A ball of golden flame slipped into an inn under the cover of night.
Before anyone in the room seemed to notice, it directly burrowed into the body of a sleeping man.
Jingliu, who was calmly sitting nearby drinking tea, watched the entire scene unfold without intervening.
Still, she had to admire Phantylia's courage.
Daring to pull something like this right under her nose was certainly... bold.
She genuinely couldn't understand why Phantylia would do it.
However, after sensing the nature of that flame, she realized it was only a fragment.
Much like Ignamar, the Flint Emperor who had once plagued the Xianzhou.
As a member of the heliobi race, Phantylia naturally possessed the ability to create avatars.
That was why Jingliu admired her courage.
Not only had she attempted it—
She had chosen to do it at this exact time.
And of all targets, she had chosen Su Ran.
Did she not know he was an Emanator as well?
Moreover, the fact that he had gone to sleep unusually early tonight was obviously suspicious.
Had she become so desperate after losing both her physical form and her ally within the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus that she was now grasping at straws?
Did she not consider who she was targeting?
Or what he might be doing at this moment?
If Kafka weren't currently with Blade, who had just escaped imprisonment, there would have been more than one person watching Phantylia throw herself into danger.
In truth, Phantylia had little choice.
Su Ran was one of the few available targets left to her.
He possessed methods capable of throwing the Luofu into chaos.
If she could simply tamper with his mara-curing technique—
Then everyone who underwent treatment could be transformed into Voidrangers.
How could the Xianzhou remain stable when people watched their loved ones become monsters?
Thus, she took the risk.
The moment she saw Jingliu in the room, she had already realized that her identity was likely exposed.
Su Ran and Jingliu were working together!
That deceitful bastard!
Damn him!
Yet after entering Su Ran's body, Phantylia immediately found herself bewildered.
She had intended to search through his memories.
Instead, she discovered that Su Ran's mind looked completely different from anyone she had ever possessed before.
What she saw was a crystal palace.
And within that palace, two figures sat conversing leisurely.
One was Su Ran.
The other was a crystal sovereign.
Both immediately noticed the uninvited guest.
Su Ran looked at her with amusement.
Fuli, meanwhile, remained expressionless.
Though admittedly, it was difficult to tell what a giant crystal-faced Aeon was feeling.
At that moment, the heart of Phantylia's avatar sank to the bottom.
She had merely wanted to take a risk.
Yet with one careless step, she had walked straight into hell.
This wasn't how one courted death.
She had never met Fuli before.
But she could clearly sense that the pressure emanating from this Aeon was no weaker than that of Nanook, whom she served.
"Well, well. If it isn't Miss Phantylia. What brings you here? Curious about the truth of the world as well?"
Su Ran now had a new impression of Jingliu.
She was much more devious than he'd thought.
He had assumed Phantylia wouldn't be able to get close to him with Jingliu present.
Who would've thought Jingliu would simply let her in?
"Sir truly possesses remarkable methods. Phantylia has nothing left to say..."
The moment she witnessed this memory, all thoughts of luck and escape vanished.
She finally understood why Jingliu had so casually allowed her to possess Su Ran.
There had never been any need to stop her.
Because the moment she entered, she would encounter an Aeon.
And judging by the way the two interacted, their relationship clearly wasn't one of superior and subordinate.
Su Ran possessed far more secrets than she had imagined.
"So, are you handling this, or am I?"
Su Ran turned toward Fuli.
The Aeon remained motionless.
Then again, that made sense.
Fuli only observed and recorded.
Never interfered.
Among all the Aeons, the influence of Remembrance was arguably the smallest.
Even when it left an impact, it was because people discovered its existence—
Not because it actively intervened.
"You really do live up to the title of cosmic surveillance camera."
Even with Phantylia present, Fuli made no move.
Despite the possibility that she might learn everything.
"Then I guess I'll do it."
A perfect chance to test how much power he could wield after receiving Fuli's blessing.
Phantylia's avatar had hoped that if Fuli refused to act, she might still be able to pass the information back to her true self.
Instead, she was instantly purified.
The power of Remembrance was simply terrifying when used against anything beneath the level of an Aeon.
What remained was nothing more than a mindless flame, preserved within Su Ran's memories.
"Perfect. Now I have a piece of Phantylia."
Su Ran happily accepted the generous gift.
Any dissatisfaction he had about her never calling him Benefactor immediately vanished.
He already possessed a Swarm Emanator.
Now he would gain a Destruction Emanator as well.
If he could collect an Abundance Emanator next—
He would own the three most terrifying calamity-class Emanators in the universe.
"Need to learn any more truths?"
With the blessing of an Emanator-level Remembrance, Su Ran chose to reveal the truth of the world to Fuli without holding anything back.
He knew Fuli would never interfere.
That made Fuli far less troublesome than Aha.
He genuinely worried that if Aha learned the truth, the entire universe might undergo some incomprehensible transformation.
One that even he wouldn't recognize.
A Light Cone materialized before Fuli.
Then it drifted toward Su Ran.
"A gift?"
The image depicted upon the Light Cone surprised him.
"So the cosmic surveillance camera finally made an appearance on camera?"
The scene recorded within was none other than the conversation between himself and Fuli.
This was likely the first time Fuli had personally appeared within one of its own recorded Light Cones.
Fuli's figure gradually faded from the crystal palace within the dream.
Yet the palace itself remained preserved within Su Ran's memories.
The sleeping Su Ran slowly opened his eyes.
Sitting up, he looked toward Jingliu, who was still quietly drinking tea.
"Master Jingliu, you're a lot more devious than I imagined."
"Heh."
Jingliu gave a cold laugh and offered no explanation.
There had been no need for her to act.
So she hadn't.
"You shouldn't drink so much tea at night. You'll end up waking up several times to use the bathroom."
After solemnly lecturing Jingliu on healthy habits, Su Ran lay back down.
This time—
He genuinely went to sleep.
—------------------------------
Pat reon Advance Chapters: patreon.com/YonkoSlayer