Chapter 211: Death and Rebirth
As the ceremony progressed, the air around them began to become psychedelic.
The faint fragrance can make people's heart beat faster and their faces turn red.
Everything around me became more colorful and gorgeous. Whether it was the color, light and shadow, taste, or smell, it all became so gorgeous and dazzling.
It was like the real world that we were tired of seeing suddenly turned into a beautiful painting; it was also like under the influence of an alchemical potion that could produce hallucinations, the whole world was seen as a more fantastic dream.
Walls spread out into walls, colors spread out into colors.
The intersection of countless illusions gathered in mid-air and transformed into an incomparably gorgeous and colorful butterfly.
It seemed as if he were there, yet not there. It was a mere illusion, yet it was visible to everyone present. At the same time, it was constantly changing—the pattern on the butterfly's wings constantly collapsed and reformed, and each time it reformed, the entire world around it shifted.
Your request——
The voice of Die Tiansi came.
It was a girl's voice that sounded beautiful and light.
"Offer the blood of Ouroboros—"
Meg said solemnly, "I ask for the privilege of performing the sacred ritual of Shedding my Skin on my own!"
【promise--】
Die Tiansi agreed.
[I grant you the power to shed your skin and be reborn——]
The next moment, the butterfly illusion shattered in mid-air, transforming into countless pink scales that resembled countless wings.
The purple liquid on the ground evaporated and dissipated... The entire space was purple at the bottom and pink at the top, and for a moment it seemed like a dream.
When the purple smoke completely evaporated, Meg was already shrouded in her chrysalis. Two vein-like objects connected to the infinity symbol, one pumping out a silvery-white illusory liquid, the other pumping out an orange-red liquid, which swirled continuously at high speed within the ritual groove, merging with each other.
The intense pain of her body disintegrating made Meg scream.
The scream was so thrilling that Lily and Isabel, who were watching the ceremony, couldn't help but squeeze each other's palms.
Aiwass stood in front of the ceremony circle with a serious expression, watching every step of the ceremony carefully.
He wasn't actually too panicked... Even though Meg was screaming miserably, the hardest part was over. All he had to do now was hold on and not end the ceremony prematurely or have it interrupted by others.
The painful wails lasted for a full twenty minutes as the two colored liquids in the groove completely mixed and transformed into a new viscous liquid. It became like mercury, or like silver-white nail polish with glitter and glitter.
Then they are injected again into another pupal case.
—That was the Ascension Egg, constructed by the power of the Huantiansi. It slowly absorbed the silvery-white liquid until its purple shell completely turned silver-white. Then it became quiet.
“…Is it over?”
Isabel waited a long time before asking quietly.
Aiwass breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and shook his head slightly: "Not yet... but it's basically successful."
——Meg finally managed to hold on.
Bathing in dragon blood boosted her willpower so much that she didn't even cry. She simply screamed and completed the most painful first transformation.
This basically means that the job change is successful.
Shedding is the authority of the Butterfly God, but He does not wish to "shed skin endlessly."
Rather, just like a bug transforming into a butterfly, they completely change their body, race, and appearance through a molting ritual.
During the pupal stage, most of an insect's internal organs dissolve into pupal fluid, creating a broth. Except for the "adult components" that were present at birth but unused, the molting ritual stems from this phenomenon.
But for Die Tiansi, all he did was to collect the payment and help others to shed their skin and be reborn.
In other words, it's a pay-per-use service, and it will get more and more expensive because Die Tiansi doesn't like people who are fickle.
The Ascension Warlock uses the "Shedding Ritual" as a tool to achieve the goal of continuous evolution - the power of this profession comes from the self-devouring, eternally cyclical Ouroboros, also known as the Ring Sky Master.
In order to allow mortals to shed their skins infinitely, the Ring Celestial Master had to pay a price to the Butterfly Celestial Master, directly helping Meg "buy out" the molting ritual. From now on, when she calls the Butterfly Celestial Master to help her shed her skin, she won't have to pay any extra money.
Because the concepts of abandoning the past, self-devouring, and infinite evolution themselves fit in with Huan Tiansi. This will not only please Him, but also mean that there is a chance to become His apostle in the future - as long as Meg's level of "Ascension Warlock" is higher than her profession of the Path of Authority, then her soul will belong to Huan Tiansi instead of the Silver Crown Dragon.
And this is considered an upfront investment.
If Die Tiansi is dead, then the ascension ceremony only needs Huan Tiansi to preside over it, and then Huan Tiansi can complete the job transfer in batches - anyway, the power of shedding is not his thing, it is an uncontrolled power that is dead and has not yet been controlled by a new Tiansi.
But now He needed to pay an additional fee—Evans didn't know whether He valued Meg or thought this deal was meaningful. This was the possibility that the ritual would fail.
Fortunately, He finally agreed to the deal.
Of course, it could also be because this was the first order, and he felt that this kind of deal had some merit... so he decided to offer a big promotion for the grand opening, even at a loss to gain publicity.
The three of them waited here until the sun completely broke through the horizon and rose. Finally, the two eggshells in front of and behind the mirror made a shattering sound at the same time.
First there was a crack, then a sudden break—
The eggshell in front of the mirror was broken, leaving only some blood-stained clothes inside.
Immediately afterwards, the eggshell behind the mirror shattered.
The next moment, Isabel's eyes suddenly widened.
The rejuvenation ritual was successful!
Meg, who walked out, wasn't even human.
She possessed two silver-white dragon horns, resembling goat horns, a few silver scales covering her skin, and a dragon tail behind her. Her hair had turned silver-white, like the color of a Silver Crown Dragon. Her pupils were a rather elegant dark green, and even her features were completely different from before.
Although she once slew a green dragon, she has now transformed into a white dragon similar to the Silver Crown Dragon. Only the color of her eyes reveals traces of being bathed in green dragon blood.
——There is only one small problem.
That is, Meg looked only about eight or nine years old at the moment. She looked even younger than Julia.
"It seems the ritual was successful."
Ms. Meg was not wearing any clothes, but she acted openly and without any concealment or shame.
She looked down at herself, then walked around to the mirror to admire herself for a moment. Then she looked up at the three of them, grinning, "Wow, you've grown so tall. It seems like I've reverted to my childhood—damn, what the hell. I wasn't this cute when I was little."
The newborn half-dragon girl made a childish sound.
It was quite inconsistent with her casual, almost overbearing tone of voice.
Isabel rushed over, took off her coat and put it on little Meg.
She half-knelt on the ground and buttoned her clothes, while Meg just smiled at her, touched her hair and pinched her earlobe.
"Good boy, thank you."
The little girl with dragon horns spoke softly.
She then turned around and looked at Aiwass. "Thank you so much, little fox. I will remember this great favor of yours - you saved my life and helped me regain my youth.
"Such a young and vibrant body... Ha, if those who have chosen the path of twilight knew about this, they would regret it for the rest of their lives."
"Don't forget... you can't be complacent with the status quo. Once you begin your transformation, you must constantly strive for the next transformation."
"Ah, I will. Don't say such a spoiler—"
Little Meg waved her hands and said nonchalantly, "If I really fail, you don't have to worry about me. You've already helped me a lot, and I'm very grateful to you."
She didn't care at all about the requirement in the contract that "evolution cannot stop", because she didn't hate change anyway.
If you can evolve, evolve; if you can't evolve, just let it go.
After all, for her, living one more year was a blessing, not to mention living with such a young and energetic body.
She stood there thinking for a while, then suddenly took a big step towards the door.
Isabel quickly ran over to stop him: "Where are you going?"
"Show it to Sophia."
Little Meg grinned and said in a clear voice, "She must be envious to death."
"Go change your clothes first."
Isabel said stubbornly: "You can wear my childhood clothes first——"
"Tsk." Little Meg smacked her lips.
"Also, you can't drink now."
"—That won't do, except this," said little Meg, who was immediately displeased. "I want to be young again, just so I can do what I want without worrying about my health."
"But, Miss Meg..."
"Okay, leave me alone!"
Little Meg's majestic voice sounded, as intimidating as the roar of a dragon.
Isabel stopped in her tracks, her face turning pale as the words became more powerful than before.
But when little Meg walked to the door, she suddenly stopped.
Aiwass walked over to comfort Isabel, then walked over with a smile: "What's wrong, Ms. Meg? Can't you reach the handrail?"
Hearing this, little Meg rolled her eyes at Aiwass.
"I was just thinking... I can no longer be called 'Meg'. Even if I continue to be called Meg, no one will think I am the Meg of the past. From this perspective, 'Meg' is dead in society."
Little Meg pondered, "The old is dead, and the new is alive... What should I call my new self?"
She thought about it for a while, then gave up thinking: "Forget it, I haven't thought about this kind of thing for a long time.
"Little fox, you're still young—help me think of a name."
"I?"
Aiwass was a little surprised.
"The ritual you helped me complete gave me this body. It is indeed perfectly reasonable to give me a name."
Little Meg folded her arms and nodded happily.
...But now that you mentioned it suddenly, I really can't think of any good name.
However, the resurrection from the dead, the rebirth of the old, the desire to survive, the strong willpower...
Aiwass was reminded of a short story by Edgar Allan Poe.
"How about you call yourself Ligeia?"
Aiwass asked.
"Ligeia Dannay, then. Dannay was my maiden name—"
The newborn Ligeia said with a smile: "Nice to meet you, everyone.
"—from now on I will be Ligeia."
Update completed!
(End of this chapter)
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