: It's obvious that the thatched hut owner mentioned the ugly little eagle he picked up—and this infamous creature perched atop the snow-capped mountain, the [Wings of Mourning], are connected.
The [Wings of Mourning] should be the little eagle the thatched hut owner never let go of until his death, or perhaps its descendant.
But it's dead, killed by Bai Zhou's blade, its numerous corpses and remaining flesh pulling and dragging each other, unable to find peace.
Since that's the case, Bai Zhou will help it find peace among these severely contaminated, deformed corpses.
————However, at this moment, a doubt flashed through Bai Zhou's mind.
[Whenever you kill someone or something from the Roman Empire, you can sacrifice it to the altar mark on your wrist.]
Bai Zhou recalled the function of the altar mark; the wolf knight statue seemed to have said something like this:
[The altar mark connects to the real altar in the temple, and also to the history of civilization.] Depending on the value of the offerings, you can exchange them for gifts of knowledge from civilization.
This includes various myths and epics, craftsmanship, classical philosophy, extraordinary secret techniques, hidden paths, and even potion recipes.
As you can see, heir Bai Zhou.
We hope you will become the avenger prophesied to ignite Rome—for this, you will receive the full generosity of civilization.
Yes, Bai Zhou never denied the generosity of the Trojan civilization, but—
although the altar actively responded to these remains, Bai Zhou's doubts lay precisely in this.
Could these skeletal remains, seemingly from a pre-civilization, also be considered part of the Hero Empire?
If so, the scope of his sacrifices would be far greater!
"Is this still the 'all land under heaven belongs to the king' lord's' scheme?" Bai Zhou muttered to himself, "It's quite reminiscent of the Black Robe's style of everything belonging to the City of the Dead—"
However, what happened at the bottom of the pit immediately answered all of Bai Zhou's doubts. A scorching heat surged through him, and an invisible ripple spread across the altar on Bai Zhou's wrist, instantly passing through the air and enveloping the giant vulture corpse at the bottom of the pit. The sacrifice had begun. *Crackling sounds
*
On the vulture's body, the fused corpses trembled incessantly, emitting a sickening cracking sound. The already deformed mummies writhed violently in the dim light, as if trying to break free from the vulture's wings.
However, these corpses did not disappear, nor were they sacrificed to the altar on his wrist as Bai Zhou had anticipated.
Under Bai Zhou's narrowed gaze, wisps of ominous gray-black mist were drawn from the surface of these corpses, thin yet extremely viscous, floating in mid-air like living mayflies.
When these viscous mists gathered together, clusters of black fog, like shrill ghosts, twisted and revealed the shape of skulls, billowing thick smoke as they hurtled towards Bai Zhou—or more precisely, towards the altar on his wrist.
"What is this—?"
Bai Zhou wondered, as the altar mark on his wrist had already swallowed up all the ominous mist.
A faint tremor lingered on Bai Zhou's wrist, like a burp.
The next instant.
"Buzz!"
Countless fleeting images flashed before his eyes, and a familiar, indescribable weight descended upon Bai Zhou.
"Rumble—"
A deafening thunderclap echoed in his ears, and a message flowed into Bai Zhou's mind.
[Accomplice of Trojan history, you have offered a sacrifice, a trace of the influence of "Transcendent Curse: Imitation of the Old Curse"]
[You have pleased the roots of Troy, bringing them joy.]
[History will look down upon you.]
[You have gained the gaze of history.]
[You have acquired knowledge, "A purification ritual against this type of influence."]
[Now, you possess a little leeway to walk upon this graveyard of civilizations.]
"Transcendent Curse?!"
Bai Zhou's pupils constricted, wondering what this was.
"An old curse? Or a replica?"
This reminded Bai Zhou of the curse he had sacrificed to Troy last time, a curse called "Crimson Curse (Imitation)," which granted him the instinct of "Crimson Senses."
This time, it seemed Troy had discovered that their sole heir was fearlessly traversing a graveyard of curses and pollution, and was hastily searching and integrating their knowledge base to airdrop Bai Zhou a ritual capable of purifying the curse's influence—
"Purification Ritual!"
Realizing he might have been unintentionally corrupted by the curse, Bai Zhou immediately experimented with the purification ritual he had just acquired.
With a "whoosh," he deftly pulled out the [Sketching Brush - Earth] he had obtained from the art club, filled it with ash, and then began to draw in his hand.
The spiritual energy within him subtly shifted, gathering in Bai Zhou's right palm, shimmering brightly in accordance with the patterns left by the brushstrokes.
At the same time, the Heavenly Pivot in Bai Zhou's eyes shimmered, quickly deducing and understanding this newly acquired ritual.
Learning as he went, Bai Zhou, with strangely high efficiency, raised his right hand and slapped it onto the top of his head.
"Purify!"
"Dong!"
It was as if a bell had exploded above his head, making Bai Zhou dizzy.
Although in terms of setup difficulty, this ritual was only around level one, not requiring a "contract" as a foundation for the field—its effect was exceptionally powerful, especially against the influence of the curse.
"AAAA—!!!!" Even
Bai Zhou himself was startled. A thick, eerie smoke suddenly rose from his body, like boiling oil, each wisp sounding like a howling ghost, quickly leaving his body under the purification and expulsion of the ritual.
When the smoke dissipated, Bai Zhou immediately felt relaxed, even his mind clearer, as if all the dust had been swept away.
"So much?"
Bai Zhou took a deep breath: "When—when—so much of the curse's influence had seeped in?"
It was as if they were using his body as a public bus for anyone to ride!
Thinking of the deformed, monstrous corpses affected by the pollution, and the vultures clearly driven mad by the pollution—Bai Zhou couldn't help but shudder.
Thankfully, Troy was there!
This reminded Bai Zhou of the SCE ritual that Raven would perform for him every time he returned from the Ruins.
Although the pollution in the Ruins was completely different from the "curse's influence" here, judging from the effects and the setup, the purification effect of the nameless ritual Bai Zhou had just obtained was far more powerful than an SCE procedure!
"Perhaps—"
Bai Zhou's thoughts began to wander.
Since it was a purification ritual targeting the effects of a curse, how effective was it?
Could it purify other curses as well?
Even—could it work on the pollution of the Void Realm?
Bai Zhou planned to try it out later. Suddenly feeling refreshed, as if he'd eaten a whole box of mints, he was filled with anticipation for this nameless purification ritual.
"No wonder it's a ritual made by Troy!"
Thinking this, Bai Zhou felt rather sorry for Troy—he not only scavenged for garbage himself, but also fed Troy garbage every day.
As a result, Troy was satisfied with everything he ate, not picky at all, and especially good to him.
Bai Zhou sincerely sighed at this.
"Troy has really suffered with me—"
But—
immediately afterward, as his mind cleared, Bai Zhou's rapidly working brain almost instantly discovered some blind spots.
The altar was offering the curse that bound the corpses, not the corpses of these pre-civilization beings themselves?
So, what caused the altar to react with such heat wasn't the corpses Bai Zhou initially thought, but rather these curses—wasn't something wrong?
As if realizing something, Bai Zhou suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, the hairs on his arms standing on end.
The governor of Blackrock City said that after the destruction of the three hundred city-states, resentment soared to the heavens, and monstrous creatures proliferated. Therefore, the empire used methods to extract and gather these cursed lands, suppressing them in thirty border regions of the empire—
according to this explanation, the three hundred city-states themselves retained resentment, and this resentment, gathered together, became the pollution that ravaged the graveyards of civilizations, thus causing the corrupted corpses to mutate.
But what does it mean that "the pollution comes from the Hiro Empire"?
Is the pollution actually a trace of a leaked curse, and the curse actually comes from the Hiro Empire?
In a
daze
, it was as if layers of mist surged before his eyes, surrounding him, making Bai Zhou feel that he might have touched some secrets that he absolutely could not touch at this stage. Did
the Hiro Empire create the graveyards of civilizations really just to seal off the cursed lands and hone the border troops?
They even crushed three hundred surviving city-states one by one. Was there really no way to completely erase their lingering influence?
What exactly was the Hiro Empire thinking?
What was the layout and significance of these thirty frontier graveyards?
Bai Zhou pondered the term "Imitation of Super-Rank Curse - Old Curse" in his mind.
The word "curse" was intricate.
The word "imitation" was even more significant!
At this moment, Bai Zhou suddenly felt inexplicably that the so-called thirty civilization graveyards could also be thirty experimental fields spanning an extremely long period of time.
Then, he recalled that when people mentioned curses on Earth, they would occasionally mention something—"
nurturing"!
Like cultivating venomous insects, some chosen ones knew how to nurture curses—
but then, Bai Zhou didn't continue pondering this line of thought.
Humans think, God laughs.
To the weak Bai Zhou, the Hiro Empire, capable of even killing gods, was truly no different from God.
The truth hidden behind the graveyard of civilizations is a grand proposition from the perspective of the entire empire. Given Bai Zhou's current weakness, not only is speculation meaningless, but even if he guessed correctly, it would only bring greater disaster!
In any case, regardless of whether this so-called graveyard of civilizations is someone's ancient experimental field, at least for adventurers, it is still a paradise for exploration, and for Bai Zhou, it is his blessed land!
The only negative impact is the pollution, or rather, the influence of the curse—but now, Bai Zhou also has a way to purify it.
It's all beneficial and enjoyable. It
's just a pity that, just like an altar can only be used to sacrifice the dead, if the vulture hadn't suppressed these polluted corpses early on, Bai Zhou wouldn't have been able to sacrifice the pollution on these corpses.
Otherwise, he could just wander around and sacrifice the ubiquitous pollution, wouldn't he be able to freely fleece Troy?
Dreams should be kept until late at night—unfortunately, it's not night yet in the Hero Empire, and the sun is still setting in the sky.
Bathed in the last rays of the setting sun, Bai Zhou looked again at the deep pit beneath his feet, and saw corpses slowly detaching from the giant eagle's body with crisp "crackling" sounds.
"Splash—"
These carcasses, freed from contamination, changed from a mottled mix of green and dark black to grayish-white. Their twisted spines straightened one by one, their convulsing knuckles slowly relaxed, and the teeth that had been tearing at the vulture's flesh gradually closed, as if emitting sighs.
"Plop, plop—"
Like rain, one carcass after another fell from the giant eagle's wings, finding peace.
At the same time, the massive form of the [Wings of Mourning] slowly shrank. Pustules and tumors dried up and fell away one after another, and the grayish-white feathers lost their ferocious color, revealing their original color beneath. Though aged, they no longer appeared menacing.
In the blink of an eye, what lay at the bottom of the pit was no longer the colossal eagle that had blotted out the sky, but a falcon with iron-gray wings.
It looked not much larger than an ordinary falcon, and now it closed its wings, as if finally awakening from a long nightmare, lying quietly in the center of the pit.
A dead, gnarled eagle.
A "small" eagle.
As if sensing the eagle's presence, the will suspended on the flag twitched a few times, but didn't shatter.
But Bai Zhou wasn't concerned about the will at this moment. Although he never denied acting on wills, in most cases, he could complete extremely difficult wills in a clever way simply because he did what was in his heart.
One can receive benefits after doing good deeds, but one shouldn't do good deeds for the sake of benefits—Bai Zhou didn't feel he was doing good deeds. He simply occasionally interfered in things he disliked, doing what he wanted to do.
Like now.
Facing this opponent who had helped him ascend to immortality and fought him in the sky for so long, Bai Zhou carefully leaped into the deep pit, deciding to help bury the quiet eagle's corpse, as well as the scattered remains of those who had died nearby.
The view remained the same: the customs of Wancheng emphasized burial for peace. Even those who were burned to ashes would be taken back for burial by their families or neighbors afterward.
The living have homes, and the dead need homes too. Only by being buried can the departed find eternal peace and continue to exist on this earth, alongside the living.
"I'll collect your bodies—please don't mind if I'm rough,"
Bai Zhou muttered to himself, his words like a plea to the dead not to disturb him.
Always showing respect to the deceased is a custom from Wancheng; even collecting corpses and ashes is done this way.
However, it must be said—just as the Gravedigger's Notes mentioned, the snow-capped peaks, the pristine white snow, such a sacred scene, are perfectly suited to be the cemetery for the deceased of the previous civilization.
And Bai Zhou, the inheritor of the previous civilization of Troy, is more qualified than anyone else to perform this task.
Besides the bottom of the pit, in front of the "original site" of the thatched hut, behind the cemetery's stele forest, there was also a pile of corpses. Bai Zhou guessed that they were probably brought by the [Wings of Mourning], but their wings couldn't contain them, so they were placed there.
Along with the mountain of bones, Bai Zhou buried every corpse in sight, making simple tombstones from the available materials.
"Tap—tap—tap—"
Then, carrying the eagle's corpse, he passed by the tombstones.
The monster whose wingspan had previously blotted out the sky now returned to its original form, feeling no bigger than a hen in his arms.
Soon, he found his target among the densely packed tombstones.
This tombstone looked unremarkable, blending in inconspicuously into the forest of tombstones, as if deliberately hiding itself.
But what set it apart from the surrounding tombstones was that, unlike the others which were adorned with flowers, this one was untouched.
Because the owner of this tombstone was the man who had placed flowers on the other tombstones.
Later, when it was his turn to die, naturally no one prepared flowers for him.
Even the tomb itself was something he, the gravedigger who had spent his life collecting corpses, had prepared for himself.
"I've found you,"
Bai Zhou murmured in his heart, then dug a small pit beside the grave.
He placed the eagle's carcass, curled up in a fluffy ball, seemingly asleep but covered in wounds, into the pit and filled it completely.
In the customs of Wancheng, those buried together... "If you truly are the little eagle in his notes, then—"
Bai Zhou knelt before the tombstone, patting the dirt off his hands, looking at the small pit he had just filled in the swirling snow.
"In the next life—remember to meet again."
Bai Zhou blessed in his heart.
Then, in the next instant, he seemed to hear the joyful cry of a giant eagle.
[Death is normal—but what about the little eagle?]
The last words, suspended on the crimson banner, shattered abruptly with a "crack."
"It's here!" Bai Zhou realized belatedly, his eyes widening slightly.
Fragments of a last will and testament, with their hooks, slashes, and strokes, danced and swirled like dragons in the mid-air snowstorm, their reflections piercing the white boat's vision as they flew towards it
!