nycdaug Chapter 458 The Shadow Leading the Way
Chapter 458 The Shadow Leading the Way
As if sensing Xu Ning's gaze upon her, Katarina finally snapped out of her reverie.
He walked over, took the carving from Xu Ning's hand, and examined it carefully for a few moments.
"The desolate guard, Blivive. His last words were, '...when death comes, I will awaken...'."
Xu Ning casually commented, "This can be considered a case of facing death as if returning home..."
But then he suddenly remembered that when he asked the Emperor about "life and death," the Emperor said that he would understand when he saw real death.
When death comes, one will eventually awaken.
Such a death shouldn't be considered a real death, right?
What about the old village chief who died, the demon god who was slain, the Yaksha who sacrificed himself for Liyue, and even those Hilichurls who turned into black sludge and died with painful curses? Aren't they considered to be truly dead?
Even if one is already dead, will one day awaken?
Xu Ning pondered for a moment, but still had no answer. However, these questions seemed to linger in his mind lately, refusing to leave.
"What did he mean by that long sentence he said when we came in?"
Katarina glanced at Xu Ning and uttered those words softly.
“...cowardly invaders...His Majesty's dark curse...nowhere to escape…”
Upon hearing this, Xu Ning and Kong both frowned deeply.
Xu Ning and Katarina double-checked, "Are you sure you didn't mishear or mistranslate..."
Katarina remained calm. "I've said it before, my grades have always been good."
Paimon, who was floating beside Kong, leaned closer and asked, "What kind of riddle are you talking about? Why are you all suddenly looking so serious? Is there something wrong with that sentence?"
Kong explained to the little white-haired boy, "Of course that's not right. Do you remember the documents we read? Whether it's the Heavenly Nail or the Curse, the clues that released all of this ultimately point to 'Heavenly Principle'."
"But now its words mention 'His Majesty's Dark Curse.' If that Fool's sister didn't deliberately mistranslate it, we may have obtained some very important information."
Xu Ning stared at Katarina for a while, then waved his hand after thinking for a moment, "There's too little information, let's not think about it for now, let's go find the next location."
Although he had decided to put the question aside for the time being, Xu Ning couldn't help but think about it again the moment he turned around.
What exactly happened in Kanria five hundred years ago?
Kageroumaru was still leading the way, with the others following behind him in silence.
That is, Zhiqiong, still focused on writing and drawing on the map, casually dropping a detector that emits a yellow light when passing through a place overgrown with vegetation.
The group quickly returned to the octagonal hall, and this time, Kageroumaru continued walking without stopping, aiming at a certain spot and heading straight there.
"It seems that Kagerou has discovered the enemy again."
Xu Ning gave a warning to those behind him, then took Kong and chased after them.
Xu Ning was still very familiar with the route that Shadow Wolf took this time. He had met Halfdan last time, and then he met Ying here.
However, it seems that no one noticed anything in the vicinity at the time...
Just then, Xu Ning suddenly looked at the black snake knight and hurriedly said, "Kagerou, wait a moment."
The black serpent knight was located on a small side road of the main road, resembling a slope. He stood in the mud, and his dark armor, soaked in the mud, even emitted an eerie black light.
“Ku, Kagerou doesn’t understand how terrible this mud is, so I’m stopping it from attacking. This time you’ll take the lead, and I’ll clean up this mud for you.”
Upon hearing Xu Ning's instructions, Katarina seized the opportunity to pull the dog away, preventing it from approaching, and took the chance to pet it several times, feeling quite satisfied.
Xu Ning patted Shadow Wolf Maru on the head to let it rest for a while, and before it rushed up into the air, a waterfall of wine was drawn out from the Dust Concealment Gourd and rushed towards the Black Serpent Knight and his location.
"...Messenger of the sky, please accept my gift—revenge!"
Katarina, who was holding Shadow Wolf Maru, glanced at Sora, who was fighting the Black Serpent Knight wielding a longbow, and then at Xu Ning, who was manipulating wine to dissolve the mud on the ground not far away. She felt that there were more and more mysteries surrounding these two people.
But Xu Ning absolutely did not believe that Kong was some kind of "Sky Messenger".
However, the fact that this Black Serpent Knight mistook Sora for "the messenger of the sky" at least to some extent suggests that Sora and the messenger of the sky that this knight knew of were similar in some way.
It's a pity that these knights are impossible to communicate with, otherwise Xu Ning would really be willing to give up and have a proper talk with them.
Under the influence of Xu Ning's wine, Kong dealt with the Black Serpent Knight, who had become extremely vulnerable due to the wine's contamination, with almost no effort.
"...The victory over the emptiness of despair is the despair of despair..."
After uttering his last words, the Black Serpent Knight was killed instantly by Kong's longsword.
Xu Ning and Katarina naturally went to retrieve the beads and the carving. Kong drew his longsword and looked up at the castle hanging upside down from the top with a touch of melancholy.
Thinking back to just a few days ago, he saw Ying again there, but she left before he could even say a word to her.
Just as he was feeling distressed, Kong suddenly saw a dark shadow move near one of the upside-down windows.
"Brother Xu, there are people up there!"
Xu Ning was discussing with Katarina again whether her achievements at the Hearth House were exaggerated, otherwise why would this "Serkel" who fights with a longbow have the title of "Sword Historian"?
Upon hearing Kong's shout, both of them quickly looked in that direction, barely managing to catch a glimpse of a shadow before it vanished.
"Let's go up!"
Xu Ning couldn't believe that anyone would appear in such a place at this time.
Moreover, judging from the position of that window, the person up there was probably observing their battle, and was more likely an enemy than a friend.
There is only one way up, but if you go that way, the person will probably be long gone.
Xu Ning gestured to Kong with the Wind Wings behind his shoulder, and Kong immediately understood. The two of them unfolded the Wind Wings almost simultaneously, and then Xu Ning summoned the Flowing Wind, which propelled their wings and propelled them rapidly upwards.
As Xu Ning and Kong stepped onto the windowsill, they could just see the dark figure disappear again from the corner of the room.
Xu Ning and Kong exchanged a surprised glance.
Although the two of them came up relatively quickly, it was still much slower than taking those few steps inside the house.
But just as the two of them entered the house, the dark figure disappeared around the corner, leaving only its back view.
It was as if he was leading the way for the two of them?