I Will

Wonder: Soul Reflection! Yaxiu and Vichy suddenly collapsed into a pool of shadow, tracing the gap in the elevator shaft all the way down! Yet from Yaxiu's perspective, it felt as though he and Vichy had entered a pitch-black conduit, surrounded on all sides by boundless darkness. Vichy crawled ahead of him on all fours. Whenever Yaxiu raised his head, he could see her high-heeled boots, her thighs snugly hugged by purple over-knee socks, the faint silhouette visible beneath her lace maid miniskirt, and a tantalizing strip of soft, fair flesh peeking out... It should have been a thoroughly refreshing and delightful view, yet Yaxiu felt like the stifling confinement was driving him mad. It was so narrow, so cramped. Yaxiu felt oppressed from every direction, forced to crawl gloomily forward, yet no matter how far he crawled, it felt as though he were merely treading in place. A maddening, suffocating frustration flooded his heart—even the filthiest toilet in Shattered Lake Prison would have been a hundred times better than this! "This is the Shadow Dimension." Vichy's voice sounded as usual. Just hearing it brought to mind her teasing, carefree smile. She seemed entirely unaffected by the surroundings. "I reversed Soul Reflection to move by way of shadows. Fortunately, we're both demigods whose souls and bodies are unified as one, so Soul Reflection can barely squeeze us into shadows. Otherwise, we would have had to find another way." Yaxiu took a deep breath, trying to divert his attention through conversation. "Did this world always have a Shadow Dimension?" "Maybe it didn't exist before we entered, but came into being once we did," Vichy chuckled. "We might be the Shadow Dimension's very first visitors." "What do you mean?" Vichy changed the subject. "What do you think—do we summon gods, or do we create gods?" *Summon or create?* Yaxiu paused, thinking for a moment before understanding her question. If sorcerers summoned gods, that meant gods existed all along; even without sorcerers, gods would still maintain the laws of all things somewhere. If sorcerers created gods, that meant without sorcerers, gods would not exist at all. He pondered for a moment and gave an ambiguous answer: "Sometimes summoned, sometimes created." "Both wrong," Vichy chuckled. "The correct answer is neither summoned nor created. A god's form of existence is far more ambiguous and hazy than we imagine." "'Ambiguous and hazy' is usually used to describe feelings, isn't it...?" "Exactly. A god is like an unspoken romance," Vichy said. "To establish a relationship, two people must at least know each other and spend time together. The same goes for gods. Before a god appears, we must have sparred with the world for quite some time, exploring at least to the point where we can comprehend the god's essence." Yaxiu said, "Isn't that just sorcerers creating gods?" "I said 'we,' not 'sorcerers.'" Yaxiu blinked. "You mean..." "The correct answer is that mortals created gods," Vichy said. "I'm not talking nonsense; this was the consensus among scholars of my era. Before sapient beings emerged, there were no gods on this earth. It was sapient creatures' exploration of the world that prevented the obscure laws from remaining in a state of chaos, forcing them to collapse into stable, concrete forms—which is to say, gods." Yaxiu was reminded of a joke he had seen before: when scientists invented the microscope, a world that was originally just 1080p had no choice but to load 8K ultra-high-definition textures. "There are only sorcerers who transcend their era, never gods who transcend their era," Vichy said. "For example, before firearms were invented, a gunplay god could never have appeared in this world. Or rather, the entire world is like this: before we sorcerers truly verify it, all truth exists in an ambiguous and hazy state. "So gods are neither summoned nor created by us. Like an ambiguous, unspoken feeling, it can develop in many directions. All we can do is guide it toward what we desire," she said calmly. "Yet once a direction is settled, the fuzzy boundaries become clear. When uncertain, anything goes; once established, order and taboos are born." She paused. "Just like fire. It's said that before the fire god was born, fire was hot, but it wouldn't harm sapient creatures. Even a Lalafell wouldn't get burned; it only burned plants, trees, flowers, and stones. But after the fire god was born, fire acquired a definite destructive power. People could only exploit it, never get close to it again. "The more we sorcerers explore, the less fantasy remains in this world. Just like this Shadow Dimension: before we entered, perhaps it held infinite possibilities, but now it is simply a cramped, narrow, gloomy realm," Vichy said. "In a sense, sorcerers, like the Prime Angel, are making this world more complete." Yaxiu watched Vichy crawling ahead. Even in this cramped, dark conduit, she remained as leisurely as if strolling through a garden. She understood the truth of this world, knew far more than Yaxiu, and had experienced vastly more than him. She understood all the profound principles, had endured every hardship, and had weathered every loneliness. Thus, even when dwelling in the darkest corner, she could still look down upon the entire world. "Gods are truly intriguing," he murmured. "Indeed, quite interesting." Vichy came to a sudden halt. Crawling with his head down, Yaxiu nearly bumped right under her skirt. "We're here." The moment Yaxiu emerged from the Shadow Dimension, he immediately gulped for air, his neck drenched in sweat, exhausted as though he had just fought a grueling battle. Vichy quietly activated Soul Screech Acoustic Wave, lowering their presence to the absolute minimum in the eyes of soul creatures. After resting for a moment, Yaxiu finally noticed that they were inside an immense underground cavern. They were perched on a stone beam just below the dome, an ideal vantage point offering a panoramic view of everything below while ensuring no one would notice them. Beneath them stretched a vast hall with ceilings tens of meters high. Hundreds of sorcerers scurried about like worker ants, and five enormous gates of radiant light shimmering with shifting colors came into Yaxiu's view. "Are these... permanent Void Gates?" Yaxiu murmured. "It's my first time seeing them too." Vichy stared straight down, her eyes brimming with intense greed and admiration. "Void Gates... truly an epoch-making new concept. The Divine Lord of Stars' vision is far grander than we imagined." That Fanxing would build Void Gates was within their expectations, but building them nearly facing one another was an entirely different matter—evidently, this would become the most vital trade hub in the future, where goods from the five nations would circulate with maximum efficiency, exchanging resources and sharing intelligence! It was not the Starry Kingdom exploiting four nations alone, but five nations progressing together! In such dense exchange, sorcerers across all five nations would usher in an unprecedented era of explosive growth. Fanxing genuinely treated them all without discrimination, intending to lead all five nations into a grand age of sorcery together! After watching for a while, Yaxiu pulled his gaze back and said, "The Void Gates aren't finished yet. Let's head back and prepare." Fanxing had her ambitions, but Yaxiu had his own selfish desires. In truth, if it were really about saving the world, Yaxiu should have surrendered willingly and offered the Supreme Tail Feather to Fanxing, enabling her to become the strongest Sorcery Sovereign throughout the ages. Yet Yaxiu would rather die than do so—he wanted to save the world so he could live happily with his lovers, not to fulfill Fanxing's disgusting, bastardly ambition! "Mm." Vichy nodded, then suddenly turned her head to look at him, her curly twin ponytails swaying slightly. "Did you have a reason for suddenly coming to look for me today?" Yaxiu looked at her, thought for a moment, and reached out his hand. "Give me your hand. Open your mind, and let me control your Soul Lock God... Just for a moment, I'm not stealing it from you." "I'm not worried in the least," the maid chuckled softly. "After all, my entire person belongs to you." Yaxiu's consciousness penetrated deep into Vichy's Temple of Sorcery. He then manipulated his own sorcery spirits alongside Vichy's Soul Lock God to construct a Wonder within her Temple of Sorcery. Astonishment gradually appeared on Vichy's face. After nearly ten minutes, Yaxiu finally released his hand and let out a long breath. "Failed three times, surprisingly... but it's finally done. You should be able to sense its specific effects, right?" *Is this guy showing off? Constructing a Wonder in ten minutes with only three failures, and a soul Wonder he isn't even proficient in at that... He's definitely showing off, isn't he?!* Vichy glanced at him as if looking at a monster. She lowered her consciousness to sense the Wonder's effects, and delight immediately spread across her face. "Dark Soul Form... It can collect souls to enhance soul sorcery effects, consume souls to negate damage, and even grant buffs in movement, healing, and reconnaissance... This is practically a soul Wonder tailor-made for me!" "Glad you like it." Yaxiu scratched his cheek. "It makes my few days of hard work worthwhile. This Wonder isn't complete yet, though; you'll have to keep adding sorcery spirits yourself to finish it." The Dark Soul Wonder had been overloaded and shattered by the Nether Demon long ago, and many of its sorcery spirits had perished on the spot, impossible to reassemble. Back then, however, Yaxiu had memorized its structure. After returning, he had continuously tried to reconstruct the Wonder. After many attempts, he discovered that a powerful soul sorcery spirit was necessary as the central axis, which naturally made him think of the Soul Lock God. It was only because Yaxiu had been restless over the past few days that he hadn't approached Vichy to reassemble the Wonder. Only after his talk with Felix did he make up his mind to come find Vichy and reveal the fruits of his work over these past few days. "For me?" Vichy was taken aback. "You spent these past few days trying to construct a third Wonder for me?" "Because the Sword Princess and the Witch both have three Wonders, while you only had two, so I felt..." Yaxiu trailed off, feeling a bit self-conscious, as if putting thought into preparing a gift was something embarrassing. He immediately changed the subject: "There's something I want to ask you." Vichy tilted her head, the corners of her mouth curving slightly upward. A tenderness that didn't suit her villainous nature at all showed in her eyes. "I advise you not to ask... because you already know the answer." Yaxiu shook his head, a resolute look appearing on his face. "The Dark Soul Wonder I gave you has the effect of gathering souls. In the flight ahead of us, combat and killing will be inevitable. What I want to ask is... will you intentionally cause maximum theoretical slaughter to gather more souls, killing innocent lives to obtain power?" "Did you forget?" Vichy said. "You forbade me from killing innocent lives. The Ruby Chains have been binding me all along." "You're only unable to kill 'deliberately.' But combat is a hazy, complicated process. For example, if an enemy is in a densely populated high-rise and you unleash your full power, causing the building to collapse and killing countless lives, the Ruby Chains won't stop you. "Although I could also demand that you never harm an innocent under any circumstances, that rule would become your greatest weakness. An enemy could easily exploit it to defeat or even kill you, which is no different from knowingly sending you to your death... I couldn't do that. I have to grant you autonomy in battle. "Actually, the question can be simpler..." Yaxiu looked into her eyes and asked seriously, "Given the chance, will you slaughter the living and refine souls for power?" "I will."