Chapter 31#
Temple of the Burning Lamp 2#
The light of hundreds of candles gathered together, filling the entire long table with a warm, bright glow.
Lifting the brass lids revealed their dinner. There were two kinds of dishes, a fruit salad and vegetable salad. In front of each person was a glass filled with juice of some unknown fruit.
Yu Feichen ate a little of whatever looked the least strange, and no one else seemed very interested in eating either. Before long, everyone set down their knives and forks.
The scholar suddenly tapped his fork against his glass, drawing everyone’s attention.
“This world doesn’t appear particularly hostile to us,” he said. “After we go back to our rooms tonight, let’s follow what that old man said and stay inside. Each of us can check our rooms for any clues we can make use of. Tomorrow, we’ll work together and complete whatever tasks are required.”
Lady Djuna immediately said, “Alright,” and the two kings nodded as well. No one else voiced any objection.
According to the cloaked old man, the bedrooms were next door. Soon they found a door along one side of the hall. Beyond it was a U‑shaped corridor, narrow and lit by rows of candles just like the hall. Doors lined both sides, and at the far end was another door.
Bai Song let out a softEh?and said, “It’s the same order as the table seating.”
Indeed, the old man had arranged the seats in this same pattern. But now there were only four doors on each side of the corridor, which meant two people would need to share each room.
Yu Feichen said nothing and led Bai Song into the room at the far left.
He saw the Pope enter the room in the corner. The Empress and her silent gray‑clad attendant went into the room across from theirs.
Djuna, arm in arm with her husband Jude, looked around excitedly as they entered their assigned room. The rest followed suit.
Inside, Bai Song looked around.
“So many candles,” he said.
Indeed, the bedroom was as bright as the corridor and hall. Every wall had three rows of black iron candleholders embedded from top to bottom, each one holding dense clusters of white tallow candles.
The room was small, containing only a bed and a chair. The thick, greasy smell of burning tallow filled every corner.
Stifling, clinging.
After just a few breaths, the humid greasiness seemed to coat the inside of one’s lungs. The more he breathed, the more suffocating it became, as though the blood in his veins had turned into warm candle wax.
Yu Feichen surveyed the room.
A large window stood on the wall opposite the door. The side wall held some raised stone carvings, but there was nothing else that was noteworthy.
He walked toward the stone-carved wall. Bai Song went to the window.
“Does this window open?” he muttered while feeling along the frame. “I feel like I’m gonna die in here.”
The tallow‑laden air really was unbearable, every movement felt weighed down. But Yu Feichen said, “Unless you absolutely can’t hold on any longer, don’t open the window.”
“Why?”
“Evil spirits.”
According to the old man, evil spirits were wandering inside the temple.
Bai Song thought for a moment and let out an “oh.” His fear of an evil spirit crawling in through the window outweighed his desire for fresh air, and he let go of the latch. He came over to Yu Feichen’s side, and the two examined the carved wall together.
The wall was built of neatly arranged limestone blocks, each about half a square meter, the seams perfectly straight.
The carving was dominated by layers of concentric rings, each etched with dense short lines radiating toward the center. In the very middle was a symbol resembling a trident head.
Altogether, the carving radiated outward from the trident symbol; with each ring spreading, the short lines formed an expanding pattern, giving a mysterious and oppressive sense of something growing larger.
“So majestic,” Bai Song said.
Yu Feichen gave him a quick, surprised glance. The boy’s intuition was correct.
“It’s a totem,” he said. “The sun.”
The trident symbol represented flames in many worlds and the expanding rings represented radiating light. Together, despite not resembling the real sun, it was unmistakably a sun totem.
So this was likely a sun‑worshiping temple.
After the explanation, Bai Song let out a “Wow! Brother Yu, you’re amazing!”
Yu Feichen gave no reaction to the praise.
When escorting clients, if he had to react every time he was praised, he’d never have time to do his job.
And of course, if he reacted to every complaint, he’d never have time to take on the next task.
It was a standard totem, but one spot felt jarringly out of place in the entire pattern.
Outside the rings, in the lower right corner, was a tiny thumb‑sized circle with shallow engravings, it was barely noticeable.
A sunspot? A companion star? A moon?
None fit. The depth of the carving, the technique, and even the degree of dust accumulated were all inconsistent with the main pattern.
Bai Song’s mind worked quickly. “Then that must be a star or moon?”
Yu Feichen shook his head.
He tapped lightly on the wall, brow furrowing, then pressed his finger into the center of the small circle.
No reaction.
He traced the circle around its rim.
—Still nothing.
Then he pressed the center again.
A faint clicking sound sounded in the room.
Then, the twelve limestone blocks rotated in unison, pivoting around the central column to stand perpendicular to the wall.
A hidden door!
And this hidden door led to—
Yu Feichen: “…”
Beyond the wall was a luxuriously ornate bedroom, with a fur carpet covering the floor and delicate porcelain dolls on the bedside table.
Standing directly across from him stood a person.
Pope Ludwig.
The young pope’s long hair was loose, his bare feet sinking into the snowy fur rug. He wore a loose, thin black silk robe and was in the process of hanging his outer garment in the wardrobe.
At that moment, he turned his head, looking at Yu Feichen quietly with an expressionless face.
Silence.
Yu Feichen, “Pardon me.”
He immediately pressed the mechanism again, and the wall rotated shut.
Bai Song: “…”
“Brother Yu,” he whispered, “you’re really something.”
Shut up.
Yu Feichen wanted no such praise.
He had heard the hollowness behind the wall when tapping and expected an empty chamber, because the Pope’s room should have been behind a different wall entirely.
He hadn’t expected the rooms to be of different sizes, and that the Pope’s quarters were large enough to wrap around his on two sides, leading to the awkward situation.
But that raised a question: Why would the Knight Commander’s room have a hidden passage to the Pope’s chamber?
Yu Feichen studied the filigree on his sword again, searching for clues—suspecting now that this ‘Knight Commander Yu Fei’ was actually the Pope’s personal knight.
Then, were the roles of the characters at the table earlier connected? And perhaps these connections would matter in this world’s hunt?
That would be learned later. For now, the room search was done. They needed to sleep.
They couldn’t sleep at the same time. Yu Feichen would take the first half of the watch, Bai Song the second.
But the room was too bright, and Bai Song too excited to fall asleep. He chattered endlessly, and Yu Feichen answered him absently.
“Brother Yu,” Bai Song asked, “what’s an NPC?”
“A puppet,” Yu Feichen said.
“That’s amazing.” Bai Song abruptly changed subjects again. “The tour guide didn’t finish telling me everything.”
“Where did he get to?”
“He was taking me through Sunset Street.” Mentioning Paradise made Bai Song excited again. “The guide was great! He took me to the first floor of the Tower of Creation to queue and get five Radiant Shards, then said he’d bring me to Sunset Street to splurge—Brother Yu, there were so many things there!”
Sunset Plaza—also known as Incandescent Plaza— has two streets: Dusk Street and Sunset Street.
Dusk Street is a street of taverns and cuisine, where you can taste the finest wines and delicacies from all the worlds under the God of War’s rule. Sunset Street was the shopping district, where anything in existence could be bought with Radiant Shards.
But Yu Feichen had hired the guide to explain the rules, not to take Bai Song shopping.
And the first floor of the Tower of Creation was for forming teams and signing contracts. Since when did they hand out Radiant Shards?
—It sounded exactly like those early‑morning supermarkets with elderly shoppers lining up for freebies.
He asked, “Handing out Radiant Shards?”
“Yeah. I think there was some celebration,” Bai Song said. “The God of Contracts and the God of Festivals were there. There was a huge banner on the first floor that says:
Warmly—warmly—WARMLYcelebrating Yu Feichen’s glorious entry into the Gate of Eternal Night!
Complaints no more, forevermore! —Love, Mogrosh!”
“Wait,” Bai Song seemed to remember something, and his face stiffened. “Brother Yu, what’s your full name?”
Yu Feichen: “…”
“Brother Yu?”
Yu Feichen: “Let’s change the subject.”
“Oh.” Bai Song’s thoughts jumped tracks again. “I kind of miss Korosha. I wonder…”
Yu Feichen kept quiet, waiting for Bai Song to repeat :I wonder how Gann is doing.
Instead, Bai Song said, “I wonder how Captain Anfield is doing.”
Anfield.
Perhaps still coughing up blood deep into the night, bedridden.
Or perhaps his illness was not so severe yet, and he was still manoeuvring through Xiyun’s political struggles, maybe even rising through the ranks.
Or perhaps the war in Korosha had ended, and as a Black‑Badge officer, he was waiting in some prison for the war tribunal’s verdict. History may wrongly condemn some people, yet occasionally spare some others.
And then, there was another possibility.
Yu Feichen suddenly said, “Bai Song.”
“Huh?”
His gaze drifted toward the wall leading to the pope’s room. “Don’t you feel like…”
“Like what?”
“…Never mind.”
“Brother Yu, don’t talk like that, I won’t be able to sleep.”
Yu Feichen remained expressionless.
He glanced indifferently out the window at the silent temple courtyard. “Cherish tonight.”
Bai Song understood, and his voice shrank. “D‑don’t scare me, Brother Yu…”
Just then, in the quiet room, a soft knocking sounded.
Knock knock.
Bai Song jolted violently.
Knock knock.
Bai Song scurried behind him.
Knock knock knock.
Yu Feichen looked at the totem wall. The sound was coming from there.
What happened?
He drew his sword, held it before him, and pressed the mechanism on the wall.
The hidden door rotated, revealing Pope Ludwig in his black robe, silver hair loose.
The bright candlelight cast a faint shadow behind him. His posture was so calm and impeccable he resembled the porcelain doll on his bedside table.
Yu Feichen, “You need me?”
The pope gave a slight nod, turned, and walked toward the far side of his room. Barefoot, he moved across the fur carpet in complete silence. From behind, he could easily be mistaken for a ghost haunting the temple.
Yu Feichen followed through the hidden door. He saw the pope gesture faintly toward the bedside table, then look up at the wall above.
The drawer was open, neatly filled with rows of tallow candles.
High on the wall, a row of candles had burned almost to the base, flames weak.
After making these two subtle gestures, the pope simply sat down on the edge of his bed.
Watching him settle there so naturally, Yu Feichen suddenly felt the same quiet resignation he had felt when Anfield used him as a ladder or a pillow.
Surely…
The pope didn’t mean to order him to replace the candles, did he?
Did he not have hands of his own?