Siheyuan: tomb robbing? I am serious about hunting.

Chapter 1017 Light and

Inside, she discovered a Beidi military deployment map, its weak points circled in red—the very holy place where the bishop currently stood. The library was on the tower's highest floor, accessible via a spiral staircase. The handrail was made of some luminous metal, engraved with the Morning Star family motto: "Chaos is not evil, but its misuse is misfortune; Guardianship is not weakness, but its obsession is evil." With each step Elena ascended, it glowed with a faint blue light, illuminating the hidden text on the wall—the records of the use of the power of chaos by generations of guardians. "Here is the Beidi prophecy," Leo pointed to the barbarian text. Ella leaned in to translate: "When roses bloom in two colors and the stars fall into the abyss, the ancestors of the Beidi will be reborn through blood, and the world will be plunged into eternal night." The young man suddenly grasped Elena's hand, sweat forming on her small palm. "Does this describe what the bishop is supposed to do?" Elena didn't answer, her gaze drawn to the crystal ball on the top shelf. A gray-purple mist hung within the sphere, identical to the miasma at the entrance to the Forgotten Land. When she reached out to remove the crystal ball, the mist suddenly dissipated, revealing a scene within: Karen bound to the Beidi altar, the bishop holding a bone knife, the tip pointed at his heart—where a small rose jade pendant, a gift from Elena's father as a child, later given to the son of a close friend, lay inserted. "They want to use the blood of a paladin to activate the bone vessel." Elena's vines suddenly tensed, and the crystal ball vibrated violently in her palm. "Karen's blood carries the Morning Star Family's protective spell, which can temporarily awaken the chaotic power within the bone vessel." She thrust the crystal ball into Leo's arms. "You stay here and study the collection. I'll go rescue Karen." "I want to go with you!" Leo hugged her waist tightly, and the doll slipped from his arms, landing on the ground with a soft thud. The boy's amber eyes were filled with determination. "My mother's diary says that the Morning Star family must face danger together." In the cells around the corner, a dozen Northern Di people, wearing silver ornaments, were imprisoned. Their wrists were entangled in blood vines, their skin had lost its color, yet they still held a glowing crystal in their midst—the last Chaos Shard, its blue light beating like a beating heart in the dim cell. "They're members of the peace faction!" Elena's vines immediately wrapped around the blood vines, their blue light intertwining with the light from the shards, forming a translucent shield within the cell. She recognized the silver crown around one of the elders' waists; it bore the same pattern as the ornaments in the illustrations of the Princess of Peace. "Why are you imprisoned here?" The old man's voice was hoarse like polished sandstone, and he pointed tremblingly toward the depths of the cell. "The remnants of the pro-war faction are using our families as a threat to force us to reveal the whereabouts of the fragment. They say they'll use the blood of everyone in the city-state to activate the fragment tonight, allowing the bishop's ancestor to resurrect." Leo suddenly pointed at the old man's silver crown. The gemstones inlaid there glowed, resonating with the scales of the puppet. "My mother had this in her crystal ball! They say it's a token of peace from the Northern Di, capable of purifying the polluted forces of Chaos." The boy handed the puppet over. The moment the scales and gemstones touched, the blood vines in the cell suddenly let out a shrill scream. Elena seized the opportunity to let the vines break through the blood vines' defenses. Blue light spread along the roots, painting a huge rose pattern on the dungeon floor. Karen's longsword plunged into the center of the pattern. The golden light of the holy pattern intertwined with the blue glow of the vines, forming a solid barrier that firmly blocked the incoming blood vines. "Quickly, take your people away!" Ella's quiver was half empty. The barbarian girl fired her last arrow at the cell lock. "The giant eagle and I will cover you. Go through the secret passage in the bell tower. There's a safe path paved with star grass." She blew a sharp whistle, and the giant eagle on the roof immediately swooped down. Its wings smashed through the cell's skylight, and its fallen feathers formed a silver path on the ground. Leo walked in front, holding the hand of the Beidi child. The silver chain of the cross twirled in his palm. Wherever the red light passed, the blood vines retreated. The boy's doll was held high, the light from its scales like a small lantern, illuminating the stone steps ahead—the "Road of Hope" mentioned in his mother's diary. Three hundred years ago, Princess Peace had taken this path to deliver the fragments of the Chaos Crystal to the Morning Star Family. As Elana retreated, she suddenly noticed small inscriptions carved into the stone wall of her cell. Written in the Morningstar Family's handwriting, they read: "When the Peace Token meets the Chaos Fragments, the blood feud between Beidi and Morningstar will transform into new shoots of Stargrass." She reached out to touch the inscriptions, and the rose mark on her fingertips suddenly glowed, resonating with the veins of the stone wall. Bloodvine roots suddenly erupted from the ground, wrapping around Elana's ankles like a giant python. She could feel her life force being drained away, and the rose mark on her collarbone grew fainter and fainter. Just then, Karen's longsword suddenly pierced the bloodvine's core. The paladin's holy symbol and the vine's blue light erupted simultaneously, incinerating the bloodvine to ash. "Hurry!" Karen grabbed her hand, and the two of them ran up the stone steps. A loud explosion echoed behind them, and the dungeon's stone walls began to crumble, only to crumble into dust as they came into contact with the light of the Stargrass. It was a purifying spell left by the peace faction, effective only when the power of Chaos meets the Peace Token. As she rushed out of the bell tower, Elena saw that the city's streets were already covered in star grass. The pro-peace Northern Di tribesmen were fighting alongside the Paladins. The gleam of their silver ornaments intertwined with the golden glow of their sacred emblems, pushing the remnants of the pro-war faction back toward the Imperial Palace. The old flower vendor's peony stall had been moved to a safe location. The star grass in his baskets blossomed in the sunlight, the red glow of the petals completely fading. Leo stood atop the bell tower, holding a token of peace. The young man's figure resembled a small guardian in the morning light. The Northern Di child's silver ornaments and his stuffed doll glowed simultaneously. Seven fragments of the Chaos Crystal converged in the air, eventually forming a complete crystal that hovered above the city—a fusion of blue and gold light, like a newborn star. Elena's vine wings unfurled in the sunlight, no longer pure black or blue, but shimmering with a gradient luster like the petals of the star grass. She knew what the "new sprouts of star grass" her mother was talking about - not the end of hatred, but the beginning of understanding, just like the people of Beidi and Morning Star standing side by side at this moment, sowing new hope on the ruins. As night fell, the bells of the city-state rang again. Elena stood on the top of the castle tower, watching the people of Beidi's pro-peace faction planting star grass, Karen and Leo helping to build wooden houses, and Ella teaching the children to make arrow feathers with giant eagle feathers. The moonlight fell on them, stretching the shadows very long, like a harmonious painting. She took out her mother's note from her bosom, and the handwriting of "Hatred follows like a shadow, only love can dispel it" glowed in the moonlight. Elena buried the note in the flowers of the star grass