Cen Yao's eyes flickered slightly.
“Have you seen him?”
The Queen raised a hand to cover her head, her soul form flickering unstably once more.
“I can't remember clearly...”
“He wore a black robe...”
“He said the power of the rainbow flower was being wasted.”
“He said... it was too much of a waste to use it only to cure illnesses.”
“He said the King could obtain immortality.”
“He said our child would become a miracle...”
The more she spoke, the thicker the black mist around her grew. The memories clearly brought her so much pain that she could barely maintain consciousness.
Cen Yao did not press further.
“That's enough.”
The Queen stopped abruptly.
Cen Yao looked at the Little Princess, then at the remaining cinnabar marks in the secret chamber.
“He has been here.” It was not a question, but a statement of fact.
The Queen nodded slowly.
“He drew an array here.”
“He said... he wanted to keep the flower's power.”
“He said that as long as the King did as he was told, the kingdom would prosper forever.”
Cen Yao let out a soft chuckle.
Wang Tao's scalp tingled as he listened. He whispered, “Is this King a fool? How could he believe such nonsense?”
Cen Yao glanced at him.
“When people are blinded by greed, they will believe anything.”
Wang Tao shut his mouth immediately.
Cen Yao stood up.
It was certain now.
The wizard indeed existed.
The Little Princess was his creation.
Since that was the case, the next steps would be easy.
Cen Yao raised her wand.
The Queen grew tense instinctively. “What are you going to do?”
“Don't worry, I won't kill her,” Cen Yao said. “I'm just going to peel away the outermost layer of pollution on her.”
The Queen stared at her. In her eyes, there was fear, entreaty, and a faint sliver of trust.
Cen Yao said no more.
She retrieved the moon-breath grass and silver-frost moss she had gathered from the greenhouse last night from her Witch's robe, then took out the clear-heart vine sap.
Chen Lin and Wang Tao watched wide-eyed as she produced a pile of ingredients out of thin air, followed by a small cauldron materialized from nothing.
Cen Yao casually ignited a cluster of blue flame.
The herbs were tossed into the cauldron one by one. The pale green liquid bubbled and boiled, quickly turning into a clear, light silver. A crisp, refreshing herbal fragrance filled the air. The oppressive chill that had filled the secret chamber was significantly diluted by this scent.
Chen Lin couldn't help but whisper to Wang Tao, “Is she brewing a potion?”
Wang Tao nodded blankly. “It seems so.”
“Can players do this?” Chen Lin asked.
“I don't know,” Wang Tao replied.
The two exchanged a look and tacitly shut their mouths. It was best not to ask questions about an expert's business. If they asked, the answer would just be that they weren't worthy of understanding.
Cen Yao paid no attention to the two useless tagging-alongs behind her.
She focused entirely on controlling the flame.
A few minutes later, a small vial of light silver potion was complete. This was a simplified purification potion. Due to the lack of complete ingredients, its effects were limited. However, she didn't need a complete purification right now; she only wanted to tear open a layer of the pollution's outer shell. If the wizard truly viewed the Little Princess as his masterpiece, he would definitely react when his work was damaged.
Cen Yao poured the potion onto the tip of her wand.
A silver light instantly enveloped the tip.
She looked down at the Little Princess bound by the vines, her voice very soft.
“Bear with it.”
As if sensing danger, the Little Princess suddenly began to struggle violently. A sharp, piercing cry erupted from her throat once more.
Chen Lin and Wang Tao turned pale, instinctively wanting to cover their ears. The Little Princess's cries grew increasingly ear-splitting. Even the remaining array patterns on the floor of the secret chamber began to glow with a faint, dark red light.
The coldness in Cen Yao's eyes deepened.
He even left a contingency plan?
She raised her hand and pressed the wand against the Little Princess's forehead without hesitation.
The light silver medicinal glow seeped into her forehead.
The Little Princess's shriek suddenly grew higher. The sound was almost enough to rupture eardrums. The mottled golden hair on her body whipped around frantically, thick black mist rising from the strands.
Cen Yao pressed her wand down.
“Purify.”
A silver-white light suddenly erupted.
A wisp of black mist was forcibly torn from the Little Princess's body. The wisp of black mist twisted in midair, vaguely condensing into a blurry human face. The face had no features, only a gaping, split mouth. It screamed silently in Cen Yao's direction.
In the next second, the black mist exploded with a bang. All the remaining array patterns in the secret chamber extinguished at the same time. As if drained of all her strength, the Little Princess went limp and slumped back into the vines.
A small patch of the grayish-black in her hair faded away.
Revealing a clean lock of pale gold.
The Queen stared fixedly at that lock of golden hair, tears instantly streaming down her face.
“She...”
Cen Yao withdrew her wand.
“It's only been temporarily suppressed a bit.”
“We're still far from actually saving her.”
Just as she finished speaking, a very soft chuckle suddenly echoed from the depths of the secret chamber. It came from the walls. It came from beneath the floor. It came from the ashes of the burned paper talismans.
It was low, slimy, and carried a sense of amusement after being offended.
“How interesting.”
“Where did this little witch come from, to actually dare touch my creation?”
Chen Lin and Wang Tao's scalps instantly went numb with fear.
The black mist around the Queen surged violently.
Even in her unconscious state, the Little Princess began to twitch uneasily.
Cen Yao, however, smiled.
She raised her head and looked in the direction of the voice.
“Finally willing to show yourself?”
The voice let out a low laugh.
“Were you looking for me?”
Cen Yao curled her lips, twirling her wand lightly between her fingers.
“Indeed.”
“After all, when it comes to theft, we must settle the accounts one by one.”
The secret chamber suddenly shook. On the walls, the ashes of the paper talismans Cen Yao had burned floated up once more, condensing into a pitch-black humanoid projection in midair. A black robe. Tall and thin. His face was hidden in the shadow of his hood. Only a pair of dark red eyes glowed like two embers burning at the bottom of a deep well.
He looked at Cen Yao.
“You are not Evelyn.”
Cen Yao said calmly, “Of course I am not.”
The moment those words left her mouth, the dungeon system trembled for an instant. In a place unseen by Cen Yao, the eyes of every ghost and monster in the entire dungeon turned toward the palace, only to be suppressed once more by Cen Yao's next sentence.
A hint of amusement entered the dark wizard's voice.
“Then who are you?”
Cen Yao gripped her wand tightly, her purple Witch's robe fluttering even though there was no wind. Under the shadow of her hood, the corners of her lips curled up slightly.
“A debt collector.”
As she spoke, a silver-white magic circle suddenly lit up within the secret chamber. It was an array Cen Yao had secretly laid down earlier while clearing the talismans. Beams of light surged from the floor like chains, instantly binding the dark wizard's projection.
The wizard clearly hadn't expected her to be so prepared, and his low laughter came to an abrupt halt.
Cen Yao's eyes turned cold.
“Got you.”
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