The Cornflower Witch

Book 2: Chapter 136: When the Stars Return to Their Positions

Vol 2 Chapter 136 When the Stars Return to Their Positions

After the banquet ended, Sylutia told the caravan members that they would be staying in Valley City for a period of time.

Everyone quickly accepted this decision.

In the following days, Sylutia remained in the inn reading books and did not go out. Even so, with her keen hearing, she could clearly hear the conversations and discussions of the people downstairs in the inn, ensuring she was never out of touch with the news.

While things were calm and peaceful for Sylutia, the other wealthy and famous figures in Valley City were having a difficult time. Under Carkis's step-by-step coercion and pressure, they were forced to personally take to the battlefield, heading to the front lines alongside those Anty soldiers.

On this day, Sylutia still did not go out. However, the sounds of dense hoofbeats and footsteps came from the streets. She could even discern how many people were marching with the army and what type of armor they were wearing.

This time, Carkis dispatched a total of 6,000 troops. Four thousand were elite Anty army forces, one thousand were surrendered soldiers from the original Anty garrison, and another thousand were newly recruited local conscripts.

They would search Trident Forest to find traces of Prince Jabers.

After leaving Valley City, this army marched south along the road. The path ahead of them had already been scouted in advance by Carkis's scouts and was very safe.

Three days later, they successfully arrived near Trident Forest and began to split into two groups. One group advanced slowly, searching the forest, while the other group bypassed the forest to block them from the flank and rear.According to statistics from Anty scout reports, Prince Jabers's remaining forces in the forest now numbered over 800 people. A small portion had escaped Valley City with him, while a large portion had gathered afterward.

...

In the forest, elite Anty army squads, leading hounds, weaved through the woods, constantly marking the places they passed before moving forward.

If viewed from a high altitude, one would find that the movement trajectories of these squads were like weaving a large net, slowly filtering the entire forest.

"Woof, woof!"

A hound seemed to have discovered something, quickly running forward into the grass while barking along the way.

At that moment, a sharp arrow shot out from the woods, piercing the hound's throat and killing it.

Hearing the hound's dying howl, the Anty soldiers behind quickened their pace, rushing to the spot where the hound died and continuing to chase and search in the direction from which the arrow had been shot.

The person who had ambushed and shot the hound earlier did not draw their bow again but instead retreated stealthily.

Deep in the forest, within a temporarily built camp, Prince Jabers paced back and forth, listening to his subordinates continuously reporting the situation.

"Your Highness, the enemy's troops have already begun combing through Trident Forest. I'm afraid we won't be able to hold out much longer," a rather old ranger quickly returned to the camp and reported.

"I know," he waved his hand somewhat irritably, then stopped pacing and looked toward another figure on the other side of the camp.

These people wore dark red robes with patterns resembling eyes on their clothes, indicating they were all members of the 'Hundred-Eyes Sect.'

"Do you have a solution to deal with the enemy or not? If not for your demands, I would have long since taken my people to another city." It turned out that Prince Jabers and his group had lingered in Trident Forest for so long, not only to evade pursuit but also due to the influence of the Hundred-Eyes Sect.

"Of course we do. However, Prince, you are being too impatient. Many things cannot be resolved through haste alone," a high-ranking member of the Hundred-Eyes Sect walked over. He glanced at the few remaining knights and members in the camp and nodded slightly.

"You have all worked hard. After the victory of this battle, we will all receive the blessings of the stars," he seemed particularly honored and proud of this.

Blessings of the stars? What was that? The soldiers present shook their heads in confusion, even doubting whether these cultists had any real capability. If they weren't currently isolated and without support, they would truly be unwilling to deal with these lunatics.

Although the Hundred-Eyes Sect wasn't as universally reviled as the 'Twin-Snake Cult,' its reputation wasn't much better, after all, they colluded with the 'alien star,' the outside lifeforms that eroded the world.

"Hold out until nightfall. When night comes, our ritual will be fully prepared, and then we will surely turn the situation around for everyone," he finally revealed a crucial piece of information, temporarily putting the people present at ease.

"Nightfall, then," Prince Jabers sighed in relief.

"Then it's settled for tonight. Did you hear that? All of you, hold on properly, don't disgrace yourselves at this moment."

Regarding the previous defeat at Valley City, Prince Jabers believed it was entirely due to the soldiers being too cowardly. If they had all been willing to resist to the death, the battle wouldn't have been such a one-sided, wretched affair.

After learning that the Hundred-Eyes Sect had a solution, Jabers returned to his tent and called for his maidservants.

"Hurry, prepare some good food for me, and wine. Today I'm going to have a proper feast."

Hearing the Prince's request, these maidservants carefully acknowledged the order and then withdrew from the tent to make preparations.

Hearing Prince Jabers's voice, another figure with golden hair and a black dress walked over from a side tent.

After more than half a month of fleeing, Princess Mursa, though somewhat fatigued, still hadn't lost that heart-stirring charm of hers. The black silk dress made her skin appear even more snow-white.

"How is the situation?" She sat down in the seat beside Jabers, her expression worried.

"It's fine, sister, no need to worry," Jabers propped his head up with one hand and covered his mouth with the other as he yawned. He had played late into the night yesterday and had originally planned to catch up on sleep during the day. However, he hadn't expected the Anty forces to attack, making it difficult for him to sleep, but now he was indeed sleepy again.

Seeing that she couldn't get any answers from him, Princess Mursa could only shake her head helplessly. Although she was Jabers's biological older sister, whether in the royal family or in the hearts of other subordinates, her status was far inferior to this younger brother's. There had even been people who coveted her beauty and proposed marriage to Prince Jabers, but Prince Jabers had looked down on them and hadn't agreed.

In this world, queens were not uncommon, but in the vast lands of the southern continent, most thrones were still inherited by human males, while princesses generally served only as tools or decorative vases for political marriages.

She had originally resigned herself to the prospect of marrying some noble within Regas's borders in the future. However, she hadn't expected the world to change so quickly. Now that Regas had fallen, the value of a princess like her naturally no longer existed as before.

Fortunately, she still possessed a reasonably outstanding appearance. When necessary, she could be married off to secure a final ally for the royal family. But if the restoration of the kingdom ultimately failed, she and her descendants would probably fade into obscurity, no longer possessing noble bloodlines.

Just as the people in the camp were gradually feeling at ease, the hunters engaged in resistance within the forest fought while retreating, constantly contracting their defensive lines. Although they were completely outnumbered by the Anty forces, because they were familiar with the environment and had set up ambushes in advance, as long as their luck wasn't too bad, they wouldn't be caught by the searching soldiers.

The sky gradually darkened, and the originally searching teams moved slower and slower. By this time, many Anty soldiers also felt somewhat fatigued. After all, moving through complex mountainous terrain while constantly being wary of ambushes and cold arrows consumed a great deal of energy and concentration.

When night fell, under the orders of their superior officers, the Anty forces finally stopped searching and began setting up nighttime defensive lines, then making camp and lighting fires.

Flames ignited among the branches, and bluish thick smoke slowly rose. It was only after a long time, when a proper fire was burning, that the bluish smoke thinned and dissipated.

When the Anty forces stopped, within Prince Jabers's camp, special magic arrays were clearly outlined on the ground. Then the cultists picked up candles, placed them at designated positions on the arrays, and lit them.

Afterward, they placed several special silver ritual vessels inside a circle at the center of the array. At this point, they also tied up a particular fat man and placed him in another circle of the array, making him lie there.

When that fat man saw his surroundings, even with his mouth gagged, he began to struggle violently. Unfortunately, he had not undergone strict combat training, nor did he possess any ability that could trigger a power burst. His struggling movements were utterly meaningless against the thick ropes binding him.

"Prince, please retreat 20 meters with the other personnel. The ritual is about to begin," the leader, who had his back to the Prince, spoke in a low voice.

"Yes, yes," feeling the terrifying pressure of rank assaulting him, Jabers repeatedly stepped back.

The fire crackled as it burned. One by one, members wearing dark red robes surrounded the array. They began to chant in unison a distant and eerie song.

The sound resembled a prayer yet also seemed like madness, fervent with a trace of resolve, slowly spreading within the camp.

For the first half hour, there was no change whatsoever, but these cultists paid no mind. They even became more devout, with many slowly kneeling on the ground, continuously chanting that bizarre song.

'Choral singing' was a component of many rituals. Through singing in unison, their emotions resonated with each other at that moment. When immersed in that state, the boundaries between people gradually disappeared, as if everyone had merged together, allowing everything of body and mind to yield to a unified sense of returning to the heart.

This feeling was so intoxicatingly ecstatic and sweet, making one forget their own loneliness, insignificance, and inadequacy, obtaining the sweet fragrance of collective belonging, making people willingly indulge in it, forgetting all troubles and pain.

This was the charm of religion, absorbing all the suffering of the mortal world, promising people a beautiful future. It could tell you the answer to any problem—all of this was the will of the deity, all of this was the inevitable path, all of this would be saved by Him.

'Those who have reached a dead end, please return to that gentle embrace. In His embrace, everything will be reborn...'

The sound of the chorus grew increasingly grand, and that emotion even spread to other members in the camp. Even though they had never understood the Hundred-Eyes Sect before, some now began to follow along, humming softly, gazing at the burning campfire, slowly kneeling down with pious eyes.

They longed for some kind of spiritual reliance to soothe their anxious, unsettled hearts and salvage their lives heading toward a dead end.

Finally, after a certain critical point was breached, a dark red, transparent, mist-like beam of light pierced the sky, shooting straight toward the distant world above the clouds.

Yet this thin, misty light did not stop. It traversed tens of millions of miles. The originally hundred-meter-wide colossal beam of light now became extremely faint, leaving only a tiny speck smaller than an ant.

This red speck finally reached the boundary of the world, where an incomparably grand, golden array awaited.

At the edge of the world's end, golden, transparent dragon scales were spread everywhere. They were densely arranged, layer upon layer, like strictly disciplined soldiers, overlapping and interlocking, forging an endless wall that made the world sigh, guarding this world and isolating travel to and from the astral plane.

This was the world's barrier, the legacy left by the six great Dragons of Law, and also the majesty and responsibility of dragons as the world's overlords.

Aspect [Dragon Eye]: (The world's scales and majesty, the watchers who gaze upon the world)

The minuscule red speck rapidly darted across the dragon-scale-forged Wall of Sighs. With its power, it was utterly incapable of piercing through this immensely powerful barrier. However, this world today was not the flawless, intact form it had been before the Sixth Epoch. That world-shaking war had never truly ended; even today, one could still say it existed within the lingering aftermath of that great battle.

The red speck rapidly traveled hundreds of miles and finally found a flaw in this Wall of Sighs. There, dragon scales were missing, and strange purplish-red mist churned. Strands of alien star power seeped out from the hole in that gap, eroding and distorting the surrounding dragon scales, preventing them from healing.

Finally, after finding its target, this red speck shone into the hole of the gap. It passed through that hazy, unknown mist and finally conveyed a certain message to the distant shore of the astral plane.

Time passed minute by minute. Within Trident Forest, cultists began to collapse unconscious, unable to bear the ritual's extraction of their power.

At the center of the magic array, the originally placed royal ritual vessels also lost their luster. The 'Castle' Aspect power that had once condensed upon them gradually dissipated completely.

The sect leader presiding over the ritual frowned deeply. He looked up, as if his gaze could cross the endless distance to see the edge of the world.

Yet it was merely an illusion. Even he could only rely on luck to find possible flaw locations in the world's barrier, transmit certain messages out, and then pray for a response from lifeforms within the astral plane.

Fortunately, over the past several hundred years, previous generations of the 'Hundred-Eyes Sect' members, through repeated sacrifices and searches, had finally identified several specific star positions.

The use of these star positions had extremely strict conditions. It had to be a specific Gale Season, on a specific continent, in a specific year and season; only then could the ritual be used to communicate and locate the position observed and recorded by predecessors.

If they missed this opportunity, their sect would have to wait for the next Gale Season, which would mean waiting fifty-four years for the same opportunity.

He couldn't wait that long. The Hundred-Eyes Sect couldn't wait that long either. This world was undergoing drastic changes, and the Hundred-Eyes Sect's influence was far from what it used to be. Now they no longer had the capability to independently search for star positions. They could only rely on the experience and locations left by predecessors, carefully investing resources to perform the ritual.

'When the stars return to their positions, great life shall traverse the starry river and come...'

The leader silently recited the ancient prophecy, praying in his heart that this ritual would succeed. Years of life as the sect leader had long since allowed him to perfectly control his emotions and expressions.

Everyone believed this ritual would succeed, and everyone believed that the deity from the distant shore would respond. Yet only he knew clearly that such responses did not occur every time.

The fire burned in the night. Time passed second by second amidst tension and heavy pressure.

One figure after another collapsed within the magic array, ceasing to breathe. But the sounds on-site did not stop. They would exhaust the last breath of their lives to sing for it, to welcome that distant and incomparably beautiful future.

Finally,

The fire began to distort. The wind began to cease. An intangible presence gradually spread through the forest. Everything became as absolutely quiet as the moment before a thunderclap strikes.

The sect leader standing at the center of the magic array opened several pairs of eyes. In his tumultuous sea of consciousness, a vague will began to converse with him.