Amid the collapsing ruins, cries for help rose from every side. Among them was Xia Mo. A falling rock had struck her head and knocked her unconscious. Her body was slowly being buried under the rubble.

Ling Yu was there too, enduring the pounding rocks with his own body. He was already on his knees, half collapsed on the ground, dragging his sore, numb body forward bit by bit toward Xia Mo.

“Xia Mo, your master’s coming to save you right now. You have to hold on!”

Blood from the wound on his head had already run past his forehead and into Ling Yu’s eyes.

It kept flowing over them, down his cheeks, then dripping from his chin one drop at a time, staining the ground red.

Even a battle-hardened soldier wouldn’t be able to endure this easily. Not after taking such a sudden, heavy blow to the head.

As more and more blood drained away, everything in Ling Yu’s vision began to dim. His sight was clearly turning blurry, and his head felt dizzy and hollow.

“Xia Mo!”

Ling Yu stretched out a hand toward Xia Mo, who was right in front of him, almost within reach, buried beneath the pile of rocks. His dust-covered hand trembled nonstop.

Then the ceiling suddenly let out an even louder cracking sound. With barely any strength left, Ling Yu slowly raised his head, jerking little by little like a stuck machine.

But when he fully looked up, what entered his sight was a gigantic boulder, big enough to bury several people, and it was already less than a meter away.

Instinctively, he curled up and covered his head. Ling Yu once again felt that familiar sense of death.

It was just like that day, when he tried to assassinate Demon Empress Zili.

That same despair, that same deathly silence, like everything he could feel was coming to an end, just like when the magic blade Jue Mo pierced straight through his body.

He didn’t know if he was already dead. He just felt that all the pain and weakness in his body had vanished. Finding it strange, Ling Yu slowly opened his eyes.

What came into view first was not the gray, ruined wreckage.

It was a space filled with shimmering violet colors.

The small figure quickly looked around. Zila muttered to herself in confusion, “Where is this?”

Then a clear voice rang out. It was as delicate and pleasant as a nightingale singing in a valley. Even the speaker herself would probably be charmed by that tender, adorable voice.

“What?!”

Zila hurriedly looked down at her body. Only then did she realize she had somehow changed back into her succubus form. But this time, unlike last time—

She was wearing the maid outfit Xia Mo had given her.

It looked a little old if you examined it closely, but the short maid skirt fit her tiny frame surprisingly well.

Her slender legs were wrapped in a pair of snug white thigh-high socks. The soft, comfortable feeling against her skin was something only a girl could truly notice.

She touched her body and confirmed that she had completely returned to her succubus form. Then Zila focused on the necklace floating in front of her.

The necklace looked like a blend of a crape myrtle flower and a rose, with a purple gemstone set in the middle.

It shone with brilliant violet light, yet when that light entered Zila’s eyes, it didn’t feel blinding at all. Instead, it felt gentle, soft, almost tender as water.

“Hey! Jue Mo, this was definitely you again, wasn’t it?! You turned me into this, so turn me back already!”

Zila immediately jumped up, ran over, grabbed Jue Mo in one hand, and shouted angrily.

But her angry scolding got no response from Jue Mo. Dissatisfied, Zila shouted again, “Did you hear me? Turn me back already! You awful thing, you’re bullying me! Waaaah~”

Her furious yelling instantly turned into crying. She threw Jue Mo aside with one hand, as if panicking over something, then dropped into a duck-sit on the ground and burst into tears.

“Waaah... I still have to save Big Sis Xia Mo! Let me out already! Wuuuu...”

The thrown Jue Mo didn’t fall to the ground. The flickering violet light seemed to carry some invisible force that held it up. Soon, Jue Mo floated again.

“If I hadn’t done this, you would’ve already been buried under the collapsed rocks.”

Zila was still crying. Jue Mo didn’t comfort her and continued,

“Why do you wish to save an enemy? Why save someone who is, by nature, your enemy? Why save a useless human?”

Jue Mo was speaking now, but the voice shocked Zila.

Because from the sound of it, it was her own voice.

The only difference was the tone. Even without a face, Jue Mo somehow gave off the feeling of a cold, expressionless one.

“Not save her? But if I just watch my own disciple die, what kind of good master would that make me?!” Zila cried as she answered that cold voice.

“As my new master, you are destined to become the strongest being in this world. You will rule the entire world with supreme power. There is no need for you to worry over or cling to a worthless human.”

“Humans are your enemy. Humans are the obstacle in your fate. You do not need to concern yourself with a stone that blocks your path.” Jue Mo’s voice was so cold that not even a trace of emotion could be heard in it.

“Waaah! Big Sis Xia Mo isn’t some obstacle! She’s my disciple! I’m going to save Big Sis Xia Mo!” Zila cried like a naughty four- or five-year-old begging her mom for a toy.

“You are the princess of Belanite. Is a mere human really worth this? Worth risking your own life for?” Jue Mo continued to advise her coldly.

“Wuuuh waaah! I don’t care! I really don’t care! Waaaah~” Zila wailed loudly, crying in pain like an orphan abandoned by her parents.

Seeing how miserably Zila was crying, and how her heart held nothing but concern for Xia Mo—

A memory surfaced.

That night, Demon Empress Zili had personally removed the necklace Jue Mo from her own neck and formally entrusted it to Zila.

Jue Mo, this is your new master, my precious granddaughter Zila. You must take good care of her, please~

Recalling Zi Li’s sincere request from back then, and looking at Zila’s pitiful, tearful face, Jue Mo finally softened.

Ah... entrusted by my master. I cannot defy my master’s will...

“Little Princess, stop crying. You are the master of me, Jue Mo. You should carry yourself like one.”

This time, though Jue Mo still sounded cold, there was a trace of gentleness in her voice.

“Little Princess, do you want to save her?”

The violet light radiating from Jue Mo felt like a hand stroking Zila’s head, bringing her a soothing warmth.

“I do~ I want to!” Zila wasn’t crying as hard anymore. She looked up at Jue Mo.

“Stand up. Grab my hilt.”

“Huh? Grab what?” Zila suddenly looked like a little girl who’d just met a creepy stranger. Even her crying stopped.

“Tsk... Do succubi always think in that direction...”

Jue Mo adjusted her tone. This time, she spoke very gently.

“Ahem... Little Princess, do you want to save her? Then take hold of my sword hilt. I believe you can wield my power.”

“Really... really?” Zila couldn’t believe Jue Mo was speaking to her like this.

Just a second ago, she had been as cold as an emotionless killer.

And now, she was as gentle as a nanny taking care of her.

Jue Mo didn’t answer again. Instead, she floated in front of Zila. The necklace-shaped form of Jue Mo began to change. It turned into countless strands of violet light, weaving together as if they had physical form.

In the blink of an eye, the outer shell of purple light cracked apart like a broken eggshell peeling away.

Beneath the violet glow, Jue Mo transformed into the shape of a blade, revealing her true form.

“Go, Little Princess!”

Zila looked at the floating blade before her. The silver-white blade had the shape of a sharp isosceles triangle, and the guard connecting to the blade held a purple gemstone framed in thick gold.

“Big Sis Jue Mo...”

Zila felt a little moved as she looked at the magic blade before her. But just as she reached out to grab the hilt—

She hesitated.

This very blade had slaughtered countless of her brothers and kin. There wasn’t a trace of blood on it now.

But Zila still remembered it. This blade had once been drenched in the blood of her people. In her eyes, it should have been a deadly weapon she could never coexist with.

And yet now, she wanted to trust it...

“Don’t hesitate, Little Princess. In this space, one minute here is only one second outside. If you don’t want to save her, then I’m leaving~” Jue Mo said in a slightly teasing tone.

“Don’t! Big Sis Jue Mo, I want to save her! Don’t go!”

Zila couldn’t care about any of that anymore. She grabbed Jue Mo’s hilt with one hand.

————

“How is it, Teacher Mo Feng?!”

Outside the trial arena, one of the instructors who had evacuated the students hurried over after seeing Mo Feng rescue several students with magic.

“It’s fine. But some of the students are still trapped inside. Where’s Teacher Xia Mo?”

Thinking of Xia Mo at the very center of the trial hall, Mo Feng turned and asked the male teacher beside him.

“Haven’t seen her. The student training with her, Ling Yu, is missing too.”

“Tsk... Don’t tell me they’re still inside!” Mo Feng set down the rescued student and turned to look at the trial hall, whose walls were already falling apart.

“Teacher Mo Feng, they were inside the barrier. They should be fine, right?”

“No. Something’s already gone wrong. I could feel it just now. Something happened to the barrier. It’s already shattered!”

“What?!”

Boom! Boom!

While the two teachers were still talking, a beam of violet light suddenly burst out from the trial hall. It shot straight into the sky, piercing toward the very end of the heavens.

The explosive surge of power blasted sand, stones, and dust into the air, forcing everyone nearby to cover their mouths and shut their eyes.

“What in the world is that?!”

Enduring the blowing dust, Mo Feng peered through the gap between his arms at the unbelievable scene.