In truth, it wasn't just Yaxiu whose mind was in total disarray; Sonia and the others were equally tangled in confusion.
Though their tone carried a hint of interrogation, none of them were certain about what had actually happened. That went even for Weixi; her words earlier had been mostly exploratory—capable of pressing the advantage if possible, or retreating into playful teasing and seduction if not.
However, their "uncertainty" was more along the lines of disbelief: *Am I really allowed to be this lucky? Could this be a dream?* They were terrified that fate might take back this unforgettable mercy.
After all, they had successfully summoned gods! Even Weise had gained a new authority!
It was only because their experience was still lacking; otherwise, they would have known that Weise's situation was far more terrifying than summoning a god. Commanding a new authority was equivalent to "summoning a new god" plus "fusing that new god into an existing one." If Yaxiu truly utilized Weise as a god, expending a single source crystal would allow Weise to unleash twice the authority as before. Not only was the god's efficiency per unit increased, but Yaxiu also wouldn't have to bear any additional strain.
Driving one god versus simultaneously commanding two gods imposed vastly different burdens on a sorcerer. Whether constructing wonders or unleashing miracles, the difficulty of configuration increased exponentially with every additional god.
Weixi had once mentioned that even demigods who possessed multiple gods predominantly relied on a single god when constructing the vast majority of wonders and miracles. Combining multiple gods easily led to friction and mutual rejection; the slightest mistake could cause a wonder to collapse or a miracle to backlash!
Unlike sorcery spirits, gods had temperaments and distinct personalities! If sorcery spirits were like young children, then gods had generally entered their rebellious phase!
Even if a demigod could command gods, when intertwining the authorities of multiple gods, a single slip-up could cause a total collapse. It was just like in a company where every department guaranteed accountability to you individually, but when multiple departments collaborated, communication breakdowns could still cause the entire project to fall through!
In an era where wonders and miracles were predominantly constructed around a single god, the more composite authorities a god possessed, the greater the depth and broader the dimensions of the wonder or miracle's effect. This was also why the Senluo Azure Lord had invested so much effort into forging the realm of Senluo: because the gods shaped through the grand law mechanism were, without exception, gods of composite authorities with extraordinarily versatile applications.
More importantly, now that Weise had mastered the Silver Canon's authority, she could actually reverse-engineer the core of the Silver Canon and help Yaxiu summon another Silver Canon god. Since the Void Realm recognized the authority of the Silver Canon, a Silver Canon god could naturally be born in this world. Weise had essentially "consumed" the Silver Canon, leaving the divine throne of the Silver Canon vacant.
The Gospel God was definitely a composite god created by the Weaver fusing multiple gods together. Yet after those constituent gods were fused and disappeared, the Weaver could summon them anew. That was why she had been so willing to leave Gospel in the mortal realm. Gods were unique, but authorities could interlock in intricate ways, and Gospel was not necessarily the Weaver's crowning masterpiece.
Even if they could not grasp the full picture, Sonia and the others understood just how extraordinary their situation was. Aside from Yaxiu, each of them had summoned sorcery spirits on their own before—either breaking through in the thrill of intense combat or racking their brains studying sorcery. Every single summoning of a sorcery spirit had been the fruit of arduous labor.
And this time, it was summoning *gods*!
Even the Sword Princess and the Witch didn't really believe they possessed the talent to summon gods.
They knew they were prodigies, but their growth time had simply been too short—the Sword Princess had been a sorcerer for less than a year! A year ago, she was still lying in bed watching dramas, bickering with her roommates, and dreaming of becoming a water sorcerer to marry into a wealthy family!
Starting from zero as a sorcerer and summoning a god in just one year—not even Daidalos's screen dramas would dare write such a script.
Weixi felt this even more deeply. She had spent a solid thousand years pursuing gods and had tried summoning new gods herself. Among everyone here, she was the only one who truly understood how astronomically difficult summoning a god was. She had even attempted to summon a god during the trials of Hell in the past—and had still failed, having to rely purely on her soul's foundation to endure the Fifth Hell.
Yet what had happened just now?
They had summoned their gods in a near-daze. If you asked whether they had exerted every ounce of strength until their bodies were spent, they certainly had. But if you asked about their experience during the process... even Weixi was bewildered. Could summoning a god really be this pleasurable?
For real?
Hadn't people always said summoning a god was brutally hard?
Was *this* the reason demigods had to descend into Hell?
Of course, none of them were fools. They were completely certain that their effortless, blissful summoning process was an unprecedented fluke. They even felt a faint pang of guilt because of it—not toward Yaxiu, of course, but toward every sorcerer throughout history. The cheat had been so outrageous that they felt they were practically insulting the hard work of all other sorcerers.
Upon returning to reality, Sonia and the others had almost instantly plunged into an indescribable dilemma. They all knew it was merely a wondrous dream, and even the dream's details were rapidly fading—seemingly the price of summoning a god. Only the wonderful feelings from the dream remained vividly intact. They could still recall the shiver when skin and fingertips met, and that warmth so sweet and tender it could melt ice cream.
Normally, a dream was just a dream; even if the plot was a bit rosy-hued, nobody else would ever know. Yet for some reason, they were utterly certain that they hadn't been dreaming alone—they had teamed up with Yaxiu!
It was just that such a thing was awkward to bring up and verify. Sonia and the others had originally intended to slowly probe Yaxiu in the future, or even just pretend it had never happened—if the dream was destined to come true later anyway, it wouldn't matter.
However, that thought vanished into thin air the moment they saw that each of the others had also summoned a god. Almost irrepressibly, the exact same thought sprang up in all their minds: *Could the others have had a similar dream too?*
*Yaxiu couldn't possibly be that outrageous, right?!*
Before the Gate of Hell, a torrent formed of tens of thousands of deceased souls surged past them. Sonia and the others encircled Yaxiu as if about to corner him straight into Hell. Though they all wanted an answer, their expectations were far from aligned.
The one who most hoped it was true was without question Weixi. Sonia and the others had no idea that Weixi was internally ecstatic beyond words—Soul Lock was the very first god she had successfully summoned in thousands of years! What was more, it belonged to the soul faction, its effects practically tailored for her. From the moment she obtained it, she could command Soul Lock as smoothly as her own limbs. For Weixi, this was quite likely the greatest gift she had ever received in her entire life.
If everything in the dream was true, then in the future, even if the Ruby Chains broke, she would still use Soul Lock to tie Yaxiu up and carry him off, continuing to summon an endless stream of gods with him. Of course, even if it wasn't true, she would still kidnap him—she had vowed to take revenge on Yaxiu, and take revenge she would.
Weise and Sonia felt roughly the same way: both hoped their own dreams were real, but that the others' weren't.
Only Diya was different. She blinked her eyes as she stared at Yaxiu, desperately hoping he would refute their suspicions, so nervous that her hair color even turned a shade muddier.
She had always maintained the image of a well-behaved good girl in front of Yaxiu, hoping to pry open his heart bit by bit, twist his preferences, and arrive at a happily-ever-after like a knight and princess in a fairy tale.
If the dream was real, then it meant she had exposed her truest self before Yaxiu! The princess's fairy tale was turning into a witch's cult classic! *Waaaah!*
This wasn't just ordinary embarrassment... this was a fourfold level of humiliation!
"Of course I helped," Yaxiu explained calmly under everyone's gaze. "I share my void wings with you, so your summoning of gods definitely had assistance from my supreme tail feathers. Otherwise, under those circumstances, it really would have been difficult for you to summon gods entirely on your own."
"Then did you..." Sonia stared at Yaxiu, "...have a dream?"
"Yes!" Yaxiu answered without hesitation. He had never intended to lie, and besides Diya, every single one of them present could tell whether he was speaking the truth.
Diya's little face instantly turned pale. The corners of Weixi's lips curled up slightly. Weise closed the Silver Canon and gave him a subtle wink. Sonia took a deep breath and continued to ask, "Then what kind of dream did you have?"
"Most of the details in the dream are gone," Yaxiu answered honestly. "I only vaguely remember seeing all of you in the dream... Did we share a dream? What did you dream about?"
Yaxiu tossed the question right back to them, momentarily stumping all four. The four exchanged glances before Sonia spoke first: "What did you dream about?"
"Accompanying Lisi with homework and playing games!" Diya said at once. "Our sisters and Yaxiu spent an entire day keeping Lisi company!"
"That's true," Yaxiu nodded. "I even seem to recall watching Lisi fall asleep."
"Reading books in the library with Yaxiu," Weise said calmly. "It seemed to end once we finished a book."
"Mm-hmm, that rings a bell," Yaxiu said. "'Doubt thou the stars are fire'... I still remember that line."
"Making Yaxiu ***," Weixi said with a glance at him.
"Absolutely not!"
Weixi raised her eyebrows. "Oh? So you *do* remember the details of the dream? Then do you remember what you did in it?"
Yaxiu gritted his teeth. "...Even if I don't remember, I refuse to believe I would ever ***!"
"Actually, I've somewhat forgotten too. Maybe *I* was the one licking something," Weixi tilted her head, drawing out her voice with a laugh. "What could it have been, I wonder?"
"Do you really not remember what you and I went through in the dream?" Sonia gazed at Yaxiu. Her tone was calm, but the latent irritation beneath her words made Yaxiu's scalp tingle.
Yaxiu replied cautiously, "There seemed to be... a date?"
"And what else?"
"I remember we danced together?"
"Good. What else?"
Yaxiu blinked and looked at Sonia. Sonia stared straight back at him. Her blood-red eyes were exquisitely lovely, so refined that Yaxiu felt he could discern every distinct wisp of emotion within them. There was irritation, shyness, a heart-stirring smile, and a helpless grievance.
Only when Yaxiu was on the verge of breaking down did she burst into a giggle and tap his forehead. In that instant, every color blossomed in her eyes, like a ruby illuminated by a myriad of starlight.
"The real wedding has to be even better than the one in the dream, alright?"
Sonia walked past Yaxiu toward the Gate of Hell, signaling that this topic had reached its end. Yaxiu breathed a sigh of relief, having felt even more tense than when braving the trials of Hell.
He truly hadn't lied; the dream's details had mostly slipped away, as if the gods had been birthed from those very memories. Yet just like them, those most precious, wonderful feelings still lingered in the depths of Yaxiu's soul. Thus, Yaxiu was bewildered as well: *Why did even my own memories get cut off on a cliffhanger?* He wondered whether something had truly happened, while also suspecting it might just be his own delusions, his brain numbed by the crushing weight of Hell.
Even though he wanted to verify the details and probe the plot, even if Yaxiu's emotional intelligence were lower than the depths of Hell, he still knew that doing so now—especially with everyone present—was completely inappropriate. Besides, if it really had been just his own fantasy and they found out, the humiliation would be absolute; he would be laughed at for all eternity.
At that moment, the operators filed past him. Weise pushed up her glasses with the back of her hand, holding the Silver Lantern in one hand and the Silver Canon in the other, nodding to him with demure poise. Weixi, still in her maid outfit, boldly stuck out her tongue and made a face at him. Diya held both hands in front of her chest, obediently waving to him as she followed close behind the rest.
*Even if the Sword Princess's plot felt real enough, the scenarios with the other three were far too fake. So everything before and after the cut must have just been my own imagination,* Yaxiu thought to himself.
*Otherwise, the contrast would simply be far too great.*
Chapter 1016