Their Respective Reasons

"A strange painting, strange people." The little blond boy stood before the whiteboard with a look of confusion. In front of him was the whiteboard drawing he had just finished. In the painting were three figures walking through a dense, tangled jungle, advancing toward a glowing Tower of Babel in the distance. Vaguely discernible wild beasts and monsters, an unknown land of secrets—it was the very picture of a fantastical adventure. Walking at the very back was a dark-skinned young man with curly hair wearing shackles. Dressed in a trench coat and tall boots, he didn't seem particularly special at first glance, but a faintly visible, beautiful ghost embraced him from behind. Sinister yet brimming with the aesthetics of life, he was likely the team's ace. Walking in the middle was a handsome blond young man wearing a frock coat adorned with numerous pockets. Despite trekking through a jungle, he wore an impeccably tailored formal outfit. Clutching a treasure map in his hand, he gazed toward the distant Tower of Babel. He was definitely the soul of the team. Walking at the very front was an ordinary-looking black-haired young man. Pointing forward, he had turned back toward the other two and seemed to be saying something in high spirits, but his foot was tripped by a tree root, his balance tipping as if he were about to fall—clearly the comic relief of the group. What caught the boy's attention even more was a black crow perched in a jungle tree, watching them. Was it some kind of omen of death? However... The little boy looked at the blond young man in the painting. Although the latter appeared expressionless, the light in his eyes, the relaxation in his shoulders, and the careless ease with which he turned his back to the others all proved that his heart was free of worry and gloom, that he was comfortably enjoying this journey. The little boy naturally knew that this blond young man was his grown-up self. That was why he found it so strange: how could he possibly be so relaxed when there were others around? Could the dark-skinned guy and the comic relief both be mental slaves he had already brought under his control? Yet even with slaves, one should still maintain a shred of vigilance. In this world, how could there possibly be someone you didn't need to doubt? How could there possibly be a version of himself who gave complete trust? "Still... an adventure?" The little boy looked at the Tower of Babel in the jungle, a glimmer of longing welling in his eyes. Leaving behind vulgar society, exploring unknown mysteries, and dominating two draft-horse slaves to use as cannon fodder... If this was what the future held, perhaps growing up wouldn't be such a bad thing after all. *And here I thought life would only ever be this hard.* At that moment, the whiteboard dissolved into a wisp of soul mist and merged into his soul. A moment later, Igola opened his eyes and looked at the three reward orbs of light that appeared beside him. Yes, he had lied to Yaxiu and the others; his exploration progress through the Ghost Inheritance had actually already passed Stage 30. After all, with Qikala and Gwen around, he couldn't reveal everything completely. Even though Qikala was a slave, he still had to maintain that shred of vigilance. Regardless of trust, the deceiver was accustomed to holding something back from everyone. Igola didn't hesitate, immediately selecting the reward "Return of the Soul to Youth." This wasn't the first time he had picked this reward, so he knew that undergoing Return of the Soul to Youth multiple times actually carried risks. This time, he had reverted to when he was eight years old, but the last time had been eight and a half, and the time before that, nine. The more one underwent Return of the Soul to Youth, the greater the regression. Once it crossed past an age where one couldn't care for oneself, the sorcerer would become a sacrifice in this youth reversion. Yet Igola had no other choice. He wanted the Ghost Inheritance more than anyone else, because it was the only path forward for him. Both he and Harvey were defective goods who had forcibly promoted to Sanctuary using Cursed Seven-Colored Tail Feathers, the price being that their sorcery power channels to the fourth layer of the Void Realm were completely closed. Simply put, even if their sorcery attainment reached the legendary level in the future, they would never be able to summon Four-Wing sorcery spirits through Void Realm resonance, and naturally, they would never be able to open the Gate of Truth to Ruby Mountain. Their path ahead was severed. Igola had also assumed he could go no further than Sanctuary. In fact, for a death row inmate who had still been undergoing reform in Shattered Lake Prison just months ago, this was already an unimaginable achievement. Even before going to prison, Igola had never dared to dream of becoming a Sanctuary sorcerer. Yet he was a deceiver—a greedy deceiver, an insatiable deceiver, a deceiver who could never be satisfied. When the Ghost Inheritance appeared, Igola knew this was his only chance. Even if he still couldn't break through to Legendary, with the Ghost Inheritance, he could definitely possess Legendary combat strength! Igola was different from Harvey. He was merely a genius with some talent in the mind faction, whereas Harvey was a monster of the necromancy faction. Back in Shattered Lake Prison, Harvey might have been nothing more than a moderately talented necromancer. But at some point, perhaps from the deepest reaches of the Void Realm, or perhaps from the darkest corners of his own heart, he had unearthed a treasure that transformed him completely. "Talent" could no longer describe his potential; in his own words, he had thoroughly become a running dog of Häagen-Dazs—he was no longer human. If Harvey found a way to bypass the curse and advance to Legendary, Igola wouldn't be too surprised. And even if Harvey remained trapped at Sanctuary, once he unlocked the "Blood Moon Corpse King" unit, he would naturally possess Legendary combat strength—something a deceiver could never rival. Igola was different from Yaxiu as well. Or rather, Yaxiu was different from everyone. Igola had long since realized that that fool who seemed a bit goofy would sooner or later ascend to the pinnacle of sorcery. Ruby Mountain might not even be his finish line. And what about himself? Igola didn't possess Yaxiu's secrets, nor Harvey's potential. The only thing he was good at was seizing opportunities. And the Ghost Inheritance happened to be his best opportunity. Leaving aside how closely related the mind faction and soul faction already were, what mattered even more was that back in the Gospel, Igola had received Burdette's Domination faction inheritance! As for the Domination faction, it was originally a secondary sorcery created by human sorcerers mimicking the soul faction because they were incapable of awakening the elves' soul faction! Still, even though it was considered a secondary sorcery, through its development the Domination faction had become no inferior to the mind or soul factions—just as all physical arts factions originated from the fist-and-claw faction, yet fist-and-claw's strength was now ranked only in the second tier. Proficient in both mind and Domination, Igola took to the Ghost Inheritance like a fish to water. In just a few days, he had advanced unstoppably past Stage 30, and then repeatedly farmed "Return of the Soul to Youth," seizing every opportunity to elevate his soul aptitude. The deceiver wasn't arrogant enough to believe he was progressing the fastest. There were far too many mind sorcerers in this world, not to mention soul sorcerers—Annan's mother, Qinna, was a Soul Sanctuary sorcerer! In the end, he was only an illegal border-crosser of a mind sorcerer. Strength, talent, experience—in every aspect, he fell short of true Mind Sanctuaries. And this Ghost Inheritance was a trial open to all Sanctuary sorcerers, with only a single victor. It was only natural that he might not win. Yet... Igola glanced at the wall behind him. The whiteboard had vanished without a trace, but that painting from earlier seemed still etched into his pupils. *Life won't always be this hard.* *So, I must keep up with them.* *** Gospel Land, Yisu Imperial Palace. Lisi opened her eyes, sat up, and glanced at Annan beside her. Then she hopped out of bed and ran barefoot to the bathroom. *Shhh—* After peeing, Lisi ran barefoot back to bed, squeezed into Annan's soft embrace, and drifted back to sleep. White Queen: "Lisi, how many times have I told you? No bare feet, wear slippers!" Lisi: "Mm-hmm." Black Butler: "Agrees every time, never changes." Red Apostle: "Rebellious phase." Lisi: "Hmph, and who was it that said I could see Papa once every five days~?" White Queen: "We've been clearing the Ghost Inheritance these past few days. Taking you along is too dangerous." Lisi: "I don't care! You older sisters get to see Papa every day, but I don't even get once every five days! I don't like you anymore! I'm running away from home!" The Witch sisters: "...?" The more Lisi thought about it, the angrier she got. She jumped out of bed, walked barefoot out of the bedchamber, ignored the maids calling out "Her Majesty the Empress," and trotted all the way to a small palace gate. Pushing against the gate with all her might, she declared, "I'm leaving!" White Queen: "Mhm, go right ahead." Lisi: "I'm really leaving!" Black Butler: "Goodbye, safe travels." Lisi: "I... I can't push the gate open." Red Apostle: "I'll help you." *Thud.* The small palace gate was shoved open by sheer force. The guards noticed the disturbance, but upon checking the surveillance monitors and seeing Her Majesty the Empress wandering in the night, they naturally didn't dare intervene. Looking at the street outside the palace gate, Lisi blinked. "I... I don't have anywhere to stay." White Queen: "If you have nowhere to stay, why run away from home? Go back and wash your feet!" Lisi stiffened her neck. "I don't like my big sisters anymore!" Black Butler: "So are you running away or not?" Lisi puffed up in a huff: "I... I don't like my big sisters anymore!" Diya: "But your big sisters like you. Go back and wash your feet, and we'll take you to see Papa in a few days, okay?" Lisi nodded, finally willing to head back obediently. The White Queen had originally wanted to use this opportunity to dampen Lisi's rebellious arrogance—Lisi had been growing increasingly brazen lately. But now that Diya had spoiled it, there was nothing to be done. Once Lisi was fast asleep, they began examining the several sorcery spirits they had just acquired, and then proceeded to test out the miracle. Riot sorcery spirit! Target sorcery spirit! Linked Hearts sorcery spirit! Miracle: Overcoming the Superior! Although this was a Domination faction miracle, what was extraordinary was that its target was not a living being—and that was precisely why the Witch had insisted on obtaining this sorcery inheritance! Because its targets were sorcery spirits! As the miracle activated toward her soul, most of the Witch's sorcery spirits began glowing with a red light. Now, not only did the spirits take on a more ferocious appearance, but they were also immune to the oppressive pressure of higher-rank sorcery spirits and could launch attacks against them! This was the wonder of Overcoming the Superior: by arming lower-rank sorcery spirits and driving them to beat up higher-rank sorcery spirits, it forced the higher-rank spirits into servitude without consuming sorcery power. Although a higher-rank spirit might only provide service a few times a day, it nevertheless allowed a sorcerer to use sorcery spirits beyond their rank! However, this sorcery inheritance was incomplete, because Overcoming the Superior required another miracle—Coercing the Sovereign—to allow the sorcerer to forcibly incorporate a higher-rank sorcery spirit into their soul. Yet Diya had no need for that step, because the sorcery spirit she wanted to overcome had been loafing stubbornly inside her soul all along, refusing to leave. She looked at the sorcery spirit that took up the most room in her soul, seemingly housing a miniature world within—the Fairy Tale sorcery spirit. Hidden inside the Fairy Tale sorcery spirit's miniature world were the Gospel god and the Soul Summoning sorcery spirit. With a thought from Diya, her sorcery spirits swarmed around the Fairy Tale sorcery spirit, no longer incapable of even drawing near as they had been before. At that moment, the Gospel god seemed to sense something. It raised its head slightly, causing ripples to spread through Diya's soul, whereupon the sorcery spirits affected by Overcoming the Superior halted in succession, unable to carry their rebellion any further. Although Overcoming the Superior had failed, the Witch sisters were not the least bit discouraged; on the contrary, they were energized! The Gospel god's reaction proved that Overcoming the Superior was indeed a threat to it; otherwise, it would never have voluntarily leaked its aura to cow the other sorcery spirits! Besides, this was only Diya's first time using Overcoming the Superior, and there was plenty of room for improvement. Once she perfected Overcoming the Superior and successfully subdued the Gospel spirit, even if she revealed the truth that she was Lisi Diya and lost the protection of the Secret-Keeping Authority, she would still be able to restrict the Gospel god and prevent it from polluting her soul! Even though Diya had no experience in the Domination faction, she had no need to research it herself. Summoning the Gospel Book and expending a large amount of points, she inquired: "How can I use my existing resources to improve Overcoming the Superior so that my sorcery spirits can undermine and hold the Gospel god hostage?" Ripples washed across the pages of the Gospel Book, as if it were hesitating. In the end, however, it produced a plan: "Deploy Rage sorcery spirit, Grudge sorcery spirit, Defying Death sorcery spirit... to construct the new miracle 'Mutinous Overcoming,' effective against the Gospel god." It would work! Diya couldn't help feeling thrilled. She had finally found the dawn of breaking free from the mortal threat of the Gospel god! The reason she had been able to house the Gospel god until now without having her personality rewritten was that the Secret-Keeping Authority protected her soul. But to maintain the Secret-Keeping Authority, she couldn't disclose to Yaxiu that she was Lisi Diya, and could only build a new intimate relationship with him from scratch. Yet as long as she could conquer the Gospel god, she would be able to openly confess that Lisi Diya was the Witch! Once Yaxiu returned to the Gospel, she could keep him by her side fair and square! She could even lock him up so he wouldn't go to the Starry Kingdom! White Queen: "Then, besides perfecting Overcoming the Superior, our next goal is..." Black Butler: "Seize the blank concept at the end of the Ghost Inheritance and create a law allowing Yaxiu to return from Senluo to the Gospel." Red Apostle: "Claiming the Ghost Inheritance won't be easy." Diya: "Still easier than snatching something from Sword Princess." The Witch sisters chimed in with agreement: "True enough." *** Senluo Wasteland. In the wilderness of deep night, a Flame White Tiger paced slowly, its blazing fire scorching the darkness into relentless retreat. Weise slowly opened her eyes. She sat up, covering her face, the Strangling Green collar around her neck trembling faintly. Squirrel, Lizard, Snake—the grand laws crawled out from all around to show their concern, and even the Square Cicada emerged, fluttering in front of her. "I'm fine," Weise said, waving a hand. "Just a bit embar... awkward." "I never thought I'd expose what I was like as a child. Even less did I think that he would actually be like Wei'ounei... As expected of him." "Still, the Ghost Inheritance..." She lifted her head and looked into the pitch-black night. "If I can obtain the blank concept..." she murmured softly, "would that painting of mine turn out differently?"