“——!!!”

Invisible sound waves erupted instantly, and the magicians who were hit the brunt of it flew out directly.

“Master!!”

Gray grabbed El-Melloi II who was nearly blown down, and looked around, only to find that Luvia, Fulga and several other magicians had fallen to the ground. Although they were not unconscious, judging from the expressions on their faces, they were obviously not in good condition either.

"What's going on?"

"There's no way to move... um... Magic Mark..."

"Ha ha ha ha!!!"

However, at this moment, the frivolous monk - or rather the child of Ashubwin who was once a monk - stood up and raised his hands high.

"Strip City Adela, open the door!!"

With his roar, the door opened.

It was a nightmare-like scene, as spirits flew out from all the angel statues in the castle one after another, screaming and roaring.

"What's this?"

Seeing this, the flowers were stunned.

"Souls, that guy named Wen must have killed a lot of people and sealed their souls in these angel statues... It's really disgusting to think about it."

Hearing the light comments from the red ponytail beside her, Flowers couldn't help but tremble. If it was really as Xiaohong said - thinking of this, Flowers couldn't help but think of the angel statues she saw when she came to this castle, on the walls, on the windows, on the pillars, on the doors, on the chairs, on the tables... If each angel statue represents a dead soul, then how many people are there here?

How many people did the man named Ashberwin kill?

"Gray..."

Looking at the large number of vengeful spirits rushing towards him and others, El-Melloi II took a deep breath.

"Master, Master..."

However, the girl standing in front of him was pale and her teeth were chattering. Seeing this, the monk who controlled the undead couldn't help but laugh.

"It's really interesting, Miss Grey. You came from a cemetery, but you're actually afraid of the dead!"

“…”

Without saying a word, Gray silently stretched out her right hand, but at this moment, her movement suddenly stopped.

Because Gray saw that in front of the madly surging evil spirits, the girl with bright red, flaming twin ponytails pulled out a sword out of thin air.

What is that?

The hilt of the sword was pitch black, and it looked like a devil's sword jaw. A line of completely unknown mysterious runes was engraved on the silver-white sword body. The sword shone with a light blue glow, but the moment it appeared, Gray felt as if even her soul was completely frozen.

"Hey, hey, hey, what is that? This is not good, this is not good!!"

A loud scream came to her ears, but Grey didn't even have time to respond. She just stared at the sword - just looking at it made Grey feel a fear that her soul would be entangled, attracted, and imprisoned in it.

"I never thought I'd encounter so many evil spirits, but it's okay..."

The girl with bright red twin ponytails picked up the greatsword that was taller than herself with one hand and raised it high.

"In that case, let her have a good meal... Frostmourne is hungry!"

“——!!”

The next moment, the wind was howling.

As if a huge whirlpool suddenly appeared on the seabed, the wind swirled and gathered towards the sword, and the performance of the undead was even more surprising. They were originally aggressive and wanted to harvest the lives of everyone present, but the moment the sword appeared, these undead seemed to have seen something terrible and rushed to escape.

It was like an army charging forward and suddenly seeing a giant dragon spewing flames in front of them. The undead turned around, screaming, waving their hands, trying to escape from this land of death. But their struggles were in vain, as the invisible chains seemed to have completely bound these crazy souls. They were swept and wrapped by the strong wind, flying towards the silver-white sword, and then disappeared into the air with screams.

In just a blink of an eye, perhaps less than ten seconds, everything had completely disappeared. The thousands of undead spirits that had been wandering in the castle had vanished without a trace.

“Swish!”

The girl with a bright red ponytail turned the sword over and stuck it into the ground.

"That's all... Never mind. It's better than nothing. Just be content."

As she spoke to herself, she patted the hilt of the sword. Then, the silver-white sword disappeared quietly into the air.

“…”

There was dead silence all around.

Everyone was stunned, and seemed to have no idea what was happening. Even magicians like El-Melloi II, Luvia, and Heine had the same confused look on their faces. It was like the last part of a movie, when everyone was waiting for the final boss to appear and the hard fight that followed, and the boss who just appeared was slapped to death by a passerby.

The air... was filled with silence and awkwardness.

But no matter what, this matter... has come to an end here.

The next morning, everyone said goodbye and left Peel City.

"So, you rejected my proposal?"

Fang Zheng folded his arms and stared at El-Melloi II with ill intent, while El-Melloi II lowered his head.

"I'm sorry, this is really not something I can decide. After all, I'm just an agent."

"Okay, okay, it's not like I didn't gain anything this time, so I'll let you go. Since you can't make a decision, I'll find someone who can make the decision and talk to me."

Although they failed to win over the El-Melloi family, Heine and Rosalind finally agreed to Fang Zheng's invitation and decided to join the Thousand Worlds Tree. After all, they came here for nothing. Ashberwin's secret technique was obviously just a cover and bait. It was obvious that since Ashberwin tried to resurrect his son, he would definitely not give his secret technique to outsiders. Moreover, after this battle, Heine also found that magic engraving is a fatal weakness for magicians. If Fang Zheng and Flowers were not there this time, I'm afraid they might have been wiped out.

Therefore, in order to repay the life-saving grace and to dig out the magic seal in his body, Heine finally agreed to let the Ilista family join the Thousand Worlds Tree. For Fang Zheng, this was more or less a gain - at least it was not in vain.

As for the monk who was resurrected by a possessed corpse, Fang Zheng had already extracted the soul of Ashberwen's son from his body. However, this also caused his own soul to be shattered, and he might become a vegetable in the future.

But this has nothing to do with Fang Zheng.

"Excuse me... Miss Red Ponytail."

Hearing this, Gray, who was standing next to them, couldn't help but ask curiously.

"Are you coming to the Clock Tower too?"

"Hahaha, that's not the case. I'll find another place to meet."

Facing Gray's question, Fang Zheng smiled and waved his hand.

"I will only appear in the Clock Tower under one circumstance, and that is when the Thousand World Trees decides to wage a full-scale war against the Clock Tower... Just hope you don't see me there."

After saying this, Fang Zheng turned around proudly.

"Flowers, let's go!"

"Okay, Xiaohong."

Looking at the two people's backs as they walked away, Gray couldn't help swallowing. Although Red Ponytail's words just now seemed like a joke, Gray could tell... she was definitely not joking.

So...if the master doesn't join them, then one day in the future, will he and Miss Red Ponytail go to war?

Thinking of this, Gray couldn't help but clench her hands.

"So you see, I said, there is no need for any reasoning."

Walking down the mountain road again, Fang Zheng yawned and spoke to the flowers around him.

"See, all the puzzles and inheritances are bullshit. In the end, all of this is just a trick made up by the magician himself. How does it feel to go from a suspense mystery to a horror supernatural movie?"

"To be honest... it's really shocking..."

Facing Fang Zheng's question, Xianhua thought for a moment and then gave her answer.

"To be honest, before this, I never thought about what kind of people magicians are, but now... I may have some understanding of the existence of magicians."

"That's right. This is why Fiore sent you here this time."

Having said that, Fang Zheng smiled and patted Xianhua's shoulder.

"Observe for yourself, think for yourself, and come up with your own answers. Dogmatic slogans and learning cannot replace the results of personal practice... Of course, the premise is that the three views must be correct, and the most important thing is to have the right stance. It is said that the stance determines right and wrong. If you lose your stance, then the right and wrong of the evaluation will be meaningless."

"It's just that I feel a little regretful..."

"Um?"

"I always feel like there's something..."

Faced with Fang Zheng's curious gaze, Xianhua seemed to be at a loss for what to say for a moment.

"...Anyway, it's a little weird..."

"It's understandable. After all, it's different from the plot of ordinary movies. It's normal to have such thoughts."

Having said that, Fang Zheng smiled and winked at the flowers.

"But do you want to hear my answer?"

"well?"

"To put it bluntly, this is not a mystery or a suspense story at all. It's just a third-rate emotional soap opera."

Fang Zheng snapped shut the copy of "Whispering Announcement" which he had taken out at some unknown time.

"Soap opera?"

"Yes, you remember what Holmes once said, that the second victim, the old man in a wheelchair, had done some research with Ashberyne in this Stripping City before, right?"

"Um……"

Hua Xian recalled for a moment, then nodded, while Fang Zheng gave a weird smile.

"In fact, that old man...had an affair with Ashberwin's wife? And it was after that that Ashberwin's wife gave birth to a son."

"Oh... eh?"

Hearing this, Xianhua nodded subconsciously at first, and after a moment, she finally reacted.

"well--!!!?"

"Then, could it be that Ashberwin's son is actually..."

"Who knows? After all, the magician will definitely not do a DNA test. Maybe he knows that he is cheating on his wife, but he is unwilling to let it go? But Ashberwin certainly won't let go of his cheating wife... The strange monster you saw was created by Ashberwin using her..."

“How could it be…”

Hearing this, Hua Hua suddenly got goose bumps all over her body.

"It's normal to some extent. My friend slept with my wife and had a child with someone I don't know. If this happened in any family in the world, it would cause a bloodbath. Divorce would be considered a good thing, and it's normal for someone to die. It's just that because he's a magician, the death of this person is a little weird."

Fang Zheng spread his hands.

"So I say, this is ultimately just a third-rate emotional soap opera."

Finally, Fang Zheng used these words to put an end to their journey.

The train ride back to London was just as boring and uninteresting as before. Fang Zheng sat on the chair, watching the scenery passing by outside the window. She yawned out of boredom. At this moment, she looked at the flower sitting opposite her - the black-haired girl was leaning against the window, holding her chin with her right hand and looking at the scenery outside the window.

For some reason, at that moment, Fang Zheng associated her with a girl with long silver-white hair, wearing a white dress, and with a stubborn and awkward temper.

"Hmm? What's wrong? Xiao Hong?"

Noticing Fang Zheng's gaze towards her, Xianhua turned her head curiously, while Fang Zheng smiled and waved his hand. But at this moment, a light suddenly flashed in her mind.

"Oh, flowers."

"Um?"

"I seem to have seen... you have a brother?"

"Ah... yes."

Xianhua was somewhat surprised that Fang Zheng would suddenly ask this question, but she still sat down properly and nodded.

"How is the relationship between you two siblings?"

"That's great... I like you, brother, but..."

Having said that, Flowers clenched her fists.

"He's been bewitched by a vixen lately!"

"A vixen?"

"Yes, she is also from our school. She is a very shameless vixen. If my brother treats her a little bit well, she will shamelessly stick to him! Really! For this reason, she even came to the school gate to wait for her several times! At first, I thought she was here to pick me up..."

Speaking of this, a strange black gas seemed to emerge from the body of the flower... Well, it shouldn't be an illusion.

This is resentment.

"So……"

Looking at the flowers in front of him, Fang Zheng was grinning and was about to tease her again, but at this moment, suddenly, a light voice sounded beside them.

"I'm very sorry to interrupt your conversation, but can I sit here?"

"Um?"

Fang Zheng turned around and saw that a young girl had appeared beside them. She looked about thirteen or fourteen years old, with long black hair and a dress of the same black color as her hair.

And at the girl's feet, there was a big furry, white dog.