"Shad, do you know that once you come to this world, you can never go back?"
"Don't worry, I can get back."
Shade said lightly, and then asked Father Augustus:
"So, what's going on? Why did you cross Death's Door? What went wrong here?"
The priest shook his head:
"Since you are already here, I will not explain the matter of the narrow space between life and death. In short, after I accidentally fell into the narrow space, I realized that something was wrong because of my sensitivity to the power of death."
"What's the problem?"
"The world of the dead and the world of the living should not have any communication. All the gaps in this world are expanding. From the second era to the sixth era, this first and largest gap is about to be unable to bear it."
"Sorry, what do you mean by unbearable?"
Xia De still didn't understand.
"It's very simple. The world we live in now is a pure world of the dead, and the power accumulated here should only exist here. But with the gap between life and death, the power of death has penetrated into the material world, causing the gap to become larger and larger, and more and more numerous."
This is mentioned in Sister Defulin's information.
"The narrow space devours living people every autumn in order to balance the power of death and delay the outbreak of death. The church has no way to destroy all the narrow spaces, so it can only continuously strengthen the seal, but this also leads to more and more souls accumulating in the narrow spaces and not wanting to leave."
Judging from the number of souls that Shade had just seen, the number of souls in the narrow gap between life and death is far greater than the number of living people in the Midhill Castle area.
“Isn’t the church sealed well?”
Xia De asked again:
"Not only have they prepared a large-scale ceremony in the real world, but they have also arranged a huge divine ceremony in the narrow space. This is all good."
The priest shook his head again:
"I can clearly feel death and the horror of this horrible place. Even if the church has been blocking it since the fifth era, one day death will truly communicate with reality, and the underground of Midhill Castle will not be able to bear it. Shade, I am the only one who can feel that the power accumulated here will have a big explosion in a very short time... So, I voluntarily stepped over the door of death and sealed this place."
So since the priest disappeared, the number of missing persons this fall has suddenly stopped, which is actually a kind of sacrifice.
"Since a great disaster is about to happen, why not just tell the church? We have to trust the church."
Xia De also said that it was actually very strange for a shallow believer like him to persuade a senior clergyman to believe in the church.
"No, it's too sudden. Once the narrow space collapses, the outbreak of death will be more serious than any previous disaster, and it will definitely occur before the end of this year. Unless we call upon the gods, mortals cannot resist the death pouring into the real world from this door. There will be no signs, and everything will be over in just a few minutes. Even if the god-calling ceremony is prepared in advance, it will take at least twenty minutes to carry out the final steps..."
The priest sighed, which means that even if the ritual of summoning gods is successful, gods can only help mortals solve the disaster after the accident.
"I have this kind of power, and I happened to be here. I think this is my mission. I can die here as a savior of everything, and guard this door with my soul. I think this is the best ending."
"In other words, as long as this door is sealed, the troubles in Midhill Castle can be solved?"
Xia De narrowed his eyes slightly. If that was really the case, he might have a way.
But the priest shook his head again:
"I got some information in the narrow room. I don't know where the church guards here went, but they didn't stop me from approaching the library... In short, there are three channels of communication with death in the narrow room of life and death formed in the Midhill Castle area.
Located at the foot of Mount Xikar is the Gate of Death, which is sealed and guarded by the Orthodox Church. Now I will reinforce the seal."
Only then did Xia De realize that the church had only sealed one third of it.
"The passage on the mountainside of Mount Xikar is barely guarded by the seal left by the Witch Emperors of the previous era, but it seems that there are some problems. The white mist that surges out from the mountainside every autumn is caused by the loosening of the seal. But the church cannot find the location of the passage for the time being. The Witch Emperors are worried that the seal will be destroyed, so they hide it."
This was the first time that Shade knew that the witch emperors did things other than pleasure and fighting. He originally thought that those women only exterminated rare animal populations to formulate cosmetics, or spent a lot of gold to make inventions that ordinary people had no use for at all.
"Finally, the passage at the top of Mount Sikar, watched over by an Ancient One, is hot and full of life, and I can just barely sense its presence... Very powerful."
The priest glanced at the thin red burning line on Shade's right wrist. Shade also looked down at his hand and asked a question abruptly:
"Priest, have you ever spread your wings behind you in the Sicar Mountains?"
He asked, and the priest shook his head:
"No."
So, when Shad went down the mountain and met the hanged ghost's soul who said he saw a "huge flying bird", what he saw was definitely not Priest Augustus.
"So, as long as we seal these three passages, we can solve this problem?"
Shade asked again, but the priest still shook his head:
"The passage is not important. What is important is the narrow space between life and death. As long as that place exists, more passages will appear sooner or later."
"Hmm... just destroy the narrow space?"
"The church has not found a solution yet. Even if it did, it would cause millions or even tens of millions of souls to flood into the real world, and most of them would turn into evil spirits at that moment."
Shade imagined the scene of seven-digit, eight-digit, or even nine-digit or dozens-digit evil spirits appearing in Midhill Castle City:
"Then how about setting up a god-summoning ceremony in advance and letting the true gods solve the problem? Let the gods destroy the narrow space and lead those souls to true death."
"Shade, there are many level 0 relics in this world, and there are still many sufferings in this world. Why don't the gods solve all of this and make everything in the world happy and beautiful? No, it's not that they can't, but there are restrictions on the God's descent ceremony, not only the price of materials, but also secrets that we don't know. Before confirming that mortals alone cannot cope with it, the church will not easily summon gods and let gods appear on this land under steam."
Then, the impending disaster of the narrow space breaking and the death explosion seemed to be an unsolvable problem. It could not be completely solved, and could only be sealed continuously until the day when it could no longer be sealed.
"This world is really dangerous."
Xia De couldn't help but sigh.
A smile appeared on the priest's tired face:
"I'm glad you realize this. There is only one world after death, but there is more than one gap between life and death. The history of this one can probably be traced back to the Second Age, so it is so terrifying. So there is no need to worry about the other gaps. Xia De, if you can leave, please leave. I'm very happy to meet you. See, my luck is really good."
This time it was Shade's turn to shake his head. He turned around and looked back at the calm water and the shadowy souls standing on the water. The moonlight illuminated his face, and he was still surprised that he had actually survived death:
"You said that if you stay here, you can guard this door and prevent the outbreak of the power of death?"
“It’s just this passage down the mountainside, and I can only do what I can.”
The priest looked at Shade's back from above:
"I have blocked the outbreak before the end of this year, but I can't say what will happen to the other two passages. However, they won't flow out from the door at the foot of the mountain, which means that the church will have more time after the accident. Speaking of which, I can't do it alone, thanks to you..."
"I?"
Xia De hesitated:
“I don’t think I did anything?”
“When I pushed open the door deep inside the Church of Nature in the narrow space between life and death, there was no light at all.”
"No light?"
Xia De squinted his eyes and looked at the half silver moon at the end of the boundless water:
"Originally, this dark moon didn't shine?"
"No, there was no moon."
The priest's voice was calm.
"No?"
"Yes, originally, there was only endless darkness and emptiness here, without this moon. But when you called me into your dream, the world of the dead invaded your dream, but it didn't seem to have any effect on you. And the light of the huge silver moon in your dream also shone here..."
The priest on the door also looked up at the silver moon at the end of the water.
No one spoke. The silver light illuminated the faces of the stranger and the old priest. In the world of the concept of death itself, they all doubted this. Shad suspected that it was because the divinity in his soul had infected the spirit rune silver moon, and then a trace of divinity's power penetrated into this world and formed this moon.
The burning line on Shad's wrist suddenly became hot. It was Sister Defulin reminding him that dawn was about to come and he had to return as soon as possible.
"I don't know if this is a permanent change or a temporary one, but your dream has changed this place. The appearance of the dark moon that guides death has indeed stabilized death and delayed the impending disaster."
the priest whispered;
"Shad, leave. Someone must guard this door."
"Even if this seal is reinforced, there may be problems with the other two. I think the best solution is for you to leave with me, Priest. You can play a greater role in reality than if you were alone here."
This is the truth. Priest Augustus seems to be particularly familiar with death, and knows a lot of things that the church does not know. If you want to prevent the outbreak of death, the priests can definitely help a lot by providing intelligence to the church in reality.
Father Augustus obviously knew this truth, but he still shook his head:
"This door of death can no longer hold out. I must be here."
"Priest, I will reinforce the seal."
Shade said, and Father Augustus looked at him:
"You have no idea how... "
"I know. I can clearly feel how cold, empty, and quiet it is here."
Shade took a deep breath, still with his back to the priest, and looked at the silver moon. The silver moon was enough to drive any ordinary person crazy, but it was extremely kind to Shade:
"Priest, I can even break into the dark realm and kill Ivan Darkness. Can't I create a miracle again?"
"So it really is you, but how come... Iluna Beas of the Church of the Sun is also your friend."
Father Augustus was silent for a moment.
"How many seals can you strengthen?"
"We won't know until we try it, but I think it will at least work. It can delay the process for a while, giving the church time to come up with a response. Priest, do you believe me?"
Another moment of silence:
"Okay then."
There was a sound of flapping wings coming from the door behind him, and Shad knew that it was Priest Augustus coming down from the door.
"Shade, there are other living people in the Narrow Space of Life and Death. I asked them to take refuge in the Dawn Church in the narrow space. I will leave first and lead them back to the real world. I cannot enter the Narrow Space of Life and Death at will, but it is no problem to get out. We will appear in the forest of Mount Xikar, and after leaving here, everyone except me will lose their memory. After all, the narrow space is not a place where living people should exist, so you don't have to worry about this.
After you strengthen the seal, you must leave immediately. If you stay here for a long time, you will get lost."
Xia De knew this. In fact, according to his perception of time, it would be dawn in half an hour:
"That's good. With so many missing people going out together, the church won't doubt your identity. As for communicating with the church in the future, you can use other means. Priest, it's better not to expose the matter of the correspondence students."
"OK."
The footsteps were getting closer and closer, and Priest Augustus appeared beside Shad, standing shoulder to shoulder with him, but the wings behind him were gone.
The two stood in front of the beach by the water, looking in the direction where countless souls were heading, looking at the half silver moon in the sky. The moonlight illuminated their faces and their eyes. Perhaps, the scene they saw at this moment was not exactly the same.
After a moment, the priest whispered:
"Shad, thank you for coming to save me."
"Priest, you are not trying to take advantage of me and say that you will treat me as your grandchild in the future? No, no, I still want to be your friend."
Shade said jokingly, and the priest shook his head:
"At least I know who I should leave my estate to in my formal will."
"Don't mention death anymore, priest. I've come across this word too often this week. If, like in those knight novels, it was the young princess I was waiting to rescue instead of you, maybe..."
He realized that it was a bad omen to say this, so he stopped talking immediately. The priest smiled and shook his head, handing Shad a burnt feather.
The moment Xia De made contact, he felt half of his hand completely lose sensation through his already numb senses, and his ears also gave him a hint:
Outsider, you touched the whisper.
"This is the power of death. It can allow you to obtain a spiritual rune related to death and help you strengthen the power to seal the door of death. Only in this kind of place can I give this kind of power. In the real world, I am just a second-ring human old man."
The priest laughed at himself:
"Xia De, no matter what, you must return in time."