The stairs were deep and the atmosphere was oppressive and gloomy, and only the sound of my own breathing could be heard. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

If you don't know how long the road ahead is, even if you don't hesitate at the beginning, as time passes, you can't help but mutter, and your will waver.

Counting to the two thousand and one hundred steps, Ivo finally stepped on the flat ground, and what appeared in front of him was a pitch-black space, with no light source, about twenty meters away, there was a faint light flickering, and the outline was a complex rune.

Ivo took out a torch, soaked it in lamp oil, and lit it with a snort, illuminating the underground space.

The underground space is boxy, and there is a pitch-black spire stone tablet in the center, depicting light blue runes, faintly flashing with a faint light, and on the left and right sides of the stone tablet, there are two small trapezoidal altars that only reach the waist of ordinary people.

Ivo turned around to make sure that there were only these three things, and came to the stele and stretched out his hand to touch it, the touch was cold, and he didn't know what material the pitch-black stele was made of, it was very smooth like jade.

Lao De was surprised: "This stele is very similar to the legendary Soul Gathering Stele. ”

"Soul Gathering Monument?"

"A rare alchemical creation, the function is to create a special space dedicated to storing the undead, just like the space ring, you know that the basic principle of alchemy is 'equivalent exchange', 'kill the material, give new life'. The soul of the dead is a pure and precious alchemy material, and it can be used to make 'soul stones' by consuming a large number of ghosts, which has a very pure effect, and has a high chance of improving the quality of any enchanted equipment and alchemy creations. ”

Ivo knew that the "Soul Stone" belonged to the category of necromancy, and Nafi mentioned it, saying that it was forbidden to make it because it violated morality.

Who is the builder of this castle that stands beneath the Return, and what is the purpose? and why do the ghosts of the woods in the wilderness instinctively avoid it, and shouldn't they be attracted?

"When the Soul Gathering Tablet is saturated, it will automatically expel the undead who are approaching. Lao De gave an explanation.

In other words, this Soul Gathering Tablet is already full of ghosts, and opening the Soul Gathering Tablet requires a special method that only the builder knows, just like the Mysterious Lock of Paracels.

His gaze turned to the two altars, and he was suddenly stunned, each of which had a groove on the platform, one long and the other round, with a familiar outline.

Ivo had a flash of inspiration and took out the papal crown and white scepter, the shape of which was exactly the same as the outline of the altar groove, and the meaning was self-evident.

"That's right, this is it!"

Ivo's eyes flashed, and he slowly lowered the white scepter and papal crown into the grooves, and they were tightly sealed.

"Hum-" The altar trembled, and suddenly spewed out two golden rays, shooting on the roof, and the entire underground space seemed to come to life at once, like a small snake-like golden vein emerged from the center of the altar, quickly crawling all over the ground, walls, and roof, like some kind of magic circle.

Ivo had already retreated to the mouth of the stairs, and the underground space erupted with golden light, and he couldn't help but squint.

The light slowly subsided, Ivo opened his eyes, and a figure with golden light appeared out of thin air, the figure was a semi-illusory spirit, and its face was a bright light, and there was no face at all.

The surging divine aura surged like a tidal wave, and when it was about to spread to Ivo, it suddenly stopped, retracting the luminous spirit like a tidal wave, and Ivo narrowed his eyes and raised his vigilance.

The glowing spirit turned his head, and though it had no eyes, Ivo could feel him look at the two tokens on the altar. The glowing spirit spoke, its voice ethereal, "Who are you?"

Ivo spread his hands, "I want to ask that too." ”

The glowing spirit fingers moved slightly, and the two tokens flew back into Ivo's hand, and he said slowly, "Unless it is a desperate situation, the Holy See will not send someone to find me." ”

"So...... Are you a saint?"

"Hmm. The Luminous Spirit said, "Saint, Holy Spirit, or the founder of the Holy See, whatever you want to call it." ”

Ivo's heart was shocked, the spirit in front of him turned out to be the founder of the Holy See?!

The Holy See was established in the ancient calendar, favored by the gods, instead of the gods to spread doctrines, spread fraternity, and unify the faith, before that, each continent regarded the gods of other people's beliefs as heretics, and after the enlightenment of the Holy See, it suddenly became clear that the original gods were a group, only to know the difference between the gods, and then even if they had their own beliefs, they would not belittle other gods, and all the beliefs recognized by the Holy See were "legitimate".

And what the Pope and the Patriarch told Ivo was another version, that the original intention of the establishment of the Holy See was to prevent the gods from robbing the faith by means of war, and the aftermath caused by it destroying the main world, ostensibly becoming a lackey of the gods, using gentle means to develop the faith, but in fact curbing the expansion of the faith in disguise. And the one who came up with this method was the spirit in front of him...... To be precise, it was him before his death.

"Son, since you have come to me, the world must have changed drastically. The saint said in a deep voice, "Tell me." ”

Ivo's heart was full of questions, and after a moment's hesitation, he told the Pope, the Patriarch, the Overworld Barrier, and the Dusk's speculation, since it was the Pope's Patriarch who asked him to find the saints, he had no one else to believe it, of course, Ivo didn't say it all, and kept the information of the mimecrum.

The saint mused, "You are the one who is among the popes and pastors, and so much has happened in my absence. ”

Ivo couldn't help but ask, "The Patriarch and the Pope want me to come and look for you, saying that you can guide me in the right direction......"

The saint said slowly: "The last generation of popes and patriarchs who passed on the true mission have died, and you are the last inheritor, and I will answer your questions and give you a new mission." ”

Ivo froze, full of questions, and chose an entry point, "Why are you here?" ”

"I observe the changes in the world, the gods are my enemies, I have special powers to maintain my immortality, and only the two supreme tokens of the Holy Court that I passed down can summon my existence. "The Land of Return, second only to the Overworld," said the saints.

"The ultimate question is where we end up after death. The saint patted the Soul Gathering Tablet, "Life is divided into two parts, the body and the soul, the soul is a very pure alchemy material, and it has the same energy as the body, and where does the energy come from?"

Ivo raised his eyebrows, "From ...... The world?"

The saint nodded, "Yes, the energy comes from the world itself, the body decays and decomposes after death, and the energy is fed back to the world, but the soul comes to the place of return, so where does the soul's energy go?"

"I don't know......" Ivo hesitated.

"Hehe, the gods of the dead world are not among the four major god systems, of course, there is a reason, their birth is still earlier than the gods of the heavenly kingdom, and the place of return was born according to the rules of the world, and the duty of the gods of the dead world is to turn the soul annihilation into pure energy, feedback to the original world of each life, and maintain the total energy of each world unchanged. ”

A thunderclap flashed through Ivo's mind, and he blurted out, "Conservation of energy?!"

"Well, that's what it means, you may know a saying called the 'World Decline' theory, the number of top combat power in the world is always in decline, and fewer and fewer people are reaching the legendary level, because the total energy of the world is limited, and there are more and more lives, so the energy that is divided is getting thinner and thinner......"

Ivo nodded, he'd heard the theory from the hill giants.

"And the duty of the Land of Return is to maintain the conservation of the total energy of the world...... At least it used to be. ”

Ivo had an ominous premonition, "And now?"

The saint said slowly: "Suppose there are two bonfires, burning steadily, suppose the fuel of one of the bonfires is distributed to the other, the other bonfire will become more and more vigorous, and the original one will gradually extinguish, and the soul will ...... It's fuel, it's a different world, it's a campfire. ”

"The gods are not fools, they have discovered the constraints of the Holy See. The saint whispered, "A counterattack has already been made. ”

Ivo's breathing almost stopped, and he heard the saint speak slowly.

"The Grim Reaper is the title of the ruler of the Dead Realm, it does not belong to Tanatos, who is just a reacher, his predecessor, named ......"

"Hades. ”

(To be continued.) )