Weilin used Blink to teleport several thousand meters in a single go.
Leaning against the outer wall of the Royal Palace and calming her breath, Weilin glanced back at the Cold Dove Palace—still as eerily quiet as ever in the distant, chilly night. Seeing that no one had followed her, she breathed a slight sigh of relief.
“Master, why are you so nervous?”
In the dark night, thick as ink, a snail the size of two fingers rested on the young girl’s shoulder. The voice echoed directly in Weilin’s mind through Mind Transmission.
“I-It’s none of your business…”
Winding the strand of ice-glowing hair around her finger in the inky night, Weilin’s heart was still trembling with unease.
I actually went and did something that bold… Huan Xuezhi is definitely angry, right?
Anyway, she didn’t dare go see her right now.
“Why pull it out instead of cutting it? Her eyes were closed at the time.” In her mind, the Time Devourer’s surprised voice carried a rare hint of teasing. “…This is the first time I’ve seen anyone make Master’s IQ drop so fast.”
“I said it’s none of your business!” Weilin pouted. “You’re the one who wanted Huan Xuezhi’s hair, so I got it for you! Now, can you tell me what to do next?”
“Master, the Imperial Guards patrolling the palace are about to come this way.”
“Fine, we’ll talk when we get back…”
?
With a few Spatial Warps, Weilin returned to Flowing Firefly Palace at lightning speed.
But now, Sunai was also staying at Flowing Firefly Palace.
Figuring that Sunai was someone she would eventually recruit anyway, Weilin decided to take the initiative and introduce the Time Devourer to her directly.
Not the snail’s true form, of course, but the Time Devourer’s personified Loli form: “Shi Luo.”
And so…
With four spiral pigtails cascading gracefully behind her head and wearing a beautifully layered purple, white-trimmed Gothic Lolita Dress, a delicate little girl with the aura of an imperial princess lifted the sides of her skirt with her two boneless-seeming hands and gave the stunned Sunai a graceful curtsey.
“This is Little Shi, but Nainai can call her Shi Luo too. Don’t be shy.”
The young girl introduced the Loli, who looked to be about eight or nine years old.
“Big Sister (Master) has already told me your name.” After finishing her curtsey, Shi Luo straightened up, her tone indifferent. “Sunai, hello.”
It was because of Weilin that the Time Devourer granted Sunai the greatest respect she could give a human.
Addressing Weilin as ‘Big Sister’ in public was also Weilin’s instruction.
“…Weilin… you actually have a younger sister?!” Sunai snapped out of her daze, her curiosity piqued. “How old is she?”
“Oh, Oh, six hundred and ninety-three million… pfft… she’s nine!” Weilin corrected herself with sudden, extreme seriousness.
“…Weilin, did you just say over six hundred… million years?” Sunai had heard her clearly!
“You actually believed that?” Weilin asked, amazed.
“How could I possibly believe it!”
“So, like I said, don’t worry about those auditory hallucinations.” The young girl smiled faintly. “One more thing. Soon, Little Shi and I will be conducting an alchemy experiment here. No matter what Nainai sees, don’t make a fuss, okay?”
“Ah… mm.” Sunai let out a noise of surprise at the mention of “alchemy experiment” but nodded without asking further questions.
“Wait…!”
In the next second, Sunai’s gaze suddenly froze, staring intently at the pool of transparent, faintly shimmering liquid gathering under Shi Luo’s skirt…
Staring unblinkingly at the clear liquid dripping from the Loli’s lower half… no matter how you look at it, that’s hentai behavior.
Weilin’s heart skipped a beat. She knew exactly what that liquid was.
It wasn’t obvious in the dark mine tunnel, but once the human-formed Time Devourer was exposed to bright light… snail slime would inevitably be mistaken for a Loli’s ‘juices’.
‘Time Slime’
Producing slime was an innate nature and instinct of a snail, something even the Time Devourer couldn’t avoid…
“Cough… could you… show some maturity and restraint like me? Don’t you understand the concept of ‘Do not look at what is improper’?”
Weilin tried to gloss it over.
But Sunai walked a few steps closer, and instead of “not looking at what was improper,” she reached out to wipe the liquid from between Shi Luo’s slender calves and even put a bit on the tip of her tongue to taste…
Her brain once again entered that bizarre state where she could effortlessly process several thoughts at once. In that moment, Sunai was absolutely certain. The liquid Shi Luo had dripped… was exactly the same Time Slime she had encountered before!
Brushing her hand over her Spatial Ring, Sunai pulled out a small transparent bottle containing a similar clear slime. Her expression was solemn and… sacred as she carefully used water magic to collect all the slime back into the bottle.
Shi Luo remained utterly composed throughout.
After all, any creature that tasted the benefits of Time Slime would desperately try to chase after her… the Time Devourer had killed an uncountable number. Only Sunai, who was connected to Weilin, was granted the privilege of lapping it up directly from under her skirt…
Though wait, why does that description sound so lewd…
“…This slime can drastically increase your perception of time. To put it bluntly, within my consciousness, the speed of time passing feels like it slows by two or three times. That’s equivalent to extending one’s lifespan! And… just a small taste can maintain the effect for over ten minutes. This is completely unheard of…!”
After explaining, the greatly shaken Sunai looked toward Shi Luo with a hopeful, fervent gaze. “…D-Do you have more? I… I can buy it with money!”
Shi Luo: …
“Guess the cat’s out of the bag…” Weilin sighed softly, then asked in confusion, “But why do you want it?”
“So I can grind Crystal Code for 72 hours straight in a single day!”
“I implore you to take care of your body!” Weilin glared at her, emphasizing each word, until Sunai’s expression weakened and she pursed her lips. Then Weilin sighed and turned around to ask, “Little Shi, do you have more?… Your slime, that is?”
Shi Luo nodded. “I do, but unfortunately, this is the most important alchemy ingredient for what we’re about to make.”
“Alchemy… ingredient…?” Both Weilin and Sunai were taken aback.
“Yes. Master, please pull out one of your hairs.”
At Shi Luo’s request, Weilin reluctantly plucked a listless strand of her own ahoge.
“Next, prepare the Reverse Life Demonic Flower, Rotting Soul Herb, Ten-Thousand-Year Demonic Silkworm Silk…”
Shi Luo rattled off a list of nine items, some plants, some tools.
Weilin’s Eternal Space didn’t just contain ores. The Earth Core World was a natural treasure trove filled with countless rare wonders and strange flora. The Ten-Thousand-Year Demonic Silkworm had even been dug up before and was now being raised in the Eternal Mineshaft.
But every single thing Shi Luo named was a priceless, world-class treasure or a strange object rarely seen in a thousand years. Even within the Eternal Space, which encompassed all manner of marvels, Weilin could only find eight types. Only the Reverse Life Demonic Flower could not be found.
“It’s fine if we don’t have the Reverse Life Demonic Flower. Each of these ingredients, except for the Ten-Thousand-Year Demonic Silkworm Silk acting as the capsule’s shell, is a sinister, taboo existence. But the Chaos Mana in Master’s hair can perfectly fuse these taboos together. Then, by suppressing the chaos with the Extreme Cold Mana in the Illusory Snow Queen’s hair… perhaps, it can truly succeed!”
As Shi Luo explained, a flash of fervor even leaped deep within her eyes!
“However, the most crucial part is still the Time Slime.”
Saying this, she summoned a colorless, transparent container from her own space. It was even taller than her, practically like a small swimming pool, filled completely with crystalline ‘juice’… cough, Time Slime.
