"Huh? Is this the Dream Treasury?"
Having absorbed a golden collection, Freya's pink ball of light flickered rhythmically, looking quite enchanting.
Staring into the darkness filled with countless treasures floating all around, she murmured in a daze, "So this is Yaxiu's Dream Treasury?"
After a long while, something suddenly struck her. Trailing a pink streamer of light, she darted toward a green ball of light that was touching a bubble, trying to stop it. "Don't take it! Don't take it! These are all Yaxiu's treasures—stop taking them, wuu wuu wuu..."
Naturally, the green ball of light didn't bother with her, tracing an arc across the air to approach other collections instead.
The Veela tried several more times, but finding that none of the light orbs paid her any heed, she was on the verge of tears. She genuinely believed that this Dream Treasury was the very same one Yaxiu had entrusted to her, and thus felt it was her duty to protect it from harm.
Yet now, tens of thousands of sorcerers were pillaging the treasury at will, while the Veela was entirely powerless to stop them, forced to watch it all unfold. She was on the verge of breaking down.
"Wuu wuu wuu..."
Freya's pink ball of light curled into a tight sphere as she wailed at the top of her lungs, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I broke your trust! I don't deserve to look after your things, wuu wuu... Once I get back, I'll give the diary to Tamashi. She's much more suited than me... She didn't even lose your country, yet I lost your treasury..."
"Veela?"
A tiny bat woven from light-red specks flew over, gently nudging the pink ball of light, caught between tears and laughter. "What are you crying for?"
"Xifulin!"
With a loud wail, Freya threw her arms around the little bat and cried out tearfully, "I—I can't protect anything! I'm just too weak!"
"Don't you still have me?" Xifulin smiled. "The little bat will protect the little Veela. Don't cry. What happened?"
Once Freya finished her sniffling explanation, Xifulin nearly fainted. "This definitely isn't Yaxiu's Dream Treasury... Or rather, the Dream Treasury was never Yaxiu's to begin with! It belongs to the Distant Sky Realm; Yaxiu was merely borrowing it!
"Only after he went to Ruby Mountain and we reached the Distant Sky Realm did he transfer the usage rights of the Dream Treasury to you. Even if he hadn't, this place still wouldn't belong to him!"
As a direct disciple of the Blood Saint who had studied under a legend, Xifulin was naturally far more knowledgeable than the Veela. The research institute had opened many classified archives to her.
Previously, she hadn't quite understood the inner workings of the Dream Treasury either, but seeing this treasury hidden in the inner dreamscape, she could piece together most of the puzzle.
"B-But..." Freya hesitated, torn with worry. "What if he wants to use the Dream Treasury again in the future? Besides, clearly he was the only one using it. He'll definitely be heartbroken if it's lost..."
*What do you mean only him—aren't we using it too? For all we know, Yaxiu got the Dream Treasury from someone else as well...* Thinking this, an idea struck Xifulin. Abandoning her persuasion, she went along with Freya's logic instead: "Indeed, the things here rightfully belong to Yaxiu. But since everyone else is snatching up these collections, you should grab them too! That way, at least you can help Yaxiu cut his losses."
The Veela thought about it and found it made sense, happily flying off to burst bubbles.
Following behind, Xifulin thought to herself that using Yaxiu to control the Veela was remarkably easy—far more effective than any incantation. If Yaxiu wrote in his diary that he hoped his future partner would be a demigod sorcerer, Freya would definitely drop all leisure and work without hesitation to focus entirely on studying sorcery.
As for Freya's unrequited crush, the little bat's feelings were actually rather complicated.
To say she opposed it... well, Freya simply adored Yaxiu. Having had her feelings awakened by Yaxiu, the Veela could no longer endure emotional loneliness. Yet looking across the entire Blood Moon Country, the only qualified romantic partner was genuinely Yaxiu, who had fled the realm. The people of Blood Moon had no concept of love; in a society awash with materialism, hearts were devoid of warmth.
Furthermore, setting aside Yaxiu's description of himself in his diary as "weak, pitiful, and a big eater," he was indeed the most outstanding and legendary figure of this era, and even an exceptional romantic interest. After all, as sorcerers grew stronger, becoming cold and unfeeling was practically inevitable. Yaxiu and his circle of friends were an exceedingly rare exception, and Xifulin herself had benefited from it—had she ventured into the Void Realm alone, she would undoubtedly have turned callous and ruthless, eventually seeking bizarre hobbies to vent her desires, just like her senior school sister who went around commando in a nun's habit, chasing after sacrilegious thrills.
Meeting Yaxiu in Shattered Lake Prison and meeting Freya in the Void Realm were the two most absurd yet wonderful surprises of Xifulin's life.
In a sense, the Veela truly had fallen for the right person. Xifulin was even certain that Yaxiu could genuinely bring happiness to the Veela, and that loving Yaxiu had made the Veela a better person.
But to say she supported it...
The premise of the Veela's happiness was that her demands of Yaxiu were remarkably modest, yet even Tamashi and Annan felt that the Veela deserved more, deserved better.
And even if the Veela was infinitely accommodating, others might not be so tolerant of her.
All the Veela wanted was to stay by his side for a lifetime, yet she was up against rivals who would rather love and kill in mutual torment—and that was only one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
Therefore, Xifulin neither supported nor opposed it; she merely quietly helped the Veela seize every opportunity to grow stronger. When that dream reunion finally arrived, she hoped the Veela could hold her head high, confidently and bravely pursuing the person she loved.
...Still, that reunion didn't seem too far off, did it? Thinking about it carefully, she even found herself looking forward to it. Coming back to her senses, Xifulin watched the Veela sweep through the collection bubbles.
Initially, she felt quite gratified, but soon noticed something was amiss—how could the Veela pop every single collection bubble?
They did possess an advantage here: any collection they had equipped in the past could be effortlessly popped. For instance, because Xifulin had once equipped the "Blood Saint's Minion," she could instantly burst its bubble.
Yet the collections they had previously equipped were a mere drop in the ocean within the vast, boundless Dream Treasury. Finding them was hard enough; how could the Veela pop whatever she touched, just like that?
Just as the Veela popped the twentieth bubble, her pink ball of light suddenly froze midair, on the verge of dispersing. Hurrying over to support her, Xifulin asked anxiously, "What's wrong?"
"S-So nauseous... my head's spinning so bad." Freya wobbled, dizzy circles practically spinning over her head. "So much knowledge... I—I feel like throwing up..."
"Then take a rest, there's a good girl."
"N-No, I can't. There are still so many collections left; I can't rest yet... If I don't gather these collections quickly, the distance between him and me will only grow wider and wider... and then I'll never see him again, wuu wuu wuu..."
"It's precisely because you want to see him that you need to rest," Xifulin comforted her. "Besides, you're already very close to Yaxiu."
"Really?" Freya was already thoroughly disoriented, asking blankly, "Am I about to reach him?"
"Yes," Xifulin smiled softly. "Very close."
Chapter 934