A person of absolute rationality, devoid of worldly desires...
Could the Echo of the Heart's Abyss still affect them?
The answer was an unequivocal no.
This conclusion struck Lin Qingyue's mind like a thunderclap.
An utterly insane yet meticulously logical idea began to crystallize in her thoughts.
She was a Priest!
A Professional who wielded Holy Light and, in theory, possessed the deepest understanding of souls and desires!
She immediately accessed her Skill panel, her gaze darting across rows of magnificent and powerful Divine Spells.
Finally, her eyes locked onto a basic skill learned by almost every Priest apprentice:
Purification Art: Dispels harmful effects on the target, removing all magical effects.
Simple, unadorned, even somewhat crude.
But in Lin Qingyue's eyes, this skill was now the fulcrum upon which the rules of the entire world could be leveraged.
"Harmful effects..."
She murmured the word to herself, a fervent, mad gleam burning in her eyes, the kind only found in geniuses and madmen.
Distorted and amplified by the Echo of the Heart's Abyss, her "desire" had completely crushed reason. Could this be considered a "harmful effect"?
That pathological possessiveness, willing to abandon all dignity and become a "loyal dog."
That primal urge to pounce on the object of her desire, heedless of consequences.
Weren't these direct attacks on the mind and soul, far more insidious and malevolent than any curse—true "harmful effects"?
Once the floodgates of her mind were opened, the torrent of inspiration became unstoppable.
Lin Qingyue closed her eyes, her Mental Energy plunging into her Magic Power circuits.
She was about to radically transform the Purification Art!
The Purification Art's spellcasting model had only two cores: "Recognition" and "Expulsion."
The first step: rewrite the "Recognition" module.
She forcibly redefined the frenzied, chaotic desire fluctuations caused by the Echo of the Heart's Abyss—the mental static—as the new "Recognition Target."
Step Two: Enhance the Expulsion Module.
Brute-forcing with increased Holy Light output?
That's the method of a barbarian, treating only the symptoms and not the root cause.
Her chosen method was to connect a miniaturized version of the Desire Stripping structure to the backend of the Expulsion runes.
This was precisely the core mechanism she had extracted from Aeldara's Pseudo-Holy Light skill, Holy Blessing!
It wouldn't annihilate desire—that would equate to erasing humanity itself, a distortion of the soul.
Instead, it temporarily strips desire from the primary consciousness, then seals it perfectly within a temporary "vault" constructed of Holy Light.
During this period, the target would revert to a state of absolute rationality.
Like buffs and debuffs in a game.
What Lin Qingyue now had to do was personally label the concept of "desire" with a debuff tag called Mental Pollution.
Then, using her modified Purification Art, she would precisely dispel it!
Time ticked away, second by second.
On the opposite bed, Xia Lian's gentle breathing had long since settled into a peaceful rhythm, indicating she had drifted into slumber.
Sweat beaded on Lin Qingyue's forehead as the rapid depletion of her Mental Energy brought waves of dizziness.
Yet the light in her eyes grew ever brighter.
Finally, just as her Mental Energy was about to run dry, a brand-new spellcasting model, shimmering with a gentle, rosy-pink glow, solidified within her Mental Sea.
It's complete!
Lin Qingyue opened her eyes without hesitation and raised her hand toward herself.
"In the name of the Holy Light—Purify!"
A soft, pink radiance instantly enveloped her.
The light brushed against her soul.
In the next instant, the entire world was stripped of all emotional filters in her eyes.
Everything transformed into cold, pure, quantifiable data.
Su Wan's dangerous yet alluring possessiveness toward Lin Xiyue was no longer "love," but a data stream resulting from the combined action of hormones and neurotransmitters, its peaks and fluctuation frequencies clearly visible.
Xia Lian's shyness was no longer a "cute reaction," but a typical pattern of social avoidance behavior, its trigger threshold and reaction model instantly constructed.
Even her deepest longing for her distant lover, Ilanier, had been transformed into a "highest priority" emotional link memory, categorized by the System—cold, objective, devoid of any emotional turbulence.
Every emotion, every desire, had been cleanly extracted and sealed away.
What remained was absolute composure, absolute rationality.
This was Sage Mode!
Lin Qingyue raised her hand, examining her palm, then glanced at the hourglass timer in the corner.
One minute, two minutes... five minutes...
It wasn't until a full ten minutes had passed that the warm Holy Light quietly dissipated.
The various emotions and desires that had been "stripped away" surged back into her mind like a tidal wave.
Only then did the vibrant, vivid world, brimming with color and warmth, return to her perception.
"Ten minutes..."
Lin Qingyue exhaled deeply, a malicious smile of anticipation spreading across her face, eager for the drama to unfold.
Ten minutes of absolute rationality!
For those pitiful creatures overwhelmed by the torrent of desire, willingly reduced to "dogs," even ten seconds of clarity would be enough to see their wretched state and break free from their mental shackles!
This was no longer a simple dispelling skill.
It was a key—a universal key that could unlock the chains forged by extreme desire!
It was a weapon—a true Conceptual Weapon capable of reversing the roles of hunter and prey!
"Adela..."
Lin Qingyue murmured the name softly, a mischievous glint flickering in her pink eyes, eager to witness the spectacle to come.
"I wonder what amusing scene will unfold when your 'Loyal Dog Corps' collectively enters Sage Mode..."
A truly grand and delightful drama was about to begin, orchestrated by her own hand.
Fueled by this fervent anticipation of the coming spectacle, Lin Qingyue drifted into a deep sleep.
-
Early the next morning.
The ground-floor dining hall of The Anvil and Wheat Inn.
"Sis, didn't you sleep well last night? Your eyes look... different today."
Lin Xiyue chewed on her bread, studying her older sister with curiosity.
Lin Qingyue appeared as languid as ever, but her pink eyes held a piercing serenity that felt instinctively foreign to Xiyue.
"It's nothing. Inspiration struck last night, and I made a minor breakthrough."
Lin Qingyue took a sip of her wheat porridge, dropping a bombshell with the casualness of announcing "The weather's nice today."
"To put it simply, I can now purify desires. Get the popcorn ready—some hunters are about to become the prey."
Pfft!
Lin Xiyue nearly spat out her mouthful of bread, her eyes widening in excitement as she grabbed her sister's arm.
"Purify desires?! Sis, do you mean you can make those brainwashed 'Loyal Dog Corps' members snap out of it in an instant?"
Su Wan jerked her head up, her fingers tightening slightly around her fork and knife. A sharp glint flashed in her icy blue eyes. "Does it work on traveling merchants too?"
Xia Lian's face lit up with admiration and excitement. "Wow! Doesn't that mean we can help so many people break free from mind control? Sister Qingyue, you're amazing!"
Watching her three teammates' dramatically different reactions, Lin Qingyue's smile deepened.
"Clarity? Help? No, no, no, you're thinking too small."
She wagged a finger, her smile resembling that of a mischievous little demon poised to press the nuclear launch button.
"I'm merely offering a ten-minute 'Sage Mode' experience package."
"As for what they do after the experience ends—whether they pick up a knife to kill their enemies or kneel to beg for forgiveness—that's entirely their own problem."
"So," she shifted her gaze to Lin Xiyue, "the grand spectacle is about to begin. We, as both the main characters and directors, need proper attire. After breakfast, we'll visit the Forging District to upgrade your weapon and shield."
Lin Xiyue's equipment, obtained from the College Entrance Exam Dungeon, was starting to struggle against enemies over level 30.
"Yay! I want a bigger, cooler shield!" Lin Xiyue immediately perked up, her eyes shining with excitement.
Su Wan calmly sliced her fried egg, casting a brief glance at Lin Xiyue before remarking softly, "Don't just focus on looks. Defense is what truly matters."
"I know, I know, my Ice Queen Mage," Lin Xiyue teased, playfully leaning closer.
Xia Lian sat nearby, taking small bites of her meal with a gentle smile, savoring the rare moment of peaceful normalcy.