This golden stone was the "fragment of the heart of the earth" that the guardian gave to Shad in the stable at the banquet of reconciliation between the royal family and the Stonemasons Guild to help Sirius awaken the power of the earth.
However, later on, Sirius awakened the power of the earth through the crystallization of his father's memory in the Forgotten Church, so this fragment remained in Shad's hands.
At this moment, the golden pebbles kept hitting the side of the glass bottle, and Xia De felt that the thing moving in his pocket was this bottle.
"What is this? It looks like it wants to move this way."
Emilia pointed to the area in front of her right that was engulfed by darkness. Even though the torches on the side of the corridor were less than a step in front of that area, they could not illuminate the scenery in the darkness.
“It’s a fragment, and this fragment has the property of self-aggregating.”
Xia De frowned slightly, then bent down and placed the bottle on the ground. As expected, with the continuous impact of the golden stone, the bottle rolled to the right front.
So Shade asked Emilia not to follow him, and he took two quick steps with Mia in his arms, and entered the night again. As the light of the sun and the moon dispelled the night, what was revealed was not the wall of the old brick and stone corridor, but a fork in the road leading to the right.
The passage was now completely filled with the deep night. Even if Shad took another step forward while holding Mia, he only illuminated the surroundings instead of completely dispelling the night like before.
"There's a fork in the road here? I thought this was a straight road."
Emilia said in surprise, but she also knew it was dangerous there, so she didn't dare to move forward. Shade bent down to pick up the bottle, hesitated for a moment, and said to the elf girl behind him:
"Wait for me here. The darkness here cannot be completely dispelled. Don't take the risk of following me."
Although somewhat unwilling, the young elf still nodded:
"Then come back soon. I'm a little... scared."
She looked around anxiously:
"There are more secrets here than I thought. I'm afraid there will be other forks in the road, and then something strange will appear."
"I'll be back soon."
Xia De nodded, and quickly carried Mia into the fork in the road on the right.
It was called a fork in the road, but it was actually a dead end. He had only walked about ten steps before he reached the end. At the end of the fork in the road was a fairly flat brick wall. However, unlike the surrounding walls, that wall was painted with a complete mural in oil paint that was unique to the night.
In the city where it was drizzling at night, a young man with a vague face was holding the hand of a girl with a big tail behind him, with a cat standing on his shoulder, and his right hand raised high, as if holding up a silver moon.
The center of the whole picture is the man holding the moon. This is a typical "knight hero oil painting", that is, with a specific character as the center, and all the actions and details of the background and other characters are to set off the central character.
"Fiona..."
Xia De took a deep breath and spoke softly. After a long time, he reached out and touched Fiona's face on the wall.
But when the hand touched the wall, ripples appeared throughout the mural, centered on the point of contact.
Xia De felt a little warmth, and it seemed as if something was touching his hand.
Outsider, you have obtained "Witch's Echo: Red Dragon Witch Fiona".
You have some understanding of "dragon".
On the constantly fluctuating mural, the Red Dragon Witch held Shade's hand and winked at him playfully. She pointed to the door of the shop in the lower right corner of the background of the painting.
"Don't keep me waiting too long, my hero."
She bit her lip lightly, lowered her head and kissed the back of Shad's hand, then turned into a motionless mural again.
Shade sighed, accepting the new knowledge in his mind and knowing that he had mastered the dragon language, he reached out and touched the shop that Fiona's portrait pointed to. Then the door of the shop on the mural slowly opened, and behind it was the secret compartment in the mural, and a box the size of two palms popped out from the small door.
It was a gray stone box with a rough surface and no polishing.
When Shade touched the box, the box itself turned into ash. The ash flowed from Shade's fingertips and fell into the white ash on the ground. The two items in the box also fell into Shade's hands.
In his left hand was a red copper metal pepper shaker, which was the relic "Blood Feast Lord's Pepper Shaker" that Shade had seen on the menu of the Dragon Maid Café. The item description at that time was "The Blood Feast Lord's Delicious Bait" (Chapter 1296).
Before he even used it, Xia De heard two rumblings from his stomach, one coming from himself and the other from the cat that was looking at the pepper shaker. It seemed like half a month had passed since he last ate.
"Items powerful enough to summon gods, a great desire for gluttony..."
In his right hand was a black stone that was larger than Shade's palm. He didn't feel any power when he first touched it, but then he felt as if he was holding up the entire earth.
This is the "fragment of the heart of the earth" that Shade had seen in the exhibit list of the Midnight Art Museum. Its page number is at the front of the "eggshell book". Compared with the small golden stone given by the guardian, this stone was separated from the heart of the earth in ancient times. It is not only larger in size, but also contains a more profound and great power (Chapter 1391).
"With this, can I directly awaken the Guardian?"
Xia De was thinking in surprise, and "she" gently reminded Xia De in his ear:
Not only can you try to awaken it, but holding this fragment can greatly increase your 'Earth Power and Healing Aura'. You can try to sink into the location of the "Heart of the Earth". If you are willing to devour the power in this fragment, you may even be able to completely master the power of the earth. At the same time, consuming the power of this Heart of the Earth (fragment) can also heal people who have been petrified by the distorted power of the earth.
After a light laugh, he continued:
It seems that Fiona Drago remembered the items you noticed in Evernight City, so she left them for you as a gift.
When Shad saw the "fragment of the heart of the earth", although Fiona was still in the moon dream, after Shad awakened her with the haphazard ritual, he told her what he had seen, so Fiona knew that Shad actually wanted this thing.
"She really is..."
Shade stuffed the pepper shaker and the huge stone into his clothes, pursed his lips and stared at Fiona in the painting:
"I won't keep you waiting too long."
Kacha~
As soon as Shade finished speaking, cracks appeared on Fiona's face on the mural, and then the cracks ran through the entire mural. Shade almost immediately felt that the space where the entire corridor was located began to become unstable. He knew that the meaning of the existence of this corridor had disappeared, and this would be the last time this road would be used.
After joining the elf girl and the unicorn who were frightened by the shaking and flickering flames around them, the two hurriedly continued to run forward. As expected, the end of the corridor was not the white mist door leading to the "Witch Council", but a curtain with the color of night.
Although the shaking corridor did not collapse, the sense of crisis made the two people almost unable to breathe. The unicorn, which ran faster, jumped out first, and then Shade hugged Emilia and jumped forward, also crossing the curtain and leaving the corridor.
The two rolled on the snow. The chaotic power of the earth beneath their bodies was almost immediately noticed by Shade, and made the unicorn who followed them restless.
In the forest with gray snow flying, Miss Danister and Miss Sylvia walked out from the shadow of the dead tree. They had just had a pleasant conversation about the power of the moon and space, and when they saw Shade and Emilia finally appeared, they came over.
Miss Sylvia helped Shad up, and when she saw the unicorn, she immediately looked at it with interest. No girl could resist such a beautiful creature.
Miss Danister asked Shade, who was patting the gray snowflakes on his body:
"So, your work should be done, right?"
"Yes. Please allow me to express my gratitude to you again."
The thirteenth ring sorceress waved her hand, signaling Emilia, who had slowly gotten up and was looking around with great interest, to go back. After the elf left, she wanted to tell Shade a few more things.
The elf girl looked at Shade with pleading eyes, and Shade waved his hands in the air behind him a few times, then said regretfully:
"If you're looking for that passage, I think it's gone."
"What?"
Miss Danister asked suspiciously:
"How did you disappear?"
Miss Sylvia on the side explained:
"Nothing can exist forever. Everything will disappear. It's just a coincidence this time. But fortunately, they were not injured."
"But isn't it too much of a coincidence that Shade disappeared after walking by once?"
Miss Danister asked, but shook her head, knowing that now was not the right time to bring up the matter:
"Shad, I will talk to you in person after the Randall Valley incident is over, so be prepared. But now, let Miss Emilia Sienold follow me. I will take her back after this is over. But you must promise not to run around."
Miss Danister looked at the elf girl, who nodded her head vigorously as if she had won a prize.
Then she said to Shade:
"I know you have other things to do, but I want to know, is it possible for me to see you again tonight?"
The sorceress's eyes were fixed on Shad's, which was actually a question as to whether Shad would still be deeply involved in the affairs of the Chosen Ones.
"Absolutely not."
Shade assured with a chuckle in his ear.
"Your integrity right now is at a failing level in my eyes. Last time you said you wouldn't jump out of the bushes."
The sorceress said jokingly, and then asked Miss Sylvia:
"You can take him away. I think you should be able to guarantee his safety. Besides, your relationship with him..."
After hesitating for a while, he still did not express more opinions on his students' private lives:
"Be careful."
Miss Sylvia nodded, and turned and walked towards the bushes with Shade. The footsteps continued for a while, and then Miss Danister and Emilia heard the sound of glass breaking, and then there was no sound from them.
"Can you tell me what happened just now?"
The librarian asked the elf whose face was flushed with excitement. Just as the elf was about to speak, she heard a roar in the distance. Then, a mountain in the night completely collapsed under the elf's gaze. Two figures chased each other in the night sky and flew over their heads. The fireballs that fell due to the battle ignited the nearby forest. From an unknown source in the east, a dark beam of light swept directly over the forest and flattened the top of another towering hill.
Emilia hurriedly hugged the pure white beast's neck. The latter was not afraid of landslides, but was very worried about the ground under its feet. It hated such a dirty place.
"Forget it. Let's talk about what happened just now after it's over. Follow me and don't stray far away. Let's go back to the camp now. I will protect you."
The sorceress said with a headache, and the two figures quickly disappeared into the woods.