Midnight Witch

Ye Yan felt a flicker of astonishment.

He rubbed his eyes, and the rose before him returned to normal. Yet, when he stared at the Color-Changing Rose for a long time, he began to perceive anomalies hidden beneath its surface.

How had he suddenly gained the ability to see such strange things?

Ye Yan suddenly recalled the Lantern Guidance he had obtained earlier. He had felt nothing special when he first acquired it, but now, its true function was revealing itself.

His perception of the mysterious had become significantly more sensitive.

"Not bad at all..." Ye Yan muttered to himself, pulling a custom-made glass bottle from his robes.

Sunlight pierced through the glass, casting the swirling liquid within into an eerie, emerald hue.

It was a special fermentation starter he had meticulously concocted.

It was capable of inducing a crimson metamorphosis in curious flowers during the fermentation process, eventually brewing into the Blood Spirit Wine—Sinking Red Wisdom.

To create this joyous starter, Ye Yan had exhausted a considerable amount of materials governed by the Cup principle. After failing over a dozen times, he had finally managed to produce this single small bottle.

His scissors precisely snipped the black-and-white rose.

The moment the flower detached from its stem, its petals faded to a grayish-white at a speed visible to the naked eye. Ye Yan quickly stored it within his consciousness space.

[Color-Changing Rose (Transforming)]

[Category: Tier 1 Material (Harvestable)]

[Human hearts are fickle, but the fragrance of a rose is eternal.]

[Aspects: Honey, Cup → Edge]

"Hm?"

Ye Yan's expression shifted abruptly as he read the information in the prompt regarding the Color-Changing Rose.

He remembered clearly that the description of the Color-Changing Rose had not been like this before. Not only were the striking words "Transforming" now present, but even its aspects had shifted from Cup to a state of transitioning into Edge.

Could it be because of the summoning of the Shadow Maiden?

That event had not only altered the appearance of the Color-Changing Rose, but had even caused its fundamental aspects to mutate.

But how could the principles themselves change?

Just as Ye Yan was struggling to find an answer, his thoughts were struck by a flash of inspiration.

In the Five Elements theory of mutual generation and restriction passed down by his people, the profound logic of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth interacting—did it not secretly align with what he was seeing now?

Perhaps the power of the principles in this world followed some similarly hidden connections.

Although the relationships between other principles remained unclear, this rose currently undergoing metamorphosis proved one thing:

The principle of Cup could indeed be twisted into the principle of Edge.

Ye Yan's fingertips lightly stroked his chin, a glimmer of contemplation flashing in his eyes.

Lantern, Forge, Honey, Guidance, Moon...

Did some profound connection exist between these principles as well?

This discovery made Ye Yan's heart race.

He stared at the cluster of Color-Changing Roses, realizing that their value might far exceed his imagination.

Because they were not merely precious alchemical materials; they might become the key to verifying that bold hypothesis.

"It seems I need to file an application report to obtain enough rose samples for research."

Ye Yan whispered to himself, then carefully placed the rose—which had paused its mutation—into the glass bottle.

The grayish-white petals slowly unfurled within the emerald liquid. The moment they touched the wine, wisps of grayish-white threads seeped from the edges of the petals, bleeding into the mixture.

Those threads writhed like living things, intertwining with the fluorescent substances in the wine.

Ye Yan noticed that as the white threads appeared, the black patterns on the petals faded at a visible rate, as if they were being dissolved by the wine.

He gently swirled the bottle, setting the liquid into motion.

The liquid collided with the glass, emitting a strange sound. It was like the rustling of autumn leaves in the wind, yet also like the faint, rhythmic buzzing of an insect's wings.

This was the sign that the fermentation starter had begun to take effect.

Ye Yan sealed the bottle completely.

Tiny bubbles began to rise within the liquid, as if countless microscopic lives were awakening.

As he walked out of the rose garden, the guard's gaze swept over him.

Ye Yan calmly held up the glass bottle to show him. Seeing the rose inside, the guard simply nodded and let him pass.

The carriage jolted along the muddy path, and Ye Yan looked through the window at the fading lights of the town.

The laboratory, tucked deep within the dense forest, stood in isolation, surrounded by towering ancient trees whose shadows danced like living creatures. He opened the laboratory door with practiced ease, the air inside thick with the scent of herbs and flowers.

This was the laboratory he had specifically requested from the Research Institute.

Ye Yan knelt on one knee, tapped his fingertips against the floor three times, and a hidden compartment opened without a sound.

He took the glass bottle from his embrace. At this moment, the rose petals were gradually becoming transparent, suspended in the liquor like a layer of thin gauze. The dissolved black patterns settled at the bottom of the bottle, forming a fine layer of black crystals.

Ye Yan nodded in satisfaction.

He could feel the energy within the bottle undergoing a subtle change, a transformation that matched the process recorded in the recipe perfectly.

"It seems the second step can begin."

Ye Yan carefully placed the glass bottle inside, layering the grey-white cicada sloughs over the body of the bottle one by one.

As the final piece of cicada slough was laid down, all of them suddenly began to vibrate in unison, emitting a faint, humming sound. Ye Yan watched as the dark red threads in the liquor accelerated, converging into a beating heart within the bottle.

This was the storage method for Blood Spirit Wine; only in this way could true Sinking Red Wisdom be formed.

[Coordinate recordable, store it?]

"Yes."

Ye Yan marked the yet-to-be-formed Sinking Red Wisdom on the Luck Compass to prevent any accidents during the brewing process.

Having finished this, he let out a long sigh of relief.

"Mission accomplished, time to head home."

The night on the return journey was as thick as ink.

On the forest path, even the chirping of insects had vanished, leaving only the crisp sound of boots crushing dry leaves.

Suddenly, a bone-chilling cold swept across his spine.

Clang—

A bell tolled without warning, dull and hollow.

There shouldn't be any bells in this vicinity.

Ye Yan stopped abruptly, his fingers already pressing against the revolver at his waist. The surroundings seemed terrifyingly silent, with only the deafening sound of his own heartbeat.

Mist began to spread, though he knew not from where.

Under the moonlight, a slender figure slowly emerged.

A wide, pointed hat brim hung with spiderweb-like black veils, revealing a pale chin and a smear of scarlet lips. She wore a dark purple dress adorned with star and moon patterns, the hem swaying without wind to reveal the faint glimmer of silver garters beneath.

The mysterious woman stepped forward slowly.

With every step she took, the silver chains at her waist swayed.

The strange ornaments hanging from them—dried bat claws, hollowed-out pocket watches, and glass eyeballs—clashed against each other, vaguely forming a strange, intoxicating rhythm.

"Would you like a romantic encounter, lost traveler?" Her voice was like honey-coated blades, sweet and cloying yet laced with a chill.

Then, the woman did not wait for Ye Yan to answer.

She slowly raised her hand, her fingertips lightly brushing against her full lips, the crimson color creating an eerie contrast with her pitch-black nails.

"Or perhaps, you require me to provide some Guidance?"