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Heir of the White Lotus (Web Novel) - Chapter 2032: Beyond the Silk Trees
Chapter 2032: Beyond the Silk Trees
This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl
After traveling at high speed without pause, Luca and his party finally arrived at a massive forest.
They slowed as they approached the woods. Something about the place immediately felt wrong.
Michael couldn’t help but subconsciously gulp. "It’s not too late to turn around," he whispered.
Of course, all he received were a few glares.
They had come too far to turn around!
In front of them, the forest was unnaturally quiet. There was no rustling of animals, no chirping of insects, and not even the distant cry of a monster. Only the soft sound of their own footsteps disturbed the silence.
And then they saw webs. Everywhere. They covered everything.
Luca’s eyes instantly narrowed as he recalled Adam’s words.
The high priest’s journals mentioned Shireen’s possible connections to spiders, he thought grimly.
If this is any indication, then we might have to engage in a battle similar to what Adam went through in the Sun Temple!
The party noticed thick strands of pale silk stretched between enormous trees, connecting trunk to trunk and branch to branch.
Some had grown so dense that they formed great curtains hanging from the canopy. Others covered entire sections of the forest floor, their sticky strands glistening beneath the moonlight.
Above them, the crimson moon hung in the sky. Its blood-red light filtered through the tangled canopy, casting everything beneath it in an ominous scarlet hue. The white webs reflected the strange light, making them appear almost like veins spreading throughout the forest.
Luca’s expression grew increasingly serious.
"This place..."
He looked around, scanning every little detail. There wasn’t a single monster in sight. And that somehow made the forest even more frightening.
Then Leah noticed something hanging from one of the branches.
"Look!"
Everyone stopped in their tracks. They turned to where Leah was pointing.
A cocoon swayed gently above them. It was far too large to be the cocoon of an ordinary creature. There was another hanging farther away. Then another. And another. And several more. Some were small, while others were almost the size of a person.
Michael’s face was drained of all color. "What the hell are those?"
Nobody answered. Even Darren, who always made sure to rebuke Michael whenever the opportunity arose, was quiet. Deathly quiet.
They all knew what they were looking at.
Leah tightened the grip around her weapon and murmured, "Are we really in the right place, my lord?"
Luca had a dark look on his face. He took out the map and carefully examined it beneath the crimson moonlight.
"The coordinates match."
"You’re sure?" Leah was never one to question her superiors. But given the situation, she couldn’t help it. "Can the map be trusted?"
Luca nodded grimly. "This is the location marked with the X."
If earlier the party thought that they had come too far to turn around, they no longer thought the same. Most of them were beginning to hesitate.
Michael glanced around nervously into the darkness. "I think... we should leave, yeah?"
Meji looked at him and spoke hesitantly, "Leave? After what Magus Bucca did to grant us this opportunity? Im-Impossible."
The elf himself did not find his words convincing.
Michael did not give up. He was truly scared for his life.
"Just look!" He pointed toward the hanging cocoons. "There isn’t a single monster here, yet something made all of this. I’d rather not find out what."
Dell swallowed nervously. "I-I agree."
Luca remained silent for a moment. He couldn’t blame his party for having second thoughts. After all, even he felt an ominous presence in the heart of the woods.
His eyes traveled across the dark forest. There were no monsters or vampires. Fortunately, there were no ravens spying on them as well.
Finally, he folded the map and put it away. His grey eyes flashed with resolve, and he said, "We’ve come this far. We find the location first. Don’t forget, a lot depends on our mission."
The others exchanged uneasy glances. They wanted to argue, but Luca’s following words made them pause.
"If you want to live the rest of your life in this secret plane, then you may return. If you want to leave this place, then follow me."
With that said, he walked deeper into the woods.
"Are you crazy!" Michael hissed at Luca’s departing back. He didn’t care about seniority or chain of command at the moment.
He turned to Leah with a pleading look in his eyes. But Leah shook her head. "He’s right," she said.
She was the first to follow behind him.
"Fuck me!" Michael cursed his misfortune.
One by one, they quickly caught up with Luca. They continued deeper into the forest. The farther they went, the thicker the webs became.
At times, they had to cut through curtains of silk just to pass. The strands clung to their armor and clothing, forcing them to constantly brush them away.
The silence remained absolute and eerie. Only the occasional creaking of branches disturbed it. Above them, the crimson moon continued to shine through the canopy.
Eventually, Luca raised his hand.
"Stop!"
The others gathered behind him.
The Templar Paladin looked at the map one final time. Then he looked ahead and said in a solemn voice, "There."
Beyond the silk trees stood a ruined structure. Most of it had collapsed, however.
Broken stone walls rose from the earth, half-buried beneath roots and webs. Several enormous pillars had fallen across the entrance, while what remained of the roof had caved inward long ago.
Yet even in ruins, the structure possessed an undeniable grandeur. The surviving architecture was elaborate. Whatever this place had once been, it had clearly been magnificent.
Luca and the others stared at it for a long moment.
The giant crimson moon hung in the air directly behind the ruined building. It was as though the strange celestial body was perpetually looking over it. Its scarlet rays gently bathed the structure in its cold embrace, protecting it, soothing it.
For a long moment, nobody spoke. They were entranced by the dark beauty of it all.
Luca inhaled deeply, confirming his and Adam’s speculations.
"This is it," he said.
"The temple dedicated to the moon goddess."
