The wind began to blow.

Without the maintenance of the mages, without the care of the Divine Lord, the self-collapsing phenomena of the Dark Forest were extremely harsh. Sandstorm tornadoes seemed gentle here, but the truly terrifying force was the ion storm that walked the earth like the Death God and the ripples in space. Even a Legendary Mage was no more than a struggling mortal here trying to survive.

Only Ash and his companions could live leisurely here. After all, the ripples caused when the Sword Maiden and the Witch fought with all their might were far more terrifying than the phenomena. But even the Sword Maiden needed to set up a Holy Domain barrier to withstand the harsh weather in the wilderness.

However, amidst the gusts of wind blowing at 70 meters per second, a streak of silver stood proudly, like a resilient silver rose.

Suddenly, the surrounding storm calmed to a breeze. Weiser turned her head, seeing Ash approaching with two small plates of cake. The mage’s Holy Domain barrier expanded to a hundred meters around, sheltering the Divine Being from wind and rain.

"You haven’t had your dessert yet." Ash blinked, "Surely the Divine Being isn’t afraid of gaining weight?"

Weiser gave him a sidelong glance and asked with implied meaning, "Has the Sword Maiden eaten?"

"...She has."

"That’s good then, I wouldn’t want you to get scolded." Weiser smiled, "But I still have some work to finish, I can’t stop yet."

"I’ll wait for you."

Ash flicked his fingers, creating a flat surface on a nearby boulder to set down the cake, then opened the Miracle Bracelet to watch "Starry Dynasty 434"—a rare show where Dedarose wasn’t the absolute protagonist and wasn’t portrayed in a positive light. She played the last Empress of the Azure Starry Dynasty. Although it was the last dynasty, the Azure Starry Dynasty hadn’t reached the final collapse and unrest among the populace. The last Empress wasn’t a foolish person; rather, she was a strategist "whose wisdom was sufficient to reject advice, and eloquence enough to disguise faults." The court wasn’t lacking in talent, but because the ruler and ministers were so clever, they colluded in corruption, mistakenly thinking it was harmless to take a tile or a brick, which led to the collapse of the First Dynasty that lasted over four hundred years, and the Starry Land was ushered into a vibrant and competitive era of chaos.

It’s one of those shows that needs to be watched several times to be truly understood, and with each viewing, Ash discovered more profound insights, never tiring of it and finding something new each time.

He glanced at the Silver Lamp, who was holding the Silver Tome, adjusting the silver-blue Sky Gate. The Silver Tome allowed Weiser to recreate all the miracles of the Technique Spirit she had seen, including the Sky Gate Technique Spirit. So when Diya mentioned that the Dark Forest greatly interfered with the Sky Gate, she assured it would be resolved soon—she indeed could adjust the Sky Gate’s parameters from the principles of law.

The Silver Lamp was there researching magic, and Ash sat watching the show, with the storm roaring a hundred meters away, time gradually passed between them.

When Ash finished another episode, he suddenly felt a shower of silver light on him, and the next second, it coalesced into a charming Divine Being perched in his lap. Her soft, supple body pressed tightly against his chest, and her cold lips silenced any sound Ash wanted to utter.

If the Witch represented wild imagination, then the Silver Lamp embodied extraordinary action. Ash was always caught off guard by her invasions, defenseless, allowing her to take whatever she wanted... just as he was unwittingly captured by her back then.

When their lips finally parted, warm and cool breaths mingled, Ash noticed the Silver Lamp had changed into glasses, and her outfit was different too. The transparent gauze wrapped around her like moonlight, the Divine Being’s breathtaking curves of law were mesmerizing, and Ash recalled his favorite matcha milk foam from before—the Silver Lamp was like that layer of milk foam now.

"Finished your work?"

"Not yet, only completed the first part." Weiser hugged his neck, tilting her head, "But I can rest for a bit since no one’s watching."

She emphasized "no one’s watching," her seductive eyes fixated on Ash. His heart skipped a beat, but he did have more important matters to discuss with the Silver Lamp. Suppressing his wandering thoughts, he let reason prevail and picked up the cream cake beside him, "Let’s have some cake first."

Weiser looked at him in slight surprise, like seeing trash suddenly clean up. She took the cake and upon taking a bite, somehow let it slip from her hand, the cake seemed to have a breaking effect on the gauze, causing the thin layer to vanish as well, allowing the cake to fall on her snow-white softness, sliding down along the curves, with cream smearing all over.

"Oh, such a waste..."

Weiser seemed unconcerned about being smeared with cream, more focused on the wastefulness of the food. She nonchalantly picked up the cake and continued eating, asking Ash indistinctly, "Do you like cream, Ash?"

...

...

When Weiser finished her cake, and Ash finished the cream, Weiser leaned against him like a backrest to rest. Ash’s face was slightly flushed, cream still at the corner of his mouth, but his hands naturally started to play with the Divine Being in his arms, gently plucking and pinching, tuning strings and playing notes, drawing an ever more enchanting rhythm from her breathing.

"You can speak now," Weiser’s voice was lazy and coy, "right now, even if you asked for the stars, I’d fetch them for you."

"Why do you make it sound like I’m someone living off a woman?"

"Isn’t that what you’ve always been trying for?" Weiser laughed, "You enjoy nurturing the Sword Maiden and the others, hoping one day you can completely rely on them?"

"That’s only a secondary reason!" Ash playfully flicked her, "The main reason is wanting to see you all shine even brighter... Thinking about it, I feel odd. Clearly, I can grow stronger myself, but seeing you all progress brings me more joy."

"I’ve known from the start you are this kind of person," Weiser raised her hand to caress Ash’s cheek, "You’re an empty vessel, lacking fierce desires yourself, yet you yearn for people with such desires. You find happiness in their happiness, sorrow in their sorrow, and your spirit lifts by their brilliance... Aspiration is the wheel of bonds, leaving shared traces in your lives."

Ash blinked, "Feels like we’ve had this conversation before."

"That’s right," Weiser laughed. "Originally, I intended to attack you with an empty vessel, but you calmly admitted that’s the kind of person you are, completely catching me off guard... and then I slowly started to like you."

"Among the people I admire, you’re included too, Silver Lamp." Ash affectionately rubbed her palm. "Sorry."

"Why apologize?"

"Because you’re the only person I can’t help." Ash said softly. "The resources I brought back from Hell can help Sword Maiden, Witch, and Vishi grow rapidly, but only you get nothing."

"I’ve gained a lot." Weiser blinked. "For instance, weren’t we just eating cream cake?"

"Silver Lamp..." 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Weiser said gently, "Ash, just being revived is already a blessing, how could I be dissatisfied? I expected this situation long ago, you don’t need to—"

"There’s a high wall called ’mood’ that separates expectation and serene acceptance." Ash said. "Watching them receive my gifts, with you getting nothing, you claim you feel no waves inside, then I might as well believe a fat Lala can become a Mage."

"You’ve always been a narrow-minded person, Silver Lamp." Ash poked her heart. "So narrow that just because we fought once, and I lost, it led to spending the rest of my life at the cost of offending you, never to be separated from you."

Weiser said softly, "So should I eat vinegar? You don’t always bring all your emotions to us, right? I can solve these little emotions myself, I was once the Doomsday Silver Lamp."

"Of course, I believe you can solve it," Ash said. "But you can occasionally come to me... to act spoiled. Remind me you’re dissatisfied, you get angry, you’re not only a Divine Being, but also my Silver Lamp."

Weiser thought for a moment, then blinked at Ash, "I don’t really know how to act spoiled... Ash, am I also willing to be your slave for life?"

Ash was exasperated, "No peeking at me and others!"

"That’s not possible, I’m really interested in watching how my man conquers other women." Weiser chuckled in his ear, "Next time, let’s together train Vishi, okay?"

"No." Ash was amused but helpless, "Don’t be fooled by Vishi, her face is actually thinner than anyone’s..."

"Precisely because of this, I need to ruthlessly trample her dignity, otherwise, how could she be wholeheartedly your slave?" Weiser laughed. "It’s the same with others... I’ll help you create a perfect harem."

"But I don’t want that," Ash looked into Weiser’s eyes, "I just hope I can always love you all, and you can always love me."

Weiser chuckled softly, "Pure love harem, such high demands."

"Silver Lamp, I don’t care about other things, but when it comes to feelings, I hope to handle them myself," Ash said seriously. "Including your feelings."

"Alright, alright, I’ll occasionally ask you to deal with bad moods... Eating cream cake is quite a good way, especially since you’re someone who doesn’t waste anything."

Ash was increasingly aware that his occasional kisses with Death Mad weren’t due to sporadic neurotic behavior; he’d been polluted from a guarded garbage can into a not-so-pure garbage can.

He turned his head towards the north, looking at the silver pillar of light in the dark storm, still bright and dazzling.

"A Silver Lamp, illuminating the long night." Ash said softly, "Very beautiful."

"Looked at long enough, it’s just that," Weiser said calmly. "Nothing surprising."

"The next stop is Silent Spiral."

"Yeah."

"Then we will pass through Sky Gate to the Kingdom of Gospel," Ash said. "Silent Spiral is the last stop of our Senluo journey."

Weiser laughed. "You should have left earlier; this isn’t a place for people to stay."

"So..."

Ash hugged her tightly, "Will you come with us?"