Chapter 581 – The Paired Flight Ceremony

After nightfall, the glow emanating from the light-element crystals on the Light-Suspended Cliffs became even softer and more dreamlike.

Mo Lan was admiring the beautiful scenery when the hem of her clothes suddenly grew heavy.

She looked down to see Zhizhi, wearing her magic crystal, holding up a bamboo tube with a straw. “Squeak!”

“What is it?” Mo Lan asked, already knowing full well.

Ever since Clack had fallen into slumber, this little creature had grown increasingly lazy about speaking. Everything was just “squeak squeak squeak,” despite the fact that she was already capable enough to serve as Clack’s tutor for 《Valen Common Language》.

“Drink!” Zhizhi shoved the bamboo tube into Mo Lan’s arms, then impatiently grabbed another oversized bamboo tube and hugged it as she drank.

She didn’t understand what was so great about this big mountain that was bright enough to blind a monkey’s eyes and was home to a bunch of fluttery moths, but she did know that on the Common Language exam papers her master had given her, there was a phrase: “Fine scenery deserves fine wine.”

Mo Lan: “…”

Here she was, a full-grown person, with just a milk-tea-cup-sized serving of bamboo wine, while the little monkey who didn’t even reach her knees was hugging a bamboo tube so thick she could rest her head on it without bending down, filled to the brim with bamboo wine.

A familiar and its Witch master shared an emotional connection, and Zhizhi sensed Mo Lan’s dissatisfaction. She spoke a rare full sentence: “One drink for the driver, two lines of tears for the passenger.”

She pointed at Mo Lan. “Driver.”

Then pointed at herself. “Passenger.”

Mo Lan found herself unable to argue back, since this was indeed a phrase she herself had taught Zhizhi—and she’d taught it in the Earth language, no less.

Now that this little creature had learned so much, her ability to leave people speechless had grown considerably.

Mo Lan was just about to explain that the phrase wasn’t meant to be used this way, and that she wasn’t planning to go anywhere tonight anyway, when she heard the sound of wings beating. Two Winged Ones emerged from the Light-Suspended Cliffs, flying hand in hand.

When she saw the brilliant light trails streaming from their wings and heard the strange resonant vibrations produced as they drew close to each other, Mo Lan immediately took control of the flying carpet herself.

Paired flight, light trails streaming from their wings, and the strange vibrations—all these characteristics together proved that this was a pair of mutually attracted Winged Ones performing the lovers’ paired flight ceremony.

The Winged Ones believed that only lovers who could fly together and complete the Dance of Light Trails would be blessed by the light element and produce gifted offspring.

So Winged Ones who were mutually attracted would drink nectar collected by golden-beaked birds beforehand to ensure their bodies were light and agile, then coat the edges of their wings with angel vine sap, don matching pairs of prismatic stone fragments, and fly together in the darkness of night.

Angel vine sap allowed wings to trail beautiful luminous streaks during flight; the resonance properties of prismatic stones could guide the Winged Ones’ flight rhythm; and the nectar collected by golden-beaked birds made the Winged Ones’ bodies lighter.

However, the Dance of Light Trails involved complex maneuvers, and judging by their flight path, there was a very real possibility of them sweeping into the area where she was watching.

Although Mo Lan’s flying carpet had an invisibility shield for protection, it still physically existed in this stretch of sky—a collision would be troublesome.

She maneuvered the flying carpet to adjust her position, maintaining a safe distance from the paired flyers, while having the recording device beside her capture everything.

The recording device had already documented the Light-Suspended Cliffs’ scenery from day to night; naturally, it couldn’t miss the Winged Ones’ paired flight ceremony.

The two Winged Ones would intertwine their wings in spiraling ascents, then plunge from a thousand meters high in a rapid dive, then embrace and kiss mid-air—their movements graceful and fluid, without a trace of disharmony. On the Light-Suspended Cliffs, more and more Winged Ones were drawn out to cheer for their beautiful forms and perfect coordination.

Mo Lan hid herself even more carefully—and accidentally overheard their conversations.

She couldn’t help it. The Winged Ones had no language of their own; they used Angelic, which they had learned from the Angels, and Mo Lan happened to be fluent in it.

From the cheers of the Winged Ones, Mo Lan learned that this pair was considered quite the handsome man and beautiful woman among the Winged One youth, because both had wings of pure white without a single blemish of color, and their hair and eyes were the golden shade most prized by the Winged Ones.

Mo Lan could understand the handsome and beautiful part—even by her own aesthetic standards, this pair’s faces and figures qualified as truly attractive.

But pure white wings, with golden hair and eyes?

Mo Lan scrutinized the pair of Winged One lovers performing their paired flight. She wasn’t entirely sure about the exact color of their wings, hair, and eyes, but she was absolutely certain they were loyal customers of the Dawn Society’s {Potion Card – Hair Dye Potion} and {Potion Card – Color Contact Potion}.

Others might not be able to tell, but could she—a Peak level Potion Witch—possibly fail to recognize it?

Looking again at the spectating Winged Ones, every single one had golden hair, golden eyes, and pure white wings. Seven or eight out of ten showed traces of potion use.

It clicked for Mo Lan at once—this was potion-made Winged One beauties complimenting each other on their looks!

She summoned the Book of Cards for a look, and sure enough, there were over a thousand Dawn Society members with Winged One identities. At that number, it was practically every single one of them.

Checking the card sales figures among Winged One members, the pure white and pure gold shades of {Potion Card – Hair Dye Potion} and the pure gold shade of {Potion Card – Color Contact Potion} were far and away the bestsellers among the Winged Ones. Next came various cards with feather-smoothing and cleaning effects.

Proud as the Winged Ones were, their high acceptance of the Dawn Society was hard to explain by anything other than their pursuit of beauty.

Well, this was good news. Now that every Winged One could dye their feathers, hair, and change their eye color, there would probably never again be a case of a mixed-feathered Winged One being bullied until they couldn’t hold their head up, consumed by self-loathing, and unable to find a partner to have children with.

It was only because the Winged Ones had been so unpopular before—Witches who came this way all took detours to avoid them—that the Winged Ones had waited until now to discover wonderful things like hair dye potions and color contact potions.

Mo Lan watched the young Winged Ones pairing off and felt deeply gratified.

Higher success rates in romance meant higher birth rates, which meant she had even more crops to harvest.

By the time the Winged One lovers’ paired flight ceremony ended, it was already the small hours of the morning.

The two Winged Ones flew until they were completely exhausted before returning together to their nest. Only then was Mo Lan finally able to park her flying carpet steadily in mid-air to rest.

Rest in name only—her eyes hadn’t left the Grimoire for a single moment.

The next morning, Mo Lan transformed her flying carpet into the more agile broom form and followed a Winged One hunting party as they departed from the Light-Suspended Cliffs.

Since she was already here, she might as well observe the Winged Ones’ light-element magic—what it was like, and whether there was anything worth learning.

Besides, she had asked Lilith the previous night, and Lilith didn’t have blood samples from the Winged Ones either. In fact, she had forgotten the Winged Ones even existed as a race.

Given how insular the Winged Ones were, very little information about them had spread to the outside, and other races knew relatively little about them. It wasn’t strange that they’d been overlooked.

However, the Winged Ones’ abilities also derived from their bloodline, making them absolutely a race possessing a magical bloodline. Their individual combat strength was actually not weak at all—it was merely that their population was small, making their overall strength appear modest.