*Kakaka…* crunching on the final remains of a weapon spirit, the White Serpent King raises a low growl, as it falls onto all fours.
As the entirety of its body collapses into mercurous liquid, it begins to reform itself.
For the entirety of the day before, and up until now, the White Serpent King has been hunting down the various weapon spirits that are scattered throughout the area.
At this point, more than a quarter of the weapon spirit population has been devoured by it.
As the reformation continues—structurally, the White Serpent King's upper body maintains a humanoid form, but gradually scale-patterns begin to appear from head to toe.
Folding its legs at an awkward angle, its lower body begins to resemble that of a lizard, and—
*…! …! …! …!* in a rapid manner, eight white ribbons of light protrudes from the White Serpent King's back, along with a two-meter tail.
*Grrrooooo!!!* raising a howl, the White Serpent King directs its eight ribbon blades onto itself—opening its wounds, causing mercurous liquid to bleed outwards.
And as these mercurous liquid drips onto the snow, they quickly begin to expand in volume—gradually turning themselves into a smaller version of the White Serpent King's current form, but with two ribbon blades instead of eight.
"…"
Raising its eyeless serpentine head in a specific direction, the White Serpent King issues a single order to its clones, being—
"Hunt!"
As soon as it gives this order, the White Serpent King dashes off into the direction that it is sensing a massive amount of Spirit Extracts from.
...…
Arriving at the top of Mount Changqiu, Long Hua and the others step onto a square-shaped platform.
In the center of this platform is a stone ring, which has a quarter of its body missing.
Seated at the edge of the platform, a few meters away from the ring are—
"Surnamed Yu?"
"Long-laoban."
Yu Ji sits with Li beside her.
Prior to Long Hua and the others' arrival, they had been watching the ancient cityscape—as if attempting to imprint it into their hearts.
Towards Yu Ji's ability to recognize him—through the recognition inhibiting mask, Long Hua raises an eye. But then again, among all his acquaintances in this world, Yu Ji can be considered the weapon spirit that knows him best.
Walking over, Long Hua asks—
"So, what exactly are you two doing here?"
Towards the question, Li answers—
"There's a colossal magic array directly beneath the city. Once all the others have gotten out of the city, we plan to detonate the array."
Adding to this, Yu Ji says—
"All the weapon spirits—those ghosts that you've encountered, they've tied themselves to this array."
"Oh? So, putting them out of their misery basically?"
Twitching her lips, Yu Ji remarks—
"As crude as always, Long-laoban. Ai, as former emperor, we figured that it is only right for us to do this."
Despite not knowing the full story behind this, Long Hua replies—
"I see. What happens after this city is buried?"
"We'll be leaving this ruin, to leisurely await the day when Wen Qing will pick us up."
Saying this, Li stands up first, and is followed by Yu Ji.
Receiving a subtle bow from the two siblings, Long Hua smiles faintly, and remarks—
"No attachments to this world at all?"
Tilting her head, Li replies—
"When we were emperor of this land—once known as the Yu Ling Empire, we strived to do our best, to make our citizens feel fulfilled. However, due to special circumstances, we were forced to leave the capital for some time. During that period, a general of ours staged a rebellion. And by the time that we were given the opportunity to return, we had two options."
Adding to this, Yu Ji says—
"Our first option was to take the throne back somehow, while our second option, was to simply turn our backs to it. In the end, the first option is far too much trouble to do, so we opted for the second one."
Hearing this, Yao Ying walks over, and asks—
"So easily—you two chose to leave everything behind?"
Tilting her head, Yu Ji remarks—
"Friends of yours, Long-laoban?"
"I guess?"
"I see. In any case, the time that we spent as emperor wasn't really something that we felt too much attachment to—since we've had to perform that role for over 300 years. Keeping ourselves within the imperial palace for so long, we figured that it was about time for a change. So, we went out to see the world. After all…"
"We did promise Wen Qing—that we would act as his eyes, to see the rest of this world that he couldn't. Any attachments that we have to this world, all of it will go—the moment this city is buried. …Being accustomed to something, it makes an individual stagnate. The moment they're dragged away from their comfort zone, they'll have a difficult time adjusting to a new norm."
Having a difficult time keeping up with all this, Yao Ying can't help but frown in confusion. To her, Yu Ji and Li seem like a representation of the life that she could choose to have—if she were to simply turn her back away from the Chen Shi family and the Yun family altogether.
"Hmm. Seems to be a happy ending."
Saying this, Long Hua heads for the opposite end of the platform, where Qing Ming Yang and Lin Yu Heng stood.
Momentarily, Tian Cheng follows him.
"You seem to have quite a bit on your mind."
"…Un."
Towards Li's remark, Yao Ying nods her head, and asks—
"Did you two ever regret your decision to leave everything behind?"
Towards this question, the two siblings shake their heads, and replies—
"Why bother to regret our decision?"
"The world outside of the palace was warmer and much more interesting."
Adding to this remark from Li, Yu Ji says—
"Although, it was difficult to get used to at first."
"With no servants to tend to our every need, we had to take care of everything ourselves."
"I see."
Bowing subtly to the two, Yao Ying makes her way over to the others.
"Well, well."
Looking at the snow-covered cityscape that is beneath this mountain, Long Hua smiles.
As the body of the mountain is slanted, one could slide into the city grounds below—so long as they are properly equipped with the necessary tools.
"Senior, are we just going to float down?"
"Hmm."
Rotating a certain cultivation method subtly, causing the glass-like shard from before to manifest, Long Hua momentarily replies—
"There's still plenty of time to kill, and now that there's some fun to be had, why not take it?"
Saying this, Long Hua takes out a snowboard, prior to adding—
"Try to avoid the staircase's support beams, if you're interested in doing this."