Pillar of Yita

”So, what exactly is the matter, Hilveld?”

Fang Hong looked at Elisa, then at Hilveld. Fortunately, he was already accustomed to Miss Nightingale’s various subtle metaphors and occasional gossip.

After steadying his mind, he decided it would be wise to take charge of the conversation himself. This was an experience he learned from many bloody lessons—it’s best not to follow the other party’s train of thought—otherwise, one might fall into some kind of linguistic trap.

So he turned back and directly asked.

To his wisdom, Hilveld merely smiled slightly and replied, ”That old gentleman wants to see us, or more precisely, he wants to see you again, Lord Captain.”

”What do you mean?”

”It’s Mr. Alfan, Lord Captain, the old scholar who escaped from the hands of the slave traders.”

Fang Hong was taken aback for a moment before recalling who the other party was.

Hilveld added, ”It’s a message conveyed by Mr. Achilles.”

Fang Hong understood immediately, as Princess Rupert was still at Bargo and presumably had not left Lady Farideh.

”Is it at the old place?” he asked.

”At the old place,” Hilveld nodded.

...

As the group walked out from the manor of the Grand Princess, the blinding sunlight of the desert almost made them a little dizzy.

However, Fang Hong was still pondering over the things he had heard earlier, and he paid little attention to this. He merely looked up at the towering hills in the distance, with the hot wind swirling the grayish-yellow sand drifting from the hilltops and vanishing into the distance.

The old Mr. Alfan, as if on a whim, spoke to them about the Abyssal Sea Scroll. Initially, he thought that the other party still had clues about those slave traders, but unexpectedly, that was not the case.

He still remembered the old man’s piercing gaze in the dim light—noting them with a profound expression and asking, ”Do you want to know why the Dragon Worshippers are interested in the Abyssal Sea Scroll?”

Fang Hong pondered for a moment without speaking. He had thought about the matter before, but the Abyssal Sea Scroll contained a vast sum of knowledge—only a part of which related to ancient alchemy, while much remained unknown and unsettling, hidden behind a veil of mist.

Due to having too little information, he found it difficult to judge.

He only softly corrected, ”They are blind followers, Mr. Alfan.”

”Almost,” Alfan did not mind this: ”In fact, whether it’s Lifegard or Blind God Dika, the nature of their believers doesn’t differ much. Their search for the Abyssal Sea Scroll is merely to find the Elf Holy Grail.”

”The Elf Holy Grail!?”

”You don’t ask about the Elf Holy Grail, which shows you know something,” Alfan looked at him with piercing eyes: ”Part of the Abyssal Sea Scroll is the Numelin Elves’ clues about the Grail left to mortals.”

”A part?”

”Only a very small part,” Alfan replied: ”We discovered that the Abyssal Sea Scroll mainly stems from two eras, one being the relatively recent Numelin Era, and the other being the much older Xinsas Era. It is said that the earliest, most ancient Abyssal text all originated from the knowledge gained by the Serpent People from the black comet...”

”Yes, it indeed comes from the Stone of Creation—the black comet revered by the Serpent People. These ancient myths still influence the Lizardman lineage of Guda Suoke to this day. The Serpent People imitated the mysterious scripts obtained from the fallen black star and thus established a flourishing dynasty.”

”This is the Abyssal Sea Scroll of the Xinsas Era, the source of forbidden knowledge.”

”Later, the Elves imitated it again to record the knowledge of ancient alchemy—”

He stopped, looking at Fang Hong and asked, ”Do you know about ancient alchemy?”

Fang Hong nodded.

”You’ve learned quite a lot,” the old man looked at him with deep meaning: ”In fact, the elves’ alchemy was also derived from the Abyssal Sea Scroll, and ancient alchemy differs vastly from today’s alchemy...”

Fang Hong was slightly taken aback, remembering what he had learned about ancient alchemy from Anluose, thinking perhaps some of that knowledge originated from it.

The Cloud Dragon also told him so, that much knowledge in ancient alchemy today falls into the forbidden category, yet the latter told him that knowledge itself is neither good nor evil, which he wholeheartedly agreed, and had told Eve the same reasoning.

Therefore, he did not express any opinions, only listened quietly.

The old man continued, ”But aside from the ancient techniques, the elves also recorded the whereabouts of the Elf Holy Grail within it.”

”And this is what we’re discussing, which happened towards the end of the dynasty, and the number of slates left is relatively few.”

Fang Hong couldn’t help but ask, ”So, the Numelin Elves left a treasure map for future generations in the Abyssal Sea Scroll?”

”Using ’treasure map’ is not accurate,” Alfan’s white eyebrows gently raised, shaking his head: ”The real treasure map is on the seven obelisks, since you know of the Elf Holy Grail, you must have heard that ballad, right?”

’Under the seven obelisks is buried the secret of the Elf Holy Grail of Numelin, the land where twelve stars shine, eternal life, and boundless wisdom.’

Fang Hong nodded. He was already quite familiar with this ballad.

He had even seen one of the obelisks, although only in passing.

Alfan continued, ”And the slates recorded the positions of the obelisks.”

Hearing this, Fang Hong’s mind was struck as if by a bright flash of lightning, vaguely feeling that he had captured a crucial clue: