Chapter 1259 The City Beneath Dorasil

After returning from the temple, the group rested in Bernia’s yurt, digesting the newly acquired information while discussing plans for further exploration of this world. Hessiana stood idly beside Vivian, fidgeting back and forth, playing with a small ball of blood to amuse herself. The incident with Baptiste had ended in an unexpected way, leaving her with a sense of powerlessness, like punching cotton, so she was waiting for Vivian to decide what to do next.

Vivian, on the other hand, had been fiddling with the blood-colored crystal since earlier, pondering what it meant. The crystal floated up and down in her hand, but neither infusing it with magic nor sprinkling it with blood could make it change in any way. It was like a cool and ordinary pretty stone, guarding all its secrets.

"Still can’t remember who Beatrice is?" Hao Ren glanced at Vivian. "Can’t remember anything about this crystal either?"

"You know the state of my brain," Vivian said with a wry smile, shaking her head. "I forgot about Paul for three hundred years back then. But it seems I’ve forgotten Beatrice even more thoroughly… Even knowing her name, I can’t recall a single thing about her."

"Perhaps she changed her name, or perhaps Beatrice is just a title for the witch," Cassandra suddenly said. "Witches and wizards often give themselves 'pseudonyms' that are somewhere between a name and a title. They use these pseudonyms to cast spells, which can prevent them from being counterattacked by demonic forces or being tracked by demons. However, I’ve heard that this method doesn’t always work. More powerful hellish creatures can directly discern one's true name."

"Unfortunately, Beatrice is already dead. Even if we brought Izaks here, I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to find out the witch's real name," Hao Ren said, shaking his head. He knew Vivian’s memory was unreliable. Perhaps understanding Beatrice’s true name back then would help Vivian remember the crystal and the witch, but in the current state, no one could pin their hopes on Vivian’s terrible brain.

"Sorry," Vivian glanced at the others apologetically, rubbing her forehead embarrassedly. "I’ve tried hard to think."

Lily watched from the side and, for once, felt a little sympathy for Vivian. She patted the latter on the shoulder and comforted her softly, "It can’t be helped, you're old after all."

Vivian rolled her eyes at her. "Go squat over there!"

Lily bared her teeth and, while maintaining a squatting position, moved sideways, muttering, "Tch, no appreciation."

"Another key point is what exactly this crystal is," Nangong Sanba stared intently at the red crystal floating above Vivian’s palm. "When you fell asleep three hundred years ago, you gave a similar crystal to your servant, placing it with your manuscripts—this shows that it is something quite important, as important as your memories. But didn’t you leave any clues to open it?"

"Even if there were clues, I’ve forgotten them, and even if the clues were right in front of me, I wouldn’t know," Vivian sighed heavily. "When you even forget what you’ve forgotten, it’s useless to do anything. I can only feel that the aura in this crystal is much weaker than the one Paul kept. Perhaps it has become weakened because Beatrice has been drawing magic from it for many years—I almost didn’t recognize that it was my blood that had solidified."

Lily looked up at Vivian and muttered softly, "So we should care for empty-nest old bats…"

"If you don’t talk, no one will think you’re mute!"

"In any case, this thing is the only clue related to summoning the 'Blood King,'" Hao Ren tapped the table. "Baptiste was just a wizard apprentice before Beatrice disappeared. There’s no way he could have figured out the ritual to summon the Blood King himself—let alone seal such a powerful evil spirit in his magic book. So these must have been inherited from Beatrice. All his magical skills, early knowledge, and possibly magical items related to Vivian, all came from Beatrice. This crystal…"

Lily then raised her hand again to indicate she had something to say. "If it were me, I’d eat it and see."

"Do you think everyone’s a husky? Taking a bite of anything they don’t recognize to taste if it’s salty?" Hao Ren glanced askance at this girl whose thinking was never on track. "Do you even know what this crystal is?"

"I know," Lily’s expression was unexpectedly serious. "You thought I was joking? This crystal was made from the bat’s own blood, right—so it’s originally something from the bat's own body. What problem could there be eating it?"

Hao Ren was stunned, thinking that Lily’s statement made some sense… But then he realized that he couldn't understand the husky’s thinking at all. Why would knowing that eating it wouldn't hurt your stomach mean you have to eat it? Or rather, how exactly did this thing connect the key to solving the problem to "eating"?!

But Vivian didn’t know what she was thinking and actually put the crystal to her mouth. "Perhaps I can try."

"Wait a minute!" Hao Ren quickly grabbed her. "Are you sure you really want to follow Lily’s harebrained suggestion?"

"Anyway, it was originally my own blood," Vivian licked her lips. "Reabsorbing it might reveal something, at least find the impression of when this crystal was made—the blood of a blood kin can store information."

Hessiana also nodded to corroborate Vivian’s statement, and Hao Ren could only give up trying to dissuade her. He watched nervously as Vivian put the thin crystal into her mouth, and after a moment couldn't help but ask, "Do you need… some minced garlic?"

"This is a blood crystal stone, not blood tofu!" Hessiana glared at Hao Ren with her hands on her hips, then turned to Vivian. "Lady Vivian, any reaction?"

"Wait a moment," Vivian waved her hand, indicating to be patient. "I'm absorbing it."

She transformed the crystal made of blood back to its original form and absorbed it into her body, trying to distinguish every bit of information contained within. During this process, her face changed from time to time, switching between confusion and recollection. Soon, she discovered that the formation of this blood crystal was much earlier than she had anticipated. Some extremely fragmented memories suddenly flooded into her mind, fragments from an era she had never expected, and from an even more unexpected perspective.

From a bystander's point of view, she saw another version of herself active on this planet. Although the scene was only for a brief moment, she understood much more from the memory than the scene showed.

Vivian suddenly opened her eyes, a flash of crimson light flashing in her eyes. Her power almost uncontrollably was about to erupt in a fraction of a second. In that instant, Hao Ren even felt like he had become a prey of this powerful force—even could say this power was aimed at him. But soon the illusion-like pressure disappeared. Vivian completely woke up from the memory, and the first thing she did was to look up at Gezer: "What's under Dorasil?"

The ancient city of Dorasil, said to be a "ceremonial city" built by the survivors of the land after the end of the ancient Sun Dynasty. It was built after the sky had closed, and no one ever lived there, but it remained in this world as a symbol. Gezer was a little confused by Vivian's question: "That sacred city? There's something under it?"

"There's something… deep under Dorasil, there should be another city," Vivian stood up suddenly. "We must go there immediately."

"Wait, wait," Hao Ren stopped Gezer, who was about to act on orders. He looked at Vivian, "Must we leave right now? Would delaying it for a day be a problem?"

"Delaying for a day?" Vivian was a little puzzled. "If it's only a day, it shouldn't…"

Hao Ren pointed upwards, indicating the sky outside the tent: "It's too late, and you clearly need to rest, and so do the others."

Vivian then calmed down from her agitated emotions. She noticed that not only was Lily dozing off, but even Nangong Wuyue had curled up her tail and fallen asleep like a coil of mosquito incense. Nangong Sanba and Hessiana were not as bad, but it was clear that everyone was not at their peak.

"You're right. Then let's set off tomorrow. Sorry, I was too excited," Vivian's expression returned to normal, and she smiled lightly. "Don't be nervous, the situation is fine, it's not that urgent. It's just that I was affected by the emotions left in the blood crystal and lost control a little."

Hao Ren nodded, wisely not directly asking what exactly she had seen in the illusion. Instead, he arranged everyone’s itinerary: "Okay, then we'll rest here with the Tribe of Fire tonight and head to the Tribe of Wind tomorrow."

Vivian nodded slightly, with no objections to this arrangement.