Inside the Tranquil Heart Pavilion.
The air still carried the aftertaste of everyone’s feelings spilling over.
Watching the master and her disciples, Miguel felt a quiet stirring.
In that future where he had never existed.
Would there have been a day like this one?
Would Yixuan and the rest have argued themselves hoarse over Little Guang too?
Though with the depth of Brother Shiyuan’s sister complex, by then even Yixuan, their own Master, would probably have caught a share of his shouting.
Back to the present.
To keep this bunch from climbing onto that emotional rollercoaster all over again, Miguel decided it was time to lay every part of the plan on the table at once.
He dragged over a nearby chair and dropped into it.
That unshakable ease of his did have a way of loosening up everyone around him without their noticing.
Of course, the picture would have been considerably more dignified without the thunderous, sprawling leg-cross he added to it.
“All right, stop standing around in a daze.” Miguel lifted his chin, motioning for them to relax.
“I brought up the destined one on my own.
Obviously not to hand you a fresh worry.” He cleared his throat.
His voice stayed level, and absolute confidence ran underneath it.
“Before the trial formally begins, I’ll bring that person to Yunkui Summit myself.
As for who he is, that stays secret for now.
But you can rest easy.
In character and in strength, he won’t disappoint you.” “That’s my promise to you.” At those words, Ye Shiyuan forced the step he’d been about to take back down.
This was the Senior Brother who had always valued his sister above his own life, and he clearly couldn’t hand his trust to a stranger whose name he didn’t even know.
He was on the verge of pressing for more when a small hand tugged gently at the hem of his robe.
Ye Shiyuan turned and met his sister’s clear eyes.
Ye Shunguang gave him a slight shake of the head, then turned a smile of complete trust on Miguel.
Ye Shiyuan swallowed his bellyful of doubts whole.
He still wasn’t easy about it.
But between his faith in Miguel and his regard for his sister, he chose to believe first and ask later.
Miguel took the whole scene in and had to fight down a private laugh.
He knew exactly who Ye Shunguang’s destined one was.
Who else could it possibly be but his little brother Wise?
Miguel had learned about Little Guang’s situation in the first place while tracing the fate-lines of Wise and Belle.
As the Children of Fate of the Zenless Zone Zero world, the siblings’ lives were already tied to this world by a thousand tangled threads.
Yixuan, Ye Shunguang, and further down the road, more still.
Wise and Belle were destined to cross paths with far more Agents than these.
Even so.
Ye Shunguang still occupied an extremely important place in Wise’s life.
And for a girl who stood every chance of becoming his little brother’s wife one day, Miguel would naturally give everything he had to help her.
Never mind that Miguel was, by nature, the sort of man who couldn’t walk past anything that rubbed him wrong without sticking a foot in.
The one thing he couldn’t do yet was tell Yixuan and the others who Wise was.
Given Ye Shiyuan’s raging sister-protection mania, Wise would barely have cleared the front gate of Yunkui Summit before that sister complex of his flagged the kid as a “dangerous individual” and put him through a merciless interrogation.
There was another reason.
Miguel didn’t want the relationships between all of them warping too far off course later on, didn’t want Ju Fufu and the rest freezing their first impression of Wise into the faintly suggestive label of “Little Guang’s destined one.” That was the real root of his silence.
Because whether it was the fell-out-of-the-sky type or the white-moonlight type of romance.
In the end, Wise had to win these people over on the strength of his own character.
A bond that had a result but no road leading to it would only ever become a shackle.
Besides, even if Wise and Little Guang hit it off the moment they met.
The kid still had to earn the approval of this whole crowd of future brothers- and sisters-in-law on his own merits.
“That’s the outside help covered.
Now let’s talk about what you actually care about.” Miguel clapped his hands and pulled their attention back.
“Truth is, the plan Brother Shiyuan floated earlier, the whole sect going in together, isn’t entirely off the table.” Ye Shiyuan, who had already resigned himself to standing by uselessly while Little Guang took the trial, snapped taut at that.
He genuinely wanted to give everything he had to help his sister, whether the task was important or trivial, large or small.
Ju Fufu and Pan Yinhu were no less eager.
One had her big tail up and swishing without pause, terrified of missing a single word.
The other simply stood where he was, looking a little slow, but those small eyes never once drifted off Miguel.
Miguel glanced across the group in front of him and found it faintly disorienting.
He’d expected another round of excited yelping.
Instead, every one of them was showing unusual restraint.
Perhaps, after the storm they’d just weathered, these few from Yunkui Summit had quietly arrived at the same conclusion.
If this man laid out a problem, he had already prepared the answer.
Ye Shunguang most of all.
Her red eyes stayed fixed on Miguel without a blink, plainly full of gratitude and trust toward this young man who, on the very day they met, was willing to help her with everything he had.
Faced with all that expectation, Miguel wasn’t the type to drag things out.
“Since you’re all holding steady, I won’t keep you in suspense.” Miguel smiled and raised two fingers.
“For Little Guang’s trial, I’ve prepared two backup plans.” “Scenario one.
If you truly can’t set your minds at ease and insist on going in with her.” “That’s not impossible either.” “With my power behind you, a small number of you can enter the trial space without being expelled.
But there are limits.” “Once you’re inside, there is exactly one thing you can do, and that’s buy Little Guang as much time as possible.” Miguel pointed at the Azure Empyrean Sword hanging in midair.
“Put simply.” “You can’t step in and fight during Little Guang’s trial.
The most you can do is take the attacks meant for her and keep the situation from tipping into defeat.” “Stall for as long as you can, until I’ve crossed the river of time, recovered Yijiang’s memories, and come back.” “The moment I return, if Little Guang still hasn’t passed, I’ll step in myself.
I’ll tear the trial space open by force and cut off the sword’s trial process at the root.
Then I’ll lay a binding on it, and the toll of soul and memory it was built to extract gets rerouted to draw on my energy instead.” Miguel lowered the first finger, as if none of what he’d just described amounted to anything difficult.
“That’s the first plan.” “When it’s done, Little Guang not only keeps her life, she can keep using the Azure Empyrean Sword at no cost at all.
This Void Hunter weapon becomes a divine blade with no price attached whatsoever.” The plan visibly moved everyone from Yunkui Summit.
No price to pay?
Void Hunter tier combat strength for free?
The math on that deal was outrageous.
Shock spread across Pan Yinhu’s round panda face.
He lifted a thick paw, scratched at his bamboo hat, and mumbled.
“That…
that’s going too far.
Shifting a Void Hunter weapon’s price onto yourself?
Mr.
Miguel, can your body even take it?” “No need to trouble yourself over that, Brother Yinhu.
I’m actually pretty strong.” Miguel waved a hand and cut the concern off there.
Yixuan stepped forward, her golden eyes serious and searching.
“And the second plan?” “The second one is cruder.” Miguel raised a second finger.
“If the situation inside the trial gets genuinely uncontrollable, you can try working alongside Little Guang to beat the opponent outright.
But the Azure Empyrean Sword’s underlying logic will rule that she broke the rules.” “The consequence is what I told you before.
The sword abandons Little Guang as its Sword Master, dissolves the contract, and goes hunting for the next Sword Master.” Miguel rubbed his chin and thought about it for a moment.
These people already had some grasp of what he was capable of, so he saw no reason to keep anything tucked away.
“You don’t have to worry about it running loose and wrecking somebody else’s life either.” He tossed the line off lightly.
“The instant it dissolves the contract, I’ll subdue it on the spot and become its new Sword Master.” The words had barely landed when the Azure Empyrean Sword, still hanging in midair wrapped airtight in the Power of Creation, shuddered violently and let out an extremely faint hum.
The sound was pure browbeaten punching bag, wronged past all endurance and too frightened to talk back, brimming with helplessness and fear.
Miguel ignored the sword’s reaction and went on.
“And don’t fret over nothing.
This thing’s curse doesn’t work on me at all.
Once I’ve tamed it, I’ll toss it in your Yunkui Summit storehouse as an ornament.
If anyone in your sect ever wants to try for the contract, I’ll open up access any time you ask.” A long silence settled over the Tranquil Heart Pavilion.
Every one of them had been knocked flat by the sheer swagger of that statement.
Using a Void Hunter weapon as a decoration?
And handing out access as he pleased?
If word of this ever reached those factions in New Eridu who had been running themselves ragged trying to study Void Hunter weapons, they’d be steaming out of their ears.
After a long while, Ye Shiyuan finally finished digesting it all.
Relief broke at last across that cold, severe face of his.
His tight shoulders slumped, and he let out a long, stale breath.
With those two safety nets in place, Little Guang’s survival was thoroughly guaranteed.
However the trial played out, the worst possible outcome was losing the sword.
Nothing more.
And that outcome happened to be the one he’d dreamed of for years.
As long as his sister lived, nothing else mattered.
Ye Shiyuan straightened his robes, ready to offer his thanks with all the gravity the moment deserved, and a clear young voice beat him to it.
“Big Bro Miguel.” It was Ye Shunguang.
The girl took two steps forward until she stood before him.
She wore none of the relief the others did.
Instead her brow was faintly drawn, and her red eyes held a clarity well past her years.
“Those two methods you just described.
Both of them would be judged by the Azure Empyrean Sword as ‘trial not passed,’ wouldn’t they?” The mood in the room stalled for a beat.
Little Guang had put her finger precisely on the logic at the center of everything he’d said.
Back when Miguel explained that only the destined one could take part in the trial, he had already drawn the rule’s bottom line in perfectly clear lines.
Both of these fallback plans were built on the premise that she and the destined one would fail to clear it and start losing ground.
“That’s right.” Miguel didn’t deny it.
He nodded, open about it.
Ye Shunguang drew a deep breath and met his gaze head on.
“Which means, whether you sever the trial by force and supply the energy yourself, or take my place as the new Sword Master, the unavoidable price both plans create falls on you and you alone.
Doesn’t it, Big Bro Miguel?” Miguel looked at the girl in front of him without speaking for a moment.
They had met for the first time only today, yet he could feel it clearly, coming off her without any concealment at all: worry, and care.
This kid understood too much for her age, enough that it ached to see.
She would rather face a trial with ten ways to die and none to live than let someone she’d barely met shoulder any part of the cost for her.
“Little Guang.” Miguel stood and reached out, resting a hand on the girl’s shoulder with a light, gentle pat.
“You don’t owe me anything.” “I prepared those two plans for one reason, to put your brother and your Master at ease.
But the real way to clear a trial has never been charity from someone else.” Miguel’s gaze came back to Ye Shunguang, and a trace of a smile slipped into his voice.
“I’m bringing that person here so you can win this trial fair and square, on your own two feet.” “Do you understand?” ____ 👻🔥Here: Walnut-chan (P4treon)🔥👻 🔥 New history: Zenless Zone Zero: