Brain bloom

Sen was still with Shan; now that the Rose Queen had temporarily passed away, the little guy's duties were fulfilled.

In that case, let the Time Sprite tell the other sleeping beauty how long she has been asleep.

“I heard a Four Seasons Master say that you can bury curses.”

"The Four Seasons? Who is it?"

"Mimosa pudica" (sensitive plant).

"Harvest Priestess... Mimosa, oh. I did know one when I was building the Clock City for the Rose Queen. The Harvest Priestess of that era was incredibly powerful. She helped us a lot and knew quite a bit."

Sen Shi was somewhat confused. If that's the case, does it mean that the mimosa is a very old plant? She posed her question.

“Indeed, it’s been quite a while,” Olster said slowly. “It was probably during the second generation, the Cotton Queen? I think that’s the name. She was the Cotton Queen’s lover, but for many reasons, she accumulated terrifying evil power for herself, so she left the Kingdom of Flowers and has been searching for a way to purify evil. I heard that she participated in many Winged Cloud battles, but still failed, but I don’t know much about that.”

"So ancient? That's terrifying. It looks even smaller than me. It hasn't grown at all even after being buried in the ground for so long. The Four Seasons One is truly frightening." With these barely interesting things to do, Mori dispelled his sorrow and then led the gravedigger to the place where he wished to rest.

She finally released her grip on Olster's hand, then took out the repair tools from her bag and brushed aside the time that had been covering Yuan like a blanket.

Once again, Mori saw Princess Dawn sleeping.

Quiet and sweet, as if smiling, but not quite.

As if enveloped by eternal death, yet she still lived, her flickering, almost extinguished soul flame burning within her body.

She was extraordinarily beautiful, a true treasure of the demon realm. But she was also the most fragile; the curse was like a crack, only highlighting her preciousness. But now, those cracks will be repaired, and Mori is overjoyed from the bottom of his heart.

Upon seeing an acquaintance, Fufu finally mustered the courage to fly out and gracefully land on Yuan's head.

"Am I dreaming, Sister Yuan?" Fu Fu said.

"Time stands still here, so... I guess I'm not dreaming."

"Who is this? She's so beautiful."

Olster squinted, admiring the scene with a gentle gaze for a moment. Then, his eyes shone brightly, as clear as an eagle's. That was the selfless state of the master craftsman, the ability to see into most of the souls in the world. Only in this state could he freely construct all things with his craftsmanship, and only then could he be called the master craftsman.

He muttered as he probed:

"She looks human, but... what's going on with this girl?! This curse... no, she's still alive? Impossible, impossible!"

The loud shouts echoed in the silent world before fading into silence.

But once again, Olster fell into madness.

He clutched his head, ruffling his messy hair, but quickly regained his composure, using the power of his soul to gaze upon Yuan with eyes that could probe deeper truths. But after only a few seconds, he sat down and went back to smoothing the wrinkles in his white clothes.

Seeing this, Mori had a bad feeling and frowned as she asked.

"Brother Olster, the master craftsman, the guardian of the tomb, and the creator of the Holy Coffin Kingdom, we're counting on you to save our family's dream. Don't let us down."

"...I need to think about it."

“If you can’t handle it—God of Crafts, even someone as ancient as you should prepare for your end.” Moritoki threatened the gravedigger with the majesty of an owl.

Even though time doesn't exist here, the long, suffocating silence is still unsettling. Mori no longer dared to speak, afraid that his childish words would interrupt his train of thought; after all, this was his last hope.

If we lose the Rose Queen, will we lose even our wishes...?

The wait felt like it stretched from early spring to late autumn. Olster remained unmoved, giving his answer without even looking up.

"Hopeless."

"...Why?" Mori asked, suppressing his frustration.

Olster was chillingly calm: "This is not a curse that can be buried, absolutely not. It has been brewing and multiplying for a long time, carrying the karma of probably dozens of generations, before it finally bore fruit in this young girl. Do you understand how profound this is?"

"I don't understand."

"...This is the curse of the ancient demon king, the primordial evil, right?"

"Yes."

"Perhaps... I can separate it from this girl's soul, but there is nothing, no place to contain it. Then... once this curse breaks free, it will destroy everything. You, me, everything."

Destroy everything?

Suddenly, the scale and atmosphere of the conversation changed.

Mori felt a chill creep down her back. But she wasn't about to give in; a strong will was brewing within her, and she wanted to fight back. But before Mori could speak, Olster shook his head in denial.

“Coffin bearer, I know what you’re trying to say: release the curse and then we’ll destroy it together? But you’ve misunderstood. We can’t do that.”

"Can't do it? Listen carefully, the Primordial Evil, the Ancient Calamity Dragon that tore apart the truth, the Ancient Illusion Dragon, the Millennium Thunderstorm Cloud Worm, and I'll find you two demigods to make up the numbers, is that enough?"

Mori brought out all the monsters she knew, except for herself, of course. Even on such an important occasion, she was still able to recognize her own limitations.

"An incredibly luxurious lineup, but... well, I can only say that it might not be enough."

Suddenly, a sense of terror jolted Mori awake from the tiny sprout above her head to her toes. She swallowed hard and asked nervously, "If it's so terrifying... why... are you still alive?"

"I also find it hard to understand. I can only think that this curse is... trying to... reverse its own fate."

He gave a very obscure answer. After that, he kept observing Yuan, even ignoring Moritoki's questions. Helpless, Moritoki had no choice but to call Yuan's parents. She pulled out a black feather and spoke to it.

"Old owl, are you there?"

"Although I'm no longer an owl, this name is really nostalgic. I'm here."

"I may not have done a good job with what I wished for," Mori Toki said with a sigh.

"..."

After a moment of silence, the feather in Morishi's hand seemed to be filled with rage. Suddenly, an extremely powerful and terrifying force swept in, devastating the world. Shan was so frightened that she flew into Morishi's leaf, Fufu was so frightened that she burrowed into Morishi's shirt, and even Olster sat down on the ground with a thud.

"I'm coming right now."

With that sound, some kind of power, transcending the "fear" felt by everyone at that moment, entered the Clock City. The next second, a dark, shadowy giant strode into the Clock City.

It looked down on everything, emanating an unrestrained decay and death, and its absolute rage was terrifying.

"What's wrong with Yuan?"

Sen immediately grabbed Olster and hurriedly shifted the blame: "Look, this is the gravedigger. I caught him, but he's not very good at it. He actually said he can't save the wish."

The ancient demon king's anger immediately shifted. The shadowy giant disappeared into the darkness, and in the blink of an eye, a black owl flew to Mori's side, glaring angrily at the gravedigger before him.

"Why can't it be saved?"

Helpless, Olster told the whole story.

After listening, the ancient demon king asked angrily, "I don't understand. Explain it to me more clearly. What does it mean for a curse to reverse one's own fate? What the hell is that?"

"Your curse also has its own destiny—it is destined to kill others. But through the bloodshed and death of many generations, your curse has become extremely terrifying, even as if it has gained consciousness and no longer wants to kill..."

"...So, under that dawn, you survived? And you've survived until now?"

That's about it.

Volume 1, Chapter 386: With the Curse

An unprecedented sense of frustration spread through the mind and body of the ancient demon king, an emotion it had rarely felt in all its long life.

"So... what should we do now?" it asked.

"Sorry, I don't know." Olster shook his head, and after offering his explanation, it seemed that he had done all he could.

Mori, who was also in the situation, could only shake his head to prevent them from developing any unfounded hopes: "Let's... think about it slowly, there will always be a way."

Now freed and with his freedom restored, Olster sat hunched over on the ground, seemingly responding to Mori's words, and began to ponder deeply. As a master craftsman, he could even create a world where time stood still, and encountering such an unprecedented and thorny problem stirred within him a desire to fight back.

He enjoys solving difficult problems.

Mori sat down beside the bed of time that embraced Wish, and took her hand with equal frustration. It wasn't just out of a sense of closeness and friendship for Wish, but also because of the burning helplessness in his heart.

She tried many methods, but to no avail, which was extremely distressing.

She had thought that finding the so-called tomb keeper would solve everything. But she realized she had underestimated the difficulty. Only now did she truly understand how the ancient demon king had endured all this time.

Countless efforts were poured in, yet nothing was gained.

Silently, the ancient demon king shrank smaller and smaller, flying to Yuan's side. It suppressed its destructive aura, chirping like a newly hatched black chick in Yuan's ear.

"Actually, I quite enjoy making deals with humans," the ancient demon king said without warning.

"Because you can also profit from it?"

"No... how should I put it, Coffin Bearer, you should also have the pride of a deity. You can give immense joy to suffering humans by letting out a little power from between your fingers. This savior-like pleasure is what I like."

Would the devil offer absolute help to humanity in its most painful moments? Mori could more or less experience the pleasure of it, though not intentionally, her fortune had done similar things before.

But at this moment, she listened in silence. Like the vast, stagnant flow of time, she seemed to merge into it. Because she didn't know how to respond to the ancient demon king; if she gave him a perfunctory reply, it would probably be even more distressed.

A moment later, the ancient demon king said, "I have saved too many humans from the brink of death and slaughtered too many fragile souls. I once arrogantly believed that the world was nothing more than a toy in my hands, which I could change at my will. I could corrupt everything, or I could prevent everything from corrupting."

It's not boasting; it's more like self-deprecation.

"But I'm completely helpless when it comes to my stupid daughter..."

"It's not time to draw conclusions yet," Mori said solemnly, arms crossed and voice tense.

“I know, I just wanted to complain a bit. Anyway, she’s asleep and can’t hear me.” It flapped its wings as usual and said, “I really hate this kind of thing…giving and not getting anything in return. Sigh, I’ve given so much in her short life.”

For it, life is indeed extremely short.

“Every time, I thought, ‘Since I’ve prepared such a high price, I can save Yuan’… But time and time again, things didn’t go as planned. Her health deteriorated day by day, and all my efforts seemed to be violating the ironclad rule of reciprocity in transactions. I gave, but received nothing in return.”

"Such things are not uncommon."

"I used to think that the principle of reciprocity in transactions was a true rule—until I discovered that no matter how much I gave, I couldn't gain the health I desired. I realized that from the beginning, this rule was probably wrong."

Sen Shi felt a pang of sympathy: "Don't think about it anymore, old owl. You've already broken free from this constraint."

Another long silence followed—

"Tell me, what should I leave behind as my last words?" it suddenly asked.

"You're still thinking about that..."

“There’s no other way.” It asked again, “Coffin bearers, I don’t understand the hearts of you young girls, so… if it were you, what would you like to hear your father say to you? Preferably something meaningful, oh no, not the kind that’s too sentimental…”

Sen Shi touched the heart beneath her barren curves. Was that the heart of a young girl? She shook her head helplessly, feeling it wasn't. Therefore, she couldn't answer such a question at all. After thinking for a moment, she flicked the Ancient Demon King, sending this pretentious devil, who was again contemplating suicide, flying away.

"There's still a chance for things to turn around."

"...Is there anything else?"