Whispering Verse

Chapter 2543 Vista Woodland and Tree Hole

After Shade's voice fell, white mist poured in from all directions, completely covering the circular space. The statue of the ancient god disappeared in front, and a path appeared in the thick white mist ahead. On the path were 10 dilapidated wooden signposts.

[Outlander, you have entered the "space maze". 】

[Message from the ancient god "Original Crack": ]

[Existing space road signs: 10. 】

"Home, Coldwater Harbor, West Cal Mountain, White River Valley Vineyards, Lighthouse in the Everglades, Church of the Forgotten, Temple of the Night, Green Lake Inn, Green Lake Lighthouse, Moon Bay Dragon's Lair."

Shade scanned the road signs, drank the soy milk which was actually milk, and then held up the white stone crystal in the fog:

"Offer sacrifices to the labyrinth of space."

The crystal melted into the mist, and at the same time "she" prompted:

[New information obtained: new space landmarks can be searched. Please choose a direction. 】

"southeast."

After the words fell, the path in the thick fog extended to a new distance in the distance, making the originally short path now fifty meters long. In the new area of ​​the trail, old road signs that seemed to have been ravaged by time for hundreds of years appeared bit by bit.

After making sure he had enough items with him, Shade stepped forward and touched the new road sign.

[The original rift will guide you. 】

"Her" gentle voice fell, the surrounding white mist quickly dispersed to the surroundings, and the light quickly disappeared.

The new dark space was dry but not stuffy at all. When Shade's eyes looked at the statue of the ancient god in front of him, the two-headed statue was lit up and illuminated the surrounding area.

It is still the same circular space as in other cities, but this time there are scattered debris on the wall.

Because this hidden space leading to the "space labyrinth" does not stop time, most of the things in it are decayed and appear to have been placed here hundreds of years ago.

Shade simply packed it up. There were no relics in it, and there were only two items that could still be used.

One was a lantern, but it was not the lantern-style kerosene lamp he had harvested from the Sin Mansion that could hold fire, but an exquisite elf-style lantern.

The outstanding craftsmanship of the elves made the lantern well-sealed, so there was even a lot of oil left in it.

The other one is a wooden holy emblem. The holy emblem pattern is a big tree painted with white paint.

Shade recognized this immediately:

"Oak god, god of luck - the holy symbol of the old god [White Holy Tree]? I remember that the ones who still believe in this god are the [Forest Hermits]."

Shade is no stranger to this small ring warlock group. They have a good relationship with Old John. The [Oak Lucky Potion] and the relic derivative [Empty Bottle Fruit] that Shade used were both provided by this organization.

The wooden holy symbol has not decayed, naturally because it contains miraculous elements. But although it contains power, the power it contains is not strong enough, so it cannot be sacrificed to the [Holy White Auditorium]:

"Have any members of the [Forest Hermits] ever been here? I remember Old John said that the [Forest Hermits] is located in a forest area in the middle of the Old World, so it cannot be here. Bar."

He examined the holy symbol and the lantern carefully but did not take them away, but left them where they were. Then the life ring emerged from the steam mist behind him, and the [Time and Space] spirit runes flashed and illuminated the wall in the direction the statue was pointing.

The melted wall revealed a hidden passage, and Shade carefully walked out with his sword.

As expected, it was pitch black outside the passage, but now Shade's "dark vision" could completely see his surroundings.

Taking a deep breath, the earthy smell flooded into my nostrils, and I looked around at the small space the size of a foyer.

The ground, surroundings and top of the head were all paved with identical gray-white short rectangular stone tiles. There was also a torch hanging on the wall on the right, and Shade casually threw out the flame to light it.

The bright yellow flames danced and completely illuminated the place, and Shade confirmed that there was really nothing in this extremely small space.

Behind is the brick wall where the hidden passage is located, and not far in front are the spiraling stone steps. The steps are also paved with gray-white rectangular stone bricks:

"The end point of the staircase is so small that it cannot be used as a storage room. Therefore, this staircase and this narrow space were built entirely to lead to the hidden passage behind the wall."

[Echoes of the Past] could not hear any sounds, and [Powerful Spatial Perception] told Shade that his current location was underground.

Using the map of the Old World and the map of the Vista Woodland area prepared in his hand for positioning, he finally determined that this was his destination, and the specific location was in the vast forest outside Vista City/Ximu Town.

"Is this the underground of the lumberjack's cabin? Or is it the basement of the ancient ruins in the forest?"

Guessing in my mind, I walked up the spiral stone stairs. The narrower stairwell was so oppressive that it was suffocating. Fortunately, I just turned around and reached the top. Perceiving the space again, the height at this time is equivalent to standing on the ground.

There was also a brick wall at the end of the stone steps, but after Shade touched it a few times, he discovered that the wall was actually a door, which required a specific method to open. It might be a key, or it might be a spell.

"Looks like a variant of the Elven Rune Lock."

Although Shade did not have a key, the rune lock was far from as strong as the elven ruins in the "Vulture Mountain Creek" in the Moon Bay area, so he held the [Night Watch] with both hands and pressed the tip of the sword against the wall:

"[Key to the Door]!"

The long sword was rotated little by little with the wrist. Amidst the clicking sounds, the light green ritual array appeared little by little centered on the point where the sword tip was in contact with the wall. As the long sword rotated further, the runes in the ritual matrix that seemed to be engraved on the surface of the brick wall also wandered and changed positions, until all the emerald-green runes left the outermost circle of the ritual matrix. Line.

"Huh~"

Shade withdrew his long sword and watched as 4×12 blocks of stone bricks disappeared from the brick wall in front of him, revealing the rectangular exit outward.

The moonlight was already shining in from the outside at this time. Shade stretched out his hand to catch the moonlight and couldn't help but smile. Then he lowered his head and walked sideways through the narrow exit.

Underfoot are the floor tiles of the ruins that are almost covered by the soil. Looking ahead is the woodland under the moonlight. The moonlight shines through the gaps in the still lush tree crowns in early autumn. Only the ruins of half a wall and a few stone bricks are left. The edge of the ground left mottled moon shadows.

Although the forest is quiet at night, it is not absolutely quiet. The chirping of insects and the rustling of the treetops and grass tips form a perfect melody.

Turning around and looking behind him, he saw a tall and tall tree standing alone in the center of the ruins with only the last trace left. The tree was so thick that Shade felt that even five of him could not hug it together. But apart from standing alone in this small open space, it is not conspicuous in this forest, because there are many such tall and strong trees in the forest outside the ruins:

"I kind of know why the wood from Vista Grove is so famous."

Shade reached out and touched the rough bark of the giant tree he walked out of, but did not feel any elemental reaction. But after using the "Key of the Door" in conjunction with [Night Watch] again, he was still able to open the spiral staircase leading to the underground:

"So this is a tree hole? This time the location is underground in the tree hole. It's really unique."

Although he would choose to throw away the glass slipper and go home later, he still took a few steps back and firmly remembered the clearing in the forest where the tree was located, the stone bricks in the clearing, and the position of the half wall.

Then he briefly checked the area and determined that the ruins, which only had floor tiles and half a wall left, were not worth investigating at all.

"Then, let's go."

Unlike the Yuewan area, which has extremely complex terrain, the terrain near the "City of Music" is relatively flat. Although there are a few small peaks, overall the terrain does not have large fluctuations.

Therefore, after transforming into a swarm of butterflies from the ground and flying to the top of the giant tree with a hidden tree hole, standing at the highest point of the tree crown and looking toward the southwest, you can see the lights of the city at the end of the forest sea.

The name "Ximu Town" is no longer suitable for this "City of Thousand Trees" and "City of Music" which became an important node in the water network after the advent of the steam age and the invention of the steamship. Even if he only saw the distant view of the city lights, Xia De understood that although this place was not as good as Yuewan, it was still a truly modern city in the steam age.

At least this place is more prosperous than backward areas like Green Lake City.

It was already dark, and after estimating the distance, Shade didn't even think about walking to the city. Instead, he transformed into a swarm of butterflies again on the top of the tree, and then flew straight towards the city.

Although it was a bit far away from the city, by flying in a straight line in the air, Shade estimated that he would be close to the edge of the city in less than half an hour.

Because almost the entire city is surrounded by woodland, there are no large areas of farmland around Ximu Town. Arriving at the edge of the city is equivalent to entering the urban area. After all, this was originally just a town where lumberjacks gathered.

I just thought that it would only take some time to enter the city, but as he flew, Shade felt that the lights in the distance had no intention of getting closer to him.

At first, he thought it was because he had stayed in the "butterflies" state for so long that he had a brain problem. However, after he returned to his human form and rested on the treetops for a while before continuing, he still felt that the distance between the lights in the distance and himself was not at all. No change.

Confirming that this was not his imagination, he stopped on the treetops and looked up at the moon above his head. He probably understood that he was in trouble as soon as he arrived.

"Isn't this the period of lucky soy milk? Why are you still having bad luck?"