Chapter 1 The land

Hao Ren peered out the car window, noticing that the off-road vehicle was driving across a patch of seemingly unremarkable wasteland. The road outside was rough and uneven, causing even the well-cushioned vehicle to bounce violently. However, beyond the desolation, he couldn't see anything different from the previous scenery.

Yet, Hesperiana indicated that they had arrived. She instructed Duncan to drive the car to a nearby high ground, and then told everyone to get out.

"Doesn't look like anything special here," Hao Ren muttered, looking around. It was a barren little hill, with broken rocks scattered across the wilderness and traces of unmelted snow and ice in the crevices. The Arctic Circle's cold wind incessantly battered the place, almost erasing all signs of life, with only a few tenacious, low-lying plants growing in the sheltered cracks between the stones.

Hesperiana simply looked up at the sky and said one word: "Wait."

The sunlight was slowly slanting, and as the sun drew closer to the horizon, two enormous shadows gradually stretched out from behind them. Hao Ren turned his head to see that the shadows came from two giant rocks on a small mound not far away. In the setting sun, the slanting shadows cast by these two rocks formed a shape resembling a tuning fork. The gap between the two shadows pointed towards the river surface in front of them like a straight path of light.

"Another manuscript we found recorded the rules for entering the 'Mystic Realm'," Cassandra explained from the side. "There are seven days each month when you can enter the Mystic Realm. On those days, the light of the setting sun shines on the Twin Stones by the riverbank, and the extended light and shadow will indicate the way to the secret place. Because the position of the sunlight is slightly different each time, this 'door' is actually constantly changing its position. And after finding the path, you can't enter directly. We also need a bell made by that wizard to vibrate the water surface to open the door—the Mistress has already gotten the bell."

"Wizards always like to create these mystical things. In certain eras, they competed to make their retreats extremely complex, and the opening methods were more and more bizarre. Sometimes even the owner needed half a day to open the door to their own house," Vivian recalled, "Initially, this was to protect themselves from the pursuit of demon hunters, but it quickly became a twisted trend, becoming a standard for wizards to secretly compete in knowledge and creativity. I knew one guy who died because the door to his house was too complicated: he couldn't open the door when he got home, and ended up getting ganked by a demon hunter."

Nangong Wuyue glanced at Vivian: "How do you know everyone?"

Lily rolled her eyes: "You might as well ask her why everyone she knows dies so miserably..."

At this moment, the sunlight had sunk to the predetermined position, and the path of light cast by the two giant stones projected onto the river surface in the clearest way. Hesperiana took the lead and walked forward, saying, "Let's go, the path has appeared."

The group followed the direction indicated by the light to the riverbank. Then, without hesitation, Hesperiana stepped onto the water and walked towards the center of the river.

Although it was cold here, the river surface wasn't frozen. Whether due to the climate or the influence of supernatural forces, there was only a thin layer of ice near the bank. So, when Hesperiana stepped onto the water, Lily was stunned for a moment: she thought the other party wasn't looking where she was going.

However, Duncan and Cassandra quickly followed Hesperiana, and the three vampires walked on the water as if it were solid ground. Only then did Lily realize that the magical power of the Mystic Realm had already taken effect, and she confidently followed.

Then, with a splash, she fell into the river...

The husky girl was startled and yelped, jumping out of the water as if electrocuted. Her legs below the knees were soaked. Hesperiana heard the noise and curiously turned her head to look: "What are you doing?"

Lily hopped around on the riverbank, her fur standing on end in her urgency: "Didn't you say we could walk on the river! Why did I fall in when I stepped on it!"

"Who told you you could walk on the river?" Hesperiana looked puzzled. "We have water-walking magic."

Everyone: "..."

Lily was stunned for a long time, then vigorously bumped Hao Ren's arm with her head: "My imagination is too rich, it's my fault, my imagination is too rich..."

"You guys wait by the river." Hesperiana waved to the others and went straight to the center of the river. Then, she took out a quaint bronze bell from her bosom. She reconfirmed the position to ring the bell, and then gently shook it.

A deafening roar suddenly came from the bell!

No one expected such a noise after ringing the bell, and even Vivian was startled. As the bell rang, a series of almost visible waves spread out from under Hesperiana's feet. The waves caused the river to vibrate violently, and the water surface was pushed out in circles by an invisible air wall. Then, these waves overflowed the river surface and even extended into the soil and rocks on the bank. Everything in Hao Ren's sight seemed to turn into water, undulating in circles with the ringing of the bell!

He noticed that something began to gradually appear in this violently fluctuating landscape. Some buildings and trees that hadn't been there before emerged out of thin air from the surrounding wilderness. A large number of shadowy, house-like silhouettes flickered on the riverbank, and many ghost-like figures walked back and forth between these houses. He heard a series of illusory voices—these voices were speaking in a certain European dialect from hundreds of years ago, discussing everyday trivialities. Hao Ren subconsciously turned on his translation plug-in, and a few scattered conversations entered his ears. The specific meaning was fragmented, but it seemed to be discussing a lord.

Suddenly, all the auditory hallucinations disappeared, and the scene before Hao Ren's eyes stabilized.

The group looked around blankly. They found that they were still standing by the river, and the location didn't seem to have changed. However, there were many things that hadn't been there before: a large number of houses, streets, wooden towers, an entire town built along the riverbank.

Hao Ren looked at these suddenly appearing houses and found that their style was clearly very old. Most of the houses were mixed structures of wood and stone, and in front of those houses distributed along the river, you could see extending wooden trestle bridges, which seemed to have been used to moor fishermen's small boats. The roads between the houses were mostly dirt roads, and in a few places, you could see stone slabs or cobblestones. Black oil lamps hung on the lamp posts on both sides of the road.

The entire complex seemed to have hundreds of years of history... or even longer, completely like a village that had walked out of a medieval-style movie.

Lily looked up at the sky and found that the sky had also changed. A thick layer of smoke and dust that couldn't be seen through enveloped the entire town. These smoke and dust were as if a fire had been burning somewhere for days and nights. Thanks to them, the surrounding light became very dim, making these quiet buildings even more eerie and gloomy.

"This is the Mystic Realm?" Hao Ren clicked his tongue in slight surprise, "I thought... there would only be a castle or something."

Hesperiana returned to the team from the center of the river. After hearing Hao Ren's mutter, she smiled: "Just because it's a wizard's nest, you thought it would be a small place?"

"It's just a little too big right now," Hao Ren pointed to the surrounding buildings, "Looks like a town. As the home of a hermit, this scale is a bit out of line."

"I don't know what happened back then, but it seems that the wizard dragged the entire town into his barrier," Hesperiana nodded. "We haven't had time to investigate the situation in this town. In fact, today is only my second time here. Cassandra said it just now, this Mystic Realm can only be entered and exited for seven days each month. Last time I came, I happened to catch the tail end of it, and I was repelled after staying here for less than half an hour. So, this time you all be careful: my experience may not be of much help."

Nangong Sanba silently took out spellcasting materials from his equipment box, began to stick Leta rune cards on the surrounding houses, and poured some magic oil that emitted a pungent smell on the ground and lit it. After the magic oil burned, it immediately formed a constant pale white flame. This flame seemed to be completely unaffected by the surrounding wind, and it just burned straight, and in the light and shadow of the flame, some small shadows seemed to retreat from around the group.

Hesperiana frowned immediately after smelling the burning magic oil: "Cough cough... what is this stuff?"

"Stabilizing the spiritual domain here," Nangong Sanba rarely showed a reliable and serious expression. His eyes were faintly glowing white in the darkness, as if his pupils had disappeared, "I see a large number of spiritual bodies here. Our arrival may have disturbed them."

Lily immediately drew her ice and fire claws and swung them around: "I'm not afraid of mere ghosts."

Nangong Wuyue also raised his hand: "I'm not afraid either—I'm an elemental creature, I don't feel anything towards spiritual bodies."

Hao Ren looked at the two of them with some surprise: the famous Fish-Dog Coward Duo weren't being cowards this time.

Nangong Sanba shook his head: "The spiritual bodies themselves may not be much of a threat, but the structure of this place may be maintained by the spiritual bodies. If they lose control, there may be some changes in this space... it's better to stabilize it."

"Then I'll leave it to you," Hao Ren nodded, then subconsciously rubbed his arms, "Tsk, I didn't feel anything just now, but now that you mention it, I feel a little goosebumpy..."

Hesperiana glanced at him sideways: "You're afraid of ghosts?"

"It's not that I'm afraid of ghosts—think about yourself standing here, with a hundred and eighty invisible guys peeking at you from all angles..."

"Stop talking!" Hesperiana also rubbed her arms, "I feel goosebumpy too."