As the Hail soaked the North Tower's Eaves Corner, forming a Crystal Curtain, Luna was gnawing on a Swaddling Tie embroidered with Soul Devouring Mushrooms.
The Fabric, stained with Emerald Color Saliva, gradually revealed the route map of the Dark Witch's gathering, which was the very trap that led to Second Brother being deceived by a close friend in the Original.
"Yi Ya!" The infant suddenly threw the saliva-soaked cloth towards Qin Si's Grooming table.
The maid, who was combing Aelia's hair, gasped as Shu Chi caught the Fabric. In that moment, the Dark Witch Totem projected an illusion of Leonard and the Purple Robed Woman secretly meeting in the Poison Mushroom Flower Field against the dawn light.
Aelia crushed a Tri-Color Violet essential oil bottle, and Lavender Liquid dripped from the Grooming table's Gap, etching baby claw marks on the carpet that matched the ink stains from the Gold Leaf Ledger. "Just a trick of Light and Shadow," she said, waving her sleeve to disperse the illusion. Yet, the Ice Crystal Rose on her Tail Ring suddenly bloomed, leaving fine blood marks for the first time in twenty years on her ring finger.
Luna kicked her Oujie-like little legs in the Cradle as the Soul Devouring Mushroom Mark seeped Star Sand that danced along the walls.
The Gold Dust first formed Leonard's Moonstone Necklace gifted to Leonard's Concubine—identical to the Token of Love locked in Aelia's Makeup Box; then it transformed into Cursed Taro cultivated by the Dark Witch, its roots entwining with Brother San's Dragon Scale Bracers that had gone missing last year.
"Madam, the Starry Hail in the North Tower has melted." Qin Si entered holding a Crystal Cup, and the melted water reflected the image of Separate Courtyard and Jasmin Manor Hot Spring Pool on the surface of Silverware.
Aelia clearly saw her husband's Dark Red Luna at the back of his neck, now writhing at the Purple Robed Woman's Collarbone—an indication of a Blood Pact Brand exclusive to those of Glorious Demon Fortress and Legitimate Lineage.
Frost Snow suddenly crystallized into an Ice Spike matrix in the Palace Dome, and Aelia's Ice Magic uncontrollably froze an entire wall of their Genealogy.
When cracks appeared on her grandfather Leonard's Image Scepter, she finally trembled and tore off her Pearl Necklace: "Investigate the caravan that passed through Poison Mushroom Flower Field three days ago, especially focusing on the camel bell tracks carrying Dragon Blood Coral."
Seizing the opportunity, Luna grabbed a pearl that had rolled off her pillow and, while Qin Si was busy cleaning up, slipped it into Second Brother's Astrolabe Groove sent that morning.
The instrument projected a Light Spot that perfectly enveloped Aelia's torn Gold Leaf Ledger Remnant Page. The numbers tainted by Leonard's blood reassembled in Light and Shadow before finally settling on the Star Chart from the day of Purple Robed Woman’s childbirth.
"Madam!" Qin Si knocked urgently on the secret room door late at night. The moonstone Hairpin in his hair resonated with the necklace from the illusion.
On a parchment spread out by a maid, nestled within the Dark Witch Transaction List was a Newborn Footprint Rubbing; astonishingly, the Magic Castle Family Crest at its ankle was drawn using Dragon Blood Coral Powder.
Aelia's ice blue eyes glimmered with a hint of crimson as she caressed the wedding gown embroidered by her husband's hand, discovering the Shuang Mian Xiu technique hidden deep within the Gold Thread, a skill of the Purple Robed Woman.
When the hourglass in the secret chamber turned for the third time, she finally let out a bitter laugh at Qin Si, recalling the Hehuan Sachet taken from the Dark Compartment of Jasmin Manor Hot Spring Pool. The scent pouch clearly contained her golden hair, cut during her difficult childbirth years ago.
A sudden hum resonated from the direction of the cellar, where Leonard's Sword emitted a sound as Luna's erratic strikes on the Jin Ling Zhen had unknowingly formed a Dispel Array.
Silver light dust rose from where her elder brother's wheelchair had passed, and those veins once eroded by Magic Backlash began to pulse with moonlight. The Demon-Breaking Bowstring he held in his palm let out its first clear note in seventeen years.
"Seal all Geomancy passages before sunrise tomorrow." Aelia inserted the Ice Crystal Rose Hairpin into the castle's central model, and Frost Flower froze the supply line towards the Separate Courtyard along the magical conduit.
As she turned around, she noticed that the sleeping infant in the cradle had Star Sand glistening on her eyelashes, sparkling into the last missing rune of the North Tower's Defensive Formation under the moonlight filtering through the window lattice.
From underground, a rumble echoed as Ancient Vine stretched its limbs. At that moment, as Luna turned over, the Soul Devouring Mushroom Mark quietly crawled up to the master bedroom's windowsill.
The Ice Bloom, nurtured by Aelia's tears, suddenly blossomed at midnight. The Gold Dust flowing through its Petal Veins wound its way toward her elder brother's window beneath a long-dry Magic Spring.
As frost climbed up the black Obsidian Pillar, the competition stands were already covered with Snow Owls clutching Irises.
Her elder brother gathered the Silver Moonlight Dust crushed by his wheelchair into his palm; those once like festering curses were now transforming into flowing Star Sand on his hand's back.
The Leonard's Sword pierced through the morning mist with a hum from the Demon-Breaking Bowstring and Zhen Chan, startling seventeen ice crystal Joyful Birds perched on the stands.
"That is the Silver Moon Arrow Pattern of Glorious Demon Fortress!" The Old Archmage on the Viewing Platform knocked over his honeyed wine, causing amber liquid to snake across azure bricks like a star trail from ten years ago when her elder brother won his championship.
The arrow pierced through thirty-three layers of Ice Shield and exploded in the clouds. The Gold Dust floating among shattered ice transformed into his unique Spiral Arrow Formation from youth—this technique sealed for ten years due to Magic Backlash now surged forth with moonlit sharpness, obliterating the Hundred-Year Xuanbing on the east side of the competition grounds into Misty Stardust.
Suddenly, Aelia's fingertip Ice Crystal Rose bloomed with a second layer of petals, and beneath the stone steps of the stands, the slumbering Magic Spring responded with a powerful spout.
The spring water reflected the Demon-Breaking Talisman drawn by Brother Ling Kong, as the cursed Dark Patterns, once tainted, transformed under his Flowing Like Clouds and Water hand gesture into the Liujin Spell Chain.
When the Tenth Snowy Owl dropped Iris into his arms, the words "Silver Moon Archer" on the Magic Castle Crest suddenly burst forth with light beneath the Sun Wheel.
Deep within the Cellar, the Astrolabe projected a beam of light onto Second Brother's forehead. Clenching the Dark Witch Talisman he had torn from his dear friend's sleeve, he discovered that the Dragon Blood Coral Powder smeared upon it shared the same origin as the pearls Luna had inserted into the device.
The Curse Taro Pattern on the parchment cracked in the Light and Shadow, revealing the Betrayal Contract sealed within the Hidden Layer by mirror magic—bloodstains beneath his friend's Thumbprint mingled distinctly with Soul-Eating Mushroom Spores cultivated by the Dark Witch.
"So this is what the Merchant Caravan Tracks of the Poison Mushroom Flower Field meant." Second Brother dipped the talisman paper into Star Sand Solution, as on the back of the Contract emerged a Teleportation Array Diagram embroidered with Golden Hair by a Purple Robed Woman.
Suddenly, he snapped his Oak Staff, which had accompanied him for ten years. As the Staff Tip, embedded with a moonstone gifted by his friend, rolled away, it etched a Scorch Mark on the Ground that perfectly overlapped with the Dark Witch's meeting route.
Brother San kicked open the door to the Training Ground, startling an Ice Sparrow perched under the eaves. The Magical Burn on his neck, still scabbing over, emitted a Long Flame aura.
The Dragon Scale Bracers he had picked up yesterday by the exhausted Fountain suddenly grew hot. The ancient runes, once mistaken for mere decoration, now pulsed with Crimson Gold Radiance in rhythm with his sword swings.
Emerging from the Frost Mist cleaved by Jian Feng was the Ice Shield previously pierced by Brother Ling Kong's arrow—a Residual Shadow. He suddenly spun around and pressed his Xuanbing Bracers into the dried-up Magic Array Eye.
"Open!"
The hurricane stirred up by Dragon Scales swept along with Lava surging from deep within Geomancy. The twelve Xuan Tie Puppets in the Training Ground ignited their Eye Sockets simultaneously with Gold-Red Flame.
Brother San charged forward along Brother Ling Kong's Spiral Trajectory from their Competition, and as his sword blade lifted a Fire Tornado, it melted the ice crystal of the Puppet's Family Crest into flowing Liquid Magic Crystal.
As the Eighth Cluster of Flames coalesced into Jian Sui at his Fingertip, a long-dormant beacon atop North Tower suddenly belched forth Dragon-shaped Smoke and Haze.
Lucius stood in the shadow of Stargazing Tower, stroking his Pocket Watch. The inner layer of its Watch Case bore a newly engraved Spiral Arrow Pattern that still radiated with the Scorching Temperature from when Brother Ling Kong pierced through the Ice Shield.
He gazed at the soaring Long Flame of the Training Ground, crushing the Dark Witch Assembly Secret Order Coin strung on his watch chain into gold leaf, letting the fragments imprinted with the Purple Robed Woman and Lucius drift toward the Competition arena where his elder brother was receiving cheers.
Ripples stirred in the Magic Spring of Twilight, and suddenly, the gold leaf fragments from his brother's Fingertip flipped in mid-air, projecting the coin patterns that Lucius had shattered in daylight onto the stone wall by the spring.
The overlapping Shan Na of the Iris Crest and the newly embedded Iris medal revealed a Secret Order Copper Box that had resurfaced from the depths of the spring, lost during the Dark Witch's attack three years ago.
"So you were already investigating the infiltration of the Dark Witch," his brother said as he pressed the Copper Box into the whirlpool of the Fountain. The Star Sand seeping from the Box Lid Gap automatically filled in the Spiral Pattern on Lucius's Pocket Watch.
The Dark Witch Gathering Date emerging on the back of the watch coincided perfectly with the moment when Second Brother had just deciphered the Teleportation Circle's Automatic Activation.
Lucius used his Sword Tip to lift a floating piece of gold leaf, and suddenly, a reflection on the Metal Surface revealed Brother San's Dragon Flame Totem at the Training Ground: "The Dragon Blood Coral that Father gave to the Purple Robed Woman is actually mixed with Guardian Power from the Magic Fortress Leyline." He abruptly flipped over his Pocket Watch, revealing Ice Crystal Shards hanging from its Chain Pendant that distinctly displayed Aelia's frozen Supply Line Pattern. "These Ice Spikes lead to... exactly where Mother sealed Black Magic years ago."
The Celestial Astrolabe suddenly buzzed, and Second Brother rushed in holding an automatically unfurling parchment. The edges of the Curse Taro Pattern were being devoured by Iris Petals falling from his brother's quiver. "The Soul Devouring Mushroom cultivated by the Dark Witch in the Poison Mushroom Flower Field has its Root System entwined with our Ancestors of the Demon Fortress' Guardian Contract." He unfolded a Teleportation Array Diagram revealed by Star Sand Solution, and Brother San's Dragon Scale Bracers suddenly whirled into place at the center of the array.
The ancient runes on the surface of Dragon Scales projected blood-red Light and Shadow within the Formation Diagram, outlining Aelia's wedding gown embroidered with Twin Lotus patterns.
Brother San swung his sword to sever the floating Formation Diagram's Dark Purple Thread, and sparks erupted from where it broke, leaving a spiral code on the wall identical to that found within Hehuan Sachet's Golden Hair: "These teleportation Coordinates... lead to Mother's blessing chamber from her difficult childbirth!"
"The Earth Vein Tide at Tomorrow Midnight is key." Lucius pressed his Pocket Watch against the Astrolabe Base, and seven Light Spots suddenly illuminated from the Three-D Model conjured by the watch face.
His brother's Silver Moon Arrow Pattern automatically filled in a defensive gap on the East Side, while Second Brother’s deciphered Curse Contract transformed into Sealing Chains at the South Gate. Meanwhile, Brother San's Dragon Flame Totem was melting flowing City Defense Lava at the Northwest Corner.
Aelia's Ice Crystal Staff suddenly pierced through the dome of the blessing chamber, hovering above the model. The Han Shuang dripping from its Scepter instantly froze three Light Spots directed toward the Purple Robed Woman’s Separate Courtyard.
As an Ice Crystal Rose bloomed in the model’s Southwest Corner, Head Maid burst through with an eighty-year-old copy of the Magic Castle Geomancy Survey Map. The edges of this parchment were gradually covered by Star Sand Traces left behind by Luna during daylight, revealing a sinister Dark Pattern associated with Soul Devouring Mushrooms.
At that moment, a strange Purple Light flickered over the Astrology Platform atop North Tower.
Aelia threw the blood-stained Hehuan Sachet into the Observation Mirror, and the emerging Star Trail perfectly overlapped with the Disaster Celestial Phenomenon from twenty years ago when she had produced it.
Suddenly, she sliced her fingertip, flicking a Blood Pearl towards the moon entwined by the Soul Devouring Mushroom in the mirror. Under the reflection of the blood moon, the Magic Castle Sand Table Model revealed seven weak points pulsating with Dark Witch Runes.
"Activate the Silver Moon Vigil; all Magic Watchtowers increase their duty threefold." Aelia's ice blue hair floated without wind, and the Double Lotus Gold Thread on her wedding gown suddenly wove into a Defensive Array.
As she scattered the Star Sand gathered beside Luna's Cradle onto the sand table, the Curse Runes that originally belonged to the Dark Witch began to reverse and erode the foundation of the Purple Robed Woman's Separate Courtyard.
A roar akin to a dragon turning over echoed from the Castle Leyline, and the twelve Xuan Tie Puppets in the Training Ground had their Eye Sockets suddenly glow red with intensity.
Brother San's Dragon Scale Bracers flew automatically towards the Central Control Console, and molten Lava surged beneath the Puppets' feet, forming a Crimson Gold Chain. Second Brother refracted a beam from his Astrolabe towards the Ancient Bookstore, causing the dust-covered Breaking the Magic Code to automatically flip to the chapter detailing Countermeasure Against Dark Sorceress Dual Embroidery. Meanwhile, Eldest Brother's Demon-Breaking Bowstring pointed towards the North Tower, where an Arrowhead condensed moonlight resonated with the Star Sand on Luna's eyelashes.
When Qin Si appeared at the Secret Dark Door holding Luna's Starlight Swaddle, Aelia was sketching a new Magic Power Network Diagram with her Ice Crystal Rose Hairpin.
The baby girl, unaware and unable to grasp, suddenly pressed her small hand against a flickering Red Dot on the sand table. The coordinate representing the Purple Robed Woman's Hot Spring Villa was instantly submerged by Star Sand.
The Vine Guardian on the Castle Outer Wall, which had slept for a hundred years, suddenly opened its Amber Eyes and extended its thorny Tentacles towards the Separate Courtyard.
"Madam, it's three quarters past midnight." Qin Si pushed Luna's Cradle in front of the Observation Mirror, where the blood moon had just moved to align with where the young girl had once embroidered Twin Lotus on her Window Lattice.
Aelia caressed the newly added Spiral Arrow Pattern on her Ice Crystal Staff and heard a hum from deep within Geomancy as Eldest Brother activated his newly drawn Defensive Formation.
She turned to gaze at the Red Dot covered by Star Sand on the sand table. The frost clinging to her eyelashes suddenly refracted an illusion of the Purple Robed Woman's Separate Courtyard and Jasmin Manor Hot Spring Pool drying up with cracks.
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