Chapter Seventy-Three: The Story of the Mural

  The first mural depicted a man holding a magic staff, standing against the wind on a cliff. Below the mural was written a line in the ancient continental language. I read it aloud to Evin and Siluo in modern continental common language: "Nan Te Saphir, great magician, my beloved, this is where he rests."

  Evan was taken aback and said, "Is this a magician's graveyard?" I nodded and said, "It seems you're right, that's what it looks like for now. Do we still want to go in?" Evan said, "Since we've come all the way here, we can't just leave without doing anything, of course we have to go in."

  "Let's continue looking then." I held up the torch and arrived in front of the second mural.

  The second mural depicted a magician named Nante standing on a massive stone, holding a staff and pointing it towards the sky. The staff emitted rays of light that struck a giant flying monster in mid-air, causing it to writhe in agony. A man was riding on the back of the monster, stabbing at its body with a dagger. Below the mural, a village was ablaze, with people fleeing from the flames and others struggling in the inferno. I read the inscription below the mural: "Only by understanding the meaning of life can one comprehend the truth of death." It seemed clear that Nante had killed the evil monster and saved many lives. I gazed at Nante's staff, which looked eerily familiar. Didn't it resemble the "Staff of the Gods" that Teacher Ankhara had given me?

  Just as I was stunned, Evan poked me and said: "You say that man's hand holding the dagger, is it the one I want? Let's go, continue walking forward, the answer should be up ahead."

  Not having time to think carefully, I temporarily suppressed the doubts in my heart and followed Evan to the front of the third mural. The content of the third painting was Nantou wearing a crown and formal attire standing shoulder-to-shoulder with a beautiful girl wearing a wedding dress, surrounded by cheering crowds. The mural was vivid and lifelike, even the expressions on the characters' faces looked so real. Below the mural were written: "Love and hate accompany each other, happiness and suffering coexist. Love is the root of hatred, and pain is hidden in happiness." These two sentences left us a bit bewildered, we continued to move forward with doubts.

  I saw the content on the mural was Nante leading the people to build a huge city on the mountain, and I even saw elves, dwarves and other races of the continent on the mural. The words below the mural were: "He is the creator of this country, and also the destroyer."

  I finished reciting the sentence and said inexplicably: "Is this city doomed to be destroyed by his hands?"

  The next painting depicts a woman standing shoulder to shoulder with Nante in a room, talking to a man who is the same one we saw earlier killing monsters together with Nante. The two people seem very intimate, and Nante has just walked in from the doorway, looking at them with anger on his face. The words below the painting read: "Misunderstandings lead to anger, distrust hides the root of sin." Seeing this painting, I understood that Nante must have misunderstood his lover's tryst with someone else.

  The content of the murals became even more tragic. The magician Nante misunderstood his lover and clashed with that man, and the two people unfolded a fierce confrontation in the city. In the end, Nante killed that man. However, although Nante defeated his imaginary rival, the city he built with his own hands was completely destroyed due to the battle between the two men. Countless residents fled the city and went far away. Under the mural of the city being razed to the ground, the words were written: "Salvation and destruction are only a thought away, but regret will last a lifetime."

  Through the mural, we learn that later on, the truth finally came to light and Nante ultimately died in regret. The woman in the painting, who is Nante's wife, led the people in burying Nante under the ruins of the city he had built and destroyed with his own hands, and then she led the people away.

  In the last mural, Nante's wife wrote: "I hate you, but also love you. You created our happiness with your own hands, yet destroyed everything, including your brother who fought alongside you, out of jealousy. My beloved, may your soul rest in peace, and all grudges will be gone with the wind." Upon seeing this, Evan sighed and said: "Alas, a great magician died at his own hands due to jealousy. Countless people he saved were killed again by his own hands. This disaster was caused by a misunderstanding, how tragic is that?" He shook his head, showing regret.

  Here, the story seems to have ended, and Evan, Siluo and I also walked to the entrance of the tomb. The gate of the tomb was two huge stone gates, which were tightly closed, and a faint green glow seemed to be wrapped around the gate.

  Evan said beside me, "I've reached my limit here. I can open the gate, but I won't be able to enter. An invisible magic is blocking my way." After that, Evan made a demonstration. He put down his backpack and took out many rod-like objects from it, then assembled them into a long pole.

  Evan slowly extended the rod, and finally passed through the green light, pointing to a place on the gate, only to hear "creak creak creak ~" a heavy mechanical sound, after a while, the two stone gates opened with a loud rumble.

  The entrance hall is a huge circular chamber, with a massive coffin placed in the center of the hall. The coffin is decorated with extreme luxury, and on all sides of the hall can be seen several doors, which must be where the burial objects are placed.

  Evan said to me, "Look, I put my hand out and it bounces right back." Then he really lifted his own hand up and took two steps forward. When Evan approached that blue light, he was immediately bounced back.

  "I've tried every means, but I just can't break through this defense. Ayrick, it's up to you now. You don't know how suffocating it feels when what you want is right in front of you, yet you still can't get it."

  I nodded and said, "Then I'll give it a try. I may not be able to handle it, after all, the other party is not on the same level as me." After finishing speaking, I moved my body towards that faint cyan light...