Bianca had been quietly watching Shannon since her return with eyes full of longing. When she was suddenly mentioned, she froze before breaking into a grin.
"I've been cultivating, you know."
She chuckled, only to notice Shannon's gaze remained fixed on her, or precisely, on her hair.
Instinctively reaching up to touch the strands of gray peeking out from under her baseball cap, Bianca laughed it off in unconcern.
"My new hair color. It's the trending granny-gray color now. Pretty stylish, huh?"
Shannon had learned from Benjamin about the third prophecy Bianca had made. The final prophecy was why Benjamin had etched her name onto the Core Vein Stone.
Now, facing Bianca and sensing nearly half her lifespan scraped away, Shannon's heart clenched. It took her a while before she finally said in a hoarse voice, "I like your original hair color better."
Bianca's eyes stung, but she kept smiling. "Well, if you say so, I guess I'd better try harder to grow it back."
She cleared her throat and slipped back into her usual confident tone, "To be honest, I've gotten quite fond of my current character setting. Now, I look tragically yet powerfully beautiful. It looks almost like I was weathered by life.
"Oh, and I'm the youngest elder in the clan now! Imagine me taking in a genius apprentice, that'd be the perfect cool mentor with the strongest apprentice story plot!"
Shannon and the others were utterly speechless.
It seemed their worry might have been unnecessary, after all. If anyone had an unshakable spirit, it had to be Bianca.
But that was a good thing. She'd given up half her lifespan for Shannon, and now, the latter would take it back with her bit by bit.
Everyone had their eyes on Bianca, while Benjamin's gaze was fixed on Shannon's long, dark hair.
The version of Shannon he'd seen in the heart of the Dragon Vein had been her divine soul's true form.
Her snow-white hair was the price she'd paid to give up the identity of the Divine Power and return to their world. But since she never brought it up, he wouldn't either.
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