Yaxiu's Sin

Although the villa was large, it didn't have many bedrooms. After all, Felix had originally lived here alone; aside from the master bedroom, there were only two guest rooms. Daedalose and Felix naturally had no claim to the bedrooms. As Sanctuary sorcerers, they were at the bottom of the pyramid in this villa. By rights, they should have been warming Yaxiu's bed, but the Sword Princess and the others were kind-hearted and had helped Yaxiu surrender that privilege forever. Not that Sonia and the others were sticklers for hierarchy—if it were her idol, Daedalose, Sonia would have been more than happy to share a room. But there was another problem: Hell had abruptly shut down its servers and exited the Void Realm market, leaving demigod players displaced, but the Staircase of Dreams hadn't shut down! You demigods might be provided for by Yaxiu, but we haven't reaped any benefits at all; we still have to honestly grind away in the Void Realm. When sorcerers logged into the Void Realm, having someone nearby caused an overwhelming sense of panic. It didn't matter who it was. To make an analogy, having someone nearby while logging into the Void Realm was like having your limbs tied, your eyes blindfolded, completely stripped of any ability to resist, and stuffed into a gift box to be presented to someone else. Truth be told, unless strictly necessary, not even the Sword Princess and the girls would accept Yaxiu watching by their side while they logged into the Void Realm. Even with the current limited accommodations, arranging independent spaces for them to log in was no problem: Daedalose took the basement, and Felix claimed the media room all to herself. That left two guest bedrooms for four operators. After some discussion, they decided that Sonia would sleep in the study, where the small couch could serve as a bed—though the real reason was that Sonia wanted to binge shows and had no intention of resting, so she voluntarily gave up the bedroom. Weise, as a god, had no need for sleep either, staying in the living room to continue studying her divine authority. In the end, Diya and Weixi both effortlessly claimed residency in the guest rooms. Weixi closed the door, and the maid uniform she wore dissipated into flames, leaving only pale pink lace lingerie. Since Jialesi maintained pleasant temperatures year-round, the villa naturally had no temperature control functions. But this was child's play for Weixi. She snapped her fingers, and a burst of flame ignited in midair, quickly warming the room. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she popped open a can of milk coffee. Recalling Weise's warning in the bath, she let out a disdainful scoff and murmured toward the desk lamp: "Don't make wild boasts so lightly; it only exposes your weakness..." To Weixi, the Silver Lantern's warning was utterly meaningless. If she truly intended to do something to Yaxiu, she would never give up just because of the Silver Lantern's intimidation; if she wasn't doing anything, a couple of chastising words wouldn't deter her either. The Silver Lantern's behavior only made Weixi realize that they had no ability to control Yaxiu at all. Otherwise, there would be no need to warn her; they could simply march over, give Yaxiu a beating, and settle it. No matter how formidable Weixi was, she was merely the master's maid. As long as they kept the dominant Yaxiu under control, Weixi, as the subordinate, couldn't make any waves. Yet, while the Silver Lantern could question Yaxiu on many matters, romantic relationships was the one area where she couldn't demand he rein in his fickle ways—because if Yaxiu weren't that kind of man, she wouldn't have stood a chance from the start. The only one qualified to demand that of Yaxiu was the Sword Princess. But if the Sword Princess truly blew her top, she would definitely settle scores with the Witch and the Silver Lantern first; Weixi would have to wait in line behind them. At a time like this, the Silver Lantern should have observed in secret instead of rushing over to warn Weixi and startle the snake. This female sorcerer, who had once thrown the entire land of Senluo into ruin by her own hand, had now fallen so low that care clouded her judgment, turning rash and blunder-prone over a mere man. And not just the Silver Lantern. The Sword Princess and the Witch should have been among the foremost female sorcerers of this era, yet they had all plunged headfirst into the pit that was Yaxiu. If only they united, they could easily devour Yaxiu whole. Instead, they engaged in infighting first, squabbling not even over tangible interests, but over illusory love... They were even willing to give up growing stronger themselves, funneling resources toward Yaxiu... It was completely putting the cart before the horse. Only by growing stronger could you truly dominate everything you desire. If Yaxiu were weaker than you, wouldn't he be completely at your mercy? A bunch of love-struck fools... Weixi secretly scoffed at these girls squandering their talent. Still, it was only natural for the Silver Lantern to suspect Weixi of scheming behind the scenes, because Yaxiu's behavior tonight truly was strange. His attitude toward the others hadn't changed; it was only toward Weixi that it differed. To be precise, he hadn't favored the maid. He had merely allocated resources sensibly based on everyone's role, and had still favored the Sword Princess and the Witch by giving each of them three wonders. Yet "allocating resources sensibly based on everyone's role" was inherently unreasonable in itself. Because even Weixi herself understood that she was not to be trusted. If Weixi were the one distributing them, out of the two soul wonders, she would give herself only one. And of the supreme knowledge essence sufficient to condense first-tier hell wings, she would grant at most thirty percent—ideally just enough to activate a wonder once. Yaxiu had always been wary of and exasperated by her. Even if their relationship had softened somewhat recently, he still gripped Weixi's chain tightly, never daring to slacken for a second. He wasn't just afraid of the maid's backlash; he was even more terrified that he would commit an irreparable blunder. As he had said in the basement last night, the maid's sins were the master's sins. If Weixi were ever able to commit evil again, the blame could fall only on Yaxiu's negligence. If Weixi's sin was living, then Yaxiu's sin was Weixi. And unlike those outside rumors, this was the one thing Yaxiu genuinely believed deep down he was in the wrong about—keep in mind, this was a trash-can lover who wouldn't even admit fault for liking multiple girls. That was why Yaxiu had said he would drag Weixi to the grave with him, because he knew full well that a maid stripped of her chain was nothing but a demon. Letting someone like Weixi continue living was a sheer waste of grain. Whether in public duty or private interest, Yaxiu ought to strictly suppress Weixi's power, always ensuring she remained incapable of doing evil. For both him and Weixi, that was the best course of action. Yet what had Yaxiu done? In a word: he gave Weixi the same treatment as the other operators! Even Weixi herself was bewildered. She had begun suspecting whether Yaxiu was setting a trap to execute her, dangling bait and waiting for her to bite. Otherwise, his actions were hard to explain... Yaxiu couldn't possibly trust her the way he trusted the Sword Princess and the others, could he? Or was there something wrong with these two wonders? Were they hiding some self-destruction art that would blow up her soul the moment she activated them? Or perhaps, on the grounds that her strength had grown, he would send her on a suicide mission? Weixi lay in bed, hugging the quilt tightly with her legs squeezed together, her sleek pink hair spilling over the pillow as countless conspiracies flitted through her mind. But whenever she tried linking those conspiracies to Yaxiu, she couldn't help feeling a sense of absurdity, as hilarious as watching a Lalafell turn into a demigod. Wait! Weixi jolted awake with excitement, hit by an unfathomable possibility... Could Dead Frenzy have told him that the future Nether Demon became a virtuous hero willing to save the world, causing him to see the present me in a new light? The more she thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. After all, last night Yaxiu had still been stern and unyielding toward her, yet as soon as he woke up today, he had been willing to give her a good-morning kiss. The only variable was Hell. He must have obtained information about the future in Hell and changed his view of me! *Still... I become a good person in the future...?* Weixi tilted her head, her expression growing extraordinarily complicated, as if straining to imagine a creature that had never existed. Mainly because she had never considered herself a bad person. Most wicked people never thought of themselves as evil; they merely believed they were following rules that transcended secular morality, such as the law of the jungle. Weixi was the same. She saw nothing wrong with slaughtering lives to refine souls; those people were going to die anyway, so why not serve as stepping stones for her? Would she really change this mindset in the future...? After pondering for a while without being able to convince herself, Weixi stopped dwelling on such details. The priority right now was how she should exploit this opportunity! A thought instantly leaped into her mind: while Yaxiu's guard was down, quickly conquer his heart, dominate his soul, and turn him completely into her slave! In the future, he could scour Hell for resources to nurture her into a six-winged Divine Lord, and then she could snatch away his supreme tail feathers... Well, she could leave him a little. Once she defeated the Divine Lord of Stars and became the world's strongest Sorcery Divine Lord, it wouldn't be out of the question to let him be the second supreme right below her. The more Weixi thought about it, the more she felt this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And she had to act fast to avoid unnecessary complications. Sinking her consciousness into her Temple of Sorcery, she quietly activated the "Soul Reflection" wonder. Yaxiu's judgment was spot-on: these two wonders were indeed exceptionally suited to her, because she had possessed similar wonders in her previous life! Although there were many subtle modifications, Weixi had already deconstructed the wonder during her free moments in the bath, working out a few special application techniques along the way. As Weixi closed her eyes, her shadow quietly twisted and split off a small clump of darkness that slipped out of the guest room. This was precisely one of the uses of "Soul Reflection"—lodging a portion of the soul into a shadow for covert operations, which happened to fill the void in Weixi's reconnaissance capabilities. Granting a thousand-year demigod a wonder belonging to her specialized faction was a perilous move. The small dark shadow crept along the edges and corners into the master bedroom. Weixi raised an eyebrow— Yaxiu wasn't in the master bedroom. *Where did he go in the dead of night?*