Pure White Jasmine

If he had a miracle, he could repair this fastest sports car. But he could no longer afford any miracles. If he had wings, he could catch up to the speeding train. But his virtual wings were already broken. He couldn't catch up. The dead man Amilo's grating voice echoed in Yaxiu's mind once more: no matter whether they won or lost, sorcerers like them couldn't change anything. As if hearing the wail of the throttle, the engine demonstrated to Yaxiu the pinnacle of All Stars Industry's engineering. The speed climbed slowly once more, hovering around 400 kilometers per hour. Yet it was pointless. Without the rear carriages dragging it down, the Canaan's speed had long surpassed 350 kilometers per hour. The Oracle Comet could only keep from being left behind, unable to close the distance between them. The rain streamed down in dark fury, and the gale howled wildly. Hail seemed mixed into the curtain of rain now, pelting Yaxiu's face one after another, bloodying his head and leaving him covered in wounds. The rainwater seemed to drain the warmth from his body; a bone-chilling cold slowly congealed his boiling blood, exhausting him until even drawing breath felt like suffocating. He still had a sword, still had strength, still had a life he could squander, and still had the Oracle Comet. He still remembered the slogan Rose had quoted: "The Oracle shrouds an imperiled ally in false promises, granting them precious time to destroy their foes, even reversing fatal destinies..." This was a vehicle meant for catching up to destiny and redeeming regret! Yet without miracles, a sports car could not run faster than light, much less catch up to a destiny that was not his own. He couldn't even make the demons spare him a glance. Protagonists had no need to care about the audience's thoughts—they only needed to present their most brilliant moments. On that stage, Feili was truly beautiful. Although she was already a beauty in no way inferior to Rose or Vichy, she was usually so quiet and well-behaved, never competing for anything, always absorbing nourishment in silence to catch up with them, just like a pure white jasmine. But at this moment, she moved through the storm with effortless grace, her motions so crisp they left no superfluous trace. Her blonde hair swayed like waves of wheat, becoming the most dazzling splash of color in this world. Yaxiu had always treated her as a fragile flower in need of protection, never imagining that when she bloomed, she would be so wild and resplendent. Facing the two demons, Yinzhi and Longyuan, not a trace of fear could be seen on her pretty face, and her confidence in victory exceeded even Yaxiu's. Amid high-speed offense and defense where even afterimages were sluggish by comparison, she maintained her rhythm methodically, so powerful that Yaxiu wondered whether she had been holding back against him in the past. At this moment, Yaxiu suddenly felt that she really could win, that she really could become the savior, while he was merely an onlooker on the sidelines responsible for applauding and offering congratulations. Until a spray of blood blossomed across her shoulder. By the time those drops of steaming-hot blood pelted his face alongside the hail, they had already turned bitterly cold. Feili vanished into the curtain of rain. At this moment, Yaxiu truly wanted to scream for her not to come back out, or at least to bring him onto the battlefield... but he couldn't bring himself to say it. Right now, the whole world stood against Feili; if even he didn't support the girl's resolve, then what would she have behind her? What would she have left? More than that, he knew Feili wouldn't help him enter the fray. He wasn't blind; he had seen the stomp Feili had delivered to the carriage roof. Feili had worked so hard for so long just to stand by his side, yet now he was the one unworthy of standing shoulder to shoulder with her, even forcing her to protect him. "Feili..." Yaxiu stared wide-eyed at the roof of the Canaan, not flinching in the slightest even as hail drew blood from his eyes. He took a deep breath and, his voice hoarse, shouted toward the Canaan with near-hysterical fervor: "I'll be watching you! I'll always be watching you!" *Clang!* A dragon's roar and sword chime pierced the curtain of rain. Having hastily healed her injuries, Feili descended upon the battlefield like an angel. But this time, her sword stance was even more flawless, her sword path sharper and more precise, and her bearing even calmer and more composed, stirring a rose-red tempest atop the carriage roof! The frequency of her proactive strikes grew higher and higher, not caring if she traded wound for wound with the demons. Right now, she would dare to cut down even a god, let alone demons! Yaxiu gripped the steering wheel with one hand and held his sword hilt with the other. Though it was very, very slow, the Oracle Comet was indeed drawing closer to the Canaan inch by inch—perhaps because the Oracle Comet had sped up, perhaps because the train had slowed, or perhaps because fate was granting him a chance to catch up. Faster! A little faster! Yaxiu focused all his concentration on his back. He had never imagined that a day would come when he would complain that the Hell secret poison was not potent enough. He could sense his virtual wings regenerating; if the virtual wings grew fast enough, he might still have a chance to deliver a miracle. Things having come to this, other than still believing in miracles, there was nothing else a sorcerer could do. Yaxiu wiped away the rainwater and traces of blood around his eyes, refusing to close them even though the hail stung his pupils with agonizing pain. He strained to imprint the girl's silhouette in his gaze, watching as she became battered and bruised, blood staining her white socks red, her exposed flesh torn and gruesome to behold, and even her cheek scored with a streak of blood. He could only watch it all unfold helplessly, only pray that the sports car would go a little faster, only grip the sword hilt a little tighter. Every second, he wanted to close his eyes and cover his ears, but he knew he could not look away, for that would not only violate his promise, but also insult what Feili was giving of herself. Yaxiu knew Feili was actually a bit vain at heart. While she was certainly willing to save the world, she also hoped someone would praise her for it; though having too many people praise her made her shy, in her heart she would still be happy. Therefore, he had to remember Feili's every minute and every second. Because Feili was only a shadow, unable even to go to the Void Realm upon death. But Yaxiu could at least record her in his Sorcerer's Handbook. Whatever the outcome, he could preserve the trace that she had lived, letting this world know that there once was a girl who should not have existed, who staked everything to save a world that should not have existed. He suddenly remembered what Feili had mentioned during the introductory sorcerer lessons: her favorite mechanic was the Sorcerer's Handbook. "Isn't it romantic to turn one's entire life into a book?" she had said. "If possible, I'd want my Sorcerer's Handbook to be an origami pop-up book." "Why?" "Because my life has been very boring. Aside from studying, what I like most is folding paper. Actually, folding paper is quite boring too, but I still hope someone will like someone as boring as me." *Thud!* Longyuan's staff punched clean through Feili's left shoulder, like piercing a hole in paper, but Feili also struck Yinzhi across the neck, coming within a hair's breadth of decapitating her. Yinzhi's hand was likewise planted on Longyuan's back; Longyuan's internal organs were undoubtedly shattered to pieces right now. Though in the very next instant they all fell back to heal their wounds, this was a grim signal—a signal that everyone's sorcery had dropped to the critical warning line and they were forced to fight with their very lives on the line. Beneath their feet, the radiant light streaming from Rose almost flooded the entire train carriage; the Supreme Holy Grail was about to precipitate out. Yinzhi and Longyuan calculated their sorcery with great precision; quickening the tempo would naturally accelerate the depletion of sorcery. Before the Supreme Holy Grail coalesced, only a single victor would remain. The curtain of rain suddenly seemed to slow, yet time began to accelerate. Feili's Sword Light, Longyuan's staff shadows—everything reflected clearly in her pupils. She lightly caressed their weapons, and under the profound guidance of "Break All Arts," space-time began to warp. The weapons turned toward one another, making her the sole survivor to escape this mutual slaughter! In the era when Yinzhi rose to power, a poem of praise concerning her circulated throughout the world: "Yinzhi came not to bring peace on earth, but a sword. Men can no longer trust one another; one's foes are one's beloved kin and friends. Whoever refuses to betray their parents to Yinzhi shall be betrayed to Yinzhi by their parents; whoever refuses to betray their children shall be betrayed to Yinzhi by their children; whoever refuses to betray their soul to Yinzhi shall ultimately have everything taken by Yinzhi. Whoever cherishes life shall lose it; whoever betrays life shall regain it." Even after becoming a Divine Lord, Yinzhi still favored her old ways—the ways of aiding the tyrant in wickedness, of biding time and fattening the flock for the slaughter, of the mastermind pulling strings from the shadows! Demon Yinzhi was about to reveal her final trump card!