island, no one is more dangerous than me."
Shade couldn't imagine anything more dangerous than her.
"So, have you read the book I gave you?"
Seeing that Xia De stopped talking and tried to find an opportunity to leave, the beautiful woman's head asked with a smile.
"Yes, I read it in its entirety several times and learned some practical magic."
The chuckle was as sweet as a silver bell. Even though it was not the first time for Shade to deal with desire, he still felt the desire rising in his heart. No mortal could be completely immune to the influence of desire, even if Shade had the blessing of the wise.
"That's great, but I can't let you leave so easily. Just like last time, interesting soul, help me do something."
Xia De nodded. The 17-year-old girl behind him gradually regained her senses, but she was still unwilling to let go of the hand that was holding Xia De's clothes:
"What do you need me to do? Oh, there are many souls full of desires on the island in the middle of the lake opposite."
“Yeah, it’s a very interesting place.”
The white hand brushed across the lipstick-smeared lips. While Shade's eyes were somehow keen enough to observe the lip lines in the dark night, the hand on the ice retracted into the water, leaving only the head above the water:
"The most lusty of souls even attempted to peek at the crown of God's knowledge and wisdom. Kill the chosen one for me and take his soul. You don't think I would make such a request, do you?"
She chuckled again, still so charming and elegant. But to be honest, a naked girl swimming in a lake in the dark night of a blizzard probably has an extraordinary charm.
Desire looked at Xia De with her violet eyes, and her voice was unusually gentle:
"I don't even need to peek at your desires to see them on your face. But unfortunately, I won't interfere with the epic of the Sixth Epoch."
"So what do you want me to do?"