Rabbits fear daffodils because their bulbs are highly toxic. This fact doesn’t stop beasts and humans from attempting to eat the daffodil's bulb. Even powerful cultivators should pay attention to the behaviors of those they think are less than them. Because if those ‘lesser’ beings avoid something, it is probably with good reason. Nature always warns us, but do we listen?

~Blodeuwedd, Goddess of Flowers and Wisdom

Entering the Shrine was almost anti-climatic. Before them was a series of rooms, and in each room was a physical challenge they needed to pass. The first room had a metal plate they had to strike with enough force, which Hooligan did effortlessly with her gravity trick.

Immediately, the door opened to the next room. The fifth room had a series of stones. From right to left, the boulders were progressively larger and heavier. Once again, Hooligan picked them up and placed them on the platforms until the door opened.

Crow wasn’t sure he could have picked up the last boulder, but the door opened without placing it. Hooligan picked it up and placed it even though they had finished, and unexpectedly, another door opened. One that Crow was positive wasn’t there previously.

“What do you think?” Crow asked.

“These are easy. I can’t imagine it’ll be much harder going that route.”

Crow concurred, and they went left. The hall wound around until they were below the room they had just left. Inside was another stone trial, but this time thin light beams were stretching across the room at different angles, heights, and locations. It was like a maze. Taking a piece of wood from his Vortex Pin, Crow held it in front of one of those beams, and the light instantly burned a hole through it. Half a breath later, the wood caught fire.

“Shit…” Crow breathed out.

“Agility and strength,” Hooligan muttered and grabbed the first stone. This time they scattered the platforms all over the room, and it didn’t look like it mattered where each stone was placed.

“Take that to the furthest platform. Save the closer drop points for the bigger stones.”

“Mmm,” Hooligan grunted and walked it over, carefully avoiding the lights. “Think we fail if the stone gets hit?”

“Let’s not find out,” Crow said and grabbed the next one. He navigated through the lights and dropped it off while Hooligan had already gone back for another one.

Like that, they quickly solved the puzzle. The only close call was when Crow navigated with one of the larger boulders. The light beam grazed his arm, and he nearly dropped the stone in surprise.

After they finished, the lights disappeared, and the door opened.

“That hurt?” Hooligan asked.

“No. It burned out all my nerves,” Crow chuckled. “It just stung for a second, but it did surprise me.”

“Your regenerative powers are unnerving,” Hooligan said. “I noticed before but didn’t realize how ridiculous it was.”

“Believe it or not, fire has a lot of healing capabilities, and wood is heavy in vitality.”

The last room had a glass sphere floating above a pedestal. Crow touched it with a finger and realized what it was immediately. It was a reward for him.

“All you,” he said and stepped back.

“What is it?”

“You’ll find out when you touch it. Take your time. I’ll sit over here and cultivate.”

Hooligan stepped forward and discovered that it was an upgrade to her artifact’s ability. Nature’s Beauty also had circles but wasn’t exposed until now. The original vision-based ability was now a circle within a more powerful technique. The parent circle was a transformative one. She’d take on aspects of a wood nymph, which included being able to merge with trees. The vision was called the Knotty Eyes, which allowed her to see through plant and wood fibers once she mastered it. It was how wood nymphs could see everything going on around their trees.

Within the scope of the new ability, she could see references to two more circles, but she didn’t know what they were. With a large amount of information entering her mind, it took her three days to process it. She didn’t have Sage’s Mind like Crow, so it wasn’t an instantaneous transfer. The reward crystal was also generous enough to give her the time she needed to memorize the ability. It wouldn’t even let her break the link between her mind and it until she had minor success in mastering the primary spell.

Her affinities also expanded because now her Wood Mana affinity was approaching the level of her Light Mana affinity. Those two types of affinities were also heavily used in healing, so she wasn’t aware of some changes in her body because her pores were expelling a lot of impurities.

Crow noticed the pungent smell a while ago but ignored it. He was well aware of what was happening, so he didn’t think much of it. Looking down at his hand, a strange red petaled daffodil grew upward from his palm. At first, the cup was no different from a normal yellow-colored one. However, as the stem thickened and the cup elongated, he could see small barbed thorns inside. Its ‘mouth’ rotated, looking like a meat grinder.

Worse, the cup opened wider and wider like a snake unhinging its jaw to swallow something much larger than would seem possible. That thing was downright scary. Crow sent it toward a nearby wall, and the cup-mouth stuck against it. He could hear the grinding against the impregnable material, but other than holding fast to the wall, it did nothing else.

Crow pulled on the vine to see how strong its suction was; even with his strength, he couldn’t pull it off the wall. With a thought, he could make it release at any time, but he wanted to know if he could use it to climb. If it wasn’t in this place, the Thorn Mouth Daffodil could probably grind and burrow its way through most surfaces, including stone.

“What the hell is that?” Hooligan said, coming out of her trance-like state.

“Thorn Mouth Daffodil. It is one circle of this vine spell. It is as beautiful as it is frightening,” Crow said and plucked it from his hand, chopping the stem down. He handed it to Hooligan. “This is for you, my beautiful wife.”

Hooligan’s face turned bright red, and her heart started racing—until she heard the next part.

“It’s as much of a hooligan as you are. All beauty on the outside and poison on the in.”

In anger, she crushed the flower in her hand and threw it in Crow’s face. Crow smiled at her and summoned another one for her. This one he didn’t let mature, so it didn’t have thorns inside the cup.

“You are a jerk,” she said while taking the flower from him. When she was close, Crow grabbed her chin and turned her face left and right, staring at her scars.

“What are you doing?”

“Two things. You stink something fierce. Second, your face…” Crow knew it wasn’t his imagination, but he wasn’t sure if she had noticed yet. The scars on her face had faded some. The worst ones looked like bright red worms, but the puffiness and color were reduced. It was slight, but he could tell the difference.

“What!? Don’t just zone out on me after mentioning my face, you fucking bastard!” Hooligan punched him viciously, and she barely pulled the punch, and Crow unexpectedly stumbled back a few steps and tasted copper in the back of his throat.

“Dammit, woman! You dare beat your husband?”

“Hmph. My mom says never pull your punches when you hit your man. Otherwise, he’ll stray. If I don’t make you fear the consequences, you won’t listen to your wife.”

*Hahaha! She’s got your number, fool.*

*Shut it.* Crow grumbled internally.

“I was confirming something, and you didn’t need to be so harsh.”

“What were you confirming? You better talk.”

“I think your scars are healing. It isn’t much, but there is definitely a change. Maybe whatever body refining you just went through helped expel some of that poison.”

Hooligan removed a silver dagger from her Shield. It was heavily polished to the point of having a mirrored surface. She looked at her face for a long time.

“Are you sure?”

“Trust me. I would never lie about that. I can memorize the smallest details and compare them. I’m not wrong.”

Hooligan smiled so brightly that she left Crow dazed. This woman didn’t know how dangerously beautiful she was. Unable to stop, his trembling hands reached out and gently caressed her face. He could feel the warmth of her cheeks as she flushed.

“Never leave me,” he whispered. Hooligan wrapped her arms around him and tightly hugged him.

“Maybe I’m a fool for falling for a foolish man like you, but I don’t regret it. You’ve given me the greatest happiness, and despite your faults, you are a good man—no, a great man! Even if your other wives hate me, they’ll have to kill me to pry me away from you,” Hooligan said and was secretly overjoyed at seeing Crow’s insecurity. It was the type of thing that made her realize how much he valued her. To be fair, she felt insecure being with him, too. He already had other women and didn’t even bother hiding it. It scared her that he might ignore her when the others were around. The more she understood Crow, the more she realized her fears were unfounded. His shamelessness was probably legendary among his friends. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t excited about having the other women see Crow doing naughty things to her. It was also frightening, so she—

What the hell am I thinking!? She shouted inwardly and inadvertently squeezed him tighter, to the point he involuntarily groaned as she expelled the air from his lungs.

“I don’t. Know. What you. Are thinking. About. But you are. Killing me,” Crow gasped out.

“I’m punishing you for being a pervert.”

“You crazy woman. What pervert? I wasn’t even thinking any—oh. Heh, so what were you imagining?” Crow laughed now that he could breathe. Seconds later, he gasped again and winced because her fingers pinched his flesh until it broke.

Disheartened, Crow looked up to see that they had completed the Shrine.

“Let’s go back,” Crow muttered.

“Mmm, okay.”

However, at that moment, the premonition of incoming danger flared. Crow looked out through the Shrine’s door and swore a line of curses that made Hooligan blush.

“Run!” Crow growled and dragged her out of the Shrine, which was the opposite direction she was expecting. “We must escape the volcano, or we’ll need to sacrifice this Shrine.”

Hooligan winced at his words, and looking at the hellish landscape of the erupting volcano; she knew he was right. At that moment, she realized how domineering Crow’s instincts were. She laughed and ran with him because this is how people should live, dancing on the razor’s edge that divided life and death.