Starry Sky Railway: Opening Performance - Taixu Sword God

"We can only try it for now," Tibo muttered. "If there really is no other way..."

"Given our current state, there's probably nothing we can do about Oronis. We'll have to think of another way later..."

"Then, we can hand it over to Tian!" Tian said confidently, hands on her hips. "Tian is the best at playing the victim!"

Tibo nodded and said to the two of them:

"Anyway, let's go find Saffron first. Hopefully, there are still some storage facilities in the temple that haven't been destroyed by Nicardi's soldiers."

"Hmm... I remember that mature saffron stamens are always sealed in jars..."

"Let's explore as we go, and see what we can find."

Pushing open the inner sanctum's door, Tibo had barely stepped inside when she saw Aglaia's figure, who spoke with a ghostly resolve:

"The road ahead is a dead end; turn back, my teacher."

"What... Aya!" Tibo's eyes widened, and Tian and Tining were also stunned.

The next moment, the phantom disappeared as if it had never existed.

The once tranquil temple was now incredibly dark, as if it were the dwelling place of countless departed souls.

After walking only a few steps, there were bones lying on the road.

They might be unlucky refugees, or they might be soldiers, but now... there's no time to identify them.

“It must be a hallucination…” Tining breathed a sigh of relief.

Tian blinked, stopped, and said to the two:

"Should we... go back? Tian, ​​I have a bad feeling."

"It should be... fine," Tibo reassured her.

"Perhaps it's because a lot has happened, and we're not in a good mental state..."

"Everyone, hurry up and finish your business so we can get back to Ohmma as soon as possible."

Despite some doubts, the three ultimately decided to continue exploring the temple.

The deeper you go, the quieter it becomes.

In the pitch-black corridor, only the footsteps of three fragile demigods could be heard.

It's hard to imagine where they got the courage to leave Ohma alone...

'Even if separation is inevitable, a pointless death is not the way to go.' The phantom of Wan Di stood in front, looking at the three of them with indifferent eyes.

In the blink of an eye, it disappeared again.

"Hmm? Why isn't Oronis saying anything?"

After taking a couple of steps, Tian suddenly realized something was wrong.

"When Xiao Huan, Xiao Bai, and Xiao Die were exploring the temple, Oronis was quite talkative!"

"Could it be... that we have already stepped into its test?" Tinin pondered.

"Olonius's personality is capricious, just like a child. Perhaps... he's deliberately trying to play a trick on us."

As you descend the stairs, the visibility becomes even dimmer.

The phantom butterfly's pupils were unfocused. 'Separation and death are inherently intertwined... How can mortals easily reconcile them?'

Tibo blinked. "Are these scenes also ripples of time?"

The three children continued their search within the temple, the dark and cold environment making them feel somewhat uneasy.

Like being submerged in a lake on a winter night, your body sinks deeper and deeper... getting further and further away from the glimmer of light.

As the temperature gradually dropped, all three of them instinctively shrank their necks.

"Hey? There's light ahead!" Tian's voice broke the silence of the darkness.

Tinning and Tibao looked up and found a secluded room.

'crunch—'

They slowly pushed the door open, revealing a brazier burning in the center of the room, which brought some warmth to the three of them.

"Hey? This fire looks familiar!" Tian walked over to the brazier and glanced inside.

"It's similar in color to Xiao Huan's. Back then, it burned down the entire city of Ohma, turning many of Nikadoli's soldiers into charcoal."

“He once helped foreign refugees who fled to the Abyss,” Tibo recalled.

"This inextinguishable flame must also be what he left behind."

With the fire providing warmth, Tian immediately regained her lively spirit and excitedly ran towards the pottery jar beside her.

"Hehe, let's see if there are any saffron flowers here."

Inside the earthenware jar, there was nothing the three were looking for, but there was a handful of seeds and some fur coats.

On the old wooden table, there was a piece of parchment weighed down by a stone.

Tibo slowly stepped forward, moved the stone aside, and examined the inscription on it.

The handwriting was stained with mottled patterns from the ash from the firewood.

Friends I've never met:

As you unfold this letter, the chill of the abyss should be licking the crumbling walls, just as it was when I huddled here some time ago.

Don't panic.

The fire here will never go out, so you can get a good night's sleep...

The earthenware jar is sealed with seeds that can grow quickly; once buried in the soil, they will produce food and fine wine.

These things helped me through the darkness; now it's their turn to protect you...

Remember to close the door properly so that wandering monsters won't find this place.

I left a patched fur coat; if you don't mind, you can spread it on the floor for you to sleep in.

When the old man pointed this place out to me, he also gave me the last piece of bread.

He said he was rescued by another old man, and the charcoal marks on the rock face were the marks left by every survivor who had escaped a desperate situation.

There's no need to search for my name, just as I'll never know the old man's story...

Now, I am also heading to Ohmma. May this faint light also illuminate you.

Flames will speak louder than words, telling people that hope will always remain here, burning hotter than Aegler's gaze...

"..."

After a long silence, Tibo carefully put the parchment back in its original place and weighed it down with a stone.

"Rice ball, it's a rice ball!"

Tian's cheerful laughter echoed in the room as she handed the unwrapped rice ball to Tibao. "It smells so good, Tibao, have a taste too."

"We can't use any more seeds." Tibo looked at Tian and smiled slightly.

"Good~"

Strangely, after leaving the room, the three never saw any more eerie hallucinations.

It was as if the cold from before was just a dream; the warmth from the rice ball was enough to ward off any of Chongyuan's harshest cold...

Chapter 1298 The End

Inside the pavilion.

Bai E's expression was serious:

"You're saying... this black-robed swordsman is not only connected to the Black Tide, but is also hunting for fire?"

"This conjecture is the most likely." Xia said calmly.

"First, it is the container that holds the fire."

"Secondly, I am also one of its targets."

"Let's start with the first argument: its oddly shaped [ritual sword] can interact with the fire—the attraction when it pierced my chest is proof of that."

"I suspect that the sword has the ability to sense, absorb... and even contain fire."

"The second argument is even more direct: when it was fighting that nameless stranger earlier, although it was often distracted, it was keeping its eyes on me the whole time."

"Or rather, the Sersis within me."

Bai E snorted coldly, "So you're a fire thief."

"But..." Bai E was confused again.

"If what you say is true, and it really is still alive, wouldn't it soon come after Ohmma?"

"The core of creation is filled with the sparks of the Titans."

Even setting aside the primordial vortex, Naksha was also in Ohma, and the spark of Sersis was also there.

If the fire-stealer does not act for a long time, wouldn't that mean it died under that terrible divine punishment?

"Not necessarily." Xia calmly analyzed at that moment.

"Let's call this person the Fire-Stealing Dog for now. Assuming our hypothesis is correct, this person has three targets..."

"Wait." Bai Er interrupted:

"Why did the teacher choose such a vulgar name? We could have simply called him [The Fire Thief]."

"?" Xia looked at Bai E in surprise.

"You beast, let me remind you, that's the enemy."

“Giving the enemy a fancy name is not something a soldier should do.”

"Also, you're not allowed to interrupt me."

Bai E: “…”