[You reasoned to yourself that, having agreed to this, you could not possibly shirk your responsibility to Jingliu.]
[And so, you brought a slightly bashful-looking Liuliu before your parents.
Inwardly, you muttered to yourself—She wasn’t this shy just a moment ago…]
“Dad, Mom!
I want to take the adulthood exam with Liuliu!
I want to marry her!”
[Your eyes were filled with unwavering resolve.
Though Liuliu at your side was a little embarrassed, she lifted her head too, standing beside you with firm determination.
Her actions made her commitment perfectly clear.]
[Your mother’s gaze went somewhat blank.
Huh?
Wait—did he actually bring little Jingliu home as his wife?
I only suggested it after dinner, and a few hours later he’s brought her back?!]
“You little—”
[Your father’s hand was already resting on his belt.
It was obvious he was itching to give you a thrashing.
But seeing the stubborn looks in both your eyes, he had no choice but to restrain himself.]
[Your mother immediately hurried out and brought Uncle Jing and Aunt Liu over.]
[To be fair, Uncle Jing and Aunt Liu practically regarded you as their own son, and a son-in-law is half a son anyway…
The two of them weren’t opposed to you being together at all.]
[But for goodness’ sake—consider your age!
You’d only be 8 after the New Year!]
[With the long lifespans of the Xianzhou people, assuming an average of 800 years, you’d barely lived one-hundredth of your lives.
From a short-lived species’ perspective, this was the equivalent of a pair of one-year-old babies standing before them, declaring their intent to marry.]
[How could such a thing even be possible?!
Even if you two were mature for your age, you couldn’t be that mature!]
“Liuliu, Qiong…
you’re both still very young right now.
How about this—when you’ve grown as tall as me someday, and if you still like each other then, and you’ve both passed the adulthood assessment…
then you can be together.
Alright?”
[Aunt Liu was practically coaxing you.
By the time you grew as tall as her, you’d both be around forty or fifty years old—at the very least, well into your twenties even if you shot up quickly.]
[And once you’d passed the adulthood assessment, you’d have your own understanding of what love really meant.
If the two of you still liked each other then, that would truly be a beautiful story worth telling.]
[Hearing this, you set your heart at ease.
Your goal hadn’t been to actually get married right now—you simply wanted both sets of parents to know, and at the same time, to steel your own resolve.]
[That evening, after Liuliu’s family left, you once again experienced a mixed doubles beating.]
[A father’s love is like a mountain—one that delivers stinging slaps.]
[A mother’s love is like water—except she only let a tiny bit trickle through, hitting just a little less hard than your stinky old man.] Get faster updates on g.com.
[Year 8: The Xianzhou Cangcheng detected traces of the Denizens of Abundance.
Thus, the ship entered a state of war readiness.]
“Admit it—we simply cannot endure those monstrous, misshapen Abominations of Abundance!
They are nothing like us!”
“You cannot tolerate desecration of the dead.
Today it feeds upon your family’s corpses.
Tomorrow, it will make a meal out of you.”
“You cannot abide every corner of your life being infested with these creatures, indistinguishable from the monsters of ancient legend.
Our emotions cannot be shared.
Our logic has no common ground.
Coexistence?
Absolutely impossible!!!”
“Now is the hour.
Let us reclaim the traditions of our ancestors!
From the very moment we first united and set foot beyond our beautiful blue planet, that word has been engraved deep into our culture.
It shall never vanish from our genes!”
“War!
War!
War!
Compatriots!
Now—now is the time!
Initiate the war protocols!
Deploy the Cloud Knight legions!
We shall fight!
We fight on planets!
We fight in nebulae!
We fight in hyperspace!
We shall fight in every corner of the universe that requires it!”
“We fight for the future of the Xianzhou!
Even if we must set the Sea of Stars ablaze and burn the very Milky Way!
Send this message to every Denizen of Abundance that dares to resist—War has come!”
[Watching the impassioned address by the official of the Generals’ Office via livestream, you felt your blood ignite.
You wanted nothing more than to—right now, immediately, this very instant—join the ranks of the Cloud Knights!]
[But you weren’t an adult yet…]
“Which bastard race decided the minimum age for the adulthood exam had to be 18?!!!”
[You couldn’t help but roar in frustration.
[Perhaps it was to preserve the ship’s future strength.
Perhaps the current scale of war was still entirely within the Xianzhou’s control—after all, life in their little Realm continued as peacefully as ever.
Or perhaps it was a bit of both.]
[Many Xianzhou prodigies of your generation were barred from participating in the opening phase of the war.]
[…And by “your generation,” that meant anyone under 100 years old.]
[Maybe later, once the war had stabilized, those prodigies could go temper themselves on the battlefield.
But an 8-year-old like you could absolutely forget about it…]
[Speaking of which, one couldn’t help but marvel at your talent.]
[Among your generation, those who could withstand three strikes of your blade were few and far between.]
[This alone made it clear just how monstrously heaven-defying your natural talent was.]
“Qiong.”
Hearing his master’s call, Bai Qiong turned his head.
His master and every one of his senior and junior martial siblings were clad in combat gear, weapons already in hand.
“Master…
are you all going to…
enlist?”
“Heh, I told you our junior disciple would figure it out!” Second Senior Sister elbowed the Senior Brother beside her, then proudly puffed out her chest.
“That’s right!
We’re off to defend our homeland!
When the time comes, you might just see our names on the war merit rankings, little junior disciple!”
“Wow, Senior Sister is so impressive,” Bai Qiong deadpanned, not a single trace of genuine emotion in his voice.
That’s right—in front of his senior sister, he was nothing but an emotionless hype machine.
“Stupid junior disciple, couldn’t you at least muster a teensy bit of admiration?!”
Second Senior Sister clamped a hand on top of his head and rubbed her two fingers together, pantomiming a microscopic amount.
Bai Qiong could only respond with a dead-fish stare.
“Hey!
What’s that supposed to mean?!” Second Senior Sister glared at his utterly lifeless eyes, a vein bulging on her forehead.
“Thwack—” The sound of a good head-knocking.
“Ow!
Senior Brother, what was that for?!” Second Senior Sister looked pitifully at the Senior Brother.
“Knock it off,” the Senior Brother said, his expression somewhat exasperated.
“Fine…” Second Senior Sister instantly transformed into a well-groomed kitten.
“Qiong…” The master’s aged eyes held something complicated.
“Yes, Master?” Bai Qiong looked at him with confusion.
[Your master simply clapped a heavy hand upon your shoulder.
It seemed as though countless words were on the verge of spilling from his mouth, but after a pause, only one sentence remained: “Remember—you must not let your daily training fall to waste.
Never let your weapon leave your hand!
Never let your form falter!” ]
“Yes, Master!” You nodded with heavy emphasis.
You believed this was nothing more than an ordinary afternoon, just one more routine piece of guidance from a teacher to his student.