Burning

Following Zhou Kai's gaze toward the low-lying part of the town,

a mass of flames burned silently in the darkness, like the only source of light between heaven and earth besides the lightning.

It dyed that whole area deep red.

The flames roared, and the rising black smoke seemed to twist into one wailing face after another.

Looking closely, it was a Wicker Doll, seven or eight meters tall, slowly making its way down the streets of Soraka Town.

Half its body was engulfed in those strange flames. Rain hissed the moment it touched them, evaporating into foul black smoke, and couldn't put them out at all.

This was what had made Zhou Kai, who had been brimming with fighting spirit just moments ago, decide to retreat into his shell.

"What the hell is that thing?"

Zhou Kai immediately looked away, not daring to stare any longer. The warning in the Morning Star Notes still rang in his ears.

The flames that the rain couldn't extinguish were far too strange...

He had seen a Chain-Hammer Armored Soldier approach it and instantly burn to ashes, armor and all.

This thing was beyond anything he could handle right now.

"The good news is, it doesn't seem inclined to attack, and it hasn't noticed me... I can only wait for it to leave on its own."

A trace of worry flashed in Zhou Kai's eyes.

But worrying wouldn't solve anything.

He had no choice but to go downstairs and keep practicing his swordsmanship beside the fireplace, honing his newly acquired strength.

For some reason, however, the burning Wicker Doll had begun circling the area around No. 777, as if searching for something. It showed no sign of leaving.

More than four hours passed in a flash, yet the Wicker Doll was still standing in a puddle in the lowlands, like a silent crimson statue.

Zhou Kai's unease grew stronger and stronger.

"I feel like I've forgotten something... Oh no!"

Zhou Kai suddenly remembered a hint the Sanctuary had given him when he'd been forcibly summoned last night.

[When you stand still, darkness will follow like a shadow.]

Then there was the Chain-Hammer Armored Soldier's inexplicable visit after the Blood Tide ended...

Zhou Kai's mouth twitched. "All right, I get it. This place discriminates against shut-ins, huh? If you dare stay cooped up and do nothing, they send a forced-eviction squad after you?"

Otherwise, there was no way to explain the Chain-Hammer Armored Soldier's sudden visit, or the inexplicable increase in monsters in the surrounding area at the time.

Of course, with Zhou Kai's current strength, most monsters that came knocking were just delivering takeout.

Even if he ran into another Chain-Hammer Armored Soldier, he could definitely tear it apart piece by piece.

But now... Zhou Kai was worried about the "eviction squad leader" outside, the one who came with its own flames.

"What if a fight breaks out and draws it over? Wouldn't that be the same as deleting my account and starting over?"

"Hold the Sanctuary? If it burns down, how much experience will I have to spend to repair it?"

Zhou Kai gathered his thoughts.

"I should go back to reality."

"There's no point staying here and waiting around."

"Even if I have to face this thing again tomorrow night, I'll have a whole day in reality. I should be able to get stronger."

Most importantly, he couldn't stop thinking about the Secret Medicine at the boxing gym.

Today was the day he'd step into the true world of ancient martial arts!

"Disconnect!"

Zhou Kai watched the flames flicker in the fireplace as his consciousness withdrew in an instant.

In the bathroom.

"Xiao Kai, are you doing performance art in the bathtub?"

Lu Yan held up her phone. The beam of her flashlight fell precisely on Zhou Kai, who was lying in the bathtub like a spotlight on a stage.

Zhou Kai blinked in a daze, thinking he'd fallen into a dream within a dream. Instinctively, he tried to "wake up" again.

Lu Yan also thought she was dreaming...

After all, what sane person slept in a bathtub in the middle of the night with all their clothes on?!

A dozen seconds later, they both confirmed that it wasn't a dream.

"I'm going back to bed."

Zhou Kai climbed stiffly out of the bathtub and rushed into the bedroom without looking back.

The whole thing happened in one smooth motion, so quickly that the awkwardness had no time to sink in.

"Hey..."

Lu Yan pressed a hand to her forehead. Watching him flee, she shook her head with an odd expression.

In the spare bedroom where Zhou Qing had once stayed, Zhou Kai was wide awake.

He drew the curtains, switched on the desk lamp, and sat down at the desk. Then he took the Morning Star Notes out of his inventory.

The notes were bound with exquisite care, like a work of art, but the pages were rough and yellowed, with many inserts he couldn't decipher.

Zhou Kai flipped straight to the page that had helped him grasp the [Occultism] skill.

It described a secret ritual practiced by the ancient Church of Light.

[They placed each year's harvest, catch, and game inside human figures woven from willow branches, then prayed for a bountiful year by burning them.]

"So it's a Wicker Man..."

"Harvest? How come what I saw stuffed inside those vines looked unmistakably like..."

The corner of Zhou Kai's eye twitched. He'd seen it clearly: countless human silhouettes were struggling within the deep-red flames, and the black smoke rising into the sky had gathered into one ghostly face after another!

"What's the connection between the Church of Light in the dream and the one in reality?"

Zhou Kai's doubts only deepened.

He'd looked into it before, but no matter how he checked, the Church of Light in reality and the one described in the Morning Star Notes were completely different.

And then there was that hundred-meter-tall black church...

There was no such building anywhere near Soraka Town in reality.

And the "Helen-Backerberg Parish" was nowhere to be found, either.

After thinking it over by himself, Zhou Kai decided to... call in outside help.

He logged into that antiquities forum again.

The name "Flash Dirham" was lit up on his friends list.

"That friendly foreign guy's still awake... Then again, he knows so much about Soraka's history. He probably lives nearby in the real world."

"On the other side of the Earth."

"It's the middle of the night here on Red Star, but daytime over there."

Good, he was awake. Zhou Kai had something to ask him.

"Hey, quick question. Did the Church of Light have a tradition of growing flowers and performing fire sacrifices?"

The reply came almost instantly.

Flash Dirham: "Are you really that interested in the Soraka Family's history?"

He didn't answer directly, but that question immediately unlocked something in Zhou Kai's mind.

Zhou Kai went along with it. "Of course. I've even looked into the Church of Light."

Flash Dirham: "Come to think of it, 'Church of Light' isn't a very accurate translation. In the ancient language, the word leans toward the feminine... If I were to translate it using your Red Star's vocabulary,"

"'Church of End-Light' or 'Church of Dusk' would be more appropriate. It originally meant 'Light of the End.'"

Zhou Kai: "I never knew that. Thanks for the lesson."

The other man seemed happy to share his expertise. Not only did he answer Zhou Kai's questions, he also introduced plenty of new topics.

He was just waiting for Zhou Kai to follow up.

And Zhou Kai... couldn't have been happier to oblige.

The two of them went back and forth for an hour.

At last, some key information came to light.

The crux of it was the ancient conqueror who had bestowed the Soraka Family with its surname.

Last time, Zhou Kai had been so focused on researching the Soraka Family and swordsmanship that he'd overlooked the most important figure.

Flash Dirham: "The flower-growing and sacrificial customs appeared almost exclusively within one particular sect of the Church of Dusk."

"Remember the ancient conqueror I mentioned last time? He was one of the sages venerated by the Limpidi Sect of the Church of Dusk."

"His name is difficult to verify now, but as far as I know, he was called... Arcana II."

"The Soraka Family served as his personal Knights Order, and as the Limpidi Sect's army for defending the faith... Their name means 'voice of silence,' and their family motto is 'silence.'"

"Although the Limpidi Sect belonged to the Church of Dusk, their beliefs... were somewhat different."