novelonline Chapter 3670 The top of the snow mountain
Chapter 3670 The top of the snow mountain
Chapter 3670 The top of the snow mountain
"Did Professor Denise mention to you that the previous bishop of the Order, the lady who wrote the 'Moonlight Sonata,' discovered that we were actually a branch of the ancient Moon Goddess Order?"
Ms. Fisher asked Shad this question in front of the fireplace, and Shad nodded:
“Yes, the professor mentioned it to me. When I met the Crescent Moon Cult in Vistalin last year, I even mentioned you to the ladies.”
"Professor Denise spoke to us about this in 1854. After she left with the materials, we organized the ancient documents and notes accumulated in the church and then discovered this."
The middle-aged sorceress took the file bag from the young woman behind her and handed it to Shad. As Shad opened it, Flora glanced at it as well and discovered it was sheet music for a suite, but not just plain sheet music:
"Is this a hymn?"
The artist said with slight surprise, and Ms. Fisher nodded:
"Yes, and it's not the kind of hymn that the choirs in the Church of Orthodoxy play today. The predecessors who left this score copied it from a stone slab in an ancient ruin and believed that it was a sacrificial song played by the believers of the ancient Moon God sect when they worshipped the moon."
"Hymns" are also divided into many types. Different pieces of music are used for different occasions such as prayer, sacrifice, and blessing. There is a very strict division in the church.
"Based on the analysis of the melody, this piece is usually played at the end of important sacrificial occasions, that is, when the night is about to end, to express the meaning that 'the fallen moon will surely rise again on the second night'."
I once organized a performance by the church's musicians, but the performance went quite poorly. Later I realized that this hymn can only be played on the right occasion; it's not a piece that ordinary people can easily play.
Her meaning was quite clear:
"Your Excellency the Summoner, we bestow this hymn upon you, which may prove useful. The witch beside you may have noticed that this piece requires at least three people to play, but that is the minimum. For the best performance, it is best performed by thirteen people, including both instrumentalists and singers."
"You're giving this to me? That's too kind of you."
Although he had recently learned basic music theory from Dorothy, Shad still didn't quite understand such complex sheet music; the way it was written wasn't even in a modern style. So he handed the sheet music to Flora, who was standing nearby, and suddenly felt like he had given Flora something new to do.
Ms. Fisher quickly shook her head:
“You don’t need to say that. This score can only belong to you. We look forward to you finding a way to play it. If you have the honor, we would like to listen in. After all, due to changes in language and symbols, there are very few ancient scores that have survived to the present day.”
Shad thanked the followers of the god of music again, but this time he did not mention giving them any reward. He simply felt in his heart that he owed them a favor.
After seeing the three of them off, Xia Decai stood at the entrance of the Snow Mountain Hall and said to Claire:
“I’ve never had so many people visit me in other places before.”
"That's because you never appeared in public before, and you didn't have a reliable partner like Fatu."
Claire said with a smile, and then talked to Shad about whether anyone else would come to visit with letters.
Flora stood a few steps away from the two of them, shifting her gaze from the sheet music in her hands to Shad:
"The fallen moon will rise again."
The artist has a very strong inspiration, especially in the field of art:
"This is a story of destiny, and now there are hymns on this theme."
She recalled the stories everyone had told her about Moon Bay, and a sense of unease crept into her heart. She looked down at the sheet music in her hands, thinking of quickly deciphering it so that more people on the ship could try to learn it.
After the ladies of the Music Order finished their visit, no one else came looking for Shad. So Shad went to Elder Harald to inquire about the dead snake, but the elder said there was no need to look for it.
"There's plenty in the warehouse. These are common spellcasting materials here. You can have as much as you want."
Shad didn't need much, and the tear gland fern was also on board. With that, he had all the necessary means to reach the temple ruins. Having made up his mind, he returned to the ship, gathered his men, and set off.
"Bella, you, Sylvie, and I will go to the top of the mountain."
Although he brought the Night Watchmen, he didn't call on the witches because he felt there would be danger on this trip. Rather, it was to prevent himself from hallucinating and stepping off the mountaintop, failing to enter the temple ruins, and falling off the cliff edge instead.
The three arrived at the "Peak of Destiny" at 3:30 p.m., as it was an important venue for the "Great Symphony of Destiny" ceremony to be held, and therefore the summit was not empty.
A small altar has been erected, but there are no other preparations.
From this vantage point, the chaotic elements of the island's environment can be perceived more clearly, but that's not why Shad came this time. The tear gland fern has already been processed into an extract, so Shad only needs to take out the curved arc and burn the dead snake's corpse, stuffing it into the spherical incense burner.
After the foul-smelling gray smoke coiled around Shad like a fiery serpent, he drank the even worse-tasting extract of the tear gland fern.
Whether it was because the effects of these two hallucinogenic elements were truly outstanding or for some other reason, Shad really felt his head spinning, and Bella and Sylvie, who were standing next to him, also saw Shad start to stagger.
Both witches were very worried, but Shad had just said that as long as he didn't fall off a cliff, they didn't need to worry about him.
So Sylvie and Bella watched as Shad swayed and spun around twice, then, like a drunkard, walked in an arc towards the edge of the mountaintop platform. They quickly followed, watching Shad dangle along the cliff edge before stumbling forward and, with a "crack," his curved sword shattered in mid-air, vanishing into thin air.
Sylvie hurried ahead to follow, while Bella jumped off the cliff to see if there was any trace of Shad. They then confirmed that Shad had indeed vanished into thin air.
"So, this counts as a success, right?"
Clutching his arm that had hit the steps, Shad was certain he had succeeded; he had regained his senses the moment he was about to fall. Unfortunately, he didn't fall; instead, he slumped onto the steps.
The steps were carved into the side of a steep cliff, and when he stood up and looked back, the entrance to the steps was obscured by a misty curtain of light. Shad could vaguely see Sylvie behind him, but she clearly couldn't see him.
[One-hour countdown begins.]
She whispered a reminder, and Xia De nodded, quickly walking up the steps.
According to the information provided by the church, the "mad omniscient one" named the steps "the path of atonement," but when Shad climbed them, he only felt that every step was slippery. The dark blue stone steps were frozen and shiny, and each step was embedded with fine ice shards, but there was not even a whisper that could shake his mind.
The so-called atonement may just be a madman's wild interpretation of the long journey, or perhaps the power here has already been lost in the torrent of time.
As Shad gripped the remaining carved stone pillar of the archway and climbed over the last step, the howling wind suddenly subsided. Shad had finally found the highest point of Mount Fatumunster.
Looking ahead, the scenery is silvery white, and on the undulating mountain peaks, the ruins of the ancient god of fate's temple are scattered like shattered glass.
Most of the broken walls were buried in waist-deep snow, with only the pillars carved with spiral patterns standing askew in the wind. Shad took a bite of snow, then took two steps forward, bent down and dug through the snow at his feet, finding a piece of rock that had fallen there from who knows where, its blurry star trail pattern almost completely worn away by the wind and snow.
However, there are still some intact buildings here. The core temple of the ruins that we haven't seen yet is definitely fine, and the tower on the distant peak is also an exception. From a distance, the tower made of gray stone looks like a wedge driven high up. Although it is intact, it still has a fragile feeling that it could collapse at any moment.
As Shad's gaze swept over the scattered ruins, a feeling of time freezing over made him feel suffocated. The carvings on the stone walls had long been eroded into dust by the wind and snow, and the stone slabs that countless believers had once knelt or trampled on had long since crumbled into pieces.
As he continued walking, he even wondered if he was the first being to leave his footprints here since the beginning of the Sixth Age.
Although flying is not prohibited here, out of respect, Shad did not take to the skies. He silently counted the purposes of his visit:
"Take a look at the Circular Hall, Oracle Square, and the Cliff of the Saints, and search for the Upper Spring. See if the First Flame is here. If you have time, you can go up to the tower on the mountaintop for a look, and then go to the temple entrance and curse Mr. Serpent a couple of times. Anyway, he can't get out."
Thinking about it this way, he has a lot to do, but even if he can only accomplish one thing this time—excluding cursing the snake—he will be very satisfied.
The "Circular Hall" was where fortune tellers conducted their divinations, and Shad knew nothing about its appearance. Seeing the ruins everywhere, he knew he couldn't find it easily, so he merely noted it down without paying it much attention.
The Primal Flame could be hidden anywhere, and Shad began sensing its direction after entering this area. While he could still sense the Primal Flame in the snow-capped mountains, he felt nothing here.
He believes this actually proves that the flame is most likely located there.