Sitting diagonally behind the statue was an old man in a black robe, wearing a hood, head bowed, eyes tightly shut. The white beard on his face was long and thick, as if it hadn't been trimmed for years or even a decade, making his original features hard to discern.
In Klein's eyes, however, this fully bearded old man was even more eerie than those figures suspended in midair.
After his "Spirit Body Threads" extended from his body, they didn't float upward to gather where there seemed to be a "magnet" hidden. Instead, they looped around him and returned to where they originated, with the source and end merging into one!
——Under normal circumstances, a living being's "Spirit Body Threads" originate from inside the body and extend in different directions into infinity. As for the figures hanging from above, while the sources of their "Spirit Body Threads" remained unchanged, all the terminals converged at the top of this ancient church—plainly a major problem.
So this was why he hadn't been hanged? Or was this his way of evading the dangers inside the church? While controlling his own "Spirit Body Threads" to resist the tendency to float upward, Klein muttered to himself, speculating on the reasons.
Suddenly, he saw a pair of eyes—pupils as black as a lightless water surface.
The old man sitting diagonally behind the statue suddenly opened his eyes.
He was alive!
Klein subconsciously stepped back, slightly arching his body, and raised his left palm to shield himself.
In that indescribably tense silence that made one's heart pound, the old man with the pale, white beard moved his eyes slightly, half-opened his mouth, and spoke indistinctly:
"Finally, another 'Seer' has come here..."
Another? Had there been other Beyonders of the Seer pathway who entered this church? True—besides those erased by the "Eraser" Angel who ended up in Misty Town, the creatures that disappeared from the divine war ruins at night also appeared here. Among them might have been several Seer-pathway Beyonders who had tried to find mermaids in those waters or had successfully advanced and were about to leave... Seeing that the other party hadn't attacked him immediately and seemed inclined to communicate, Klein forcibly steadied his emotions and asked thoughtfully:
"Why do you say that?"
The old man with black eyes and white beard, still wearing his hood, didn't answer directly. In a low, indistinct voice, he asked instead:
"Do you want to escape from here?
"I can tell you the way."
Klein wasn't swayed and immediately asked:
"Then why are you still here?"
Since he knew how to escape this Misty Town, why would he remain in this dangerous church?
The old man lowered his head halfway and chuckled hoarsely:
"Because I've been dead for a long time."
"..." Klein's hair stood on end, and he was speechless.
In his eyes, this old man wasn't a spirit form at all!
Seeing no response, the old man slowly lifted his head, glanced at Klein, who was disguised as Gehrman Sparrow, and said:
"I used a special Beyonder power to find the gaps in the history and fate of this world, cut out an image of myself, and froze it here, sustaining it until now. As for my body and my spirit, they have long since completely died and dissipated."
This ability was beyond belief... Having no way to verify the truth, Klein could only change the subject and ask:
"Then what's the purpose of guiding the 'Seers' who enter here on how to escape?"
The old man's voice was still indistinct:
"When you open the gate, the history and fate of this place will change, and this image I cut out will also disappear. At that time, you will see a jar of ashes.
"I only hope they can be scattered into the Serenzo River near Trier, the capital of Intis. That is my hometown, where I was born.
"Do you understand that name? I don't know how long it has been in the real world."
Imprisoned here for at least a hundred years? Klein replied calmly:
"They still exist."
"Good." The old man nodded, as if with phlegm in his throat.
Though Klein didn't fully trust the man before him, he thought that knowing more would help him make a comprehensive judgment, so he decided not to waste time and risk another interruption:
"How do I escape?"
The old man remained seated, without any obvious movement:
"Do you see that wall behind the statue?
"Isn't there a depression on it?"
Klein really didn't want to follow his instructions, since just before he had been lured by that witch Pannatia into seeing her incomplete mythological creature form and suffered shock and injury. However, he had already intended to examine his surroundings for clues, so in the end he cautiously moved his gaze to the wall behind the statue.
There were short, archaic symbols carved on it, but a section was missing, breaking the connection.
That blank area was about the size of two palms, clearly recessed, as if someone had dug out the surface stone bricks.
"As long as you can find the corresponding obsidian and place it here, you can initially lift the 'secrecy' from this wall, revealing a hazy color. Then I will tell you a complicated, special symbol, which is the key to opening a door of escape on the wall," the old man with the full beard said in detail, not turning his head, staring straight ahead.
A complicated, special symbol... key to open the door... Amidst the howling of "Hornacis... Flegra..." echoing in the wind behind him, Klein suddenly had a symbol appear in his mind:
A vertical eye composed of numerous secret symbols!
That was exactly the message delivered to him through the infection of the "Calamity Doll" by the Antigonus family notebook!