The atmosphere of the Xianzhou Luofu was a paradox—a world that felt as ancient as the stars themselves yet vibrated with the hum of hyper-advanced jade technology. As we transitioned from the Central Starskiff Haven toward the Divination Commission, the architecture shifted. The bustling markets of the Exalting Sanctum gave way to floating platforms suspended by magnetic arrays, where massive, rotating bronze rings calculated the movements of the cosmos.
March 7th was practically vibrating, her camera shutter clicking every three seconds. "I've seen a lot of space stations, but this? This is like a fairy tale where everyone has a laser sword!"
Dan Heng, however, looked like he was walking through a minefield. His eyes never stayed on one spot for too long, and his hand remained white-knuckled on the hilt of his wrapped spear. He was sensing the "Hunt" in the air—the aggressive, focused intent of the Reignbow Arbiter that permeated every inch of the Alliance.
I walked a few paces behind them, my hands tucked into my sleeves. My Law Mimicry was working overtime. The Luofu was not like the Herta Space Station or the frozen wastes of Jarilo-VI. Here, the power of two Aeons—The Hunt (Lan) and The Abundance (Yaoshi)—were locked in a perpetual, metaphysical struggle. The air was thick with the scent of pine and incense, but underneath it lay the metallic tang of blood and the sickeningly sweet smell of overripe fruit.
[Synchronization: 3.05%]
[Authority: Chaos Perception - Rank 3]
[Detection: High-density 'Abundance' signatures in the lower sectors]
"The Master Diviner is waiting at the Matrix of Prescience," Jing Yuan announced, gesturing toward a colossal structure that resembled a giant, floating compass. "She has been calculating your arrival since the moment the Stellaron burst. In the Xianzhou, we say that nothing happens by chance—only by the alignment of the stars."
"Or by the manipulation of the hunters," I added quietly.
Jing Yuan glanced back at me, a sharp glint in his lazy eyes. "Spoken like a man who knows how to move between the stars without leaving a footprint. Tell me, Mukhrezz, does your 'history' include the story of the Matrix? It is said it can see every possible future."
"It can see every probable future, General," I corrected. "But the Chaos Ocean is a place where probability goes to die."
We reached the Matrix of Prescience. It was a breathtaking sight—a sea of floating jade tiles, each engraved with shifting trigrams, orbiting a central pillar of light. Standing at the heart of the array was Fu Xuan, the Master Diviner. She was small in stature but radiated an aura of absolute authority. A floating eye—the Third Eye—was visible on her forehead, glowing with a pale, lilac light.
"You are late by exactly four minutes and twelve seconds," Fu Xuan said, without turning around. Her voice was crisp and icy. "The threads of fate are knotting faster than my commissioners can untangle them."
"The 'Nameless' are not known for their punctuality, Master Diviner," Jing Yuan joked, though he kept a respectful distance.
Fu Xuan turned, her Third Eye locking onto Stelle. "The Trailblazer. The vessel of the Stellaron. Your presence is the anchor point of the current crisis. But..." Her gaze shifted to me, and for the first time, her stoic expression faltered. The lilac eye on her forehead flickered violently.
"Error," she whispered, her hand flying to her head. "The Matrix... it's stuttering."
"Is something wrong, Fu Xuan?" Jing Yuan's hand went to the hilt of his sword.
"This man..." Fu Xuan pointed at me, her finger trembling slightly. "When I look at his past, I see a void. When I look at his future, the Matrix returns a 'Null' result. He is not just a variable; he is a hole in the tapestry of the universe."
The Astral Express crew turned to look at me. March 7th looked confused, but Welt Yang's expression turned grim. He knew that 'Null' results in divination usually meant one of two things: an Aeon, or something that shouldn't exist.
"I am merely a scholar, Master Diviner," I said, projecting an aura of calm stability to soothe the Matrix's sensors. "Perhaps your machine is simply unaccustomed to those who come from outside the Sea of Tree."
"Perhaps," Fu Xuan said, though she didn't look convinced. She forced herself to look away from me and returned to the mission at hand. "The Stellaron has taken root in the Artisanship Commission. It has awakened the Ambrosial Arbor—the forbidden tree of immortality. If it blooms, the Luofu will become a forest of Mara-struck monsters within days."
"Then we go there and chop it down," Stelle said, her bat already sparking.
"It is not that simple," Fu Xuan sighed. "The tree is protected by a 'Disruption Field' created by the Stellaron. To bypass it, we must activate the three Base Pillars of the Matrix to re-orient the ship's energy flow. But the pillars are currently overrun by the 'Disciples of Sanctus Medicus'—a cult of traitors who worship the Abundance."
"Traitors on the Luofu?" March 7th gasped. "I thought everyone here hated the Abundance!"
"Eternity breeds boredom," I remarked. "And boredom breeds madness. Some people would rather be monsters than be forgotten by time."
Jing Yuan nodded. "Mukhrezz is right. The Disciples believe that the Mara is a gift, not a curse. They seek to 'evolve' humanity into something immortal and mindless."
We were split into teams. Dan Heng and Seele (who had insisted on coming up from the Underworld via the next starskiff) were sent to the first pillar. March 7th and Welt took the second. I was assigned to the third pillar... with Stelle.
I knew why Jing Yuan did it. He wanted the most unpredictable variable—me—under the watchful eye of the Trailblazer, who carried the power of the Express.
As Stelle and I flew toward the Artisanship Commission in a starskiff, the scale of the disaster became clear. The sleek, jade architecture was being torn apart by thick, pulsating vines that looked more like muscle than wood. They bled a glowing green sap that corrupted anything it touched.
"You're very quiet," Stelle said, looking at me as she gripped the side of the skiff.
"I am listening," I replied.
"To what?"
"To the Tree. It's not just growing, Stelle. It's screaming. It's a multi-thousand-year-old entity that has been forced back into the world of the living. It doesn't want to be here, but the Stellaron is forcing it to bloom."
We landed near the third Base Pillar. The area was swarming with Disciples—men and women in green robes, their skin covered in bark-like scales. Their eyes were vacant, replaced by the emerald glow of the Mara.
"Intruders!" one of them shrieked, his arm transforming into a twisted, wooden blade. "The Merciful Medicus demands your flesh!"
Stelle didn't wait. She leaped from the starskiff, her bat swinging. A shockwave of kinetic energy sent three cultists flying into the abyss below the platform.
I followed her, but I didn't use physical force. I activated Chaos Web.
[Authority: Chaos Command - Level 4]
I reached out and "plucked" the strings of the Mara-struck cultists. To the Abundance, these people were 'blessed' with infinite life. To me, they were just biological machines with a corrupted operating system.
I didn't delete their memories this time. I inverted their growth.
"Wither," I commanded.
The cultists stopped mid-charge. The green vines protruding from their skin began to turn grey and brittle. The 'immortality' that kept them alive suddenly reversed, aging their cells by centuries in a heartbeat. They didn't die; they simply turned to dust and were carried away by the wind of the Luofu.
Stelle paused, her bat inches away from a cultist's head. She looked at me, her eyes wide. "What did you just do?"
"I gave them what they truly wanted," I said, walking past the piles of ash. "The end of their journey. Immortality is a heavy burden, Stelle. I just relieved them of it."
We reached the Base Pillar—a massive jade monolith humming with power. But it was wrapped in vines so thick they were crushing the stone. Standing before the pillar was a woman with a high-collared dress and a cold, elegant fan.
Dan Shu. The Chief Alchemist.
"The Trailblazer... and the Void-Walker," Dan Shu said, her voice filled with a tragic calm. She was blind, but she 'saw' us through the vibrations of the Abundance. "You seek to kill the Arbor. But why? Do you not see the beauty of a life that never ends? No more loss, no more grief, no more 'history' to be forgotten."
"A life without end has no value, Dan Shu," I said. "A story that never finishes is just a rambling mess. I have seen the end of universes, and believe me, the silence is far more beautiful than the noise you are trying to create."
"Then you are a fool!" Dan Shu screamed.
She tapped her fan, and the vines around the pillar erupted. They formed into a colossal, multi-armed wooden construct—a Malefic Ape, empowered by the Stellaron.
The beast roared, a sound that shook the very foundation of the platform. It lunged at Stelle with a fist the size of a starskiff.
"Mukhrezz, help me!" Stelle shouted, parrying the blow with her bat, the impact sending sparks of gold energy everywhere.
"Gladly."
I didn't attack the Ape. I attacked the Path it was connected to. I reached out and grabbed the 'thread' of Abundance energy that was feeding the construct from the Ambrosial Arbor.
[Synchronization: 3.15%]
[Authority: Path Severance - Level 1]
I didn't just cut the thread; I replaced it. I funneled a stream of raw Chaos Essence into the Ape. The Abundance is about 'More'. The Chaos is about 'Nothing'.
The Ape's body began to react violently. Its wooden flesh started to grow uncontrollably in some places while dissolving in others. It let out a distorted, agonizing howl as its very existence became a contradiction.
"Now, Stelle! The Pillar!"
Stelle understood. She ignored the dying Ape and slammed her bat into the jade monolith. The kinetic energy, combined with the 'Void' I had introduced into the local field, shattered the vines instantly.
The Base Pillar lit up with a brilliant, lilac light.
"One pillar active," I announced.
Far across the Commission, I saw two more beams of light shoot into the sky. March, Welt, Dan Heng, and Seele had succeeded.
The sky above the Luofu began to shift. The Matrix of Prescience was working. The gravitational fields of the ship were being re-aligned, stripping away the Disruption Field around the Ambrosial Arbor.
"No... my work... the Medicus..." Dan Shu collapsed to her knees, her fan breaking in her hands.
I walked up to her. I could have killed her, but I saw the Seed in my soul pulsing. She was a high-level practitioner of the Abundance. Her body was a repository of thousands of years of biological 'data'.
I placed my hand on her forehead.
"Your work is not finished, Alchemist," I whispered. "It's just being... archived."
I didn't kill her. I absorbed her 'Aura of Abundance', leaving her as a normal, mortal woman. She fainted instantly, her long life finally catching up to her.
[Synchronization: 3.25%]
[Authority Gained: Biological Manipulation - Level 1]
"Is she... dead?" Stelle asked, walking over.
"She is human again," I replied. "A fate she might find worse than death, but a fate she deserved."
We looked toward the center of the Luofu. The Ambrosial Arbor was now fully visible, its massive, golden branches reaching toward the stars. But it was no longer protected.
"The General is moving," I noted, sensing Jing Yuan's immense power surging toward the tree.
"Then we have to get there too!" Stelle said.
But before we could call for a starskiff, the air in front of us rippled. A woman in a dark purple suit, holding a katana, stepped out of a void portal.
Kafka.
"Hello again, little wildcard," Kafka said, her eyes fixed on me. "And hello to you too, Trailblazer. You're doing quite well for someone who was just born a few months ago."
Stelle took a defensive stance. "What are you doing here, Kafka? Did you start this?"
"Me? No. I'm just the messenger," Kafka smiled. "The Stellaron was already here. We just... gave it a little nudge. But that's not why I'm here. I'm here to tell you that the 'Script' has a new chapter. One that involves our friend Mukhrezz here."
She looked at me, her smile turning sharp. "Elio says you're getting too hungry, Sovereign. If you eat the Arbor, you'll alert the 'Sentinels' before we're ready. He suggests you stay in your lane."
"Elio sees the future through a keyhole," I countered, my violet eyes glowing. "I am the one who owns the house. Tell him his suggestions are noted... and ignored."
Kafka laughed. "I knew you'd say that. Well, don't say I didn't warn you. Bladie is waiting at the tree. He's looking for a good death. Maybe you can give it to him?"
She vanished into a portal of butterflies.
"Mukhrezz... what did she mean?" Stelle asked, looking at me with suspicion. "Who are you really?"
"I am the one who is going to end this winter, Stelle," I said, looking toward the golden tree. "And to do that, I need to have a word with a very old, very hungry plant."
The battle for the Ambrosial Arbor was about to begin. The immortals were fighting for their lives, the cultists were fighting for their god, and the hunters were fighting for their script.
But the Chaos Sovereign? I was just fighting for my dinner.
[Season 1, Volume 1, Chapter 8: Complete]
[Synchronization: 3.35%]
[New Passive: Abundance Resistance - You are now immune to Mara infection.]