Fully Healed! I Lack for Nothing Now

"...Tears of the Moon Goddess?" Crow froze for a moment. "Is it the Tears of the Moon Goddess I'm thinking of?" "It should be," Bai Zhou nodded. "I heard it's an enhanced version of Moon Water. It ought to be enough to heal my injuries." "—Wait, that's not right!" Crow's expression suddenly shifted, baffling Bai Zhou. Then, Bai Zhou heard her ask in an urgent voice: "You didn't go and spend all the money I gave you, did you?!" That was her entire secret stash of savings! "No, that's not right either... Could two cinders even buy a top-tier potion like Tears of the Moon Goddess?" Crow's mind struggled to make the math work. Even if he had spent both cinders, there was no way he could have bought Tears of the Moon Goddess. —Unless, in all the time she hadn't visited the Reflected Ruin Realm, prices across the entire world had dropped a hundredfold. But then... where had Bai Zhou gotten the money? Did he rob someone? Crow eyed Bai Zhou's frail, scrawny frame with deep suspicion. "Just a stroke of luck—came into a bit of a windfall." Under Crow's astonished gaze, Bai Zhou pulled out the two cinders and handed them back to her. "You know me, my luck's never been bad." ...Then, Bai Zhou gave a brief summary of his experiences in the ghost market. Yet the more he spoke, the stranger Crow's expression became, as though something had just clicked for her. "You mean to tell me..." "You met someone at the auction house who not only splashed a fortune competing with you, but also had a killer from the Fine Arts Society along with him—and after their ambush on you failed, he used a mysterious jade pendant to teleport away?" "Yeah," Bai Zhou nodded. "Is something wrong?" "..." Crow was struck dumb. After a moment of silence, her expression turned exceedingly bizarre. "Perhaps the person you ran into..." "...is your old foe: the Third Young Master of Zijing Group, Major Luo of Branch 36!" "...Seriously?" Bai Zhou froze for a beat. Though he had suspected as much, getting confirmation from Crow still left him in slight disbelief. Could it really be such a coincidence? Could fate really... be so generous? "A jade pendant plus the Fine Arts Society—it has to be him, without a doubt." Crow nodded. "Word has it that the founder of Zijing Group spared no expense preparing custom-made jade pendants for each of his three sons. "At their lavish hundred-day banquets back then, he presented the pendants to the three sons as proof of their identities. "Among the older generation of top-tier Extraordinaries in Tinghai City, this has long been an open secret; I only heard about it by chance. "If people ever run into them, they'll usually show Zijing Company some courtesy—either turning a blind eye or lending a small helping hand." With that, Crow clicked her tongue in wonder as she looked at Bai Zhou. "This time, you really dealt this Major Luo a brutal blow. "That was his lifeline. With that pendant, he would always have one extra chance to turn the tables, escaping even certain-death scenarios. "Luckily for you, he still doesn't know you're Bai Zhou... Otherwise, with new grudges piled atop old ones, who knows how frantic he'd be driven." Everything Bai Zhou had gone through was beyond anything Crow could have imagined. She had known he had a knack for causing trouble, but she hadn't expected it to reach this level. He was practically an agent of chaos. Even on an errand as casual and mundane as buying a bottle of Moon Water, he managed to dream up wild new antics and turn the ghost market upside down. He had even blindly stumbled into screwing over the Major within an inch of his life. And who could have guessed that the mastermind behind it all was merely... A cat so injured and frail that it couldn't even truss a chicken? "If only I'd known he was the Major earlier..." The cat who had made off like a bandit felt only grief and deep regret. If he had known sooner, he never would have let the Major buy a single thing! Besides Tears of the Moon Goddess, the Major had bought quite a lot, even snagging the finale item, the Vial of Regret. —It was practically aiding and abetting the enemy! "Too late for regrets!" The cat sighed. Still, it wasn't so bad... Today he dug a pit for the Major. Tomorrow he could dig the Major's grave. And the day after tomorrow, Bai Zhou would shoulder a hoe and go dig up his ancestral tombs. "Still... if it was the Major, why would he go to such great lengths for a super-sized bottle of Moon Water?" Bai Zhou was puzzled again. He looked down at the glowing, deep-purple potion in his hands. "Could he be severely injured too?" "...Probably not," Crow said, her expression turning solemn. "I once heard there was a lost secret behind Tears of the Moon Goddess. Seeing this now, it might actually be true! "Sometimes, for a top-tier potion, the method of consumption is just as important as the method of brewing. "Any mistake in the details of ingesting it, or the loss of the correct method, could cause the potion to lose its intended effects, reducing a top-tier potion to something mundane." Crow took Tears of the Moon Goddess from Bai Zhou's hands and examined it closely. "I always suspected that the effects of Tears of the Moon Goddess didn't live up to its reputation as a top-tier potion. "Now it seems Tears of the Moon Goddess might be one of those cases... but the Major obtained the true method to consume it!" The true method of consumption? "Then..." Bai Zhou looked at the glowing Tears of the Moon Goddess, then looked expectantly at Crow, hesitating. He suddenly felt that if it was just a super-sized Moon Water, it wouldn't taste nearly as good. "Don't look at me. I don't know the method either." Crow rolled her eyes. She was human, not some earless blue fatty with a giant pouch. "However, I can help you intercept and retain most of its medicinal potency." After a moment's thought, Crow added: "As a top-tier potion, even a small fraction of its power is enough to heal your injuries... anything more would be pure waste and overflow. "I can seal and store that potency inside your body so you can draw on it if you're injured again in the future. "And if you manage to acquire the proper method of consumption later on and perform the corresponding ritual, it shouldn't be too late." Though she didn't hold high hopes for that happening, wasting the vast majority of such a potion's potency was something even Crow couldn't bear to see. Even without the proper method, a potion like this was usually only used by Extraordinaries of at least Rank 5 when their Fate Principle was on the verge of shattering. Letting a mere Rank 2 Extraordinary drink this potion just to nurse some wounds... It really did feel like tilling soil with a golden hoe. "Perform the ritual later..." Bai Zhou fell into thought. Was this going to fall on the Major again? Bai Zhou was genuinely curious now about what Tears of the Moon Goddess actually did, to make that highborn Major so impatient and determined to possess it. "—We're always short on time. "Regardless, your injuries can't wait any longer." At that moment, the voice at his ear pulled Bai Zhou from his thoughts. The evening wind caught Crow's waterfall of black hair, sending stray strands drifting against Bai Zhou's cheek. Tickling him. Then, Crow reached out, offering the potion to him, and said softly: "Bai Zhou, it's time to take your medicine." As the bottle drew near, its vivid, deep-purple glow cast a faint light across Bai Zhou's face. ... One in the morning. The moonlight flowed like water. Vast sheets of quicksilver moonlight gathered atop the building's rooftop, drawn as though by some unseen pull. The rooftop resembled a silver pool, with Bai Zhou seated cross-legged at its center. Having settled his mental state through meditation, his mind tranquil, Bai Zhou tipped his head back and downed Tears of the Moon Goddess in a single gulp. The sensation was indescribable. The deep-purple liquid was icy cold, sliding down his throat before instantly bursting into countless freezing threads that surged through his limbs and bones. While clearing his mind, it penetrated straight to the depths of his soul. The anticipated feeling of spiritual sublimation never arrived; in its place came an ultimate tranquility that nearly froze Bai Zhou solid. Gathering all around, the moonlight seemed to answer an invisible summons. No longer evenly distributed, it flowed and converged upon him like a living thing. A vortex of moonlight took shape around Bai Zhou. The dense lunar radiance rose like mist, enshrouding him, then wrapping him entirely... —Thus, an enormous, translucent silver cocoon of light was formed. Bai Zhou felt as though he had become a drifting iceberg, or perhaps moonlight traversing ten thousand rivers and mountains. Dazed and detached, he ceased to think about anything. He saw a white sun hanging high over a black sea. Only, this sun was exceptionally dim, faint fractures marring its surface. Bai Zhou knew... This was his Fate Principle, on the verge of running dry. Gentle moonlight poured in here, flowing over the white sun, mending and nourishing the cracks, bringing them to heal. The black tide known as the Sea of Fools began to surge incessantly. Suddenly— *Buzz!!!* A miraculous change occurred. Restored to its original state, the white sun burst with brilliance even greater than before. The moon's silver glow and the sun's white radiance mirrored each other—one yielding and soft, the other unyielding and fierce—blooming in harmony yet distinct as night and day. —Sun and moon traversing the sky together! The sunlight, once fierce and relentlessly unyielding, now seemed far gentler, yet it shone more brilliantly and resiliently than ever before. "This is..." Bai Zhou was caught in shock and wonder. All his extraordinary power relied upon his Fate Principle, but right now, that unyielding, explosive force—just like that sunlight—had grown far more restrained. It transformed into a sturdier fullness, a deeper stillness... Yet this transformation was unequivocally beneficial. For he could feel that the explosive nature had not vanished; it had merely become more condensed, easier to control, ready to erupt with even greater force at any moment. Compared to an openly exposed blade, a draw cut executed from a scabbard often carried far more power than a straightforward hack. Such a blessing was something Bai Zhou had never anticipated. —Was this an additional effect brought by the top-tier potion, Tears of the Moon Goddess? Or had the combination of "Moon" and "Sun"... birthed this unique phenomenon? *Buzz...* The light of his Fate Principle illuminated every corner of Bai Zhou's body, coaxing the dormant seeds of spirituality to sprout anew. His flesh, once riddled with wounds, rapidly mended and strengthened beneath this illumination... *Thump! Thump! Thump!* The heart in his chest beat with vigorous force, driving the blood through his veins like a roaring river. An endless surge of strength welled up in Bai Zhou's limbs. In the next instant, the translucent silvery cocoon shattered— The gathered moonlight receded like an ebbing tide, revealing Bai Zhou's silhouette. When he opened his eyes, a white light—both like lunar glow and solar flare—shot forth from them. Yet in the blink of an eye, the white glare vanished, pulling inward into a deep, steady calm. Bai Zhou blinked softly. He raised a hand and clenched his fist. The prior weakness had vanished without a trace. Abundant vitality surged like a spring freshet in early spring, and power coursed vigorously beneath his skin. A blessing in disguise: the mending of his Fate Principle had granted Bai Zhou comprehensive healing and advancement, leaving him wholly clear and harmonized. And this was merely the effect of a tiny fraction of Tears of the Moon Goddess. On the back of Bai Zhou's right hand, a silver crescent mark had appeared. —This was the sealing ritual Crow had placed upon him. Hidden within it, churning silently, was the vast majority of the potion's remaining magic. Slowly rising to his feet, he exhaled a long breath. It felt as if all the tension and pent-up gloom of recent days were expelled with it. Bai Zhou looked at Crow and said softly: "I'm back!" He was back. Even more "complete" than he had been before his injuries. The cooldown on Cursebound Colossus had already ended, ready for Bai Zhou to deploy at a moment's notice. The spirituality within him was both abundant and docile, readily summoned with a single thought, completely free of the sluggish friction he had experienced when he first advanced to Rank 2 Adventurer. The moonlight's illumination had not only healed Bai Zhou's wounds, but also elevated him to an unprecedented state of perfection. Consummate "essence." Sublimated "heart." Reflecting on the weakness he had endured after being injured, Bai Zhou suddenly understood the true essence of Rank 2 Extraordinary. ...The path of extraordinary advancement was essentially an "exchange." Trading a human's "heart of mediocrity" for the "heart of the strong." Just as Odin of myth gouged out his own eye and hung upside down from a tree for nine days and nine nights, all to exchange for power and wisdom. And so. The tempering of a thousand blows, the perseverance that refused to yield even unto death, the host of formidable foes faced along the way, the days of relentless toil, all the historical witnesses he had walked among— At this moment, all fused into Bai Zhou's new "soul." Then he threw open the cage, unleashing that surging ambition. —The heart of the strong had been forged! In the blink of an eye. The arduous advancement path of a Rank 2 Adventurer, upon which he had set foot only days ago, had already quietly progressed by more than half, dissolving like melting ice. Yet if anyone knew what Bai Zhou had endured to reach this point, surely no one would envy him... "..." Even though the moonlight had faded and the rooftop had returned to normal, Crow somehow still saw Bai Zhou enshrouded in a hazy radiance. Bai Zhou raised his hand and clenched his fist. "Right now, I feel..." Carefully sensing his own strength, Bai Zhou nodded. "...I lack for nothing!" ... Faint morning light broke. Dawn was approaching. The underground base of Branch 36 was brightly lit. Outside the office, the newly appointed, handsome male secretary trembled at the sounds coming from within. Inside the office, the pale-faced Major's eyes were bloodshot as he staggered about, smashing the room's expensive furnishings to pieces. An unbearable weight seemed to press upon his shoulders. Munch, hired at exorbitant expense, was as good as dead, and he would still have to pay the Fine Arts Society an astronomical funeral fee. The Tears of the Moon Goddess, which he had been determined to claim, had fallen into someone else's hands. The precious jade pendant that served as a second life was completely spent. He had triggered the revival of the ghost market, and the reprimand from his family would be unimaginably severe. —Aside from that Bai Zhou, no one had ever inflicted such catastrophic losses upon him! And now, there was another! "Damn it! Damn it all!" "Bai Zhou... Number 22..." *Clatter! Crash! Smash!* Only after a long while did the Major cease his rampage, wiping the sweat from his brow with a wet wipe. Standing amid the wreckage, he bowed his head and gritted his teeth, hissing in a sinister undertone: "Neither of you will escape!" "One by one, all of you will die sooner or later." With that, he turned and looked at his desk. Arranged upon it were his spoils from the ghost market. Though it was regrettable that the most vital item, Tears of the Moon Goddess, had slipped through his fingers, several other items he had been equally determined to secure had ended up in his hands after all— The Vial of Regret. The Midnight Compass. The Calming Incense. ... Along with scattered extraordinary materials originally meant to accompany the consumption of Tears of the Moon Goddess. With a snap— The Major opened a silver case and drew out an ancient bronze compass that lacked a needle, its surface completely bare. His fingertips lingered over the antique compass for a long time, and a sinister, cryptic smile touched his lips. "Heh..." Right at that moment— A knock sounded on the door. "What is it?" Returning the compass to the silver case, the Major frowned. From outside came the secretary's timid, nervous report: "Sir... the convoy, the convoy dispatched from headquarters is about to arrive. "Should you...!" "..." Hearing this, the Major's face darkened once more. Those people had finally arrived. They had been anticipated for quite some time. With his secretary's assistance, the Major tidied his attire and appearance. Then, his expression composed and betraying nothing amiss, he led a cadre of officers out into the morning to finally greet the arrivals from headquarters. "We are the special supervisory task force dispatched by headquarters. "To assist in handling the case and better mitigate the severe fallout caused by the fugitive Bai Zhou, headquarters sent us over to lend a hand." The leader of the group shook the Major's hand warmly, the interaction appearing harmonious on the surface. "Greetings, and welcome! I look forward to our sincere cooperation!" Gripping the hand firmly, the Major quietly assessed the team. A retinue of dozens, every one of them silent, clad in suits and sunglasses, silver cases in hand. One could discern neither their temperaments nor the depths of their strength. It perfectly matched the Special Control Bureau commissioners' usual style. "And this is...?" Suddenly, the Major's eyes narrowed as he looked toward the front of the group, at someone following right behind the team leader. This figure was cloaked in black, looking completely out of place among the other Bureau commissioners—the very picture of a mysterious stranger, save for the fact that she was yawning incessantly. The cloaked attire reminded the Major of the cloak he had only recently taken off, and inevitably brought to mind his extremely unpleasant ordeal not long ago... "Oh... this is a righteous citizen who volunteered to help after seeing the lucrative bounty posted by the Special Control Bureau." With that, the leader introduced this "mysterious figure" to the Major. "In the past, we have worked together several times. Our cooperation has always been pleasant and highly efficient. "It's worth mentioning that she is a designated Model Citizen recognized by Bureau headquarters—the Director-General personally praised her as 'an exemplar of public-private cooperation'!" "..." "Hello." The person stepped forward with a yawn, casting back the hood of her cloak to reveal a mysterious mask beneath. Only, the mask bore a crack held together with tape. ...Standing there, this sleepyhead who had clearly pulled an all-nighter seemed lazy yet mysterious, arrogant yet elegant. Still, the way she yawned continuously looked rather comical. Yet the Major, who had been watching her warily the entire time, heard alarm bells shrieking in his mind. Instinctively, he couldn't help taking two steps back, his spiritual senses screaming warnings at him. Strong... Incredibly strong! Absurdly strong, even—if Branch 36 didn't deploy their Black Boxes, everyone in the branch combined might not be her match! She was definitely an Extraordinary of Rank 5 or higher! Sure enough, as she shook her head and gradually woke up, her "true colors" became plain to see. This high-ranking Extraordinary truly held her head high in aloof silence. She cast a cold gaze over the Major and the crowd behind him, making every Extraordinary swept by her eyes feel as though needles were pricking their backs. An aloof, commanding aura unfurled, sending a chill through every officer present, just as it did the Major. For even their "outside help" to be at this level showed that headquarters took the situation here with utmost seriousness. If certain secrets were ever exposed, she would be more dangerous than any primordial beast. This woman, mysterious and terrifyingly strong. Who was she...? "Perhaps you've heard her name as well," the leader's voice drifted over at that moment. "After all, she is quite renowned in Tinghai—a celebrated lone Extraordinary, and a friendly neighborhood ally to the citizens of Tinghai." "Could she be..." Listening to the task force leader's introduction, the Major asked uncertainly, "...the rumored Gem Witch?" "Haha, I told you you'd have heard of her!" The leader gave a hearty laugh and stepped aside, leaving the masked, mysterious witch standing at the center of everyone's gaze. Then, with solemn gravity, he gestured grandly toward this mysterious powerhouse and gave a firm nod: "—Indeed, she is the Gem Witch!"