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Chapter 1115: The Outer World and the Inner World
🕑 Added 2024-05-15 14:02:01 +0000 UTCIn the mural, a pyramid-like building rose from the ground.
It was not the big triangle-shaped pyramid in Egypt, but a flat-topped pyramid similar to the Mayan style.
The pyramid was carved with complex decorations, which could even be said to be gorgeous, entirely blood-red in color, with tiers of steps and stairs piled one upon another. At the entrance was a giant stone statue and a pit for offerings.
Evan had seen these murals before, but seeing this pyramid again, he felt a strange sense of familiarity.
It was certain that he had seen similar structures somewhere, but it was definitely not on the murals under the Acromantula’s lair.
Those murals, ravaged by the destruction of the Acromantulas and weathered by time, barely showed their original appearance, far less clear than what was in front of them now.
"Evan, this building..." said Hermione thoughtfully, looking at the pyramid in the mural, "I feel like I've seen it somewhere."
"Hey, you feel the same way?" Evan turned his head and looked at her.
"Well, I must have seen this pyramid, but I can't say where. Was it in a book?" said Hermione, staring at the mural and shaking her head. "No, I haven't seen it. What’s familiar to me is the feeling of this structure."
"Feeling?" Evan suddenly remembered. "Yes, it's the building on the stone slab."
He pulled out the slab, which he had found in front of Slytherin’s statue in Aragog's lair.
At that time, they had concluded it was a map, pointing to the lair of Herpo the Foul.
On the stone slab, mountains, oceans, and canyons were sketched with simple strokes.
In the middle was a temple altar, with a terrifying monster hovering at the top of the altar. The disproportionately huge red eyes and head covered with tentacles in the clouds were the most eye-catching. It was devouring the souls of the terrified humans below...
The shape of this building was different from the pyramid on the mural in front of them, but the feeling it gave was very similar.
Evan placed the slab in front of the mural, comparing them.
"That's it!" said Hermione. "Strange, they're different in shape, but they give off the same feeling."
"I do feel that way!" Elaine nodded.
"They are the same building, Herpo the Foul’s lair," said Evan. "Same as our previous reasoning, the black magic that turned the wizard into evil was left by him, and he completed this magic inside his lair.”
"If it’s the same building, why is there such a big difference in appearance?"
"I don't know!" Evan shook his head. Could two buildings with such drastic differences still be the same one?
Indeed, this was a structure, not a living being, so it could have the same essence, the same soul, but appear in different forms...
But whether it was him, Hermione, or Elaine, who saw the murals and the slab for the first time, they all agreed that these two completely different buildings were the same. They gave off such a similar feeling, an indescribable sense of familiarity.
It was really strange. What was the mystery here?!
If one were to continue following in Slytherin's footsteps, would there be a chance to reach the location of this building depicted on the slab?!
"Remember, Evan, we investigated this stone slab and searched carefully on the map," said Hermione. "But in the end, we had no results. If the information was not wrong, then the building on this stone slab might be not in the real world."
"Yeah, Herpo the Foul might have hidden his lair!" This was the conclusion they came to at that time.
"I mean, the pyramid on the mural is not what this building looks like in reality," Hermione expressed her speculation. "And what's on the stone slab is the shape it took after entering the void. I heard you say there’s such magic."
There was indeed such magic, and the evil gods themselves existed in the void.
Born in the void, existing in the void, it was their world.
By analogy, Herpo the Foul had also to enter the void after turning himself into an evil god.
Therefore, he created a space, a space in which he lived after becoming a god...
Just like the real surface world and the illusory inner world, the buildings might have different appearances, but their inner essence was the same.
"So this map was useless because it wasn't originally meant to mark the real world," Hermione concluded.
"That's possible," said Evan. It was incredible to think about it carefully, but so far, he had witnessed too many incredible things. "But we have too little information at the moment to make guesses. I still haven't figured out the purpose of the badge I got from defeating the Eyeball monster, but it should be related to this building..."
Even though he said this, it did not prevent him from continuing to reason along this line of thinking.
The young Slytherin discovered this void world after his adventure to Herpo the Foul’s lair in Greece. He brought back Herpo the Foul who had turned into evil as his trophy.
In other words, he had mastered the method of entering that space.
Given his personality, he probably would have considered that place the most suitable location to keep the key to his secret treasure.
Only after collecting the other four items left behind, solving Herpo the Foul, and proving one's strength could one enter that place, gain his approval, and thus obtain the key to the secret treasure.
Evan felt that things were becoming clearer and clearer, and all that was missing now was the evidence to prove it all.
In all likelihood, this was the content of the test left by Slytherin.
The three of them discussed as they continued forward.
Evan couldn't understand why Salazar Slytherin would leave behind such a terrifying dark magic.
Moreover, the records were so detailed, almost as if tempting later generations to use it.
On the murals on either side, Herpo the Foul, wearing a black hood that obscured his face, stood at the top of the pyramid, raising his wand high, guiding the magic. On the side, there were annotations detailing the spells and precautions to be taken during casting.
The pit used for sacrifice in front of the pyramid was densely filled with innocent lives.
The first step of this magic required human beings, or to be precise, human souls.
Extremely evil things could split one's own soul, and painful torture could separate the souls of other beings. Herpo the Foul had discovered this. He tortured these people to death cruelly with magic and collected their souls.
In the pit, these innocent people lay in agony, some pleading and praying in despair.
They gazed towards the sky, as if ethereal lines were appearing above their heads...
