Abstinence

Felix had thought this meal was bound to be fraught with daggers drawn, but the "Scumbag Yaxiu Annihilation Trial" she had been eagerly anticipating never came to pass. Instead, the "Spectre Prophet Ultimate Raid" erupted first! "Vichy," Sonia's voice turned abruptly cold. "Do you feel not even the slightest guilt for hurting Yaxiu?" "I didn't know back then that I would end up with a master," Vichy said calmly. "Though had I known, I certainly would have struck even more ruthlessly." Even Diya, who had been diligently tackling her steak, grew disgruntled: "Yaxiu hadn't offended you back then, so why did you have to go after him?" Vichy replied indifferently, "When you kick aside a stumbling block in your path, does that rock hold some personal grudge against you?" "Wait, wait!" Felix stood up anxiously to call a halt. "We're companions who fought shoulder to shoulder to escape an angel's ambush! We barely escaped with our lives, so why are we arguing now? Right, right—the Observer truly forgot what he did after passing through the Void Gate, so let's get back to discussing that!" Vichy paid her no heed and looked at Yaxiu. "If you want something from a maid, I can give you whatever you wish. But if you want to unearth the treasures of the Spectre Prophet, I can only give you what the Spectre Prophet possesses. "As for what the Spectre Prophet doesn't have... what isn't there simply isn't there." Yaxiu watched her in silence for a long time, then lowered his head to eat the lamb chop in his hand. The meat was tender and fragrant, its juices seemingly bursting between his lips and teeth as the aroma of cumin continuously stimulated his palate—rich without being greasy, melting with a press of the tongue, immensely satisfying with every chew. *Isn't this delicious? And she claimed she was wasting the ingredients...* "Do you really have to be like this?" he asked softly. "I can only be like this," Vichy replied. The maid understood in her heart that Yaxiu hadn't suddenly asked on a whim to see the Spectre Prophet submit; rather, he had deliberately chosen this moment to help her integrate fully into the group. Just as Felix had said, they had just faced life and death together, and Vichy had played a crucial role in detonating the soul fragments to burst through the water coffin and escape. Sword Princess and the others' vigilance against Vichy had dropped to an all-time low. Furthermore, having arrived in the realm of Senluo, everyone would inevitably be reminded of the terrible deeds Vichy had committed here. Now, all it took was a sincere apology from Vichy. Even Silver Lantern, for the sake of their shared battle, would set aside her hostility toward Vichy. Then Vichy could truly integrate into the team instead of being treated as a pest that required constant vigilance. Vichy indeed wanted to integrate into the group; getting along with the girls carried zero drawbacks for her. Only when everyone lowered their guard could the Spectre Prophet quietly seize control of this team from within. Yaxiu's goodwill would have introduced the greatest scourge into their midst. Yet, ironically, what Vichy found most unacceptable was precisely Yaxiu's goodwill. Because the two of them despised each other. Yaxiu couldn't stomach the cruel, shameless Vichy, so he disliked her; Vichy had no desire to care for someone who could compromise her rationality, so she disliked him. They occupied opposite poles of mutual revulsion, which meant that even engaging in the most intimate transactions wouldn't infringe upon each other's worldviews or ideals. What Yaxiu was doing now was equivalent to trying to mold Vichy into someone he could accept—taking a step toward her. And if Vichy truly responded, it would mean taking a step toward him, signifying a willingness to change who she was. *You wretched man, I only wanted to give you my body, not my heart!* That was why Vichy's response had been so resolutely harsh, almost wiping clean all the goodwill forged from sharing life and death moments ago. "What's our plan next?" Daedalose asked. Yaxiu took a sip of water and said, "I intend to retrace my travel route through Senluo to see if I can find traces of Igola and Harvey. The focal point of the journey happens to be the Silent Spiral. Once we check on Silver Lantern's true body, we'll find a way to the next realm." No one was surprised by this. Sonia said, "This period will give you a good chance to nurse your injuries." "Nurse injuries?" Yaxiu paused, then realized something. He attempted to circulate his sorcery power, and instantly, bone-chilling agony tore through his entire body. The pain made his grip slip on his plate, but fortunately Felix shot out the tip of her foot just in time to cushion it. "Demigod wonders often act as curses in addition to attacks," Vichy said. "Any wound that cannot heal naturally and proves difficult to treat will fester into a curse. And the 'Prison of Self-Harm' is a lethal wonder researched specifically for curses from the very start. It wasn't designed to deal with demigods at all, but rather as a cursing wonder to weaken God-Leaders. "You were impaled by nine shadow swords for a full ten minutes. Fortunately, your soul foundation is profound; an ordinary demigod would have been incinerated into ash by the sheer agony long ago. Even so, the Shadow Sword Curse still lingers in your soul body. While fighting, you could endure it by relying on your special state. But now that you've rested, circulating even a shred of sorcery power triggers the Shadow Sword Curse, causing you unbearable torment." Yaxiu's face turned utterly grim. "Doesn't that make me completely crippled?" "Yeah, yeah, we'll provide for you from now on," Diya nodded solemnly, patting her chest. "You don't need to try hard anymore!" As Yaxiu looked close to tears, Weise chuckled, "It's not that serious. Leaving aside my healing abilities, your body is already healing itself. I estimate half a year at most, or a few months at least, and we should be able to thoroughly purge your Shadow Sword Curse." Yaxiu immediately relaxed, spreading his hands with a smile. "Then I'll be counting on you all to protect me these next few months. Right now, I can't even beat Felix." Felix's heart stirred, feeling a slight itch to test that. "Actually, not necessarily," Sonia said, taking a sip of juice. "If you can enter the shared virtual wings state again, you might be immune to the agony of the Shadow Sword Curse. "So..." "Yaxiu, why did you share Vichy's virtual wings back then?" It was finally here. Yaxiu knew he couldn't dodge this, but facing Sonia's clear gaze, he wasn't willing to lie. "Because I could only share Vichy's virtual wings." "Why?" Sonia pressed immediately. "Did Vichy perform some ritual with you that allowed you to share her virtual wings? Or could it be that in your heart, Vichy is actually—" "No, no, it has nothing to do with Vichy." Yaxiu was flustered and had no choice but to reveal part of the truth. "Actually... it was an influence from Hell. I met the Nether Demon of the Doomsday Five, and the Nether Demon is Vichy's future self. The reason I could share Vichy's virtual wings was because of the Nether Demon's gift." "Bullshit!" Vichy blurted out. "A future me giving a gift? What next, will I be running a charity?" Weise narrowed her eyes slightly and caught Yaxiu's wrist. "What price did you pay?" Yaxiu's lips parted slightly, and he looked around at everyone. "I only gave up some insignificant things. "Neither my soul nor my body—just a few things the Doomsday Five had temporarily deposited with me earlier." Yaxiu grasped Weise's hand in return. "You inspected my soul body. Did you find anything missing from me?" Weise looked into Yaxiu's eyes, then slowly lowered her gaze. "...It had better be so." Diya asked in a low voice, "Then after you came through the Void Gate, when you suddenly became..." She mumbled and hesitated for quite a while, struggling to find a more delicate word. "...wild, was that also because of the gift?" When this topic was raised, the girls fixed their gazes intently on Yaxiu once more. Yaxiu could fudge his way past "how to share virtual wings," but there was no dodging this question. They needed to know the exact trigger behind his behavior so they could handle his next outburst. "That was definitely due to the influence of sharing virtual wings!" Yaxiu said with utter conviction. "I was polluted by Vichy's personality, so my mind clouded over and I turned into a beast of pure instinct!" "Don't you spew shit at me!" Vichy refused to take the blame. "If my personality had truly influenced you, these women would have been bound in soul chains by now, turned into your submissive slaves to take whatever you pleased!" "Yet Yaxiu wasn't simply indulging in lust," Weise pointed out. "He also healed the cracks in our souls along the way; otherwise, we wouldn't have recovered so quickly." "Still, it was definitely influenced by Vichy," Diya sided with Yaxiu. "The normal Yaxiu isn't like that at all. Becoming wild like that definitely wasn't what he truly wanted!" Sonia crossed her legs, propped her chin on her hand, and looked across the firelight at Yaxiu. "Has your memory returned?" she asked suddenly. Yaxiu's eyes drifted evasively. "Just a tiny bit..." "Then how do you see it?" Sonia tilted her head and asked. "Do you think doing that was entirely the result of twisted desires, having nothing to do with you yourself?" Yaxiu blinked, pondered for a moment, and let out a long breath. "No," he said. "In truth... it's also something I've always wanted to do." The campfire fell instantly silent. Felix covered her mouth, quietly waiting for Yaxiu to completely expose his trash-can scumbag self! "More than once, I've fantasized about taking all of you into my arms at the same time," Yaxiu covered his face in shame. "I've never given up on the thought of having all of you become my lovers together, even though I know that's an unattainable miracle, and deeply disrespectful to you... "Perhaps I wasn't corrupted by Vichy's virtual wings; perhaps Vichy's virtual wings merely tore away my mask, letting my truest, most disgraceful side show when I lost conscious control." Having spoken up to this point, Yaxiu was overcome with shame and took everyone's used plates to go wash them. Sonia and the others remained by the campfire. They exchanged glances and nodded silently. When Yaxiu returned, Sword Princess said to him, "All right." Yaxiu was startled. "All right to what?" ... ... Inside the tent, having just showered, Yaxiu lay stiffly on the large bed. He watched as Sonia, in her sleepwear, untied her hair ribbon, her crimson strands cascading over her shoulders like a waterfall; watched as Diya deliberately changed back to her young maiden form and put on an adorable nightgown; watched as Weise's nightwear turned noticeably breezy; and wildest of all was Vichy, who snapped her fingers, causing her maid outfit to vanish like flame, leaving behind only her undergarments. "Good night." After the lights went out, Yaxiu felt warm bodies press close on either side. To his left was a curvaceous, graceful figure, the soft, yielding mounds of her chest pressing against his arm, her orchid-warm breath gently grazing his collarbone—evidently Sword Princess. To his right was a petite, lively body, not only hugging his arm tightly but wrapping a leg around his waist—unquestionably the Witch with her terrible sleeping posture. Behind Sword Princess was Silver Lantern, sandwiching his hand between two soft mounds, and behind the Witch was Vichy, lying with her back turned to the rest of them. "Don't be nervous," Sword Princess stroked his chest gently and chuckled softly. "Tonight is an exception, a special reward for you. Watching you risk your life for us while trapped in the water coffin, we thought that no matter what you asked for, we would grant it." "Your reward could have been even more 'generous,'" Silver Lantern teased, "but the moment you crossed the Void Gate, you already took quite an advance from us." "Yaxiu, Lisi is already asleep," the Witch reminded him. "You can begin now." "No beginning anything!" Sword Princess rapped the Witch on the crown of her head. "Tonight is for sleeping only! Nothing else is allowed!" "Ooh... I wasn't doing anything myself, I was just reminding Yaxiu..." "Yaxiu isn't allowed to either!" A moment later, Yaxiu suddenly felt a kiss on his left cheek, followed by a sweet whisper in his ear: "Can you go to sleep now?" "Mmh," Yaxiu let out a soft murmur through his nose. Soon, his right cheek and then left cheek were each kissed once more. Yaxiu felt as though he was drowning in the gentle paradise of these girls. He knew this was merely their temporary compromise to repay him, and that it didn't mean they were truly willing to serve him together. When they woke up tomorrow, those who felt aggrieved would still feel aggrieved, those who were jealous would still be jealous, and those who were hostile would remain hostile. Yet even if it was nothing more than a fleeting illusion, to Yaxiu, it was already immense comfort. Suddenly, Yaxiu's right palm was caught, and someone seemed to be tracing words on it: *The Spectre Prophet would never apologize.* Then Yaxiu's palm was scratched lightly, and Yaxiu scratched the other person's palm in return. The shifting of his arm disturbed the Witch's sweet dreams; she let out an adorable snuffle, then clung even tighter around Yaxiu—this girl fell asleep so fast! Yaxiu's heart settled into peace. The pursuit of the angels, the designs of the Divine Lord of Stars, the crisis of Hell—everything seemed to fade into insignificance at this moment. He could finally set aside all that pressure for now and peacefully drift off to sleep. Perhaps, even an unattainable miracle was something he could make come true, step by step... Yaxiu was jarred awake by the booming sounds of battle. He was the only one left in bed, and a bad premonition suddenly seized his heart. He stepped out of the tent and saw, beneath the pitch-black, turbid sky, a perilous clash of sorceries unfolding! Sword Princess's Blood Moon surge swallowed Vichy's figure, while Vichy's soul shriek pierced through Sword Princess's barrier! The Witch's sky full of silk threads sought to strangle a god, while Silver Lantern's supreme silver radiance blossomed into countless wonders! Yaxiu stared dumbfounded as they fought among themselves. Just as he was about to rush forward to stop them, circulating his sorcery power triggered the Shadow Sword Curse, wracking his entire body with numbing pain. Could it be that because he had lost his fighting capability, they were seizing this chance to settle old scores and avenge past grudges...? Summoning all his strength, he yelled, "Stop... stop fighting!" The battle came to an immediate halt. Sonia dropped down in front of him and asked quizzically, "You're injured, so why didn't you sleep a bit longer? Did we wake you?" Yaxiu asked anxiously, "Why were you fighting each other?" "We were only sparring to hone our skills and get used to demigod-tier combat," Diya said. "Senluo happens to be a place we can trash however we like without worrying about aftershocks altering the weather or terraforming the terrain. For us, there's no better place to polish our skills." "I see." Yaxiu breathed a sigh of relief and reached out to pat Sword Princess on the shoulder. "I thought you were actually fighting—" Sonia shifted to the side, dodging his hand so it hit empty air. Their eyes met, and Yaxiu opened his arms to hug her, only for Sonia to dodge again. Yaxiu looked down at himself and asked, utterly bewildered, "Is... is there something wrong with me?" The female sorcerers exchanged glances. Sonia cleared her throat and said solemnly, "Actually, after you fell asleep yesterday, we passed a resolution. "During the battle in the Star Bridge Hall, I realized we had become far too complacent. After advancing to demigod, we barely honed our skills, not even fully mastering our wonders. If we hadn't spent the past half-month indulging ourselves and feasting, but instead delved into our powers, we wouldn't necessarily have been beaten so miserably by the Law of the Sword. "To prevent such helplessness from happening again, we've decided to dedicate ourselves fully to honing our skills, drilling tactical coordination, and doing everything we can to avoid holding you back. In your future decisive battle against Stars, we want to be your battle banner." Yaxiu nodded repeatedly, clapping enthusiastically. "Great! I'm completely behind this!" "To achieve this goal, we need to abstain from outside influences that erode our willpower," Sonia said. "So... do you understand, Yaxiu?" Yaxiu blinked, then shook his head. "I don't." "We're going to abstain from lust!" Diya hopped and skipped as she spoke. "Carnal desire is far too corrupting; it makes us bicker and quarrel, making it nothing short of a source of chaos!" "I don't disagree with your premise," Yaxiu said. "But what does that have to do with..." Mid-sentence, Yaxiu suddenly realized something, his face twisting into an incredulous expression of *You couldn't possibly be this ridiculous, could you?* "That's right." Silver Lantern covered her mouth, a subtle coquettish charm dancing at the corner of her brow. "We plan to abstain from you."