A single sorcerer in the wild might brave the elements and sleep under the open sky, but a crowd of sorcerers in the wilderness turned it into a leisure vacation.
The Star Country had always placed great importance on environmental protection, for atmospheric quality directly affected the strength of the starry sky. If air pollution ever grew so severe that starlight couldn't pierce through, the Divine Lord of Stars would show them the true meaning of cruelty. Not only did factories and cities adhere to rigorous emission controls, but logging or developing uninhabited wilderness required layer upon layer of approval. Consequently, vast ancient forests still flanked the outskirts of the cities. Except for the occasional rumble of a train startling a flock of birds, this expanse remained as serene and tranquil as it had been in prehistoric times.
Earth sorcerers excavated a pit, water sorcerers diverted groundwater—even while fleeing for their lives, the Four Pillar Cult sorcerers effortlessly created a hot spring bath. Touching the steaming water first with the tips of their toes, letting the surface rise past their calves, then reclining lazily until the water submerged their collarbones... sinking a weary body into the rippling hot spring made the entire day's toil feel rewarded.
Naturally, superiors would never bathe alongside subordinates; the Four Pillar Cult had never been some noble organization championing equality and freedom. Daidalos had originally prepared only one bath for Yaxiu and the others, but after some conflicted debate, Sonia and the women decided to divide the pool in two. Yaxiu had one side, Sonia and the others took the other, with a bamboo partition erected between them.
To be frank, such a barrier wouldn't even stop a single-winged sorcerer, let alone a quasi-demigod. Then again, who would dare peek at the alluring bath of three quasi-demigods plus a god?
So this was never an obstacle meant to block Yaxiu; it was merely a test, an unspoken exam.
"...By the time I woke up, only the Observer was left in the hall. His soul must have entered Ruby Mountain by then and been imprisoned in the Cage of All Stars."
Her bound blond hair cascaded over her shoulders like a waterfall. Felix soaked in the corner of the pool farthest from the bamboo. Having concealed her gender for more than a decade, she had never faced another woman naked, much less shared a bath, leaving her subconsciously self-conscious about her body.
Now that it was her turn to speak and everyone's eyes turned toward her, she couldn't help feeling awkward. Subconsciously crossing her arms over her chest, she tried to use her forearms to shield the fullness that looked ready to spill over. Felix was clearly worrying over nothing, however; several others here were easily her match.
"As for what happened after that, Sword Seat, you already know. You came looking for him that very night."
"Yeah." Sonia had her crimson hair pinned up, leaving only a few damp strands clinging to her neck. "I still remember that scene clearly—you hiding Yaxiu in bed, then lying on top of him in lace pajamas."
"That was my idea." Daidalos was washing Diya's hair. Diya had reverted to her little girl form by now, obediently perched on a small stool with her eyes squeezed shut. "Only by exposing Felix's secret was there any chance of keeping them from finding the Observer."
"I know, and I never blamed Felix." Sonia tilted her head, gazing at the rippling water. "I was just a little annoyed, that's all."
"So, Felix, you've never met 'Igola' or 'Harvey' either?" Weise sat at the edge of the pool, only her legs submerged in the water, swirling a wine glass in her left hand. "He claimed he fell unconscious at your house together with Igola and Harvey, and that they entered Ruby Mountain together."
"No." Felix shook her head. "I met Yaxiu on the train, and he was alone back then. From the start, only the Observer stayed at my home. No one else."
"So they aren't people he met after coming to the Star Country either...?" Weise downed her champagne in one gulp and mused, "Yet I never saw those two in the Senluo Wasteland either. At first, he hunted me alongside Black Crow. After the Dead City incident, Chikala and Gwen joined his group, making four people at most. There was never a mind sorcerer or a necromancer."
Splash!
Daidalos scooped up a wooden basin full of water and poured it over Diya. Steaming water cascaded from head to toe, rinsing away the lather from the Witch's hair, before she wiped the water droplets from Diya's face with a towel. Diya immediately tried to dash into the bath, but Daidalos caught hold of her. She tied up Diya's freshly washed hair with a ribbon so it wouldn't grow heavy with water. The moment she let go, Diya leapt in impatiently, splashing water all over everyone.
"I never saw those two in Gospel either," Diya piped up crisply. "At the Funeral Parlor, there was only Annan, Banjie, me, and Yaxiu—four people. Yet Yaxiu said Lisi was very close to them and even called them 'Aunt Bogin' and 'Uncle Harvey.' That part is strange enough on its own: Yaxiu says both of them are men, so why would Lisi call one of them Aunt Bogin?"
"Not only that, he claims those two men accompanied him through every single one of his adventures."
Weixi lifted a foot out of the water. Her calf was shapely and her ankle slender; warm droplets slid down the exquisite curve of her arch, sending faint ripples across the surface. "Starting from when he had just become a sorcerer, they were supposedly in Shattered Lake Prison planning an escape with him."
"I knew him before his prison break, and he often talked to me about things in prison," Sonia said. "Yet he never mentioned those two. He planned the prison break all by himself, recruiting two helpers at most... But those two helpers never escaped the Blood Moon Country in the end. Only he successfully got away through the Void Realm passage."
"What about you, Weixi?" Weise asked. "You should have spent the longest around them among us, since you were locked in the Cage of All Stars for nearly half a year."
"Much the same as with you. After Yaxiu bound me with chains, I served him alongside Rose. He was the only man in the entire house," Weixi said lazily. "Later, when Feili and Niya joined, it merely became one man and four beautiful maidens."
Silence fell over the bath, broken only by the gentle sloshing of water as steam drifted up into the night sky.
"In other words," Felix summarized, "the Observer has suddenly hallucinated two special men in his life who accompanied him throughout all his journeys and adventures. That really sounds..."
"No matter how strange he is, I don't mind," Weise said. "The main problem right now is: why did he become like this? We all underwent the demigod ascension trial together, so why is he the only one who suddenly developed delusions?"
"If it were just delusions, time could slowly smooth them over. What I'm worried about is whether this is merely the prologue—whether there will be even more severe aftereffects later on."
"During ascension, we were in soul form, and what's malfunctioning is his memory," Sonia guessed. "Could his soul have been corrupted?"
"Don't you find one detail particularly strange?" Weixi said. "Why are his delusions about men? Looking at his past experiences, he's spent the vast majority of his time around women. Whether in the Void Realm or reality, the ones truly accompanying him through all his adventures have always been women. Why would he imagine his closest companions to be men of all things?"
"Could he be..." Weixi glanced around the pool, her voice dropping faintly, "...afraid of women?"
Sonia and the others instinctively rejected the thought upon hearing it. After all, that fellow Yaxiu chose only women even when selecting operators, which proved what an incorrigible scumbag he was by nature. More importantly, what reason would he have to fear women? It wasn't as if he had ever been hurt by a woman—
"Could it be..." Diya murmured.
"Do you have an idea, Witch?" Weise asked.
The Witch's little face turned pale. After a brief silence, she ventured cautiously, "Could it be because of the dream in the ascension ritual? Did Yaxiu break inside it, becoming so disappointed that... that he started being afraid of women?"
"Impossible!" Sonia said flatly.
"I don't think that's possible either." Weise shook her head.
Yet Weixi did not dispute it right away, and Diya kept her head lowered as if reflecting on her deeds. Sonia and Weise exchanged a glance, vaguely guessing that the four women's dreams hadn't shared the same flavor at all—or at least that Weixi and Diya leaned toward chaotic evil, while the two of them leaned toward lawful good.
Chapter 1020