"Please... don't..."
"I'll do whatever you want! Just not this..."
"Nooo!!"
With a heart-wrenching wail, Sanctuary Sorcerer Renn Mercury was tossed into the mud pit. This was no ordinary mud pit, but one modeled after the "Soul-Washing Pool," a special zone on the Time Continent. The authentic Soul-Washing Pool dissolved impurities in one's soul, granting a sorcerer a week-long boost in learning capacity, focus, and mental state—a truly exceptional fortunate encounter.
However, Berdette's bootleg mud pit naturally lacked such wonderful effects. It did dissolve impurities, but rather than cleansing the soul, it dissolved physical impurities—including clothes and hair.
No one knew why Berdette had built such a pointless facility. Perhaps they simply wanted to recreate the Time Continent's encounter, or perhaps they had so much excess wealth that burning it on domestic consumption was their only outlet. Regardless, it proved tremendously helpful to Yaxiu and the others—much like finding a poop-stained mop conveniently sitting within arm's reach during a street fight.
After all, once they finished the preparatory steps of pounding and letting these pursuers rest like dough, it was time for the main cooking process: detaining them temporarily in Berdette Manor to ensure they could not give chase to Funeral.
The most thorough method would be inflicting severe crippling injuries, heinous disfigurement, or even executing all the other Sanctuary Sorcerers outright. That would guarantee they could never pursue, and even after healing and recovery, their seething hatred would inevitably be vented on Berdette; infighting alone would exhaust these syndicate families.
Yet in the end, Yaxiu and his companions rejected the idea.
First, negative reputation came in tiers. "Dislike" and "blood feud" were entirely different concepts. If these syndicates had previously devoted only twenty percent of their energy toward dealing with Funeral, then mutilating their members would easily spike that figure to seventy percent, leaving them in an even more precarious predicament.
Second, there was Lisi to consider.
Among the adults, Annan and Banjie from the agency went without saying—"unscrupulous" hardly began to describe their modus operandi. Harvey was similarly beyond question; this backward world had yet to produce moral laws capable of shackling him. Having lived through so much that he and the Grim Reaper were practically fellow sufferers of frozen shoulder, Yaxiu had long since steeled himself to get his hands dirty without hesitation whenever necessary.
Yet as long as Lisi was present, Yaxiu could never stand by and watch their story veer into grimdark cruelty.
Still...
Yaxiu looked at the figures wallowing in utter despair inside the mud pit. Their hair and clothing had been dissolved, leaving them soaking stark naked in the dung-yellow mire. A spectacle resembling maggots swarming in an ocean of sewage was enough to force a sanity check on Yaxiu, let alone Lisi.
Nevertheless, the results were remarkably effective. Sanctuary Sorcerers like Renn and Zuvendas wouldn't dare show their faces in public without spending several hours scrubbing down and regrowing hair.
"Stop looking, Lisi. Let's go look at the pretty ladies instead."
"Huh?" Lisi sounded rather reluctant to part with the sight. "I think this is pretty interesting too..."
"Harvey!" Yaxiu shouted toward Alice. "Did you corrupt Lisi?!"
"Do you know there's still a large intestine between a corpse and feces? Don't blame everything on me," Alice replied. "Besides, it's perfectly normal for children to be fond of gross things. Only adults obsess over pretentious tidiness."
"Who would ever get what you're on about?!"
Having dealt with the male sorcerers, next came the female sorcerers—they were spared the punishment of a mud bath, hair loss, and streaking.
Not that Yaxiu and the others were exceptionally softhearted toward women; the primary reason was the need for an excuse to let the Six Emblems off the hook. It so happened that most of the people Qinna brought were female sorcerers, making it seem natural to spare them.
Even though Qinna had ultimately come to capture them, she had been willing to go to war against other factions to protect them when pressured by Renn and the other Sanctuary Sorcerers. Even if driven by selfish motives, Yaxiu and Annan owed her that favor.
The only person present qualified to object was Harvey, but just as he hadn't cared that Qinna didn't stick up for him earlier, he didn't care now that Yaxiu and the others were protecting Qinna.
Still, causing a bit of inconvenience for Qinna and her party was necessary. Fortunately, beside the mud pit lay a pool of alcohol. While called a wine pool, it was filled with sweet alcoholic beverages; in the past, Yaxiu had occasionally scooped up a cup to drink whenever he passed by.
Placing all the female sorcerers in there to soak would not only soak their clothes, but more importantly, the sweet alcohol was sticky and syrupy. Once these pampered gospel sorcerers regained their mobility, taking a bath would undoubtedly be their foremost priority.
Lisi directed little Banjie, and the two children smoothly hauled a female sorcerer into the wine pool. Yaxiu followed suit, directing his Substitute to toss female sorcerers into the wine pool to release them.
Soon, Yaxiu encountered a particularly difficult subject—Qinna. Tossing a mother into the water was certainly something a daughter ought to do, yet Annan was by the edge of the pool whispering intimately with Nona, clearly still afraid to face Qinna.
Humans truly were strange. When Qinna was overbearing, Annan boldly stood her ground and snapped right back. Now that Qinna was frail and helpless, Annan hid thousands of miles away. Perhaps the only dynamic Annan and Qinna shared was "rebellion" and "suppression"; once Qinna could no longer suppress her, the young miss had no idea how to interact with her mother.
Since Annan shrank from dealing with her, the burden fell upon others. Yaxiu scratched his head and signaled his Substitute to carry Qinna over. Something like directly offending a Sanctuary Sorcerer was best left to the Substitute.
Yet the moment the Substitute reached out, Qinna snapped her teeth viciously at its hand, startling the Substitute into instantly pulling back.
The Substitute looked at Yaxiu. Such fierce resistance had occurred on the male sorcerers' side too; typically, they simply seized the sorcerer by the legs, spun them like a helicopter, and flung them into the mud pit. Was he supposed to launch Annan's mother airborne?
However, their original intention was to spare Qinna, so humiliating her was out of the question. Yaxiu had no choice but to walk over with a grimace, reaching down to lift Qinna into his arms. "Be good, don't squirm. I'll be quick—ngh!"
So heavy.
Qinna was already taller than Yaxiu, possessing a voluptuous yet well-trained figure. Moreover, she offered zero leverage right now, making her immensely difficult to carry. Anyone who had ever lifted a drunk person knew that the same person weighed completely differently depending on whether they consciously cooperated or went completely limp.
"You ought to use a mortification sorcery spirit to build your strength," Qinna said, sounding as though she were mocking him. "If carrying me proves this strenuous in the future, it will really spoil the mood."
*Under what circumstances would I ever need to carry you in the future?* Yaxiu thought.
"Holding me like this is uncomfortable for me too. Hold me tighter and let me reach up," Qinna commanded without an ounce of politeness. Yaxiu could only comply with her orders, whereupon the elf matriarch shifted her shapely frame slightly, shifting her center of gravity onto Yaxiu's torso. Her clever coordination instantly eased the burden on his arms.
This, however, left Qinna's head resting almost against Yaxiu's shoulder, making it look as though they were whispering sweet nothings into each other's ears.
And in fact, they were whispering.
"Come back to Fanmula with me," she said softly. "You have nowhere left to run."
"You should say that to your daughter."
"The more I tell Annan to do something, the less she does it," Qinna said with a laugh. "But you can persuade her, can't you? You are my daughter's... fiancé, after all."
Because they were so close, Qinna's breath brushed against Yaxiu's earlobe as she spoke, tickling him slightly. "Sorry, but I lied to you about that. Annan and I have no real relationship."
"Mm-hmm." Qinna did not seem to mind. "Yet she cares about your opinion. I can tell. Do you truly wish to keep wandering aimlessly with her? Don't you want to live a peaceful, stable life?"
"The Six Emblems can no longer protect us—"
"We can." Qinna ground her teeth slightly in a show of force. "If I say we can protect you, we can."
"But I don't want to go to Fanmula." Yaxiu turned his head to look at her. They were so close their noses almost touched, their eyes reflecting each other's expressions. "I hate Fanmula."
This answer seemed to catch Qinna off guard. "Why?"
"I don't like Fanmula's white mist, I don't like Fanmula's Mermaid Fish-Mint Farms, and I don't like Fanmula's drunken stupor."
"Then what do you like? Berdette's rule of money? Or the systems in other cities?" Qinna seemed amused. "The Fanmula model already provides for everyone, allowing every clansman to live a happy life. Even Mengfeila can't manage that... Could there possibly be a better city than Fanmula?"
"Perhaps there isn't a better city than Fanmula," Yaxiu said. "Perhaps there isn't a single city in Gospel Country that I like."
"Then why—"
"That doesn't mean I should settle for an option that's merely less distasteful." Yaxiu crouched down and slowly lowered Qinna into the wine pool. "Do you know something, Qinna? I'm someone who easily drifts along. If I stayed in Fanmula, I'd most likely end up becoming one of your clansmen. That's why I can't help you persuade Annan. I need Annan to drag me along on this wild rampage until I find a place where I can retire... or until we claim the divine wish."
"Still, I'll pass along your concern for Annan," Yaxiu said with a smile. "If I ever visit Fanmula again in the future, I hope you'll still welcome me."
"No need for such trouble. I'll definitely capture you and bring you back long before that. When that time comes, we'll see each other every day—and every night."
"Then I shall wait without any expectations."
By now, Qinna was submerged up to her waist in the wine pool. She spoke up, "Right, there's one more thing I need to tell you. Come closer..."
Unsure of what she meant, the cult leader leaned in. The elf matriarch suddenly twisted her body, using inertia and a shift in leverage to drag Yaxiu right into the wine pool with her. Both of them bobbed up and down in the alcoholic drink.
"Cough, cough!" Steadying Qinna by the shoulders, Yaxiu said, caught between tears and laughter, "You have to take revenge over even this? Couldn't you tell we were letting the Six Emblems off on purpose?"
With wet, long locks draped over her shoulders, Qinna looked at him with misty eyes and smiled. "Your face is covered in wine."
"Isn't that your fault..."
Before Yaxiu could finish, Qinna leaned in close. A sleek tongue licked away the liquor on his cheek, her warm breath seemingly igniting the alcohol and making Yaxiu flush burning hot all over.
"Annan is a stubborn child," she said by Yaxiu's ear, discussing an entirely serious topic. "When necessary, you must hold her back."
What else could Yaxiu do? He could only nod repeatedly and hastily disengage. Before leaving, he adjusted Qinna's posture so she lay facing upward, preventing the liquid from clogging her mouth and nose.
Yet doing so left a dazzling elven beauty floating upon the wine pool: soaked garments, undulating curves, a flushed face... Yaxiu dared not look any longer, lest a lapse in vigilance see him following Qinna straight back to Fanmula.
Chapter 414