Chapter 365: Underflowing Currents, Hidden Crisis

The night breeze was cool.

Chu Yuanqing bathed in the moonlight, her eyelashes lowered, as her eyes reflected the silver magic energy particles returning to her hands. They then shifted back to deep red, mixed with a dark explosion, and she understood in her heart.

“Annihilated Massacre,” “Echoes of the Past.”

The intertwining of these two spells allowed her to actively change the nature of magical power, transforming the gentle moonlight-like magic energy particles into special magic energy particles that matched conceptual magic, tinged with the essence of destiny and having a bit of residual fire.

Chu Yuanqing understood the principles behind it; “Annihilated Massacre” and “Echoes of the Past” were both branches of “Pure White Ode,” just like Xie Qingxuan’s “Virtuous King” and Tang Liuli’s “Divine Control.”

The essence of “Pure White Ode” was the interpretation and record of the first playthrough experience, and its branching spells were likewise.

“Broken Golden Cup” represented the blessing of immortality.

“Annihilated Massacre” embodied the intent to kill, the desire for destruction, and the concentrated essence of that act itself.

“Echoes of the Past” broadly represented its literal meaning and essentially served as the foundation for the activation of the first two spells.

The red and black magic power harnessed these spells to recreate and blend the past’s acts of killing, desires for destruction, and some of Levatin’s properties through a profound force.

The characteristic of revival could be simply summarized in the two words “fate,” reflecting the epic of salvation from the first playthrough. It recreated the same actions, weaving together identical red and black magic energy particles.

“The path of intertwined destinies…”

Chu Yuanqing whispered softly, her palms glowed as magic faded and swirled, turning into a beautiful and quiet emerald color, while the Mercury Blood inside her body began to boil intensely.

In the next moment, her fingertips suddenly split open, and bright red blood rushed upward like returning home. But, in the breath of separating from her body, it transformed into fragile crystals that shone like Liuli under the moonlight, truly spectacular.

The Pure White Witch looked dazed, and she softly revealed the truth of this scene:

“Blood of Sighs.”

This was one of the blessings held by Tang Liuli in the past; it seemed to merely change blood into beautiful crystals, but it actually had the power to rewind time along the world’s timeline, like a second chance at life that could endlessly mend regrets.

If the first playthrough was seen as an unbalanced hellish game, then for the “players” inside, finding Tang Liuli, who held this power, was a necessary condition to complete the game.

This blessing, inherited by herself, was evidently on the blacklist of the Sea of Truth and was also an important component of the Miracle Wall.

Theoretically, she could only regain this power with a few breaths before her death.

But now, this trait had brought Tang Liuli’s fate back to life, in the form of a concept, briefly showing the power she held before her eyes.

Even if the magical energy used was tiny and only reflected the appearance of the “Blood of Sighs,” the possibilities that could be uncovered deeply were enormous.

Chu Yuanqing’s expression was filled with sadness. She raised her hand to disperse this tranquil scene, and within her body, the “Mercury Blood” returned to normal as she looked at the magic energy particles swirling around her, creating different colors.

“Eternal Intertwined Fate” referred not only to herself or the fates of her loved ones, but also to a savior crowned by the stars and the world, blessed with the hopes of all humanity.

In simple terms, she inherited the fate of all humanity from the previous world line.

If we truly divided the new and old eras into a New Game Plus, then this trait was like a reward for completing the first playthrough, remembering that courageous young hero who carried the ideals of many and intertwined fates with all humanity.

In other words, if there hadn’t been an interruption from the Sea of Truth, after she returned the blessings inherited from all humanity, she would still be able to maintain her peak power.

But for now…

Her soul was cursed and eaten away, and her fate could not be perfectly reproduced, just like being forced to fall from a realm where she could not use the full power of the Martial God Technique, belonging to a skill set that had loaded an overpowered model but could not be adapted.

To be honest, “End of Utopia” was even more useful, and because of this, when this characteristic revived last time, the curse of the Sea of Truth reacted severely.

“That pure white thread should be Etheric Substance.”

Chu Yuanqing once guessed that the lantern pendant given to her by planetary consciousness was special; thus, the Pure White Witch formed by transforming her life form should be naturally suited to six categories: elements, spirit, time and space, concepts, rules, and life. This meant that the original magic power should be the purest Etheric Substance. However, due to her damaged soul, the original magic power was a silver color close to pure white. At the moment when the characteristic just revived, it seemed to want to use the power of everyone’s destiny to fill this void, flowing back to the most essential pure white, but unfortunately, it collapsed in an instant.

Chu Yuanqing focused her mind. She picked up the Lantern Gem, her fingertips brushing over some of the repaired cracks, and her soft lips curled up into a gentle smile as she whispered: “No matter what, thank you all.” Although the destinies of many did not allow her to break free from the shackles of the Sea of Truth or change the fixed outcome, they helped her overcome the lantern’s repair progress stuck at 9% and raised it to 19% all at once. Because of this, the quality of magic, almost endless in its improvement, was pushed to the edge of the [川] realm with the help of strong determination.

Chu Yuanqing looked up at the cloudless sky, her cold expression melting away; tomorrow would be nice weather. Where should she take Little Shu to have fun? The girl lost herself in thought for a while before turning away from the balcony and returning to her bedroom, where she began a group video call with her little idols far away in Hokkaido, Gloria, and Paris. To avoid being checked by the discipline committee, everyone secretly created a WeChat group without a cute daughter.

The reason for having a group video call was naturally that a certain Pure White Succubus only had 24 hours in a day and was in a “honeymoon period” of reunion with her daughter; one-on-one video calls felt like a waste of time. Although this sounded like very unkind words, Honey Qing’s succubus charm was so high that the little idols didn’t sense anything wrong; they were quite eager during the video call and showed no signs of jealousy.

Xie Qingxuan returned to her parents’ estate in Paris and revealed the news about becoming a magical girl and joining the Counter-Magic Bureau to her sister. Mr. and Mrs. Xie were silent for a long time; shocked, they uncharacteristically pushed aside much of their work, deciding to take a week off to spend with the two sisters during their break. If being a parent came with a scorecard, Xie Qingxuan’s parents might not even score thirty points; they were proud, stubborn, self-righteous, dictatorial, and even seemed a bit cold. But unlike Eiwas, they did have a little love for their daughter. After learning about the dangers of being a magical girl, they strongly expressed their opposition and protest.

Even though their argument changed nothing, because after the holiday they might not see their daughter again, they both held back their tempers for the first time, choosing to stay with her and trying to persuade their two daughters to reconsider with a softer attitude. Xie Qingxuan felt a little confused. In her original plan, after talking to their parents with her sister, they would return to Daxia to find Honey Qing the next day. But who would have thought their parents would show a side they had never seen before?

Because of this, she didn’t dare to ask her sister to bow and apologize. Instead, with her sister’s reluctant gaze and the report about Violet, she took a little treasure from the small vault, taking away millions. Although having the money was not very useful, her sister’s pained and reluctant expression gave her a strange sense of joy. Tang Liuli was still organizing the funeral for Gloria. She didn’t know Eiwas’s friends from her life, and those relatives had passed away in an accident even before meeting Thousand Faces. Fortunately, with the help of Dream Weaver Rabbit, a super AI, she could easily find Eiwas’s close friends, classmates, and colleagues from the past.

The remaining work was to prepare the burial site, tidy up belongings, hold the funeral, and inform interested people to come to pay their respects. Over the past few days, she had Dream Weaver Rabbit help her take some money from her mother’s trust. Near the seaside cabin where Eiwas used to live, she had the construction team build a memorial museum to hold those paintings. Tang Liuli wanted to put all of her parents’ belongings inside, along with Eiwas’s tombstone in the backyard. After it was finished, she would hire a security team to take care of it and send an email to her father’s old friends, inviting them to visit as a way of showing their respects.

For Eiwas, who was obsessed with art and would even sell herself to “Dazzling Stage” just to hold a grand art exhibition, this must be an incredibly gentle farewell. Even though she knew the other person did not love her, since they were already gone, why worry too much? Tang Liuli would not wait until the memorial hall was finished; when the tombstone and the surrounding green space were ready, she would bring a bouquet of hand-dyed Scottish green roses and formally say goodbye before returning to compete.

Compared to the heavy atmosphere of the two, Little Sakura felt a simple and warm happiness; while on the phone, she had a lively little girl with a bun sitting in her arms. Kirimi Yuki’s eyes sparkled as she pointed at Xie Qingxuan, saying she was the Ruthless Tiger of the Empire, then pointed at Chu Yuanqing, saying she was Amaterasu of the Eastern Light. When it was Tang Liuli’s turn, she tilted her head in confusion and finally happily shouted “kitty,” showing that Tang Liuli had no authority at all.

Chu Yuanqing looked at this young sister-in-law and started to remember how small her own daughter was, which made her treat this child with extra kindness. She even used a bit of magic to entertain Yuki. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long to entertain this child when the video from Little Sakura started shaking, revealing her tense and nervous father-in-law and mother-in-law. Kirimi Taya, who was Little Sakura’s father, was very kind, and Kirimi Kei (her mother) looked at her with fondness, greeting everyone warmly and inviting them all to visit Hokkaido.

It was understandable that Kirimi Miyuki revealed the information about the magical girls. In the eyes of the other parents, these teammates who were also magical girls were comrades who would trust each other with their lives, just like their own daughter. In this kind of relationship, even if they did not show their private couple connection, it was not a usual kind of colleague or friend relationship.

Chu Yuanqing’s video call lasted until nearly midnight before she ended it. She lay back down, cautiously lifted the blanket, and, not finding the sneak-attacking Charlotte, breathed a sigh of relief while also feeling a bit amused. Although the clingy and adorable daughter usually pesters her to sleep together every day, Charlotte would quietly move back to her side to play couple games shortly after the child fell asleep.

“Let’s just go to sleep for now.” Pure White Witch lay in bed, just finishing covering herself with the blanket, closing her eyes. Yet, she caught a glimpse of the glowing paper crane Amulet in her sea of divine sense and suddenly remembered something. Speaking of which, after gaining the power of [Destiny], it seemed she didn’t need to borrow [Tempering of the Heart] from Little Sakura to create special weapons.

Thinking of this, Chu Yuanqing felt the authority brought by [Eternal Intertwined Fate], changing her magic into Little Sakura’s color and pouring it into the paper crane Amulet. After trying out its effect, she had some thoughts. Actually, after giving Charlotte that wedding ring, she had been thinking that since time was short, she shouldn’t favor one over the others and should also forge a unique wedding ring for Little Xuan, Liuli, and Miyuki. The gift was simply not as good as Charlotte’s, which seemed a bit unfair.

To create a ring of the same level and sentiment, Little Sakura had to rely on [Tempering of the Heart], making her look too much like a victim and risking losing the element of surprise. So, during her time in the Ideal State, she quietly reviewed the forgotten alchemy and used the Holy Sophon to figure out many ideas. Now that she could use Little Sakura’s [Destiny], it should be possible to implement it officially, but there was still a lack of Disaster Debris.

Fortunately, the mark of the Mobius ring was still there, allowing her to access the treasure trove of precious materials stored by the Counter-Magic Bureau in another space. Thinking of this, Chu Yuanqing stayed awake. She went through the Mobius ring’s space gate and entered the vault of the Counter-Magic Bureau, hoping to choose some useful Disaster Debris before Charlotte returned to launch a surprise attack.

On the other side, a young mother, still a bit inexperienced, was holding her sweet and soft daughter while telling stories of past adventures, completely unaware that her husband was making a special keepsake for another woman. Chu Wang Shu listened intently, but because she was used to going to bed early, she couldn’t resist her sleepiness anymore. Her eyelids began to droop, and her lovely face grew a bit drowsy, slowly drifting into a soft, cotton-like dreamland.

In her dream, she seemed to return to the end of the previous world line, where she met her younger parents. Under their guidance, she perfectly controlled the power of “Son of Mankind” and returned to New Game Plus, defeating everything in her way. Strangely, in her dream, she forgot about “Blessing of the Brave,” “Final Blessing,” and “Gifts of the Stars.” Relying only on “Disaster Group’s Care,” she captured all the disaster beasts and saved everyone without a fight.

Everything seemed wonderfully perfect. Just in a daze, like the genes of an embryo breaking free, the sunflower deep in the soul began to stir, sending out a few rays like the sun, with patterns like a heart, subtly influencing consciousness, yet constantly being consumed by the blue light. The lovely daughter knew nothing about this, but in a moment of her dream, a thought filled with a sense of wrongness flashed by. That was… why hadn’t she told her mom and dad about the matter of the [Son of Mankind] yet?