Chapter 481: Pure Beauty Never Fails
“Mai, what are Itachi doing?”
In Kika Miao ’s stunned gaze, her own Mai revealed a tender, saccharine smile, then stepped lightly and swiftly behind Hermes the old man, reaching out with gentle hands to rest them on his shoulders…
She actually gave a massage!
She actually gave this old man a massage right under her eyes!
And with that absurdly tender, absurdly sweet smile—her own Mai had never once smiled at her with such tenderness!!!
At this moment, Kika Miao ’s entire body turned into a gray-white amorphous mass, her hand stretching out uselessly, as if trying to grasp something.
“Of course…”
Ruan Mei’s eyes revealed a flicker of sudden understanding; when these girls first stepped into the courtyard, she had already sensed something unusual.
This scene now confirmed her suspicion.
In contrast, Phanes, watching this, felt no satisfaction from vengeance—instead, a hint of concern appeared in her eyes.
She subtly furrowed her brow, then glanced down at the Book of Ages in her hand, lost in thought.
“Mai, my Mai, what’s happened to Itachi?”
After a long while, Kika Miao finally snapped back to reality, tears welling in her eyes as she let out a choked sob.
“Tell me—is it this old man who used some underhanded trick to corrupt Itachi?”
“Don’t be afraid—speak up!!”
Hearing Kiana’s cry, Raiden Mei showed a dazed expression, but only slightly furrowed her brow, as if puzzled, and asked:
“Kiana, what’s wrong with Itachi?”
“I am the Pure Beauty’s Divine Envoy—serving the Heavenly Principle is only natural… right?!!”
As she spoke, Raiden Mei’s voice cut off abruptly, her hands freezing in place.
“Itachi’ve finally realized it, haven’t Itachi?”
Hermes didn’t play cryptic games; though this Raiden Mei wasn’t his true Raiden Wuchuan Shou Mei, his voice still carried a barely perceptible tenderness:
“What did Itachi see?”
“...I, I saw Izumo… I saw… three thousand worlds severed by a single blade!”
Raiden Mei pressed her hands hard against her chest; tears fell unbidden, one by one—the overwhelming sorrow, the emptiness of having walked a thousand years through nothingness, left her utterly lost.
“Izumo forged seventy-three thousand three hundred swords, casting them into the Supreme Blade, the Twelve Sacred Blades to Protect the World!”
These half-remembered memories mirrored her own life, yet ended far more cruelly.
Her homeland, though hope seemed faint, carried countless hidden safeguards left by the previous civilization—all concentrated in the girl named Kiana Kastlana—and ultimately, they defeated the Apocalypse.
But.
In her memory, herself—Raiden Mei—had no such luck.
Izumo forged seventy-four thousand seven hundred swords, claiming only one could save Izumo, yet she had long known: the path to salvation did not exist, never had, never would.
Hope, from the very beginning, never existed.
She knew it well—and so did every other blade-bearer—but they still held their swords, endlessly continuing this utterly hopeless journey of salvation!
Only because if they ceased this illusion of hope, shattered this grand lie, the next instant…
The entire world would collapse utterly!
Under this crushing psychological disparity, all the people, in despair, would instantly become monsters, and the world would sink into total ruin!
Then… what happened next?
Raiden Mei felt she had walked for an endless, endless time through that boundless void of despair—so long that…
She nearly forgot her own name, forgot her original name, and from then on walked the cosmos as [Huangquan], silently guarding something… until…
Until… Raiden Mei looked at the man before her with complex eyes.
Until the Heavenly Principle appeared before her and saved her life.
The Heavenly Principle was Pure Beauty—and she, was the Pure Beauty’s Envoy.
All of this seemed right. It should have been this way…
“Itachi’re too close to my little Mai…”
Hermes, seeing the profound complexity in the girl’s eyes, finally sighed:
“Normally, even an identical counterpart shouldn’t experience this—but now, it’s clearly abnormal!”
“My little Mei, in essence, transcends all—amidst the Taiji of Nothingness and Pure Beauty, she forged her own unique path.”
More crucially, both Nothingness·IX and Pure Beauty·Hermes had almost fully opened their powers to this singular dual-path Envoy.
This propelled the already transcendent girl to a height unimaginable.
Her depth of power is so terrifying—even the original Pure Beauty Star God, Idylla—has yet to fully eclipse her status as Pure Beauty’s First Envoy!
Though she is neither a Star God nor a cosmic truth, in this unique state, even Ruan Mei today could not withstand a single slash from her without injury.
Under this terrifying depth of power, Raiden Wuchuan Shou Mei, Pure Beauty’s First Envoy, now naturally gathers all things into a single origin, transcending all existence.
Of course.
Beneath this seemingly cold girl’s shell lies a gentle heart.
Raiden Wuchuan Shou Mei is actively, slowly severing the metaphysical ties binding her to her counterparts, avoiding the risk that, through her existence, she might erase other [Raiden Meis] before they even begin, in this nearly inverted cause-and-effect cultivation path.
When her cultivation is complete, even if she meets her other [selves] face to face, nothing will happen.
Because by then, her other [selves] will no longer be [herself]… but…
“But precisely at this critical moment, Itachi, Raiden Mei, arrived in the courtyard!”
Phanes’s expression turned grave; from this case, she saw a fatal Yinhuan , glaringly obvious yet universally ignored.
“Hmph—if Huangquan hadn’t deliberately repelled Itachi, Itachi’d never have made it here—to this courtyard, closest to Pure Beauty!”
Almost.
Almost, this Raiden Mei would have been completely assimilated!
Of course.
Pure Beauty never errs—Phanes understood this deeply.
All one can say is:
This Raiden Mei, arriving here at this impossibly crucial and coincidental moment, was perhaps destined to walk this path.
And having walked it, both Huangquan and Raiden Mei will likely gain some extraordinary fortune…
End of Chapter
