Traveler of the River of Time and Space-Chapter 452 - 52: Fireless Sacrificial Altar 2

"This place is practically a graveyard," Su Ziyu said solemnly.

Deep within the underground palace lay many tombstones, likely once used to handle countless corpses.

The two walked forward for a while, and suddenly their view opened up. Right in front of them appeared a cross-legged corpse and behind it a shattered basin resembling a regal artifact—something Su Ziyu had seen in other places before.

"This should be it," Sister Fried said, stopping in her tracks.

She turned her head to gesture slightly to Su Ziyu, who then stepped forward and gently reached out to touch the cross-legged corpse.

In an instant.

It was as if his spirit was connected to something, and Su Ziyu saw a towering mountain peak and a magnificent palace built in the clouds, along with a dragon corpse of unimaginable size, winding like a mountain range.

Its existence was unknown, so old that its corpse had weathered to resemble stone.

"Immortal Ancient Dragon!"

Su Ziyu shuddered all over, muttering, "This world really has giant dragons over ten thousand meters long!..."

The ritual magic left behind here transmitted some information.

It was a secret technique leading to the summit of the Ancient Dragon.

"What are you looking at?" Just as Su Ziyu was examining the strange, cross-legged corpse, Sister Fried approached a wall ahead, appearing somewhat puzzled.

Sister Fried glanced at Su Ziyu and said, "This wall seems a bit off."

Wall?

Su Ziyu slowly walked over, reached out, and touched the wall, feeling nothing unusual, as if it were just an ordinary wall.

—"Spiritual Vision!"

After thinking it over, he decided to trust Sister Fried’s intuition and activated the ability of Spiritual Vision, looking at the wall in front of him.

In an instant!

Su Ziyu’s vision distorted to some extent; he actually saw the world hidden behind the wall.

"Step back."

Su Ziyu said gravely, "There used to be a barrier of isolation set up here."

"Behind it is a sealed place."

—"Spatial Perception!"

Su Ziyu saw an incredibly dark world, one devoid of light.

"Hold my hand," Su Ziyu said slowly.

He re-sensed the space beacon outside and, holding Sister Fried’s hand, walked toward the wall. The moment he touched the wall, it gradually turned insubstantial. When they came back to their senses, they found themselves in a strange yet familiar place.

"I feel like I’ve been here before," Sister Fried shuddered and muttered.

This place was strange.

Outside was not simple either.

The cross-legged corpse seemed to have existed for a long time, yet ritual magic still lingered on it.

The broken basin behind the corpse, which resembled a regal artifact, was unique. Su Ziyu had only seen something similar at the flame site in the City of Sin before.

"This is a half-plane," Su Ziyu slowly opened his eyes, a flash of spiritual light passing in his pupils.

He observed the surroundings and said, "This place has been sealed and abandoned for a long time."

Beside him, Sister Fried seemed to be lost in memory, looking up only after a while: "This is the Fireless Sacrificial Altar."

"Follow me."

The two advanced along the dark path.

Everything around felt familiar to Sister Fried. She muttered, "Up ahead should be the Fire Transmission Ritual Site."

"But it should already be abandoned."

Hearing this, Su Ziyu couldn’t help but ask: "Is this the Fireless Sacrificial Altar you’ve mentioned before?"

In history.

The Fire Transmission Ceremony seemed to have nearly been interrupted once.

The initial Fire Transmission Ceremony was initiated by the Cinder King, Gwyn. Since then, the fire transmission had always been led by the Divine Race, which was governed by Gwendolin in Yanorlund.

Thousands of years passed in this manner.

During this time, there was a power and throne change where the Lothric royalty took over the authority of the Divine Race, becoming the rulers of this world and also bearing the responsibility of the fire transmission.

From that time on, the Lothric royalty had been preparing the prince for the Fire Transmission sacrifice.

"This should have been the Fire Transmission Ritual Site abandoned by the Divine Race back then," Sister Fried muttered.

The back of the Demon King Courtyard connected to a sealed Fireless Sacrificial Altar.

It seemed that the transaction between the Lothric royalty and the Divine Race wasn’t that simple. Some change in the Fire Transmission Ceremony must have caused this place to be abandoned.

Moreover, there were no fireless embers before; they appeared only later on.

This half-plane was quite large.

Along the way, the two encountered a few living corpses and even ran into Black Knights clad in heavy armor. These enemies bore clear marks of the Divine Race, but they had long been zombified.

"The fire transmission was once interrupted here!..."

Sister Fried stopped in her tracks, her expression showing a hint of pain, and muttered, "There’s someone ahead!...I don’t remember!..."

—"Hero Gu Da [Zombie] [Pollution]!"

Su Ziyu took a few steps forward and suddenly said, "I’ve already seen it."

In an open square ahead, a few inextinguishable flames burned in the center, and in the very middle was a large figure kneeling on one knee. Just from his silhouette, it could be judged that he was a warrior of the Divine Race. Next to him was embedded a large halberd, and his heavy armor seemed to be entangled with chains. Noticing someone approaching, this towering warrior slowly stood up.

An undead that had zombified.

"I’ve seen him!"

"Right at the Fire Transmission Ritual Site! But he wasn’t like this before!" Sister Fried’s face showed increasing pain as she muttered, "At that time, he was burning with embers!...And there was human pus pollution on him!..."

"He is the trial that the fireless ashes must go through."

Su Ziyu drew the Yirushir Straight Sword with a grim expression and said slowly, "Then perhaps what you saw before wasn’t his real self, just the residue after burning."

"Be careful."

"This enemy is quite strong."

This Fireless Sacrificial Altar must be hiding some secret.

The Divine Race wouldn’t abandon this place for no reason. Su Ziyu still couldn’t figure out how fireless embers came to be.

The lower level of the Demon King Palace connected here.

It seemed he wasn’t simply imprisoned but was also guarding some secrets of the Lothric royalty.

Human pus was concocted by the Demon King.

Sister Fried said that she had once seen a Gu Da infected with human pus, implying there must be some connection that Su Ziyu didn’t know.

Boom.

Without much time to think, Hero Gu Da, already zombified, swung the heavy halberd directly toward them.

Clang.

Su Ziyu’s figure was knocked back several meters. He steadied his posture and loosened his muscles a bit, then said, "Are you alright? Whatever you don’t remember, we’ll find out after dealing with this enemy!"

Rumble.

Hero Gu Da swung the heavy halberd, slashing toward them. Su Ziyu sidestepped, then swung his sword at the opponent’s waist.

Sparks flew.

Accompanied by a hint of lightning, a floating Dragon-Hunting Spear suddenly thrust toward Hero Gu Da’s head from behind him.

A thread of cold wind rose.

Sister Fried recovered quickly. After regaining her senses, she immediately gripped her giant scythe, and as it rose, cold winds mixed with shards of ice spread directly toward the enemy.

Whatever the issue, deal with the enemy first.

Everything here gave Sister Fried a sense of familiarity, yet she remembered nothing.

Crackle.

A thin line of lightning appeared in Su Ziyu’s palm; nearly at the same moment Sister Fried acted, he summoned a Thunder Spear and hurled it directly at the head of the Divine Race zombie.

The dark half-plane gave him a sense of unease; he needed to learn what secrets this Fireless Sacrificial Altar held.

The Divine Race certainly didn’t abandon this place without reason—some change must have occurred in the Fire Transmission Ceremony that led to its abandonment.

And previously, there had been no ember remnants; they only appeared later.

The connection between the human pus, later created by the Demon King, needed to be uncovered. Sister Fried said she also once saw a Gu Da infected with human pus at the Fire Transmission Ritual Site; surely, there was a connection that Su Ziyu had yet to understand.

But there was no time to think about this now.

Boom.

In an instant.

A massive figure shrouded in armor rushed toward them, its eyes glinting with a fierce red light, and its sword covered with the black flame of the underworld raised high, striking down towards them.

Su Ziyu swung his sword to parry, sparks flying in all directions.

The giant force transmitted through the blade made Su Ziyu stagger back.

He realized they had encountered a formidable foe.

—"Activate the defensive formation!" Su Ziyu shouted.

Sister Fried, barely able to stand firm, quickly stepped forward, wielding her Giant Scythe. With a swift motion, a chilling gust accompanied by ice crystals spread through the air, creating a shimmering, cold landscape.

Braving this storm, Su Ziyu summoned a Thunder Spear in his palm, a crack of lightning crackling as he did so.