Pillar of Yita

He couldn’t help but give the other party a thumbs up.

Only then did the three proceed through the hall and continue on their way.

Behind the hall were the living quarters of the ascetic monks from days past. In theory, the battle months ago hadn’t reached these places—the adventurers spent the night in the hall, then were attacked by the suddenly appearing Shadow People and never ventured deeper.

However, since the Shadow People appeared here, Fang Hong still wanted to see if any secrets were hidden inside.

’Probably there won’t be much to discover,’ Luo Hao sent him a message: ’Adventurers have explored every nook of this monastery over the months, yet, apart from that one night, the Shadow People never appeared again.’

’Are you sure it was the first time Shadow People appeared near Grey Owl Town?’

’At least, no earlier sighting information has been found.’

”It’s still better to look than not look,” Fang Hong thought to himself.

There must be a reason the Shadow People appeared here.

Although others didn’t find anything, they recorded sounds that others couldn’t, didn’t they?

He projected a Dragon Hunter from the information crystal to guard near himself. Mei also drew her longsword, one hand holding a shield—their long halberd was unsuitable for use here, so they had to use substitute weapons. This was also why most Invokers didn’t like using long-handled weapons.

Though long-handled weapons generally had an advantage over other melee weapons in most scenarios.

The three were traversing a deep, pitch-black corridor—this corridor was the main passageway of the monks’ living quarters, leading to different areas of the quarters—dining hall, bedroom, study, and cell.

While passing an intersection, Fang Hong suddenly felt a heat in his chest and a slight burn on the back of his hand. He was familiar with this sensation, instinctively looking in one direction, only to see a ghostly shadow appear at that junction.

”Who!?”

Fang Hong felt a chill at the sight of the shadow, shouted instinctively while raising his right hand, a silver light shooting in that direction.

But the ’Silver Bee’ merely passed through an image, and went straight through the shadow. The ghost ’looked’ at them momentarily, then slowly turned around and walked away.

Fang Hong was astonished; the ghost was heading in the direction they came from, back towards the hall. The ghost moved quickly, making it too late for them to chase, so Fang Hong had his Clockwork Fairy follow it, but the scene he received in his vision next was rather confusing—

The ghost didn’t move far before gradually vanishing, until it was completely gone.

Fang Hong let the ’Silver Bee’ fly into the outer hall, but saw no trace of anyone there.

He had his Clockwork Fairy circle outside briefly, then flew back and he caught it with his hand, lifted the Wind Goggles, and glanced at the other two. All three were puzzled, not understanding what had happened—was this place really ’haunted’?

But then Mei used a detection magic spell on the spot where the ’ghost’ appeared, and softly exclaimed.

”...Such a dense Dark Aura.”

”What?”

Miss Knight pointed toward the direction and softly said, ”Mr. Ade, the Dark Aura there is extremely strong.”

Fang Hong knew she was Ouli’s knight, Ouli known as the Lord of Light, Guardian of Holy Light, Nemesis of all Undead, as the principal god of the Orlin Pantheon, even Milaila had once served as his vassal god, and was exceedingly sensitive to Dark Force.

”Is it that direction?” He pointed to the junction where the ghost appeared and asked.

Mei nodded.

”Let’s go take a look there,” Fang Hong responded.

The three then moved towards that direction, but just as they stepped into the junction, an anomaly appeared in the darkness—this time it wasn’t a single shadow, but many shadows.

Like remnants left by history—they seemed to be relics of the monks who once lived here, slowly passing through this dark corridor, lined up in a row, their pale forms virtual, coming toward the three of them.

Nervously, the three retreated against the wall, watching these spectral shadows pass them by.

They all had human-like silhouettes but faces could not be discerned, shadows seemed oblivious to Fang Hong and the others, and like the previous phantom, moved toward the outside where they vanished gradually, becoming incorporeal again.

Observing this, Fang Hong frowned slightly.

Previously, he hadn’t noticed, but now, being this close to the ’ghosts,’ he vaguely perceived—they weren’t ghosts, nor was it ’haunted,’ they just seemed to be shadows...

Shadows from the past.

He reached out; indeed, his hand passed through the illusion.

Fang Hong turned to look at Miss Knight.

Mei shook her head: ”They’re not undead. Though the Dark Aura here is quite strong, I don’t feel any dark presence from them.”

What was happening?

Fang Hong was confused, but despite the confusion, he learned from past experience and took out a Record Crystal to capture the scene. With hindsight, once the shadows disappeared, he replayed the recorded footage in the Record Crystal.

But this time, the ’Strength’ didn’t seem to activate, and the crystal dutifully recorded everything they’d seen.

Fang Hong was uncertain about what was happening. Miss Tata was no help with answers, but the Dark Aura ahead grew increasingly stronger—until they reached the end of the corridor.

There, stood a gargoyle sculpture with its head bowed.

Mei’s gaze fell instantly on the gargoyle’s claws.

Unlike typical gargoyle statues with claws hanging low, this one had claws holding a peculiar crystal—but, it wasn’t a genuine crystal, rather a crystal-shaped stone carving.

”The Dark Aura is coming from this?” Fang Hong noticed her expression and immediately realized something.

Mei nodded gently.

Could those images originate from this ’crystal’?

Fang Hong hesitated slightly, then placed his hand on the crystal.

At that moment, the three suddenly heard a clicking sound. In the next moment, the gargoyle retreated, revealing a dark opening in the wall behind it.

...