The four walked into the basement. In the center of the vast training hall sat a coffin carved with bizarre, eerie patterns. Stepping closer, they found that it had been sealed shut with nails, preventing anyone from easily prying it open.
Aisha and Yadas looked toward Dimi. Caressing the relief on the coffin lid with an expressionless face, Dimi said calmly, "These are necromantic patterns. Only a necromancer would craft a coffin like this."
The Shield Princess tapped lightly on the coffin, closing her eyes to feel for a moment before speaking. "There are three people inside... or three corpses. Your little brother..."
"There shouldn't be any systematic way to study the necromancy school in our country," Dimi said. "He probably obtained an inheritance from a necromancer in the Void Realm."
"And what about the bodies?" Yadas raised an eyebrow, sneering. "Did he make them himself, or did he rob a graveyard? Don't tell me they belong to your Vosloda ancestors?"
"I will conduct a thorough investigation," Dimi said earnestly. "Though I believe Felix wouldn't commit murder... if he desecrated and stole corpses, I will make him pay the price for his actions."
Looking at the coffin, Sonia recalled how Yaxiu had repeatedly mentioned his necromancer friend. So there really was an idiot who ran around lugging a coffin everywhere. All along, she had assumed Yaxiu was exaggerating.
"Well, the only place around here big enough to hide someone is this coffin." Aisha pulled out an illuminator and shone it onto the casket. "Checking this means our trip wasn't for nothing."
This illuminator was a compact device designed to detect sorcery power fluctuations—a heterochromatic lamp. The grand detection network that relied on the stars could only detect legendary sorcerers when they channeled heterochromatic sorcery power; if a legendary sorcerer remained docile and refrained from using it, the grand detection network would overlook them as an ordinary sample.
Hence the need for the heterochromatic lamp. Its beam was penetrating; once it hit a legendary sorcerer, whether they were actively channeling heterochromatic sorcery power or not, the lamp would cause various hues to manifest. The mission of the Sanctuary squads was to illuminate every suspicious individual and potential hiding spot. If any abnormal color appeared, it meant they had hit the jackpot—or, rather, stumbled into mortal danger.
Under the glow of the heterochromatic lamp, no color manifested inside the coffin. The three corpses within bore no trace of heterochromatic sorcery power.
"Let's go," Sonia said, nudging Aisha away. "Now that we've checked it, let's head back up."
"Are you even scared of coffins?" Aisha teased with a laugh. "Junior, you're way too timid! That's going to hold back your growth as a sorcerer. I've got a collection of horror movies; we should watch them together sometime to toughen you up..."
As they returned up the passage, Sonia's thoughts raced. Could the three bodies inside the coffin be Yaxiu and his companions?
That made sense. This was Felix's home. As long as they sealed themselves inside a coffin, no Sanctuary sorcerer would insist on tearing it open to inspect it. Although the necromancy school was frowned upon in the Stars, it wasn't illegal. Could the second son of a duke not even have the freedom to cultivate necromancy?
Yet there was still a question: Yaxiu, like her, should have condensed heterochromatic sorcery power. How did he conceal his colors under the lamp? Ah—the Colorless Dream Secret Poison!
Sonia's eyes gradually brightened. Of course! She could use the Colorless Dream Secret Poison to convert heterochromatic sorcery power back into ten-colored sorcery power, and Yaxiu could naturally do the same! In this way, Yaxiu could hide his identity as a legendary sorcerer and escape this encirclement unscathed!
He only needed to hold out for a few more days until Witch arrived, and then he could leave. Sonia wouldn't need to fight her way out of Kaelis with him, and she could keep her status and standing in the Starry Kingdom.
Even so, the village girl had already made up her mind: within six months at most, she would head to the Gospel Country.
When the time came, either Witch Diya would develop a stable, hidden space gate connecting the two nations—allowing Sonia to continue building her career in the Stars—or Sonia would arrange for her mother's future and smuggle herself straight into Gospel to start a new life with Yaxiu!
If Sonia had been wavering before tonight due to Yaxiu's persuasion, weathering the night's relentless twists and turns had made her truly understand her own heart. What she currently possessed was undeniably precious, and she was willing to protect it as much as possible, but the presence of the one who mattered most warranted unwavering resolve at any cost.
Returning above ground, Sonia turned to look at the starry sky outside the window and drew a deep breath. A wave of refreshing clarity washed over her. The whole world seemed so bright, and her entire posture relaxed.
The other three naturally noticed that the moment she returned to the ground floor, she shifted from a tense combat stance back into a relaxed, lovely young woman. They thought to themselves that the Paw-Stretching Swordmaster truly feared subterranean places.
"All right, once we finish checking the remaining rooms, we can leave," Sonia instructed in a light, cheerful tone.
The four switched on their heterochromatic lamps, moving from room to room to shine them into closets and cabinets, not even sparing the toilets or refrigerators.
While Aisha and Yadas took charge of inspecting the ground floor, Sonia and Dimi went up to the second floor. When the eldest young master of the Vosloda clan inspected the kitchen, a look of surprise crossed his face. "Felix was here during the day?"
Sonia glanced over and saw food scraps in the trash can; their freshness indicated they had been discarded not long ago.
That was right.
The Sword Princess suddenly remembered—where was Felix?
Yaxiu and the others needed to hide, but Felix didn't. Where had he gone?
There were three bedrooms on the second floor. Sonia opened Guest Room One: empty. Dimi opened Guest Room Two: empty.
As Dimi moved toward the master bedroom, Sonia beat him to it. She gripped the doorknob, pushed it down, swung the door open, and looked inside.
The master bedroom naturally offered the finest view in the villa. The ceiling featured an angled skylight fitted with an exterior prism mechanism, flooding every inch of the room with cascading starlight. The wardrobe, the floor, the bed—every physical object was draped in a diaphanous veil of starlight, making it feel as though one were immersed in the cosmos.
Amidst this serene, dreamlike scene, the blonde sitting on the bed was unmistakably the sole focal point under the starlight. Long golden hair spilled over her shoulders, and her cherry lips were moist and vivid. Her legs were covered beneath the quilt, while her upper body was clad in a sheer, translucent nightgown. Her full, heavy bust strained the delicate fabric into an astonishing contour, tapering down to a slender waist that could be circled with one hand. Both hands were gloved in long white silk, giving her the appearance of a sleeping princess nestled within the starry skies.
As the door opened, she opened her eyes as well, looking disoriented as if she had just returned from the Void Realm. But in the next instant, her expression morphed into sheer panic. She grabbed the pillow beside her and hurled it toward the door!
"Ah—!"
A shriek loud enough to shatter the glass windows pierced the night. Outside the door, Dimi scrambled to explain, "We're here to search for legendary—"
Felix's furious scream tore through the entire villa. "You... how dare you—get the hell out!"
Backing away, Dimi stammered, "Felix, could it really be you—"
"Get out! I don't want to see you! And if any of you dare breathe a word of this, I'll... I'll—"
"We will never speak a word of it!" Dimi replied with sudden, dead seriousness. "I swear to you on my name as your elder brother!"
"Drop dead! Drop dead, drop dead!"
By the time Sonia and Dimi returned to the ground floor, Aisha and Yadas had already rushed over. Aisha looked thrilled. "I heard a woman's voice! Did you catch Felix in the middle of a rendezvous?! Did you take pictures?"
Sonia glanced at Dimi and shook her head. "We caught Felix, but she wasn't fooling around."
Aisha blinked. "(?)"
Dimi said, "Let us leave first."
The group exited the villa. Dimi turned to face everyone, his tone deeply earnest. "I do not know why Felix chose to conceal her gender, nor do I know why Father... but even if it is an unreasonable request on my part, I beg of you all, please do not reveal this to anyone.
"This has nothing to do with noble prestige; this is my plea as an elder brother." Dimi bowed deeply to the three of them.
The three exchanged glances. Yadas was the first to speak. "I have no interest in gossiping about the messy personal lives of nobles."
"Though I usually run my mouth..." Aisha mimed zipping her lips. "When it comes to someone's private reputation, I won't blab."
"Felix is my friend, as well as my junior... well, junior sister now," Sonia said with a smile. "Of course I won't expose her secret.
"Still, you two don't seem to get along very well. Once she calms down tomorrow, I can help talk to her for you."
Dimi bowed once more. "Thank you all so much for your understanding."
"Let's get going," Aisha laughed. "Even if we didn't catch Felix messing around, this bombshell is just as explosive as catching you in bed with someone, Dimi. Too bad we can't tell anyone."
Sonia pressed the communicator in her ear to report: [Sanctuary Squad Five has completed the search of the designated area. Nothing found.]
Soon, a reply echoed in their minds: [Please return to the forward command post and await further orders.]
They did not unfurl their void wings, choosing instead to walk back at a normal pace so as not to disrupt the searches of the other Sanctuary squads.
Noticing that Sonia kept glancing back at Felix's villa, Aisha sidled up and whispered, "Did you never notice Felix was a girl before?"
"Never," Sonia said. "After all, there were so many rumors about her having girlfriends... Ah, no wonder she always refused Senior Celia. That explains it."
"What does she look like?" Aisha asked curiously. "Though, since she looked so handsome in men's clothes, her real appearance must be stunning."
"A very beautiful blonde girl with an amazing figure. My roommate has an identical sheer nightgown, but she couldn't pull off looking anywhere near that sultry. I have no idea how she usually bound her chest," Sonia recalled aloud. "And..."
The Sword Princess glanced back toward the second-floor window in the distance, a strange, blood-red glint flickering in her ruby eyes. "Felix has remarkably long legs."
***
*Fooled them!*
Inside the master bedroom of the villa, Felix peeked out from behind the window. Watching the Sanctuary squad vanish around the corner, she let out a long breath. Her knees gave out, and she collapsed directly onto the carpet.
She had actually survived it!
Felix never imagined she could successfully conceal three fugitives in the middle of a dragnet for legendary intruders! Tonight had been a harrowing ordeal for her as well.
First, those two scoundrels Yaxiu and Igola had bitten the hand that fed them, wearing her clothes, using her skincare products, and knocking her unconscious in the end. But what they didn't know was that believers of the Starry Four Pillars possessed immense resistance to mental control—enough even to contend with the willpower shackles of the Stars' Blessings.
Against a gentle mental miracle like Igola's that caused no brain damage, it had taken Felix merely tens of seconds to recover to a semi-conscious state. Still, not daring to wake up completely, she had obediently allowed Yaxiu to carry her to the bed. Only after they descended to the ground-floor living room did she fully regain her senses and use the surveillance system to eavesdrop on their conversation.
Indeed, there were two surveillance systems in the villa. Igola and his companions had dismantled the first one as soon as they entered, but the second was hidden inside the furniture, escaping their notice entirely! Of course, that surveillance setup remained vulnerable to miracles like Silence; whenever Yaxiu and the others discussed critical matters, they invariably erected a soundproof barrier, so Felix had managed to glean very little.
Yet, precisely because they were certain Felix was asleep, they hadn't put up a soundproof barrier this time, inadvertently exposing a wealth of explosive intel:
Yaxiu had dressed up so dashingly just to go on a date with someone!
Igola and Harvey had reached the Sanctuary tier through external means!
Furthermore, Yaxiu had utilized a divine miracle allowing them to continue ascending the Ruby Mountain!
Yaxiu was already a legendary sorcerer!
Yaxiu actually possessed a method to bring all three of them onto the Ruby Mountain together!
Just as Felix prepared to witness the birth of a Mind Legend and a Necromancy Legend, she realized the three fugitives had been on the Ruby Mountain for an extraordinarily long time without returning. Approaching six o'clock, a notification arrived on her primary miracle bracelet:
*The Stars are assembling Legendary and Sanctuary sorcerers to encircle and eliminate a legendary intruder in the Lonely Diamond District!*
Originally, this news had nothing to do with Felix. But three fugitives were currently in her home, and one of them was genuinely a legendary sorcerer! In a panic, she had no choice but to dial Touch Seat's private number for instructions.
Upon understanding the situation, Touch Seat instructed her to stuff Igola and Harvey into the coffin. After all, those two were only Sanctuary sorcerers and not the targets of the encirclement; hidden in a coffin in the basement, everyone would turn a blind eye out of respect for Felix Vosloda.
The biggest problem was Yaxiu. He was already a legendary sorcerer and would almost certainly trigger a heterochromatic reaction, rendering him incapable of passing any inspection.
Touch Seat indicated that Yaxiu could be hidden, but Felix would have to make a sacrifice: she had to hide Yaxiu in her own room and expose her secret as a woman, which would prompt the search team to withdraw on their own accord.
"Will the search team really withdraw just because of that?" Felix had asked skeptically. "What if they don't know who I am, or—"
"They will," Touch Seat assured her. "You will understand when the time comes."
Felix understood now, but this was the outcome she had wanted to avoid above all else—the last thing she wanted was for the Vosloda family to discover her true gender!
Yet things had already come to this, and Felix had no alternative. She could only console herself with the fact that it had worked. Sitting by the edge of the bed, still thoroughly sulking, she couldn't resist punching the human-shaped bulge under the covers.
Suddenly, Felix recalled something. She walked back over to the window and looked out, breathing a sigh of relief only after confirming that no one had turned back.
Earlier, in order to conceal Yaxiu, she had first covered him with the quilt and draped her own legs over him, hoping to bluff her way through. Judging by the result, no one had suspected that someone else was beneath the blanket.
It was just that...
Felix wasn't sure if it was merely her imagination, but when she opened her eyes, she thought she saw Sonia, the first to step through the door, casually shine the heterochromatic lamp over the quilt.
*It must have been an illusion,* Felix thought to herself. *Otherwise, why would she cover for me?*
Chapter 783