Reminiscence

Kaleidoscope Black Robe Town. Under the relentless buffet of the endless darkness, this once-thriving commercial hub of the Senluo wasteland had melted away like ice cream, leaving behind only wind-eroded, riddled ruins. Carrying a silver-green lantern, Yaxiu walked through the wide central street. The dark-green glow radiating from the silver lantern cast shimmering, dense crowds onto the deserted thoroughfare. Without exception, they were all stunning beauties—alluring in posture, exuding effortless charm, their outfits accentuating their graceful curves. Even without a sound, their laughter and chatter were plainly visible in the interplay of light and shadow. Brushing past them, Yaxiu felt like an out-of-place ghost. With Senluo’s collapse, those whimsical legacies of the Divine Era had naturally lost their function. Yaxiu had always been curious about Black Robe Town's mysterious legacy, the "Kaleidoscope"—an artifact capable of turning everyone within range into gorgeous girls, thereby stripping them of their combat capability. Though he had no desire to turn into a pretty girl himself, he certainly wouldn't refuse if he could master a miracle that turned others into one... If nothing else, Harvey wouldn't be using his lower half for the rest of his life anyway, so turning him into a pretty girl would at least significantly increase everyone's tolerance for him as a necromancer. Moreover, if he could turn all his enemies into beautiful girls, Yaxiu was certain that even without killing a single person, his terrifying notoriety would eclipse even the Spectre Prophet's monstrous dread. It was precisely because he had witnessed the "Kaleidoscope" that Yaxiu truly believed this chaotic, fallen wasteland hadn't just been a place of rising and falling flocks of crows, but had genuinely once been a grand Divine Era where untethered dreams could soar. In those days, the Grand Law was the dream pursued by all living beings. One voice resounded across the land; faith superseded selfish desires; all conflict and strife vanished into thin air; and everyone burned their skills and intellect to realize impossible miracles—otherwise, how could an artifact like "turn everyone into a pretty girl" ever have been created? Even in the wasteland era, countless sects still sought to restore the glory of the Divine Era or forge a new one. For the beings of this land, burning themselves to chase dreams seemed like an instinct etched into their very souls: Calamity Fire, Crow Cull, Transcendence, Gemini... All of it was in the past now. Yaxiu arrived at a dilapidated, rickety building and stepped inside with his silver-green lantern, illuminating the ghostly diners clinking glasses and coming and going. This silver-green lantern was the "Soul Lantern," a miracle cast jointly by Vichy and Weise. It could reveal soul traces from the past year, assisting Yaxiu in collecting traces of Igola and Harvey. Yaxiu couldn't trace the past purely through memory—reminiscence required familiar sights even if the people had changed, but now, Senluo had not even a single scene left for him to mourn. A languid, charming proprietress leaned against the counter; a sweet, innocent waitress bustled about serving dishes; customers loudly discussed intelligence from the Void Realm. Yaxiu made his way to the north side of the round table in the center, barely finding a stool he could still sit on—it had probably once been a chair. Placing the Soul Lantern in the middle of the table, he subtly adjusted its time dial, and the phantoms around the table shifted rapidly. Finally, Yaxiu saw them. A listless dark-skinned girl with curly hair, a tall and elegant blonde girl, a fiery and spirited cat-eared beastkin girl, a quiet blue-haired maiden, and the Black Crow, cloaked entirely in black robes and a mask. Sitting there, Yaxiu felt as if he had traveled back in time, sharing a meal with them at the Fox Lantern Ice Parlor once more. Though it wasn't the first time he had seen this, for some reason, Yaxiu felt an urge to smile. Resting his arms on the table, he tilted his head to look at them and chuckled softly: "Who would have thought that one day, I'd actually miss those miserable, hard times we spent together..." In truth, Yaxiu hated reminiscing alone; it made him feel like a stray dog caught up by loneliness. The great collapse of the Silent Spiral had changed countless lives. Gwen was dead, and Qikala was dead too. Igola and Harvey were trapped in Hell, their fates unknown. The only one safe and sound was Black Crow, but she was in the Thousand Wishes Kingdom of Heaven now, and Yaxiu still didn't know how to face her—or Annan, Freya, and Xifulin. Unlike the others, Black Crow was as pure as a blank sheet of paper in that regard; coupled with her fierce sense of justice and hatred for evil, Yaxiu always felt as though he had tainted her... Recalling fleeting fragments of that absurd bath, a soft peach-blush crept across Yaxiu's cheeks. He pressed his lips together and stared at the wood grain of the tabletop, mind wandering who-knew-where. The loneliness in his heart was swept away, and the sorrow of revisiting old haunts vanished completely. Yaxiu thought to himself that there was indeed good reason people worshiped the Four Pillar Gods—violence, thirst for knowledge, vitality, and eros truly were excellent antidotes to grief. Feeling around here and there, he gathered trace remnants from the soul phantoms of Igola and Harvey. Watching the progress bar for the "Sixfold Hell" tick up a little more, he picked up the Soul Lantern and left. During this period, due to the shadow-sword curse, his soul body couldn't mobilize sorcery power at all, making it impossible to enter Hell to explore. However, he could accumulate the traces of Igola and Harvey so that he would have plenty of exploration time when the time came, so Yaxiu was in no hurry. Just as he stepped out onto the street, Yaxiu suddenly heard a thunderous detonation in the distance, like a thunderclap exploding in his mind. A crimson blood moon rose along the horizon. Even from kilometers away, he could feel that supreme divine might and fathomless murderous intent. Tens of seconds later, the sweeping aftermath of the gale brushed past Black Robe Town, stinging his face. A deluge of silver light, screaming souls, an upended earth—a war was raging in the distance. The chaotic sky was torn apart repeatedly, and the shattered ground was continuously warped and transformed. If this world were not the apocalyptic Senluo, if this were not a forbidden zone of life, the mere fallout of their battle would have been an unbearable natural disaster for any surrounding region. They had begun their combat drills. Sword Princess and the others had prepared an entire training regimen for themselves, encompassing "Spectacle Mastery," "God Experimentation," and "Soul Body Conditioning." Among them, the live combat drills comprised three formats: "Team Battles," "Free-for-All," and "Extreme Challenge." The first two needed no explanation. The "Extreme Challenge" pitted one against three, using intense ganging-up to expose weaknesses in the challenger's combat system and unlock their potential under the extreme pressure of near-fatal peril. However, since it was an extreme challenge, they were playing for keeps with lethal moves. To be frank, Yaxiu was quite worried about this. After all, while the four of them couldn't be described as close, they were at least full of mutual intrigue. Yaxiu wasn't worried about Diya and Silver Lantern, but if an "accident" happened to Sword Princess or Vichy, Yaxiu wouldn't actually be all that surprised. Vichy went without saying—she was her own cause of death. As for Sword Princess's cause of death, it would naturally be Yaxiu. Yet Yaxiu was perhaps judging the bellies of geniuses with the heart of a garbage bin. Over the past few days, not only had no accidents occurred, but the training had yielded remarkable results, their skills advancing by leaps and bounds. Even though Yaxiu had yet to recover, he could clearly feel that their combat power had risen a whole tier. More importantly, they were growing accustomed to the combat patterns of the demigod tier. If they encountered the Angel of Sword Law again, while they still most likely couldn't match the Pool of Sword Rain, they would never be as hard-pressed as last time. Watching the battle grow fiercer on the horizon, Yaxiu suddenly lost interest. After a cursory inspection of Black Robe Town, he headed back to the temporary campsite. Only Felix was at the camp. Daedalose had also joined Sword Princess's training team—if nothing else, merely singing while they rested effectively eliminated their fatigue, not to mention that Daedalose's Chaotic Heavenly Sound could affect even the Angel of Sword Law. Though she was only a Sanctuary sorcerer, she was genuinely qualified to participate in demigod warfare. Felix was doing the laundry using water sorcery. While doing chores wasn't tiring for a sorcerer, it was quite tedious. In particular, everyone's clothing had different materials, requiring her to meticulously adjust the flow's intensity to avoid tearing or fading the fabrics—there was nowhere to buy clothes in Senluo, so losing a set meant one less forever. "Where are my clothes?" Yaxiu asked, setting down the Soul Lantern. "I'll do them," Felix replied casually. "I always wash them." "I've got nothing else to do anyway." Yaxiu rolled up his sleeves. Felix pointed to a wooden bucket nearby. Yaxiu carried it over to a nearby water pit, crouched down, dropped in a few laundry detergent pods, and began scrubbing. The camp grew quiet again, echoing only with the sounds of running water and scrubbing. After a while, having finished washing the girls' larger garments, Felix said, "If you need them, I have Sword Princess's and Sister Vichy's underwear here. Unwashed, original scent." Yaxiu paused and looked at Felix, who was grinning like a hamster, with utter helplessness. "It's been almost ten days—haven't you gotten tired of laughing yet?"