Chapter 824
The Most Important Step Towards a High-Level Venerable
Lan Yejia continued to recount the details of the stone sphere: "The Aisga family spent over a hundred years researching the stone sphere in order to unravel its mysteries, and in the end, they only discovered that it possessed two extremely strange and bizarre characteristics."
"The first characteristic is that it has a cycle of about nine years, sometimes a little longer and sometimes a little shorter, roughly nine years."
"At that time, a faint heartbeat will emanate from inside the stone sphere. It will not sound like the heartbeat of a flesh-and-blood body, but rather carry the aura of an ancient mechanical creation, giving people an eerie feeling that it is about to break out of the stone and come to life."
"After repeated testing, the members of the Esca family discovered that as long as one stands within ten meters of the stone sphere, the sound of the heartbeat can be clearly heard, as if it were right next to one's ear."
"But once you step out of the ten-meter boundary, the heartbeat will disappear instantly. This clear distinction is really strange."
"The family's researchers have consulted countless ancient books and records, and repeatedly deduced and tested, but they still couldn't figure out the source of this heartbeat, nor could they figure out why there was such a strange range restriction."
Miss Jia Na interjected, "I feel like it's a law domain. The rules inside the domain are completely different, and even the five senses are affected."
She then commented, "It seems this thing is indeed very complicated."
According to this royal princess, these naturally formed domains of law are extremely dangerous for superhumans below the Venerable level; those who accidentally enter often never come out.
The stone sphere didn't seem to pose much of a danger, and the Esga family was perfectly fine, which somewhat overturned her understanding.
Lan Yejia paused, her tone becoming more serious: "What makes the Esja family even more wary is that the heartbeat emitted by the stone sphere is not harmless, but rather harbors a deadly danger."
"If you continue to listen to that heartbeat for a certain period of time, the listener's own heart rhythm will be unconsciously pulled and changed until it is completely synchronized with the heartbeat of the stone ball, as if the two share the same heart."
"Back then, the head of the family, Finica, insisted on standing beside the stone sphere and listening for a full five minutes in order to study it."
"Not long after, she felt her mental energy begin to dissipate uncontrollably, and countless fragmented, indistinct murmurs echoed in her ears."
"This battle-hardened mid-level knight instantly became alert, realizing that continuing might be fatal, and immediately retreated, moving away from the stone ball."
"Afterwards, she examined her own condition and was shocked to find that her mental strength and ability level had both slightly but clearly declined, and the family had not figured out the reason either."
A look of surprise flashed in Miss Jia Na's beautiful eyes: "It really is quite strange."
Yang Fan stared at the mottled surface of the stone sphere, his eyes flickered slightly upon hearing this, and a look of understanding appeared on his face.
The puzzle that the Esca family had been unable to solve for over a hundred years, despite exhausting the entire clan's resources, now had several possible answers emerging in his mind.
The number of divine remains he encountered in his lifetime far exceeded the total number of divine remains encountered by the eight great masters of the Meijia civilization.
More importantly, thanks to the magical abilities of the Soul-Stealing Cicada, it can directly access the essence of the divine remains, that is, the powerful laws within them.
He gleaned a vast amount of advanced knowledge about ancient gods from those remains, and possessed a level of understanding and insight into these objects that contained ancient laws and strange powers far exceeding that of high-ranking Venerables.
Based on Lan Yejia's description of the stone sphere's characteristics, information about the remains of four fallen ancient gods flashed through his mind.
The powerful law-related characteristics exhibited by these ancient god remains perfectly matched the strange phenomena displayed by this stone sphere.
For Miss Jia Na, this was just a strange and unusual story.
For Yang Fan, the century-long research on the Esca family, though only superficial, was extremely crucial information, saving him a lot of time.
By looking beyond the surface to the essence, Yang Fan instantly gained many important insights into how to crack the laws of demigods.
The difference lies in the level of power and the perspective.
Yang Fan suppressed a hint of indescribable joy, but his face remained calm as he calmly instructed, "Continue."
Lan Yejia respectfully replied, "Yes, Your Majesty."
The noblewoman gathered her thoughts and began to describe another strange characteristic of the stone sphere: "The second characteristic is closely related to the celestial phenomena of the Mika world."
"Whenever the three moons of Mega World are all full, the night sky is filled with moonlight, and the sea is stirred up by the celestial phenomenon to create towering waves."
"This celestial phenomenon of three full moons occurs approximately every twelve years. During this time, the stone sphere will mysteriously transform into a semi-transparent, illusory state, and the entire process lasts for less than an hour."
"The Esca family has repeatedly observed this strange phenomenon over the generations. In order to study the reason why the stone ball became like this, they have spent a lot of manpower and resources and used many secret observation methods."
"In the end, the Esca family was surprised to discover that within the illusory core of the stone sphere, there seemed to be a blurry, circular phantom."
"In an attempt to touch this ring, the family tried all sorts of methods, but they could never get close enough to it. This phantom seemed to exist in another independent spatial dimension; it could be seen and felt, but could never be touched."
Upon hearing this, Yang Fan's eyes suddenly brightened slightly.
Based on this important characteristic, and combined with all the previous information, he already had a general idea in his mind.
His premonition grew stronger—this illusory figure was very likely the most important step towards becoming a high-level Venerable.
As expected of the Holy High Priest, his predictions were indeed exceptionally accurate!
However, to confirm this, he needed to obtain more information from the Esga family.
Lan Yejia was constantly watching Yang Fan's expression, and she instantly caught this subtle change in his eyes.
She immediately stopped speaking and asked softly, "Your Majesty, what are your orders?"
Yang Fan pondered for a moment before speaking, "Please invite Finija, the head of the Esca family, over. I would like to discuss the details of the stone sphere with her personally."
Lan Yejia immediately bowed and replied, "Understood, Your Majesty!"
She quickly turned around, beckoned to a guard of the holy island, and whispered the Savior's order to him.
Miss Jia Na observed all of this and asked with great curiosity, "Your Majesty, is the circular phantom inside the stone sphere the key to unlocking its mystery?"
Yang Fan nodded slightly: "Yes, that's right."
He then added, "The ring that the Esca family saw was most likely not a real ring, but I need more information about what it was."
A flicker of realization crossed Miss Jia Na's beautiful eyes, and her voice was full of laughter: "I have a feeling that we're about to witness yet another miracle."
She gently stroked her protruding belly and deliberately added, "This is information my daughter told me."
Months ago, the High Priestess had already made a prediction: her youngest daughter, who was in her womb, had the potential to foresee the future and was very likely to succeed the next High Priestess.
This is incredibly good news for both Miss Jia Na and the royal family.
The mermaid's words were perhaps a subtle way of challenging the noblewoman Lan Yejia. It must be said, a woman's mind is indeed difficult to fathom.
Lan Yejia seemed not to have heard these words and simply remained silent.
Just thirty seconds later.
The waters surrounding the Azure Sacred Island remained bustling, showing no signs of quieting down despite the conclusion of the audience ceremony.
According to the audience procedure, all the gifts from the nobles had already been delivered to the Holy Island, and this grand ceremony, which brought together tens of thousands of noble families, had already come to an end.
But none of the nobles on the sea were in a hurry to leave.
Despite their strict discipline and respect for hierarchy, the people of Meijia are, in essence, flesh-and-blood beings with strong social needs.
For them, being able to visit the outskirts of Santorini and see the scenery of Santorini in person, even though they couldn't see the appearance of the Savior Megami Tendre, was still enough to leave their mark in the family history and would be a major topic of conversation to boast about to relatives and friends for many years to come.
Therefore, many nobles employed various secret observation methods to gaze at the wonders of the Holy Island from afar, their eyes sparkling with longing.
This is by no means an impolite act of peeping.
Rather, it is the most devout "reverence" for the holy site, an honor that every nobleman dreams of.
"Tsk tsk, look at that waterfall on the west side of Sanctuary Island!"
A male nobleman dressed in a coral crown raised his hand and pointed towards the direction of Santorini, his tone full of amazement.
"The waterfall is covered with fine snowflakes, and the water flowing from it must be the 'Frost Shadow Elixir' extracted from the 'Frost Shadow Flower,' a rare flower from the deep sea that has existed for thousands of years! I have seen records in ancient books that there is a Frost Shadow Pool in both the Supreme Temple and the Royal Palace. I never thought that the Holy Island would be so extravagant as to use it to create a waterfall!"
On the west side of the island, a crystal-clear waterfall cascades down from the cliff. The water is clear and has a pale blue, cold light. Large ice crystals and snowflakes seem to gather from the water, reflecting a dazzling light in the sunlight. A thick layer of snowflakes has also appeared around the waterfall.
Anyone with a bit of knowledge in Meijia knows that Cold Shadow Elixir is a relatively rare level-three exotic material.
Its most peculiar characteristic is that the temperature is always below minus sixty degrees Celsius. Wherever it flows, it actively absorbs the heat from the surrounding environment and transforms it into countless tiny ice crystal snowflakes.
On another round platform.
An elderly nobleman with faint wrinkles on his face had a mirror made of seawater floating in front of him, clearly showing the beautiful scenery of Santorini.
He squinted at a grove of trees and exhaled: "The grove of trees under that jade tablet seems to be the 'Void Trees.' These strange trees are born with the ability to control a weak spatial force, and some of their roots can penetrate into the void rifts to draw power."
"Ordinary methods are simply ineffective against it; what the naked eye can see is merely a spatial projection of it. It is said that only a few families in the Purple Leaf Coral family cultivate one or two of them, yet there is an entire grove of them on Holy Island. It is simply unbelievable!"
A nobleman beside him glanced curiously at the Void Tree, his tone full of awe: "The Holy Island is the most important place in the Meijia civilization. It will protect all Meijia people from the great catastrophe of the future. It is only natural that the island contains treasures that ordinary nobles cannot reach."
Among the many nobles, the round platform where the Escargot family was located was undoubtedly the "star" of the entire event.
By offering just a mysterious stone sphere, the family was promoted from a lowly Blue Leaf Coral family to a mid-level Golden Leaf Coral family. Such an honor was enough to make the family a legend among the noble class.
The four members of the Esca family who participated in this audience, including the current head of the family, Finica, all radiated undisguised glory and pride.
The envious glances coming from the nearby round platform, in particular, greatly satisfied the vanity of the four.
They all felt that this day was the most glorious and memorable day in the history of the Esther family.
Fini Jia even felt an uncontrollable ambition welling up in her heart: "If the family works hard for hundreds of years and accumulates enough merit and foundation, it may not be impossible to reach the threshold of the Purple Leaf Coral Family!"
She knew better than anyone that in the strict aristocratic system of the Meijia civilization, the Blue Leaf Coral and Golden Leaf Coral families were ultimately just local-level forces, only able to have a say in the affairs of their respective settlements.
Only by advancing to the Purple Leaf Coral family can one truly step into the core power circle of civilization and have a place in major matters concerning the survival of the entire Meijia civilization.
The gap between these two is not just a difference of "one level", but a level gap that is difficult to cross.
Just as Finija was secretly envisioning the future of her family, a sudden sound of water abruptly broke the surrounding noise.
"Splash!"
The sea next to the platform suddenly churned, as if drawn by an invisible force, forming a wall of waves nearly ten feet high, which stopped steadily ten meters away from the platform.
The waves rose at an astonishing speed, reaching a height of twenty meters in the blink of an eye, but did not crash back down as expected.
It seemed as if time had frozen in time, eerily and steadily suspended in mid-air, reflecting a cold luster under the sunlight.
Finija was startled and quickly turned to look in the direction of the waves.
The nobles on the surrounding round platform also noticed the commotion and turned to look, their previous chatter instantly subsiding.
next second.
Suddenly, layers of ripples spread across the frozen surface of the sea waves, rotating rapidly in a clockwise direction until they formed a circular portal with a diameter of three meters.
Inside the portal, hazy light and shadow could be faintly seen, as if connecting to another space.
Two tall figures swiftly stepped out of the portal, clad in exquisite Holy Island Guardian Armor with beautiful light blue embroidery along the edges—they were clearly two powerful warriors at the beginner knight level.
In the Miga civilization, only the Azure Sacred Island, the Supreme Temple, and the Royal Palace have such a powerful figure dedicated to communication.
The guard on the left spoke clearly and solemnly: "Head of the Finija family, His Holiness the Savior has important matters to discuss and summons you to the island for an audience immediately!"
Upon hearing this, Finija was taken aback. Her beautiful face instantly flushed with excitement, and her heart pounded wildly.
She understood perfectly that this personal summons from His Holiness the Savior would be the highest honor the Esca family had ever received since its inception, without exception!
The guard on the right gestured: "Patriarch Finica, please come with us."
Finija forcibly suppressed her overwhelming joy, first facing the direction of Azure Holy Island, and respectfully performed the most solemn humility ceremony.
Then she slowly straightened up, swaying her fishtail covered with fine silver patterns, and gracefully stepped into the circular portal that shimmered with a bluish-green halo.
The nobles on the surrounding round platform witnessed this scene and were completely in an uproar, with envious exclamations rising and falling.
Even a fool would understand that once this patriarch sets foot on the Holy Island, from this day forward, the Esca family's status among the Golden Leaf Coral nobles will naturally be elevated.
This family's luck is truly enviable! (End of Chapter)