When Emerald Sparrow arrived at the spot where Yuan was, Yuan was already leisurely waiting there for a while.
She didn't stand below the stone tower to wait but purposely advanced a distance, stopping the group from Fangting City before they reached the mountaintop.
The mountain woods here were rarely visited by people, hence the trees were tall and dense, and the surroundings were enveloped in a thick curtain of darkness. The robust ancient trees moaned deeply under the caress of the night wind. All sounds were eventually swallowed by the accumulated snow, leaving only silence.
Behind her was a small path, winding and lost to the night, barely discernible in outline as if it led directly to the mountaintop. The distant mountains, hidden in dense darkness, seemed to merge seamlessly with heaven and earth, indistinguishable.
And Yuan stood there quietly. The occasional soft snow falling from the treetops stained her shoulders, adding a touch of white to her black robe.
The arrival of Emerald Sparrow and Chaoyan was not a surprise to her, as she had already clashed with these two, and had roughly figured out each other's tactics. Thus, apart from a few obviously much younger children behind her, the most conspicuous was the figure dressed in golden yellow.
"It seems this is the new friend who arrived in this city before."
Her eyes bright, she looked at Margaret and smiled warmly, "I had hoped we could have a proper sit-down discussion, but it's a pity our first meeting had to be in such a setting."
"If you feel it's a pity, then don't pick the holidays to start trouble, okay?"
Arriving here directly as a Magical Girl, Asou Haruka, or rather Margaret, half-joked, half-serious: "We had just gotten the soup base for the hot pot boiling and placed the specially purchased premium beef in it, ready to enjoy the New Year's Eve dinner. Then suddenly, a call came to rush to this forsaken place for a fight. Guess my mood now?"
"What, you brought the beef here to eat?" Yuan guessed, stroking her chin.
"How could that be? Of course, we had to leave the half-eaten hot pot and rush here."
Hong Siyu's expression was naturally not friendly as she replied irritably, "And the food we brought has already cooled down, it's not even tasty anymore."
"It's cooled down, but so what? It's still meat." Yuan rebutted seriously, "The meat has already been cooked, the seasoning added, temperature is just a minor detail."
—"There's no need to stall for time; we're not going to debate such pointless topics with you."
This time Emerald Sparrow spoke up, going directly to the point, "Where is the location of the "ritual" you mentioned?"
"So hasty?" Yuan clearly intended to continue the idle chat a bit longer, but seeing the hostile looks from the group opposite, she tactfully pointed behind her, "Just follow the road to the top of the mountain. There's a rather large clearing just before reaching the mountaintop, you'll see it."
Hearing her words, Emerald Sparrow intended to move forward without another word, but her motion to fly was suddenly blocked by Yuan's Magic Armor.
Emerald Sparrow reacted swiftly, using threads to slow Yuan's momentum and then leaping aside, attempting to circumvent her horizontally, but Yuan's Magic Armor, as if it had eyes, blocked Emerald Sparrow's path once again.
The two exchanged a look, Emerald Sparrow expressionless, Yuan smiling freely.
Although neither said much more, each understood the other's will from their gaze.
—Emerald Sparrow only wanted to verify if the "ritual" Yuan mentioned existed, having little interest in Yuan, the humanoid roadblock; whereas, Yuan intended to resolve the fight right here, not planning to let Emerald Sparrow and the others pass at all.
"You plan to block nine people alone?" Emerald Sparrow looked at her as if seeing a madwoman, "Or are you saying that the so-called 'ritual' you mentioned doesn't exist, and you just had us run here to play your martial arts game?"
"One against nine? I hadn't expected you to bring so many, really going all out. But since you're all here, why not let me have a try?"
Even facing a numerical disadvantage, Yuan still appeared totally unpressured, leisurely saying, "As for the ritual, as long as you can defeat me here, you will naturally confirm whether it's real."
"...If there's even a slight possibility, I actually hope it's just a lie." Looking at Yuan, Emerald Sparrow's usually unchanging expression showed a hint of complexity, which quickly vanished, "Because if it truly exists, it means you and Fangting City have become true mortal enemies."
"Mortal enemies? That sounds quite serious."
Yuan's unruffled smile remained, though her words lost some teasing in tone and grew a bit more solemn, "So, even though it's not appropriate for me to say this, Cornflower, have you misunderstood something about me?"
She extended her hand, retracting the Magic Armor that blocked Emerald Sparrow, "Is it because I haven't been cruel enough, making you think everything I say is a joke; or is it because I haven't completely crushed you until now, making you feel that everyone together can defeat me here?"
"Let me tell you then, the ritual, beyond a doubt, is real. It's right behind me, and if you can't stop it within the next two hours, it will trigger a massive magical power fluctuation, not only completely destroying the mountain and the city's protective barrier but also emitting waves of magic power that attract Remnant Beasts."