White Rose of Desolation

"Nice to meet you, my name is Xiayue." Xiayue chose to ignore the split-second weirdness of Qiuyue. As someone who was handmade by Niu Chang, not only was her physical appearance a peak creation, but also all other aspects of her nature.

"Xiayue?" Qiuyue repeated her name, realizing its meaning. She turned her gaze to Niu Chang, her eyes conveying an impeccable meaning, but Niu Chang chose to ignore it.

"But why are you naked, sister Xiayue?"

Niu Chang wanted to step in, but Xiayue already answered.

"As you can see," Xiayue moved her delicate body in an alluring way, showing various curves. "There were no clothes that fit me, so I couldn't help but take them off."

Recalling the past...

In their heated dao discussion, Xiayue asked Niu Chang if it was okay for her to take off her clothes since it made her uncomfortable. Without any problem, Niu Chang allowed her to do so. He was too focused on their dao discussion, not letting his lower part take control of his mind.

"I see," Qiuyue blankly stared at Xiayue's body, and then it became silent.

No one spoke. Niu Chang busied himself with what to do next, Qiuyue lost in her thoughts, and Xiayue still eager to learn more about the truth from Niu Chang.

"Alright," Niu Chang broke the stale moment and said, "Since you two already know each other, I will leave you alone."

Then he went to another corner and started to digest his previous dao discussion. Different from before, he was finally able to find some motivation to do the work himself instead of just relying on his second brain.

Watching Niu Chang's small back moving away, Xiayue's lips curved up. She walked toward Qiuyue. "I have heard about you from my master." She walked around Qiuyue, observing her from various angles.

"I see," she finally made her judgment.

"Hehehe, what a naive girl." Xiayue finished walking around Qiuyue and stopped in front of her. She showed a bored expression as if looking at an insect.

"Your petty thoughts of mundane obsession won't take you anywhere towards your goal."

Her tone was full of mockery and condescension towards Qiuyue.

"What do you mean?" Qiuyue asked coldly, a pale ghostly qi starting to appear around her body.

"This is exactly what I mean," Xiayue snickered, watching how easily Qiuyue was taunted. To make it worse, she moved her hands around her curves to show how perfect her body was compared to Qiuyue's.

Qiuyue felt the impulse for violence but took a deep breath and exhaled heavily.

"Oh, you can take it faster than I thought. That is something to be expected from someone who is allowed to be on my master's side."

"Just tell me, why are you acting like this in front of me when we are alone?" Qiuyue sharply said.

"Hehehe, don't be angry. I'm just like you. There are many things that I don't know, so just take it as me playing, okay?" Xiayue tried to be innocent by making a cute expression.

"So you are the charred black corpse?" Qiuyue finally got the final piece of the puzzle; she couldn't help but observe Xiayue's body once again. But her previous jealousy was no longer there.

She just let out a short mockery. "Heh!"

Taking it as just air, Xiayue continued. "That was not me. If you think so to make yourself comfortable, then so be it."

"Anyway, let's talk seriously now." Xiayue dropped her superiority complex and put on her maid character.

Niu Chang was staying inside his space of mind to do his training, creating new skills or improving them.

Creating new skills was like a daily occurrence for him, but improving them required him to do so himself.

As his various skills reached perfection mastery, he naturally needed to improve them to a higher rank so they wouldn't be useless.

As useful as it seemed, the three auxiliary thinking skills had their own limitations.

So, to improve skills beyond perfection, it still required human ingenuity to create the path and for them to build the path.

In front of Niu Chang, various digital holograms were floating, showing various data and information for him to understand easily. Occasionally, he would ask his second brain to show his memories in video form, making it easier for him to get inspiration.

Then suddenly, he received a notification that someone was calling for him from the outside world.

His eyebrows furrowed, and he thought for a moment before finally choosing to postpone his current action.

He opened his eyes and found Xiayue and Qiuyue standing side by side. Xiayue was still the same, naked and beautiful with the solemn expression of a dutiful maid. And then there was Qiuyue, who seemed a lot different than before.

Niu Chang couldn't put his finger on the specific answer, but he could feel it through his enhanced intuition.

"Savior," Qiuyue opened her mouth first. "I have heard from Xiayue. I want to be your true follower!"

Listening to what she said, Niu Chang thought for a moment before shifting his gaze to the silent Xiayue.

'Well, I did plant the Seed of Loyalty in her. But... it seems it was not omnipotent. As long as loyalty is guaranteed, the bearer herself seems to have a bit of freedom in thinking and actions.'

After returning to his space of mind where various distracting thoughts were easily negated by his second brain, Niu Chang found that Xiayue showed more eagerness than he expected. This eagerness reached the point of greed.

With his database of countless stories, he was somehow able to predict Xiayue's future development.

'A two-faced maid, in front of her master, she will show the most perfect persona, but behind my back, she will turn into a different person who might be no less pretentious and arrogant than me…'

Stopping his speculation there, Niu Chang accepted Qiuyue's request. The Seed of Loyalty had strict requirements for it to be planted on someone. Naturally, one of them was for the person to willingly accept it, fully understanding its consequences without any mental manipulation.

This requirement could be easily bypassed if Niu Chang planted it when resurrecting someone since, from his perspective, he was the one who created that living person.

Niu Chang made a Seed of Loyalty appear in his palm and started to recite the whole consequences of being his true follower.

"Do you understand now? Do you wish to continue?" he asked.

"Yes!" Qiuyue answered without any hesitation.

Then Niu Chang put the seed into her forehead, where it implanted itself inside Qiuyue's mind. When she opened her eyes, she didn't feel any changes. "Then, Savior, can you teach me your self-made cultivation technique?"

Niu Chang once again looked at Xiayue, who still wore a solemn expression.

"Okay," Niu Chang then sat down and instructed her to sit down too.

Qiuyue naturally followed his instruction, and the maid behind her also sat down.

'I see, this is what you're after. Niu Chang was amused when he finally realized Xiayue's true intention.

He opened his palm and showed his qi blooming from there, turning into a beautiful white rose. It was so lifelike. The stem was gray with detailed contours, adorned with small yet sharp thorns, and the crown itself was made of white petals.

Xiayue admired this scene without holding back her expression, but on the other hand, Qiuyue was terrified to the point she started to distance herself from the white rose.

Trying her best not to let out any scream, she could only slowly retreat with horror revealed on her face.

Xiayue just ignored her and remained more interested in the white rose.

"It seems your special constitution makes you rather sensitive to the negative aspects of life. Or should I say, good at identifying the predators of life itself?"

Since there were no longer outsiders in his vicinity, Niu Chang, who rarely voiced his thoughts, started to explain his technique.

"This cultivation technique is called the White Rose of Desolation. It was born and grew from a once prosperous city that suddenly met its decline. After time turned the remaining city into fine gray dust, the ethereal moonlight gave birth to this exotic plant."

He stopped and used his Authority to show the imagery around him. The transformation qi expanded from his body and turned into a hologram that showed the scene he wanted to portray.

Phantoms of humans started to wander around like a prosperous city, and gradually, the human phantoms began to decline, showing the rapid decline of the population. Root-like structures began to grow from the empty night sky, expanding quickly to cover the entire desolate land. In the middle of it, a small trunk began to rise into the sky. Under the moonlit, a single stalk of a white rose bloomed amidst the desolate land of gray dust. Its slender form reached towards the sky, defying the barrenness that surrounded it. Each pristine petal unfurled with grace, reflecting the moon's ethereal glow.

In the stillness of the night, this solitary white rose stood as a symbol of resilience and beauty. Its delicate presence was a stark contrast to the desolation, reminding all who witnessed it of the enduring power of hope. Against all odds, it bloomed, radiating a pure and enchanting aura that spoke of the transformative magic found even in the most desolate of landscapes.

"Beautiful... Master, can you show me my cultivation technique next?" Xiayue, who was always watching from the beginning, was unable to contain herself any longer and asked for her turn.

"Let's do it after we wake up your colleague." Niu Chang said as he looked at the half-conscious Qiuyue.

Since showing the vision of the White Rose of Desolation required him to use its respective qi, Qiuyue would naturally be overwhelmed by its presence and might pass out.

Using his Verdant Will to hasten Qiuyue's recovery, Niu Chang began to forcefully control the ghostly qi inside her body and artificially made her cultivate the White Rose of Desolation technique.

Her body gave persistent struggle, but she was unable to confront the more powerful death-related qi and Niu Chang's abundance of qi.

Doing so, he also gathered data about Qiuyue's special constitution.