The afternoon tea with the Mother of the Marsh proceeded as scheduled.
The flowers in the garden were replaced by wild growths of weeds and shrubs. Clearing them was no longer a matter of inconvenience; they had to be entirely uprooted and replanted.
"You've destroyed the garden I cultivated meticulously... but this isn't so bad either."
The Mother of the Marsh led her guests along the overgrown path, resembling an abandoned manor, to the round table cleared by her busy maids.
Lu Li was about to start discussing trade cooperation between the Land of Light and Hell, but Elena interrupted.
"She said that's not the priority right now," Twisted Shadow translated for his sister, "Then what is?"
Elena's murmur was translated by Twisted Shadow: "You need a new body."
The joyous crowd belatedly realized that Lu Li was just a soul—illusory, without substance, radiant.
