Luo Shuangyue did not answer that question.
She refused to answer her mom’s question with an extremely firm attitude.
And perhaps, that was an answer in itself.
At least White Night was laughing very happily now, though the way she looked at Luo Shuangyue made the girl feel exceptionally uncomfortable.
That “I completely understand everything” look, that “so that’s how it is” gaze—Luo Shuangyue really did not want to accept it!
‘What did you understand, Mom? What do you know? You don’t know anything!’
“I’m going over there to dig things up!” She turned around and left her mother without a hint of attachment, walking toward the massive cloud of black qi.
Back when she could not find her mom, she had thought about finding her every single day to bring her home.
But now that she had actually found her, she felt a slight urge to just leave her mom here and forget about her.
It truly lived up to the song lyric: “The heart always yearns for what it cannot possess.”
Distance created beauty.
The mother who had vanished was the tallest, most shining figure in Luo Shuangyue’s heart.
But after finding her again, as the glorious filter in her heart dissipated, that perfect image tumbled back down to the mortal realm.
As for Luo Shuangyue’s past opinion of her mom… that was hard to say. Regardless, it certainly was not the image of a perfect mother.
Seeing that Luo Shuangyue refused to give even a single sentence as an answer, White Night did not put on any airs. She hugged her sword and followed Luo Shuangyue toward the burial ground of that giant Path Creature.
As they walked, she kept pressing for every little detail about the relationship between Luo Shuangyue and Xia Mo. It seemed she would not rest until she unearthed something.
However, Luo Shuangyue’s lips were tightly sealed. Even though White Night was her own mom, she did not say a single word.
It was only when they reached the edge of the black qi and she began preparing for her theft that White Night stopped her incessant questioning.
White Night could distinguish between major and minor matters clearly. At a time like this, she would only stand quietly by Luo Shuangyue’s side, acting as her daughter’s last barrier.
Otherwise, what did you think she came along for? It could not really be just to pry into her daughter’s romantic history, could it?
She had naturally come along to provide backup for Luo Shuangyue, ensuring nothing went horribly wrong for her daughter. No one knew what kind of problems Luo Shuangyue’s actions might trigger, but White Night was confident that she could resolve them if they did appear.
After all, she was the strongest person in this world. As long as it was not a world-ending catastrophe, she had the confidence to solve it with her own strength.
“How is it? Can you get it out?” White Night asked in a low voice, watching as Luo Shuangyue transformed her magic power into several small knives to cut into the black qi.
She noticed that Luo Shuangyue’s expression did not look relaxed. It seemed this black qi was not very easy to subdue.
This matched what she had discovered over the years.
She could easily shatter Path Creatures formed by the black qi, but she had no good way to handle the black qi itself.
Even if she used her strongest magic power to blast it directly, it would only make the consciousness within the black qi more chaotic, which meant nothing to the black qi itself.
Since the consciousness inside was already chaotic enough, what did it matter if it became a bit more so?
As long as their obsessions could still drive them to complete their tasks, it was fine.
In fact, the more chaotic a consciousness was, the less it could resist the drive of those obsessions.
When a consciousness became completely chaotic and forgot who it was or what it was doing, the obsessions etched into the depths of its being became its only guideposts.
They would view those obsessions as their singular goal and pursue them desperately.
Therefore, for White Night to attack the black qi and shatter the consciousness further only benefited the black qi.
Once White Night realized this, she gave up on attacking the black qi directly.
“Yes. They aren’t like the black qi from before that voluntarily joined me. Their will is resisting me,” Luo Shuangyue nodded. Things were indeed not as simple as she had thought.
Cutting the black qi was not difficult. She had already carved out some energy from the main body, but when she tried to take it away, a powerful force of attraction erupted between the masses of qi.
The black qi was instinctively preventing Luo Shuangyue from taking what belonged to it.
Even though they were in a terrible state, the power they erupted with allowed them to temporarily engage in a tug-of-war with her.
Luo Shuangyue felt as if she were trying to pull apart two magnets with incredibly strong magnetic forces.
She wrapped her magic power around the clump of black qi she wanted to take, using every bit of her strength just to pull that small mass out of the main body a tiny bit.
“But it’s not that difficult to handle…”
In terms of status, Luo Shuangyue was equal to the consciousness of this black qi.
Therefore, the winner of this tug-of-war would ultimately be the one with more power.
This was a match that had nothing to do with technique.
Both sides relied on pure, unadulterated strength, and Luo Shuangyue’s power was clearly stronger than the black qi that had just been shattered by White Night.
Even so, it still took a lot of effort. By the time she had completely plucked the piece from the main body,
Xia Mo had already finished a round trip through the Starlight Tunnel.
“Harvesting such a small clump took so much effort. If I had known, I would have taken more — ” Luo Shuangyue grumbled quietly, looking at the palm-sized clump of black qi in her hand.
Whether she took a little or a lot did not actually affect the intensity of her duel with that monster.
That brainless thing did not care how small a corner she chipped off; as long as she took something, it would resist with all its might.
So, it was the same regardless of how much Luo Shuangyue snatched.
Taking a palm-sized clump took a certain amount of strength, and taking a human-sized clump would have taken the same amount.
Even trying to take half would have required that much effort, though Luo Shuangyue would not actually do that.
Cutting the black qi in half was meaningless. Luo Shuangyue could not possibly expend all that effort just to seal away half of the Path Creature’s power.
As for devouring half of the black qi monster… Luo Shuangyue did not dare.
If she devoured the black qi, her consciousness would inevitably be struck by the chaotic awareness attached to it.
It might even shatter her recently repaired soul again, turning her into a lunatic just like the black qi’s consciousness.
‘But this amount should be enough for the seniors to experiment with. Any more and it would be hard to guarantee safety. This will do,’ Luo Shuangyue comforted herself.
Having too much black qi was not a good thing. God only knew what this thing would become once it entered the world.
If it became super powerful, would she not be a sinner? She had to be a bit careful.
Being bold when necessary and cautious when appropriate was the right choice.
“This small clump should be enough.” Using Luo Shuangxing’s magic power to seal the black qi, Luo Shuangyue carefully sensed the interaction between the black qi and the Sealing Card, reaching a conclusion that put her slightly at ease.
Although sealing it consumed a lot of magic power, once the seal was complete, the black qi no longer displayed any strong destructiveness.
This meant that Luo Shuangxing’s sealing ability was quite effective at handling this kind of black qi.
“Is that a Sealing Card? It’s a bit different from mine.” White Night also noticed the magic Luo Shuangyue had released.
She saw at a glance that the ability was very similar to the sealing magic she knew, but there were significant differences.
“This is a spell Shuang Xing came up with herself. It’s very useful.”
“Oh, so little Xing researched it herself? As expected of my child.” White Night slapped her palm, realization dawning on her.
Then, her face was filled with pride, as if she were boasting about Luo Shuangxing’s achievements.
Although she had only provided a bit of mental guidance for this achievement and had not even been by Luo Shuangxing’s side when the results were finalized, it did not stop her from being proud as a mother.
No matter what, Luo Shuangxing was a child she had given birth to and had inherited her unparalleled talent and power.
She could claim at least one-third of the credit for this achievement.
“Then, Mom, do you think we could use this sealing method to gradually dismember and seal this entire mass of black qi?” Luo Shuangyue asked casually.
“Hmm… as a temporary stalling tactic, it’s no problem. But to solve the current crisis, this method is still too slow.” After thinking for a few seconds, White Night shook her head and rejected Luo Shuangyue’s idea.
Not to mention the effort Luo Shuangyue had just spent sealing such a tiny clump, no one could supply enough magic power to seal the entire mass of black qi.
“Furthermore, this kind of seal has a time limit, right?”
“Yes. The nature of the black qi is very special. My card can only maintain the status quo for five days at most. Even if Shuang Xing came here, she could probably only maintain it for seven days.”
Expending massive effort just to seal a portion of the black qi for a week? It was not that it could not be done, but expecting this method to solve the problem Luo Shuangyue was currently facing was absolutely impossible.
However, while it could not solve the problem, it was indeed a good choice for buying time.
“We should delay it for as long as we can. Shuang Xing is just idle anyway, so I’ll let her come and stay with you for two days, Mom.” Luo Shuangyue sold out her own younger sister without hesitation.
Cough, this could not actually be called selling out her sister. She was just fulfilling Shuang Xing’s wish. Didn’t Shuang Xing always want to find their mom? Now, letting Shuang Xing come and live with her mom for a month was making her sister’s dream come true, wasn’t it?
She believed Shuang Xing would be very willing to come and help their mom.
“Sure, I think that’s a good idea.” White Night also nodded decisively.
She shared the same thought as Luo Shuangyue.
A sealing spell certainly could not solve the problem, but it could delay the time until the problem erupted.
How could she refuse a method that was completely risk-free?
They would delay it for as long as possible; time was the most precious resource right now.
After getting her mom’s agreement, Luo Shuangyue and Xia Mo returned to the Mother Star through the Starlight Tunnel.
The tunnel was neither long nor short. Luo Shuangyue could not be certain if the concept of length still had meaning for this passage.
Regardless, she felt that the time she spent walking through it was not very long.
When she walked out of the tunnel, she was met by an ultra-luxurious welcome party consisting of more than ten Full Bloom-Class Magical Girls.
The leader of the Magical Girls was the Vice Minister of the Magic Department, who had once had a conflict with Monice.
Seeing Luo Shuangyue and Xia Mo walking out of the Starlight Magic Circle hand in hand without any monsters following them, she breathed a sigh of relief.
At least it was not the worst-case scenario.
Just as she was thinking this, Luo Shuangyue pulled a white Sealing Card from her pocket and told her that the item she brought back was inside the card.
“Why don’t we break the seal here and see what happens?”
“Don’t! There’s a wasteland nearby. Go over there to break the seal,” the Vice Minister quickly urged.
This Experiment Field was still too close to the Magic Department Headquarters; it would be bad if something really went wrong.
It would be much safer to go further away.
Even if a problem arose, with the combat power of these Magical Girls, they could resolve it directly with minimal cost.
Luo Shuangyue naturally would not refuse such a reasonable request.
However, before setting off, she reminded the Vice Minister, “By the way, have Monice come and take a look. What I brought back is the source of the demons. I think she needs to be present to see it for herself.”
Luo Shuangyue was not very familiar with the Full Bloom-Class Magical Girls in front of her, but judging by their appearances, she felt they were likely not the type to do research like Monice.
Therefore, she felt that Monice’s brain needed to be present at this time.
The suggestion caused a look of difficulty to appear on the Vice Minister’s face.
It was not that she was still dwelling on her past conflicts with Monice, but rather that Monice was truly busy right now.
She was busy to the point of being unable to be in two places at once.
“I’ll send her a message and ask. I don’t know if she has time right now.”
The Vice Minister called Monice right in front of Luo Shuangyue, and then Luo Shuangyue heard an angry roar coming from the receiver.
“Cecilia, you [beep], don’t you know how busy I am right now? If you aren’t calling for something serious, I’m going to [beep] your mom!”
It was clear that Monice was extremely irritable.
Having such heavy pressure suddenly placed on one’s shoulders would cause anyone’s mental state to deteriorate.
This was especially true when Monice discovered she had almost no useful information in her hands; her mindset became even worse.
In one month, she was expected to come up with a plan to save the world starting from absolutely nothing?
Did they really think she was an all-powerful wishing machine!
Still, Monice was working hard.
At a time like this, complaining was useless; she had to do everything she could to solve the problems she encountered.
“There’s serious business! Ming Luo came back with the source of the demons and wants to release it in the nearby wasteland. She asked me to get you over here to take a look.” Cecilia chose to ignore Monice’s profanity.
She knew Monice was in a bad mood and could be forgiven.
The news stunned the emotional Monice on the other end, followed by an even more torrential output of words.
“Why the [beep] didn’t you tell me something so important earlier? If she hadn’t reminded you, were you all going to forget about me? Don’t move! I’m coming over right now!”