"It's her fault!"
"It's my fault!"
Yaxiu and Weixi spoke simultaneously. Feili hurried over to pull Rose back to her seat and shoved her suitcase back into place, cajoling and pleading with her until Rose finally agreed to give Yaxiu another chance. Weixi helped Yaxiu back into his wheelchair, only for Yaxiu to seize her wrist in the process.
"Don't be so impatient. I'll repay you properly once we're back in the bedroom," Weixi said with feigned coyness. "Your back isn't doing so well right now, Master, so I'll be sure to play the gallant knight on top."
"I'm only leaving the feather with you temporarily. I can take it back whenever I want," Yaxiu said solemnly. "This doesn't mean I trust you in the slightest. On the contrary, I'll be watching you with an even harsher eye. The moment you commit an unforgivable offense, the punishment won't be peeling grapes, Weixi."
Weixi gazed at Yaxiu for a moment. Suddenly, she clasped his hand and said with utter sincerity, "Yaxiu, I won't let your expectations down. I know that, whether because of my reputation or my past actions, you couldn't possibly trust me. In fact, after all these years, I've long grown used to living in the mire of suspicion.
"I don't think you're wrong at all. If our roles were reversed, I would be far crueler than you. Yet even so, you're still willing to grant someone like me a chance to prove myself. You're willing to treat me as a sorcerer with dignity, rather than a disposable tool. I'll never become a good person, but under your discipline, perhaps I really can... can..."
Toward the end, Weixi dissolved into quiet sobs. She crouched down and buried her head against Yaxiu's chest, looking just like a nun confessing to the Lord. After a slight hesitation, Yaxiu reached out and touched the bare back revealed by her maid uniform. "Weixi..."
"Were you really looking forward to hearing me say that?"
Weixi abruptly jerked her head up and cupped Yaxiu's face with both hands. There wasn't a trace of remorse on her features—only the smug mockery of a successful prank. "Toss out a petty favor and successfully bring a notorious terror under your... crotch? Isn't that an intoxicating fantasy, Master?"
"You could at least get the phrase 'under your command' right!" Yaxiu snapped, furious.
"Exploit a slave's entire productive value, then return a fraction of it as a reward to make them completely devoted... I'm a demigod who once established my own power in Hell. Did you really think such crude, amateur tricks could fool me?" Weixi said contemptuously. "Not even a Divine Lord could earn my true allegiance. What makes you think you can tame me?"
"You're making me regret my decision more and more." Yaxiu brushed her hands away. "I never intended for you to be loyal to me, nor do I have subordinates. Relationships between people aren't just limited to superiors and inferiors."
"If you don't have subordinates, then what are those two?" Weixi pointed at Igola and Harvey. "I don't think they're qualified to be pets. They're not even as good as Feili."
"No, no, that's not true," Feili hurriedly protested. "I'm nowhere near Mr. Igola and Mr. Harvey—"
"Feili, she's insulting you. Ignore her!" Yaxiu said irritably.
"If you don't want me as a subordinate, Master, then what role do you actually want me to play?" Weixi asked. "Pet? Tool? Blade? Bed partner? Prophet?"
Yaxiu stared at her blankly. A wave of exhaustion washed over him, and he waved his hand dismissively. "I have nothing more to say to you. Just be a proper maid."
"Alright. I'll go to the kitchen to prepare afternoon tea." The maid cleared away the trash on the glass coffee table and turned toward the ground-floor kitchen. Halfway there, she suddenly paused. "By the way, Master, there's something I wanted to tell you."
"What?"
Weixi turned her head to look back at him. "Thank you for saving me, Yaxiu. If not for you, I wouldn't have survived."
Yaxiu was momentarily taken aback, then smiled. "Yeah."
"Overall, though, I've saved you more times, so you still owe me—"
"Get lost!" Yaxiu snatched the melon rind from Feili and hurled it at her. Weixi caught it deftly on her tray, winked at him with eyes crinkling into crescent moons full of laughter, and skipped lightly into the kitchen.
Igola and Harvey exchanged a glance. Seeing Harvey nod, Igola let out a sigh.
"When did you two evolve to the point where you can communicate without speaking?" Yaxiu asked.
"Nothing much. It's just that whenever even Harvey can see something, it's pretty much set in stone," Igola said. "Should we pool our feathers together as well? Harvey and I only need to keep our iridescent feathers."
"There's no need," Yaxiu replied. "My combat strength isn't tied to void wings. In Observer Mode, I can't cast spells at all. And in Weixi's Maid Mode, my combat prowess here is already through the roof. One or two extra feathers wouldn't make any difference."
Ever since Weixi and Feili became his gods, the miracles he constructed in the Nation of Stars were practically dimensional strikes. Anything he could hit was guaranteed to die; anything he couldn't hit wouldn't be affected no matter how much extra power he stacked.
"There are three feathers stored in the Golden Fish scale right now," Yaxiu continued. "We can divide them equally—"
"No."
"Out of the question."
Hearing Igola and Harvey object simultaneously, Yaxiu blinked. "Why not?"
"Aren't those the apology gifts you saved for the Sword Princess and the Witch?" Igola said.
"They're just gifts! I haven't decided if they're for an apology!" Yaxiu said. "Besides, the next Angel Hunt will be far more dangerous. We can borrow them temporarily, and I'll take them back once we return to reality."
"What if we die?" Harvey asked.
"Thanks for the reminder," Yaxiu said crossly. "How about you two just make sure you survive?"
"Harvey and I both have four feathers right now. Adding one more doesn't make much of a difference; it's not a qualitative leap from zero to one," Igola said. "On the other hand, if you keep those three reserve feathers tucked away, you can use them immediately when needed. Compared to a marginal average boost, an effective trump card that can turn the tide is far more critical."
Igola did have a point, so Yaxiu dropped the idea. He then continued, "In that case, onto the final part of dividing the spoils."
"There's more?" Igola asked, surprised.
Yaxiu reached into his robes and pulled out a severed, brilliantly glowing rainbow-colored tail.
"If you want to alter the color of your Seventh Imaginary Wing, or convert colored feathers into iridescent feathers, I can do both," he said. "I can even upgrade your sorcery spirits, though there are side effects."
"What?!" Weixi bolted out of the kitchen before she even had time to wipe the stolen cream from her mouth. "You can turn colored feathers into iridescent feathers? How is that possible?!"
"It's true." Yaxiu brandished the severed rainbow tail in his hand. "Because this is the White Bull's iridescent tail."
Earlier today when he woke up, Yaxiu had opened Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook as usual to check on the Sword Princess and the Witch. Seeing that their portraits remained unchanged, he breathed a sigh of relief, then checked Operator Recruitment to see if any new banners had appeared. Finding nothing, he was about to exit the system.
Right at that moment, a prompt suddenly popped up:
[Rare resource detected. Process into a rare treasure?]
Yaxiu hadn't been fully awake at the time and had absentmindedly tapped confirm. Only after he came to his senses did he realize what he had just done—if the game had tampered with crucial sorcery spirits like Mind Creation or Affection Sword, his existing sorcery spirit system would have collapsed, even if they were replaced with stronger ones!
Yaxiu couldn't even summon new sorcery spirits. Weixi had already tried; the mysterious chains of the Nation of Stars prohibited the birth of sorcery spirits. Otherwise, Weixi could have rebuilt an entire arsenal of soul sorcery spirits simply by slaughtering people.
He had hastily performed an internal inspection of his soul, breathing a sigh of relief a moment later.
Fortunately, not a single sorcery spirit was missing. The rare resource taken by the handbook was merely the iridescent feather... An iridescent feather?!
Even before hearing Weixi's explanation, Yaxiu had been completely certain that the iridescent feather was the single most valuable spoil from this adventure. Had he accidentally fed it into the sorcerer handbook?
However, when Yaxiu stared at the game interface with profound dismay, the subsequent prompt left him thoroughly stunned.
[Processing complete.]
[You have obtained the White Bull's Iridescent Resilient Tail.]
[White Bull's Iridescent Resilient Tail]
[Dye: Consume 1 source crystal to recolor a target knowledge feather into any other color.]
[Iridescence: Consume 3 source crystals to recolor a target knowledge feather into an iridescent feather.]
[Four-Color Taint: Four colors on the resilient tail have been contaminated. Applying these four colors to a sorcery spirit can promote any sorcery spirit to Four-Wing, but the sorcery spirit's temperament will alternate between rabidly violent, split personality, cold-blooded and cruel, or mischievously perverse.]
[Note: The cross-section of the resilient tail is exceptionally clean, appearing as though it was sliced off. Four of the colors upon it have been stained by foreign hues: the sword color is tinged with purplish-red, the Time Fish with black and white, the truth color with silver, and the prophecy color with gloomy blue.]
Chapter 894