Staring at the female cultivator struggling on the ground, Kierra could not help but feel a bit guilty. She was careless.

Kierra frowned and pulled her witch hat down to conceal her face.

She didn't consider herself as the advent of justice or the cop of morals, but she definitely wasn't an evil person by any means. Nevertheless, she failed to consider the strangeness of this universe and casually made a judgment based on little information. If she hadn't thought of recruiting this 'demon,' she would have blown off everything in one swoop, and that would have been a sure disaster.

Kierra wanted to save this cultivator, both to make up for this woman and to fulfill her basic duty as a fellow human. She wasn't confident in practices related to this field, but she had to try. Only now did she regret not paying attention when the King of the Underworld discussed this topic with her.

Regardless, she would first need to eliminate the corrupted entity before anything else.

''Ovi.'' Kierra stood up. ''Can you take care of that?''

Following the archwizard's line of sight, the lich stared at the old table briefly.

[Please leave it to me]

''Good.''

As Ovi stretched out its body to envelop the table whole, Kierra approached the female cultivator.

''Don't move.''

Ignored.

''I said do not move.''

Ignored.

Alas, it seemed this person had lost almost all of her reasons. Kierra pinned her on the ground with telekinesis before pouring out her mana. It soon split into thousands of strands and stabbed into the cultivator's body. This provided Kierra with an accurate diagnosis of her body, which turned out to be rather grim. As the condition of the exterior might have suggested, the body was completely dead.

How it could have even been fighting earlier was a mystery, and if Kierra wanted a proper resurrection, she would have to use another vessel to shove this person's soul in.

She reached into her space bag and pulled out various trinkets. These were gifts from the church back in her old world, which she intended to use for a purification ritual. Now, for the vessel...

''Oh.''

Now that she thought about it, didn't she have a phoenix egg that she got from its mother a long time ago? The space bag could freeze the time of the items inside it, so inside the egg should still be something that was in the state of a 'blank' body.

Good.

While searching for the egg, Kierra used telekinesis to arrange the trinkets in their correct locations and drew the magic circle simultaneously. When she finally found the egg and took it out, the ritual was also ready.

'Good thing I didn't scramble this one.'

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Considering the massive size of the phoenix egg, Kierra thought it would be a fantastic breakfast.

'...I'm getting distracted again.'

Kierra quietly began to chant.

''TO THE KING OF UNDERWORLD, I CALL.''

The archwizard's gentle voice rang through the cave. A brilliant aura of cyan magic burst out from her, making her clothes, hat, and hair flutter. It soon enveloped the trinkets, floating them in the air. Each leisurely swam through the air in its own orbit around the caster.

''YOUR CLAWS SHALL NOT REACH US, NOR YOUR TEMPTATION.''

Gradually, the trinkets turned into bright spots of light as they accelerated, and the whole cyan aura spun even faster. After just a few seconds, it shrunk into a single dense ball, slowly descending into the female cultivator's body.

''HEREBY, I VOW—TO DEFY DEATH.''

Slowly, a dimly lit ball of light emerged out of the cultivator's back. It was the size of a head and was tightly sealed by cyan chains wrapping around the surface. When Kierra brought the phoenix egg forward, the ball was immediately absorbed into it. With a simple snap, Kierra canceled the magic and marveled at her own work.

'At least my brain works decently.'

Meanwhile, Tian Yun and the people of the Lightning Tiger Sect were staring blankly at the unbelievable scene. The female cultivator was now wholly motionless. And the ball that just went into...

''W-Wait, Kierra, what did you do...?''

Tian Yun stepped forward.

''Exactly as you are imagining,'' Kierra replied.

(;° ロ°) (;° ロ°) (;° ロ°)

This woman... could interfere in the matter of life and death!

Without her knowledge, Kierra's status rose even more in these people's eyes. Now, they were convinced that the archwizard was an immortal—not an ordinary one, even.

Ignoring that, Kierra began to recall. If Kierra remembered it right, the soul should return to normal once the phoenix egg was hatched. So she threw it into her 'My Room' pocket dimension, where time still flowed normally instead of her space bag.

She then sat back down on the wooden chair and spread out her mana, carefully, very carefully reading the area around her. Only then did she find something unusual with the composition of the earth below this room. She had to admit that this relic of the female cultivator was highly effective, able to fool a casual scan of Kierra earlier. But at the same time, the structure of it was at its limit.

'So she was scared of damaging the capsule, hence the reluctance in engaging a fight.'

Just in time, Ovi came back to its liege with good news.

[This servant has successfully absorbed the source, master]

''Good job, Ovi. You can rest now.''

[It is my honor]

The lich reversed-summoned itself, leaving only the deer skull behind. Kierra put it back into her space bag and announced to the people. ''The anomaly is gone. Feel free to leave, Lightning Tiger sect.''

There was a certain attitude in the archwizard's voice, one that screamed, 'No objection is accepted.' The confused cultivator couldn't do anything other than obey.

''Um... what about my test result, Master Kierra?''

Kang Shuren raised her question.

''You pass. I will take you to White Lotus later.''

''Yes...!''

Kang Shuren gladly left with her sect's people.

With that, only Kierra and Tian Yun were left in the cave. The former looked below briefly before speaking up.

''...Tian Yun.''

''Oh, yes?''

''Do you want to go to a hot spring?''

''A hot... what...?''

In truth, Kierra could peer into the capsule, and for whatever reason, it was a hot spring. The archwizard had been washing herself with water magic for the longest time, so a hot and slow bath right now was too alluring for her. Shooing the others away was also because of this, and as for Tian Yun... Kierra somehow felt like it was fine, probably.

''There is a hot spring below us.''

''What a rare thing...! Of course, I will gladly join you, Kierra!''

Deep in Kierra's mind, a bad thought suddenly crept in.

''...''

No, she couldn't be seeing that woman in Tian Yun. Same flowers, different types. It was time to move on...

Kierra straightened herself up and set a barrier around the room to prevent anyone from going in or peeking in. Then, she used earth magic to remove the patch of rock underneath her feet, revealing a bunker-like structure that stuck out.

Inside there was a hot spring... no, there was the fox, yes. There was the fox demon as well.