Feng Yan extended her slender jade-like hand and gently waved it at the empty air.
Her gesture was artistic and elegant, as if brushing invisible dust from her lapel.
Crack... crackle...
Crisp shattering sounds echoed through the silence.
The entire Newborn World before them, the towering Divine Parasol Tree, the lush green grass, and the clear azure sky, suddenly cracked like a spiderweb.
Behind the mirrored surface lay the familiar pitch-black archway of the ancient ruins, its oppressive atmosphere unchanged.
The next second.
Shatter!
The entire Illusion World collapsed and broke apart!
Light and shadow reversed, space and time distorted.
Lin Qingyue felt a brief moment of weightlessness and dizziness, as if being forcibly yanked from a ten-thousand-year slumber.
The sensation of standing on solid ground returned.
The destructive heat that had warped the air within the ruins had vanished without a trace.
In its place was a gentle warmth, like a spring breeze in March.
She found herself standing before the same pitch-black archway, as if she had never stepped into that desperate Ash World.
Not far away, Lin Xiyue, Su Wan, and Xia Lian had escaped their respective illusions and successfully regrouped. They had formed a textbook-perfect defensive formation, their expressions grim as they stared intently at the spot where she had just appeared.
"Sis!"
Lin Xiyue was the first to react, dashing to Lin Qingyue's side in a single bound.
Without another word, she grabbed Lin Qingyue's arm, checking her up and down, her voice laced with irrepressible tension.
"Are you okay? That gate just suddenly..."
Her words trailed off.
She saw a figure materialize from void to solid, silently emerging behind her sister.
It was a woman in a crimson palace gown, her flame-like hair flowing without a breeze.
A warm jade-like glow circulated around her, and as her eyes opened and closed, it was as if billions of stars were born and extinguished within them.
She simply stood there, becoming the center of the entire world.
The knuckles of Su Wan's hand gripping her staff instantly turned white, the escaping frost condensing into ice crystals at her fingertips, a sign of her magic power spiraling out of control under extreme alertness.
Xia Lian went even further, drawing her bowstring to a full moon, her muscles tensed like a leopard about to launch a lethal pounce, her gaze locked on the woman who had appeared out of thin air.
None of the three were fools.
The aura this woman radiated was absolutely no weaker than the God they had faced in the previous Dungeon.
It was a form of absolute crushing power rooted in the very essence of life.
More importantly, though this aura felt warm and gentle, its root was the exact same as that previous world-destroying and heaven-shattering Tyrannical Divine Might.
The three instinctively tightened their grips on their weapons, assuming a desperate, last-stand posture.
"I'm fine, perfectly fine."
Lin Qingyue smiled and patted her sister's shoulder, signaling that she was unharmed.
"Sis, watch your back!"
Lin Xiyue lowered her voice, pulling Lin Qingyue behind her. The [ Dawn's Light ] and [ Blackstone's Protection ] in her hands already glowed with the light of battle.
"Don't be nervous, she's one of us."
Lin Qingyue reached out and patted her sister's shield aside, casually stepping between them and Feng Yan.
"One of us?" Su Wan frowned and asked in a low voice, "Isn't she the final BOSS of this ruin?"
"She was, but not anymore."
Lin Qingyue turned sideways, facing her three wary teammates, and waved her hand casually as if introducing a new colleague.
"Let me introduce you. This is Senior Feng Yan, an unemployed wandering god."
"To put it simply, her old self suffered from professional burnout and was emo for ten million years, until I gave her a good talking to... I mean, a round of psychological counseling, and cured her."
"Now she has honorably retired and is our steadfast ally."
Lin Xiyue: "?"
Su Wan: "??"
Xia Lian: "???"
This overly modern and grounded explanation caused the minds of Lin Xiyue and her two companions to instantly crash.
At this moment, the expressions of the three were uncannily identical.
Is this the Remnant Soul of the Vermilion Bird that almost roasted their entire team alive?
The terrifying being whose mere cries could plunge them all into an Illusion?
Now, this being was facing them, wearing a gentle smile tinged with a hint of curiosity.
In those clear eyes, not a trace of madness or deathly stillness remained, only the politeness and serenity of someone meeting a stranger for the first time.
Professional burnout?
Emo?
Retired?
They understood each of these words individually, but when combined, why did they sound so surreal?
Besides, these words were completely at odds with the image of the Goddess-like Big Sister standing before them.
The art style was wrong, very wrong!
Lin Xiyue stared blankly at Feng Yan, whose aura was as warm and gentle as a friendly neighbor, then glanced at her own sister's "mission accomplished" salted fish expression, and finally couldn't hold back.
She leaned into her sister's ear and, in a voice only the two of them could hear, asked a question from the depths of her soul:
"Sis, why do I feel like... you seem to have a special attack bonus against Queens, Mature Sisters, and even Goddesses?"
Lin Qingyue's mouth twitched, and she precisely delivered a flick to her sister's forehead.
Feng Yan seemed to have heard Lin Qingyue's words as well. Instead of getting angry, she instead showed a helpless and amused expression.
She nodded slightly to Lin Xiyue and the other two, greeting them in return.
Her transcendent and detached aura instantly dispelled the hostility of the three.
"You are her companions."
Feng Yan spoke, her voice crisp and pleasant.
"You have indirectly helped me escape my predicament. As this is our first meeting, I have nothing much to give, so I will grant you a small blessing."
As her voice fell, she raised her slender, jade-like hand and waved it gently toward everyone.
Four soft, golden flames, like living fireflies, drifted from her fingertips and merged into the bodies of Lin Qingyue and her three companions.
A warm sensation instantly spread through their limbs and bones.
Their souls felt as if they were soaked in a warm spring, an indescribable comfort and pleasure.
Immediately after, the professional panels of the four people simultaneously popped up with notification messages.
[ Ding! ]
[ You have received the Blessing of the Celestial God Vermilion Bird! ]
[ Effect: Your resistance to the negative effects of Dungeon Rule Two: Punishment of the Seven Sins is permanently increased by 20%! ]
The four of them froze in unison.
Immediately, their faces all showed irrepressible pleasant surprise.
This blessing was simply a Divine Skill!
In this world that was extremely sensitive to emotions, what did a 20% all-emotion resistance mean?
In this hellish place where the influence of negative emotions would be materialized, any loss of control could lead to a plunge in attributes and a fall into an irredeemable abyss.
Lin Xiyue's previous loss of control under the influence of "Wrath" was the best example.
This 20% resistance might not seem like much, but in a critical moment, it's the saving straw that can pull a person back from the edge of a cliff!
It could even create an opportunity for a desperate counterattack!
This is no longer a simple piece of equipment or an attribute bonus, it is an exemption provided at the level of the rules themselves!
"Thank you, Senior!"
Xia Lian was the first to react, bowing excitedly.
Su Wan and Lin Xiyue also immediately followed suit, their gazes shifting from their initial vigilance and shock to deep awe and gratitude.
"It's a small matter."
Feng Yan waved her hand, her posture oddly reminiscent of Lin Qingyue's casual demeanor.
It seemed she was indeed working hard to learn the expected lifestyle of a "retired" person.
The group wasted no more time and turned to walk out of the ruins.
The farther they went, the more pronounced the change in the environment became.
The scorched earth, which had been cracked and blackened by intense heat when they arrived, had now miraculously restored to its normal yellow-brown color.
The sulfurous and burnt smells permeating the air had completely vanished, replaced by a freshness like that of the air after a fresh rain.
The ominous, fiery-red clouds in the sky had also dispersed, revealing a long-missed blue sky.
The entire Vermilion Bird Ruins area seemed to have been completely cleansed by a spring rain.
Though still desolate, it no longer held that suffocating sense of despair; instead, it exuded a tranquility before the rebirth of all things.
Everything was moving in a positive direction.
The will of a God was enough to transform an entire region.
The past was despair.
The present was rebirth.