Chapter 1092

Miss Chloe stared blankly at the staircase extending from her feet toward a higher place; she seemed to have understood already.

Xia De then said:

"Mrs. Marquez is your fear of loneliness, as well as your worry about experiences from the past that you cannot forget. You regard her as the most important part of yourself, which is why you gave her your middle name and surname."

He hesitated for a moment, then said:

"So, the thirteen people in your memory are actually all you. Splitting yourself, and then actively accepting and obtaining yourself—this is the path you chose... The one who is actually very good at cooking vegetable soup is you; that taste was really quite good."

Chloe couldn't help but reveal a smile. The twelve-tier golden staircase looked much more solid; at the end of the staircase was the pitch-black sky.

"This gentleman."

Xia De beckoned to the timid man, and the 【Origin · Darkness】 in his pocket automatically flew before Xia De. The man stood up with a trembling body and also came before Xia De.

Xia De held the card and said:

"In the name of the next owner of 【All-Encompassing Impermanence · Darkness】, I forgive your act of theft."

He patted the man on the shoulder, then looked at Miss Chloe:

"You have committed many mistakes in the past; some mistakes are ones you find hard to speak of, or even unwilling to recall. Therefore, you turned this image of mistakes into the image of a man that witches despise, not even giving him a specific name."

"I..."

Those red eyes looked at Xia De.

"But this is not yet considered bad. Because you understand that it is wrong, and you have accepted your own mistakes; this is much better than the Leijin I am about to face... The evidence that you accept your mistakes lies in the fact that even on the most dangerous final stretch of the road, you did not suggest abandoning him, but insisted on bringing him along to arrive here."

Miss Chloe's lips trembled slightly:

"Yes, the one placed at the very end is the one I am most unwilling to face... He is also me."

The nameless man revealed a look of relief, bowed slightly toward Xia De, and his body emitted a brilliant golden light. In that light, he turned into a series of golden light spots, flying toward the very top of the witch's twelve-tier staircase, turning into the thirteenth step.

The staircase was completely solidified. Chloe Marcus Marquez, one of the co-founders of the Zaras Academy and the strongest thirteen-tier witch of this era, had returned to her original state once again.

The light of the golden staircase illuminated her face and Xia De's. An expression of having just awakened from a dream appeared on the young witch's face. As if recognizing herself for the first time, she raised her hand to touch her cheek, and then looked at Xia De with a bewildered gaze:

"I..."

"Turning your own soul and the witch's thirteen tiers into thirteen different images, representing different memories and different obsessions in life. You, who were lost in the snow mountain, moved forward together with them, re-accepting and accommodating them, letting them truly become a part of yourself. Until climbing to the highest peak of this snow mountain, from the initial bewilderment to the final awakening—this is not only a climb of the body, but also a climb of the soul."

Xia De looked at her. In this world possessing mystical power, this approach meant many things:

"Mrs. Marquez and that man represent the final weakness in your heart. Fear of loneliness, guilt over the past. And now, you are willing to accept them, rather than kill them, although that could also have brought you here... You went from complete to dispersed, and from dispersed to complete; this is your..."

"... path to demigodhood."

Miss Chloe looked at Xia De, speaking the answer Xia De had already guessed. Xia De breathed a sigh of relief; this story had finally reached its end:

"Yes, although this snow mountain is dangerous, there actually aren't that many demons. What you encountered, including that demon and that shadow of death, were all your own distracting thoughts and your own fears. Overcoming them is an important process for your soul to ascend to the highest peak. Before I appeared, you had already successfully accommodated the previous eleven selves, and I just helped you solve a very small trouble."

Miss Chloe wanted to say something, but Xia De interrupted her:

"Lost person in the snow mountain, at this moment, have you found yourself? Have you seen the path toward the final step?"

Miss Chloe was startled, looking at Xia De with some trepidation:

"Are you actually fake as well? They represent the first thirteen tiers; do you represent a demigod? Are you a brand-new possibility?"

"No, no, no, how could you think that? I am real."

He took Miss Chloe's hand, letting her feel the temperature of his palm:

"Rather than saying I am you, it is better to say, I am your Keeper."

Xia De looked into her eyes. The two stood in the wind and snow at the mountain peak, silver snowflakes covering their shoulders:

"I have encountered quite a few Keepers recently, and this time I did the same thing as them. I witnessed and helped your growth and sublimation, encouraging you to move forward, rather than carrying you forward. Speaking of which, the successor of the 【Keeper Mentor】 is actually not required to teach others... This is not important."

He used one hand to brush the snowflakes off the shoulders of the silver-haired witch before him:

"Miss Chloe, take the final step."

The witch nodded gently, but did not let go of Xia De's hand, her eyes filled with fervent emotion:

"Are you leaving?"

Xia De calculated the time; there were still more than three minutes left:

"I came here just to help you reach the highest peak. Although I am very reluctant..."

He had gradually become accustomed to such partings. In the Sixth Era, he didn't know how many young ladies had said this to Xia De. Everything he had come into contact with during his travels with the time key, and everyone he had known, had long since turned into his homeland, leaving behind only a few short lines of text, and memories in Xia De's heart that would eventually fade away:

"... but I think it is time to part. You are a very good young lady. Do you still remember what I said? I also have witches I am on very good terms with by my side, but their talent is not as good as yours."

A very forced smile appeared on Miss Chloe's face, those red eyes always looking at Xia De:

"Will we meet again?"

Xia De felt he had completely understood the meaning in the witch's eyes.

"I don't know."

In the blink of an eye, tears streaked across her cheeks, but turned into ice crystals before hitting the ground. She stood slightly on tiptoe, then cupped Xia De's face and kissed him. The cold lips were something Xia De had never tried before, and the ice crystals turned from tears also had a bitter taste different from the past.

【Outsider, Witch Echo · Chloe, has been replenished.】

The witch let go of Xia De, then stepped back a few paces.

"Ugh!"

Xia De covered his mouth, coughed a few times, and then spat out a transparent ice crystal from his mouth. It was a quarter of the size of a palm; although it was oval-shaped, the surface of the ice block had countless tiny flat planes. Looking at it against the light on his body, dense text was engraved within the ice crystal.

This was not a supernatural item, but it seemed it could also be considered a special item. This was an ice crystal recorded with the path to demigodhood, frozen by the witch using her own power from her teardrops (Note). Apart from Xia De's guesses, it also recorded more things.

This was the final gift, only Xia De didn't know if he could take it away.

Without saying goodbye to Xia De, Chloe looked up toward the golden staircase leading to a higher place. With her back to Xia De, the worn-out cold-proof robe on her body turned into a gorgeous ice-blue evening gown at some unknown time.

The ice and wind and snow created jewelry and hair accessories for her, her long boots were adorned with ice crystals, and the wind whipped up her long silver hair, weaving a complex hairstyle for her. The thirteen-tier great witch carefully lifted the gorgeous and heavy hem of her dress, raised her boots adorned with tiny diamonds and sapphires, and stepped onto the first step.

Where the boots landed, golden light surged like waves, and the light spread to the entire staircase, making it bloom with a radiance like the sun under the pitch-black sky of the blizzard. At the same time, in the darkness far away from the silver-white mountain range, a glimmer of light pierced through the wind and snow and shot over.

She moved upward step by step along the staircase, reaching the second and third steps. The wind and snow weakened a lot at this moment, and the howling wind stopped, but the snow filling the sky was still falling. Until the wind stopped completely, bell sounds came from nowhere, and the reverberating bell sounds echoed in this vast snow mountain. Accompanied by the bell sounds, there were even people singing softly.

Stepping onto the fourth and fifth steps in the snow, when the first ray of light pierced through the black fog from far away, the phantom shadows of three full moons appeared for the first time in the dark sky above her head. The darkness was slowly dissipating, the brilliant starry sky behind the black sky was becoming clear from being blurry, and the snow mountain was being illuminated.

Stepping onto the sixth and seventh steps in the wind, Chloe's entire body emitted golden light, and the surging, majestic power vibrated continuously with the bell sounds in the rolling snow mountains. The starry sky twinkled because of her, and the snow mountain became bright because of her.

Stepping onto the eighth and ninth steps amidst the bell sounds, the vast starry sky above her head was completely revealed. The stars twinkled, and the three moons resonated. At the summit of this snow mountain, the starry sky was actually so close to the top of her head that it felt as if, with a lift of her hand, she could scoop out her own star from the galaxy.

The golden arc of light echoed radiance from the thirteen-tier golden staircase toward the entire snow mountain. Snowflakes and light spots flew together, and Xia De, who was watching the witch, observed the entire sublimation process completely, and thus reached the conclusion that "a demigod witch is still a mortal."

Stepping onto the tenth and eleventh steps in the light, the witch, stepping with two different boots, continued to move upward. Under the sea of stars, only gods and outsiders witnessed this unusual scene. The stars were celebrating the birth of a demigod, and the vibrating snow mountain was cheering for her.

Xia De's eyes reflected Miss Chloe's figure. He let out a long breath, and the white smoke puffed out into the wind and snow like a long dragon.

"Fifth Era, Bai Yin Mountains, blizzard night."

A voice appeared in Xia De's ear. The god draped in white robes appeared by his side at some unknown time, looking up with him as Miss Chloe walked onto her own staircase.

"Witch Chloe Marcus Marquez, has completed the trial of the path to demigodhood."

Xia De took the next sentence. The god watched this scene with a smile, and the pure white light made the snowflakes avoid Him spontaneously:

"This is her legend, from one to thirteen, from thirteen to one."

Xia De's eyes were fixed on the witch high above, watching her slightly glowing long silver hair spread out and fly in the snow:

"The sublimation of flesh and soul represents the end of mortals; this is the highest honor for mortals."

Witch Chloe finally stepped onto the twelfth and thirteenth steps. A dark golden gate appeared at the end of the staircase at some unknown time. She stopped her footsteps before the final step, and then turned to look downward.

Xia De was still continuing his conversation with the god:

"I understand everything else, but there is one point I don't understand: Miss Chloe completed the sublimation of her body and soul, but this does not mean that ascending to demigodhood does not require rituals for assistance."

He also saw Miss Chloe looking back at him from the final step, her red eyes carrying a golden luster:

"I know that climbing the snow mountain itself is a kind of ritual, but for the final step, doesn't it need additional ritual materials? In the end, it still needs some arrangement, right? Why did she complete the final step empty-handed now?"

The Old God 【Winter Maiden】 did not open her mouth, but a calm voice still entered Xia De's ears:

"Perhaps, the ritual materials themselves were hidden on her body."

Xia De nodded. The god did not look at him, but still gave an additional reward:

"You did very well. If it weren't for you, even if she had climbed to this point, she wouldn't be like this now... I am the god of winter, possessing the power of seasons and ice and snow, and this comes from two ancient gods. Among them, ice and snow are also a form of water..."

Xia De turned his head in surprise to look at Him. The Old God 【Winter Maiden】 said softly:

"The wise are like water, and knowledge and wisdom... can be recorded; this requires..."

"A recorder?"

The god did not make any expression, just as if the conversation just now had never happened at all.

White fog came from nowhere and had already wrapped around Xia De. The adventure in the winter of 903 of the Fifth Era had reached its final tail end. He firmly remembered the hint given by the god, and vaguely had some ideas.

Then, while looking up, he raised his right hand and waved, saying goodbye to Miss Chloe on the thirteenth step:

"Farewell! Farewell, Miss Chloe!"

He shouted loudly at the mountain peak. The silver-haired witch closed her eyes, turned around, reached out her hand, and pushed open the door at the end of the highest step. She lifted her foot and stepped across that door. The one who stepped into that door was a thirteen-tier witch; amidst the celebratory bell sounds and hymns, the one who walked out of the door was a demigod witch standing in the air with a brand-new posture.

Star patterns twinkled on her evening gown, and snowflakes danced around her. She opened her arms to face the vast sea of stars, to face the snow mountain beneath her feet. The escaping flowing light illuminated the night sky, illuminated the Bai Yin Mountains, and also illuminated the path the witch had come alone.

When looking down at the mountain peak again, only a blurry figure of Xia De remained standing in the snow:

"Farewell, Chloe! I am very happy to have met you; keep walking, you will never be lonely!"

The white fog disappeared completely. The outsider who did not belong to this era said goodbye to this period of time amidst loud shouting and waving.

The god watched her believer with a smile. The demigod witch Chloe descended from the air, her woven silver hair flying in the wind. After she performed a salute, she asked softly:

"Will I be able to see him again?"

"Your echo has already remained in his soul." (Biquge)

The god embraced her believer. After the snowflakes passed and blocked the view, everything on the peak of the Bai Yin Mountains disappeared together. In the wind, that 【All-Encompassing Impermanence · Darkness】 flew over from the lonely mountain peak, drifting toward the distance of the mountains in the wind and snow.

Perhaps in the very distant future, people will discover it in the ice mountains of the extreme north, but for Xia De, these were all stories that had already happened.