Miss Benanis already had all eleven spirit runes, and the new spirit rune miracle - travel was just the icing on the cake. The aura of the life ring echoed with the golden steps that symbolized the identity of the great witch. The girls stood up in surprise, watching the great witch they followed become even stronger.
Only then did the beautiful blonde witch stand up and look back at the symbol of her strength:
"It's time for the ceremony."
She said this, nodded to Shade and Siris on the stage, put away the life ring and the golden steps, and hurriedly walked towards the exit of the performance hall. The witch's followers immediately followed. The promotion ceremony held by the great witch was more complicated than that of the ring warlock. They knew that Miss Benannis still needed help.
"That's great. I thought Vanessa would be promoted after the Green Lake incident was over. With her included, there will be four people in the Council at the twelfth level (Chapter 1656). If we add the Great Witch Edwards who is also facing promotion, there will be five people in the Council at the twelfth level... or six. Miss Sylvia's talent is better than most witches. It's only a matter of time before she is promoted to the twelfth level. This is a rare prosperous era for the Council since the Sixth Epoch."
In the small performance hall, only Shade and Hillis were left on the stage. The blonde was happy for her best friend, and then looked at Shade:
"Now at least three great witches have been promoted to the twelfth level, and they are all related to you."
"The ladies have been so kind to me, this is all I can do to repay them."
Shade said, and Hillis shook his head slightly:
"Witches don't care what you give them in return. They only care that they get what they want."
The beautiful eyes looked at Xia De, and in the depths of the eyes there was not only some extremely strong emotions, but also melancholy:
"Just like Vanessa. After we parted at Randall Valley, she always remembered the dance she danced for you... That night, I was watching you backstage."
What "that night" referred to was very clear in Shad's memory. As for when Miss Benanis was dancing on the stage, Hillis was backstage, but Shad really didn't notice it.
After all, Miss Benaness’s performance was truly amazing.
He looked at Shad closely, and then the distance between them got closer and closer, until Sirius stood on tiptoe and kissed Shad.
Most of the adventures of the strangers in the Randall Valley are related to Cirith's father, and it was he who accompanied Cirith and witnessed the whole process of her father volunteering to become a "guardian". Therefore, Shade knew what Cirith thought of herself, otherwise she would not appear in the form of a scarecrow in the "Black Mist Camp".
The kiss was quite deep. There was no one else in the small performance hall, so no one disturbed the kiss after a long separation. However, after the kiss, Hillis whispered to Shade not to tell Miss Benanis what they did here:
"I was worried Vanessa would be upset."
As he spoke, he kissed Xia De again:
"So, just don't let her know... Do you still want to see her dance? Once things are over at Green Lake, I can arrange for her to come again."
Although the date was pleasant, Shade did not forget other things to do on this Friday night. It was a little late when he left the Glass Bottle Opera House, but fortunately the carriage was very fast. When Shade arrived at the agreed location, the cemetery outside the village of "Big Flynn Village" in the north of Michaela Blast Furnace City, it was exactly 7:55 in the evening.
Legend has it that hundreds of years ago, two brothers named Flynn came here from other places and settled in different places. The village where the eldest brother's descendants lived was called "Big Flynn Village", while "Little Flynn Village" in the north of the lake was where the younger brother's descendants lived. Of course, this is just a legend among local villagers and there is no deep meaning in it.
Under the moonlight, Shade entered this inconspicuous rural cemetery. The cemetery was surrounded by stone piles and hedges, and the overall area was not large. Although there were old men in the village hired by the villagers as gravekeepers, it was obvious that ordinary people could not stop the ring wizard.
Under the moon, Father Augustus and Doctor Schneider had already arrived. When Shade saw them, Father Augustus was holding an unlit pipe, squatting in the moonlight tonight, examining a rather old tombstone. There were two shovels at the feet of the old priest. As for Doctor Schneider, he was sitting on another tombstone not far away, taking off his coat and using it as a cushion under his buttocks.
The only buildings in the cemetery are the gravekeeper's hut in the southernmost part of the cemetery and the house for temporary storage of coffins. The cemetery is very flat, and the villagers' graves are simply piled up with tombstones erected, which is a very traditional funeral method.
"If I hadn't known you, I would have thought we were here to steal a corpse tonight."
Shade said jokingly, and the doctor waved at him:
"Detective, you are so punctual. I like people like you who have a good sense of time. I doubt that most of the patients who make appointments with me can't even read a clock."
He jumped off the tombstone, picked up the shovels on the ground, kept one for himself, and threw the other to Shade:
"Get ready to work."
Xia De also took off his coat and threw it on the tombstone beside him:
"No problem, what's the plan?"
The priest straightened up and pointed to the tombstone he had just examined:
"Dig this up. The information you provided me was very accurate. I have been tracking down the descendants of Green Lake Town these days.
As for this grave, it is the burial place of an important town dweller who escaped from Green Lake Town when it declined. He used to be the owner of one of the only two grocery stores in the town. He and his three brothers were buried here, but his eight sons later moved to the other side of the lake. The descendants who still live in Green Lake City across the lake have been found and protected by the church. As for the four graves here, I am sure that the three ghoul brothers will come to dig them up tonight and steal the remains inside. "
Father Augustus did not explain how he made this judgment, but he must have discovered some patterns after visiting various places in the Green Lake area these days.
"He's alone, and he has eight sons? Is there some special method for this?"
Xia De was very surprised. The doctor smiled and said, holding the shovel:
"You can ask through psychic communication later. I'm also very curious."
"Okay, stop joking around, you two. We only have this one chance tonight. The church will send people here tomorrow. If our plan doesn't work tonight, it will be hard to find another opportunity like this."
Father Augustus said seriously, so Shade and the doctor were ready to start. They had no psychological burden to dig up other people's graves privately, after all, it was also to protect the owner of the grave. Once taken away by the three corpse ghost brothers, they could only be used as ritual materials.
"So after we dig it up, we set the trap, right?"
Xia De spat into his palms twice, then dug the first shovel of soil.
Father Augustus nodded:
"Let's dig it up first and check the condition of the remains. It's eight o'clock now, and those ghouls usually act after eleven o'clock. We still have three hours."
"It's enough to deal with this kind of grave."
The doctor was very motivated. Father Augustus rarely asked others for help, especially this kind of help, which was new to him.
With two strong men, Xia De and the doctor, digging a grave under the moonlight was not a difficult task. Soon the pile of earth became higher and higher, and then the shovel hit the coffin underground.
It was a wooden coffin that had rotted away due to age. Xia De and the doctor threw the shovel aside, then raised their hands together:
"Get up~"
The coffin board that was nailed shut suddenly popped open, but then fell to the side quite steadily. Xia De glanced at the gravekeeper's hut, which was still motionless, and then the three people beside the grave pit leaned over to look at the coffin. The body inside was indeed rotten beyond recognition.
"After all, it's been almost a hundred years. Time~"
Father Augustus sighed, he jumped down from the grave, put on gloves and carefully examined the bones:
"No problem, the body is intact and has not been contaminated by other forces. In fact, if it is made into a trap, the detonation of the 'corpse explosion technique' is the most powerful and can also harm the ghouls. But we have no grudges against the old man lying here, and it would not be good to rashly destroy his body."
The doctor and Shade nodded at the same time, and then were surprised to find that the other party was not surprised by the priest's words.
"Then set up other traps. But since it's still early, I can give psychic communication a try."
The priest said, placing his palm on the skeleton's muddy forehead. After a moment, he frowned again:
"wrong."
"What's wrong?"
The doctor asked with great interest, although he was good at demonic powers, he really didn't know much about corpses.
"The corpse itself was not infected by the power, but his soul is still sleeping inside the corpse."
The priest in the grave held the head and analyzed it professionally:
"This is not normal. Even if he had an obsession and turned into a ghost, he wouldn't have been silent for so many years. Wait, let me take a look... The whispering element, so this is it. Some kind of relic that controls the soul, forcing him to die, so that his soul cannot leave the body."
"The angel-level relic soul storybook is most likely this. The same goes for the corpses on the island. Their souls cannot leave after they die. I have not come into contact with the bodies of the townspeople who escaped from the island other than the Edwards family. I never thought that even after they left the island, their souls still could not rest in peace."
Shade said, and the priest nodded:
"This is a very reasonable inference. Both the flesh and the soul are used as ritual materials, which is consistent with the so-called god-ascension technique you described. However, in this case, although we can communicate with the spirits, in order to avoid causing the power feedback of the relic that controls the soul, we can only ask three questions. There are three of us here, and each of us can ask one question."