Bai Shi stared at the ring-shaped sigil on his wrist, which remained unresponsive no matter what he did, and was lost in thought.
He could sense that the Heffen Spire was still intact, but its connection to the Lands Between had been severed. He could no longer teleport through it.
This ant that if he wanted to return, he would have to find a place that still had a connection to the Spirit World and enter from there.
Just like how he had stumbled into it by mistake after finding the stronghold of Godwyn's followers in the Lands Between.
Of course, it might not be that difficult. He would know once he tried at the location of another walking mausoleum.
Bai Shi imdiately teleported away via a Site of Grace.
"The walking mausoleum tramps, cradling the soulless demigod..."
Beside the Church of Pilgrimage, a white spirit, repeating its endless refrain, watched as the walking mausoleum was forced to a halt. The spirit's words grew fainter and fainter until it fell silent.
Why had the mausoleum stopped moving?
After a brief silence, the soul that wandered the Lands Between gradually faded away before the church.
By now, Bai Shi had already teleported to the cliffs on the eastern side of Liurnia of the Lakes.
Several walking mausoleums were here, and a headless knight guarded the entrance to the Black Knife Catacombs below.
Activating the sigil on his hand here, Bai Shi successfully teleported back to the Spirit World.
But the scene here was completely different from before.
The plains littered with white bones were gone, replaced by a swamp seething with the aura of death.
The monsters here also looked entirely different from the ones he had encountered before; all sorts of deford souls drifted directly above the swamp.
Bai Shi sighed and teleported back to the Lands Between.
He had no map, no landmarks. Finding Shard of Alexander in this completely different region was clearly not sothing he could accomplish quickly.
Searching for her blindly would probably only make it harder to find her.
He had left in such a hurry this ti, without even saying goodbye to Shard of Alexander.
He had been eager to destroy the death ritual at the ti and hadn't anticipated this outco.
He had thought that with the ability to teleport back and forth using the Heffen Spire, he could rest easy, but now it seed he had taken it for granted.
But there had been no other choice under the circumstances. He had to destroy the death ritual.
And destroying the ritual ant he was destined to lose contact with Shard of Alexander.
Bai Shi was now a little worried about Shard of Alexander.
The connection to the Heffen Spire remained, which ant nothing should have happened there—at least it hadn't completely crumbled just because the connection was cut.
It was likely just severed from the Lands Between.
Although Shard of Alexander had wandered the Spirit World for a long ti, would she be safe in the days to co?
She was just a weak, pitiable, and helpless witch, while the Spirit World was teeming with powerful monsters.
Even if she didn't provoke them, what if she wandered into the attack range of so ambushing creature? She could be injured, or even killed again.
There were still so many things Bai Shi wanted to say to her.
He felt deeply apologetic that after such a brief reunion, he had left again without a word.
But now that it was done, Bai Shi had no way to search for her.
He decided he would send people to track down Godwyn's followers after returning to Stormveil.
Perhaps he could get sothing from them that would be useful in the Spirit World.
—
In the Spirit World, Shard of Alexander also sensed the sudden change.
She walked out of the cave and stood upon the plain of white bones, looking up at the sky.
There, amidst the burning ghostfla, a corner of the faded sun slowly crumbled away.
A piece of the faded sun was missing. The death ritual had been partially destroyed.
Shard of Alexander smiled at the sight.
Bai Shi had achieved his goal for coming to the Spirit World.
Although the faded sun still hung in the sky, he must have made progress.
He had truly accomplished what Shard of Alexander once thought was impossible.
However, she could sense that this region was gradually being stripped away from the Lands Between.
It was a peculiar feeling. Though she didn't know why, she could perceive the process.
It was a separation on a fundantal level of existence.
This region of the Spirit World no longer had any connection to the Lands Between.
Shard of Alexander waited for a while, but Bai Shi never returned.
She sighed and walked into the distance.
It seed Bai Shi wouldn't be back anyti soon.
Even if he returned to the Spirit World, he wouldn't appear in this area that was now disconnected from the Lands Between.
She wondered when they would et again.
But... if they never saw each other again, that might be for the best.
She was already dead. She didn't know where she would go after the death rituals in the Spirit World were completely destroyed.
Their journey was destined to end in death's farewell.
As these chaotic thoughts ran through her head, Shard of Alexander walked away.
Suddenly, she looked down at her wrist.
A crimson bead had appeared in her hand, strung on a cord around her wrist.
In the Spirit World, vividly colored objects were rare; it was a world almost devoid of color.
This was the first ti Shard of Alexander had ever seen sothing with such a distinct hue.
Shard of Alexander pinched the bead between her fingers. Against the backdrop of the drab surroundings, the bead appeared even more striking, like a drop of fresh blood.
"What is this? Was it on
before?"
Shard of Alexander stared at the object, deep in thought.
After a while, she still couldn't figure it out and could only continue toward the next region.
—
Sowhere in the Spirit World, an opening slowly ford on a thick thorn of death made from a mass of writhing worms.
A tall figure was disgorged from the tree-like thorn, landing on the ground.
It had a humanoid form, completely out of place in this bizarre world.
When it was spat out from the thorn, it had a head of brilliant golden hair.
But upon its birth, the golden hair imdiately began to fade, eventually turning a deathly white.
It lay prone on the ground. A long ti passed before it slowly opened its eyes and pushed itself up.
It looked around at the fantastical, grotesque world, having no idea where it was.
Who was he? Where was he? What was he supposed to do?
But no one could answer his questions, and he had no mories at all.
Thus, he could only walk forward alone, aimlessly.
As he walked, the ever-present death flies gradually drew near, and thorns of writhing worms erged from the black earth.
He looked at these twisted things with a strange expression, not wanting to touch them.
As soon as that thought arose, the flies and thorns around him scurried away, disappearing without a trace.
He looked down at his body and realized he was naked.
That seed a bit indecent...
So, darkness vied to swarm over him, coalescing into clothes.
He blinked blankly. Everything here was far too strange, but it seed it ant him no harm.
Around him were several more thick thorns, almost identical to the one he ca from, which appeared to have once nurtured sothing.
But a few of them were dripping with a viscous, black liquid, as if they had failed.
Where he was and where he was going were both questions without answers.
As for who he was...
A na was necessary, so he decided to give himself one. Koatl, that sounded rather nice.
—
Bai Shi returned to Stormveil.
For the ti being, he couldn't return to the Spirit World to completely destroy the faded sun, but other matters still required his attention.
Until lina's rebirth was complete, he planned to continue studying gravity magic and ancient dragon lightning.
Once lina was reborn, he intended to explore the Consecrated Snowfield and find the portal to the Mohgwyn Dynasty.
The barrier the Formless Mother had placed around the Mohgwyn Dynasty was troubleso, and he didn't know its purpose.
Bai Shi planned to eliminate the dangerous threat that was Mohg as soon as possible.
After dealing with him, it would be almost ti for the frontal assault on Leyndell, the Royal Capital.
The last thing Bai Shi wanted was for Mohg to hatch another bloody conspiracy behind his back while he was at war with Leyndell.
When Bai Shi returned to the residence of Senessax and Shivr, Shivr shot out of the room and pounced on him.
Bai Shi stroked Shivr's fur, noticing that the cub had grown quite a bit.
Shivr was now much larger than a typical wolf in the Lands Between, nearly approaching the size of a Red Wolf.
While Bai Shi was wondering about this, Senessax also walked out.
Seeing Bai Shi's return, Senessax hurried over and asked:
"Master, why have you only just returned?"
Bai Shi was taken aback.
"What?"
It imdiately dawned on Bai Shi that there must be a ti discrepancy between the Lands Between and the Spirit World.
There was no night in the Spirit World; the faded sun hung perpetually in the sky, making it impossible to keep track of ti.
It seed his perception of ti had also been skewed.
Bai Shi quickly asked Senessax:
"How long has it been since I left?"
Before he had gone to the Spirit World, Bai Shi had visited Senessax every day to learn the art of ancient dragon lightning, so she knew he had been away.
Senessax thought for a mont, then said:
"Today is the fifth day."
Bai Shi felt a headache coming on. The ti difference between the Spirit World and the Lands Between was quite significant.
He felt as if only a day or two had passed, but five days had gone by...
A thought suddenly struck Bai Shi:
Could it be that the ti for lina's rebirth has already arrived?
Just then, the moonlight sigil Ranni had left on him lit up at the perfect mont.
Ranni was actively contacting him.
Ranni's voice echoed in Bai Shi's mind:
'I finally reached you.'
'Where did you go? Why did you suddenly vanish, to the point that even the sigil couldn't connect to you?'
Bai Shi didn't explain to Ranni right away; it wasn't sothing he could clarify in a few words.
'It's a bit hard to explain right now. I'll tell you the details when I get there.'
'Is the rebirth almost complete?'
Ranni's voice sounded again:
'Not yet, but it will be within the next day or two.'
'If you wish to co to the Grand Library, now would be a good ti.'
'Aside from my curiosity, I also have sothing I want to give you.'
Bai Shi bid a temporary farewell to Senessax and Shivr and teleported back to the Academy of Raya Lucaria.
In the Grand Library, Ranni was floating casually in the air.
Ranni looked at Bai Shi, who had appeared out of thin air from the Site of Grace, and felt a sense of strangeness.
There seed to be a new, unique aura about Bai Shi's soul, and it had grown much stronger.
But setting aside the matter of his soul's newfound strength, Ranni was more curious about why he had suddenly gone incommunicado.
Previously, when Ranni had tried to contact Bai Shi through the sigil, he had simply vanished from her senses.
The moon hung eternally high in the skies of the Lands Between, so in theory, the sigil should have been able to reach him anywhere in the lands.
What had happened?
Because a situation like this had never occurred before, Ranni was extrely concerned.
Ranni looked at Bai Shi and said coolly:
"You're here. Are you ready to explain now?"
"I am quite curious about this matter."
Seeing Ranni's puzzled expression, Bai Shi concisely stated the reason:
"Because I went to the Spirit World."
Ranni froze for a mont, then her eyes slowly widened.
"The Spirit World?"
Ranni involuntarily repeated the term Bai Shi had used.
Bai Shi nodded at the disbelieving Ranni.
"That's right, the Spirit World."
Ranni was even more confused.
She knew of the Spirit World. It was the place souls were ant to go before the Golden Order's rise to power.
But...
But that shouldn't be possible.
The Spirit World had vanished long ago. It no longer existed in the Lands Between.
The Erdtree's cycle of rebirth had long since replaced the Spirit World.
Bai Shi slowly explained:
"After the Shattering, with no Elden Lord and no Elden Ring to manifest the laws of the world, the various elents that could beco laws have re-erged."
"The Death Rite Birds and Godwyn's followers worked together to reconstruct the Spirit World."
Bai Shi extended his wrist, allowing Ranni to see the sigil left by the Heffen Spire.
At that mont, Ranni cast aside her usual composure and floated directly to Bai Shi's side.
Ranni reached out and touched the ring-shaped sigil from the Spirit World on Bai Shi's hand.
Feeling the unique aura, completely different from that of the Lands Between, Ranni had no choice but to believe, despite her disbelief.
Ranni fell into deep thought.
She never expected Godwyn's followers to be capable of such a feat.
But Godwyn's soul had been killed back then.
Even if they used the Spirit World and the faded sun to summon his soul, would the thing that was pieced together and revived truly be Godwyn?
Bai Shi's voice interrupted Ranni's thoughts.
"You said you had sothing to give . What is it?"
Ranni then rembered her original reason for contacting Bai Shi and said:
"I will be leaving soon."
"Before I go, I thought of sothing that might interest you."
"So, consider it a token of my gratitude. I hope you will accept it."
Ranni retrieved a wooden statuette from the wide sleeve of her robe.
It was a statuette of a sorcerer's apprentice and didn't look particularly special at first glance.
But Bai Shi knew that this was the key item for reaching the Divine Tower of Liurnia.
There, hidden away, was the flesh Ranni had once cast aside, along with the Cursemark of Death.
Make-up exam tomorrow, so only 4k words today (lies down)
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