The guardian took into account the difference in their identities, and with Jingliu's parents having passed away early…
In order to take care of Jingliu's feelings and give his lover enough security, he prepared a generous dowry for her.
'Reasonable. Completely reasonable!'
The guardian was still Jingliu's lover.
Following his line of thinking… If something unexpected happened before marriage and he died early, that would be perfectly normal, right?
So, he felt entirely justified.
This wasn't an inheritance. It was a dowry.
He just left a bit earlier.
Thinking of this, Hua let out a cold laugh.
Zero raised his eyes and quietly looked at her.
Under the other person's gaze, which seemed completely unmoved, Hua looked like a hysterical madwoman in contrast.
Anger, arguing, even crying… all useless.
Maybe she should just knock him out and take him back to Xuling.
Just as Hua was thinking this, Zero somehow produced a blade from nowhere.
She quickly recognized it, "Kyoka Suigetsu."
"Feather Dust" could create illusions for enemies.
"Kyoka Suigetsu" could do the same.
Then… was everything she was seeing right now an illusion?
Hua remained expressionless. When she looked up again, she smiled at Zero.
Then, as if she could no longer hide her true emotions, her brows knit together and her smile collapsed.
"You said you would attend my coming-of-age ceremony."
"I spent a whole month in advance choosing clothes for you to wear to it."
"But… you broke your promise."
Zero just looked at Hua, his expression never changing.
Seeing this, Hua switched to a tone tinged with tears and continued, "Father… I miss you."
"We waited for you… for a hundred years, a thousand years."
"But… this time, I can't wait for another hundred or thousand years anymore."
A slight change flickered across Zero's expression, but he still didn't speak.
Hua closed her eyes, biting her lower lip, as if trying her best to hold back the urge to cry.
She smiled as she spread her arms, as if waiting for an embrace, while showing him her empty hands.
"Even if you're going to leave… at least give me a hug, okay?"
Zero tightened his grip on "Kyoka Suigetsu" and sighed,
"Stop waiting."
"Go to sleep."
Hua's body wavered, and she uncontrollably fell into a dream.
When she woke up again, the guardian was gone.
The only thing he left behind was a coat draped over her shoulders.
On the table, the unopened jade communicator and "Tenseiga" were still where they had been.
Hua's face was expressionless.
She had deliberately brought up the jade communicator, saying that only by using it could one enter or leave this place.
Because without it, Hua wouldn't be able to pinpoint his location.
In the end, she had even deliberately put on a tearful tone, asking the guardian to hug her.
And what happened?
They didn't hug, and Hua missed her best chance to knock him out.
The guardian didn't fall for it at all.
Hua stood up and looked around. She quickly deduced his escape route.
So he climbed over the wall and ran.
She let out a cold laugh, "When I ran away back then, why didn't I run into this batch of Cloud Knights?"
Just as Hua was about to go look for him, the jade communicator at her side rang.
It was Marty's electronic voice.
He seemed to be talking to someone.
It looked like this person was extremely special, to the point that Marty had synced their conversation to her jade communicator?
Hua listened for a while, and finally heard Marty point out the identity of the person on the other side.
"I will never betray the Marshal."
"I will always be the Marshal's most loyal subordinate."
"Then what about the 'Elated Aeon'? What would the Marshal do for you?"
Hua, "..."
'What exactly are you people even talking about?!'
The Aeon chuckled and spoke with full confidence, "Your Marshal grants all my requests."
To fulfill Aha's wishes, his dear friend had personally sent Him to the Swarm as a certain kind of master.
"After our first meeting, he has always treasured the gift I gave him."
When Aha first met his dear friend, He split off one-tenth of His divine power and gave it to him.
"Whatever I give him, he will return a gift of equal value."
Even Aha hadn't expected that whether it was the mask imbued with divine power, or the six billion credits He and His followers gave his dear friend, the other party returned them all.
Marty let out a short laugh.
"Do you think the Marshal would kill a god for us?"
Even though they weren't in the same place, Hua and Aha both fell silent at the same time.
Their guardian/dear friend… when it comes to killing gods, he really does it.
Marty continued, "He would. As long as we need it, he would kill you for us."
Aha quickly responded, "Killing gods? He's done that for me too!"
That lump of iron from the Intelligence, that was killed by his dear friend for Aha! Just didn't manage to finish it off.
Marty lost interest in continuing the conversation with Aha.
"There's no need to say more, 'Elated Aeon.' We will always advance and retreat together with the Marshal."
Aha let out a deep sigh and, rarely, became serious, "He needs you."
"A person like him, someone so proud… yet willing to die for you…"
This time, Hua and Marty fell silent instead.
Aeons and humans were like humans and ants.
They didn't care about human opinions, just like humans didn't pay attention to the ants under their feet while walking.
They had no way to judge whether these words were true or false.
Marty asked, "What is your purpose? What kind of deal have you made with the other Aeons?"
Aha answered very straightforwardly, "The answers to those two questions… are actually the same."
His dear friend was the only truth in a false world.
"That is, to let my dear friend live well, forever walking on my Path..."
Only if his dear friend remained joyful forever could the entire universe continue to be joyful.
Soon, the conversation ended.
Hua also understood the real reason behind Marty's actions.
Marty wasn't good at dealing with people, let alone an Aeon. He had to pull someone in to listen in.
Marty sounded worried. "Your Highness, what should we do? Should we trust Him?"
Hua's mouth twitched slightly, "…That's not the point. Where are you? Go find him! Go meet him!"
After urging Marty, Hua also sent out her guards.
Finally, she picked up the jade communicator, opened the chat, and asked Guanliang.
[Hua: He ran away. Did he go to find Zandar?]
———
On the other side, Guanliang stared at the blade right in front of him.
Old friends, separated for hundreds, thousands of years, met again. There were no greetings, no embrace, only a weapon pressed against a vital spot.
Zero's tied-up long hair clung to both sides of his neck, slightly messy.
He looked down at Guanliang and said calmly, "Jade communicator."
Guanliang cooperated very well, putting down the jade communicator and raising both hands in surrender.
Zero lowered his eyes. One hand kept holding the knife, while the other replied to the message for Guanliang.
[Guanliang: ?!]
[Guanliang: Do you need me to come over now?]
After sending the message, Zero put away the knife and walked to Zandar's side, sitting down close to him.
He really didn't have the energy to hide his emotions anymore.
Sitting close like this, he didn't need to control his expression.
Zandar had a smile in his eyes. While using the communal chopsticks to pick up meat, he looked his student up and down.
His movement suddenly paused as he stared at the neck of the person beside him.
Zandar stared at that color so similar to blood.
The scene before his eyes overlapped with the tragic image of his student after his carotid artery had been cut.
A buzzing filled his ears.
By the time Zandar reacted, his hand had already lifted the hair at Zero's neck.
The three of them, "..."
The hand holding Zero's chopsticks instantly froze.
His mind went blank with a loud buzz.
Like a machine on the verge of breaking down, even his neck seemed to rust over. He slowly turned his head and looked at Zandar.
Zandar saw his student's ears turn bright red, and hurriedly used his hair to cover his neck again, hiding the mottled kiss marks and bite marks.
In the blink of an eye, he came up with a way out.
At this point, Zandar could only play the role of someone who didn't understand the situation, didn't understand relationships, and had low intelligence.
He frowned, deliberately putting on an expression of disappointment, and questioned his student, "She laid hands on you?"
Zero opened his mouth, suppressing the complicated emotions in his heart.
"…No."
Guanliang's expression was complicated. Looking at his former superior who had no experience in romance, he spoke earnestly, "Let me give you some advice. Marriage isn't child's play."
Zandar looked troubled. Hearing Guanliang's words, he no longer cared about how much he disliked him, nor about his student's dignity, and immediately chimed in, "Don't marry her just because she slept with you!"
Guanliang's pupils trembled.
'Akivili was one thing… He was an Aeon and couldn't speak Xianzhou language.'
'But Zandar, you really dare to say that! How can you also not speak Xianzhou language? This guy is really going to get angry from embarrassment!'
Zero had no intention of discussing his progress with Jingliu with others.
Doing so… felt like he was being disrespectful to Jingliu.
Besides, was he the type to cross boundaries before marriage?
Zero's face was expressionless, "No. I don't like this kind of topic. Don't bring it up again."
"In your eyes, am I that kind of person?"
Guanliang and Zandar were quite surprised. They spoke in unison, "Aren't you?"
'Aren't you the type who would marry someone after being slept with?'