“Hmm…”
Su Xiaocheng opened her eyes and stretched her slightly stiff fingers.
“Sister, you’re awake.”
Su Xiaowei knelt by the bedside, propping her chin in her hands. Her large eyes blinked as she stared at Su Xiaocheng.
“It’s so early. Xiaowei, don’t you want to rest a little longer?”
Su Xiaocheng remembered how she herself had been completely unwilling to move.
“Yeah. With Sister’s reward, Xiaowei feels full of energy!”
Su Xiaowei declared, brimming with vigor.
“?” Su Xiaocheng fell into thought. Could it really be because I’m just a weakling? No, no, that’s impossible.
Recalling her undisputed offensive dominance from start to finish yesterday, Su Xiaocheng firmly rejected the idea and decided it must be because she usually neglected physical training.
“Are you up? We need to set off. If we’re any later, we’ll miss the sunrise.”
Lu Yinxi pushed open the door and spoke, sounding somewhat tired.
“Xiaolu, didn’t you sleep well last night?” Su Xiaocheng caught the fatigue in Lu Yinxi’s voice and asked curiously.
“I think it’s fine. Oh, right—by the way, Xiaocheng, come to my room tonight.” Lu Yinxi said kindly.
As if I slept well.
I listened to you two the entire night! The entire night! Tonight Xiaocheng has to learn who runs this household!
Lu Yinxi resolved firmly in her heart. Compared to postponing her plans by one day, it was fine.
Tomorrow Su Xiaocheng definitely wouldn’t be able to get out of bed. She said so!
“Why do we have to get up at five to climb the mountain, the say.”
Xiaobai kept her eyes closed and mechanically climbed toward the summit, following the guidance of her automatic pathfinding magic.
“I’d also like to know why you were playing games when I went to wake you up.”
Youzi said helplessly.
“At night, I can’t sleep, the say…”
Xiaobai successfully fell asleep and handed control of her body over to the magic.
“You slept all day, so of course you can’t sleep at night.” Su Xiaocheng muttered to herself.
Thick fog had risen in the mountains that morning. Visibility was under fifty meters because of it.
The group walked along the trail, surrounded by swirling clouds and mist.
In the distance, a few clear bird calls pierced the haze.
Following the sound and looking far away, they could only make out the blurry outlines of the mountain ranges.
After some time climbing, the group finally reached the summit.
The clouds hung low, and the peak was already swallowed by the fog.
Right at that moment, the sky in the east showed the first pale light of dawn.
The sun rose slowly. The first ray of sunlight, like a golden thread, pierced through layer after layer of clouds and gently brushed across Su Xiaocheng’s face. In an instant, the sea of clouds was plated with brilliant gold, breathtakingly beautiful.
The morning breeze blew past, scattering some of the sky-obscuring sea of clouds.
Looking out, they could just make out the neighboring peak. Golden sunlight poured down, making the tea gardens on the mountain sparkle.
“Sister?”
“What is it?”
“Isn’t there someone on that mountain over there?” Su Xiaowei asked uncertainly.
“Could it be a tea farmer working? Starting so early must be really tough.” Su Xiaocheng said.
Magic power gathered in Xiaobai’s hands, and a pair of binoculars appeared.
“Xiaobai, you’re awake?”
“Mm. The sunrise is very pretty, the say.” Xiaobai responded to Su Xiaocheng’s greeting while looking at the opposite peak through the binoculars.
After clearly seeing the scene in the lenses, Xiaobai’s movements paused for a moment.
“What is it?” Youzi asked.
The distance was quite far, and with the light fog interfering, she could only vaguely make out the human-shaped figure in the distance.
Xiaobai stiffly handed the binoculars to Youzi.
Under the puzzled gazes of the three, Youzi took the binoculars and looked into the distance.
In a small tea garden on the opposite summit, a woman floated in the air.
On her head she wore a massive flower with seven petals, each a different color. Her wide skirt was adorned with seven-colored blooms that covered her feet; the excessively long train dragged along the ground.
Although she wore colorful clothing, the woman’s skin was an unhealthy grayish-white that clashed with her delicate features and outfit.
Seemingly sensing Youzi’s gaze, the woman turned around.
Her hands, formed from twisted vines, rested in front of her as she locked eyes with Youzi across the distance.
“A Witch?!” Youzi recognized the other’s identity and shouted instinctively.
Upon hearing that, Lu Yinxi infused her eyes with magic power and saw the figure clearly.
“It really is a Witch, but her magic power is restrained. I can’t determine her rank.”
“Should we go over and take a look?” Su Xiaocheng transformed into her Magical Girl form and suggested.
“Be careful. This Witch looks very off.” Youzi said seriously.
The four transformed and flew toward the opposite summit, leaving Youzi alone where she stood.
Seeing the four Magical Girls flying toward her, the Flower Witch showed no panic at all. She floated quietly in place, waiting for them to approach.
The four exchanged glances and launched their attacks at the same time.
The Flower Witch blocked Su Xiaocheng’s Magic Beam with her left hand, caught Xiaobai’s thrown data greatsword with her right, and met Lu Yinxi’s musical notes with the seven-colored flower on her head.
All three attacks were completely neutralized.
Su Xiaowei snapped a photo, but when she tried to tear it open, she met enormous resistance.
Under the heavy drain on her magic power, she barely managed to rip open one corner of the photo.
The Flower Witch felt the power descending directly onto her.
A trace of anger appeared on her face.
The seven-colored flower spun, severing the invisible link. Su Xiaowei groaned.
The image of the Flower Witch in the photo in her hand gradually faded away.
From the exchange, the Flower Witch’s magic power fluctuations could no longer be hidden.
An aura even deeper and thicker than that of an ordinary A-rank was revealed.
“Xiaocheng, Xiaobai, step back a little.” Lu Yinxi said seriously.
Her tour concert unfolded. The musical prelude began.
Su Xiaowei also activated her Cozy Little Home, bathing everyone in protective cyan light.
The Flower Witch furrowed her brows and scattered seven-colored radiance.
The seven-colored magic power made contact with the tour concert without colliding.
Instead, it silently merged into it.
Lu Yinxi’s expression changed.
After the Witch’s magic power merged into her domain, she actually lost control over it.
The music cut off abruptly, and the tour concert was forcibly interrupted.
Lu Yinxi tried to unfold her domain again, but the Witch’s magic power interfered.
Her control over the domain plummeted, and the speed at which the domain formed slowed noticeably.
A trace of exhaustion flashed in the Flower Witch’s eyes.
She did not continue tangling with them and transformed into a seven-colored stream of light, fleeing into the tea garden below.
The group tried to search for the Flower Witch’s traces but found nothing.
Only faint residual magic power lingered around them, proving that the Witch’s existence had not been an illusion.
“What… was that thing.” Su Xiaocheng felt somewhat powerless.
Facing the Flower Witch, she had a sense of complete helplessness.
If that seven-colored magic power had targeted her, she feared she would have been forced out of her transformed state on the spot.
Lu Yinxi withdrew her domain.
After a long silence, she spoke.
“Her magic has the effect of stripping away magic power. However, she doesn’t seem to have much of it herself, so she could only partially strip my control over the domain.”