"If I weren't here, this Luofu would fall apart!"
But… something still feels a bit off?
Just then, Qingzu hurried over.
"Lady Diviner, something happened again on the Dragon Preceptor's side!"
...
"There's no such thing as peaceful days—someone's just carrying the burden for everyone else."
Having just finished dealing with the Dragon Preceptor situation, Xun Yu rubbed his forehead.
He never expected Jingliu and the others to go so hard—they killed another one…
Though the one who got killed wasn't a good person to begin with. If nothing unexpected happened, he would've been arrested sooner or later anyway.
"But…"
Looking at the dead Dragon Preceptor, Xun Yu fell into thought.
When did he start treating life so lightly?
For things like mosquitoes and insects, people normally don't feel any psychological burden killing them.
But for a humanoid being like this…
Tsk. Without realizing it, he'd become the kind of person he used to dislike…
He suddenly understood a bit more of what Jingliu once said.
Aeons don't care about mortal life or death—but Xun Yu's essence was still human…
After a long silence, he sighed and left.
Thinking too much just annoys yourself…
Good and evil will be judged by others; right and wrong is up to him.
From his perspective, these Dragon Preceptors were evil—so why overthink it?
And so, the Vidyadhara Dragon Preceptors of the Luofu were killed twice.
The first time was ruled an accident.
And the second time…
Fu Xuan looked at the Dragon Preceptor riddled with seven swords, then at the divination result…
"Suicide."
Seven swords in the body. Suicide…
Fu Xuan's silence was deafening.
As clever as she was, there was no way she'd believe such a ridiculous result.
Someone must have interfered with her divination.
A figure immediately appeared in her mind.
"If it's him… then it makes sense."
"But why would he do this?"
Slaughtering a Vidyadhara Dragon Preceptor—an ally of the Xianzhou—would bring endless trouble upon him.
Unless…
"Ta-da! Aha makes an entrance~!"
Fu Xuan's vision blurred, and she suddenly found herself in the starry sky.
Aha shrank to her height, then abruptly popped right into her face.
"Not bad, not bad~ Aha thinks highly of you. Try to capture Aha's little envoy soon, okay~"
Amid Aha's laughter, Fu Xuan realized a jade slip had appeared in her hand.
Aha vanished.
But that wasn't the end. In the next moment, another figure appeared—one every Xianzhou person would recognize.
The Aeon of the Hunt: Lan.
"Reignbow Arbiter?!"
...
No one knew that Fu Xuan had just met the Reignbow Arbiter. No one knew what was said.
People only noticed that the Grand Diviner suddenly seemed pumped up, her whole spirit rising dramatically.
Meanwhile, the High-Cloud Quintet led Bailu around eating and playing nonstop, while March 7th dragged the Trailblazer into another round of "touring the Luofu."
Elsewhere, Yanqing was troubled.
Taixu Sword Qi has five aggregates:
Heart, Form, Intent, Soul, Spirit.
"Heart" and "Intent" are internal cultivation.
"Form" and "Soul" are sword techniques.
Though called "Sword Qi," if one truly wishes to manifest the sword through spirit and let sword qi arise from the heart, one must comprehend the fifth aggregate—Spirit.
Ever since learning it from Xun Yu, Yanqing had been pondering day and night.
But the Spirit aggregate—within the Honkai 3rd world—had only been comprehended by Fu Hua and her fifth disciple Ling Shuang in thousands of years.
[TL note: isn't this edge of taixuan or am I tweaking?]
Even if he was a genius, and even if Xun Yu had optimized the technique to make it slightly easier, achieving results in just a few days was still too difficult.
"Yo, practicing?"
"Teacher Xun Yu!"
Yanqing stood and saluted. It gave Xun Yu a strange feeling.
Why did it feel like he'd stolen Jing Yuan's disciple?
Ah well. Not a big problem.
"Training with the sword all day without rest won't do."
"Come on, your teacher will take you to relax~"
Relax… paired with Xun Yu's slightly suspicious smile…
If Yanqing weren't still a pure-hearted kid, he might've gotten the wrong idea.
"Huh? Ah?"
"Teacher Xun Yu, I—"
"Listen. None of this 'yours' or 'mine.' Trust me. Relaxing properly helps cultivation."
Yanqing scratched his head. That's not what he meant!
"Teacher Xun Yu, what Yanqing wanted to say is: I want to challenge you and see the gap between us…"
Hearing this, Xun Yu's expression changed.
Kid, you really only pick high-level matches, huh?
Should he hold back a lot and lose on purpose?
Then…
"#Shocking! A genius youth of the Luofu defeats an Aeon!"
…Better not. Wouldn't want the kid getting too cocky.
Fail once, grow wiser. Fail many times, grow much wiser.
"Alright. Ready?"
Seeing Yanqing nod, Xun Yu moved instantly—no startup at all.
A golden finger suppressed Yanqing before he could react.
Only afterward did Yanqing hear Xun Yu's voice:
"Great Desolation Imprisoning Heaven Finger!"
[TL note: using an ultimate attack level on a kid is something only xun you would do]
"From now on, my name is April Eight, and you're May Nine."
"Our identities are interstellar merchants who just happened to discover this icy planet that recently reconnected with the cosmos."
"And also… blah blah… got it?"
Not long ago, Bronya sent a message to the Astral Express crew, inviting them to Belobog for the Radiant Festival.
The Trailblazer and March 7th agreed immediately.
Welt wanted to study the Engine of Creation more, so he went too.
Himeko stayed on the Express as usual.
Dan Heng got dragged away by Baiheng and the others—no way he could go.
Xun Yu also found an excuse, saying he wouldn't go.
But in reality, how could he not go?
He just wanted to change identities and see if he could find some new fun.
"Uh… Teacher Xun Yu, isn't this a bit too…"
Yanqing—now completely restyled into a younger version of Jing Yuan—looked confused at Xun Yu, who had turned into a pink-haired figure resembling a taller March 7th.
"When you're out in the world, identities are whatever you make them. Relax~ I've prepared proper documents."
"I already told Jing Yuan. He agreed with both hands and feet."
"Give up resisting, Yanqing. Your general has already sold you to me."
"Young people should see more of the world. Maybe in some special situation, you'll suddenly reach enlightenment~"