Rekindled

"Oh?" Tearing aside the curtain of sound waves, the Mirror Demon found that the Weaver had already fled. However, the Garden was left behind, along with the three eternal wonders sitting intact within it, as well as many bewildered sorcery spirits wandering about. "Fled into the 'Black Curtain'?" The Mirror Demon let out a soft laugh. "Then indeed I cannot slash you. But running back practically stripped bare, and having to throw away another god to boot... As expected of Omniscience, the best at calculation. Listening was truly worth it." Within the world secret realm "Black Curtain" ruled by the Weaver, there was a wonder that could mark any target. No matter where the marked target was, as long as the Weaver activated the wonder, she could pull the target straight back into the Black Curtain, ignoring all blockades—even if trapped inside another world secret realm, the target could still escape back! Yet such a powerful translocation wonder had a massive restriction: when the target was moved, they could not carry any sorcery spirits or gods, and a world secret realm was naturally out of the question! Moreover, if the target was a demigod, the Weaver had to sacrifice a god to successfully activate the wonder! Still, had the Listening Angel died here, the Weaver would have lost the Garden and its eternal wonders all the same. Thus, when looked at closely, the Weaver had merely traded a god to reclaim her most loyal angel—a rather sound decision. The Mirror Demon looked up. Because the Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood, the Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon, and the Garden were no longer sealing the area, leaving only the Battlefield Curtain of the Ancient Battlefield, she could already see the sky of Senluo outside. Pitch-black, murky, filthy, chaotic—it matched all her impressions of this world. Except... She turned her head, looking toward the silver pillar of light not far away that supported this shattered world. This was a sight she had never seen before, and the greatest divergence point of fate. Thinking carefully about it, it was quite ironic. Sonia, Lisidiya, and Vichy had all found better development and happier futures because they met Yaxiu. Only Weise, far from having a better life, had died in the Silent Spiral. Were it not for the unique nature of the Grand Law of Senluo and the bond between Yaxiu and her, Youlan Weise might truly have vanished, leaving behind only the Silver Lantern God. Unlike the Black Demon, who envied Lisidiya, and unlike Dead Frenzy, who cared so deeply about Sonia, the Mirror Demon viewed Weise more like a familiar stranger—unconcerned and indifferent. Yet, watching the silver light piercing the night, she suddenly felt an immense sense of absurdity. Clearly a different him, clearly a different herself, yet Youlan Weise still fell recklessly, infatuated in love with Yaxiu Heath. The only difference between them was that the Silver Lantern's devotion would be recognized, whereas she herself was doomed to be tormented until the very end. But soon, that would change. Soon, Yaxiu Heath would forget Youlan Weise, forget the Silver Lantern, and forget everything from the past. Even if you willingly merged with Senluo for his sake, reducing yourself to something neither human, god, nor ghost, it would all be meaningless—because he wouldn't remember any of it. This was the price he had to pay: without forgetting you, he could not protect you; to protect you, he had to lose you. Sooner or later, you too will end up just like us... Fate always treats us this way, always... The Mirror Demon gazed at that silver light, momentarily captivated. After a short silence, she made an absurd decision. She descended onto the sea of blood. In an instant, she acquired full authority over the world secret realm Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood. Then, she did something that would drive the Supreme Lord of the Blood Moon mad—she detonated the three eternal wonders! Until the very final second before their defeat, the three Divine Lords had never entertained such a thought. In truth, the gods within the eternal wonders possessed recovery mechanisms; had they wished, those gods could have instantly returned to Heaven, not leaving a single one behind for Yaxiu and his companions. Yet they had not done so. It was not that they were unaware that leaving the world secret realms and eternal wonders behind would aid the enemy, but the eternal wonders were deeply bound to the world secret realms. Destroying the eternal wonders could very well trigger a total collapse of the world secret realms! World secret realms were simply too precious, too rare. Once one collapsed, who knew how many thousands of years it would take to reappear? Therefore, the Divine Lords would rather let Yaxiu and his allies claim the world secret realms and eternal wonders than watch resource domains they had cultivated for thousands of years be reduced to ruins—after all, what if they could seize them back in the future? Truth be told, if Yaxiu and his group dared to use the seized world secret realms before them, the Divine Lords genuinely had ways to steal back authority. Cultivated over thousands of years, no one knew how many backdoors they had left within their world secret realms. Even if they lost this time, the realms were merely being stored temporarily in Yaxiu's hands. Never could the Divine Lords have imagined that someone would actually want to destroy a world secret realm! As the three eternal wonders crumbled and fell apart, the Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood entered an irreversible phase of dissolution. All the flies fell dead; all the maggots curled up and decomposed. The ecosystem teeming with the aesthetics of death vanished without a trace, and the vast sea of blood poured into the earth to nourish the soil, leaving behind only scattered mountains of corpses. The "Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood" was merely an aggregation of concepts, not an actual mound of corpses and blood. Thus, as the Mirror Demon merged and compressed all the bones and remains, she obtained a mass of the concept known as "Death." "This happens to be usable to strengthen 'Sorcerer Nemesis.'" The Mirror Demon shoved the concept of "Death" into the soul kingdom. Sorcerer Nemesis stood before the throne atop Ruby Mountain, but only three scabbards remained, devoid of blades. The Heart Sword God had been curiously examining the three scabbards when suddenly an abyss-black radiance descended, frightening the Heart Sword God into hiding behind the throne. From there, it watched as the three scabbards were engraved by the dark light with skulls, corpses, and various imagery of death, glowing with the hue of annihilation. The Mirror Demon also knew that no one could wield Sorcerer Nemesis except herself. Since there were leftover resources, she used them to lower the threshold of Sorcerer Nemesis, allowing Yaxiu to barely use it as well. Yet this was merely an incidental interlude... The Mirror Demon guided the vast life energy contained within the sea of blood to permeate the earth of Senluo. When the blood sea completely dried up, she heard a rumble from the sky. Looking up, she saw a blood-red bolt of lightning flash across the chaotic heavens. Lightning was the origin of all life. At the same time, Weise, waiting within the silver pillar of light, suddenly snapped her head up. Having already fused more than eighty percent with the world of Senluo, she could clearly sense that the dead, barren earth had just stirred with faint vitality. Though it would still need to endure countless trials and storms, and though it remained unknown whether it could establish a positive cycle... it had come back to life. This world she had destroyed with her own hands, this forbidden zone for living beings on the brink of collapse, had found a heartbeat once more. She instantly realized this was the effect of the Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood. Although her perspective could not fathom the Mirror Demon's methods, that did not stop her from knowing who was reviving the land of Senluo. After all, in the eyes of the Silver Lantern, aside from herself, only one person would still care about this earth. Just then, he flew over from afar and landed beside Weise. Weise instinctively stood up to go to him, but immediately remembered something. She raised a hand to cover the right side of her face, which was coated in ink crystal, and turned her head away to avoid his gaze, saying, "Go quickly and check on Sword Princess and the others—" A sudden embrace cut off all her words. Weise pressed her lips together and wrapped her arms around him in return. At a moment like surviving a catastrophe, one should laugh and celebrate, and Weise was indeed overjoyed deep down, yet for some reason she simply could not smile. Instead, under his embrace, all the grievance and insecurity broke through like floodwaters bursting a dam, completely submerging her thoughts and demolishing her composure. She leaned against his shoulder, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably as muffled sobs escaped her throat, growing louder and louder until she was wailing like a little girl. From her ink-crystallized right eye, a stream of murky, dark tears traced down her otherwise flawless white cheek. Suddenly, her cries ceased. Soft lips absorbed all her unease and grievance. Weise wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, closing her eyes and thirstily clinging to the tenderness. Thus, the god failed to see the silver light within the sorcerer's eyes fade bit by bit. When the silver light completely went out, a flicker of bewilderment rose in its wake. Yet nothing could make the amnesiac Yaxiu understand what he ought to do more than a girl offering her true heart. He held Weise tightly, letting the silver light rekindle his heart once more.