She was being hunted down, so she became a magical girl.

Barrier magic is a very niche type of magic.

Magical girls aren't good at creating barriers; on the contrary, it's the apostles of evil gods who often set up a plot of land in some remote corner to prepare for their evil deeds.

Therefore, the crow initially mistook this place for one of the Doomsday Cult's strongholds.

But upon closer inspection, it discovered decisive evidence.

"The golden magic that created this barrier and the magic in the wooden sticks are of the same origin."

"The owner of this barrier is the magical girl from the Epitaph Incident. For the sake of clarity, I'll call her 'The Gravedigger' from now on."

"The barrier sealed off the underground space of this temple and prevented outside detection."

"Two conditions need to be met to enter the barrier."

"One possibility is to use a token set by the gravedigger."

"The specific type of token is hard to say; it could be an object, a spell, or even a verbal message."

"How exactly to set it up depends entirely on the gravedigger's mood."

"Secondly, the person who opens the barrier must be in the Feathering stage. They cannot be higher or lower than it. Only magical girls who are exactly in the Feathering stage can enter."

After explaining the current situation, the crow gave its analysis.

"Your sister was able to activate the barrier, which means she has a token given to her by the gravedigger."

"But she wasn't in the Ascension stage, only the Coloring stage, so she didn't meet condition two and therefore couldn't go in."

Xu Ting grasped the key point in his question: "You mean a token?"

Jiang Chenglian has the gravedigger's token... This is a very crucial piece of information.

Furthermore, Jiang Chenglian also knows a "blonde sister," who told her that Tianyi Group stole the magical girl's power.

Could that blonde woman be the gravedigger?

Although the magic color and hair color are not related, the combination of "golden magic" and "golden hair" makes Xu Ting unable to help but overthink.

If Jiang Chenglian knew the gravedigger, or even if the latter guided Jiang Chenglian's actions, then many things could be explained.

"If it really was the gravedigger who sent Jiang Cheng here to train..."

"My impression of her is probably going to be greatly diminished."

Xu Ting's words carried a hint of anger.

Because of their similar stances, Xu Ting originally had a lot of goodwill towards the gravedigger.

However, if the gravedigger induced Jiang Cheng to start a large-scale magical girl literacy class, then everything would be a different story.

If she really wanted to educate magical girls, she should do it herself instead of letting a delicate little girl in her coloring stage take the blame!

"Crow, can you break this barrier?"

Crow said he had no way to comply with Xu Ting's request.

"I am just an ordinary contracted beast, not an omnipotent wish-granting machine."

"You'd better find someone else."

It seems there's no way to figure out what's inside the barrier.

Xu Ting then checked the temple again but found nothing of value, so he left in frustration.

Before leaving, the mute monk stood up and bowed to her again.

After leaving the temple, Xu Ting immediately checked the location of the nanobots.

Jiang Chenglian is almost at the water tower.

She was not attacked by the Tianyi Group or encountered any other obstacles along the way.

Next, Xu Ting rode his bicycle to the water tower.

Xu Ting had already prepared his explanation for the time being.

Xu Ting had heard Jiang Chenglian's voice before, so it was only natural for him to go and find her.

But just as she was about to reach the water tower, another unexpected problem arose.

The mystery has contacted her again:

"The person who gave the lecture, the one who lost color, contacted me."

"She claimed to be a comrade-in-arms of the person involved in the epitaph incident, and that she came to the Lower City at his request."

"She wants to meet with me to discuss strategies for dealing with Tianyi Group."

"The Phantom Gray Raven is in the Upper City, and I'm currently unable to leave."

"Can you stand up for me?"

"Is this a good idea?" Xu Ting asked tactfully. "Perhaps my identity isn't quite suitable."

She sees herself as a "mercenary" employed by Miyan, a role that is not suitable for her to represent Miyan.

But a resolute voice came through the communication device:

"You're a good fit."

"It doesn't matter whether you or I step in."

"How are they the same?" Xu Ting said, both amused and exasperated. "Ms. Mi Yan, you've placed a bit too much trust in me."

"However, if you insist, I can step in for you."

"However, I cannot guarantee the outcome of the meeting."

"It's okay," Miyan said. "This was just a tentative contact."

"You just need to extract as much information as possible from them. I'll have Phantom Light and Gray Raven discuss the details of the cooperation."

Since Miyan had said so, Xu Ting had no reason to refuse.

After confirming other information related to the meeting, Xu Ting hung up the communication terminal.

After some time, she arrived at the water tower.

As soon as she opened the old iron gate of the water tower, she saw Jiang Chenglian waiting to greet her.

"Hehe, I knew Miss Lost Color would come looking for me."

She wore a carefree smile, clearly unaware of the seriousness of the problem.

Seeing Jiang Cheng practicing like this, Xu Ting felt a nameless rage rising within him.

"Miss Jiang Yunyi, your actions were too hasty."

She couldn't help but rebuke:

"Your abilities are worlds apart from hers. What will you encounter if you impersonate her?"

Facing the aggressive Xu Ting, Jiang Chenglian showed no fear and spoke confidently:

"I have thought about it."

"How did the Tianyi Group find me? The reason I can communicate with illegal magical girls is because of the special mark on the contract document."

"The entire technique is decentralized, with each magical girl participating in the construction of the magic, making it impossible for the Tianyi Group to trace its origin."

When the topic turned to academic matters, Xu Ting fell silent.

Lacking knowledge of the fundamentals of spell construction, she could only turn to the crow for help:

"Crow, is my sister right?"

"You could say it's right, or you could say it's wrong," the crow said ambiguously.

"In principle, it's impossible to trace back, but you can't talk too much about principles with a magical girl."

"If Tianyi Group really wants to investigate, they might even send a magical girl whose innate magic is time reversal to violently dismantle the entire process."

Xu Ting relayed Crow's words to Jiang Chenglian verbatim.

The latter didn't take it seriously and said:

"Tianyi Group is too high and mighty to target someone as insignificant as me."

Xu Ting was even more furious.

For a moment, she wanted to reveal that she was Jiang Chenglian's older brother, and then teach her a lesson with her brother's iron fist.

But she ultimately held back.

Her position does not support doing so.

"So what are you planning to do next?" Xu Ting asked, his face dark. "Continue teaching?"

"Or will you create a new major incident that forces the Tianyi Group to send a super magical girl to hunt you down?"

Jiang Chenglian, seemingly oblivious to Xu Ting's anger, said with a grin:

"Speaking of which, I also have a favor to ask of Miss Faded Beauty."

"Actually, I was a comrade of that great magical girl in the epitaph incident."

"My purpose in coming to the Lower City is not only to find my brother, but also to help her organize a magical girl force to resist the Heavenly Will Group."

"Providing basic literacy education for magical girls is just the first step."

"The second step is to contact those forces that have magical girls one by one and reach cooperation with them."

"So, I'll be meeting another magical girl soon."

"Miss Lost in Color, could you speak on my behalf?"