"No!"
Xia De couldn't accept this result at all. Facing the biting cold black wind, and the repeated whispers and murmurs of countless dead, he approached the two towering gray stone doors. At this time, the golden embers on his body were really pulling behind him like flames. The power he felt was even stronger than the god in the form of a saint.
“What is death itself?”
Standing in front of the door, stepping on the last footprints of Priest Augustus, looking up at the full view of the stone door in the darkness. All the clues ended here. The priest had crossed this door and went to another world.
He stood there, thinking about everything. Suddenly he raised his hand and pressed it on the stone door in front of him. The bone-chilling coldness made him feel like he was falling into an abyss. There was no need for "her" to give him a hint, as Xia De could already feel what was behind the door.
Behind the door is "The End".
"Are you going to end it here? Admit that Father Augustus was not lying, that he is really dead, and then turn around and leave..."
Shade asked himself, then looked down at the burning red line on his wrist.
"I have come here after crossing life and death. Are you going to turn back?"
He raised his head and looked at the huge stone door again, his eyes fixed on the "door", blood constantly oozing from the corners of his eyes. This door was the gate that separated death, and the relic level itself would definitely not be lower than the sage level (level 2).
"Are you willing?"
Xia De asked himself, his soul becoming cold and stiff because of the nearness of death. Everything has its own death, and behind this door is the final death.
So what are you going to do, stranger
Even at this time, she was still able to chuckle.
"Excuse me, if I also walked through that door, can I still turn back?"
He asked softly amid the whispers of countless dead people, rather than asking in his heart. The golden light on his body shone on the door in front of him, but it could only form a shadowy light.
Everyone is mortal, and you want to turn back
She whispered in his ear that the ancient language was so beautiful.
But your soul contains a drop of divinity, and your soul has been washed by two drops of divinity. Can you really be considered a mortal
Feeling the sound of wind in his ears, Shade was not sure whether it was "her" appearing or the wind of death.
"So, when I walk through this door, I can turn back?"
You can’t know for sure until you get to the other side.
"Yeah?"
Xia De exerted a little force with his right hand on the door, but the stone door did not move at all. It seemed that he needed more strength.
But I can promise you that you can come back.
"Because of that drop of divinity?"
For God, transcending life and death is a simple matter.
Shade shook his head and walked from the giant stone door on the right to the center of the two doors, letting the wind representing the end of all things blowing out from the gap in the door blow directly on his body.
His body became cold and stiff, and his physical strength and spirit, which were slowly recovering, completely fell silent. The wind contained the true meaning of death, and he was getting closer and closer to the Death Spirit Rune.
If he could obtain a spiritual rune in a place like this, he couldn't imagine how powerful it would be.
Stretch out your hands, press each door with your hands, then bend down slightly, use your waist to sink your shoes into the mud on the ground:
“Ah~”
All my strength was trying to push the door open, but it didn't budge.
No, because I am with you.
She was chuckling, as if praising herself.
Xia De felt that he was being hugged, and this time it was not an illusion, because he really saw a pair of silver transparent arms wrapped around his neck.
"Help."
He spoke softly, his voice audible only to him in the empty darkness.
Do you remember how to say it
She is still smiling.
"You are me..."
The whistle blew long and the bell sounded far away. In the scorching steam mist, a brass life ring covered with fine golden spots appeared behind Xia De. The black wind passed by Xia De's side and blew on the life ring, leaving scratches on it. The life ring seemed to be broken, but as the rust-like coating around the light marks peeled off, the golden light marks flickered under the brass.
Unfortunately, Xia De didn't look back, so he didn't see this scene.
... ... I am you.
The pair of silver arms overlapped with Shade's arms, but separated again at the palms. Both pairs of palms pressed on the cold and huge stone door at the same time. As the ten spirit runes on Shade's life ring emitted dazzling spiritual light at the same time, as the golden light marks on his body representing divinity became brighter and brighter, and as the silver moonlight in his eyes became brighter and brighter—
Squeak! Ah!
Xia De took a step forward and the door was pushed open.
A dazzling white light shot into Shad's eyes from the gap in the open door. As everything in front of his eyes turned white, he could faintly hear the sound of the tide in his ears.
Leaving all his belongings in front of the door to prevent them from being affected, Shade walked towards the white light.
The door slammed shut behind him.
Stranger, you have entered death.
Stranger, you have a better understanding of "death" and "sleep".
As for what death is, the stranger, who had probably died once before coming to this world, had no idea. He thought the other side of the world would be a dark void, or some strange and bizarre scene, but when the white light in front of him disappeared, he found himself standing on the shore, facing the endless water.
The sky was black and particularly low. Behind me was a stone wall that stretched as far as the eye could see to the left or right. Inlaid on the wall were two huge stone doors. Only in front of the stone doors was there a mudflat where one could stand.
Although the sound of the tide could be heard, the water seemed unusually calm under the low black sky.
I looked up and saw a huge silver moon hovering far above the horizon, but only half of it was above the water. The other half was submerged in the black water and could not be seen at all. The silver moonlight was so quiet, so strange, and even had a maddening sense of holiness.
Although the silver moon looks large, it seems to be far away in the endless black water. The moonlight makes the calm water surface shimmer.
The water surface was not empty. Shadows, countless white shadows, were looming, with their backs to Shade, standing on the calm and boundless water, as if they were moving towards the distance. The moonlight illuminated them, but their shapes and features could not be seen clearly, and it was impossible to tell how far they were.
Xia De knew that this was the soul. On this boundless water surface, the deceased soul was continuing to walk towards the moon that was half-sunken in the water.
"Ming Yue..."
It was so cold around that Shade even felt like he had lost the ability to sense temperature.
He looked down at his hands. The golden light in the cracks was still so dazzling in the darkness. He raised his hands to face the silver moon that was enough to drive people crazy. The moonlight shone on his face through his fingers. His hands did not become transparent, but were still solid with color. But he could feel the rejection of this place, and the power that would make it absolutely impossible for him to open his eyes again if he fell asleep again.
“Is this the world after death?”
He couldn't describe this place with any words, he just felt extremely tired.
"Can you smile for a moment?"
So I asked in my heart, and then that familiar voice chuckled:
Strange request.
The ancient language and the light laughter made Xia De's quickly exhausted spirit better. At this time, a voice came from behind him:
"This is not the real death. Death is a concept, not a world. And this is just people's understanding of death, the area closest to death. Of course, this can also be considered death, the difference is not big. But the real eternal sleep and the wall of unbelievers are at the end of the water. People come from their mother's amniotic fluid, so they eventually return to the water. This is the reason for all this you see."
Xia De turned his head and saw an old man in a priest's robe with his feet off the ground, embedded between the two huge stone doors behind him.
It was Priest Augustus. A pair of broken white feather wings stretched out from his back, revealing the skeleton and flesh. Most of the white feathers had been burnt, making him look particularly terrifying.
The old man leaned against the gap of the closed stone door. The back half of his body seemed to be completely integrated with the two stone doors, and the pair of wings were almost completely integrated into the stone doors.
His feet were about half a person's height off the ground, and two wings sprouted from his back, spreading across the entire stone gate like tree roots. The huge charred wings and skeleton perfectly blended into the death scene of the stone gate itself, as if this gate was supposed to be like this.
When Shade turned around, Priest Augustus also saw his face. The stranger turned his back to the huge silver moon behind him, and the old priest widened his eyes in astonishment:
"Hello, Shad... Hmm? Shad?"
For a few seconds, the exhausted old man could only make strange noises with his throat, and was even unable to speak because of excessive surprise:
"Shad? What happened? Are you dead too?"
"Actually, I'm more curious about how I pushed the door open just now."
Shade smiled and whispered, then looked up at Priest Augustus on the door:
"I'm not dead. Dr. Schneider and his team asked me to come find you. This is not easy. You can't imagine how hard I tried..."
Apart from being a little tired, the old man looked no different from the last time we parted at Tobysk Railway Station. Even his clothes were the same. Priest Augustus seemed to always like wearing this priest robe.
"Why... Oh, aren't you curious about the wings behind me?"
The priest seemed to want to rebuke him, but in the end he just asked tiredly. The voices of the two were almost silent in the death, but they could be heard clearly.
"Aren't you curious about this weird skin appearance on me?"
Shad asked. He was also adapting to this world. He didn't even open his mouth, but his voice appeared directly in the priest's ears.
The two men stared at each other. Behind the priest was a stone wall with scenes of death written on it, and behind Shad was the silver moon half-sunken in the water and countless souls.
There is actually no need to ask these questions.