Mark's heart trembled. Sacrifice, time, reincarnation, these keywords reminded him of Selina and the holy stone altar. He asked the middle-aged woman: "Can you tell me about the specific content of the sacrifice? Also, when is this sacrifice held?" His tone was urgent, and his eyes were full of exploration.
The middle-aged woman put down the needle and thread in her hand, thinking slightly, as if trying to recall something.
"I don't know the specific content of the sacrifice," she said slowly, wrinkles piled up on her forehead,
"I just heard some of the elders in the village. It seems that a stone is enshrined on the altar." She paused and said, "As for the time of the sacrifice, I remember it seems to be... on the day of the spring equinox."
As she spoke, she gestured with her hands, as if she wanted to describe it more accurately.
"Spring equinox..." Mark repeated the word in a low voice, frowning. There is still a long time before the spring equinox, and he can't wait that long. He must confirm as soon as possible whether the node he is in now is related to the holy stone.
The middle-aged woman seemed to see Mark's anxiety. She thought for a moment and said, "I still remember the place of sacrifice. It's in a cedar forest north of the village. There seems to be an altar there before." As she spoke, she pointed to the north outside the window. Mark looked in the direction pointed by the middle-aged woman. It was pitch black outside the window and he couldn't see anything. But a glimmer of hope ignited in his heart. Maybe he could find what he wanted on that altar. "Thank you, you helped me a lot!" He sincerely thanked the middle-aged woman, his tone full of gratitude. "You're welcome, young man." The middle-aged woman smiled and said, "I hope you can find what you want." Mark stood up and said goodbye. Amy held his hand reluctantly and refused to let him go. "Big brother, will you come again in the future?" She raised her little face, her big eyes full of expectation. Mark touched Amy's head and said softly, "Yes, Amy, I'll bring you something delicious next time I come." He walked out of the cabin, and the cold wind blew in his face, making him shiver involuntarily. With the faint starlight, he identified the direction and walked towards the cedar forest north of the village. The snow was very thick, over his knees, and every step was very strenuous. The biting cold wind whistled past, rolling up snowflakes, flying in front of his eyes, making him feel blurry.
After walking for about half an hour, he finally came to the cedar forest. The tall cedar trees stood in the snow like guards, with thick snow covering their branches, shining silvery white under the starlight. The forest was quiet, with only the sound of the wind blowing through the treetops, making a humming sound, like the howling of ghosts and wolves, which made people feel creepy.
Mark took a deep breath and walked into the cedar forest. He pushed aside the branches blocking his way, and the snow fell from the branches, landing on his head and body, making him feel cold. He groped forward in the woods, looking for the altar that the middle-aged woman mentioned.
After walking for about a quarter of an hour, he was suddenly tripped by a protruding object and almost fell. He looked down and found that there was a stone buried in the snow under his feet. He brushed away the snow with his hand and found that this stone was not an ordinary stone, but a stone slab with exquisite patterns carved on it. There were some strange symbols and patterns carved on the surface of the stone slab, which were very similar to the patterns he saw on the parchment scroll.
Mark was delighted, he knew he had found the right place. He continued to walk along the stone slabs and found that more and more stone slabs emerged from the snow. Finally, an ancient altar buried in the snow appeared in front of him.
The altar was round, with a diameter of about five meters and a height of about one meter. The surface of the altar is engraved with various patterns and symbols. The most eye-catching one is a spiral pattern in the center of the altar, which is exactly the same as the pattern on the scroll and the two pieces of holy stone fragments picked up before.
Mark was a little disappointed. This is not the altar of the holy stone. The altar of the holy stone is made of branches. He brushed away the snow on the altar with his hands and began to carefully study the patterns and patterns on the altar, trying to find useful clues.
His fingers moved slowly along the spiral pattern, feeling the texture and bumps of the pattern. He noticed that there was a small depression in the center of the spiral pattern, which was just big enough to put a piece of holy stone fragment.
He took out the two dull holy stone fragments from his backpack, hesitated for a moment, and put one of them into the depression. At the moment when the holy stone fragment was put into the depression, the altar suddenly made a buzzing sound, and the pattern on the altar began to flicker with a faint light. Mark was shocked and quickly put another piece of holy stone fragment into the depression.
After both pieces of the holy stone were put in, the light on the altar suddenly intensified, illuminating the surrounding cedar forest. The spiral pattern in the center of the altar began to rotate, faster and faster, and finally formed a vortex of light.
Mark was stunned by this sudden change. He subconsciously took a few steps back and vigilantly observed the changes in the altar. "Buzz..." The vibration of the altar became more and more violent, and the vortex of light became more and more dazzling. Finally, the light completely enveloped Mark.
Mark felt a dizzy feeling, as if the whole world was spinning. His consciousness began to blur, and there was darkness in front of him.
"Where am I...?"
Mark slowly opened his eyes and found himself in a void space. An ice abyss beast leaned against him and lay. Mark was surprised to find that this was Bingying. He hugged Bingying and said,
"Bingying, is that you? Are you okay?"
But Bingying did not respond.
"Mark, your Ice Abyss Beast doesn't have enough energy, it's still sleeping, and can't respond to you." A voice suddenly sounded, and then a head slowly appeared. It was the shadow of the Holy Stone Core.
Mark looked down at the sleeping Ice Shadow in his arms, gently stroking its cold scales, his eyes full of worry. After confirming that the Ice Shadow was just sleeping, he slowly breathed a sigh of relief, and his tense body relaxed.
He slowly got up and looked around. This was a strange void space, with no up and down, left and right, no boundaries, only an endless white, as if in a chaos.
He tried to take a step, but found himself floating in the air, without a foothold, and walking became light and illusory, like a dream.
Unable to find any clues to leave, Mark frowned, and his eyes fell on the shadow of the Holy Stone Core again.
This shadow was suspended in the air, emitting a soft light, like a floating lantern, illuminating this void space.
"Sacred Stone Core, can you tell me what happened? Why did I wake up here? How did the battle go?" Mark's voice was a little anxious, and his eyes were full of expectation.
The shadow of the sacred stone core trembled slightly, and made a soft voice: "Avella used 12 sacred stones to assimilate my power, which made me unable to participate in your battle. In the end, because Selina's soul merged, I used up my last strength to send you back to your original world. The sacred stone could not avoid the fate of being broken, but the energy generated by the explosion also injured Avella."
It paused for a moment and continued: "To fully awaken Bingying and stop Avella's organization, you need to collect all the sacred stone fragments." "All the sacred stone fragments?" Mark repeated, feeling a little uneasy.
He knew that the sacred stone fragments were scattered all over the world, and it was not easy to find them. "How can I find the remaining sacred stone fragments? The two fragments in my hand have lost their energy," he asked, with a hint of urgency in his tone.