Heroes' Prison-Chapter 1099 - 1041: Diary from the Ancient Era
Chapter 1041: Diaries of the Ancient Era
Huang Yi could hear their prayers, as if coming from another world, hazy and with a faint echo.
After the prayer words were spoken, the leading maid suddenly extended her pale wrist, took out a small knife, and said to the rest of the maids, "Quickly pour our Saintess’s blood into the Holy Grail, Lord Bloodhoof is urging!"
Saying this, she waved the small knife and fiercely cut into her own wrist.
Instantly, her wrist bled profusely, and it all dripped into a golden cup.
The other maids also took out their knives and began to cut their wrists to let the blood flow.
It wasn’t long before the golden cup was filled with blood, even overflowing a little.
The leading maid immediately picked up the cup and hurriedly walked out of the room.
At this moment, Huang Yi’s invisibility had just ended, fully exposing him in front of them. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮
But they seemed completely unable to see Huang Yi, directly skipping over him, and the leading maid even passed through Huang Yi’s body.
Indeed, these maids were just spectral remnants, without a physical form.
In this light, the "tick-tock" sound Huang Yi heard in the bell tower earlier must also be some historical echo. It was once the sound of the clock tower turning, but it traversed through the long history, reverberating in this current timespace.
From the maid’s recent words, it seemed they intended to offer the blood in the Holy Grail to Bloodhoof. Huang Yi decided not to explore aimlessly but instead followed the image of that maid.
The maid skillfully navigated the castle, passing through gardens, corridors, graveyards, and countless crisscrossing paths and corners, leading Huang Yi gradually into the very heart of the Blood Castle.
After walking for a long time, the maid reached the peak of the mountain, where there was only a single structure ahead. It was a grand hall, standing proudly at the very top of the mountain with an air of unparalleled magnificence, superior to all other buildings in the castle.
The maid, holding the cup of blood, directly entered the grand hall, and Huang Yi quickly followed her in.
Upon entering the hall, Huang Yi was slightly startled.
The hall was lavishly decorated, with carved windows on the walls, chandeliers on the ceiling, cabinets, furniture, and even framed oil paintings, all preserved intact, unlike the other buildings seen before that were eroded by the passage of time.
The maid hurriedly took the cup of blood, ascended the spiral staircase inside the hall, and went all the way to the top floor, arriving at a room resembling a study.
This room housed bookshelves filled with various books and documents, and by the window, there was an astronomical telescope with its lens aimed at the sky outside. Beside it was a wooden desk with several books placed on it.
At the far end of the study was a tightly closed door. The maid, holding the cup of blood, went directly to the door. She seemed somewhat nervous, took a deep breath, and then stepped through it, her silhouette disappearing from Huang Yi’s view.
Now, Huang Yi’s path was finally blocked; he needed to open that door to see what was inside.
The door was closed tightly, not even a seam was visible, and the silver handle was as luxurious as a piece of art, making one inexplicably want to turn the handle, open that mysterious door, and see what’s inside.
Huang Yi tentatively reached out, touched the handle, took a deep breath, and turned his wrist.
However, the doorknob didn’t budge an inch. Huang Yi applied more force again, but he still couldn’t turn it.
It seems this door can’t be opened. Historically, those who were fortunate enough to explore this place likely ended up stopping here, unable to enter and uncover the mysteries beyond the door.
Huang Yi had no choice but to wander around the study.
He came to the cabinet, where some silver teapots and teacups were placed—exquisite and delicate, the kind of high-end items only belonging to top-tier nobility. He reached out and opened the lid of a teapot, from which a few cockroaches and spiders immediately crawled out.
Despite the hall’s enduring lavishness from back in the day, which hadn’t rotted away over the years, these cockroaches and spiders revealed the hall’s desolation, much like a magnificent tomb.
Finally, Huang Yi came to the desk, with an armchair nearby, and he sat down directly.
In the center of the desk lay a leather journal flipped upside down and open, looking as though someone had once leafed through it but left midway, forced to flip it downside to keep their place for later reading.
Huang Yi simply picked up the leather journal and opened it to take a look. The journal was currently opened to page 38, its contents were written by hand, with the texture of a goose feather brush, neatly penned.
Huang Yi directly looked at the content written above—
"...Lord Bloodhoof hasn’t left his room for three months, yet every late night, strange sounds come from his room; sometimes it’s Lord Bloodhoof’s exaggerated and insane laughter, other times a bizarre ’hissing’ sound, and even conversations with unfamiliar persons. But the door has always remained closed—no one has entered in these three months, so who is Lord Bloodhoof speaking with? Every time I pass by his room, all I can do is look at that tightly closed door and imagine what might be happening inside..."
The diary seems to have been written by one of Bloodhoof’s servants or a steward, recording some daily situations from Bloodhoof’s time.
Huang Yi immediately became interested and turned to the next page, continuing to view the diary entries—
"Today, Lord Bloodhoof’s door was finally opened! After a few months, I finally saw Lord Bloodhoof again. Yet, Lord Bloodhoof seemed somewhat different; his face was pale, his eyes devoid of brightness—its hard to know what he experienced during these months cooped in his room. However, Lord Bloodhoof’s most noticeable change was his attire. He used to prefer breezy riding pants paired with boots, ready to ride outside the castle at any time, but this time he emerged wearing a tread-long red robe all the time, like a woman’s dress, completely covering his bottom half. Once Lord Bloodhoof left his quarters, he immediately made a strange request - he asked the Saintesses in the church to present their blood to him in the Holy Grail..."
After reading the diary, Huang Yi suddenly remembered the maid he had just seen. That maid was performing a wrist-cutting bloodletting right in the church, pouring her blood into a golden cup, sending it into the tightly closed door, corresponding with the diary’s description.
Huang Yi leaned against the chair and turned another page, continuing to view the next diary entry.
"During this period, many strange happenings have occurred in the castle. Since Lord Bloodhoof emerged from his room, the entire castle seems to have grown eerie; dark clouds hover continuously while the skies below the mountain are perfectly clear, yet the castle remains shrouded in darkness. Lord Bloodhoof doesn’t take us riding on the plains below the mountain like he used to. He hides in his room every day now, rarely going out, and he demands a cup of fresh blood from the Saintess in the morning and evening. Lord Bloodhoof’s temper has grown more irritable; we servants are executed at the slightest mistake and recently, the number of executed subordinates has grown, leaving the castle understaffed. Everyone’s feeling anxious, wondering when they might meet their demise."
"Last night, the church’s chief Saintess Kesali delivered the blood late and was executed by Lord Bloodhoof. Today, I was switched to deliver the blood to Lord Bloodhoof’s room for the first time in months. Previously, Lord Bloodhoof would always draw back the curtains, allowing the sunlight in, but now the curtains are tightly shut, and no light penetrates, as dark as night. Lord Bloodhoof sat in the center on a chair, wrapped tightly in a robe, and I couldn’t make out his face in the dark, only a silhouette vaguely merging with the shadows. I inexplicably felt uneasy, anxiously placing the cup of blood in front of him. Lord Bloodhoof seemed lost in thought, not acknowledging me—I bent low and slowly retreated. Once out the door, I realized my back was drenched in sweat, as if just surviving a life-and-death ordeal. I suddenly felt an urge to leave the castle. Yesterday, Alucard spoke of returning home; maybe I should consider his suggestion..."
Just like that, Huang Yi flipped page after page of that journal passed down from the Ancient Era, feeling as though his thoughts traveled back to Ancient Times, experiencing the things that happened here back then.
These diary pages narrate some everyday life aspects of Bloodhoof’s time. Behind that tightly closed door, Bloodhoof sequestered himself for a period, during which many bizarre phenomena took place. When he ended his seclusion, he seemed completely transformed, his daily actions and living habits were drastically changed, exuding a faintly ominous vibe.
The turning point of the Blood Castle began from that time; some servants even secretly fled, leaving the castle increasingly deserted through the days.
After reading about ten pages of diary entries, Huang Yi looked at the time and decided to log off for breakfast.
By then, he had reached page 56 of the diary. He placed it upside down on the desk as before, but the page open had shifted from page 38 to page 56.
Subsequently, he logged off and disappeared from the Blood Castle.
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