In the cloakroom, Vichy held the trench coat Yaxiu had worn today and activated "Parting of Loved Ones."
Although it sounded like a formidable offensive miracle, it was actually a protective miracle that expressed the subtleties of prophecy through soul sorcery. Constructed around the Soul Lock god as its core, supplemented by sorcery spirits like Affection and Soul Dispersion, its effect was to sever all forms of tracking.
In the past, during her days of wanton plunder, prophecy sorcerers tracking Vichy came wave after wave. Moreover, because of Vichy's Second Cycle rebirth, the Void Realm had easily deduced the future trajectories of all living beings through her memories, drastically lowering the entry barrier for prophecy sorcery during that period. Consequently, the sheer number of prophecy sorcerers nearly caused it to drop out of the three esoteric factions and almost turned it into a mainstream discipline.
To evade prophecy tracking, Vichy had invented two soul miracles: "Parting of Loved Ones," which severed pursuit, and "Meeting of the Detested," which shifted blame and redirected disaster.
Whenever a sorcerer walked the world, every scrap of information—air, earth, echoes, vibrations—recorded their historical trail. Time sorcerers were even more unreasonable, directly reversing the waters of the Golden River to view every light and shadow that had ever played out in the past.
This was also why no matter how overbearing a sorcerer was, they still had to join an organization. No matter how formidable a lone wolf was, they were bound to be tracked down and mobbed.
It was not that no one had attempted to walk Vichy's path of blood and slaughter. Sorcerers were hardly concerned with moral character; anyone with ability could connect to the Knowledge Sea. Thus, calling them a pack of armed scoundrels harboring innate murderous intent was essentially accurate.
Many ordinary people, once in possession of violence, would indulge their desires all the more, ultimately living as overgrown toddlers who used might to commit atrocities.
Yet the most crucial trait for a lone wolf was not martial prowess, but escape and concealment.
Vichy was by no means the strongest of her era, but she could always evade the strongest. Therefore, anyone who offended her had their clan exterminated and their souls refined, and every treasury that caught her eye was ransacked down to the last scrap.
If someone planned to lie in ambush and wait for her, she would wipe out their clan first; if someone relentlessly pursued her, she would slaughter all their relatives and friends.
*You have worldly ties, but I have none. Let's see who breaks first.*
Many sorcerers hunting Vichy were driven to mental collapse without ever finding their nemesis to fight to the death; dignified Legendary Sanctuary sorcerers even died of bitter resentment because of it.
Yet even more were chilled to the marrow by Vichy's methods. The righteous order was defeated by chaotic evil, and powers governing the land bowed their heads to an evil sorceress. Before Vichy advanced to demigodhood in her Second Cycle rebirth, every faction she visited bent over backward to satisfy her demands; when she settled scores, her enemies would slit their own throats just to spare their families, and all living beings were virtually one step away from beating gongs and drums to see this devil off.
The miracle Vichy used to prevent tracking was "Parting of Loved Ones," which exerted an effect over all traces she had left behind over a recent period.
If no one tracked her, it remained dormant. But once someone attempted to track Vichy's whereabouts through historical traces, Parting of Loved Ones would abruptly detonate the power of the pursuer's miracle, causing the trail to break.
With the sheer multitude of traces a person left behind, an ordinary sorcerer could never erase them all. The genius of Parting of Loved Ones lay in the fact that it was not responsible for erasing them; it borrowed the tracker's own miracle to destroy the traces, keeping its expenditure extremely low while covering an immense scope.
The sole flaw of this miracle was its reliance on the Affection sorcery spirit as a triggering mechanism.
Vichy had discovered early on that affection was the only emotion that reacted with every other emotion except itself. Thus, as long as a tracker harbored any emotion in their heart, it would inevitably trigger Parting of Loved Ones—unless their heart held affection... But who could ever love the Spectre Prophet?
A miracle named Parting of Loved Ones was triggered by anything except love.
"Meeting of the Detested" was a bit more complicated. Generally, whenever Vichy wanted to frame someone as her accomplice, she would use Meeting of the Detested to redirect her traces toward her framed target.
This trick was more terrifying than any killing move. Through it, Vichy had stirred up countless conflicts. Worse yet, she was exceptionally malicious: after they finished slaughtering one another, she would jump out and reveal the truth, driving no small number of sorcerers to nervous breakdowns out of sheer rage.
Now, they were enemies of the Divine Lord of Stars, the foremost sorcerer of all time. Though she did not know how much longer these peaceful days would last, Vichy remained ever cautious, activating Parting of Loved Ones every day to prevent tracking.
Among them, only Vichy had real experience on the run, so naturally only she could handle this work. What Yaxiu did couldn't be called running away—it was being hunted down, and he had never actually gotten away.
In a group project, whoever cared the most ended up doing the most work. Yaxiu and the others had strolled around outside today, which meant treating every article of clothing. What a hassle...
Vichy sniffed the trench coat and raised an eyebrow. "Top notes of citrus and grapefruit; middle notes of rose, jasmine, and lychee; base notes of... tobacco and white musk? When did Sword Princess change her perfume?"
She hung up the trench coat and left the cloakroom. As she passed the bathroom, she faintly heard the voices of the Silver Lantern and Sword Princess from inside. At the bathroom door, she ran into the Witch, Diya, who was holding a change of clothes and getting ready to go in. Diya shot her a glance, lifted her chin proudly, and made no effort to conceal her sense of superiority. "I'm going to bathe with them. Want to join?"
Vichy narrowed her eyes slightly and shook her head.
Although the female sorcerers had all bathed together while on the road, unless it concerned Yaxiu or sorcery, Sword Princess, the Witch, and the Silver Lantern would never chat with Vichy during their soak. Even Felix and Daedalose could join their circle; only Vichy was excluded.
Vichy didn't care in the slightest and even found it somewhat amusing, especially considering that in private, the Witch and the Silver Lantern had formulated the Personality Analysis Model with her, leaving Sword Princess out in the cold...
The Witch was one thing, but for the once-great Silver Lantern of Senluo to end up like this, Vichy couldn't help harboring some disdain for her.
Interestingly enough, though, Felix felt uneasy about leaving Vichy out, often exchanging glances with her and occasionally touching her hand in reassurance.
Connecting that with how Felix often avoided Yaxiu's gaze, it seemed...
Reining in her thoughts, Vichy walked straight past the Witch. The instant Diya turned around, Vichy suddenly kicked back her leg, planting a kick on her rear, and deftly pulled the bathroom door shut, ignoring her outburst.
With brisk, light steps, Vichy entered the living room to find Yaxiu leaning against a cabinet, drinking coffee milk. The hidden door leading down to the basement was open.
"You're just in time." Yaxiu set the beverage can down on the cabinet. "I was just looking for your help. Come down to the basement with me."
"My, my—" Vichy nibbled lightly at her fingernail and teased, "Master, are you finally taking advantage of the mistresses bathing to drag your slave girl into the basement and have your way with her?"
"Stop talking nonsense," Yaxiu said as he walked. "And weren't you a maid? You changed titles again?"
"It depends on what service you need, Master. A maid serves proactively, while a slave girl is passively rav—"
"Sorry, I prefer mutual affection."
"Roleplaying like that costs extra..."
Glancing back at the basement doorway shrinking in the distance, Vichy promptly dropped the seductive look on her face and asked calmly, "Is it something regarding souls?"
"You guessed it?"
"Unless it's an absolute necessity, you'd never look for me," Vichy said. "My greatest specialties are souls and prophecy, but the Witch possesses the ultimate prophecy god, Gospel. So my greatest purpose in this team is dirty work and soul sorcery."
Yaxiu paused for a beat, then continued walking downward without a word.
The basement was Felix's training ground, filled with various exercise apparatuses. The wooden floor was waxed, and the spirit artifact Daystar illuminated the subterranean chamber as bright as day through multiple refractions.
"I checked the basement during the day," Vichy said. "Aside from Felix's blonde hair, I couldn't find a single trace left by a human."
"I know," Yaxiu replied. "That's why what I'm looking for isn't the trace of a living person."
Vichy understood immediately. "Necromancy?"
"Harvey used to place his coffin here; he even slept inside the coffin when resting." Yaxiu walked to the center of the basement. "Every night, he would trim Alice's nails, tidy her appearance, feed her, clean her, comb out her aura, and finally lie down in the coffin to sleep together with her..."
"Even among the followers of Haagen-Dazs I've met, this friend of yours qualifies as an extraordinarily perverse necrophile," Vichy chuckled. "Still, I don't currently have any necromancy sorcery spirits, so I can only simulate it with the soul faction..."
She pondered for a moment, then suddenly spread her hands. A ghostly blue, eerie god manifested behind her. Countless chains appeared between ceiling and floor, transforming the entire basement into a domain of chains!
Parting of Loved Ones!
Ghostly blue traces gradually emerged, many of which had been left behind when they inspected the basement earlier today.
Since Parting of Loved Ones could affect traces, it could naturally manifest them! Relying on her comprehension of the necromancy faction, Vichy continually adjusted the frequency of Parting of Loved Ones until she filtered out the range exclusive to necromancy sorcery. Then, with a heavy clap of her palms, all other traces dissipated, leaving only a lingering faint blue glow in the center of the basement!
There really was—a necromantic trace!
"What's this?" Curious, Yaxiu tapped toward it.
Vichy's eyes widened. "Don't—"
Having brushed against the ghostly blue glow, Yaxiu instantly drew his hand back and looked at her in confusion.
Vichy glanced at the still-persisting blue glow, and the look in her eyes turned subtle.
The effect of Parting of Loved Ones had still been active just now. That meant that so long as Yaxiu did not harbor love in his heart, he would have a hundred percent chance of triggering Parting of Loved Ones to sever the trace.
Conversely, as long as the trace remained, it meant—
Noticing Vichy's gaze turning teasing, Yaxiu raised an eyebrow. "Out with it."
Vichy released the triggering mechanism of Parting of Loved Ones and giggled. "This is the necromantic trace you were looking for."
"What?" Yaxiu looked down at the row of ghostly blue light floating in midair. He swiped his fingers across it a few times, his expression gradually darkening.
"What's wrong?"
"I didn't get any clues." Yaxiu opened Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook, but no prompt indicating he had acquired a new clue appeared. "Hell is also still grayed out and unselectable."
Yet since Vichy said this was a necromantic trace, it had to be left by Harvey. Aside from him, no one would intentionally perform a necromancy miracle in the basement of an aristocratic villa.
"Why didn't I get it?" Yaxiu found it strange. "I could directly obtain the trace Igola left behind from the Scales sorcery spirit, and these traces are far more distinct than the ones on the Scales sorcery spirit."
Vichy gauged the height of the ghostly blue traces and suddenly asked, "Do you remember if there were any special runes on Harvey's coffin lid?"
"None," Yaxiu said after thinking it over. "His coffin lid was spotless. We weren't even allowed to sit on it."
"You actually wanted to sit on a coffin lid...?" Vichy was at a loss for words. "Then these traces should be on the underside of the coffin lid, left while he was lying inside. I think you might need to know specifically what trace he left behind, just like how you clearly knew Igola had left an unfulfilled wish in the Scales sorcery spirit."
Yaxiu blinked. "Why?"
"Don't you think using their traces to enter a nonexistent Hell is rather similar to how you smuggled yourself into the Void Realm in the past?" Vichy analyzed. "Golden Fish, Rainbow Tail, Colorless Dream—and now Igola and Harvey."
Yaxiu caught on immediately. "Secret poison?"
"Exactly." Vichy nodded. "If Hell were to be completely digested, I suspect their traces would undergo Metamorphosis into true secret poison—though by then it would be meaningless. Right now, these traces are unformed secret poison; their sole effect is allowing you to connect to Hell. But to obtain secret poison, one must understand the truth behind it."
Igola and Harvey becoming the subjects of a secret poison? While it sounded preposterous, on a logical level it actually made sense.
Yaxiu exhaled and smiled. "Good thing I brought you along. Only a demigod with your vast knowledge could connect the dots like that."
"Don't celebrate just yet. Do you know what message he left behind?"
"It's fine if I don't." Yaxiu lay straight down on the floor, facing the ghostly blue information. Reaching out with his fingers, he worked hard to catch the patterns hidden within the disordered traces. "I can just figure it out gradually through trial... Wait, I remember! Harvey seemed to have mentioned that he wrote some words on the inside of the coffin lid!"
"What did he write?" Vichy pondered. "I recall the memories you showed never mentioned this."
"I forgot." Yaxiu stared at the ghostly blue traces. "It was probably just a minor detail from casual banter; forgetting is only natural. But it could also be... that I, too, have started forgetting them."
Vichy walked over beside him, arms crossed over her chest. "There's something I don't know if I should say..."
"You shouldn't."
"...Would it be better for you if you erased the memories concerning them?" Vichy couldn't care less about his opinion, continuing on her own. "You should know full well they're most likely dead already, right? If you insist on remembering them, the outcome might very well be nothing more than reliving the agony of loss all over again," the maid said. "You can storm into Hell, but taking risks for them versus taking risks for Sword Princess and the others... to Sword Princess and the rest, those are entirely different concepts."
Yaxiu was silent for a moment, then murmured faintly, "Earlier, the Silver Lantern said something similar."
Truly living up to being the two most knowledgeable and clever people in the group—even their angle of persuasion was identical.
"Then I won't repeat it," Vichy said. "If you want to alter your memories, I can do it so seamlessly that you won't detect the slightest trace."
Meeting Vichy's gaze, Yaxiu shook his head resolutely. "I can cherish my own life more for your sakes, but no one is allowed to erase them from my life."
"Fine, suit yourself." Vichy scoffed. "It won't be me who's heartbroken when the time comes anyway."
Chapter 1052