"So what you're saying is that we're actually close companions taking an inheritance trial, and only because we were struck by the miracle 'Return of the Soul to Youth' did we turn into children and temporarily lose our other memories?"
Thump!
Little Sword Princess drove an uppercut straight into Yaxiu's stomach. As he doubled over, she clasped her hands together and skillfully hammered down onto his back, knocking him flat on the ground before once again sitting astride him—she really loved mounting people when fighting.
"Isn't that just the plot from Weird Rules of the Void Realm? Did you think I've never read it? How dare you lie to me! How dare you lie to me! Will you dare lie to me again?!"
Yaxiu was utterly floored—just how unhinged were the screenwriters in the Starry Country? How could even this trope clash?!
Besides, kids should spend more time playing outside, not staying cooped up at home watching TV dramas!
The Little Witch came over holding Little Weise's hand. Behind her, Little Weise was rubbing her eyes, still sniffling.
She held the Sword Princess back and reasoned, "Don't be in such a rush. He looks like the only one who knows what's going on, while we don't know anything. Do you remember what you were doing before coming here?"
"I..." Little Sword Princess held her little head, racked her brains for quite a while, and finally shook her head. She said cautiously to the Little Witch, "I can't remember, but I should have been in town... I've never left my town."
"I can't remember either."
The Little Witch squatted beside Yaxiu, looking down at him. "He must know something, but he might be lying to us."
"Why would I lie to you?" Yaxiu hadn't expected that he wouldn't even be able to gain the Witch's trust. "Do I look like someone who lies?"
"Yes!" The Little Witch reached out and pinched Yaxiu's cheek. "In fairy tales, boys as good-looking as you are basically always the villains!"
"..." Yaxiu said, "Generally speaking, aren't pretty girls usually the villains?"
"Pretty girls have wicked witches, but also good princesses. But good-looking boys are either evil princes lusting after a princess's beauty, or wicked sorcerers orchestrating conspiracies!"
"Wait, in the fairy tales you read, what are the good protagonists usually?"
"Princesses, and loyal knights who protect princesses."
"Can't knights be good-looking?"
"Knights should have faces covered in scars, be resolute and brave, and have brawny bodies!" The Little Witch tugged at Yaxiu's face. "Someone who looks as conceited as you and gets pinned down by a girl definitely isn't a knight!"
Yaxiu never would have guessed that the Witch's childhood aesthetic leaned so heavily toward macho men—and even less that he would fail to earn her trust simply because his shrunken self didn't fit her standards!
For a moment, he felt quite helpless dealing with these three little brats. "I'm the only one who knows the truth, but since none of you are willing to believe me, whatever I say is pointless."
Little Sword Princess raised her fist, threatening Yaxiu ferociously, "If I beat you up a few more times, you definitely won't dare lie anymore!"
"Don't hit him yet," the Little Witch said. "Even though he doesn't look like a good guy, he could still be our companion. Maybe an attendant, or an evil sorcerer we hired. To achieve a great goal, good guys can work with bad guys too."
Little Sword Princess found this very reasonable and looked at the Little Witch admiringly. "You're so smart! By the way, what are your names?"
"I..." Little Weise sucked back a snot bubble, timidly raising her hand. "My name is Youlanweise."
"Wait." The Little Witch suddenly called a halt. "Since we've ended up in such a strange place, it's best not to reveal our real names."
"Ah!" Little Sword Princess grew uneasy. "I'm sorry, I didn't think of that... Hey, but he said he knows us, so he must know our names too." She poked Yaxiu's cheek as she spoke.
"That's true." The Little Witch looked at Yaxiu. "You said you know us. Then tell us, what are our names?"
Yaxiu blinked and said, "Actually, we only refer to each other by codenames. We never use real names. I'm Watcher, you're Witch, and she's Sword Princess."
"Then what about her?" The Little Witch pulled Little Weise forward.
"Her... her codename is Youlanweise." Yaxiu suddenly realized the flaw in his claim and emphasized, "She's the only one among us who uses her real name, truly!"
However, Little Sword Princess and the Little Witch gave him looks dripping with skepticism—Little Weise had just volunteered her name, so suddenly her codename was her real name? And for those who hadn't said their real names, you conveniently only knew their codenames?
This was far too coincidental; even a six-year-old could tell something fishy was going on!
Seeing that Little Sword Princess was about to extract a confession through violence again, the Little Witch hastily stopped her and asked Yaxiu, "Setting aside whether we really are companions or not, what do we need to do to get out of here?"
"Paint." Yaxiu pointed at the four walls. "You just need to walk up to those whiteboards. A sorcery spirit will tell you what to paint, and once you depict those images, we can clear the trial and leave."
The Little Witch pondered for a few seconds, signaled for Little Sword Princess to keep pinning Yaxiu down, and walked over to one of the walls. When she returned, she wore a look of surprise. "A sorcery spirit really did tell me what to paint. And we don't need brushes—we can just paint with our fingers."
"In any case, following along shouldn't do any harm, so let's trust him for now."
Faced with the Little Witch's commands, not only did Little Sword Princess have no objections, but even Little Weise wiped her tears and timidly nodded like a chick pecking at grain.
If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Yaxiu wouldn't have believed it even if beaten to death: the Witch, usually the laziest and dorkiest, possessed such remarkable leadership and charisma; Weise, normally calm and erudite, had turned into a weeping yes-girl; and the Sword Princess, whose social skills were usually maxed out, had become so sensitive upon reverting to childhood that she could only protect herself with violence.
At this moment, Yaxiu finally realized the terror of Stage 35's ordeal.
Unlike the Amnesia Cabin, where they had lost their memories but at least retained their adult intellect—allowing them to calmly discuss cooperation driven by the instinct for survival—Return of the Soul to Youth was completely different. They had not only lost their memories, but their cognitive faculties had regressed to a childhood state!
If a sorcerer had been a timid crybaby as a child, or so cowardly that they didn't dare explore their environment, in this state they would be completely incapable of handling the trial calmly, and might even forget they had the Spectre Secret Key to escape the inheritance!
This stage likely had a time limit, and Yaxiu certainly didn't think an evil sorcerer like the Spectre Prophet would be kind enough to simply kick out failing challengers.
Most likely, just like Stage 34's Soul-Tethering Dream, challengers who ran out of time would suffer continuous soul attrition. If their souls were completely worn away before they could snap out of it, they would simply die.
Yaxiu fully understood the Spectre Prophet's mentality: leaving behind an inheritance meant he had already fallen.
Since he was already dead, why would he care about the lives of future generations of sorcerers?
Not only wouldn't he care, he would probably love nothing more than to kill as many as possible!
Across long spans of time, the relationship among sorcerers was one of 'collaborative development,' because all sorcerers' achievements and explorations accumulated into the knowledge inheritance of the Void Realm. The stronger and more numerous sorcerers were, the better the sorcerer world developed.
Yet on a timescale of a single century, the relationship among sorcerers was unquestionably one of 'competition over interests'! The stronger they were, the truer this held!
Take the Senluo Wasteland, for instance. Before the emergence of the Four Pillar Cult, the three strongest sects in the wasteland were the three that possessed Legendary Sorcerers! If the wasteland had only had a single Legendary Sorcerer, their sect could have easily flattened half of Senluo!
No matter how important the Void Realm was, sorcerers ultimately had to compete in reality!
Furthermore, through the issue of feeding three-winged sorcery spirits, Yaxiu vaguely realized that for a Legendary Sorcerer to sustain four-winged sorcery spirits, they might genuinely need to rely on an organized faction to manage it.
Interestingly enough, the Lake Light Manual, Time Manual, and Spectre Manual all mentioned that feeding sorcery spirits back in their day had been quite troublesome. Different spirits required different food materials, and if the proper food couldn't be found, the spirit would literally starve to death. However, when fed through that method, the intervals between feedings could be stretched out quite far, without the need for daily feedings.
The Round Cicada was an excellent example: it only needed to drink the water of the Flowing Gold River produced by all things in the world, requiring no additional feeding whatsoever.
Modern sorcerers, by contrast, fed their spirits almost exclusively with gold and silver coins. While far simpler and more convenient, it required feedings nearly every day, and three-winged and four-winged sorcery spirits had an enormous demand for gold coins, making them true gold-devouring beasts.
Clearly, in the era of the three angels, sorcery spirits could not be fed with gold and silver; they didn't even regard gold and silver as wealth. Previously, Yaxiu might have skimmed past this, but after learning about blank concepts, a thought couldn't help but strike him—could there be a blank concept that had been inscribed with the rule 'sorcery spirits can be fed with gold and silver'?
Yet whether in ancient times or modern, Legendary Sorcerers inevitably had to amass resources through organized factions to sustain their spirits. And whenever organizations were involved, it inevitably came down to the distribution of power!
The more Sanctuary Sorcerers the Spectre Prophet killed in his inheritance, the easier things would be for his successor in reality;
the more geniuses the Spectre Prophet slaughtered in his inheritance, the fewer challenges his successor would face in the future!
In fact, the Spectre Secret Key—a guaranteed drop at Stage 20—might itself be a trap. If sorcerers believed they could quit the inheritance at any moment with the Spectre Secret Key and boldly took on the challenge, they stood a huge chance of dying abruptly to Soul-Tethering Dream and Return of the Soul to Youth!
Even more likely, he simply didn't want future generations of sorcerers to have it easy, aiming to trap and butcher as many Sanctuary Sorcerers as possible!
The inheritance showcased only the Spectre Prophet's deep mastery of the soul faction, but this sinister scheming of giving only to take away certainly lived up to his title as a Prophet!
Little Sword Princess climbed off him. Once Yaxiu stood up, she suddenly reached toward his face. Yaxiu instinctively shrank back, thinking the little tigress was about to throw another tantrum.
Yet Little Sword Princess merely placed her hand against his cheek and asked, "You're not lying to us, are you?"
"Of course not," Yaxiu smiled. "Because you're so smart, you'd catch me if I lied. I wouldn't dare lie to you."
Little Sword Princess lowered her head and fell silent for a moment. Suddenly, she caressed his cheek, leaned close, and blew a gentle breath onto it.
"Pain, pain, fly away~"
Then she put her hands on her hips, puffed out her chest proudly, her little face flushed red, and huffed, "If I find out you're playing a prank on me, I'll catch you, and then..."
"And then you'll sit on me and beat me up." Yaxiu raised both hands in surrender. "Don't worry, there's no escape for me."
Yaxiu turned around, preparing to paint his 'masterpiece of the ages,' when his sleeve was tugged.
"What is it?"
Little Sword Princess held onto his sleeve, her lips twitching, looking thoroughly embarrassed and anxious. She mumbled a few words in a tiny voice. Yaxiu didn't catch them, so he leaned in and asked, "What did you say?"
"I don't know how..." Little Sword Princess glanced sideways at the Little Witch and Little Weise, her voice barely a whisper. "I don't know how to paint."
Yaxiu understood. "Then why didn't you ask them to teach you?"
"They..." Little Sword Princess muttered, "they look..."
Unable to give a clear explanation, she bared her fangs and claws again, putting up a fierce front to mask her insecurity: "Are you going to teach me or not?"
Yaxiu considered it. "I can teach you, but you should at least fix your attitude and beg me, right?"
Though he had just taken a wild beating from Little Sword Princess, Yaxiu naturally wouldn't hold a grudge against her. Making this demand was merely to knock her down a peg so teaching her to paint later would be much easier. To get a child to study properly, one had to first establish authority so they would listen—this was Yaxiu's pedagogical experience from training his little nephew back in the day.
However, Little Sword Princess's face darkened drastically. Throwing down a sharp retort, she spun around and walked off. "Fine, don't teach me then!"
She didn't go to the others, walking straight to her own whiteboard instead. She raised her finger and stared at the whiteboard for a long time, hesitating, still not daring to make a mark.
She stole a glance back at Yaxiu. Realizing he was still watching her, she hurriedly snapped her little head back, pretending nothing had happened.
He really had no idea how such a stubborn and sensitive little girl could grow up into a smooth, impeccably tactful social butterfly... Yaxiu scratched his head and walked over helplessly.
Sure enough, there was no escaping it.
Chapter 647