After chatting with Benovia for a while, Hilia said goodbye and left.
Thinking it over, she felt she shouldn’t play favorites, so she contacted Encore, stopped by Encore’s potion lab to take a quick look, got a few bottles of potions from her, and then went to visit Phil at the aid center outside the Huijin Divine Hall, where Phil was treating patients.
The contamination of Demonic Qi in Phil’s body was still pretty heavy, but fortunately, it was much better than back at the Lost Lighthouse.
Hilia was puzzled. "Even if the purification is slow, by now you should have been able to purify all the contamination in your body, right?"
After all, they were top-talent Holy Daughters. Contamination was supposed to be a non-issue.
But surprisingly, Phil still had it lingering.
Phil said, "I traveled to a lot of places during the vacation, purifying many people’s contamination, so I picked up so from them. It’s nothing."
Hilia: "..."
Phil seed to be walking a very unique path. Hilia thought of those heretics who fused contamination and magic power to boost their strength, and couldn’t help but say, "Phil, you aren’t thinking of combining this contamination with your magic power to get stronger, are you?"
Phil shook her head. "No. Letting contamination corrode demonic qi would only make magic power more fragile, and once it’s purified, you don’t just lose your power, you get aftereffects."
Hilia nodded. "As long as you know that."
Rose said, "Hilia, let check on Phil’s condition."
Hilia paused for a second, then nodded slightly, "Alright."
She let Rose take over her body, sat beside Phil, and after Phil finished treating a patient, directly reached out and grabbed her wrist, letting a wisp of magic power flow into Phil’s body through that contact.
’Hilia’s’ sudden move startled Phil, who tried to pull away: "Hilia, you..."
"Don’t move," ’Hilia’ said.
Phil froze. This tone—firm and unarguable—felt so familiar, like...
Like that person.
But the one before her was Hilia...
Phil stared blankly as ’Hilia’ felt her pulse, and after a mont, ’Hilia’ withdrew the magic power, and the real Hilia switched back in.
Hilia waved her hand in front of Phil’s face. "What are you spacing out for?"
Phil snapped out of it and shook her head. "N-nothing, just now you..."
Hilia spoke without blinking, "I was just checking your physical condition."
Phil tilted her head, her long white hair falling down as her red eyes blinked: "?"
And at that mont, Hilia saw Rose’s phantom appear beside Phil, gently ruffling Phil’s hair.
Hilia snorted inwardly and said, "I was just seeing how the contamination in your body is doing. Don’t worry, without your permission, I won’t purify your contamination."
The Purification Skill Rose taught could indeed purge all of Phil’s contamination at once, but the price would be she’d suffer just like a heretic, writhing in pain, bedridden for years with lingering issues.
If you want zero aftereffects, it would need lengthy treatnt, or you could do as Phil did—transferring other people’s contamination onto yourself and removing it slowly over ti.
The difference is the first way is like cutting a tangled knot in one blow, while the second is picking out each thread one by one. The Holy Court’s Purification Skill, when used at high intensity, is a bit gentler, more like yanking on a hemp rope—however much cos off, cos off.
Of course, Hilia wouldn’t do sothing like that to her own people.
After chatting with Phil for a bit, she left as well, not wanting to interrupt Phil’s work.
After she left, Hilia finally asked, "Lord Rose, how is Phil’s condition?"
Rose smiled. "Her body has been exposed to demonic qi contamination for so long that she’s gradually found a way to cultivate with demonic qi. The demonic qi inside her is like forging both her body and demonic qi, and throughout the process, she perfectly stops it from truly eroding her. It’s a great cultivation thod, but only Phil can do it—anyone else would just end up a heretic."
Hilia took a sharp breath. "That’s just...wow."
No wonder the Holy Court never stopped Phil from letting demonic qi into her body—they’d known about her constitution from the start.
How remarkable.
After finishing conversations with the Holy Daughters, Hilia checked with Anarce and found out she hadn’t arrived in Huijin City yet. So Hilia headed to the school’s activity area to practice magic.
She’d been practicing magic for so long in Star Ash Town that it had beco a habit—if she didn’t practice magic for one day, she felt uncomfortable.
"I’ve already mastered Ice Shattering Skill and Crystal Arrow. I’ll just casually practice Puppet Storage Skill today to kill so ti."
Up till now, her Puppet Storage Skill was still entry level, barely proficient. It still took her quite a while to summon her magic puppet.
Hilia was curious about the effects after truly mastering this skill, but considering she hadn’t mastered even a single spell to perfection, and had little talent for this one, she gave up being curious.
"No need for anything fancy, being proficient is fine!"
The girl began her magic puppet summoning practice.
...
In the Huijin City Manor of the Lorin Clan.
Doris was on high alert.
Just monts ago, she’d gotten word that Hilia went to greet the other three Holy Daughter candidates. Aside from the unknown Benovia, the other two had already had their turns.
"So, next is ?"
So, Doris changed into a new outfit—a white dress tinged with blue, its hem covered in snowflake patterns, with a snowflake-shaped pendant hanging around her neck, looking like a lady walking out of a snowdrift, she sat gracefully at ho, waiting for Hilia’s arrival.
"This Sparkling Poetry set should make look really sweet. Absolutely perfect for receiving a friend..."
But she waited and waited, and still, no one ca.
She frowned ever so slightly.
"Is it because I’m still at ho, so she’s not coming?"
She pondered for a mont, put on a coat, and went to a small house she’d bought off campus.
But she soon decided that didn’t work either.
"Hilia’s never been here, she wouldn’t know where it is. I’d better just go to the school."
So she went to the school, entering the rarely visited single dormitory reserved for Holy Daughter candidates.
She didn’t live there, but she still had soone keep it clean. It was spotless.
"She’ll probably show up, right?" Doris muttered to herself.
But even after waiting left and right, still, no one ca.
In the end, she couldn’t help but send soone to look, and finally, in the activities area at school, Hilia was found.
"She went to practice magic?"
Doris was stunned, then shot to her feet, furious.
"I’ve been waiting so long, and she doesn’t even co see ? Damn you, just you wait!"
With that, she yanked off her sweet dress, changed into casual clothes, and stord out of the dormitory, heading in a huff for the activity area. There she found Hilia, who was busy practicing with her magic puppet.
Ignoring , are you?
Doris, still fuming, rushed over and confronted Hilia, saying sharply, "Hilia, what’s the aning of this?"
Hilia looked up, "?"
Doris snapped, "Why did you go greet everyone else but not ?"
Hilia: "???"
No way, girl, just because we cooperated once doesn’t an we’re besties! Don’t tell you think that final "smile over the shoulder" at the Lost Lighthouse made us close friends?
Umm...
Hilia’s eyes darted, and she smiled, "Because I knew you would co find ."
"W-What?"
Doris was stunned.
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