Fang Yuan climbed the long staircase and arrived before the tall main doors of the off-white opera house. She lightly knocked with a flexed finger before pushing open the heavy wooden doors.
The interior space opened up grandly, featuring an immensely vaulted ceiling and layered galleries curling upward to enclose a wide central auditorium.
The overall decor was dominated by tranquil off-white and gilded accents. Pure white pillars lined the space, ivory reliefs covered the walls, and every trim, lamp base, and handrail was outlined in soft, subdued gold.
A giant crystal chandelier suspended from the dome cast a warm, honey-thick yellow glow, bathing the stage far in the back that was tightly veiled by deep red velvet curtains.
Standing on either side of the stage were divine creations with fully translucent, amber-colored bodies. Through their semi-transparent torsos, star-chart-like vocal bones could be faintly seen vibrating with their breaths. They turned their heads, revealing flat features except for a pair of crystal eyes as bright as the moon.
Fang Yuan's gaze landed on their ears.
Spiral-petal shaped, without any ornamentation.
Newborn Elf Singers.
“Hi! I'm here to see Shengzhi Shuishui. I'm Big Sister Tuantuo's friend!”
The two Elf Singers exchanged a glance. One turned and walked behind the stage curtains, while the other approached Fang Yuan.
Without scanning the text above Fang Yuan's head, she bowed slightly and extended an amber, semi-transparent arm. “Respected God Candidate in need of aid, please take a seat in the auditorium while you wait. This is an absolute peace zone, so please rest assured.”
Since she was so polite, Fang Yuan returned the courtesy. “Alright, thank you.”
After Fang Yuan sat down, the Elf Singer did not leave. Instead, she stood quietly by her side.
“Aren't you going to sit? It'd be embarrassing for me to sit alone. Why don't you sit with me for a bit?”
She did not decline, sitting down right beside Fang Yuan.
“God Candidate, you haven't even been in the Crucible for an hour yet, right? You've already made friends?”
The Elf Singer spoke point-blank once seated.
Fang Yuan caught her drift. She was simply suspecting that Fang Yuan had used some trick to make friends with Tuantuo—after all, Dandelion Spirits were friendly and naive, and Tuantuo was young, making her the easiest target to fool.
Fang Yuan leaned back, relaxing into the chair while clutching her shovel and hammer. “Yeah, it's probably been forty or fifty minutes since I entered.”
She tilted her body toward the Elf Singer. “Isn't it coincidental? I was sitting in the fountain square when I happened to run into Big Sister Tuantuo whose envelope had dropped into the fountain. I helped her out, so she became friends with me.”
The Elf Singer turned her head. Her bright, silver-white crystal eyes betrayed no emotion whatsoever.
Her voice emerged from the narrow, gill-like vocal apertures on either side of her throat. “You are afflicted with a bad luck state. It was not a coincidence; you were waiting there intentionally. Even if another divine creation had come along, you still would have called it a coincidence.”
“Out of so many divine creations, I just happened to meet Tuantuo. If that's not a coincidence, what is?” Fang Yuan said with a beam, her peripheral vision catching the stage curtain being drawn back.
She had the same translucent amber body and silver-white crystal eyes, but unlike the other, golden wing-like patterns spread across her spiral-petal pinnae and earlobes.
Master Elf Singer, Shengzhi Shuishui.
“Shengzhi Qingqing, go mind your duties. I'll handle things here.” Her voice was higher, crisper, and far more penetrating than that of Shengzhi Qingqing beside her.
Shengzhi Qingqing stood up, scooped up a pile of props that looked like performance costumes, and ducked into the backstage area.
Fang Yuan cradled her shovel and hammer with one hand while extending her other arm to wave at Shengzhi Shuishui on stage. “Should I come over to you, or will you come to me?”
Shengzhi Shuishui turned her face toward her. Because of their featureless faces, it was virtually impossible to read any emotional fluctuation on them.
Yet back when Fang Yuan was a vagrant Dog King, she had read countless people. The instant her gaze locked with Shengzhi Shuishui's, she read clear disgust beneath those unruffled, silver-white crystal eyes.
It seemed this Shengzhi Shuishui did not like her very much.
She must also think Fang Yuan had deliberately approached Tuantuo, befriending her with ill intentions.
How could that be?
She, Fang Yuan, had merely been sunbathing under the shade of a tree when she happened upon the innocent Tuantuo, whose envelope had fallen into the water.
Shengzhi Shuishui stepped in front of Fang Yuan and looked down at her.
If Shengzhi Qingqing placed herself in a lower posture when speaking to others, this Shengzhi Shuishui placed herself at the very top.
Well, she was a master; having a bit of temper was normal.
Fang Yuan stood up from her seat, twirling around under Shengzhi Shuishui's gaze.
Shengzhi Shuishui closed her eyes briefly, extended her translucent amber hand, and slapped a palm onto Fang Yuan's shoulder, pressing her back into place.
“Curing a negative status and hand injuries, is that right?”
Her gaze flicked past the 'Poor Conduct' above Fang Yuan's head, her tone perfunctory.
“Can you tell how much longer this negative status of mine will last, tall wing-elf?” Fang Yuan asked, ignoring her perfunctory attitude entirely.
Shengzhi Shuishui was clearly dissatisfied with the form of address. “Call me Master Shengzhi Shuishui. Mind your mouth and show some respect.”
Crossing her arms, she turned her head away and only refocused her gaze on Fang Yuan's face once Fang Yuan uttered "Master Shengzhi Shuishui" as demanded.
“What is there to miss about a minor negative status?”
She let out a cold snort.
“55 hours, 32 minutes, and 41 seconds remaining.”
Fang Yuan deduced the timeframe.
She had encountered Liang Du at the barbecue stall around 4 PM yesterday. Calculating from 4 PM, plus the time that had elapsed, the bad luck status totaled approximately 72 hours.
That meant 72 hours—three days.
Only three days? Here she thought Liang Du's 【Blessing】 would be something impressive; she had assumed it would last a whole month!
Fang Yuan instantly lost all interest in Liang Du's 【Blessing】.
She had no real desire for high luck—wouldn't robbing those lucky folks be virtually equivalent to having good luck herself?
Fang Yuan blinked at Shengzhi Shuishui. “Then I'll leave my rescue in your hands, Master Shengzhi Shuishui?”
Shengzhi Shuishui glanced at her, eyes half-closed. The vocal apertures on either side of her throat vibrated gently, emitting subtle glows corresponding to different musical notes as her song began to flow.
Fang Yuan could not find the words to describe the feeling of the song; it was marvelous and ethereal.
It was like dew condensed from moonlight falling upon silver strings, or like a duet between wind and stream sweeping through an ancient forest.
Every note was crystal clear and imbued with immense penetration, echoing throughout the grand opera house until even the air vibrated subtly along with it.
As the ethereal singing continued, her torn fingernails wriggled, grew, and mended in the blink of an eye, while a wispy trail of black air drifted out from her forehead and vanished into thin air.
Master-level Elf Singers were capable of chanting holy songs—《Hymn of Soul Curse Repair》.
Rate on N.U.
