Bailu's eyes shone with an eagerness for knowledge. The shock brought by this Curio made her carefully etch every single word Sylvester spoke into her mind.
In that state of mind, even interrupting Sylvester made a trace of guilt rise in her heart.
She could only ask timidly, "Is this kind of element very strong?"
"Of course it's strong."
Sylvester answered decisively. "The essence of the spirit element is control over the soul. And the stronger the soul, the closer it aligns with the origin of the universe. The secret to manipulating multiple elements at will lies precisely there."
"With an ultimate soul, you can perceive elemental changes in the universe that others cannot. And if you go one step further…"
He stopped halfway through his sentence, then smiled faintly at Bailu.
Following his train of thought, sparks flashed through Bailu's mind, her small body trembling.
Her eyes widened as she blurted out her realization, "Then you can freely control all elements—not just five of them?!"
Her tone was filled with disbelief, yet based on Sylvester's words, the conclusion was unmistakably clear.
Seeing that Bailu had understood, Sylvester smiled and nodded.
"Exactly. The source world of this Curio is nothing like the Xianzhou; the elements it could access there were extremely limited. But after being strengthened inside the Curio Trash Can, everything changed drastically."
"You should have seen in the Curio's manifested imagery that what this Curio inherits is the authority and power of an 'Emperor.' And this 'Emperor' was never the emperor of dragons or humans—the Emperor of Elements is its true form!"
"And the concrete manifestation of this authority is those Word Magics, each with different effects!"
Tracing the four lower points of the pentagram, Sylvester explained one by one, "The damp [Shiva's Dance of Destruction] that grants death to all living beings within a domain; [Wrath of Indra] which governs all airflow and thunder; [Guixu] which enrages the seas and sinks the land; and [Candle Dragon] fiercer than the sun itself, able to use entire planets as alchemical material. These four are the strongest Word Magics corresponding to the four great elements."
"If pushed to their extreme, they are enough to destroy a civilization on a galactic scale!"
"But your ceiling doesn't stop there. Quantum, Imaginary, and other elemental attributes still hold bottomless potential, waiting for you to develop them."
"..."
Bailu's little face tensed as she swallowed quietly.
She lowered her head and examined her hands. Just minutes ago, they had already been entrusted with power she would never have dared imagine before—power so immense it felt unreal.
Bailu closed her eyes and silently recited manifest elements. Just as Sylvester said, what once looked utterly ordinary around her was now brimming with elements of countless colors.
They were incredibly tiny, weaving between air molecules, almost impossible to notice.
Yet within her vision, they were crystal clear.
With a simple lift of her hand, whether violent fire or gentle water gathered around her, obediently coexisting.
Bailu opened her mouth, wanting to chant one of the Word Magics Sylvester had mentioned earlier, but thinking about the consequences of those powers made her shrink back in fear.
She had struggled just to kill a single ordinary Disciple of Sanctus Medicus before—could she really control Word Magics that could casually annihilate stars?
Because the power she gained far exceeded her previous realm by several tiers, Bailu found herself shackled by her own limited perspective.
"You can try the [Word Magic:Kamaitachi]. It forms a large domain centered on you, constructing complex sound channels within it, allowing you to grasp every minute sound inside the domain. As a support-type Word Magic, it's quite safe." Sylvester saw through her predicament and offered guidance.
"Ah? Th-Thank you."
Hearing this, joy rose in Bailu's heart. Unable to wait, she immediately activated her power, declaring in her childish yet firm voice, "Word Magic: Kamaitachi!"
As the words fell, a surge of force spread outward from her surroundings, rapidly sweeping in all directions.
As it expanded, the chatter of pedestrians, the bustling traffic, and the myriad sounds of the streets of Exalting Sanctum flowed clearly into her ears, assembling themselves in her mind in perfect order.
"Pork's gone up again—by a full ten Credits!"
"Special clearance sale! Frozen meat, 1,000 Credits a jin!"
"I—ckk! Is your pork skin made of gold, or are the shreds gold?!"
"Luofu offal! Tasty and cheap!"
As these street-side voices poured in, Bailu discovered in astonishment that she could not only hear the sounds, but also pinpoint their exact locations!
This wasn't borrowing the wind to transmit sound at all—it was radar! Molecular-level precision radar!
Immersed in this wondrous sensation, Bailu continued expanding her force, pushing it straight toward the Alchemy Commission.
"An Emperor of Elements, huh?"
Watching the little dragon person's blissful expression, Aventurine knew she had fully achieved her goal.
Yet though he stood right beside her, he couldn't comprehend her experience at all. Aside from a faint trace of something like a breeze—so subtle it was weaker than an infant's breathing—he sensed nothing.
In other words, if he hadn't witnessed Bailu activating the skill with his own eyes, he wouldn't have found this "wind" strange in the slightest, nor would he have been on guard. If that were the case, what secrets in this world could possibly be kept safe?
What made it even more stifling was that he had absolutely no way to interfere with this detection.
And this [Kamaitachi] was merely one of many Word Magics—harmless and insignificant.
Shaking his head, he sighed, "This is clearly an elemental tyrant."
But just as he finished speaking, Bailu suddenly shuddered, clutching her head and crying out in fear, "Sister Lingsha, I won't dare again!"
While probing her own room in the Alchemy Commission, she happened to hear a familiar tap-tap of high heels, along with the crisp clinking of a spoon stirring white fungus and lotus seed porridge—her favorite breakfast.
Sure enough, Lingsha's voice followed, gentle as ever: "Bailu, get up and eat. Even if you're not seeing patients today, you still can't sleep in."
And then… came the whoosh of fabric shaking through the air.
That was Sister Lingsha lifting her blanket!
If she saw that goofy pillow with purple coral sticking out of it in her bed…
What followed was painfully clear. An enraged scream was infinitely amplified through Kamaitachi, layers of sound overlapping, making Bailu feel as if she were trapped inside a massive bronze bell being struck repeatedly from the outside.
Watching the little dragon—now already a super expert among super experts—instinctively dive under a chair and crouch with her head hugged tight, Sylvester couldn't help but shake his head and laugh.
Sure enough, for children, a parent roaring their full name was a bloodline-level suppression etched into their bones—far more terrifying than the pressure brought by a Word Magic of an Emperor.
Just as he was about to offer Bailu a few words of comfort, Aventurine's serious voice suddenly reached his ears.
He spoke thoughtfully, "Shopkeeper Sylvester, you said Bailu has obtained the authority of the Elemental Emperor and can command all elements. But this so-called command shouldn't be limited to shaping them, should it?"
Aventurine raised his head, meeting Sylvester's gaze directly as he voiced his conjecture. "According to this theory, does she also have the ability to annihilate all elements? To render even the most devastating killing moves ultimately no different from air?"
It was a reasonable yet hard-to-accept conclusion. But Aventurine had always taken reality as his standard. If this was true, he needed an answer.
Even though, if Sylvester were to nod in affirmation, the only truth awaiting him would be this: before Bailu, the Ten Stonehearts would become utterly powerless ordinary people, with not the slightest chance to resist.
And extending outward from this small shop—to Exalting Sanctum, to the Xianzhou Luofu, to this entire star region, and even to the far end of the star seas yet unexplored—the countless lives encompassed within it.
For all of them, it would be equally cruel.
This was not a gamble. Yet his heartbeat at this moment was more violent than in any gamble he had ever faced.
===BREAK===
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