Chapter 211

Chapter 211

The rain was now falling in earnest.

Tachibana Maki leaned against the narrow window on the second floor of the church, gazing absently out from the tower.

The vast, boundless plain stretched beneath an equally endless, dusky sky. Without the shelter of mountains, the dark clouds had thinned with the rain, and starlight gradually streamed down, outlining the majestic form of a massive ark.

“My god...” He was so stunned by this spectacle that he could hardly speak. “What an indescribable power.”

A surge of excitement rose within him. On this night when the "Law" descended and materialized, something subtly profound seemed to resonate with what he had once learned.

Even Jessica was unusually quiet. She reached out her hand, catching the shimmering raindrops and starlight, half-closing her eyes to reflect.

Mu Huanzhu, after all, came from the Cavendish family. Whether in training or experience with unusual missions, she far surpassed the other two. She crossed her arms and sighed, “Such a grand group revelation—the organizing committee’s investment in this Five-School League is truly beyond imagination.”

“Well, they say there’s sponsorship from a Senior Alchemist,” Tachibana Maki said absentmindedly. “With money and equipment, how could it compare to the budget travels of the past...”

“Shh.”

Mu Huanzhu raised a finger, signaling with her eyes for him to look at Jessica, who was clearly completely absorbed in her own world. As fellow practitioners of the Law, this encounter with advanced laws governing the world’s structure might bring the little princess significant new insights.

Interfering with someone’s fortune is like inviting lightning. Tachibana Maki ducked his head and reluctantly clamped his mouth shut.

When the lady of the house arrived, this was the scene she witnessed.

Among the three, one stood like a statue, in a trance at the window; another observed the process of the ark being forged by starlight; and the third leaned against the wooden windowsill, muttering to herself as she counted the ants swarming out in the rain, looking utterly bored.

She placed the lantern she carried on the table. The light clink caught the attention of Mu Huanzhu and Tachibana Maki. “Good evening, Ma'am.”

“Good evening, children,” the lady said, not glancing at the massive ark in the wilderness but smiling gently. “It’s too dark outside. I came to bring you a lamp.”

“Aren’t you leaving with us?” Mu Huanzhu asked.

The lady shook her head. “Whether alive or dead, I have vowed to dedicate my entire being to the god. I will not stray far from Floating Hill. As for the others, they should go or stay as they must.”

The eldest son and the servants, having drunk the holy water, could not leave Floating Hill. As for the second and youngest sons, one had left the day after receiving the divine envoys, and the other, overly pampered like a bird with clipped wings, had lost the ability to soar freely.

“Don’t worry too much about us. What is destruction and an end for you may well be a new beginning for those of us in this world,” she said gently. “Just focus on your own path.”

The night wind howled, and the rain fell like chimes.

As the faint figure disappeared completely into the gloomy rainy night, Jessica finally began to stir. Her eyelashes fluttered twice, while Tachibana Maki seized the moment to sketch on her white robe with a charcoal pencil.

“Hah—”

Jessica suddenly opened her eyes, her emerald-green pupils flowing like liquid jade. Unable to contain her joy at her newfound understanding, she sprang to her feet as soon as she woke, exclaiming excitedly, “I understand! I finally know how to set rules! Hmph, the gains from this league are immense... Would you like to see my new skills?”

“No,” Tachibana Maki flatly refused. “There’s barely any space here. Where would you even use your new tricks? Since you’re awake, hurry up and board the ship.”

The water outside was rising. If they didn’t leave soon, they would truly drown.

“...It’s not that exaggerated.”

“Stop arguing. The ark is fully forged,” Mu Huanzhu said, withdrawing her gaze from where the lady had disappeared and addressing the other two. “Save the talk for when we’re on board.”

-

In the near-total darkness, Eve was almost climbing by feel alone.

After parting ways with Zhou Huixue, she had taken the opportunity to climb toward the summit of the Holy Mountain. Her mental energy was fully unleashed, keenly detecting every thin leaf and chirping insect in the darkness, then swiftly avoiding them.

Though there was no basis for it, Eve had a premonition that something extremely important lay at the mountain’s peak. This sudden sixth sense had nothing to do with the league or points; it was born from the storm, the high mountain, and the myth of apocalypse. Like the classic triangular composition of a masterpiece, at the intersection of all cause and effect, space and time, there must lie something eternally profound.

This core resonated with her intuition. After a moment’s thought, Eve made her decision and risked climbing toward the summit.

To this day, Eve hadn’t thought much about the transmigration into the book for a long time—the original plot, long derailed, held no reference value.

The original Five-School League in the book was entirely different from the one she was experiencing. As an early supporting female character, Eve had been confined to her home before the league for a grave mistake that angered the head of the Medici family. The true standout in the league was the heroine, Alice. Zhou Huixue’s schemes were laid bare before her, and Yan Ning, also a mercenary, was only her equal at best. As for Murphy and Yang Haibo, one followed his whims, and the other, though stern, lacked conviction, becoming mere tools to highlight the heroine’s charm.

As for the later cooperative league with the alliance, it was nowhere to be found in the original—the alliance was merely a backdrop, briefly mentioned in a few lines as a statistic to illustrate the destructiveness of the insectoids.

Nothing like now, where alchemists actively intervened in what should have been a routine league for humbling rivals. The original protagonist was sent to a solemn base deep in the starry sea for another important plan, while the greatest antagonist transformed into a protector. Starships from the alliance traversed several wormholes and smoothly entered the empire’s territory.

Everything had already been completely twisted in unnoticed ways, steering the plot toward another strange yet logical direction. Though Eve felt she hadn’t deliberately guided anything, if she had to say, she had merely stood at the turning point and subtly nudged key figures of the original plot in the direction she desired.

It was quite similar to the setting of the ghost ship. Perhaps that was why she felt such a desire to explore this instance.

The sound of something cutting through the air suddenly arose. Two arrows shot from the left and right, striking from the shadows with sinister precision, their angles extremely tricky, far surpassing the arrow Japheth had used to attack his brother in the red house.

Arrows were naturally suited for long-range ambushes, especially in such a unique environment. Eve’s reaction speed wasn’t slow, but by the time she realized it, the two arrows were already upon her, less than a meter away.

“Watch out!”

The psychic awareness she had been using to scout nearby suddenly became chaotic, followed by a sudden, forceful push from her side, knocking Eve to the ground.

A strange, cold floral fragrance bloomed. In the distance, the sound of fierce combat echoed. In the unexpected scene, she heard a familiar groan and the thick scent of iron.

Eve’s mind went blank for a moment. Before the thought that “this is just a safe league” could register, her hands had already swiftly reached for the shoulder blades of the person on top of her. “Wait, don’t move. Let me see where you’re hurt!”

The person, who had been about to get up, immediately froze as if struck by a paralysis point. Only a pair of gleaming green eyes blinked twice in the dark. His palm was still pressed under Eve’s head. Seeming to feel the distance was too close, Lorca tried to subtly withdraw his hand but was abruptly slapped on the lower back by Eve, causing him to hiss in pain.

“I told you not to move,” Eve said irritably.

A cluster of white light ignited with a snap of her fingers—another small trick from the Holy Mountain. Afraid of attracting more malicious attackers, she confined the light source to her fingertip and squinted to examine Lorca’s back. His clothes were torn in a long slit, and blood had spurted out. Eve pressed her hand against it; the skin beneath was smooth.

The faint light illuminated half of her well-shaped chin. Lorca secretly turned his head and saw Eve’s focused expression as she examined his back. His Adam’s apple moved silently.

Eve didn’t touch for long. As soon as her hand made contact, she remembered the substitute doll she had taken from Jacob, which should still be on Lorca.

She withdrew her hand and asked, “Where’s the item?”

“On me,” Lorca grumbled reluctantly. “The wound transferred, but it still hurts.”

“I don’t have the materials to make an Alchemy Potion on me right now,” Eve said, though she still patted the wound area half-heartedly, her attitude not much more serious than humoring a child. “And if you’re afraid of pain, why rush to take the hit?”

In that split second, she had already planned how to block the arrows mid-air. Though she couldn’t avoid injury entirely, she could have minimized the impact on her mobility.

Her shoulder suddenly felt heavy—Lorca had leaned against her.

“I couldn’t just watch you get hurt. I at least have a damage-transferring alchemy item on me,” Lorca said, seemingly gauging that Eve’s tolerance for him was unusually high at the moment. After testing the waters, he relaxed and leaned most of his weight on her. Though he appeared calm, the heart-shaped tail behind him wagged like a propeller. “It hurts so much. Can you give me a kiss, Xiao Fu? Just like comforting an injured puppy. Comfort me a little.”

“Puppies aren’t as pushy as you,” Eve said, glancing down the mountain and showing no mercy as she stood up, pulling the drama-prone guy along with her. “Get up. Next time you pretend to be pitiful, remember to control your body parts.”

In the distance, Yan Ning, who had been secretly watching, wore a strange expression. She swept a leg toward the high priest’s neck, and a terrifying crack of bone echoed. Even the tenacious, almost inhuman high priest staggered back.

Seizing the brief respite, she pressed her back against Ludwig’s and said oddly, “What’s your brother doing?”

“No idea. Why do you care?” Ludwig’s attention was still on driving the Ghost Beauty Orchid. “Stop peeking over there, or you’ll get a sty.”

“Hmph, I’ve heard about it. Your brother might seem proper, but privately he’s not so upright. He’s been getting close to both Eve and Lu Qing. It’s been spreading from the First Empire Academy,” Yan Ning said sourly. “Tsk tsk, caught red-handed. Be careful, or I’ll tell on him.”

Ludwig: "......"

He really wanted to know who Yan Ning could possibly report to, and how such an absurd rumor had only reached him on the very first day. And what did it have to do with Yan Ning, an outsider from another school? A thousand thoughts swirled in his mind, ultimately condensed into one sentence—

"Are you even an adult yet?" Ludwig's mouth twitched as he dismissed her. "Go fight your monsters. Kids should stay out of adult business."

Yan Ning responded by splashing a handful of rainwater right into his face.

A purple flash of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating cold, blurred faces. The white-robed priestesses, having heard of the invasion of the Sacred Mountain, were already on their way back.

They carried silver longbows, their expressions as solemn and inorganic as dolls. Moving in perfect unison, they resembled not the humble priestesses of a medieval fantasy but rather rebellious androids from a science fiction film... Whatever they were, they certainly didn’t seem human.

"Can you handle these priestesses?" Eve asked Lorca rapidly. "Including Zhou Huixue and the others, Tachibana Maki should already be steering the Ark out of *Fuqiu*. How long can you hold them off?"

The green-eyed demon, who had been struggling with his own tail, frowned thoughtfully before replying, "Do you really have to go to the summit?"

"Not necessarily, but I really want to see it," Eve said. "I have a feeling that if I miss this chance, I’ll regret it forever."

"Alright."

Casually tying his tail into a bow, Lorca instead nudged Eve toward the mountain path as if urging her on. "If it’s that important to you, then go. The three of us aren’t as useless as you think. But there might be other dangers up there. Your Spiritual State hasn’t fully recovered yet—take the Wall-Imprisoned Serpent with you."

"But..." If she took it, what would its true owner do?

As if anticipating her question, Lorca chuckled softly. "Don’t worry about me. The substitute item is still bound to me for a while; nothing will happen. Hurry up, the water’s already reached the foot of the mountain."

Time was running out. Eve finally took the slender Spiritual State. "...Thank you for this. I owe you one."

"We’re all on the same school team; supporting each other is only natural," Lorca said, drawing a short whip from his waist as he prepared to join the fray. "Go on. We’ll hold the line here. No need to worry."

In such a densely wooded environment, a whip shouldn’t have been very effective. Yet, the dark, slender weapon came alive in Lorca’s hands—as agile and fierce as a tree snake, it deflected incoming arrows while seamlessly covering Eve’s retreat from the heart of the battle.

The light at her fingertips had long since faded. In the gloomy night forest, only the faint, scattered glow of Spiritual State energy provided any illumination.

Eve gritted her teeth and ran a few steps before suddenly halting. Lorca, still focused on her, instinctively moved closer. Crushing through the undergrowth, he asked softly, "What’s wrong, Little Fu? Is there something else you need to—"

Before he could finish, a warm, soft touch briefly brushed against his cheek before being swiftly withdrawn by its stingy owner.

Lorca’s pupils contracted sharply. The rest of his sentence vanished in his throat, leaving him staring blankly, looking rather pathetic.

"Even with the substitute item, don’t push yourself too hard. Like you said, it transfers damage but not pain. If things look bad, get yourself and the other two out of there."

Eve had only meant to encourage him before leaving. But remembering how Lorca had earlier asked for a kiss, she’d acted on impulse and granted his small wish. Thankfully, the pitch-dark surroundings hid everything, including the blush of embarrassment on her face.

Now, seeing that the instigator himself seemed too stunned to speak, Eve stopped her advice and patted his cheek, amused. "Hey? Still with me? Can you hear me?"

"...I hear you," Lorca mumbled, lowering his head so she wouldn’t see his expression. "I understand."

"Time’s really running out. I have to go. Take care of yourself."

"You too."

He barely managed to whisper those words before Eve vanished from sight.

The rain grew heavier. By the time she reached the latter part of the ascent, it was pouring so hard she could barely keep her eyes open. The slippery, wet path made even psychic scouting useless. Gravity tugged at her, threatening to drag her down into the mud.

This was where the independent utility of the Spiritual State shone. Without needing instruction, the Wall-Imprisoned Serpent transformed into its full-size form, half-carrying, half-supporting her as it forcefully propelled her toward the summit. Time stretched endlessly in the boundless night, like the lingering note of a broken piano key. Only when she abruptly entered a fresh, rain-free space did Eve belatedly realize she had reached the temple at the mountain’s peak.

"Is this rain trying to drown us? Feels like it could pummel someone to death just by falling on them," she muttered to herself.

Eve was drenched from head to toe, her robe dripping steadily, hair plastered messily to her face—looking like a drowned rat. Though physically uncomfortable, her eyes shone with rare excitement.

The answer she sought beckoned from just beyond. It had been a long time since Eve had felt this exhilarated.

The divine residence greeted her with a long corridor from the entrance. The towering walls were inlaid with round, luminous pearls, and a soft breeze whispered from the depths of the dark hallway ahead.

With each step she took, a pair of pearls glowed faintly. After what felt like an eternity, the corridor ended.

A massive gilded door appeared incredibly heavy, but when Eve placed her hand on it, she found it surprisingly light. With a gentle push, it swung open inward.

Countless luminous pearls and entire blocks of fluorescent crystal composed the innermost chamber of the mountain-top temple. The room glowed in beautiful shades of blue and purple from the natural minerals. At the center stood a crystal coffin, from which only the occupant’s wavy golden hair—like a flowing river of gold—was visible from the doorway.

Eve’s heart suddenly pounded fiercely. This usually quiet organ in her chest had never made its presence known so vividly, as if foretelling some imminent, terrifying truth.

She approached the crystal coffin. Those few steps felt as long as a lifetime.

The woman lying within—or rather, the goddess, for that suited her better—had a face perfectly embodying the gentle image of a mother to all creation. Her eyes sloped kindly downward at the corners, her lips curved in a faint smile. She wore a wreath of olive branches, her golden hair spread beneath her. Even in death, she seemed merely asleep, serene and peaceful.

So familiar—a face Eve could never forget. This was unmistakably the anonymous volunteer who often visited the orphanage in her previous life, the one who had even given her the name "Lu Qing."

Eve’s gaze lingered on that face for several seconds before slowly drifting downward, taking in the elegant, intricate gown and the hands folded in a diamond shape over the abdomen. Between them rested a butterfly-shaped sculpture carved from blue crystal.

A thoughtful voice suddenly spoke from a corner: "What’s with that look... Do you know Her?"

Eve whirled around to discover a woman standing by a pillar near the door.

Before she spoke, Eve hadn’t sensed another living presence in the small chamber.

The woman, who had been waiting there unnoticed, had familiar silver hair and blue eyes. Though her face was identical to Eve’s, she appeared several years older and infinitely more dangerous. Beauty, on her fully matured features, had sharpened into something aggressively striking. Her silver hair was coiled into a bun, a black thorn crown tilted atop her head. Tall and imposing, her expressionless face made her utterly inscrutable.

Even the Wall-Imprisoned Serpent, coiled around Eve’s wrist, alertly raised its upper body, the purple bud on its head poised to bloom.

Eve soothingly stroked the Spiritual State’s triangular head. Watching the woman’s elegantly swaying heart-tipped tail, a suspicion solidified in her mind. "Are you Lady Lilith?"

"A priestess, addressing me so respectfully? How interesting," Lilith said, casually brushing aside a stray lock of hair. "So? How does it feel to discover your god is dead? Complicated, I imagine?"

A malicious smile played on her lips, as if she eagerly anticipated the devastated expressions of these devout believers.

But Eve only glanced at her curiously before answering honestly, "I already knew She was gone. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have dared come here."

Lilith: "......"

She discreetly released a strand of demonic energy to gauge emotions. This young priestess showed no trace of grief or devastation—only deep confusion. Having struggled free from hell only to encounter a faithless disgrace of a priestess, Lilith felt profoundly bored.

No wonder she’s the crush of my new demon underling. She doesn’t even seem to care that a demon’s using her face. Lilith snorted, letting her disguise fall away like a receding tide. Another stunning visage emerged—still snow-white hair, but with black-membrane red eyes that radiated innate malice and cruelty.

Ignoring Eve, she gracefully approached the eternally sleeping deity. Her black gown stood out against the translucent crystal coffin like a dark cloud overshadowing the moon. For a moment, Eve thought the Queen of Hell might actually be sad.

But the illusion was quickly shattered by the woman herself—she threw open the crystal coffin!

"Hey?!"

Eve had been content to observe silently, but now that Lilith seemed ready to desecrate the remains—especially of someone who shared a face with her past life’s benefactor—she felt compelled to intervene. "Your Grace, when one dies—no, when a God dies, it’s like a light going out. Grudges and past grievances... what’s the point of holding them against a God of Death? Desecrating a corpse is going too far... Mph?!"

Lilith snapped her fingers, and demonic energy instantly sealed Eve’s chattering lips. "Quiet, little one. I’m not in the mood to toss you into the flood outside for the fish yet."

Eve blinked, quickly scanning the goddess in the coffin before wisely backing several steps toward the door.

Better you than me. Compared to the dignity of the dead, it's more important to protect the living first. Besides, this person merely resembles her benefactor—there's no evidence to prove they are the same person.

Lilith paid no mind to her subtle movements. She had already set up a barrier throughout the entire room earlier, confident that Eve couldn’t possibly escape her grasp. She bent down, retrieved the butterfly-shaped crystal from the coffin, and toyed with the sapphire-blue crystal block between her pale, slender fingers, her fingers tightening and loosening as if torn between destroying it and hesitating out of caution.

After wrestling with it for a while, Lilith made a surprising decision. She tossed the crystal lightly in her hand and suddenly threw it in Eve’s direction.

"It’s yours now," she said, curling her lips into a smirk that didn't reach her eyes. "I’ve noticed you’ve been getting along quite well with the crystal these past few days—so well, in fact, that you might as well take her home with you."

Eve fumbled, catching it with her sleeve, her eyes widening in surprise. Unfortunately, the demonic energy still sealed her mouth, and Lilith showed no intention of lifting the spell. She had no choice but to resort to gesturing: "Is the crystal the mistress of the Red House?"

"Do I look like some kind of good Samaritan who wastes breath answering others’ questions?" Lilith retorted with a smile.

No, she did not.

To avoid having her hands and feet bound again, Eve knew better than to press further. Even without Lilith’s explanation, she could already guess the answer.

This crystal was the very prophetic artifact that Jacob and Gu Zhaoxi had tried to trick her into using prematurely before the competition began.

The mistress might not be the crystal itself, but the power she wielded likely belonged to it. Considering all the weird occurrences in this world, Eve suspected that this whole world might have been constructed based on the crystal’s power.

But were Lilith and the deity also created by the crystal?

They felt too real for Eve to jump to conclusions.

Meanwhile, Lilith had already lifted the deity’s remains horizontally, the long snow-white skirt trailing on the ground. From this angle, the deity looked more as though she were merely asleep. Lilith cast an indifferent glance at Eve and casually lifted the silencing spell: "You disturbed Her eternal rest. What punishment do you think you deserve?"

Eve: "...Ignorance shouldn't be punished. So, no punishment at all."

Lilith laughed, but her laugh was cold: "Do you think that’s possible?"

She knew exactly how Lilith would respond—asking her to choose, only to reject the answer anyway. Eve’s lips twitched, sincerely feeling that this hellish queen was just toying with her.

There were no other punishment facilities here, aside from the floodwaters outside that nearly submerged the sacred mountain’s peak. Not bothering to figure out Lilith’s game, Eve walked straight out, ready to end it all herself.

After all, Lorca’s Spiritual State was still with her—locating and retrieving him would be a breeze.

"Wait," Lilith suddenly called out from behind her. "You forgot something."

"What thing?"

"Why, this nuisance, of course."

Lilith smiled, and with a flick of demonic energy, she sent the butterfly crystal—which Eve had deliberately left behind—flying toward her. Eve remembered Jacob’s introduction before the competition: this crystal had prophetic abilities. To avoid divining something she didn’t want to see, she had been careful not to let it touch her skin.

But man proposes, God disposes. Even as the crystal landed on Eve’s sleeve, the demonic energy attached to it suddenly went haywire, forcing the crystal to veer off course and crash directly into Eve’s hand like it had a mind of its own. Before she could react, the demonic energy exploded violently, the shockwave hurling Eve backward several steps. The moment her foot slipped into empty air, a single thought flashed: "Oh no."

Instinctively, she clenched the crystal tightly.

The moment her hand closed around it, the crystal burst into five brilliant colors. Immediately after, a massive wave surged forth, devouring both Eve and the strangely glowing crystal into the ink-black flood.

In her last glimpse, Eve saw Lilith in her black dress watching her, her gaze thoughtful.

On the Ark, Tachibana Maki was struggling to turn the ship’s wheel, larger than a person, trying to follow the stars’ guidance to find a way out.

-

Just as he was at his most frantic, an argument suddenly broke out from the cabin.

"All you do is argue? Causing trouble day in and day out," Tachibana Maki roared behind him. "Can’t you see I’m busy thinking here?"

Zhou Huixue snorted and turned away, while the others who had been accusing her, scolded by the temporary captain, had no choice but to temporarily shelve their fierce expressions and instead glare at her fiercely.

Lorca, who had been sitting in a corner watching them argue with a smile, his expression shifted drastically, his heart skipping a beat.

"What’s wrong, brother?" Ludwig, sitting beside him, noticed his grim expression and asked urgently. "Did something happen?"

Without time to explain carefully to Ludwig, Lorca shouted angrily at Tachibana Maki: "Tachibana Maki, steer toward the sacred mountain in the east."

"Which way is east?"

The view in all directions was nothing but water, making it impossible to determine direction. Tachibana Maki clicked his tongue in frustration and was about to call Lorca or Zhou Huixue over for guidance when startled cries came from the students behind him:

"Lorca has left the cabin without permission!"

"What’s he doing out there now? Was he trying to get himself killed?" Tachibana Maki exclaimed, both shocked and angry. "And what good is telling me? Go out and find him already!"

Outside the Ark was now nothing but open ocean—did this man want to die?