Three weeks after Lin Gui left Shield City.
The Fourth Node outside the Wall of Sighs.
This was a high-altitude rock platform with a wide field of vision.
In the distance, that legendary "Wall" spanned across the space between heaven and earth.
It was not built of brick and stone, but was instead an endless, thick, and viscous wall of grey-white mist.
It towered into the clouds and stretched left and right until the end of sight,
as if it had sliced the entire world into two.
Vague shadows flickered within the mist wall, revealing no details, only a chaotic haze of greyish white.
The sound of continuous, low, and sorrowful sighs carried on the wind,
layer upon layer, as if tens of thousands of people were weeping simultaneously in one's ear.
Yet when looking toward the sound, the edge of the mist wall was empty,
with only wild grass blowing in the wind and bare rocks.
Lin Gui stood at the edge of the platform, closing his eyes and concentrating for a moment.
When he opened his eyes again, his black pupils had turned a cold light grey,
with tiny glimmers of soul light flowing within them.
Eyes of the Netherworld, activated.
His vision changed abruptly.
At the edge of that seemingly empty mist wall, where the sighs originated,
countless translucent, distorted "things" were wandering slowly.
One could vaguely make out humanoid outlines, but their limbs were grotesque and their joints were reversed,
and they held spear-like weapons condensed from withered branches, bones, or pure shadow.
Their faces were blurred and indistinct, with only black-hole-like mouths opening and closing from time to time, emitting those never-ending sighs.
They had no physical forms, appearing like smears of filthy paint against the air—ugly and eerie.
Lin Gui closed his eyes, cutting off the unsettling sight.
He turned and looked toward the center of the platform.
Eve was kneeling there.
Her hands were folded in prayer against her chest, her soft short hair fluttering in the mountain wind,
her eyes were closed, and her long eyelashes cast shallow shadows on her pale face.
Beneath her knees, a complex magic array about two meters in diameter was emitting a soft, milky-white glow.
The lines and patterns of the array were ancient and sacred, carrying the fluctuations of a higher level of power.
Several items were carefully placed at key nodes of the magic array:
a leather notebook with worn edges,
a faded old linen shirt with a patch on the shoulder,
a few strands of carefully tied dark-brown short hair,
and even half a piece of a dried, blackened root, seemingly from some plant.
Lin Gui had once tried to analyze this array, but he gave up after looking for only a moment.
What drove it was not mana, but another more obscure and sublime energy—
perhaps what was called "divine power."
He had once secretly practiced his breathing technique, trying to capture and perceive this power, but he had gained nothing.
Even Eve, who used it year-round, could not clearly explain the specific form in which this power existed.
It seemed to exist between existence and non-existence.
When Eve performed Prophecy, Lin Gui could not sense any energy fluctuations either.
It could not be seen or touched, so naturally, there was no way to "swallow" it,
nor would the system include it in his rewards.
Through the magic array, Eve was predicting the location of Avalon.
Eve could not predict a target's position simply based on a name.
She required a physical medium, preferably items with a strong connection to the target.
For example, items related to the people of Avalon.
Lin Gui didn't even know what Avalon specifically looked like.
It was even less possible for him to possess items belonging to a so-called "Avalon local."
But he knew of one person who was very likely in Avalon.
The knight who had been taken away by the white-haired Demon King—Roger.
If Roger had not reached the destination,
then the location predicted through these items would not be within the Wall of Sighs.
Fortunately, Eve's guidance pointed clearly inside the Wall.
And according to the results measured from other nodes...
Roger was likely still alive.
Time passed silently.
The mountain wind howled, carrying the endless sighs from across the mist wall.
Suddenly, Eve's body trembled slightly.
Her folded hands slowly separated.
She extended an index finger, pointing straight toward a certain direction deep within the mist wall.
Her arm was somewhat stiff, and her fingertip was as steady as could be.
"In that direction," she said softly, her eyes still closed.
"Don't move."
Lin Gui immediately stepped forward, taking out the surveying tools he and Theia had bought at the dwarf markets along the way.
A metal compass with precise markings,
and a wooden goniometer with an adjustable angle.
He knelt on one knee beside Eve.
He carefully fitted the base of the compass to the ground and adjusted the sight of the goniometer.
Aiming at Eve's slightly tensed index finger, he began to record the azimuth angle and elevation angle data.
His movements were meticulous, as if he were performing a rigorous engineering measurement.
Once the recording was finished, he quickly spread out the map where the positions of the first three nodes were marked.
From the current "Fourth Node,"
he used a straightedge to draw a straight dashed line along the orientation he had just measured.
It cut through the entire grey area representing the Wall of Sighs,
eventually intersecting with the other three lines.
"Is it finished, Mr. Lin Gui?" Eve asked softly, maintaining her posture.
"It is."
Only then did Eve breathe a sigh of relief and slowly lower her arm.
She opened her eyes, and a hint of fatigue flashed through them.
Then, she picked up the items belonging to Roger from the array one by one, cradling them in her arms,
and put them into the wooden box.
On the other side,
Lin Gui's gaze fell upon the map.
Four straight lines extending from different nodes were now clearly visible.
They intersected in pairs within the area representing the Wall of Sighs,
finally converging into two very close points.
This proved that during the mobile observations over the past three weeks,
Roger's position had undergone slight changes, but the range was very small.
The two intersection points were only a few millimeters apart.
Under the map's scale, the actual distance was likely only a few kilometers.
This matched the size of a small city-state.
Lin Gui used a charcoal pen to carefully circle these two adjacent points.
If nothing went wrong, this was Avalon's location.
The orientation of Avalon was now locked in.
Lin Gui let out a long breath. The greatest obstacle preventing him from heading to Avalon had been eliminated.
Now, the only remaining problem was how to...
cross this Wall of Sighs that swarmed with countless spectral demons and had swallowed countless powerful figures.
If it weren't for Eve,
Lin Gui would probably have had to plunge headlong into the Wall of Sighs,
searching aimlessly for traces of Avalon.
He turned around, looked at the Holy Saintess who was tidying up the ritual items, and spoke sincerely.
"Miss Saintess, I truly owe you for this."
Hearing this, Eve looked up and gave a gentle smile.
She leaned against the cold metal hull of the flying vessel, her short pale-gold hair slightly messy from the wind.
In those charming eyes, however, a hint of playfulness flashed.
"Then... how are you going to thank me?"
Lin Gui thought for a moment, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly:
"Make you your favorite crispy fried pork?"
Eve clapped her hands lightly, a bright smile blooming on her face.
"It's a deal!"
After packing up all the surveying tools and ritual items, Lin Gui sat back in the pilot's seat of the flying vessel.
However, he noticed that Eve was still standing where she was, having no intention of coming aboard.
"What's wrong?" Lin Gui turned to look at her in confusion.
He saw Eve hesitate for a moment, her hands unconsciously gripping the hem of her skirt.
She looked at him, her gaze more serious than ever before.
"Mr. Lin Gui."
"Yes?"
Eve took a deep breath and spoke each word solemnly, as if she were entrusting her life to him:
"In a moment..."
She paused.
"Please drive slowly."
Lin Gui: "..."
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