"You... you actually suppressed my mara?!"
"And judging by your tone, you can eliminate it completely?!"
"How is that even possible?!" Jingliu stared at Yuki in disbelief—skepticism, awe, and a faint glimmer of desperate hope flickering in her ruby eyes.
"Why wouldn't it be?"
"For this pervert, nothing is impossible." Before Yuki could even respond, March 7th jumped in to boast on his behalf.
Yuki smiled at her, then turned his attention back to Jingliu.
"Eliminating mara is easy for me. But do you actually know where mara comes from?" His smile turned playful as he casually gazed toward a very specific point in the infinite void of space.
Somewhere in that unreachable dimension, a certain supreme entity hurriedly shut its cosmic eyes.
Seeing that reaction, Yuki shook his head with a quiet laugh. If you're going to hide like an ostrich even when I'm about to expose your secrets, what more can I say?
"Mara... isn't it a biological curse planted within the elixir of immortality by the Plague Author?" Jingliu thought for a moment, then countered, using the Xianzhou's derogatory title for Yaoshi.
"No."
"It's a curse of longevity, yes, but it didn't come from Yaoshi. The Xianzhou blames the Abundance for everything, but you have to remember—They are an Aeon. You cannot judge Them by mortal morality. When people pray for the elixir, Yaoshi grants it completely selflessly. They do not discriminate between targets. They do not distinguish between good and evil."
"Like a machine following its core directive."
"Mara? It is a rule—a fundamental cosmic constraint placed on the concept of immortality itself."
"And the one who set that rule? HooH, the Aeon of Equilibrium, who is seamlessly woven into the fabric of this universe."
The three women froze.
They hadn't expected another Aeon to be directly involved in this ancient tragedy.
But thinking about it logically, the concept of Equilibrium made horrifying sense. Balance—that was HooH's absolute domain. As the Aeon of Equilibrium, maintaining cosmic balance at all costs is Their sole purpose.
Take the Abundance's elixir: if it worked flawlessly without any drawbacks, more and more civilizations would seek immortality. Life without death.
The universe would inevitably overcrowd. Essential resources would dwindle to nothing.
To keep the cosmic scales balanced between life and death, where there is eternal life, there must be a heavy price. The Denizens of Abundance's endless outward aggression and wars? That was part of the equation.
And mara is the other part. Because immortality has such a gruesome side effect, mortals naturally become terrified and cautious when choosing whether to pursue it.
Yuki's explanation abruptly illuminated the darkest corners of Jingliu's worldview.
Himeko, too, felt a chilling new clarity—everything in the universe seemed brutally balanced by an unseen hand.
"Oh my god!"
"Listening to you explain it... it makes it feel like even the birth of the Xianzhou's Aeon of the Hunt was orchestrated by this 'Equilibrium'!"
"To counterbalance the Abundance! To restrain them! To achieve universal balance!" March gasped, voicing a terrifyingly bold speculation.
Jingliu's scalp prickled with ice.
It felt like everything—every single tragedy, every war—was coldly orchestrated by this Aeon on a cosmic chessboard. To ensure the universe naturally produced a force to counteract the Denizens of Abundance.
If so, then the Xianzhou Alliance's endless suffering... her own agonizing suffering... was all just a predetermined part of some cosmic script.
"So this Aeon of Equilibrium... They are secretly guiding our individual fates?"
"Is this the ultimate 'truth of destiny'?" Himeko's expression darkened heavily as she pondered the horrific implications of a universe lacking free will.
Jingliu's aura sharpened into a razor edge. Her body trembled slightly—profound anguish and furious anger flickering across her pale face.
"No. Destiny? They don't control that." Yuki shook his head, firmly denying the link between Equilibrium and personal fate.
"Equilibrium isn't destiny. They don't write scripts. They simply correct cosmic imbalances. They restore the scales. Nothing else."
Hearing this, the killing intent radiating from Jingliu softened slightly.
"Setting that cosmic theory aside..."
"You say you can eliminate mara. That directly means opposing a rule set by that Aeon."
"Aren't you afraid They will intervene?" Jingliu asked a crucial, highly practical question.
"Oh? Should I take that as genuine concern for my safety, Miss Jingliu?" Yuki smiled, playfully teasing the stoic swordswoman.
"She's just asking if you're scared of getting beaten up by Equilibrium! It's not concern!" March rolled her eyes, cutting into the moment.
"No one asked you," Yuki rolled his eyes right back at the pink-haired girl.
March stomped her foot indignantly.
Ignoring her tantrum, Yuki smiled and addressed Jingliu calmly.
"My very presence here is the biggest imbalance in this entire universe."
"And yet, Equilibrium hasn't come knocking on my door."
Jingliu naturally assumed he meant his theoretical ability to eliminate mara was what caused the imbalance.
"As for why They haven't intervened..."
Before Yuki could finish his sentence, March cut in again.
"Because They know They can't beat you!"
"Exactly." Yuki nodded, playing along with her interruption.
Jingliu was utterly stunned.
Someone casually claiming an Aeon couldn't defeat them? To her battle-hardened mind, that sounded like pure madness—the ravings of either a complete fool or a terminal lunatic.
Aeons were untouchable, conceptual gods. The gap between Them and mortals was an insurmountable chasm.
"Believe what you will. Let's set that aside for now," Yuki said. "Let's talk about this planet."
Seeing her deep skepticism, Yuki dropped the subject. He hadn't expected her to immediately believe he could effortlessly eliminate mara anyway. He was just planting a seed. He knew that, eventually, she would come to him of her own volition.
Jingliu hesitated for a moment, then shifted gears, sharing what she had observed and learned since arriving on the world.
Himeko's initial suspicions were entirely correct.
The planet was once genuinely named "Gokan." Employees of the Interastral Peace Corporation had discovered it by sheer chance.
It started in typical IPC style: formally contact the natives, establish trade, and systematically exploit the planet's economic value.
But that corporate colonization didn't last.
One day, organic warships belonging to the Denizens of Abundance blotted out the sky.
They took over by brutal force. They plundered the resources. They ruthlessly enslaved the natives, forcing them to work the mines and fields. They tried to aggressively assimilate the population into their fanatical religion.
Those who resisted? Summarily eliminated.
The IPC personnel stationed there? Slaughtered to the last man.
And so, the planet became a conquered territory of the Abundance, forcibly renamed the "Star of the Sanctus Medicus."