The sharp sound made Steven's heart suddenly jump.

Thud thud!

What was that sound?

The thing he took from the Divine Hall, was it actually an egg?

But if it was offered by the Divine Hall... then what kind of egg could it be?

The Womb of the Divine Spirit?

Or the Angel's Egg?

In the past, he had heard many stories about the misty mountains.

And among all the legends, there was one oldest legend that said:

An ancient Divine Spirit was buried in the misty mountains, and one day it would return to the Mortal Realm.

But because this legend was too old, very few people had heard of it. He found a few words about it in his great-grandfather's study.

At this moment, he felt as if he was holding a giant stone weighing a thousand pounds in his hands.

"..."

Steven's body trembled slightly, but he neither dared to drop the parcel in his arms nor dared to make any rash moves.

He stood silently in front of that post for a long time, and the parcel didn't make any more sounds, which made him feel a little relieved.

It wasn't until then that he had the energy to observe his surroundings, he looked at the post in front of him.

The post had obvious signs of manual work, and it shouldn't have been long ago.

Is someone living nearby?

This discovery slightly calmed Steven's heart because if there were people, there was hope for survival!

But he didn't dare to conclude this completely.

Because of previous encounters, their group only felt like they had spent two days in the misty mountains, but in reality, it had been a whole week.

In the mist, time was chaotic.

He couldn't be sure if someone had been working on it a few days ago, or if it had been like this for many years.

But in any case, such a discovery still gave him a glimmer of hope.

He observed the patterns on the post and saw a bird-shaped pattern soaring with wings.

It was unclear what kind of bird it was, but its wings happened to be stained by the blood flowing down, the scarlet wings looked ferocious and sacred.

"Could this be a Divine Spirit's altar?"

Steven observed the surroundings and had a thought in his mind.

Maybe this was an original altar dedicated to a Divine Spirit or an entity?

Although he was a ranger, he actually learned some druid techniques when he was young.

He once traveled with a primitive sect druid who liked to have close relations with bear creatures for a period, and he learned a lot of secret knowledge during that time.

In some ancient areas, untouched by the Divine Spirit, there was often a kind of old Shaman Sect or entity worship belief.

Those primitive tribes would make such simple altars and offer sacrifices at special times.

And those who were worshiped would generally accept or even require blood sacrifices.

Blood sacrifice, an ancient custom mostly rejected by those worshiping the gods today.

The sacrifices for blood offerings were mostly the corpses of prey, letting their blood soak the altar to please the Divine Spirit.

It could also be the corpses of opposing tribes, allowing their deaths to satisfy the Divine Spirit.

In recent years, even some Evil Gods have stopped requiring blood sacrifices; only the most crazy and primitive beings would accept blood sacrifices.

Such beings are extremely dangerous!

If one easily contacts them, the probability of death becomes immensely higher.

And should I attempt now?

Steven hesitated for a moment but eventually made no rash moves.

Although this entity seemed to be a bird-like spirit or deity, the blood-stained wings made him feel an ominous premonition.

Although he was at a dead-end now, he was still unwilling to make direct contact with such beings unless it was truly a last resort.

As the offspring of an adventurer, he had seen too many stories and cases when he was young about people who suddenly died after rashly contacting unknown beings.

He didn't want to become such a pitiful tragedy... even though at this moment, he was not far from such a tragedy.

"Let's think about other methods... if there really aren't any other options later, then try to contact it."

And just as he was thinking about this, Steven suddenly felt a fierce drowsiness welling up in his heart.

There was no time to resist; he directly passed out and fell heavily on the scorched earth.

Thud.

The misty mountains under the blood moon were not quiet.

At the height of evil forces, various entities in the darkness were restless, coming out from hiding shadows.

They wandered, battled, roamed the mountains... searching for prey or becoming prey themselves.

But in one corner of the mist, there appeared a quiet Pure Land.

Under the faint glow from the post, no creatures dared to approach, making the entire Pure Land exceptionally quiet.

The injured middle-aged adventurer lay on the ground in a deep sleep, not arousing any curiosity.

And after Steven fell unconscious, the parcel he was clutching slightly twitched, and that vanished sharp sound reappeared.

Crack... crack!

.

.

Steven had a remarkably long dream.

In the dream, he kept searching for a way out of the misty mountains after waking up.

After the mist dissipated, he began to seek a way to escape.

For the first time, he set out eastward from the altar and eventually reached the seaside, where he found enough food to fill his belly.

But when Steven went in any other direction, he would lose his way and inexplicably die, ultimately waking up once more in the Pure Land.

He entered an endless cycle, constantly dying and waking up repeatedly.

Finally, after an unknown number of attempts, he finally has the courage to shave off a bit of wood from the post.

He bound together the shavings with collected branches and lit them, then held a torch and walked into the fog.

This time, he still lost his way, but did not inexplicably die in the fog.

He didn't know how long he walked until the torch went out, and he fell to the ground, waking up in the Pure Land once again.

After that, Steven tried countless times, walking into the mist with a torch.

Until one time... he heard the sound of wings from the mist as the torch went out.

He looked in the direction of the sound and saw a pair of especially striking... scarlet wings in the mist!

And after dying this time, he didn't continue to enter the cycle.

Steven finally woke up completely.

...

"What was that dream?"

Steven was dazed for a long time after waking up, barely calming down.

Was it really just a dream?

After a moment of silence, he decided to verify it.

But as he got up and prepared to head east towards the sea, he froze once again.

The parcel in his arms... was gone.

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