"I shouldn't have come with you."
"Master, you... you're just too much of a hate-magnet, aren't you?"
Ryuga whispered through gritted teeth, his eyes filled with annoyance and helplessness.
As he sped along, he glanced sideways at the woman beside him with white hair, military attire, and strong legs.
That look was no different from how one would look at a walking disaster.
Just as he finished speaking, a green tile in the distance suddenly exploded, and a blazing fire-bolt veered off its trajectory in a bizarre way, detonating fifty meters away from the two of them.
Ryuga rolled his eyes speechlessly, his figure not stopping as he ran and jumped alongside Jingliu across the rows of rooftops on the Xianzhou Luofu.
Behind them, the Cloud Knights surged like a tide, their angry shouts shaking the sky.
Unfortunately, before they could even get close, the Cloud Knights who rushed forward were swept up by currents of wind, tossed into the air, and thrown far away.
For a moment, wails of pain rose from all sides.
The incoming stone-arrows, fire-bolts, and thunder-scale darts... all sorts of lethal weapons, as if they had seen a ghost, inexplicably veered off course and struck their own ranks.
The air was filled with invisible spatial barriers that dismantled and redirected all incoming long-range attacks.
And what was tossing the Cloud Knights away was Ryuga's ability to manipulate fluids.
"Um, Master?"
Jingliu suddenly paused her steps.
"I call Skirk 'Master.'"
"Last time she disguised herself as you, Master, it just slipped out. Jing Yuan must have misunderstood, so let's just leave it at that—whatever you do, don't expose it."
Ryuga said righteously, without blushing or his heart skipping a beat.
The role of the master-defying disciple must be played.
Calling her 'Master' a few more times would help Jingliu get used to it.
"I understand."
Jingliu nodded coolly, then turned and continued running forward, her back looking cold and resolute.
"The hate-magnetism is probably because of Skirk."
She suddenly added a sentence.
"Uh..." Ryuga opened his mouth; it seemed that was indeed the case.
Jingliu hadn't returned to the Xianzhou Luofu for nearly 700 years; even if they were familiar with her wanted face, it shouldn't be to the point where their eyes were spitting fire.
It was as if she owed them money.
Thinking back to Skirk's 'heroic deeds' during those three months half a year ago, he suddenly understood.
Eighty percent of these Cloud Knights had probably been bullied by Skirk.
Although she never killed anyone, being knocked unconscious by a flick to the forehead was more humiliating than being killed.
Damn.
I've been set up.
Shouldn't I just rush back?
"By the way, Master, do you actually remember the location?"
Ryuga finally couldn't help himself.
How many laps had they run around this place?
There was an entire army of Cloud Knights behind them, and seven or eight hundred starskiffs following them in the sky.
Could she be any more unreliable?
"I... I don't seem to remember."
Jingliu's steps were light, her figure gliding over the eaves like a swallow.
The next instant, she stopped on top of a dilapidated pavilion, her crimson eyes overlooking the intricate streets and alleys below.
"Master, you really are unreliable."
Ryuga covered his face with his hand, feeling like life wasn't worth living.
Damn it, we've circled back again.
This was the very eave that had been blown up by the fire-bolt earlier.
"Think again; the smaller the range, the less pressure there is to cast 'Time Interlace.'"
It wasn't Jingliu's fault; after all, nearly 700 years had passed.
The Luofu was no longer what it used to be.
Furthermore, over these centuries, the daily erosion of Mara had left her mind and memories fragmented.
She only remembered the general area.
"Suspect Jingliu, surrender immediately!"
"Repeat!"
"Suspect Jingliu, surrender immediately!"
In an instant, the night sky was lit up.
Countless starskiffs quickly closed in from all directions, their cannons aimed at them.
On the streets below, the Cloud Knight formations swarmed forward.
Aurumaton puppets were arrayed in the front.
In the distance, countless artillery mechanisms were slowly rising.
"It seems I still need to loosen up my wrists."
Jingliu stood in the wind on the rooftop, her crimson eyes narrowing slightly, cold light flickering like a blade.
Taking a step forward, the temperature around her plummeted, and cold air swept in all directions like a raging tide.
Her delicate hand suddenly clenched, and ice crystals slowly emerged from her palm, layering upon each other until they formed a crystal-clear, cold-glowing Transcendent Flash sword.
The blade didn't move.
But the piercing killing intent carved cracks into the surrounding air.
"Suspect Jingliu intends to resist; permission to attack granted!"
The commander gave a sharp order, his hand already pressing toward the bombardment button.
"Fi—"
Before the word 'Fire' could be uttered, the voice stopped abruptly.
In the sky, two dragon roars suddenly rang out, their clear sounds echoing through the clouds.
One pink and one blue, two giant dragons dove down through the clouds.
Dragon scales reflected the moon, and dragon claws tore through the wind, kicking up terrifying layers of airwaves.
As the two dragons circled down, a graceful figure followed closely behind.
Aponia drifted through the air, suspended in mid-air, and called out indifferently: "Stop."
In an instant, her calm eyes shook with a 'vibration,' and invisible telekinetic power spread rapidly like ripples.
Silently and soundlessly, it enveloped the entire field.
Instantly, all the Cloud Knights were frozen as if by a binding spell, unable to move an inch.
Even the joints of the Aurumaton puppets became somewhat stiff.
Crack!!
On the horizon, a golden lightning bolt streaked across like a divine punishment, striking down with a 'boom' onto another rooftop.
As the lightning faded, Jing Yuan stood on the broken tiles, his black robes fluttering, his handsome eyes flashing with a cold light as he looked at Jingliu and Ryuga from a distance.
"Enough! Everyone, return!"
He then turned to Aponia and bowed with his hands clasped: "I must trouble the High Elder to release the restriction."
"..."
Aponia nodded, and the telekinetic power in her eyes was quietly withdrawn.
In an instant, tens of thousands of Cloud Knights woke up as if from a dream, immediately regaining their mobility.
They stumbled back one by one, their faces filled with horror.
In that moment just now, it felt as if they had lost themselves.
Jing Yuan's brow furrowed slightly, his gaze falling heavily upon Aponia.
The High Elder has impressive methods.
Is this telekinesis?
Invisible and formless, yet able to suppress ten thousand troops with a single thought, making it impossible to guard against or resist.
Presumably, only those with strong minds can withstand it.
"General!"
The lieutenant was still trembling slightly.
"Withdraw."
Jing Yuan spoke calmly, his authority beyond question.
"Yes..."
The lieutenant hesitated for a moment, but still bit his teeth and glared angrily at Jingliu; the grudge of being knocked unconscious would be settled another day!
The order was given, and tens of thousands of Cloud Knights retreated in an orderly fashion.
The starskiffs turned around.
The Aurumatons lined up and retreated.
In the blink of an eye, the battlefield returned to silence.
...
"Master, why must you do this?"
Jing Yuan looked from a distance at that solitary figure in the wind.
His heart trembled; he always had a feeling that the one before him was the real Master.
And the person he had fought three months ago was likely a fake.
"Master! He's asking why you must do this."
Ryuga hopped forward, just as he had familiarly approached Skirk before, and playfully tugged at the corner of Jingliu's sleeve with a beaming smile, acting spoiled and very intimate.
"..."
Jingliu raised an eyebrow and let out a cold snort, shaking off Ryuga's mischievous hand.
"..."
Jing Yuan opened his mouth, but his heart was in turmoil: Damn, I misjudged.
Is this really my junior brother?
If he were to do that, he would have been kicked far away long ago, with not even bone fragments left.
But what about Ryuga?
The difference is just too great!
His gaze swept back and forth between the two; could it be that this junior brother really slept with the Master?
"Jing Yuan, the one who should be asked 'why' is you."
Ryuga shook his head.
"Master has only two wishes now."
"One is her dear friend Baiheng, and the other is to take revenge on Abundance."
"The latter, we can't do yet, but the former..."
As he spoke, Ryuga straightened his back and thumped his chest with a 'thud-thud': "The first one, we can still achieve. Since it can be done, why not fulfill this wish for Master?"
"..."
Jingliu was stunned.
This 'disciple' was a fake.
But at this moment, she actually felt a bit of recognition for this 'disciple.'
Well, she just didn't know if she would still recognize him when he 'defied' his master in the future!?
"No! What I mean is, I want to travel back to the past with you."
Jing Yuan suddenly took a step forward and said decisively.
"..."
The wind stopped, and the clouds froze.
Ryuga and Jingliu both turned back to look at each other, both somewhat bewildered.
"Since we are traveling to the past, it will inevitably alter causality. Therefore, I need to keep an eye on you."
Jing Yuan said, word by word.
It wasn't a lack of trust, but rather the stakes were too high.
He had once watched his dear friend fall, watched his Master descend into Mara, and watched two of his close friends fall into the demonic path.
This time, if they could truly go against the flow and save one of them, he was willing to lend a hand.
Additionally, he was truly afraid that Ryuga and Jingliu would change too much.
Affecting the past and changing the future.
"..."
So that was his plan?
Ryuga narrowed his eyes, his fingertips gently rubbing his chin. After weighing the pros and cons, he grinned: "Fine! But, you both have to listen to me later."
"Agreed!"
Jing Yuan didn't hesitate.
Jingliu followed with a nod.
"Take this."
Ryuga took out a 'glow stick' from his robe and tossed it toward Jing Yuan with a flick of his arm: "This is a Curio that can bend light. As long as you hold it, you'll be as good as invisible."
"Later, when I perform my ability, you both must hold onto it tightly. Don't let go, and don't let anyone see you."
He paused, then asked again.
"Also, do you know the exact location where Baiheng finally died?"
After all, both Jing Yuan and Jingliu were on the Shuhu battlefield back then; who knew what complications would arise if they were discovered?
Jing Yuan's pupils constricted slightly.
Of course he knew.
That scorched earth, that broken starskiff, that pitch-black sun—he would never forget them in this lifetime.
"Follow me."
...
The Square.
"This is the place where Baiheng and Shuhu perished together."
Jing Yuan's voice was very light, his fingertips brushing over the mottled surface of the stone monument, where the names engraved had long been worn smooth by time.
"OK!!"
Ryuga suddenly reached out, grabbed the wrists of Jing Yuan and Jingliu, and retreated rapidly into the distance.
They didn't stop until they reached the edge of a hidden high platform.
"Begin!"
Jingliu and Jing Yuan both gripped the 'invisibility stick' tightly. Light and shadow refracted and distorted, and their figures gradually disappeared.
Ryuga slowly raised both hands.
In his left hand, a phantom golden dial appeared, its hands rotating clockwise.
In his right hand, a deep blue counter-clockwise dial appeared.
When the past and present collided, when the forward and backward flows converged, the latitude and longitude of time and space were torn apart in his palms, and 'Time Interlace' unfolded.
The world receded like a scroll.
The elderly regressed into youth, the youth shed their childishness, and the figures of children gradually blurred in the torrent of time, finally vanishing.
Time, frame by frame, like a film rewinding, surged back rapidly.
Until—
"Stop!"
The time scale slammed into place.
Kill!
The earth-shaking shouts of battle surged like a tide, instantly swallowing the three of them.
The ground trembled under the heavy footsteps of the beast-machines.
Artillery roared, and smoke and blood-mist wove into a crimson canopy.
The air was thick with the smell of blood, mixed with scorched earth and the scent of molten metal, pressing heavily on the chest and making it hard to breathe.
Jingliu and Jing Yuan's bodies shook violently.
They were back.
Back to the year 7379 of the Star Calendar, that evening that decided the fate of the Luofu.
Their eyes were bloodshot, and their blood boiled instantly.
"Don't forget what we're here for; don't let anyone discover you!"
Ryuga barked in a low voice.
Jingliu gritted her teeth, and Jing Yuan clenched his fists.
Roar!
Above the firmament, a green dragon circled and roared in fury, its body stained with blood, its scales falling off, its claws struggling to tear through the clouds.
It was locked in a death struggle with a twisting, writhing shadow of flesh and blood.
Biting each other, devouring each other.
"It's Brother Dan Feng!!"
Jing Yuan's pupils constricted sharply, his fists clenched tight.
The dragon heart was beating hard, bursting with heaven-shaking fury.
The dragon tail swept, dragon breath spewed, and sharp claws tore through the void.
But!
The shadow of flesh and blood was like a maggot on a bone, constantly devouring his sanity.
Dan Feng's consciousness was dissipating, his reason leaking away like sand in an hourglass, and it looked like he was about to completely become Shuhu's puppet.
Jing Yuan suddenly looked around; he was looking for himself.
He found him.
The young Jing Yuan was fighting a giant ape-like divine beast-machine.
The Great Ape God was thirty zhang tall, its body covered in a bronze-like metal shell. As it swung its giant hammer, the ground cracked, and rubble flew like rain.
At that time, his weapons were all broken and his armor was in tatters; he could only roll clumsily through the blood and corpses, picking up broken blades to resist desperately.
Blade-light and axe-shadows, a thin line between life and death.
But he knew he wouldn't die.
Because Baiheng would come to save him.
[Vrrr—]
"She's here!!"
Jingliu trembled and suddenly grabbed Ryuga's arm, her pupils shaking violently.
In the distance, a silver light tore through the sky.
A starskiff, like an arrow leaving a bow, sliced through the battlefield with a piercing whistle, crashing toward the shadow of flesh and blood.
"Imbibitor Lunae!! Wake! Up! For me!"
Boom!
The starskiff crashed into the shadow of flesh and blood like a meteorite, and a heaven-shaking explosion rang out.
The exploding airwaves rolled, tossing the green dragon away.
And from the ruins, a slender fox-girl figure struggled to crawl out.
Her fox ears were drooping, her face was stained with blood, yet she stubbornly held high a 'sun' of absolute darkness.
"Quick!!"
Jingliu's eyes were red, and she slapped Ryuga's shoulder to urge him.
Her nails had already pierced her palms, and blood dripped through her fingers, yet she was completely unaware.
She only suddenly felt her palm go empty.
Ryuga was gone.
He shot out like a black shadow, sweeping into the battlefield.
'Zheng—'
The giant ape raised its giant hammer, smashing down with brute force, preparing to crush the young Jing Yuan into meat paste.
But at that very moment, its body split in two from the brow down, and it crashed to the ground.
"..."
Jing Yuan stood frozen in place, his pupils constricting violently.
Holy crap!?
The one who saved me back then was actually Ryuga!?
Time was too fast!
The starskiff impact, Ryuga sweeping past, the giant ape splitting—it all happened almost in the same instant, fast as an eternal moment.
He had originally thought it was Baiheng's starskiff sweeping overhead that had split the giant ape in two.
But this time, he saw it clearly.
Without Ryuga, he, who was already exhausted, would never have been able to dodge the Great Ape God's giant hammer; he would have been crippled if not killed.
Boom!
The 'sun' of absolute darkness finally erupted.
Energy devoured the surroundings like a black hole, kicking up a terrifying vortex storm that ground the rocks, corpses, beast-machines, and broken weapons into powder.
Along with Shuhu.
"No—"
"Damn it!"
"I—I am the envoy of life, I will not die..."
No matter how that shadow of flesh and blood twisted and wailed, it could not break free.
The voice stopped abruptly; he was devoured.
Along with Baiheng.
"Quick!"
Jingliu clenched her fists tight.
Jing Yuan gritted his teeth, his gums bleeding, his eyes blood-red.
In the center of the storm, Baiheng's figure was dissipating.
Her hands were shattering, her chest was vanishing, but her face still wore a smile.
To be continued…
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