Chapter 26

Bai Muqing, the perpetually aloof and solitary nun,had actually joined the Divine Academy team? 

Snowflake-like gentle points of light melted in her palm. Ye Zheng stared at her spotless hand, knowing she could no longer avoid this.

On the other side of the street.

After unfolding her Divine Domain, Bai Muqing held complete control over the entire Aberrant Realm.

From the exact positions of all fifteen contestants, including herself, to the rhythm of each person's breathing, the arc of their trembling eyelashes, even their current soul states: astonishment, disbelief, anxiety, dread...

Suddenly, the closed-eyed girl tilted her head slightly.

Within the entire Aberrant Realm, only two souls remained calm besides her own. One was a chaotic mix of colors, like an overturned palette—strikingly garish. It belonged to Yinkong beside her.

The other was composed of extreme black and white, like a mass of primordial calamity. She had seen it on only one person.

Bai Muqing's throat moved slightly. In the end, she swallowed the name on the tip of her tongue and said nothing. Yinkong glanced sideways, noticing the unnatural expression on her face.

"What's wrong? What did you see?"

Bai Muqing did not answer. After a long pause, she reported several coordinates.

"Let's go. My shadow can't be allowed to grow any further. It will cause serious problems."

Bai Muqing took the lead. Yinkong was used to her independent nature and could only follow.

The silver-haired boy leaned closer, smiling as he suggested, "Since you've already opened Divine Domain, why not take the chance to put everyone else to sleep? Then only our Divine Academy team would have a shot at destroying the core."

Within Divine Domain, Bai Muqing could manipulate anyone's soul—adjust emotions, thoughts, induce unconsciousness, or even cause abilities to spiral out of control and self-destruct. It was top-tier even among S-Class talents.

Bai Muqing turned her eerie white pupils toward him, her expression icy.

"I don't like being anyone else's knife."

Bai Muqing's goal was clear: she was interested only in Ye Zheng. The Divine Academy's fate meant nothing to her.

But Ye Zheng... why was she here, allied with that lower-district Cloud Soarers team? Bai Muqing's brows drew together. She realized this woman was scheming again. Wasn't the Saintess position enough for her ambitions?

"Hah," Yinkong laughed. "Looks like we've invited a real ancestor onto the team this time."

"You're making me even more curious about Ye Zheng. I already knew she was hiding a lot, but now it seems she'll be even more surprising than I expected."

An A-Class healer like Ye Zheng managing to obsess an owner of a top-tier talent like Bai Muqing—Yinkong thought with great interest.

No wonder he had once exhausted three full days of power to draw a fate card belonging to her:

The flood that ends the world.

The card foretold a cataclysmic deluge that would destroy heaven and earth. His hands had trembled holding it, as if he were about to be swallowed by that future disaster.

The two continued down the street. Suddenly, Bai Muqing stopped as if sensing something.

On the other side of the street, another team appeared, hurrying along.

"Only Pei Xi's shadow is left. Damn it, where did it run off to?"

"What was that white light just now? It felt so comforting on my skin."

"Please, Miss Lu Qi, can we focus on what's important?"

Pei Xi and Kyle walked at the front. Roy and Lu Qi bickered as they hurried, while the quiet boy trailed slowly at the rear, his expression carrying a barely noticeable gravity.

Ye Zheng's mind raced. Bai Muqing had definitely recognized her. She needed to prepare for both possibilities: one, Bai Muqing kept it to herself; two, the people around Bai Muqing already knew.

If it was the latter, Zhao Mei's identity would be hard to conceal—unless she could silently eliminate everyone who knew while inside this Aberrant Realm.

Fortunately, based on what she knew of Bai Muqing, the former was far more likely.

Bai Muqing was pridefull and disdained broadcasting others' secrets. Besides, the two of them could even be considered friends.

『Wait, since when are you two friends?』

『In the original story, your relationship wasn't good at all. Bai Muqing resented you for taking the Saintess position and repeatedly provoked and targeted you in competitions.』

『Pei Xi fought her to protect you, dramatically upgrading his ability at the critical moment of life and death, defeating Bai Muqing. From then on, she stopped targeting you and became deeply admiring of Pei Xi...』

Ye Zheng imagined Bai Muqing looking at Pei Xi with deep admiration. Her expression turned indescribable as she glanced subtly at Pei Xi's back ahead of her.

"I feel like Pei Xi might have some other ability."

『!!!』

Seeing the system's reaction, Ye Zheng paused, surprise flickering in her eyes before a sly smile appeared.

"What I meant was, it seems everyone around Pei Xi is forced to lower their ability and intelligence. He has a kind of magic comparable to an ability."

『That's the protagonist halo. The author isn't very clever themselves, so they can only show the protagonist's intelligence and strength this way, haha.』

The system's tone carried an obvious attempt to cover its embarrassment.

"But judging from your reaction, Pei Xi really does have more than one ability."

Ye Zheng waited for the system to finish explaining, then added leisurely.

『...』

『Fine. Knowing it won't affect the plot anyway. The protagonist always needs some cheats.』

Ye Zheng hadn't expected to stumble upon one of the protagonist's secrets by accident. No wonder Pei Xi's actual performance far exceeded his talent grade evaluation. He was the second dual-ability user in imperial history.

His rarity was in no way inferior to Sykes with his SSS-Class talent. If both of Pei Xi's abilities reached S-Class or higher, he could very well surpass Sykes and become the strongest in the Sacred Citadel Empire!

This was what a true protagonist looked like. Ye Zheng realized once again that she, as the female lead, really seemed like an optional free gift.

Speaking of dual-ability users, apart from the living example right in front of her—Pei Xi—there was only one other officially recorded in the empire.

Five hundred years ago, when the Aberrant Realms descended, humanity crumbled before the sudden catastrophe. One ability user led mankind to sweep through countless high-danger realms. He possessed two SSS-CLASS abilities, slew the demonic dragon in a super-S-Class realm, and buried its bones underground. From then on, the Sacred Citadel Empire ended the chaos brought by the Aberrant Realms and entered an era of order. Afterward, this god-like ability user vanished without a trace.

He was the God of Hope—the deity Ye Zheng served for life as Saintess.

The amusement in Ye Zheng's eyes faded. As if sensing something, she looked at Pei Xi's back. This was a manga; there would not be too many coincidences.

It was known that Pei Xi's publicly revealed ability was 【Metal Aberration】. Then what was the other one? Over the past few days of observation, Ye Zheng had not noticed any signs of another ability.

She quickened her pace to walk closer, wanting to observe Pei Xi from a nearer distance. Lifting her gaze, however, she noticed the two figures leisurely strolling toward them from the opposite side.

Yinkong and Bai Muqing.

Upon seeing the figures ahead, the Cloud Soarers team stopped in unison. The atmosphere grew tense.

In the second stage of the tournament, they had luckily avoided much contact with the Divine Academy team. Though being targeted by Sykes's team had been tough enough, compared to the mysterious and unpredictable members of the Divine Academy, Sykes's straightforward brute force almost seemed endearing.

Even though they were not very familiar with the Divine Academy members, anyone could recognize their identity from that holy, unapproachable attire. Moreover, they had some history with certain members of the Divine Academy.

"It's Pei Xi. Long time no see."

Yinkong broke the silence first, casually waving at the Cloud Soarers with a relaxed posture. Pei Xi returned a polite smile. "What a coincidence. Are you also hunting your shadows?"

"Hahaha, no. We were planning to find the opposing teams, eliminate them first, then deal with the realm monsters at our leisure."

Yinkong seemed completely oblivious to the heightened wariness on the other side. He even summoned his ability 【Fate Cards】 and invited them with a grin. "Want to draw a card? Let's see who takes this Aberrant Realm today."

Bai Muqing turned her impassive face away, as if unwilling to acknowledge the person beside her as a teammate.

The corner of Pei Xi's mouth twitched. He struggled to maintain a friendly expression. Clashing directly with Divine Academy members right now was not ideal.

His shadow was still draining his own energy. The priority was to deal with the shadow first. Besides, Yinkong was... hard to pin down as friend or foe. Getting involved with him was troublesome.

During the second stage, Yinkong often wandered off alone from his Divine Academy team. At first, the Cloud Soarers had thought he was an innocent civilian caught in the crossfire and had been thoroughly tricked by him—he had stolen all their tokens. But later, when they ran afoul of Sykes, Yinkong helped them immensely, making it impossible to judge what kind of person he really was.

"Obviously, he's just bored out of his mind."

Ye Zheng commented objectively to the system in her mind.

『Don't let his unpredictable antics fool you—this kind of overpowered chaos gremlin archetype is super popular. That free-spirited personality clashing with his ascetic prelate-in-training vibe, plus the silver hair!』

『Total hotness buffs stacked to the max. Way more stylish than you.』

The system sighed in admiration.

Ye Zheng touched her short black hair. Silver hair was that popular? If she had known, she would have bought a white wig.

『No need to worry. With your persistent efforts, there's still good hope of surpassing his popularity!』

Ye Zheng thought that overtaking someone like him would not feel like much of an achievement anyway. She completely failed to understand Yinkong's appeal. If she could not even beat him, she might actually feel a little hurt.

"This isn't the time for jokes, Yinkong."

"You're looking for your shadows too, right? This Aberrant Realm isn't a standard one. We might need to cooperate to achieve the primary goal of destroying the core."

Pei Xi advised with a slightly colder expression. Yinkong put away his cards, walked over, and slung an arm around Pei Xi's shoulders with a friendly grin.

"Of course I'm joking, my friend."

"You know I hate violence the most. As long as Xiao* Qing agrees, we'll cooperate! Your shadow isn't easy to deal with either, right?"

[T/N- Xiao Qing is Bai Qing, Xiao is a cute way to someone name much like Japanese -chan suffix.]

Shadows drained power from their originals. Once they reached a certain threshold, they might cause irreversible damage to the host. Yinkong was always clever and quick-witted; he naturally understood the current priority.

Pei Xi looked at the white-haired, white-eyed girl in the distance and felt a jolt. Was she the legendary 【Divine Domain】 owner, Bai Muqing? Was the earlier light her ability?

Bai Muqing was hailed as the strongest female ability user of the younger generation. Of course, regardless of gender, the undisputed strongest among the young was Sykes—she still fell far short of him.

But that title alone proved her strength.

Hearing Yinkong propose cooperation, Bai Muqing's white pupils shifted slightly. Her vacant gaze locked in one direction. Pei Xi followed her line of sight backward—she seemed to be looking at Zhao Mei?

"Fine. We'll cooperate."

Bai Muqing spoke, her voice as cold and detached as her appearance.

The Cloud Soarers team breathed a collective sigh of relief. Though they did not know why only two Divine Academy members were present, Bai Muqing's oppressive presence alone was formidable enough.

"Since we're cooperating, let me show some sincerity on behalf of our team first."

Pei Xi watched in surprise as the usually quiet and reserved boy stepped forward. Under the eerie gaze of those white pupils, he approached Bai Muqing and seemed to touch her right arm.

"There's a knife wound here. You must have encountered Pei Xi's shadow too. Injuries from Pei Xi's ability heal very slowly and can even leave permanent scars."

"You need my healing, Muqing."

The last sentence Ye Zheng spoke in a whisper only the two of them could hear. She lifted her eyes, smiling brightly as she met the girl's unsettling white pupils. The quiet boy's unexpectedly tall frame blocked the view of their interaction.

"And... thank you."

Ye Zheng's healing flow gently caressed the girl's wound, her voice as soft as her ability.

"You're thanking me too early. Falsifying identity to enter the tournament is against the rules."

In the private space between just the two of them, the usually disciplined and self-restrained nun spoke sternly, lifting her face to reveal a sharp expression.

"May I bribe you, Bai Muqing?"

"After this is over, perhaps you'll get the position you want most."

The girl reverted to her original voice and sighed.

Bai Muqing furrowed her delicate brows. Her vacant white pupils stared unblinkingly into the void as if deep in thought.

What exactly was Ye Zheng planning? She had been appointed by the church to assist the Crown Prince, yet here she was disguising herself to join a lower-district team...

"As Saintess, I should stand on the side of fairness and justice. If you want to expose me, I won't resent you."

"After all, I'll be exposed eventually and lose the Saintess position anyway."

"If you can succeed me, that would truly be the best outcome."

Ye Zheng lowered her gaze, a peaceful smile on her lips, as if she had already accepted her future.

Bai Muqing could not see her face, but she could taste a trace of bitterness in her soul. That black-and-white intertwined soul was truly terrifying, yet it radiated a strange, captivating light that drew one to explore it.

Bai Muqing slowly blinked once. There was only one explanation for Ye Zheng's actions: she wanted to help the Cloud Soarers win the championship so the lower district could receive the protection of the dragon bones.

A complicated expression appeared on her face. This woman did not believe in the God of Hope, yet she embodied the definition of a divine proxy more than anyone in the church.

"I understand, Ye Zheng. I won't expose you. I disdain such underhanded methods, but I will definitely surpass you."

Not just in ability, but in conviction. Ye Zheng was willing to go this far. For the first time, Bai Muqing felt she had lost. To propel a lower-district team to the championship throne, she possessed the resolve to sacrifice everything...

The girl's white pupils trembled slightly. Emotion broke through her cold, indifferent facade.

A flicker of amusement passed through Ye Zheng's eyes, hidden beneath thick lashes. The healing flow in her hand danced merrily over Bai Muqing's arm, showing no trace of bitterness.

Her old friend and old rival was, as expected, quite reasonable.

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Authors Note

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