Outside of the ruins—
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
Seated down together at the Lan Si Restaurant's fifth floor—where the open-air area is, are Wu Xiao, Nuo'er, Yun You, and Xiao Jun.
All of them currently staring at the skies outside.
Due to the number of souls that the laws of the Leng Bing Realm had instinctively pulled, the Soul Cage, better known as the Gears of Descension by the denizens of this world—are being made to rotate at extreme speeds.
"Ai… I give up."
Saying this, Wu Xiao leans back in her chair, and the moment she does this—
*…!!! …!!! …!!!* several gears that are situated in various parts of the world tremble, and at a rate that is barely visible to the eyes, these gears begin to tilt towards the earth.
"Same."
Doing the same, Nuo'er's withdrawal causes a few more gears to respond in the same manner.
Simultaneously, Yun You and Xiao Jun shake their heads, and with their withdrawal—
*Boom!!!!!!!* a colossal gear that is situated a few miles away from the Grounded City falls—embedding itself into the earth like a chakram.
*Guuuuuuuu!!!* the tremors caused by this gear's fall can be felt even from the restaurant—causing many workers to raise their heads in alarm, while the red lanterns sway from side to side.
Spewing out a heavy sigh, Yun You takes out a bottle of wine.
"Right, cheers to our retirement!"
Following Yun You's words—
*Boom!!! Boom!!! Boom!!!* a second, a third, and a fourth gear falls near the city.
"…"
"…"
"…"
Simultaneously, Wu Xiao, Nuo'er, and Xiao Jun turn to Yun You, who is twitching his lips.
The first two are clearly unamused, but since Xiao Jun's head is covered by a helmet, it's impossible to tell what expression he has.
"Ai, lighten up. All of us knew that this was going to happen eventually."
Saying this, Yun You takes out four cups, and begins to fill them.
"It's been a while since we've all managed to gather together."
Turning to Nuo'er, Yun You adds—
"Even if three of us aren't here as our true selves."
Picking up a filled cup, Xiao Jun opens the mouth portion of his helmet—revealing there to be nothing behind it. Despite this, he nevertheless downs the drink, and remarks—
"Too fruity… I prefer my beverage on the spicier side."
"This is only the first one."
Saying this, Yun You takes out a few more brands of wine, all contained in varying vessels.
Turning to Wu Xiao, Xiao Jun says—
"I heard that elder sister got married. Once more, congratulations."
"Thanks."
Giving the wine a sniff, Wu Xiao takes a sip, while Xiao Jun goes on to ask—
"Is it him?"
"Hmm, hard to say. Actually, I sometimes wonder if I should even care at this point."
Beside Wu Xiao, Nuo'er also takes a sip from her cup, prior to remarking—
"I wonder what that surnamed Zhou is doing right now."
"Surnamed Zhou? …Ah, Zhou Xiaoyu? Probably panicking? They're so close to reaching their goal, and yet, the heavens saw it humorous to say no."
Replying as such, Yun You smiles with glee—happy to think about the misfortunate that has befallen Zhou Xiaoyu.
"I did warn that surnamed Zhou ahead of time. Apparently, it's become quite easy for the inner domain to use the Ripper to tear themselves into the outer domain now."
Hearing this from Xiao Jun, Wu Xiao raises an eye, and asks—
"Wouldn't that sore loser think to come into the outer domain now? Or maybe even attack New Moon Village?"
Shrugging his shoulders, Yun You replies—
"Not like it matters too much. As for your second point… That surnamed Zhen must have already expected them to rip their polite mask off sooner or later."
"…What if surnamed Zhou end up encountering Long-shao and Bai Wen right off the bat?"
Towards Nuo'er's remark, Wu Xiao and Yun You pause the movement of their cup-lifting hand.
"That sore loser is a member of the Golden Dragon Tribe. Her personality, it's the embodiment of arrogance—seeing someone like that having their face rubbed against the ground…"
"No matter how you think about it—that can only be quite satisfying to watch."
In response to Wu Xiao and Yun You's words, Nuo'er and Xiao Jun sinks into thought.
In the distant past, Zhou Xiaoyu had challenged all of them to a fight—with the hopes of devouring one of them, to become a member of the Four Pillars. She believed that by doing so, she would end up getting closer to her goal, however, the results were four losses instead.
Setting his cup down, Xiao Jun says—
"I do wish to see her beaten to a pulp. She believes herself capable of busting me out of the Demon Suppression Prison—when she still owes me a great number of drinks."
The Demon Suppression Prison, it's where the true selves of Wu Xiao, Yun You, and Xiao Jun are situated.
The first to be thrown into the prison was naturally Wu Xiao, and a few centuries afterwards—Yun You and Xiao Jun followed.
"Remind me again—why did you two get thrown into that prison after me?"
Towards Wu Xiao's question, Xiao Jun replies—
"Numerous people were picking fights with me—in the hopes of forming a contract, so I ended up picking fights with them first."
As Wu Xiao twitches her lips in response to this childlike logic of Xiao Jun's, Yun You adds—
"I ended up joining in on those fights, and…- Well, due to how intense those fights got, we ended up destroying a good number of landscapes."
"And a few planets as well. That old tortoise, at some point—they said enough was enough, and sent their hounds after us. Upon capture, we were both thrown into that prison."
"Ai, our status—as weapons crafted by the hands of the Ling Yuan Ancestor, it was simply too tempting to the greedy."
"Indeed."
Towards the narcissistic duo—who seem to be gloating about a glorious period of their lives, Wu Xiao and Nuo'er look on with amazement.