The Feeling Is Mutual

"Mercury Trojan should be looking for us soon, right?" Igola suddenly asked. "Yeah." Yaxiu nodded. Three days ago, Mercury Trojan had informed them that Silver Lantern had passed through Blind Town. But by the time they hurried over, Silver Lantern had long since slipped away, leaving them with no choice but to wait here for the time being. "You gained quite a few benefits in the Divine Fire Trial. For you, it was merely an improvement in physical fitness or enhanced talent, but for Silver Lantern, it means she is one step closer to her goal," Igola said. "If you hadn't snatched the Round Cicada, it would have been a total victory for her..." After five days of observation, Yaxiu discovered that his Limit Time talent was completely gone. He might have gained a slight improvement in his Time talent, but it didn't show up in *Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook*, proving that his cultivation speed still couldn't match waiting for shared cultivation with the Witch. However, the quality of his soul had undergone a thorough upgrade. To put it into perspective, in the past, his sorcery spirits spent roughly half their time slumbering in his soul. Now, they were all like they had been pumped with stimulants, constantly dancing and playing music within his soul every waking second. If an ordinary sorcerer's soul quality upgraded along the lines of 'One-Wing Thatched Cottage,' 'Two-Wing Sweatshop,' 'Three-Wing Office,' and 'Four-Wing Villa,' then Yaxiu's current soul could be described as an 'office pumped full of stimulants,' where none of the sorcery spirits ever wanted to clock out. In this state, Yaxiu was certain that if he died, he would undoubtedly become a Grand Law. Even if his obsession were 'wants lewd things,' he would end up as the 'Wants Lewd Things Grand Law.' Yet Yaxiu didn't care about what would happen after his death. To him, the sole upside of an enhanced soul was that his sorcery spirits' effects had grown stronger (though they also ate far more). But for Silver Lantern, becoming a Divine Fire seed undoubtedly pushed the progress of her plan drastically forward. Yaxiu was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Silver Lantern is getting harder and harder to deal with." "Actually, I've been thinking about this for a long time," Igola said. "Compared to hunting down Silver Lantern, leaving Senluo would be a much better solution to our problems. As long as we keep eating, we can basically offset the blood seed curse, not to mention that the distance between different realms will surely weaken the blood seed's effects significantly. As for your half-feeler status, Yaxiu, I recall Mercury Trojan saying that the Four Pillar Cult has only one feeler per realm. If you leave Senluo, Silver Lantern will naturally become the complete feeler, and you'll be able to break free from the Four Pillar Gods' gaze." "So, give up on chasing Silver Lantern," the Swindler said. "Let's find a way to travel to another realm." "So what way is there to leave Senluo?" Harvey asked. "Precisely because there isn't one right now, we need to give up on the chase," Igola said. "With all our energy focused on Silver Lantern, where would we find the time or energy to gather other intel? Given the might of the Grey Fox Divine Era, it wouldn't be surprising if they left behind legacies for crossing between realms. But we've been led around by the nose by Mercury Trojan, and she's definitely deliberately keeping us from finding clues to those legacies!" Yaxiu stared at the glittering golden Round Cicada, though the cicada was staring out the window, ignoring him. He said, "But someone like Silver Lantern..." "Even if she's vile, that has nothing to do with us. We're just passing travelers," Igola said. "How many people she harms, whether she wants to destroy the world—what does any of that have to do with us? We didn't grow up in the Senluo wasteland. As long as we leave this place, who cares if she blows a hole straight through the Senluo Land?" Harvey said, "We still have blood seeds inside us, you know." "I know, but she didn't target us specifically; we just got caught in the crossfire." Igola spread his hands. "Are we really going to waste the rest of our lives on revenge?" "Wouldn't that be fine too?" Harvey said lazily. Igola couldn't be bothered with the necromancer. Looking at Yaxiu, he said, "We've squandered enough of our lives already, Yaxiu. Lisi and Annan are both waiting for you." He paused, hesitating for a moment before adding, "And I need to give Anfeier an explanation as well." Yaxiu stared blankly at Igola. That was true... They had clearly promised to return as soon as possible... "It doesn't have to be one or the other." A voice suddenly sounded from the window. The three Sanctuary sorcerers snapped their gazes over immediately, only to find the Death Herald Black Crow perched unnoticed upon the windowsill. Harvey and Igola's expressions darkened instantly—Harvey had just closed that window! In other words, Tamashi had opened the window from outside, shut it behind him, and sat down—and in that entire sequence of actions, not a single one of them had noticed! "Tamashi, when did you get back?" Yaxiu exclaimed in pleasant surprise. "I didn't notice you at all. Have you gotten stronger?" "Yeah." Black Crow nodded. "I've been cultivating with the Blindsight Cult these past few days. I finally achieved some results." Cultivating with the Blindsight Cult? Everyone blinked. While they finally knew why Tamashi had been coming and going like a ghost over the past few days, the explanation was downright horrifying—like seeing a gas canister volunteer to be a firefighter. Igola said coldly, "To make even Sanctuary sorcerers fail to notice your movements... can this already be considered a miracle?" If he were merely good at concealment, that would be one thing. But beyond concealment, Black Crow was also a master of close-range dash-and-instant-kill! Before, he needed to lie in ambush beforehand to even have a chance of assassinating a sorcerer, but now he could simply walk right up and slaughter one. Even though Igola had condensed his own Sanctuary over the past two days, he couldn't help harboring an intense wariness toward Black Crow! He even suspected that one day, not even a Sanctuary might be able to withstand Black Crow's sharp blade! "It's just an ordinary mental technique applied to myself, harmonizing mind, technique, and body," Black Crow said. "It can't compare at all to a mind sorcerer's large-scale mental influence. Turning invisible is far easier for you than it is for me." "Can you teach us?" Yaxiu asked, eager to try. Igola and Harvey were both slightly taken aback, but what surprised them even more was Black Crow's answer: "...If you want, I'll organize my thoughts in a few days and explain it to you. Then you can write it down and take your time practicing." "Great!" Igola steered the conversation back. "Tamashi, what did you mean earlier by saying it doesn't have to be one or the other?" "Killing Silver Lantern and searching for legacies are not mutually exclusive," Black Crow said. "She was headed for the Divine Fire systems from the beginning, and Grey Fox legacies inevitably exist near them. Throughout our pursuit of her, haven't we already witnessed and even obtained plenty of Grey Fox legacies? "Going forward, whether we continue hunting her down or capture and interrogate her, either option is far more efficient and swift than blindly searching for legacy clues on your own." Black Crow's reasoning was sound, and with their experiences acquiring legacies from both the Transcendent Cult and the Twin Cult, even Igola couldn't refute him. Not to mention that Silver Lantern held a 'Dragon Gate Array Shopping Card'—if they could get their hands on that card, they could unlock many Grey Fox products from the vending machines, which would be immensely helpful for crossing realms. "Yaxiu, you've never talked about it, so I never asked," Black Crow said. "During those four days in the underground trial where you had to clash with Silver Lantern alone... "You didn't develop a fear of her because of that, did you?" "How could I?" Yaxiu shook his head. "Then the next time we encounter Silver Lantern..." "I'll work with you to kill her," Yaxiu said, lowering his eyes. "And put a final stop to all of this." Black Crow said, "Capturing her alive works too, actually. After all, you need her information." Silence settled over the room. Then Yaxiu stood up. "I'm heading back to my room first. I'll leave the Round Cicada here. If you don't need it, just tap it and it'll fly back to me on its own." With that, Yaxiu turned and left. After the door shut, Igola stood up as well. Walking toward the door, he suddenly spoke: "Tamashi." "Hmm?" The Swindler said, "I still hate your guts." Black Crow: "The feeling is mutual." Harvey said to Alice, "See that? That's the downside of being alive." Alice tilted her head. Just then, the door was pushed open from the outside, and Yaxiu walked back in. This time, however, a strange woman was following behind him. "Silver Lantern has appeared at the Rain Wood Forest Wind Industrial Park." Mercury Trojan glanced at the Round Cicada and delivered the intel crisply. "What?" Black Crow sounded slightly surprised. The other three didn't know what this location meant and looked at Black Crow. He explained, "The Rain Wood Forest Wind Industrial Park used to be the Calamitous Fire Temple's largest resource production zone, but a year ago it was overrun and wiped out by the Four Pillar Cult. It's abandoned now." "As a side note," Mercury Trojan added, "the one who took down the Rain Wood Forest Wind Industrial Park was Silver Lantern herself." So Silver Lantern was revisiting old haunts to admire her glorious triumph? But why was Tamashi surprised...? Soon, Yaxiu and the others realized the true significance of this location. "The Calamitous Fire Temple has long been within the Four Pillar Cult's sphere of influence. Although her specific destination is unknown, judging from her route..." "She is penetrating deep into the heartland of the Four Pillar Cult." A savage glint flashed in Mercury Trojan's eyes. "She's back on my turf."