Chapter 339 Secret Passage, Key Clue, and the Secret Garden

"Thud."

Amid the dust motes drifting in the air, he closed the experimental log with both hands.

His fingertips brushed against its rough, flexible cover. Recalling the records within, Xia Nan fell deep into thought.

Though it was filled with incomprehensible experimental jargon, subjective ravings, and baffling inner thoughts, reading it page by page and filtering out the fluff revealed the author's identity and the events that led him here.

An I5 adventurer of the Druid class had accidentally encountered a powerful monster known as a Gauth Beholder on the outer edges of the Underdark. His team suffered heavy casualties. Two teammates died in succession, and the beholder's special gaze triggered a curse within his own body.

Seeking a safe and hidden place to heal, he had come to this Canyon.

However, the curse on the Druid was exceptionally vicious. Ordinary healing methods could not alleviate it.

He arrived during the Month of the Summer Tide, the season when fog lamp grass bloomed.

He unexpectedly discovered a way to heal his injuries—and even an opportunity to advance to I6—using the blooming fog lamp grass. But to do so, he needed pure vitality to act as a medium and catalyst.

Thus, Fog Lamp Village, situated right next to the Canyon, naturally became his target. He forced them to hold a sacrificial ritual, demanding they regularly offer him "sacrifices."

And this was the origin of Fog Lamp Village's so-called ancient, generation-spanning ritual.

The diary contained no exact dates indicating when the Druid first arrived at the Canyon.

Yet, piecing together the fragmented rumors he had gathered in the village, Xia Nan deduced that this ritual had been going on for many years, outlasting several village chiefs.

What had started as a forced ceremony to satisfy a Druid's selfish desires had gradually turned into a Fog Lamp Village tradition, passed down from one generation to the next.

Even later on, when the Druid's experiments made significant breakthroughs and his injuries healed—making fresh, pure vitality no longer necessary—Fog Lamp Village still sent a sacrifice into the Canyon every few years.

Thinking up to this point, Xia Nan found it absurd.

According to the Druid's log, during his first few years in the Canyon, he had probably helped Fog Lamp Village.

After all, they were his primary source of sacrifices. Keeping the village safe and letting the population grow ultimately benefited his own experiments.

For an I5 Druid in a place that barely counted as the true outskirts of the Misty Forest, driving away weak monsters or using class skills to guarantee a bountiful harvest every year was effortless.

But as his slumber grew longer and his experiments deepened, the Druid—who no longer needed pure vitality—naturally stopped aiding the village.

By that point, however, the sacrificial ritual had already taken on a meaning far beyond its original purpose for Fog Lamp Village. It had become a tool for the rulers to maintain their own power and status.

Even though they knew the so-called protection of the Spirit of the Canyon no longer existed, they still held the ritual regularly and offered sacrifices.

When faced with challengers to their authority, they wouldn't hesitate to employ ruthless, self-destructive tactics, deliberately luring in outside monsters or manufacturing panic over failed harvests just to suppress opposition and secure their own positions.

Looking at it this way, Aspen's rebellion when his daughter was chosen as a sacrifice—and his eventual submission—was never a punishment from the Spirit of the Canyon, but a situation deliberately engineered from the shadows by the village chief.

He had exploited Aspen's sense of duty and affection for his fellow villagers, forcing him to choose between the village and his own daughter.

And the monster that had lurked around the village and only left two months after the ritual concluded likely hadn't spared them because the ceremony was a success. It had probably just eaten its fill or left for some other entirely unrelated reason.

"What a piece of work..."

His mind involuntarily recalled the carved longbow slung across Aspen's back and the heavily wrinkled face of the old village chief.

Killing intent surfaced in Xia Nan's heart.

He decided that when he eventually left the village, he would reveal the truth to the residents.

The fury of the simple, hardworking masses would surely put a "perfect" end to the old chief's career.

Beyond this, Xia Nan discovered an unexpected bonus within the Druid's log.

The author mentioned that after the team disbanded, one of his teammates went to Barracuda Bay in the Southern Archipelagos to recuperate.

That wasn't the crucial part.

What really caught Xia Nan's attention was how the Druid referred to him:

"That kid from the Morton family."

Anyone with even a passing familiarity with the history of the Servia Kingdom would recognize that surname.

Combined with the mentions of "Sticky-Tree Territory" and "inheriting the title" in the log, the identity of the Druid's teammate became crystal clear.

It was a scion of the Duke Morton Family—the very family whose Sticky-Tree Territory in Abyssal Veil Province Xia Nan had recently passed through with the mage Verol, the source of the [Molten Ash Silver Ingot] loot, the master that the Class Holder Lawson he killed had served, and the original owners of the [Dream Weaving Corridor]!

After all his travels, he never expected to run into a connection to them here.

But what truly fueled Xia Nan's imagination was the Druid's description of this Morton family young master.

The log stated that when the young master left home, he had secretly taken a family heirloom, described as a silvery-white metal object with no obvious function.

The very first thing that popped into Xia Nan's mind upon reading this sentence was the [Dream Weaving Corridor] in his possession.

Although this technological artifact—which could raise combat technique proficiency—had transformed into the Silver Ring upon activation and now sat on his right ring finger, when he had first encountered it, it perfectly matched the log's description of a "silvery-white metal object with no obvious function."

"Morton of Sticky-Tree Territory," "family heirloom," "useless metal object"—

Taken individually, these terms might not warrant much attention.

But strung together, they made Xia Nan's heart skip a beat, given what he knew.

Could it be that there was more than one [Dream Weaving Corridor]?

Or perhaps the runaway young master of the Morton family didn't hold the main [Dream Weaving Corridor] itself, but rather something related to it, such as—

The key!?

The intense premonition that suddenly swelled within him sent Xia Nan's emotions surging.

The overpowered functions of the [Dream Weaving Corridor] went without saying. His past advancement in [Fang Hunt] had come from its assistance. As long as he could activate it and use its virtual simulations, the resulting surge in combat technique proficiency would save Xia Nan an immense amount of hard work.

Now, he had a clear channel to replenish its energy: by finding otherworldly Secret Realms, he could use the special items inside them to recharge it.

The only thing missing was the "key" required to boot up the device.

Finding that key was one of the mid-term goals he had set for himself.

And now, a clue had finally surfaced.

Even if it turned out that the heirloom taken from the Morton Family wasn't the [Dream Weaving Corridor] key he was looking for, just for that one percent chance—

He absolutely had to make a trip to Barracuda Bay.

Standing up slowly, he stuffed the log into his backpack.

Xia Nan took long, deep breaths, calming his racing heart.

Without a doubt, this would be a long journey.

Since transmigrating, he had never undertaken such a lengthy trip. Before setting off, he would definitely need to make detailed preparations—but he would have to wait until he returned to Rivervale Town to carefully plan those out.

Right now, the most pressing matter was finishing the gathering quest at hand.

Furthermore—although he had slain the fog lamp grass monster created by the Druid, the danger in this place had not actually been fully neutralized.

The author of the log, the evil Druid who used humans and fog lamp grass as test subjects, had yet to show his face.

Where was he?

Had he died completely, becoming just a piece of this world's history? Had he left the Canyon after finishing his experiments? Or was he hiding in some unknown dark corner right now, secretly watching him?

Xia Nan had no way of knowing.

Clearly, this was not the time to lower his guard.

Regarding the Druid's whereabouts, the only clue he had was at the end of the log: the man had seemingly attempted to fuse his body with the fog lamp grass to achieve an ascension of his life state.

Xia Nan wasn't sure where the ritual had taken place, but considering the Canyon was the only place nearby where fog lamp grass grew, the Druid couldn't have gone far. In fact—

A thought struck him.

Focusing his attention to the absolute limit, Xia Nan's dark eyes instantly flashed gray and white.

[Heart-Guided Vision] activated in a flash.

The dim room, originally bathed in the blue-white glow of the fog lamp grass outside, immediately transformed into pure black and white lines. Gravity waves collided and intertwined within it like ripples.

Forcing down the intense vertigo wracking his brain, Xia Nan manipulated gravity. Like a bat using echolocation, he evenly released a faint repulsive force in all directions with his body at the center, carefully observing the gravitational shifts along the surrounding walls and floor.

His mental energy reserves were too low.

After just a few fleeting seconds, the agonizing pain in his overdrawn brain forced him to shut off [Heart-Guided Vision].

He braced one hand on the table, panting heavily.

A world composed purely of gravity placed far too massive a burden on him right now; he couldn't sustain it for long.

Fortunately, thanks to the unique nature of this black-and-white gravitational line perspective, those few seconds were enough for him to spot a dissonance in the room.

"Right there!"

He locked his gaze on the innermost part of the room—a mottled wall lined with a few dilapidated bookshelves.

Rubbing his aching temples, he slowly walked over. Drawing on the experience of searching for hidden rooms he had gathered from various novels and movies in his past life, he ran his hands meticulously over every inch of the wall and the bookshelves.

He made up his mind: if he couldn't find a mechanism, he would just go the brute-force route and smash the wall open.

Luckily, he didn't have to waste much time on this step.

He hadn't even checked half the shelf when a heavy book authored by Oberk Bogbeard titled Heart of Thorns: Sentient Plants and Their Methods of Communication caught his eye.

Its dark brown cover made it look inconspicuous against the surrounding books, but its perfectly straight, firmly rooted posture in the corner of the shelf formed a sharp contrast with the slanted, collapsing books on either side.

Xia Nan simply stepped up and gave it a small test push. With a light "click" from inside the wall, the leather-bound book depressed inward.

Dust shook loose.

The perfectly flush wall rotated slightly like a revolving door, revealing gaps on either side.

He pressed his palm against the wall and pushed gently. As the wall swung inward, a secret passage appeared before Xia Nan's eyes.

Focusing his mind, he expanded his Perception to the absolute limit.

Detecting no traps, Xia Nan took a deep breath. Longsword in hand, he cautiously crept inside. The lighting was dim, and the stone steps were damp.

However, the secret passage was far shorter than Xia Nan had imagined. He had barely descended a dozen steps when a brilliant blue-white light, exceptionally blinding in the gloom, pierced his vision.

The view suddenly opened up!

Beyond the passage, a massive natural cavern leaped into view.

The cavern itself was sealed, devoid of any crevices large enough to let outside light in. It should have been as pitch-black as a crypt.

Yet right now, it was vastly brighter than the wooden cabin outside, or even the Canyon and Fog Lamp Village in the basin. He could clearly see every mottled crack on the distant rock walls.

It was as bright as day!

As for the reason—

It was a garden composed entirely of fog lamp grass, so vast it could only be described as "spectacular."

They weren't scattered sparsely like in the Canyon, but densely packed, carpeting the ground all the way to the edge of his vision.

It looked like a tranquil lake reflecting the starry sky. As the floral lamps swayed, the brilliant blue-white lights fed off each other. Amplified by the sheer volume of the fog lamp grass, the soft glow merged into a searing, pure radiance that bathed the entire cavern in light as bright as a full moon.

To abruptly step from a dim, dilapidated cabin into such an isolated dreamscape unconsciously filled Xia Nan's heart with a sense of awe and immersion.

But before he could properly bask in the sight, the words from the diary ruthlessly stabbed into his heart like cold steel needles in the very next second.

"sacrificial ritual," "sacrifices," "human girls," "necessary casualties"—

The nutrients feeding this magnificent scene before him—the very root of this extreme beauty—came from the blood and lives of innocent girls swept up by ignorance and greed.

The moment he realized this, his perspective soured.

The brilliant blue-white glow no longer seemed holy, but instead carried a mournful, bloodcurdling edge. The vibrant life energy suddenly felt as though it was emitting a foul, rotting stench of blood.

Xia Nan frowned, a flash of disgust crossing his eyes.

His searching gaze shifted to the very center of the garden.

There, clustered amidst countless stalks of fog lamp grass and illuminated by the blinding radiance, he could vaguely make out a massive, blurry silhouette.