Chapter 104: The Fork in Life At midnight,...
At midnight, Shen Jiang's car was parked at the outermost edge of the village. The shabby silver car was completely inconspicuous.
A slender girl wearing a baseball cap pulled a black backpack from the car and put it on. It was only lightly packed, and while it looked large, it wasn't heavy. This was Shen Jiang's disguise, designed to prevent cameras or satellites from capturing her movements tonight.
She needed to finish all her work before 3:00 a.m., then head to the nearest secluded spot. It was the spot she had carefully selected after leaving the rental car shop, stopping and starting repeatedly. There, she would complete her experiments on the golden gate.
The villagers went to bed early, leaving the village utterly silent and dark save for the streetlights. Shen Jiang's pace felt lighter in this quiet, ghostly atmosphere. Honestly, if someone bumped into her, she'd have to explain herself, so it was better to stay like this.
When the work is done, he will leave, hiding his achievements and fame.
The girl, carrying a large backpack, followed the map in her memory, turned from the cement road into a field ridge, and soon arrived at her cousin's land.
Shen Jiang didn't have to doubt that she had found the wrong place, because the withered and yellow plants in the field were exactly the medicinal herbs she brought back from the other world. There was only one such store and no other branches.
My cousin and his family are truly diligent, having planted a full acre of these withered plants. An uninformed passerby would probably think the land had been abandoned for a long time, leaving the plants dying. No wonder my aunt said many people in the village were waiting to see them laugh.
With so many magic stones, it is not difficult to set up a powerful magic circle.
But this does not mean that Shen Jiang can just set up a magic circle and walk away without any worries.
The first problem is how to conceal the existence of the Philosopher's Stone. Otherwise, if the Philosopher's Stone is cleared away by someone unknowingly, the effectiveness of the magic circle and the expected duration of its effect may change dramatically.
Digging a hole right now wouldn't work. It was time-consuming and laborious, and disturbing the soil would be incredibly noticeable. Shen Jiang tried using the wood magic to grow vines, using one end of the vine to carry the magic stones deep underground. The vines were incredibly powerful, able to break through even cracks in the rock, let alone this soft soil. This way, the surface of the soil wouldn't change at all. Unless someone had time to dig ten meters deep, no one would notice she had buried so many magic stones there.
The second problem was that the magic circle was too powerful, and could instantly bring the herbs back to life. However, if the villagers woke up and saw this, they would undoubtedly become suspicious. Therefore, the magic circle's effects had to be increased in batches over time.
This didn't faze Shen Jiang. She had come up with a solution along the way: using the domino principle to rebuild the basic system of herbal rejuvenation magic. The first domino was the first magical energy, and only when it was used up would the next magical energy be activated.
It's easier said than done. When it came to putting it into practice, Shen Jiang quickly discovered it wasn't a simple task. Even with a clear mindset, creating such a complex and sophisticated magic circle was still too much of a challenge for a novice magician like her. If she wasn't careful, the herbs here could grow to a staggering size in just a week.
This reminded Shen Jiang of the otherworldly black dragon. She had simply provided an idea, and Godwin had almost instantly created a pair of dragon nail clippers that met her requirements. At the time, she had only thought Godwin was quick, but now she realized he was more than just quick; his application of magic had reached a pinnacle of perfection.
Shen Jiang quickly changed his mind. Since the butterfly effect of the dominoes was too strong to control, he decided to try creating a magic circle based on the principles of the ancient clepsydra. This circle would release a certain amount of magical energy for plant rejuvenation at certain intervals, using time as a unit. Thanks to Shen Jiang's strong math skills in college, he was able to steadily advance this computationally intensive task.
It wasn't until 3:15 in the morning that Shen Jiang finally finished a crude version of a clepsydra-style rejuvenating magic circle. Without even taking the time to admire it, she wiped the sweat from her forehead, made sure she hadn't left any suspicious items behind, and immediately rushed towards the car.
It had already far exceeded the originally expected time, so she had to drive immediately to the secluded place she had found earlier and hide herself.
At 3:59 in the morning, Shen Jiang ran to his destination panting.
At exactly four o'clock in the morning, the alarm on my cell phone rang on time, but the golden gate did not appear.
Shen Jiang remembered that there was a delay when she went to the other world for the second time, so she did not dare to be careless, but continued to wait patiently.
It's 4:59 in the morning, one minute and it will be 5 o'clock.
Shen Jiang felt an indescribable complex emotion in her heart. If the trigger condition for going to the other world was that she had to be in Mingxin Hall, then the way to end this wonderful journey to the other world was obvious.
Ellis and Catherine were still diligently collecting herbs on Longshan Mountain. They were her most loyal companions, and without any news of her, they would surely stay there and wait for her. Shen Jiang was vaguely worried that if she disappeared, the moody Godwin would vent his anger on them.
However, before Shen Jiang could figure out the answer to this question, a familiar golden light appeared before her eyes.
Shen Jiang took out his cell phone and clearly saw that the time on it was 5:02.
How could this be? Shen Jiang was extremely stunned.
In the past, this time was clearly her return time, so why did it become her departure time today?
At the same time, in another world.
Catherine was feeling particularly restless today, her heart pounding wildly. She hadn't slept last night because the High Witch hadn't shown up as planned the previous morning. This was the first time in over two years that the High Witch had broken her promise.
"Ellis, should the witch be alright?"
"Catherine, you tossed and turned yesterday. You didn't sleep all night, did you?" Ellis' voice was a little unclear. He comforted his wife softly, "You know the witch's abilities. We should trust her. How about this? You stay home and rest well today. I'll go to the dragon blood tree and guard it. If the witch arrives, I'll notify you."
Although Ellis said this, there was still some uneasiness in his eyes after he woke up.
The Lord Witch hadn't appeared all day yesterday, which meant they would have to wait another 23 days before seeing her again. This had never happened before, and what Priest had told them was even worse.
"Every time that girl comes back, I can sense her presence, but today, I haven't sensed her presence at all. This means she's not on this continent at all."
Godwin paced slowly at the place where the believers left last time. His face showed no emotion, but he was full of violence, as if to say, "Whoever touches me will be in trouble." Ellis saw him from a distance and quickly hid himself.
Although he didn't know what was wrong with Lord Black Dragon, he could tell that he was definitely in a bad mood. At a time like this, only a fool would step forward to join in the fun.
Godwin noticed that there was a human secretly watching him from a distance.
He didn't bother to care about these hardworking servants who usually wouldn't appear in front of him. He knew that the reason this human was here was similar to his purpose. They were all waiting for someone.
Godwin was inexplicably annoyed and irritated. This annoyance made him forget a previous decision he had made. He had only one thought in his mind: why hadn't his believers appeared yet?
The Silver Dragon had delivered the magic item three days earlier, but Godwin knew it was useless. He had originally thought the Golden Gate was some kind of magic item in the hands of a believer, allowing them to come and go freely, which was why he had the idea to summon it.
Godwin snorted coldly and stopped pacing. Instead, he spread his wings and planned to leave this place that displeased him in every way.
The black figure flew across the sky and quickly disappeared into the clouds. Even after seeing the black dragon leave, Ellis remained patiently on the spot. His position was high and had a good view, so he would be able to see the witch immediately if she appeared.
When Shen Jiang appeared in the other world, before he had time to adjust his mood, he saw a huge dragon blood tree fallen in front of him and was immediately shocked.
Who had the audacity to damage the thousand-year-old tree left behind by Old Black Dragon? The grass on the grave must be a meter tall by now.
Shen Jiang looked around and did not see the figure of the Black Dragon Godwin. Instead, she saw Ellis waving and greeting her excitedly from afar, and running towards her.
Seeing that Ellis was fine, Shen Jiang immediately put down a big stone in his heart, but where was Catherine?
Before Ellis could run over, a black dot in the sky dived towards the ground like a cannonball. Dust and smoke rose up in the air, and Shen Jiang was almost blinded by the sand in the air.
"Human, you're late."
Godwin was a little annoyed. He was almost able to study the door emitting golden light again, but unfortunately, even though he reacted immediately, he still couldn't catch up.
Shen Jiang swallowed silently and said with a troubled expression, "Lord Godwin, I don't know what's going on. It seems that there is some malfunction in the golden gate."
Her words reminded Godwin of the last time she left, when he had delivered a fatal blow to the door. Could it be that, though the door appeared undamaged, he had actually destroyed the magic circle within?
Godwin felt like he had shot himself in the foot. He never imagined that the fundamental reason why the believers were one day late was actually caused by him.
"Since you've deeply realized your mistake, I'll let it go this time." Godwin raised it high and put it down gently, without a trace of guilt on his face.
Shen Jiang's eyes couldn't stop drifting towards the huge dragon blood tree next to her. Seeing that she seemed to want to say something but hesitated, Godwin shook his tail uncomfortably.
"Lord Godwin, may I take care of this dragon blood tree for you?"
Godwin was stunned, as if he hadn't expected the believer to say this. He nodded nonchalantly and agreed, "Whatever you say."
This dragon blood tree is huge. Not to mention that Shen Jiang can't put it in her storage ring, even if she could, she wouldn't dare show it in her own world.
Shen Jiang's eyes lit up as he thought of something. "Lord Godwin, I'd like to ask you if there's any magic that can make this dragon blood tree shrink or grow larger?"
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