An unexpected discovery

With Gilles de Rais dead, the Ability Store's door ceased to exist, reverting to the battered door of an ordinary house.

Although Chen Xuan could teleport into the Ability Store with his recall ability, he chose not to return immediately. Instead, he looked toward the cliff beside him...

According to the marshal, he had discovered the cave containing the book as a child, on the seaward side of his family's estate. It lay west of the little chapel, less than two and a half kilometers from the castle where he usually lived. Standing on this sea cliff, Chen Xuan could indeed see a gray castle rising from the distant forest. In other words, the cave should be somewhere beneath this rock face.

After a moment's thought, Chen Xuan decided to search below first.

He was still carrying his standard trio of combat abilities: Thousand Thoughts Sword, Divine Eye Method, and Heavenly Cloud Skill. Heavenly Thunder Command had filled the slot vacated by Golden Cicada Shell, bolstering his means of slaying monsters. He had left Coin Toss behind because the hand that had suddenly emerged last time had been far too horrifying. It had genuinely frightened him. Unless he had no other choice, Chen Xuan had no intention of using that sinister ability again for the time being.

Of course, the safest approach would have been to return to the Ability Store and bring Lin Qing or Liu Shuyue along to explore. But there was a practical problem: Gilles de Rais was currently in his homeland on the Brittany Peninsula, at the westernmost tip of France. It was exceedingly remote, and with the marshal dead, Chen Xuan had no way to connect the Ability Store to this place again. If he connected to Joan of Arc, he would probably emerge somewhere