(T/N: I’m feeling bored, so here is 5 chapters!)
“You have to take good care of these two carvings, okay?!”
Jingliu said it with utter seriousness.
After all, she had poured an enormous amount of effort into making them!
Bai Qiong noticed the faint residual scars on her hands.
He was deeply moved—but more than that, his heart ached for her.
[These past few months, you really had been somewhat neglectful of her.]
“But they’re not free, you know!
Tonight, just like last year, you have to go out and play with me!”
“Mm!”
[You tucked the carvings into your pocket with the utmost care, then took her hand and nodded firmly.]
Jingliu’s serious little expression couldn’t hold.
A smile crept unstoppably onto her face.
Even though the hour had already slipped past midnight, the streets were still bustling with noise and festivity.
[You guessed riddles together.
Jingliu was a bit of a dummy about it, but with you—her external brain, the Great Bai Qiong—lending a hand, she still claimed her prizes with ease.]
[You followed the dragon and lion dance troupes from one end of the street to the other.
Along the way, you munched on Cycrane Skewers.
When the crowd grew thick, you’d sometimes pop a piece of Resonant Lotus Cake into your mouths.
The instant it touched the tongue, it let out a sharp crack of a burst.]
[Passersby jumped in alarm.
The two of you, looking utterly pleased with your mischief, stuffed the rest of the cake into your mouths, and you grabbed her hand and dashed away.]
[On the way back, you spotted a flower shop.]
[Jingliu was so captivated by the riot of colors inside that her feet simply refused to move.
So you pulled her toward it.]
[The flower shop was run by a Heaven-Deficient woman, a black ribbon wound around her head.
Though her eyes could no longer see, she said: “The communion between hearts does not cease simply because sight does.
Like these flowers before us—some may appear unsightly to outside eyes, yet the resonance their fragrance stirs within my soul is deeply precious.”]
[You didn’t quite understand all of that, but the older girl who ran the shop was warm-hearted.
She eagerly introduced the language of each flower, sharing the story behind every single bloom.]
[Though you couldn’t quite follow it all, Jingliu seemed thoroughly fascinated.
Quietly, you tucked this memory away in your heart.]
[One day in the future, you would open an enormous flower shop just for her.
Every single flower inside would belong to her alone!]
[Wandering in circles, you eventually found yourselves back at that same candy shop from last year.
The old grandpa at the doorway seemed to have been waiting a long time.
The moment he spotted you, the smile on his serene face became utterly impossible to hide.]
[He brought out what he considered his very finest candies and once again regaled you with tales from his youth.]
[Back home, sleep still refused to claim you.
So you went out and bought some fireworks and firecrackers.
Your parents and her parents were gathered around the table chatting.
When they saw the two of you return with arms full of fireworks, they joined in the fun.]
[The first day of the new year passed in this blissful atmosphere.]
[And this also heralded the arrival of a new year—Star Calendar Year 6300…]
[Star Calendar 6300, January.
The Xianzhou Cangcheng once again conquered the planet Seven Slayers—a great victory!
The morale of the Xianzhou’s soldiers surged.
Yet, in the Divination Commission, the Diviner still harbored doubts in his heart.]
[How could a single star system contain so many Abundance worlds?
Was something feeding them?
But such an immense concentration of Abundance Path energy—aside from the Aeon themself, the only possibility was an Emanator!]
[He reported his findings to the Generals’ Office, but the General still had misgivings.]
[February of the same year.
The Xianzhou once again seized the Abundance worlds White Tiger and Sky Wolf—a great victory!]
[The General reported the matter to the Marshal.
The Xianzhou Alliance, long dormant, convened a Generals’ Assembly once more.
As for its contents, as for its outcome—we remain in the dark.]
[March of the same year.
The Xianzhou Cangcheng once again conquered the Abundance worlds Bow Arrow and Banner Troops—a great victory!]
[April of the same year.
Under the Diviner’s observation, all nine Abundance worlds broke free from their original orbits.
Converging at terrifying speed, they closed in on Cangcheng from all sides!]
[The Xianzhou’s spatial domain was completely sealed off!
No warp jump could be executed.
Greedwolf, Giant Gate, Stored Harvest, Chaste Honor, Seven Slayers, White Tiger, Sky Wolf, Bow Arrow, Banner Troops—they seemed to transform into sky-devouring behemoths!
Every meteor, every warship along their path was swallowed whole the instant they made contact!]
[They seemed to breathe!
The very stars dimmed as though drained by their respiration!
The star system itself juddered with their every pulse!]
Xianzhou Cangcheng, Generals’ Office.
“Shuhu…” The General’s weathered face was dark with gravity.
The Diviner looked as though he had aged ten years in an instant.
“General, the three closest Xianzhou ships—the Luofu, the Zhuming, and the Yuque—are each under attack by separate Denizens of Abundance factions: the Borisin, the Wingweavers, and the Houyhnhnms.”
“And both the Borisin Warhead and the Wingweavers’ Feather Emperor have joined the assault themselves.” This chapter is updated first at g.com.
Though neither the Borisin Warhead nor the Wingweavers’ Feather Emperor had been explicitly confirmed as Emanators of Abundance, both had received the blessing of the Aeon of Abundance—Yaoshi.
Whether it was the Borisin’s Lunar Embryo or the Wingweavers’ Firmament, each was a divine miracle of Abundance!
Even if the two were not full-fledged Emanators, they were perilously close.
And considering the sheer difficulty of truly killing the Abominations of Abundance, even a Hunt Emanator would find dealing with them a colossal headache!
“In other words…
we cannot expect reinforcements from the other Xianzhou ships?”
An old man clad in a moon-white robe spoke calmly.
He was like a blade on the verge of being unsheathed, the vast, towering intent of his sword piercing toward the heavens.
The Diviner nodded stiffly.
In his earlier divinations, if the other Xianzhou ships could lend their aid, Cangcheng might still have a sliver of hope.
But now—no matter where he cast his gaze through the calculations—all he could see was a future Xianzhou shattered and broken…
“I despise old mystics like you the most.” The elder in the moon-white robe wore an expression of open disdain.
“You think you’ve glimpsed a single corner of the future and immediately treat it as the unshakeable truth.
I don’t care what future you see.
All I know is—the road beneath my feet is still mine to walk!”
“The old sword maniac is right.” The General wiped down the long spear in his hands.
The cold, hard gleam of the weapon seemed to carry with it an aura of slaughter.
“We haven’t even fought yet.
Drawing conclusions this early…
it leaves a bad taste.”
“Hmph!” The Diviner huffed, his beard bristling.
“A pair of stubborn old fools!
We old bones dying doesn’t matter.
But what about the children?!
We must find a way to send them out!”
The elder in the moon-white robe paused.
“Your grand-disciple has rare talent.
Do you feel nothing for him in your heart?” The Diviner cast his gaze at the moon-white-robed elder.
“Your own disciple fell in battle not long ago.
Do you wish for that grand-disciple of yours—barely nine years old—to follow the same path?”
“Hmph!” The Sword Champion of Cangcheng snorted coldly and said no more.
He understood.
The old fool was just sore that he couldn’t win the argument and was trying to rile him up.
But by making no retort, he was, in his own way, conceding that he too wished for this grand-disciple—whom he had never even met—to live.
That disciple of his, the one who’d never had much talent, had sent him a letter before he died.
He’d asked him to look after his own disciples…