Looking at Little Weise's delighted face, smeared with snot and tears, Yaxiu gave a gentle nod and wiped her little cheeks with his sleeve.
"Wei'ounei didn't lie to you. Everyone will reunite in the Void Realm sooner or later."
Yaxiu understood all too well why Wei'ounei had said that.
Birth, aging, sickness, and death were fundamentally unbearable agonies in human life, whether experienced by oneself or witnessed in those around them.
Yaxiu had actually reached the age where he had to confront parting with blood relatives. His mother's health had always been poor, so thin that people wondered how she had ever managed to raise two mischievous brothers, and while he was in college, his father had been hospitalized once for a myocardial infarction.
Yet it wasn't until Yaxiu returned home at the end of the term that his older brother casually mentioned a word or two about their parents' condition. It was during those holidays that Yaxiu gradually realized his parents were growing old.
The memory-hogging junk apps on their phones, the QR codes required for buying anything outdoors, the phone forms needed for neighborhood committee filings, the official accounts required to book hospital appointments, how to select TV channels on the set-top box... Even Yaxiu found some of the steps annoying, not to mention issues with network lag and phone memory freezing. His parents asked countless times about things that seemed simple to Yaxiu, and Yaxiu patiently taught them countless times.
Yet it was only for the holidays. Once school resumed, Yaxiu headed back. After graduating from college, he chose to stay and work in the big city, far from home and far from his parents.
That was why he had always been deeply grateful to his older brother and sister-in-law. If parents were a buffer zone protecting children from death, then for Yaxiu, his brother and sister-in-law were the buffer zone keeping bad news at bay.
Back when Yaxiu was changing jobs, he had received several offers, including comfortable positions at companies where people clocked out on time and drifted peacefully toward retirement. In the end, however, he chose a mobile gaming company where "only one could keep beating: your heart or your performance metrics"—all to make money.
Because money was the only thing he had left to repay his parents.
However, ever since his nephew was born, his parents' health had grown better and better; instead, it was Yaxiu who went and kicked the bucket first. His nephew would probably feel quite a bit of regret. After all, though that "mysterious uncle from the big city whose job no one understood" gave him harsh thrashings, the red envelopes he handed out were packed with real, substantial cash.
His father probably wouldn't change much. Having once served in the military, their doorway still bore a plaque reading "Glorious Family," untouched by superstition. His mother was another story, though. Ever since his maternal grandmother passed away, she had turned to Buddhism; right now, she was probably chanting sutras and praying for him, hoping he would be reincarnated into a good family in his next life.
Even in a world without a single miracle, people still needed to seek an ethereal mental solace. How much more so in a world of sorcerers overflowing with miracles? Most people were not strong enough to bear hardships alone, let alone a little girl who had not even learned how to take care of herself.
Besides, wasn't there really a chance it was possible?
"So you need to draw properly. That way, Wei'ounei will be happy, too."
Though Yaxiu's words lacked any real logic, Little Weise wasn't particularly sharp right now either. She answered cheerfully, "Okay!"
Reassured, Yaxiu returned to his own whiteboard to paint. He gave it a try and found that painting with the soul was exceedingly difficult. Even though he could control the shade and stroke thickness at will, a momentary lapse of concentration would turn the work into an unintelligible blob. It required total, undivided focus.
He glanced at the others and noticed they were all drawing intently. Even Little Weise, who had just been sniffling and crying, wasn't slacking off in the slightest. As expected of genius sorcerers, he mused.
Nearly an hour passed before everyone finished. When Yaxiu went over to view their creations, his spirit received a massive shock.
First was Little Sword Princess's piece. In theory, hers should have been the easiest, as she only needed to draw two people.
Yet had Yaxiu not known beforehand that they were supposed to be human beings, he would have suspected two Fishcleaver Dragons had turned into spirits—why on earth were their faces so sharp and pointy?!
To make matters worse, Little Sword Princess wore a supremely confident expression, the cowlick atop her head practically standing straight up, her face filled with anticipation as she awaited Yaxiu's critique. Yaxiu could only squeeze out: "Very energetic!"
Next was the Little Witch's painting. Looking at the few stick figures on the whiteboard, Yaxiu couldn't even tell male from female. Technique aside, the lack of effort was glaringly obvious.
Confronted by Yaxiu's questioning gaze, the Little Witch pondered for a moment and said, "Sorry, let me touch it up."
She added a stroke to one of the stick figure's faces, creating a wildly roguish stick figure, and asked, "Doesn't this look more like you?"
Bereft of hope, Yaxiu stepped over to look at Little Weise's work, only for his eyes to light up in surprise. Although it was still essentially graffiti, one could at least make out detailed content. On the left was a female sorcerer, while on the right lay chaos, darkness, ruins, and celestial fire. With just a few strokes, she had outlined the aura of destruction looming over the world. Judging by the composition, the theme of this painting had to be—
"Did you want to save the world?" Yaxiu asked in surprise.
Little Weise looked somewhat bewildered and sniffled. "Did I?"
"Hey!" Little Sword Princess called Yaxiu over, pointing at his painting. "Is this me?"
"What about me, what about me?" the Little Witch asked curiously. "Where am I?"
Compared to theirs, although Yaxiu's painting was hardly a masterpiece, he had at least captured physical features and perspective. Sword Princess and Witch quickly found themselves within it. Little Weise also stepped closer in curiosity: "Am I in there?"
Yaxiu pointed to the girl sitting on the tree stump. "You're right here."
Little Weise stared at it for a long while before suddenly saying, "Thank you!"
"Why thank me?"
"Because whenever I drew Wei'ounei, Wei'ounei would thank me," Little Weise said earnestly. "So I want to thank you too."
Before Yaxiu could reply, all four whiteboards began to tremble, dissolving into plumes of soul mist that surged straight into their souls.
*Pop! Pop! Pop!* Yaxiu felt as though an enormous heap of popping candy had been stuffed into his soul. Amid the incessant crackling, knowledge regarding the soul faction burst continuously within his mind. A sudden realization dawned upon him—among the four of them, his gains might very well be the lowest.
The rewards of this trial had nothing to do with the artistic completion of the painting; as long as the challenger carried out the deliberate action of painting earnestly, they could clear the stage. What this trial truly trained was the "malleable soul" of a sorcerer in a naive, ignorant state after experiencing the Return of the Soul to Youth.
A worldly, jaded adult like Yaxiu, who retained his complete memories, naturally had terrible malleability and gained very little from it. In contrast, Sword Princess and the other two had successfully regressed, returning to innocent, lovely children. After passing this trial, their soul faction experience and soul aptitude would both increase substantially!
Yaxiu felt no regret over this outcome, however; in fact, he was delighted. After all, he couldn't cultivate on his own anyway, so an increase in soul aptitude was largely meaningless to him. Furthermore, he had been a terrible troublemaker in his youth; had he fully regressed, he probably wouldn't have been able to pass this stage at all.
A moment later, Yaxiu opened his eyes to find that Sword Princess, Witch, and Weise had all returned to their normal forms. Their childhood trial pass had officially expired.
Their expressions were varied. Sonia strove to keep a straight face, but her shifting gaze avoided Yaxiu's eyes. Diya remained in a daze, seemingly discussing what had just happened with her fellow Witch sisters. Weise's expression, however, was exceptionally strange; she looked at Yaxiu with an indescribable emotion in her eyes.
Still, their reactions were entirely understandable. Having their naive, childish sides exposed like that was practically social suicide. Not daring to tease them, Yaxiu pointed at the spheres of light and said, "The rewards this time seem rather unusual."
After clearing Stage 35, the reward still presented three options, but every single one was something they had never seen before.
The yellow sphere of light on the far left was none other than an "Opportunity for Return of the Soul to Youth." In other words, if they didn't choose this, the next time they reached Stage 35, it would no longer be the Return of the Soul to Youth trial, but would be replaced by something else.
Some might wonder: wouldn't that be better? Yet having experienced the Return of the Soul to Youth, the four of them clearly knew how massive their gains had been in this trial. They could clearly sense that their soul faction aptitudes had risen significantly.
This trial was simultaneously a reward.
There was no need to dwell on how crucial aptitude was. Setting aside the top-tier sorcery aptitudes of Sword Princess, Witch, and Weise, an ordinary person without talent could at most reach the Silver rank.
Strictly speaking, however, even outstanding aptitude could only carry a sorcerer to the Gold rank. A realm like Sanctuary no longer tested raw talent, but rather whether a sorcerer could distill extraordinary insight from life and the Void Realm to break through the bottlenecks of sorcery.
Legendary was even further beyond. They could no longer be described by whether their talent was good or bad; or rather, talent held little meaning for a Legendary. The term "Legendary Sorcerer" described not merely power, but the sorcerer themselves.
To achieve a legend in sorcery, one had to become a legend oneself.
Only a legendary, epic life could forge a comprehension that transcended all living beings.
Even so, the soul faction was an exclusive art in which only elves possessed innate talent, not to mention that the Spectre Inheritance specifically tested the soul faction. If they could undergo the Return of the Soul to Youth several more times to raise their aptitudes, the benefits would be immense!
Yet Diya suddenly pointed at the white sphere of light in the center. "I want this one!"
Yaxiu and the others were somewhat surprised.
In their memory, this was the first time Witch had ever taken the initiative to request a piece of loot, so Yaxiu agreed immediately: "All right!"
Sword Princess and Weise raised no objections either.
Among the three rewards, the one with the highest value was unquestionably the "Opportunity for Return of the Soul to Youth." In theory, they could use it to farm soul aptitude infinitely, and if they didn't pick it now, they would never have another chance at the Return of the Soul to Youth unless the reward appeared again in other stages.
Yet if it meant truly turning back into children once more, none of them were willing.
Weise even secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She had just been racking her brain for an excuse to prevent them from choosing that reward. She was the one who could least afford to turn into a child; she had nearly exposed her secrets moments earlier.
Still, their surprise at Witch's request didn't linger. After all, the white sphere of light in the center contained a sorcery inheritance that included a three-winged sorcery spirit!
The sphere of light on the far right was also a sorcery inheritance, but both of these inheritances were at most of the Legendary rank and could hardly compare to the Spectre Inheritance. They were likely spoils picked up by the Spectre Prophet during his adventures; unable to integrate them into his own sorcery system, he had simply tossed them into the ordinary rewards.
The Spectre Prophet's approach was completely normal. It was just like playing a game and obtaining low-level gear that didn't match one's rank: useless to equip and unable to fetch a good selling price, so one might as well hand them out as prizes to kids.
The sorcery inheritance Witch had chosen was called "Overcoming the Superior"!
Chapter 651