Chapter 155: The Four-Panel Door

  "This is the 'Absolute Darkness' domain, a realm created by an extremely ancient dark system magic array! This magic is said to have a suppressive effect on all light system magics! Hmph... it's specially used for hiding and evading light system magic searches... In this domain, all foods related to light will be blocked out! So... even if there's light shining, the shadows will still be directly swallowed up by the dark domain..."

  In his mind, Dora's voice was very serious, as if facing a great enemy. The mother dragon's solemn attitude made Xia Ya also tense up.

  "I think the person who set up this magic array must have been trying to create a hidden place, to prevent anything outside from being searched... This is actually a very profound spell, used to create a domain similar to 'subspace'... So, this place must be strange, and it must hide something that doesn't want to be discovered by people!"

  Dora's low voice echoed in Shia's mind, and the mother dragon slowly said: "Hey, kid, take a closer look at this room, maybe you can find something. Whoever set up such a magical array must have hidden some special things here."

  Otherwise, there's no reason for creating such a profound magic circle - humph. The Absolute Dark Domain... Such magical abilities, even I couldn't accomplish when I was alive!

  Xia Ya took a few deep breaths, letting her heartbeat gradually calm down. She pulled out the poor worm from her arms and bent down to find the candle on the ground to relight it. With a "whoosh" sound, the flame jumped up, casting a light on the poor worm's face, making her face look pale and frightening, with a hint of fear and pitifulness in her eyes.

  Xia Ya pulled the poor worm behind her and said in a low voice: "Don't move, I'll take a closer look."

  Then, following the prompt of Dora's voice in his mind, Xia Ya quickly walked around the room, occasionally bending down to search everywhere, corners, walls, floor, all were touched by him, and even gently tapped with his fingers.

  Busy for half a day, nothing was gained. Xia Ya hesitated for a moment, then suddenly lifted her head and stared at the ceiling with piercing eyes.

  The ceiling of this room was nothing special, just ordinary bluestone slabs, but they were covered with a thick layer of dust. Xia Ya took a deep breath, lightly jumped up and patted the ceiling with her hand.

  As soon as he slapped his palm, a thick layer of dust on the ceiling was shaken off and fell down. Suddenly the room was filled with dust, Xia Ya covered her nose with one hand, coughed twice, and after the dust settled, she looked up again, stunned.

  Not just Xia Ya, the poor guy next to her was also stunned!

  The originally gray and dusty ceiling finally revealed its true appearance after shaking off a layer of dust!

  This is a complete slate! Originally, it was covered with a layer of ash. At this moment, under the dust, the slate has a dense and intricate pattern of cracks!

  Those patterns are not murals, but rather a circle of messy and irregular shapes that seem to be some kind of strange text with special symbols. They were carved very shallowly, each stroke seemingly made with a sharp blade, delicate and sharp! After an unknown amount of time, they appear somewhat worn out! Some places' floral patterns have become broken and blurry, but overall, it still seems to be an intact pattern.

  Xia Ya was stunned for a moment, then looked at the poor worm next to him, and the poor worm let out a low cry; "Ah! This is Magic language!"

  "Uh-huh, it's the language of magic, the script used by your human mages." Dora in his mind coldly said another sentence "This is a pattern for a magical array... I was right, just as I thought."

  Xia Ya frowned: "Are you sure, it's really Majik language?"

  Adeline beside him had also arrived at Shia's side and whispered: "H...how did you find out about these?"

  "I'm guessing." Xia Ya didn't want to say more, but looked at the strange characters on the ceiling and suddenly spoke up, reciting slowly.

  He read with a strange and awkward pronunciation, obviously extremely unfamiliar with these words, just trying to recite them forcibly - but on the poor worm's face, the shocked expression became more and more intense!

  This turtle, when did he learn the magician's magic language?

  The poor insect didn't know that Xia Ya couldn't speak those languages at all, it was just Dora in his mind reading them out, and Xia Ya simply recited the pronunciation of Dora.

  As Xia Ya recited sentence by sentence, the two young people felt as if they had stolen a glance at something in front of them.

  The ears heard a faint "clicking" sound coming from the walls of the secret room, and then saw that the blocks on the surrounding walls seemed to come alive and turn around by themselves! In an instant, the blocks on the wall folded and retracted like building blocks, and soon the entire broken brick wall retracted into the ground! After the brick wall disappeared, three elliptical iron doors appeared on the left, right, and front walls!!!

  The iron gate was covered in rust, and Xia Ya didn't know how many fragmented moons had passed through the trials. She walked to the front of a large gate in the center, stretched out her hand and lightly stroked the iron gate, instantly rubbing off a piece of rust! A huge carved pattern appeared on the door panel...

  "This pattern... seems to be..." Xia Ya opened her mouth slightly.

  "Oh heavens! This is... this is a tulip!! A flame tulip!!! The crest of the Tulip Family!!!"

  On that door panel, a blazing flame pattern was emblazoned, and in the midst of those flames, a tulip flower was blooming!

  "Auxiliary Os Gilia crest! Flame Tulip!" Adeline exclaimed in a hushed tone. As a member of the royal family, he was naturally more familiar with this empire's most legendary family than Shaya! At a glance at the pattern, he immediately recognized it as the extinct imperial founding legendary family, Tulip!!

  The poor worm's expression also became stern, and he glanced at Xia Ya. He raised his head to look at the Majeek language on the ceiling tiles. As a member of the royal family, he was not inferior to Xia Ya and could barely read a few sentences of Majeek language. After carefully looking for a few moments, he slowly began to recite it.

  "Uh, the first sentence means... The left door is the "Glorious Gate", and to open it, you need to possess the "Power of Glory". The right door is the "Gate of Despair", and to open it, you need to possess the "Power of Despair". And the front door is the "Redemption Gate"... You must have the "Light of Redemption" to open it... Uh, redemption, what does that mean?"

  Edison recited it once and slowly explained it to Xia Ya, but didn't notice the strangeness on Xia Ya's face.

  Finally, Edison pointed to the last sentence on the ceiling: "The fourth door, 'the gate of fall'...?" Strange, there were only three doors here, where did the fourth door come from? This fourth door, the gate of fall, was not seen.

  Xia Ya furrowed his brow, and the unease in his heart grew stronger, as if he faintly felt that something was not quite right.

  Edison's face was full of curiosity, and he couldn't help but repeat it twice in Māori.

  Xia Ya gazed carefully around, especially at the tulip pattern on the iron gate, which seemed to be blooming in the midst of fierce flames, giving off a faintly tragic feeling.

  "What kind of 'Power of Glory', 'Power of Despair' and 'Light of Redemption' are needed to open these doors???? What are these things? Edson looked at Xia Ya: Is this place left behind by the Tulip family?"

  Xia Ya shook her head: How would I know?

  Edson suddenly raised his voice: Yes! But since this place was left by the Tulip family, how did it become the property of Duke Minas????? And what about those words we just heard earlier! Ah!

  "Finally," Adeline exclaimed.

  Both of them suddenly remembered the conversation between Duke Minas and Cavish just now! This manor house was not originally owned by Duke Minas, but rather it seemed to have belonged to an old friend of both of theirs many years ago, which later transferred to Duke Minas.

  Could it be... that old friend the two of them mentioned is... a descendant of the Tulip family?

  However, it is well-known throughout the empire that this great legendary family has long since severed its bloodline!

  Xia Ya hesitated for a moment, then drew out his long sword and walked to the door in the middle. With both hands grasping the hilt, he suddenly saw the sword flash and thrust it down fiercely!

  Crack!!!

  A clear and crisp sound, the sword in Xia Ya's hand pierced the iron door, the tip of the sword bent instantly, and finally burst under the crisp sound.

  Xia Ya looked at the broken sword in his hand, he was very clear about the power of his previous stab! Although what he held in his hand was not a sharp fire fork, but with his own strength, even if it was a real iron plate in front of him, this sword would go down, and even if it couldn't pierce through, at least it could chop out a crack!

  And on this door, there wasn't even a crack, let alone a scratch!

  Xia Ya gripped the broken sword and frowned at the three doors.

  "Try using crimson killing intent." An idea suddenly popped into his mind.

  Xia Ya took a deep breath, stood in front of the door, and a red glow flashed in his eyes, instantly unleashing a fierce killing intent! The forging piece in his hand chopped down on that iron door...

  BOOM!!!!!

  A dull thud, as the sword blade fell on the iron gate, Xia Ming clearly felt a gentle force strongly repelling his own sword! Immediately, the crimson killing intent on the sword's edge seemed to be suddenly disrupted! Under this dull thud, the broken sword, which was already short by one segment, had its remaining half-segment of the sword blade shatter and explode into countless iron fragments!

  Xia Ya took a step back, and in his hand was left only a bare sword hilt!

  "It seems this door can't be opened." Xia Ya sighed: "It needs that what's-it-called, Glory Power, Redemption Light thing... What are these things? Are they some kind of magic too?"

  Dora's voice in her mind was somewhat helpless: "I've never heard of it either."

  "There is also a fourth gate somewhere, the Fallen Gate? The previous three gates all wrote how to open it, but the fourth Fallen Gate didn't even write the conditions for opening." Poor insect frowned and thought: "Could this be the treasure left by the Tulip family?"

  Just as the two young people were deep in thought, Xia Ya's face suddenly changed, and she turned her head sharply to look back at the secret path behind her.

  On the stairs of the secret passage, a figure slowly walked down step by step! The face was calm and even had a few hints of a leisurely expression. One hand held a candle, the flame flickering, casting a reflection on his face. He wore a plain white robe, as if untouched by worldly affairs. On that pale and thin face, there seemed to be an inexplicable, mysterious, and subtle flavor.

  He walked down slowly with a faint smile on his face and his eyes fell on Xia Ya.

  "What a coincidence! Xia Ya, I can meet you here too."

  Kavi's tone was very casual and calm, listening to his words, as if they were not meeting in such a hidden place, but strolling on the street and running into each other.

  Xia Ya's face turned pale, and the two walked to Kavi's side, puffed out his chest and looked at Kavish, trying to force a smile on his face, but how could he possibly smile?

  "That... Mr. Cavishill..." The poor wretch's face turned pale, his eyes filled with terror, and he stuttered as he spoke.

  Kavihr walked down the steps, gently blew out the candle with one breath, and then stood in front of the two: "I'm really a bit surprised, didn't expect you two to hide here...... En......"

  Kaviel looked at Adeline with an eerie gaze, and for a moment, Adeline's heart was in her throat. But Kaviel's smile seemed to carry a hint of omniscience, and after a faint smile, he no longer looked at Adeline, but instead stared at Shaya: "Can you explain why you're showing up in a place like this?"

  "I...". Xia Ya hesitated for a moment, but then resolutely thought to herself: "This place isn't your home, you can come here, why can't I?"

  Kavihill didn't get angry after hearing that, and directly walked past Shaya's side, looked at the three doors, sighed; "You guys can actually discover this magic array, it's really not easy. This is the biggest secret of Osgiliath's 'Tulip Family'!"

  Kavihr lightly stroked the iron door on his right, his tone seeming somewhat eerie and his voice carrying a hint of enticement: "You two little ones, do you want to know what's hidden behind this door?"

  I don't know why, but being stared at by this guy made Xia Ya's hair stand on end. This Kavissile looked weak and seemed like he could be knocked down with one punch, but standing in front of him, Xia Ya felt a clear sense of danger! It was as if there was an uncontrollable scream deep within his heart: Run away! Get away from this guy!!

  "Do you want to know?" Kavihr asked again with a smile.

  "...think." Xia Ya nodded honestly, the poor worm beside him bit his lip tightly and pulled Xia Ya hard, but Tu Bao seemed to be unaware of it, just staring blankly at Kavihir.

  "Oh." Kavihr nodded, and a hint of apology appeared in his smile: "Ah, but I'm really sorry. Because...I also can't tell you what's behind this door, I don't know either."