[Vol. 9] Chapter 61: The Silver Mark
For the gods, burying any divine item together with their remains was a serious taboo. Although no trace of [Faer]’s body could be found here, which was strange enough, both the flame spear and the divine energy flowing through the temple were undeniably pure. Such things could not be easily faked.
Regardless of why [Sinong] and [Faer] had hurt each other, if this place was truly a tomb built by the Snow God for the Fire God, it would make no sense to include something like a fragment of the God of Truth’s body. Unless, of course, the words written on the monument were lies, meant to mock [Faer] even after Their death.
There was only one possible explanation: someone had already come here before them. That would explain why the lid of the ice coffin was left half open, why the god’s body that should have been inside had vanished, and why something that didn’t belong here appeared instead.
Who could have done something like this?
Who had the power to do it?
And most importantly, if this mysterious person took away the Fire God [Faer]’s body, why didn’t they also take his divine weapon or anything else from the temple? What was their goal?
For some reason, Violet suddenly thought of the supposedly dead “Vampire Ancestor Constantius,” who had somehow reappeared before Miss Shadow. A spark of realization flashed through her mind, as if she had almost guessed the truth, but the moment she tried to think deeper, it slipped away like mist, leaving her unable to grasp it clearly.
In the end, the most important question still lay in why the two gods fought each other. From the words carved on the monument, their battle seemed to hide a great secret. One that might be connected to the problems facing not only the Northern Region but perhaps the entire Origin Realm itself.
“…”
While her mind raced with countless thoughts, the priestess’s eyes drifted to the object placed between the spear [World Burner] and the Book of Truth, a third item that looked the most ordinary of them all.
It was a gemstone, silvery-white in color, perfectly clear but irregular in shape. More precisely, it looked like a fragment cut from a larger whole, giving off an oddly mysterious feeling.
Violet stared at it for a moment, then shook her head helplessly.
She and Moraya had followed Veranica here and reached the temple almost at the same time as the captain herself. Since they had arrived nearly together, they hadn’t had much time to carefully study each item.
Compared to the other two objects that clearly gave off strong divine power and law energy, this stone seemed completely ordinary. There was no trace of energy or aura to reveal its origin or purpose. If it hadn’t been placed in such a special position, even Violet might have ignored it as something random and meaningless.
However, she remembered clearly. The ancient tablet written in the god language mentioned that if the later visitors felt confused about the items inside the ice coffin, they should seek help from Winter Sinong, the Daughter of the Snow God.
That name referred to the first Holy Maiden of Eternal Winter, the first founder and High Priestess of what was now the [Eternal Winter Temple].
That was a very clear clue.
The divine weapon [World Burner] that Veranica had already claimed was clearly a rule-based weapon forged by the Fire God [Faer] himself. It was a one-of-a-kind creation, something that could never be related to the Snow God’s followers.
The Book of Truth was most likely placed here by someone else who came later. Something the monument, created long before, would not mention. So if we follow this process of elimination, what was the thing Sinong truly cared about, the one he wanted his successor to take from the coffin?
It could only be this broken stone.
As unbelievable as it sounded, in some ways, its importance might even be greater than that of the Book of Truth or the [World Burner] itself.
She thought of that and carefully used her staff to tap the smooth surface of the stone, trying to activate the [Information Detection]. But the skill gave her nothing helpful, only returned a vague line, “a part of something.” Violet’s eye twitched in annoyance.
Still not trusting it, she reached out and squeezed the stone, trying to push a small stream of spiritual power into it to probe. But the thing felt like an ordinary, mindless rock. Her magic could not flow through it.
So it seemed the [Information Detection] hadn’t actually broken… Did she just guess wrong?
“This makes no sense…” she muttered.
Why would Sinong casually put a useless rock here to trick later visitors? Maybe, could it be that this object wasn’t the original item, and whoever brought the Book of Truth had already swapped it out? Or maybe her own view was too narrow, and the right thing to do was to let that ice-demon girl take this fragment to the [Eternal Winter Temple] for answers?
But the first high priestesses have been dead for centuries. Would the weak remains of that line be enough to understand something even Violet couldn’t figure out?
While the black-haired girl puzzled and scratched her head, a faint shaking suddenly came from outside the temple.
Rumble, rumble…
Tiny stones and dust began to fall from above. Feeling this clear change from the outside, Violet narrowed her brow and whispered as if realizing something.
“They moved fast, did someone trigger something and get noticed…?”
The noise was clearly from outside: someone had found the temple and was trying to force their way in, but they were being blocked by the divine seal Sinong left. The clash was making after-shocks. Whoever could do this was not simple at all.
Almost at the same moment, Moraya, who had just been talking, hastily returned with Veranica. Veranica didn’t yet fully understand what was happening. Violet didn’t bother with a long explanation, she spoke plainly.
“We need to leave now. The power wave from a divine weapon showing itself can’t be hidden forever. Hiding inside the seal might be safe for a time, but if someone who’s after this goes mad, Icefang Island could face a disaster. Your followers would probably be wiped out with everyone else.”
“Ugh… why is nothing ever peaceful?”
Moraya complained, but Violet’s silver-blue eyes on Veranica were very serious. She continued, saying every word clearly.
“Veranica, you’re smart, you can guess some things without me saying them. I can see you’ve already made some plans for your gang if things go wrong, but let me be clear, it’s not enough. You have no real backers. Right now you’re in the center of a huge whirlpool. One wrong move and it’s certain death.”