Miss Chloe stared blankly at the steps extending from her feet to higher places, and she seemed to have understood.
Shad then said:
"Mrs. Marquez is your fear of being alone and your concern about past experiences that you can't forget. You consider her the most important part of yourself, so you gave her your middle name and last name."
After hesitating for a moment, he continued:
"So, the thirteen people in your memory are actually you. Dividing yourself, and then actively accepting and gaining yourself, this is the path you chose... ... It's actually you who is very good at cooking vegetable soup, and it tastes really good."
Chloe couldn't help but smile. The twelve golden steps looked much more solid, and at the end of the steps was the dark sky.
"This gentleman."
Shade waved at the cowering man, and the Darkness in his pocket flew to Shade. The man stood up trembling and came to Shade.
Shade held the card in his hand and said:
"In the name of the next master of the impermanent darkness, I forgive your theft."
He patted the man's shoulder and looked at Miss Chloe:
"You have made many mistakes in the past, some of which you find difficult to talk about and even unwilling to recall. Therefore, you transformed the image of these mistakes into the image of a man that the witches hate, without even giving him a specific name."
"I... ... "
The red eyes looked at Shade.
"But it's not bad. Because you know it's wrong, and you accept your mistake. This is better than Lakin, who I'm about to face... The proof that you accepted your mistake is that even in the most dangerous last section of the journey, you didn't ask to abandon him, but insisted on bringing him here."
Miss Chloe's lips trembled:
"Yes, the one who is placed last is the one I am most reluctant to face... He is also me."
The nameless man smiled in relief, bowed slightly to Shade, and his body radiated a brilliant golden light. He turned into a series of golden dots in the light, flew to the top of the witch's twelve steps, and turned into the thirteenth step.
The steps were completely solidified, and Chloe Marcus Marquez, one of the co-founders of the Zaras Academy and the most powerful thirteenth-level witch of this era, returned to her original form.
The light from the golden steps illuminated her and Shade's faces. An expression as if she had just woken up from a dream appeared on the young witch's face. She raised her hand and touched her cheek as if she was recognizing herself for the first time, then looked at Shade with a confused look:
"I... ... "
"Transform your soul and the thirteen levels of witches into thirteen different images, representing different memories and obsessions in life. Lost in the snowy mountains, you move forward with them, accept and accommodate them again, and make them truly a part of yourself. Until you climb to the highest peak of the snowy mountain, from the initial confusion to the final awakening, this is not only a climb of the body, but also a climb of the soul."
Shad looked at her, and in this world of mysticism, this meant many things:
"Mrs. Marquez and that man represent the last weakness in your heart. Fear of loneliness, guilt for the past. And now, you are willing to accept them instead of killing them, although this can also bring you here... You have gone from complete to scattered, and from scattered to complete. This is your..."
"... ... the path to demigod."
Miss Chloe looked at Shade and told him the answer that Shade had guessed long ago. Shade breathed a sigh of relief. The story finally came to an end:
"Yes, although this snowy mountain is dangerous, there aren't actually that many evil spirits. What you encountered, including that demon and that shadow of death, were all your own distractions and fears. Overcoming them is an important process for your soul to sublimate to the highest peak. Before I showed up, you had already successfully contained the first eleven selves, and I just helped you solve a small problem."
Miss Chloe wanted to say something, but Shade interrupted her:
"O lost person in the snowy mountains, have you found yourself now? Have you seen the way to the last step?"
Miss Chloe was startled, and looked at Xia De with some fear:
"You are actually fake too? They represent the first thirteen levels, and you represent a demigod? A completely new possibility?"
"No, no, no, why would you think that? I'm serious."
He held Miss Chloe's hand and let her feel the warmth of his palm:
"Rather than saying I am you, it's better to say that I am your secret keeper."
Xia De looked into her eyes. The two of them stood in the snow on the top of the mountain, with silver snowflakes falling all over their shoulders.
"I have met quite a few Secret Keepers recently, and this time I did the same thing as them. I witnessed and helped your growth and sublimation, and inspired you to move forward instead of leading you forward. Speaking of which, the successor of the Secret Keeper is not required to teach others... This is not important."
He used one hand to brush away the snowflakes on the shoulders of the silver-haired witch in front of him:
"Ms. Chloe, take the last step."
The witch nodded slightly, but did not let go of Shade's hand. There was a burning emotion in her eyes:
"Are you leaving?"
Xia De calculated the time and found that there were still more than three minutes left:
"I came here to help you reach the highest peak. Although I am reluctant..."
He had gradually gotten used to such separations. In the Sixth Epoch, countless girls had told Shade that everything he had come into contact with and everyone he had known during his travels with the Time Key had long since become his homeland, leaving behind only a few lines of text and memories that would eventually fade from Shade's heart:
"... But I think it's time to say goodbye. You are a very good girl. Remember what I said, I also have some witches who are very close to me, but their talents are not as good as yours."
Miss Chloe showed a very forced smile on her face, and her red eyes were always looking at Xia De:
"Will we meet again?"
Xia De felt that he had completely understood the meaning of the witch's eyes.
"I have no idea."
In the blink of an eye, tears ran down her cheeks, but turned into ice crystals before they hit the ground. She tiptoed slightly, then held Xia De's face and kissed him. Xia De had never tried the cold lips before, and the ice crystals turned from tears also had a different bitter taste than before.
The outsider, the witch Zanxiang Chloe, has been completed.
The witch let go of Shade and took a few steps back.
“Hmm!”
Xia De covered his mouth, coughed a few times, and then spit out a transparent ice crystal from his mouth. It was a quarter of the size of a palm, and although it was oval, there were countless tiny planes on the surface of the ice. Looking at the light on the body, dense text was engraved in the ice crystal.
This is not an extraordinary item, but it seems to be a special item. This is a teardrop frozen by the witch with her own power (note), an ice crystal that records the path of demigod. In addition to Shade's guess, there are more things recorded on it.
This was the last gift, but Shad didn't know if he could take it away.
Without saying goodbye to Shade, Chloe looked up at the golden steps leading to a higher place. With her back to Shade, her worn winter clothes had turned into a gorgeous ice-blue dress.
Ice and snow made jewelry and hair accessories for her. Her boots were embellished with ice crystals. The wind blew up her long silver hair, weaving a complicated hairstyle for her. The thirteenth-level witch carefully lifted the hem of her gorgeous and heavy skirt, lifted her boots adorned with broken diamonds and sapphires, and stepped on the first step.
Where the boots landed, golden light surged like waves, spreading to the entire staircase, making it shine like the sun under the dark sky of the blizzard. At the same time, in the darkness far away in the silver-white mountain range, a ray of light penetrated the wind and snow and shone directly towards it.
She walked up the stairs step by step until she reached the second and third steps. The wind and snow had weakened a lot at this moment. The whistling sound of the wind stopped, but the snow was still falling. Until the wind stopped completely, the sound of bells came from nowhere, and the stirring bells echoed in the vast snow-capped mountains. Along with the bells, someone was even singing softly.
I stepped onto the fourth and fifth steps in the snow. When the first ray of light pierced through the black fog from a far distance, the shadows of three full moons appeared in the dark sky above my head for the first time. The darkness slowly dissipated, and the bright starry sky from behind the black sky became clearer, and the snow-capped mountains were being illuminated.
Stepping on the sixth and seventh steps in the wind, Chloe's whole body radiated golden light, and the surging power continued to vibrate with the sound of the bells in the continuous snow-capped mountains. The starry sky twinkled because of her, and the snow-capped mountains were bright because of her.
As I stepped onto the eighth and ninth steps amid the sound of the bell, the vast starry sky above my head was fully revealed, with stars twinkling and the moon resonating. On the top of this snowy mountain, the starry sky was so close to my head that it seemed as if I could fish out my own star from the Milky Way with just a lift of my hand.
Golden arcs of light reverberated from the thirteen golden steps toward the entire snow-capped mountain. Snowflakes and light spots flew together. Shade, who was watching the witch, observed the entire sublimation process in its entirety, and thus came to the conclusion that "the demigod witch is still a mortal."
Stepping on the tenth and eleventh steps in the light, the witch, wearing two different boots, continued to move upwards. Under the sea of stars, only gods and outsiders witnessed this unusual scene. The stars were celebrating the birth of the demigod, and the shaking snow-capped mountains were cheering for her.
Miss Chloe's figure was reflected in Xia De's eyes. He let out a long breath, and white smoke spewed out in the wind and snow like a long dragon.
"Fifth Era, Silver Mountains, Blizzard Night."
A voice appeared in Shad's ears, and the god in a white robe appeared beside him at some point. He looked up with him and watched Miss Chloe walk up the stairs that belonged to her.
"Witch Chloe Marcus Marcus has completed the trial of the path to demigod."
Xia De continued with the next sentence. The god smiled as he watched the scene in front of him. The pure white light made the snowflakes spontaneously avoid him:
"This is her legend, from one to thirteen, and from thirteen to one."
Shade's eyes were fixed on the witch high up, watching her long, slightly glowing silver hair spread out and fly in the snow:
"The sublimation of flesh, blood and soul represents the end of mortals. This is the highest honor for mortals."
Witch Chloe finally stepped onto the twelfth and thirteenth steps, and a dark golden door appeared at the end of the stairs. She stopped in front of the last step and turned to look down.
Shade is still continuing his conversation with the gods:
"I understand everything else, but there is one thing I don't understand: Miss Chloe has completed the sublimation of her body and soul, but this does not mean that she has been promoted to a demigod and does not need the assistance of a ritual."
He also saw Miss Chloe looking back at him on the last step, her red eyes gleaming with gold:
"I know climbing a snowy mountain is a ritual in itself, but for the last step, doesn't it require additional ritual materials? After all, it still requires some preparation. Why did she complete the last step with nothing?"
The old god Winter Girl did not open her mouth, but her calm voice still reached Shade's ears:
“Perhaps, the ritual material itself is hidden in her body.”
Xia De nodded. The god did not look at him, but still gave him an extra reward:
"You did a great job. Without you, even if she climbed here, she wouldn't be like this now... I am the god of winter. I have the power of seasons and ice and snow, which comes from two ancient gods. Among them, ice and snow are also a form of water..."
Xia De turned to look at Him in surprise, and the old god Winter Girl said softly:
"The wise are like water, and knowledge and wisdom... can be recorded, which requires..."
"Recorder?"
God did not make any expression, as if the conversation just now had never happened.
The white mist came from nowhere and had already wrapped around Shade. The adventure in the winter of the 903rd year of the Fifth Era had come to an end. He firmly remembered the hint given by the gods and had some vague ideas.
Then he looked up, raised his right hand and waved goodbye to Miss Chloe on the thirteenth step:
"Good-bye! Good-bye, Miss Chloe!"
He shouted loudly on the top of the mountain, and the silver-haired witch closed her eyes, turned around, stretched out her hand, and pushed open the door at the end of the highest step. She stepped through the door, and the one who walked through the door was a thirteenth-level witch; in the celebratory bells 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 flickered on her dress, and snowflakes danced around her. She opened her arms to face the vast sea of stars and the snow-capped mountains below. The scattered light illuminated the night sky, the Silver Mountains, and the path the witch had taken when she came alone.
When I looked down at the mountaintop again, only a blurry figure of Xia De was left standing in the snow:
"Goodbye, Chloe! It's nice to meet you, keep going, you will never be alone!"
The white mist completely disappeared, and the strangers who did not belong to this era bid farewell to this time with loud shouts and waving hands.
The god smiled at his believers. The demigod witch Chloe descended from the sky, her braided silver hair flying in the wind. She bowed and asked softly:
"Will I ever see him again?"
"Your echo has remained in his soul."
God embraced his believers, and after the snowflakes drifted past and blocked the view, everything on the top of the Silver Mountain Range disappeared together. In the wind, the picture of impermanence and darkness flew over the lonely mountain top and drifted to the distance of the mountains in the wind and snow.
Maybe in the distant future, people will find it in the icebergs of the Far North, but for Shad, this is a story that has already happened.
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