It was them.
Although "giving what they desire, providing what they need" is actually the secret to the Belladett family’s dominance, and "though this body is ice cold and flowing fire, it still anticipates the ti of burning out" is a phrase from the necromancy secret technique that Harvey learned, none of these are originally theirs. But Ash was willing to believe, this was the trace they left behind.
"Looks like I lowered the average level of Shattered Lake..." Ash even found it sowhat amusing; he had to rely on the Supre Tail Feather and the Heavenly Kingdom of Souls to bear the fifth level of hell, whereas Igula and Harvey passed through on their own strength.
Ash always thought he had a chance to repay, always felt that they were partners helping each other, but unlike him who accidentally beca a cult leader, Igula and Harvey went to prison through their own capabilities.
Before becoming accustod to relying on others, they had already learned to take fate into their own hands.
Unlike Ash who is like a balloon tied to the ground with a string, Igula is a fleeting flower, Harvey a floating duckweed, and fate is the wind... balloons drift away uncontrollably but can be held by a string, while the flower and duckweed can only drift in the wind. They must seize every opportunity to ride the gusts and fly higher, because when the wind stops, they too will fade into the dust and smoke.
Only at this mont did Ash finally understand Igula and Harvey’s thoughts:
No need to chase.
Nobody believed more than them that Ash could pass the Hell Trial, yet they left no information for Ash, only writing down the law they adhered to throughout their lives on the Wall of Sighs, drawing a temporary conclusion to their lives. Harvey was sloppy all his life, Igula straightforward and efficient in his actions, but in the end, they both left without any fuss.
They were balloons, fleeting flowers, and duckweed swept together by the wind, and now the balloon needed to be anchored, but the flower and duckweed would not stop and wait for the balloon. Not all paths can be traveled together, and not all debts can be repaid.
Death row prisoners ventured together to survive, but since Ash found his own life, the adventure party naturally should disband. The Hell Trial was just an opportunity, whether it was a chaotic wedding scene or sothing the sa, as long as they witnessed Ash embracing the Sword Witch, they would imagine with glee Ash’s unending troubles, while quietly slipping away without hesitation.
They don’t really want to bless Ash.
The balloon found its string, but the fleeting flower still needs to continue searching for its garden, and the floating duckweed has yet to find its pond.
Maybe one day Ash will be kicked out by the operators, walking alone on a stormy night, sleeping under a cardboard box under the flyover, and they will hurry from hell to mock Ash. Or perhaps it’s them who are in big trouble, and when they’re sobbing, Ash will appear before them like a divine intervention, showing off his miracle.
But no matter what, we will definitely et again.
"Is it Uncle Harvey and Aunt Bojin?" Diya asked.
"It’s them, they’re doing well, and are ahead of us." Ash stood up, smiling: "I really wonder how they passed the Hell Trial... didn’t Yin Zhi and Ye Jian help again?"
"Even with a Divine Lord helping, they had to summon a Divine Being to bear the fifth level of hell." Vishi patted Ash’s shoulder, teasing: "Now you’re the weakest one, you’re the only one without a Divine Being."
"I am his Divine Being." Weiser adjusted her glasses.
"I’m his maid, too. If you put it that way, doesn’t that an my Soul-locking God counts as his?"
Vishi pursed her lips, turning to et Ash’s subtle gaze, imdiately sensing trouble: "Hey, hey, my master, my most beloved master, the kind and benevolent Ash..."
Vishi tried to step back but was grabbed by the wrist by Ash, her heart trembling, quickly making a promise: "From now on, I will consult you before doing anything, I won’t harvest souls secretly, I will be respectful and polite to the mistresses, only flirting with you when they’re not around—"
"Are you trying to pick a fight?" Ash, half-smiling, reached out to Vishi.
"A-Ash." Vishi looked at him, her tightly pressed lips shining with a jelly-like sheen, her eyes watery: "Can’t you trust just this once?"
"I don’t trust you at all."
Vishi couldn’t resist the ruby chain at all and had to close her eyes, feeling a brush on her nose.
"I didn’t force you; you promised on your own." Ash released her hand, leisurely saying: "If you violate it yourself, you must face severe punishnt."
Vishi could tell Ash hadn’t really intended to take away her Soul-locking God, only using this as an opportunity to scare her. She didn’t even feel like teasing Ash anymore, and after he turned away, she stuck her tongue out at him and sulked in a corner—how had she allowed Ash to catch sothing he could use to threaten her!
Though Ash could have done anything to her with the chains from the start, for the ruby chain demonstrated her lack of skill, being threatened by Ash using the Soul-locking God, instead made her feel she had suffered a great loss—the Soul-locking God had been summoned by both of us, why should you take it at whim, threaten as you please? Obviously, I put in more effort, the Soul-lock owes more of its existence to my soul knowledge, and Ash at most just used the Supre Tail Feather to transform it!
If Vishi had solely summoned the Soul-locking God and then been robbed by Ash, she might not have been so upset; after all, survival of the fittest was also a rule she adhered to. But since the Soul-locking God’s creation owed a tiny bit to Ash, she instead felt an indescribable mix of annoyance.
"Let’s leave a ssage too," Sonia said: "This is our glory as mages."
"I don’t need to." Vishi replied, slightly sullen: "Everyone can only write one sentence. Even if I visit the Gate of Hell a second ti, I won’t have another chance, and I’m not interested in changing what I wrote before."
Weiser thought for a mont, her fingers brushed over the Death Curtain, and a line of silver text was etched into it like a beam of light:
"I never expected, it was you who gave the illusion."
She didn’t explain anything, at first glance it looked a bit like a summary of magic experience, after all, Weiser herself road the Senluo Wasteland with the ’illusion’ Technique Spirit. But even Vishi could tell that this was no ssage; it was clearly a boast.
"I want to join, I want to join too!" Diya, unwilling to be outdone, drew a few strokes on the Curtain, leaving behind a line of pink-gold text:
"The amnesiac princess has returned ho, the wandering knight doesn’t want to let go."
Sonia watched the two of them, Diya and Weiser both wearing expressions of ’I am seriously leaving a ssage without any emotions mixed in’.
After a mont, Sonia suddenly smiled, "Then I’ll write sothing too."
She directly unsheathed her Ruby Sword and made a stroke on the Curtain, leaving behind a coquettish and cute violet-red text:
"I will bully you for a lifeti."
Sonia sheathed her sword and explained lightly, "Don’t misunderstand, it’s just that soone once said this to , so I always rember this sentence to motivate myself. After all, being bullied... you know the feeling."
She didn’t explain further, but everyone fell silent. After a mont, Diya suddenly erased her own ssage and changed it to another sentence:
"We are queens, deacons, death cultists, daughters, and witches."
"I, I just wanted to leave our nas!" Diya looked nervously at Ash, "I really didn’t an anything else, but since we rarely co to the Gate of Hell, we wanted to leave our nas as a nto..."
"Indeed, it should be properly commorated, after all, it’s the first ti." Weiser agreed, but her words always carried a subtle implication, as if what was being commorated wasn’t the ascension to demigod, but rather the first ti.
She wiped away the previous words and wrote a new line in silver:
"The sea of knowledge is vast, reading is tireless."
"I particularly like this famous cautionary saying." Noticing their questioning looks, Weiser smiled and said, "Is there any problem?"
"Then I’ll join too." Vishi suddenly beca interested, erasing the historic famous saying she had left on the Wall of Sighs for thousands of years, and a blatant azure sentence appeared before everyone:
"Now I am the master!"
"Unlike you, what I commorate is the dream I just had." Vishi tore away the facade everyone had carefully maintained, with a hint of provocation in her tone: "Though I’ve forgotten most of the details, I’m sure I said sothing like it."
Everyone silently looked at each other’s ssages. Starting with Sonia’s ssage, the nature of this ga changed. Actually, no one wanted to reveal the intelligence of their dreams, not even Vishi, who just wanted to discuss it with Ash. No one wanted others to know the details, but Weiser and Diya were too brazen, forcing Sonia to start this ga of intrigue.
She flaunted details, are you going to follow?
If it continues like this, it would be akin to admitting defeat, even Diya, who wanted to keep it secret the most, divulged a bit, indicating her progress was not lagging behind. They speculated about what ga was hidden in the ssages, what scenarios they taphorically referred to, what scenes they depicted.
Finally, the operators looked at Ash, and Sonia calmly said, "Ash, it’s your turn."
Ash pulled a face, "I don’t seem to have anything worth leaving a ssage about—"
"Then commorate sothing that’s happened recently." Weiser said, "Write down the most moving words you’ve heard."
It seed impossible to avoid now, but since that’s the case...
Ash thought for a mont, then pressed his fingers against the curtain, his soul making tangible contact with the Gate of Hell. It felt like touching a piece of ice, the nearly burning chill gently licked Ash’s soul, in a daze, Ash felt as if he was rging into one with Hell, arriving at a dinsion of nihility that transcended everything, his thoughts traversed through the Gate of Hell, brushing past the first layer of Hell, the second layer, the third layer...
Sss.
Ash heard a slippery and imnse friction sound, the icy despair seeped into his thoughts, the fear rendered him unable to think, like clusters of ice shards growing in his blood. In the nihility dinsion, he turned his head and saw a giant creature erging from the profound depths of darkness.
Compared to it, the Sea of Knowledge beca a small puddle, the Ti Continent couldn’t contain its whole body, one breath from it could extinguish all mirages in the Distant Realm, it could devour the Ruby Mountain by opening its mouth. It didn’t originate from the darkness, darkness was just one of its colors. It was the lava that evaporates the ocean, also the supernova that lights up nihility. It was everything, it was one, it was the ultimate that transcended all.
"It finally caught up." The sharp voice of the Youmo pierced his eardrums: "Death Mad, we’re finished, it’s all over, the World Snake that devours the world has caught up!"
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