CHAPTER 120: CHAPTER 118: THEY ARE INTELLIGENT AND DEVOUT, THEY ARE DEVOUT AND INTELLIGENT

Horn and his group walked along the path, heading towards the monastery hidden within the forest.

According to the scout’s report from crossing the river earlier, it was already a ruin and no trace of the giant spiders could be seen.

Jia Li insisted on going to see it, saying that she came all the way from Black Snake Bay to Thousand River Valley just for it.

Since Jia Li had regained her memory, she still hadn’t explained her origin.

Horn didn’t ask either, even though there was a seemingly amorphous barrier between them, he still fulfilled Jia Li’s request.

She’s a witch and a high-ranking member of the Secret Faction, after all, relationships might not develop romantically, but might still be beneficial for advancement in the future.

Jia Li indeed was quite different from before.

Previously, although mischievous, she had a childish silliness, like a child pretending to be an adult.

But now, Jia Li’s frequently open smile was tightly pressed together, her brows transformed from inward slanting to outward, and her gaze was frighteningly sharp.

Even though she tried to behave as she did before, there was always a sense of awkwardness.

Not just her, Horn also felt a sense of awkwardness.

It was like a lost cat being returned home, and everyone says it’s the same cat, even DNA tests confirm it.

But Horn didn’t believe it, because no cat would have a "king" on its head!

That’s the feeling Jia Li gave Horn now.

"So many Devil Trees, what are they doing with them?" Qianqian covered her nose, saying, the air had a peculiar odor.

"What are Devil Trees?"

Before Qianqian could answer, Jia Li in the front directly explained: "Devil Trees are like these skeletal trees, black from inside out.

They can’t be used for furniture, can’t be made into tools, they simply take up space, their purpose for planting them is probably... arrived."

Horn raised his head, squinting to look.

Between the jungle undergrowth, a collapsed monastery revealed half its structure.

Huge stone columns supported the damaged roof, exposing mottled walls.

Wild grass stubbornly peeked out from the stone-paved ground’s crevices, and the air carried a faint bitter smell.

Through the broken windows, Horn could vaguely see the inside of the ruins.

Broken furniture scattered everywhere, with damaged statues and scriptures placed in corners, spider webs, and dry bones everywhere.

A dozen Imperial Guards were the first to enter the monastery, searching everywhere, and only after confirming there was no danger did they let Horn in.

This monastery covered about ten acres, divided into a church, garden, and monk’s quarters, from the relics, there were even flower beds and a bathhouse.

The most noticeable was the collapsed mill, double the size of a normal mill.

"Such a large stone mill." Duvalon stepped forward, knocking it with his hand, "How many people were at this monastery, needing such a big mill."

René stepped up, brushing his hand off: "Don’t touch randomly, be careful not to knock something out."

"Knock out something, a ghost perhaps?"

"Anyways, don’t touch randomly, I feel something’s off about this place."

"Rubbish, a monastery hidden in the Wild Spider Woods, anyone would feel off."

Following behind Horn, the two little ones chattered as they proceeded.

Horn stepped into the church, the ground floor was filled with corpses, with Imperial Guards handling them, while he followed the creaky stairs up to the second floor.

The floor was piled high with messy bricks and wood, seven or eight human bones, and shriveled jumping spider corpses scattered among the dust and spider webs.

As they arrived on the second floor, René and Duvalon each led a few Child Soldiers off to explore, while Horn stayed where he was.

Covering his nose and mouth, Horn felt an eerie sensation in the scene before him.

From what he could tell, the monastery was likely destroyed by the migrating giant spiders.

"Papa, come over here." Duvalon excitedly ran out of a room, kicking up countless dust with his feet.

Without further ado, he grabbed Horn’s sleeve, leading him into a room.

Pushing open the door, Horn was greeted by a golden glow, forcing him to squint before suddenly opening wide again.

It was a clothing box, overturned on the ground, the box and the floor covered with dazzling gold coins.

A full big box, shining gold pounds!

If Horn was right, there should be close to 2000 gold pounds here.

That’s nearly 2000 gold pounds, equivalent to 120 pounds of gold.

Tree Hedge Village could only gather about 400 gold pounds of taxes a year, sometimes not even collected, and this small room contained taxes for over four years.

Horn’s eyes instantly lit up, sparing any accumulation at the trading market as it automatically picked it up.

The church being my mom’s slave, will sooner or later be my slave, do slaves dare hide private money?

You’re keeping 2000 gold pounds, not giving me a single coin, is the church’s property belonging to my Gallar Family, or to your church?

You’re lucky I’m not giving you more trouble.

Seeing this money, Horn’s previously gloomy mood instantly brightened, it was truly an unexpected gain.

This money could be used for a venture in Norn, acquiring a property, buying a manor, and even purchasing a city councilor.

Better days are truly ahead now.

"Quick, quick, pack it up, fill into my little, ahem, fill into our Holy Treasury."

"It’s too heavy, I’ll go find others to help carry it." Duvalon hurriedly ran out, looking for people to lift the money.

"Get a sturdier bag, or find a box that’s still intact!"

After giving orders to Duvalon’s departing figure, Horn finally had the time to examine the room carefully.

The collapsed carved bookshelves, the broken crossbeams, the shattered brass incense burner, the weathered parchment...

There were even a few objects with a sense of charm.

"Hiss."

Bending down, Horn once again discovered a treasure chest from the ruins, a well-preserved "Gospel," complete with annotations!

It hadn’t rotted at all. Horn tried tugging at it, but no matter how much he pulled, it wouldn’t tear.

This was high-quality parchment, far superior to the papermaking techniques Horn was familiar with.

A good find, he decided to seize it.

Looking up, he noticed a large hole in the ceiling of this room.

He guessed that the two skeletons and these pieces of furniture in the room seemed to have fallen from the third or even fourth floor.

Presumably, that level must have been the Abbot’s scriptorium in the Monastery.

René didn’t concern himself with the money, instead carefully lying on the ground, observing the two skeletons on the floor. After a while, he suddenly picked up something.

"Your Grace, look."

Through René’s fingers, Horn felt a sense of familiarity with this object.

When it was in his own hands, he realized, wasn’t this the bone whistle used to disperse giant spiders?

It was exactly the same as the one he found in the Magical Rabbit Cave, except this one was broken, and even the number of holes...

Wait, something’s not right.

Horn’s body stiffened slightly.

He initially thought that the Monastery was destroyed by giant spiders migrating from a distance.

Now he realized that this Monastery might have arrived after the giant spiders.

Otherwise, why would they need this bone flute?

This meant that the reason the Monastery was destroyed and occupied by the giant spiders was because this bone whistle was broken.

The people in the Monastery must have used the bone whistle to appease the nearby giant spiders?

For what purpose? To protect themselves? To prevent someone from discovering them?

What were they doing here?

Moreover, wasn’t this type of bone whistle obtained from the Green-clothed Flute Player?

Remember, playing this thing requires mana!

Where did they get the mana from?!

Horn’s heart was pounding.

"Keep searching, see if there’s anything else." Horn ordered sharply.

After searching for a while in the collapsed room, Horn picked up an iron ring from the ground.

Judging by the bones of the fingers, it should belong to the shorter skeleton.

The earlier bone flute was also found in his hand.

After exchanging some words with Duvalon and others, Horn held the ring and began searching among the ruins of the house.

Before long, he found a mark similar to the one on the ring at the entrance of a single-story dwelling.

Pushing the door open, Horn covered his nose and mouth, waving his hand to disperse the drifting dust, and then froze.

In the center of the room, Jia Li was already sitting there.

"Jia Li, how did you get here?"

In front of her was a deep pit, about the depth of a person. Judging by Jia Li’s nails, she must have dug it out with her bare hands.

In front of the pit were several walnut wood boxes, still carrying the moist scent of soil.

Unlike the previous large money box, this was filled with various papers and miscellaneous items.

"Jia Li?"

"Papa." With a piece of parchment at her side, Jia Li turned her head, forcing a smile, the sharp look in her eyes gone.

Horn immediately sat next to Jia Li, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

"About a year ago, a wizard found me. He told me that he had a companion who went to steal the recipe for blue-blooded grape wine."

Jia Li slipped her entire tender face through the thick wall barrier, burying it into Horn’s embrace, reaching through his armpit with her hand.

Her mouth pressed against Horn’s chest, Jia Li’s voice was somewhat ethereal, as if the past Jia Li and the present Jia Li were speaking in unison.

"That person left and then vanished for nearly fourteen years. On the night of the full moon in the fourteenth year, he finally sent a message through a strange object.

It was a gold tooth that could transmit sound, but it could only be used once.

They thought it was the recipe, but it turned out to be a song and the words ’look for the Ruo’an Faction’."

They researched it for eight years but got nothing, so they sent it to the Ruo’an Faction, hoping to get a reward.

We located the Divination Witch from the White Mountain Hermitage, who confirmed the location of this place."

Picking up the parchment from the table, Jia Li handed it to Horn.