Chapter 260
An hour later, the Saintess, having recovered, emerged from the bathroom. Her phosphorescent eyes were incredibly hazy. She lay blankly on the sofa in the lounge, savoring the lingering, tingling sensation throughout her body. She curled up comfortably, enveloped in a hazy drowsiness.
Charlotte was lost in this feeling; she curled the corners of her lips and whispered to herself:
"So cute! Even though she's the one taking the initiative, she still can't help but feel shy, and she tries to act serious. She's like a multi-layered cake. Xiao Qing is so irresistible, I want to take a few more bites."
"However, let's save it for Xiao Xuan today."
Time passed.
Chu Yuanqing and the Little Idol trained until the stars adorned the night sky before leaving the dance studio.
Dragging their weary bodies along, everyone Xiaoxiao as they explored Salzburg's evening culinary scene.
Meanwhile, in the Donghuang Federation, the people of Great Xia were filled with anticipation for the sixth episode after seeing the preview on the official website of <Flash Dance>. They gathered on various websites in advance, waiting for the premiere at 9:00 AM today.
P. S.: Due to health reasons, my sleep schedule has finally returned to normal recently, but this has also led to less consistent updates (it used to be consistent because I was always right before the deadline). I estimate that I'll be back with a commercial performance in less than 10 chapters, so please enjoy the daily life updates while they last.
Volume 1: 247. Ama-no-Habakiri; Devouring Existence; Experience points inherited from the second playthrough. (5K)
Salzburg.
Monchstein Castle Hotel.
Tang Liuli emerged from the marble bathroom, her emerald eyes filled with weariness. She was drying her wet hair with a towel, smoothing down her unruly tufts of hair, when she plopped down onto the soft bed, feeling the mountain breeze blowing in from the window and savoring the coolness of the midsummer night.
The environment on Monk Mountain is beautiful; you can faintly hear the rustling of nature, which makes you think of many years ago, when you celebrated a festival in a castle next to a vineyard. She wore the crown of the birthday girl, listened to her Dad sing her Birthday Song, and blew out the candles with a smile.
At that time, the sounds outside were the same.
The wind rustled through the vegetation and branches, creating a gentle, undulating sound that soothed the ears and brought a sense of peaceful drowsiness.
There was a time when she wished she could stay in that moment forever.
As long as time doesn't keep moving forward, she will still have a happy and fulfilling family, a slightly demanding but gentle mother, and a greedy but still loving Dad.
Unfortunately, there are no "what ifs".
And now, Tang Liuli has a similar thought.
The girl rolled over, closed her eyes, and manipulated her magic to create vortexes that enveloped her entire body, gently removing some of the moisture and allowing her hair and damp sheets to dry. She whispered softly:
"Everyone here is very familiar with you."
Yayoi, Kiyohyun, Xiao Qing, or even Charlotte, they all seem to have shadows hidden in their hearts, which can always stir up strange emotions at some point, trigger different memories, induce different scenes, and tell different stories.
Tang Liuli wasn't stupid. Even though she was initially misled by her own wisdom, she has now come to her senses and realized that this situation could not be explained by simply sharing Qing Bao's memories.
On the other hand, she took the initiative to use her empathy talent on Charlotte today.
"Guilt, joy, heartache, pity, and concern."
Charlotte... Sister, who exactly are you?
Tang Liuli has sensed the emotions of countless people. She can clearly distinguish specific emotions and their corresponding intensity. However, the slight emotions that Charlotte evoked in her could be categorized as those of a close friend, family member, or a pet she had raised for decades—an incredible level of sensitivity.
In other words, Charlotte must have felt the same sense of déjà vu as herself, and she might even be aware of the origin of this feeling, otherwise she wouldn't have acted so matter-of-factly.
Tang Liuli felt very strange. She was clearly sold to Flash Dance by her Dad like a commodity, but here she met so many friends who treated her like family. It was as if she had met many long-lost family members all at once.
This feeling of losing one thing and gaining another left her with a sense of bewilderment at being favored by fate, and... a profound unease.
It was precisely because she was so happy and joyful with everyone that she worried it might all be an illusion.
All of this might be like the magic of a fairy godmother; once the time comes, everyone will go their separate ways and become strangers again, like a movie ending with the cold announcement of the cast list.
The Social Anxiety Cat is very scared. She is a timid person who hates being alone. She was able to get through it before only because she was good at pretending to be strong. She built a strong fortress on the outside, but inside the fortress, there were only fluffy, soft things, as soft as clouds.
The girl rolled over, hugged the pillow, and buried her face in it. Afraid that actively exploring the reasons behind these things would lead to unwanted answers, she unusually gave up on becoming Sherlock Liuli and enjoying the pleasure of being a (questionable) reasoning genius.
"I don't want to think about it anymore, I'll just scroll through my phone for a bit before bed!"
Tang Liuli felt she was being pretentious. She patted her chubby, adorable face, turned over, and scrolled through her phone for a while. To her surprise, she discovered that today was the premiere of the sixth episode, and the comment section of the official Weibo account for <Flash Dance> was already flooded with various requests for more episodes.
[Urgent! If I don't see my 52 Little Idol again, I'm going to die???!]
[We've already reviewed enough individual camera shots from the Third Performance, hurry up and bring out the new stuff???!]
[The previews for episode 6 are everywhere, I can't wait to know where my Little Idol went!]
Today is the third day of my attempt to bump into Qing Bao in Vienna. I want her to write her name all over my clothes!
[I'm furious! It's only noon! I can't stand the spiciness! Why isn't Dream Weaver Rabbit releasing any behind-the-scenes footage or promotional material beforehand????]
Tang Liuli blinked sleepily. Because of the time difference, the sixth episode would probably not air until she woke up, which was a bit of a pity. With so many contestants' travelogues, she wondered how the Program Group would edit them.
The Green Eyed Cat scrolled through the comments section, then disciplined itself to put down its phone, turn off the nightlight, hug its pillow, curl up in the blanket, listen to the sound of the wind, and began to fall fast asleep.
In her dream, the campfire crackled softly, and the familiar sounds of conversation all around her, like melodious and lively music, soothed the girl's timidity, as warm as a passionate and tender embrace.
Meanwhile, the Green Eyed Cat and the Little Cotton-padded Jacket on the children's channel had already gone to sleep.
Little Sakura, meanwhile, stayed in her room. As a law-abiding and honest girl, she was researching whether the three elements of [Cocoon of the Heart], magic, and artificial lantern would affect [Heart Forging], and she was conducting experiments using paper as a medium.
Kiriwake Yayoi's main goal, of course, was to improve Xiao Qing's health, but at the same time, she also wanted to develop more ferocious and tyrannical uses for [Heart Forging].
For example, recreating the methods used by the Witch in her memory to fight against the Supreme Calamity Beast named Leviathan.
--Tianyu Ama-no-Habakiri.
This sword, a true god's sword in the Eastern mythology, possesses godlike power in the hands of the Witch. Its sharp, Cambrian-era sword light is capable of cutting through anything, and its radiation can reach thousands of miles away like a nuclear explosion, constantly clearing away rampant Disaster Tide.
In her memory, she had left the Ama-no-Habakiri in a main city, where it would always unleash a sharp sword aura to distinguish friend from foe, to quell the Disaster Tide and protect the people within the city.
Kiriwake Yayoi certainly didn't expect to be able to forge the real thing.
If memory serves me right, setting aside Laevateinn, who destroyed the world in Norse mythology, Futsu-no-Mitama, Ama-no-Habakiri, and Ame-no- Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, located in the Eastern Pantheon, are the Witch maiden's greatest masterpieces and her strongest weapons against enemies.
Right now, I probably couldn't even forge a legendary sword like Onikiri, a mortal-level blade.
But if we think about it another way, since even something as simple as a paper crane can have a blessing effect, why not just aim to create counterfeits? It doesn't matter if we can't create a real Ama-no-Habakiri, we can create a fake, or even just a sword aura, which will be more useful.
With that in mind, after finishing dinner, Little Sakura went to buy some materials and, after returning to her room, has been tinkering with them until now with some progress.
"Hmm~ Wouldn't this be too tiny?"
Kiriwake Yayoi the finished product in her hand, lost in thought.
This is a sword blade forged from silver. It is about half the size of a palm, like a child's favorite toy. However, it is so exquisite that even the metal surface has a forged pattern like flowing cherry blossoms, which shimmers with a beautiful iridescent color in the light. You could even call it a specially made work of art.
Of course, if a rope were threaded through the pommel, it would look more like a cross when worn around the neck.
Beside this fake sword, on the table, lay an even cruder counterfeit: a sword folded from paper. Since its shape was completely unremarkable, the words "Ama-no-Habakiri" were written on the paper to emphasize its counterfeit status.
Little Sakura seemed ashamed of her childish and silly attempt. She glanced at the embarrassing failure and felt it was a waste to pour magic into it. So she stood up, picked up the paper sword, and wanted to see just how useless it could be.
Everything in the castle is very expensive, including some priceless antiques, so you can't just cut anything indiscriminately to avoid any accidents.
Kiriwake Yayoi picked up another origami crane. She opened the window and felt the cool mountain breeze on her face. As if she were going to use a paper knife to peel an apple, she tried to cut the poor, innocent origami crane in her hand. The result was... the paper knife didn't collapse, and the paper crane wasn't hurt either.
"As expected, aside from getting a little harder, it's completely useless."
Little Sakura began to worry that her other "successful" work would also become useless. She sighed, stopped thinking about it, put away the undamaged origami crane, and like a child wielding a paintbrush, cut a paper knife towards the lush green mountains outside the window.
"Ama-no-Habakiri, liberation."
As soon as he finished speaking, the paper knife in his hand turned to ashes, and a few wisps of illusory cherry blossoms flowed from his fingers before disappearing without a trace. The night in the distance did not stir up the slightest ripple, and the mountain wind howled, making the line that burned away the power of creation in one breath seem particularly childish and awkward.
Kiriwake Yayoi was extremely embarrassed. She closed the window with lightning speed, deciding to seal this Black History away forever. She had no interest in verifying the effect of the other fake product at the moment, and turned off the light to go to sleep.
Right now, outside the window.
The wisp of cherry blossom, sliced by the paper knife, drifted with the mountain breeze to the dense branches of the tree, silently severing it, leaving only a single petal. It fell onto the streetlights on both sides of the mountain path, shattering the metal, glass, and light bulbs into fragments before returning to nothingness.
The room next door.
In Xie Qingxuan's palm, pitch-black Magic Particles were moving and colliding back and forth. They would sometimes separate and sometimes expand, dancing like mayflies under her will, and finally converge into a silent, rotating magical ball that occasionally made a "rustling" sound.
Self-created techniques?
Xie Qingxuan wasn't sure if this counted; she just instinctively felt that this method would be more powerful, and there were many other different methods she could try.
Practice makes perfect, and if I don't find a place to throw it away and see what happens, I always feel like something's missing. Where should I throw this away?
Xie Qingxuan is very troubled. Although she has nicknames like "Great Demon King" and "Stage Tyrant," which sound fierce and unreasonable, she actually has no interest in damaging public property or abusing anything.
Just as the Golden Haired Doggy was about to give up, she suddenly remembered something Charlotte had said earlier that day.
"I specially asked Xiao Meng to find us a place to stay with a swimming pool, so we can all go swimming together. Isn't that great!"
Xie Qingxuan seemed lost in thought. She opened the window, glanced at the swimming pool below, and said:
"What a coincidence, it's right below."
"With so much water, it shouldn't spoil if we throw it in, right?"
Xie Qingxuan recalled her savings and, after confirming that she could afford to pay for it if it broke, decisively threw the magic ball in her hand down.
This sphere, imbued with ninety percent of her magical power and a blessing quality, was submerged into the water as lightly as a falling leaf under her precise control, without even a bubble or ripple.
Then, a muffled thunderclap erupted from the bottom of the pool.
The next second, hundreds of tons of water were lifted high into the air and then crashed down, splashing out thousands of water droplets. The entire pool was filled with white waves and foam, swirling in the roar of the waves.
However, strangely enough, these sounds were all confined within the pool, as if imprisoned in a vacuum, or even simply erased from existence. The water that was originally enough to fill the pool slowly vanished into nothingness under the erosion of the dark magic.
A long time.
Xie Qingxuan stared at the swimming pool, now two-thirds empty, and fell into deep thought.
Yes, the effect of this blessing is indeed the same as in my memory; it can extend beyond myself and even more directly erode, devour, and erase the existence of other things.
But one thing is different from what I remember: the cost of activating the blessing seems to be compensated by consuming magic power instead.
After confirming the news, Xie Qingxuan felt unusually happy. Her usually cool and indifferent expression softened, and her pink lips curved into a cute smile. She murmured to herself, unusually lively:
"Magical Girl, how amazing!"
--Thump!
The Golden Haired Doggy felt a tap on her head. She turned around blankly and saw the Pure White Witch with a mysterious gaze.
Then...
Xie Qingxuan's beautiful face lit up with even more joy, and she almost instinctively leaned over to touch him.
Chu Yuanqing was completely overwhelmed by this reaction. She felt a sense of powerlessness, like punching cotton. She immediately placed her hand on the person's head and began to lecture them with a serious expression:
"No matter how amazing it is, you can't use magic recklessly."
"And another thing! I clearly told you not to use that ability so casually, but you didn't listen to me at all!"
After processing the information that Qing Bao wouldn't let her stick close to him, Xie Qingxuan's brain released a lot of feelings of disappointment. She drooped her eyelids listlessly and stood obediently in place without saying a word.
Seeing this reaction, Chu Yuanqing began to regret whether she had spoken too harshly. She quickly softened her tone, like a doting mother stroking Golden Haired Doggy's mane, and said gently:
"I was just worried you might hurt yourself, not blaming you."
Xie Qingxuan looked up at Qing Bao and said seriously:
I won't hurt myself over something worthless.
"Also, I discovered that the cost of this ability can be compensated for with magic, so there shouldn't be any major problems."
This is undoubtedly very significant news.
Chu Yuanqing was shaken to her core, a tsunami raging within her. She understood all too well what it meant for the price of a blessing to be compensated with magic.
Countless warriors of the old era perished from the backlash of the blessing, and some of them possessed abilities that, from the perspective of civilization or even the planet, had extremely high Strategic Value.
However, due to the constraints imposed by the Shackles, they could only be pitiful expendable resources, and even before their deaths, they had no chance to contribute any positive value to the war effort.