The mountain where the Night Temple is located, Xia De came twice, but he only checked the foot of the mountain and the inside of the cave, but never climbed to the top of the mountain. After all, the gold mine and the ancient god statue could not be directly located on the top of the mountain.
After Mr. Erford's reminder, Shad also became interested in the top of the mountain, so after bidding farewell to the soul, he returned to the place where the three horses were tied to the tree. But this time he did not enter the cave, but walked a small circle along the foot of the mountain and successfully found the way up the mountain.
It was called a road, but in fact it was just an area with slightly sparse trees. But since the scholar who came here alone could reach the top of the mountain, there was no reason why Shade couldn't climb up.
The way up the mountain was not easy. Perhaps Shad chose a different path from Mr. Elford two years ago. From time to time, he needed to turn the cat into a toy, and then turn himself into a group of butterflies, or use Lager to jump over those places that were obviously blocked.
By the time Xia De finally arrived at a place dozens of meters away from the top of the mountain, it was already 5:20 in the evening. The sky was dark and the setting sun had already appeared on the horizon.
The mountain was very steep, but there was a relatively flat winding path at the top. Shad carried the cat to the top of the mountain, then stared with wide eyes at the white forest in the distance and the brilliant sunset in the distance.
“Spring is probably really coming soon.”
He sighed softly, then looked down again. There was an extremely steep cliff under his feet. If he didn't know there was a narrow platform below, normally no one would think of looking down from here.
However, probably because of the angle, although Shad could barely see the edge of the platform below, he did not see the remains of the arch, nor did he see the three ladies who were preparing for the ceremony.
"But what is the interesting thing that Mr. Erfurt said?"
The relatively flat area on the top of the mountain is about the size of the second-floor bedroom of No. 6 St. Teresa's Square. Since no animals or humans have come here for a long time, there are no traces on the snow.
Shade used fire to melt the snow on the ground, and then found a broken stone base under the snow. Judging from the style, a stone tablet should have been erected here.
"The style of the base is very ancient, not suitable for this era. But where is the stele?"
The naked eye could not find the broken stele nearby, so Shade used "Feliana's Witch Light" to melt the ground for inspection. His approach was indeed correct. About half a meter from the ground, he actually found the buried broken stele. The stele had fallen for at least hundreds of years, or even thousands of years, so the stele itself was almost fused with the soil on the top of the mountain.
Xia De reached out to brush away the dust on the surface of the stone tablet, but as soon as he touched it, he felt the power of the miracle element. The element was not very obvious, but it did exist:
"Mr. Erfurt's soul can exist in a special form. Is it because he also felt something on the top of the mountain?"
The words on the front side of the stele were still legible, but they were not from the Sixth Era:
May the sun shine upon the earth,
May the earth nourish all living beings.
When the sun shines on you and me,
May the earth be with you and me.
"Praise the sun, huh? That doesn't rhyme at all."
Xia De said softly, not understanding what was written on it. So he dug the stone tablet out of the soil completely. He was worried that the back side would not be clear, but he did not expect that the carvings on the back side were also very clear.
The back of the stone tablet had some complex patterns and decorative patterns, and originally there was no text. But at the top of the stone tablet, Shade saw two lines of text that seemed to have been casually carved with a knife. They were very beautiful cursive letters, using the language of the late Fifth Era:
This is the riddle, the power of the sun can open the channel.
"Um?"
Xia De raised his eyebrows, then looked at the next sentence:
The chosen ones of the earth will surely come here.
"Um?"
He reached out to touch the mark, thinking uncertainly:
"A fragment of a poem?"
But unfortunately, only these two lines of text on the entire stone tablet were carved later, and the rest are the original contents of the stone tablet.
"This is interesting. The chosen one of the earth must come here, which shows that this place is indeed very important."
Shade used a canvas to turn the stone tablet into a toy and put it away. The witch should be very happy to get this. Then he looked up at the end of the cedar forest. The sun had already sunk by nearly half:
"The power of the sun can open the channel... ...solar rays!"
The bright light from his fingertips shone on the base of the stone tablet, but nothing happened. Shade turned around and let the light streak across the ground, but nothing happened except that the cat's eyes widened and it was eager to jump off Shade's shoulder.
“Isn’t that pure enough?”
Shade then stared at the cat standing on his shoulder again. Mia cried out that she had a bad premonition, and then Shade grabbed her waist with both hands and lifted her up.
Facing the sea of forests and the setting sun, Shade, holding Mia high on the mountaintop, took a deep breath and shouted loudly:
"Praise the sun!"
He waited quietly for a full half minute, and when nothing happened, he slowly put the cat down:
"So that's not the case..."
What are you thinking about
"She" smiled gently, and her laughter calmed Xia De's somewhat anxious heart.
"Then give me some advice."
There is plenty of sunlight here all year round, and it is impossible to open the so-called channel by receiving sunlight. Therefore, you should find a place where there is no sunlight on a daily basis.
"That makes sense—the power of the red dragon!"
Xia De bent down, and then suddenly exerted force to lift up the base of the broken stone tablet. Nearly two-thirds of the height of the stone tablet base had sunk into the soil, and under the base was not soil but stone. Xia De saw a very ancient engraving on the gray stone.
In the center of the circular pattern was a typical Holy Grail pattern, with flowers and plants dotted around it. Although it was the first time he had seen this pattern, Shade still subconsciously understood what it was:
"The holy emblem of the ancient god Mother Earth?"
He stroked it gently with his hand, then pointed his finger at the holy emblem:
"Daylight rays."
The bright light illuminated the holy emblem, and then the holy emblem gradually melted into the light. As Shad was surprised, a dent appeared on the stone until it formed the shape of a hand.
"What do you mean? This is..."
Xia De stretched out his hand and pressed it on the palm pattern. He felt as if he had touched some extremely heavy power, but at the same time, he felt as if he had just put his hand on the cold stone surface.
Suddenly, I heard a very heavy "Dong~" heartbeat, but then I realized that it seemed to be my own heartbeat.
A certain force entered his body along his arm, and the "Power of the Earth·Healing Aura" was enhanced. And that force finally reached the position of his eyes. Xia De's eyesight was good to begin with, but now he felt that his vision had become better.
He hesitantly took his hand away, looked out from the top of the mountain, and then confirmed that this was not an illusion:
"But what does this mean? What about the secret passage? Could it be that..."
After he left the stone, the pattern on the stone changed back to the holy emblem. This time, Shade held the cat with one hand and held the cat's tail with the other. After Mia tried to use the tail to produce flames, the holy emblem illuminated by the flames melted again. But this time, the concave pattern of a small cat's paw was formed.
Xia De grabbed Mia's paw and pressed it, but Mia didn't show any abnormality.
He thought that maybe he could dig this magical stone out of the soil, but when he tried, he found that the stone seemed to be connected to the entire mountain. So he gave up his idea, moved the base of the stone tablet back to its original position, made sure there was nothing else worth noting on the top of the mountain, and then went down the mountain along the same route.
After re-entering the cave, Xia De did not rush to go up to meet the three ladies, but lit up the light on his fingertips to explore the four walls of the cave. Then, he actually saw a very obvious crack on the rock wall at the deepest part of the cave.
Although the crack was not wide enough for a fat person to pass through, it was wide enough for Shade.
"Um?"
Xia De immediately walked over and was very sure that when he and Luvia checked in the afternoon, they definitely did not see such an obvious crack. But now it appeared so clearly, which means that the stone tablet on the top of the mountain is really useful. Only by touching it can you see the crack.
"The key to the underground passage is actually at the top... Whoever designed it, it's really interesting."
He thrust his finger into the crack, making sure there were no traces of strange elements, and then walked in with Mia, who was already wanting to have dinner.
Inside the crack was a sloping downward passage with obvious signs of artificial excavation. The passage was not deep, and the stone walls above, below, left and right were relatively smooth.
Xia De only took a few dozen steps forward and reached the end of the passage.
At the end is an old double stone door. On the left door is a pattern of many butterflies, and on the right door is a pattern of the Holy Grail surrounded by flowers and plants.
"The key to the door."
Xia De pushed the door directly, but after using the spell, he felt like he was pushing a mountain. This shows that this door is set with a very strong force to prevent it from being opened in an incorrect way.
Direct contact with the door also led to another strange thing. In the dim environment, a flickering light appeared in Shad's pocket. Shad touched his pocket and found that the antique key he got from Earl Granger was actually flickering.