After the commotion in Exalting Sanctum died down, Kiana suddenly found herself with nothing to do.
At the moment, she was wandering through the Luofu's Exalting Sanctum, with the expressionless Xingxiao following a step behind her.
The pair was simply too eye-catching.
One was a white-haired girl humming some unknown tune as she looked around with curiosity; the other was a Lord Ravager radiating an unmistakable keep-away aura, trailing close behind her.
As a result, every passerby instinctively stepped aside.
Fortunately, Kiana had anticipated this from the start and had already told Xingxiao to disguise her appearance.
Unlike low-profile Kiana, Xingxiao was far too active across the galaxy. Countless people recognized that face.
"Xingxiao, can you stop being so tense?" Kiana glanced back at her. "Relax a little. We're tourists right now."
Xingxiao frowned faintly. "Miss, I do not understand how to relax."
Well, that was fair.
After all, most Destruction Emanators had been stolen from other Paths. Deep down, they all held some urge to drag the Path they mirrored into Destruction.
Xingxiao was different.
Strictly speaking, she was practically a life-form personally created by Nanook.
For a being born entirely as Destruction, her whole existence had naturally been spent carrying out destruction.
If Kiana had not specifically ordered otherwise, Xingxiao would have found razing the place far more appealing than strolling through it.
Left with no choice, Kiana stopped, turned around, and looked her in the eye.
"Xingxiao, I really can't go shopping like this."
Xingxiao lowered her gaze. "I can suppress my presence, Miss."
"It's not your aura." Kiana poked her lightly in the shoulder. "It's your whole vibe, understand?"
Xingxiao went silent for a moment, apparently giving the matter serious thought.
A short while later, she answered solemnly, "I do not."
Kiana: "..."
Right. She'd forgotten that Xingxiao genuinely did not understand this sort of thing.
"How about this? Go back to my mom and wait on standby. She might need your help over there."
At those words, Xingxiao lowered her eyes even further, almost looking wronged. "I am only carrying out my duty."
Kiana's tone softened as well. "I know you're doing this for my sake."
"But Xingxiao, this isn't a battlefield. No one's trying to kill me, and I don't need to stay on guard every second."
She paused, then added, "Besides... do you really think I need protecting?"
That question made Xingxiao fall into thought.
She had to admit that, with the young miss's strength, there really wasn't anyone on the entire Luofu who could hurt her.
Even the Hunt Emanator Jing Yuan probably wouldn't last three moves if they actually fought.
Still, Xingxiao was reluctant to leave.
"Then I can follow from the shadows, Miss."
"No." Kiana rejected the idea immediately. "If you hide in the shadows, the entire Luofu's shadows are going to develop psychological trauma."
Xingxiao fell silent again.
That, too, was true.
Even if she concealed her aura, her instinctive Destruction intent would still leak out in subtle traces.
Ordinary Pathstriders might not notice it, but the truly powerful ones—
Jingliu, Jing Yuan, that suddenly-appeared Yaoguang—
they would definitely sense it.
And then things would only get more troublesome.
"So," Kiana said, pressing her hands together and smiling apologetically, "just go wait for me, okay? I'll wander around for a bit, then I'll go find my mom, and after that we'll leave the Luofu together. Sound good?"
Xingxiao stared at her for a long while.
So long that Kiana thought she was about to refuse again.
But in the end, the Lord Ravager gave a faint nod.
"...Understood."
Kiana's eyes lit up. "Really?"
"But I have one condition."
"Name it!"
Xingxiao's gaze turned extremely serious. "Two standard hours from now, I will reappear at your side. At that time, Miss must be completely unharmed."
Kiana froze for a second, then burst out laughing.
"Alright, alright. Two hours. I guarantee I'll still be perfectly fine."
She patted Xingxiao on the shoulder. "Relax. No one on this Luofu has even been born yet who could hurt me."
Xingxiao didn't argue.
But she still gave Kiana a long, deep look before turning and disappearing into the crowd.
Watching Xingxiao vanish, Kiana finally let out a long breath.
Ah, much quieter now.
Though Xingxiao rarely spoke, the faint traces of Harmony-like resonance around her were honestly a little distracting to Kiana.
Then Kiana narrowed her eyes and resumed walking.
The passersby hurried about as before. Occasionally, Cloud Knights patrolled by, but no one looked at her like they were facing a great enemy anymore.
As she strolled, Kiana couldn't help thinking over the state of her current setup on the Luofu.
First, the Hunt account.
Although that earlier performance with the help of Nous had exploded into a full two hundred thousand points for her, most of the growth had actually gone into Theresa. Hua's strength was still only just getting started.
At present, her strongest account was unquestionably Cecilia, whose Character Enhancement she had already purchased.
With Yaoshi backing her, Cecilia could basically walk sideways across the galaxy unless a true Aeon got involved.
After that came Kiana—the account she had poured the most effort into.
Though Kiana still lagged a bit behind Cecilia in level, the difference between them wasn't actually that great.
And after that... she really hadn't played the other accounts much.
If she had to say, Theresa was probably next strongest.
After all, she had been laying the groundwork for Theresa ever since Herta Space Station.
Of course, since she had been building that setup for so long, she naturally intended to hold it until she could make one huge splash with it.
Just then, a burst of acrobatic noise drifted over from ahead, accompanied by waves of cheers from a crowd.
Kiana's train of thought snapped.
Following the sound, she looked over and saw a ring of onlookers gathered not far away, with someone performing in the center.
"Breaking rocks on the chest?" she raised a brow.
Even in her previous life, she had never actually seen that ancient street act performed live. She hadn't expected to find it on the Xianzhou.
And so, operating on the principle of since I'm already here, Kiana squeezed into the crowd.
At the center were two girls energetically preparing their props.
One, in a practical outfit with a high ponytail, was struggling to move a stone slab into place, excitement written all over her face.
The other, dressed more plainly, was lying atop a wooden board on the ground, waiting while the first girl placed that slab across her chest.
Or more accurately, her partner was trying to place the slab on top of her.
Guinaifen. And Sushang.
Kiana recognized them.
They were two four-star characters from the Luofu whose damage had always been a bit on the low side.
Especially Sushang—like Himeko and some people from Jarilo-VI, she counted as a kind of counterpart.
Then the girl moving the slab—Guinaifen—spoke up.
"You ready, sis?"
Lying flat beneath the slab, Sushang felt a pang of dread, but after remembering all the praise Guinaifen had showered on her beforehand, she forced herself to sound bold.
"Bring it on, Little Gui! I'm from the Xianzhou Yaoqing! A mere stone slab is nothing!"
"Alright then!"
Guinaifen hefted a heavy-looking iron hammer and gave it a test swing.
The surrounding crowd laughed good-naturedly, and someone shouted, "Guinaifen! Swing hard!"
"Yeah, yeah! Let's see Miss Sushang's iron body technique!"
Guinaifen lifted the hammer, spun it around twice, and got a feel for the weight.
"Here I go!"
Sushang closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and tensed her whole body.
The hammer came down with a whistling rush—
Bang!
A dull, thunderous crack rang out.
The stone slab shattered on impact, fragments scattering everywhere.
The crowd had just started to clap and cheer when they noticed something was wrong.
Sushang didn't spring up like expected.
Instead, she lay stiff and motionless, eyes rolled back, utterly unresponsive.
"..."
An eerie silence fell over the scene.
The iron hammer slipped from Guinaifen's hands with a clang. She hurriedly crouched down and patted Sushang's face.
"Shangshang? Shangshang! Are you okay?!"
No response.
"Shangshang!!!" Guinaifen's voice had already taken on a sob.
"Don't scare me! I only used a little force—how did you just die on me?!"
The crowd started whispering among themselves.
"Something went wrong there, didn't it?"
"Get a doctor!"
"Any Alchemy Commission physicians around?"
And just then, the apparently deceased girl suddenly came back to life.
"...Cough, cough. I'm fine, Little Gui. I just lagged out for a second and saw my grandma, that's all."
Guinaifen turned pale and lunged forward to hug her.
"Shangshang, don't scare me like that! We're done, we're done, we're going to the hospital!"
"No, no, no!"
Sushang waved her hands frantically.
"This was only the first round! We agreed to do three performances. If we quit now, it'll be so embarrassing!"
"But you literally saw your grandma!"
Still, no matter what Guinaifen said, Sushang insisted on continuing, and that left Guinaifen in a bind.
She was delighted her best friend wanted to help her out, of course—but if that friend got hurt because of it, the whole thing just wasn't worth it.
And then, suddenly, Guinaifen had an idea.
She could just pick someone from the audience who looked a little weaker and use them for the act instead.
Sure, that might count as deceiving the crowd a little—but after seeing Sushang's condition just now, surely everyone would understand, right?
Thinking this, Guinaifen immediately started scanning the crowd.
And naturally, the audience very quickly caught onto what she was trying to do.
But just as Guinaifen had guessed, there weren't really any bad people here. They were just here to watch a good show, so naturally no one objected.
In the end, Guinaifen's gaze landed squarely on Kiana.
Harmless-looking. Small. Slender.
Perfect.
Guinaifen's eyes lit up, and she pushed through the crowd in two quick steps until she stood right in front of Kiana.
Kiana: Me?
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 138)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter160)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter98)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter175)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 163
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 150
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 100
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 170
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 145
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 125
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 69
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 90
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 100
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 70
Uma Musume: I Want All 90
I Can Copy Unique Skills 65
Summoning an Evil God, but the 52
Supernatural Multiverse 65
My Harem Is Indescribable 55
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 55
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 66
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 55
Still playing traditional Honk 35
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 35
What Should I Do After Switchi 24
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 35
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 27
Transmigrated as Sukuna 27
Checking In in Demon Slayer 32
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 44
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