Shade did not reach his destination until sunset, having taken a carriage from Roof Alley. After jumping down from the carriage, he thanked the coachman while looking toward the western sky.
From where he stood, one-third of that enormous, terrifyingly dim yellow sun had already slipped behind Sikar Mountain. Because of the angle, it looked as though the setting sun were sinking beneath the foot of Sikar Mountain. Combined with all the local rumors and tales, the sight was truly unsettling.
Since the ritual was to be held in this famous haunted estate, the Order of Spiritual Cultivation had cleared the area beforehand. Not only had they arranged rituals in the nearby woods to prevent ordinary people from wandering in, but they had also stationed people at key intersections to ensure that tonight's ritual would not be disrupted by outside forces.
A ritual whose materials alone cost three thousand pounds was certainly a large-scale ritual. When Shade stepped down from the carriage, he saw numerous nuns and monks wearing silver crown-shaped eye patches in the manor's abandoned courtyard. They were carefully inspecting the surroundings and using chalk or pure silver scepters to draw patterns on the ground.
Their attire was extremely similar to that of Sister Devlin, the Cult's leader. They all wore dark nun's habits, with silk shawls of the same color draped over their shoulders. Only their hair colors were perfectly normal, unlike Sister Devlin's grayish-white hair, which looked as though it had lost all Life Force.
Miss Galina had said that members of the Order of Spiritual Cultivation qualified to wear silver crown eye patches formed the backbone of the Cult. Shade could see more than ten of them just here. Fortunately, Sister Devlin was charging Shade only for the ritual materials. Otherwise, Shade, the Doctor, and