Ai Cao explained softly, "I didn't offend her, she is my mother goddess."

The woman glared at her, bewildered. She quickly turned around, raising her sword to meet Nuwa's outstretched hand—the golden spear hummed, and the sword flashed.

In the blink of an eye, they had exchanged blows several times.

The outcome was still undecided, but the two sides were temporarily separated.

Nuwa lazily beckoned with her finger towards the large pot on the sea surface and retrieved it.

The liquid that had been slowly flowing down from the top of the pillar began to solidify. Nuwa looked at the pillar, which was as thick as eight people could hug, and happily flicked her tail, wrapping it around the pillar.

Her long, strong snake tail was coiled on the tall pillar.

“It truly held up the sky.” Nuwa’s icy beast eyes revealed a smile. “You did a great job. Now I can free my hands.”

She smiled.

The woman in the white dress drew her sword again. This time, it was neither an attack nor a defense; it was simply because she was uneasy.

She pierced the long snake's tail with her sword—but only pierced it. Nuwa flashed and disappeared, leaving only a fleeting shadow. Nuwa reached out, her sharp nails aimed at the woman's neck.

But a new broadsword appeared on the side of the woman's neck.

It firmly blocked Nuwa's attack.

Then, a third, a fourth—and so on, an eighth sword appeared beside the woman.

They hung respectfully beside her, shielding her from all attacks from Nuwa. The blades of the swords left white marks on Nuwa's skin.

Nuwa was getting a little impatient with the little ant. The snake's tail, which had been hooked on the pillar, stretched out and swung straight over.

The snake's scales shimmered in the light.

Then……

Everything in front of the mugwort was put on pause.

Both the tail that was about to pierce the woman's body and the long sword that was about to pierce Nuwa's brow stopped.

The pendant on the mugwort's chest exudes a warm temperature.

Then, the little gifts the other female characters gave her also began to feel warm.

She almost got burned by them.

Mugwort simply took them all off and looked at them in her palm.

She wanted to know what had happened, why the woman with the long sword and Nuwa had started fighting.

But now no one can answer her questions, so she can only keep her thoughts to herself.

The voice of Qingyun came from the blood bead in Qingyun's eye.

Qingyun asked, "What happened to you?"

I've only mentioned some of the important parts about mugwort.

Xia Moli's voice came from the side of the blood bead again.

Xia Moli said, "Let me try to locate your spiritual imprint in which plane... No, the barrier is too thick. Qingyun, come and take a look with me?"

She and Qingyun went to talk in a slightly more distant place.

Songtang's slightly nervous voice rang out: "Aicao, are you alright now?"

Ai Cao nodded. Remembering that Song Tang couldn't see her, she added, "It's alright."

Everything around her was now still. But out of caution, she remained standing still.

Cen Yu's slightly impatient voice came out: "What problem could she possibly have?"

“There’s still a possibility of problems,” Lillian said. Her voice was somewhat similar to the Pope’s, both conveying a gentle indifference.

Lillian asked, "Artemisia, what do you want to do?"

As if recalling the past, her voice carried a hint of laughter: "You used to always say this to us. You always asked us what we wanted to do and how to do it."

"But you rarely say what you want to do or how you want to do it."

“Now, you need to make your decision,” Lillian said.

“What decision do I need to make?” Ai Cao asked. She looked at the scene before her again and asked, “Should I choose to support one of them?”

From within the blood droplet came Xia Moli's soft laughter.

“No,” Xia Moli said, her voice growing louder as she approached. “Do you still want Nuwa to live? If you don’t, then there’s the Eight Swords—that woman who came out of the pendant, she can kill gods.”

“If you want Nuwa to live… then Sword Eight will have to be melted by Nuwa.” Xia Moli confirmed with Lillian and continued, “Although Sword Eight may not be willing, she will do it as long as you ask.”

"Is there a way to have the best of both worlds?" Ai Cao asked hesitantly.

She always wanted to find a suitable solution that wouldn't hurt anyone.

“You still possess your skills,” Xia Moli said. “If you kill Nuwa, you can use your skills to impersonate her and become the new god.”

Her voice was as light as the wind: "And there will never be another real god in the world who poses a threat to you."

Ai Cao shook her head: "Nuwa has been kind to me."

A low sneer came from the other end of the blood droplet.

Qingyun retorted, "Are you sure they weren't using you as an experiment? She was almost dead at the time; they were just gambling with your life."

The mugwort does not speak.

Xia Moli pressed on: "Who do you want to live? Nuwa or Baojian Ba?"

Suddenly, the mugwort asked, "Can you influence this world?"

Xia Moli hesitated for a moment, then said, "Not for now." She asked the person next to her, "Can you?"

No one answered.

But everything in front of the mugwort remained still. The sudden sound of the fox's blood beads didn't confuse her; rather, the unfolding events left her somewhat bewildered.

She tentatively took a step forward.

The scenery around her remained unchanged.

Artemisia continued forward.

She walked between Nuwa and the Eight-Sword. She tried to move Nuwa's snake tail, but it was too heavy for her to lift.

She tried to pry open the swords of Sword Eight, but they all seemed to be firmly fixed to space, and no matter how she tried, she couldn't move them.

The mugwort asked, bewildered and confused, "Am I the only one who can move?"

She didn't get an answer.

The female protagonists who contacted her through the blood beads also remained silent.

And so, the mugwort continued to move forward in silence.

She walked past sleeping women, past newly built houses and fields. She walked through forests and rivers—human bodies are not as nimble as tigers', so she transformed into a tigress and ran wildly.

She ran to the huge stone that had once been called the Mother Goddess Stone.

The tigress, Ai Cao, squatted in front of the Mother Goddess Stone.

She felt her eyelids getting a little heavy.

Was it because she ran too far? Ai Cao wondered.

She shook her head again, transforming herself back into a human. The newborn little girl had already drawn new pictures on the base of the Mother Goddess Stone.

The area was covered with colorful marks scraped from stones.

……color?

The mugwort reached out to touch it.

She touched that point of color.

Sleepiness surged in like a tidal wave in that instant.

She finally couldn't force herself to keep her eyes open.

The mugwort closed its eyes.