Angel nodded, "Perhaps it’s a Carabit wizard conducting experiments here."
Frode: "That’s possible, but from the looks of it, this place has been abandoned for a long time, and there’s no trace of the experimenter, so it’s hard to confirm this guess."
Angel nodded, the skeleton on the stone platform offered no more information for now, and could only be set aside temporarily.
Angel: "What I’m most concerned about are the skeletons in those small caverns."
Frode recalled for a moment, shivering slightly, "Those skeletons are all intact but arranged in the same cross-legged sitting posture, which gives me the creeps."
After a pause, Frode curiously asked, "Why does Your Excellency care about those skeletons?"
Angel pondered for a moment, "Each small cavern is at the same distance, the inside is the same size, the skeletons are also human, and they are posed the same way. Everything follows a uniform regulation. This reminds me of..."
Angel hesitated for a moment before revealing the word in his heart: "Ceremony."
Ceremony. Frode mouthed the word softly. Ritual Studies hasn’t been hunted down by the Extreme Sect in the Southern Domain like Inscription Studies, so he’s heard of it, but seldom encountered it.
However, he knew that almost all sacrifices have more or less to do with Ritual Studies. Some schools even believe that Ritual Studies, like Inscription Studies, originates from Demon Gods, though Ritual Studies stemmed from the sacrifice ceremonies between Demon Gods and their followers.
"I once encountered the Pray-Eat Ritual at Anada, and later learned some basics of Ritual Studies from Greya." Angel recalled some ceremonial content Greya had taught, "Before becoming a master of rituals, Ritual Studies seldom had freedom; everything must be done according to ritual patterns."
"And ritual patterns in Ritual Studies are strict rigid regulations. For example, in a sacrifice ceremony, the position of the offerer must be dispersed within ten times the distance of the offering; each offerer must be three meters apart, and paired offerer positions must form a 90-degree angle..."
"Because of these regulations, the ceremony can proceed completely. The presence of small caverns here, in my view, is lines of absolute strict regulations."
After hearing Angel’s explanation, Frode also understood why Angel would value the small caverns.
If it’s just a ceremony, it’s not much. But unfortunately, this ceremony used human bones in its ritual pattern.
No matter whether this ceremony sacrificed the living or the dead, it represents a sacrificial type of ceremony.
A sacrifice surely has a target, and using humans as offerings typically targets Demon Gods, Evil Gods, magical creatures with divinity that feed on humans, or otherworldly powers hostile to humans.
Otherwise, there’s no need to use humans as offerings.
And these, whether Demon Gods, Evil Gods, or otherworld entities, are not easy to deal with and are all objects of great concern in the Wizards’ Realm.
The appearance of such a sacrificial ceremony here indeed needs attention.
"Since the ritual pattern is made of human bones," Angel looked back at the nearby high platform, "then this platform is undoubtedly an altar."
"As for whom this sacrificial ceremony is dedicated to, we can find out by going up; there must be clues there."
With that, Angel took the lead and ascended the altar’s steps.
With each step he took, Angel could feel the dead essence assault the spiritual power field more and more fiercely.
However, although the dead essence here was very dense, it was uncontrolled, only mindlessly crashing, and didn’t cause any damage to the spiritual power field.
The steps total thirty-six, which exactly corresponds to the number of small caverns, once again proving the ceremonial regulation.
When they reached the altar’s top, what greeted their eyes was a white bone altar constructed using the deceased’s skeleton.
The bone altar held nothing, but the dead essence here was the densest.
Angel guessed that Lady Cilla might have stayed on the altar before, which is why the dead essence and undead aura were so heavy here.
Frode circled the altar but didn’t see anything unusual, meaning their only chance of finding clues lay in the white bone altar.
But at first glance, this white bone altar also reveals no clues; there’s nothing there, and the altar is immaculately white without any patterns.
Angel reached out and touched the white bone altar.
When the cold feedback reached his fingertips, Angel’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"This white bone altar has no energy remnants left." Angel said slowly.
The white bone altar is constructed from the deceased’s remains, which in the Wizards’ Realm are considered semi-finished demonic materials and must contain Transcendent properties.
But now, the deceased’s remains have become mundane, lacking any Transcendent properties, which means...
"The ceremony has already taken place."
Since the ceremony has already been held, what exactly was it? Was the ceremony a success or failure? Why was Lady Cilla here?
As Frode swirled with questions, Angel forcefully shattered the white bone altar with a swift hand move.
With a rustling sound, the bone altar crumbled into pieces, scattering across the ground.
As the bone altar broke, the ground at the altar’s top was revealed.
"Look, there’s a symbol here!" Frode looked down to find a peculiar symbol evidently carved out by humans at the center of the ground beneath the bone altar.
Angel discovered this symbol using spiritual power after confirming there were no energy residues left in the bone altar. That’s why he shattered the altar, revealing the symbol.
A symbol Angel had never seen before.
It was very orderly, divisible into three parts. The outermost part was a concentric circle, within which was a standard ritual hexagon. Inside the hexagon was a symmetrical meandering symbol.
This symbol looked like two symmetrical, curved worms, and upon careful inspection, imprinted in the mind, it seemed to come alive, writhing and twisting.
"Although this symbol doesn’t show any Transcendent signs, it subtly connects to the surrounding dead essence." Angel sighed, "Unfortunately, I’ve never seen this symbol."
The symbol inside the hexagon was evidently the key clue, perhaps directly pointing to the sacrifice’s object.
Angel turned his gaze to Frode on the opposite side to see if he recognized it.
Frode shook his head, "I haven’t seen it either. But it doesn’t matter if we haven’t seen it; we can always call for outside help..."