After a brief moment of lighthearted banter, Jing Yuan draped his arms around Dan Feng and Yingxing's necks, leading them toward the hot spring baths.
Bai Heng waved and hurried off toward her own quarters.
Jingliu had a thousand words in her heart but knew she couldn't speak them. Suppressing her surging thoughts, she prepared to turn and leave the tea room.
"Wait a moment."
"Is there something else, Master?" She maintained a calm expression as she turned back.
"Eat this."
Qi Zhimu casually tossed an object toward her.
Jingliu caught it and realized it was a familiar white jade bottle.
Inside was a single, golden, smooth pill. When she poured it into her palm, she could still feel a faint warmth radiating from it.
Was it fresh out of the furnace?
She didn't ask questions and simply put it into her mouth and swallowed.
"Anything else?"
"No."
Seeing his disciple leave immediately, Qi Zhimu spared the explanations, only sighing silently in his heart... In the future, the war would not cease.
Jingliu had once fought alongside her comrades and disciple, ascending the soaring sky-city nests to shear the flight feathers of the Wing-Makers' guards.
She had resisted the iron hooves of the Houyhnhnmss, throwing all the bridle-holders of those six-legged steeds into prison.
Wherever her blade pointed, the Abominations either died or were defeated; none were spared.
Compared to the previous Hunt expeditions on the Yaoqing, the intensity of the battles the Luofu was currently experiencing was no different, only slightly less frequent.
In the blink of an eye, the time had reached star calendar year 7377.
During several decades of precarious warfare, five heroes rose to fame, and their deeds gradually spread among the common people.
Folk creators used their exploits as a blueprint to create an illusion play called the High-Cloud Quintet.
Cloud Knight Sword Master Jingliu, with her unparalleled sword skills, struck terror into the hearts of countless Abominations.
Lord Yingyue Dan Feng, whose cloud-hymn sorcery could both attack and defend, summoning thunder and rain with every gesture.
The pilot Bai Heng, whose skillful handling of the starship left Abominations unable to track her,
supplemented by the divine weapons forged by the Zhuming craftsman Yingxing, and the strategic planning of the Cloud Knight Strategist Jing Yuan... Once the High-Cloud Quintet was released, it became a massive hit across the entire Luofu.
For a time, related creative works emerged in endless succession, driving an entertainment industry that had been stagnant for many years.
Unfortunately, none of the people involved paid any attention to it.
It wasn't until Clear Cold was browsing novels online as usual to gather material and inspiration that she accidentally caught a glimpse of those fan creations related to Jingliu and the others.
After she told Qi Zhimu, he only gave a faint smile and made no comment.
"Lord Zhimu!"
Sleeping Snow knocked on the study door and pushed it open before waiting for a response, her expression solemn.
Seeing her look, the two who were extremely familiar with one another knew there was likely an urgent matter.
"The Yueque Divination Commission has sent an emergency enemy situation report."
Although the three had retired from active service, they still paid attention to major enemy movements of the Abominations of Abundance.
Normally, the Divination Commission's reports were not open to them, but Qi Zhimu had his own channels to obtain information, even if it was not strictly compliant.
Sleeping Snow didn't waste any words and directly projected the report's contents onto a light screen.
"It's actually Hoolay... This fellow has been hiding for hundreds of years, how could he be captured by the cloud-gazing mirror now?"
The cloud-gazing mirror, a vital instrument of the Yueque Divination Commission, could be used to scan the real-time situation within the sea of stars, ensuring no black holes or other dangerous celestial bodies interfered with the routes.
At the same time, it could also be used for macro-scale universal scanning to roughly capture the movements of the Abominations of Abundance.
And this time, the cloud-gazing mirror had not only captured Hoolay's precise coordinates but had also used divination formations to predict all of Hoolay's subsequent movements.
"What is Teng Xiao's reaction?" Qi Zhimu asked.
"He has ordered Jingliu, Dan Feng, Jing Yuan, and others to lead the main attack, and has dispatched ten Vanguards to the coordinates reported by the Divination Commission to block Hoolay's retreat."
Sleeping Snow's tone was steady, her report orderly.
"The goal of this campaign is only one: to deal with Hoolay."
Since Hoolay became the Borisin war leader, speaking only of battles related to the Xianzhou, there had been at least several thousand direct or indirect wars.
If one counted other civilizations poisoned by him, there was no telling how many lives and star sectors had been annihilated under his claws.
His crimes were already too numerous to record, far exceeding the previous war leader, Ussa.
"Has the number of Cloud Knights mobilized for this battle exceeded seventy million?" Qi Zhimu asked.
"Not a single one more or less, exactly seventy million," Sleeping Snow replied.
"Heh... As expected, they couldn't hold back anymore..."
Hearing this, the two sisters were stunned and glanced at each other.
Clear Cold spoke up with some uncertainty, "Does Lord Zhimu mean that Hoolay was sold out by that fellow?"
"Most likely. It seems that day is coming soon..." Qi Zhimu's eyes narrowed slightly.
They naturally knew what 'that day' Qi Zhimu spoke of referred to.
"Do we need to notify General Teng Xiao...?" Sleeping Snow whispered.
"It's useless. We can't produce a reason that would convince the Alliance."
Qi Zhimu shook his head, knowing well that as a commander, in many places and at many times, one's hands were tied.
"Make all the preparations."
"We have long been prepared."
"...Actually, you still have room for regret. Stepping into the abyss, you might still survive in this world, but following me to embrace the abyss will lead to total death..."
"Lord Zhimu!!"
The sisters interrupted him in unison.
Clear Cold grabbed his hand, her eyes trembling slightly.
"Could it be that over hundreds or thousands of years... your heart has never felt a single spark of emotion for us?"
Sleeping Snow also grabbed his other hand.
"We dare not ask for much... but we still hope you will follow the true feelings in your heart and give us an answer."
"..."
The warmth from their palms caused Qi Zhimu to fall into a rare state of bewilderment. The chaotic past flooded his mind, yet it failed to find an answer for him.
Was it because the heart that belonged to him had long since died?
"I don't know..."
"Then use your body, use actual actions to find the answer."
Clear Cold leaned close to him, her voice as soft as a whisper.
"Lord Zhimu, let this humble girl and my sister truly become one with you..."
...Thanks to all the 'Hajidous' for their support. Here are three chapters. Fan fiction has low per-unit earnings, so don't forget to give a free 'power-up' to support Haji Huan after reading~~
...Starting to enter the final stage of the second life. Given that I said before Jingliu won't fall to mara again, I plan to rewrite the ending for the High-Cloud Quintet.
Anyway, the plot of this book isn't strongly connected to the game's main storyline, so just treat it as an IF line.
I received feedback that the pace of the second life is a bit slow, so I'll remove the early original daily life padding regarding Herta in the third life. But doing so will make the style and narrative logic very different from the second life, and some might find the characterization confusing.
So, I'm giving a heads-up in advance. The character designs presented in the game don't include their detailed experiences before they became famous, and their personalities then are unknown.
In fan fiction, serving the plot makes some disconnect unavoidable, since everyone has preconceived notions of the game's character designs. After all, no one knows if Herta had this same personality during her girlhood.
Whose daily life is in the picture below? Claim it quickly (〃￣︶￣)