Regardless of everything, Phantylia's grand conspiracy with the Borisin had finally come to a definitive end.
The chaotic energy tides churning in the void hadn't fully subsided, but the suffocating, apocalyptic pressure had largely dissipated.
Inside the core command module of the Luofu's flagship, Fu Xuan accepted the Prison Realm artifact from Lingsha. Its surface shimmered with a glazed, glass-like luster.
With a light flick of her fingertip, a trace of Origin Strike: Star Shatter silently swept over the artifact. The bizarre relic, originally forged from a high monk's sarira, dissolved into nothingness—like pencil marks erased by a rubber—without leaving a single trace behind.
"As expected of the General."
Lingsha crossed her arms and sighed in admiration. Then, she turned her teasing gaze to the Master Artisan who had just broken out of the seal. "So, how does it feel? Being trapped right in the dead center of a history-book-level incident, yet entirely missing out on the entire show?"
Everyone knew the truth. If Yunli hadn't been instantly banned from the match at the very start, an S-Rank powerhouse like her could have easily carved a bloody path straight through this entire event from start to finish. The rest of Crychic would have only needed to trail behind her, cheering her on while flirting with each other.
The Four Heavenly Kings? Kill, kill, kill, kill!
Hoolay's clone? Kill, kill, kill, kill!
Phantylia? Kill—
Okay, she probably couldn't kill that one.
But the Great King Yunli definitely wouldn't have given Phantylia the chance to complete the ritual and fully vitalize the planet under their feet.
The only downside was that the Foxian slaves would have been screwed. Phantylia would have undoubtedly drained all their life force as sacrifices long before Cangdu ever got the chance to awaken their rebellious spirits.
It was basically the equivalent of turning on god-mode cheats in a video game and speedrunning straight to the final boss. Sure, you clear the main storyline insanely fast, but you also perfectly miss every single side-quest and the True Ending that required meticulous micromanagement.
Of course, this kind of affectionate, teasing banter was something only Lingsha—an older sister figure who had watched Yunli grow up—could say so casually.
If anyone else had tried it, the young Master Artisan would have instantly given them a hands-on demonstration of why every major faction's intelligence file on her explicitly included the trait: "Extremely fiery temper."
However, after waiting a moment, Lingsha realized the girl was still looking down at the floor.
Her long bangs completely obscured the upper half of her beautiful face, making her expression entirely unreadable.
"Yunli?" Lingsha asked, finding it slightly strange. She leaned in, her tone shifting to genuine concern. "Did you stay inside the seal for too long? Are you feeling unwell?"
"...Big Sister Lingsha."
Yunli's voice was low. It carried a highly noticeable, raspy urgency.
She raised her head. Those bright, golden eyes that normally sparkled with brilliant light were now clouded with a profoundly complex emotion. "Li-bao... where is he right now?"
"Li-bao?"
Having carefully read through Crychic's squad files before coming, Lingsha knew exactly who that affectionate nickname—coined by Hyacine—belonged to.
"You mean Fuli," she replied. "Dr. Vill-V from the Helix Craft just sent a message. She said they've already safely transported him back to the Hyperion."
The Master Artisan didn't say another word. A split second later, the deafening sound of a physical body violently smashing through reinforced glass echoed in everyone's ears.
---||---
Meanwhile, in the upper medical ward of the Hyperion...
Lying in a hospital bed, Fuli's eyelids were fighting a losing battle against gravity, but he still stubbornly stated his case. "So the conclusion is: Cassie's feet lean more toward a professional, business style, while Li-bao's feet lean more toward a sporty, athletic style."
(Yeah, this really doesn't matter.)
(Fun biological fact: Feet are not actually reproductive organs.)
Having delivered this profound thesis, the boy finally exhausted the very last ounce of his strength. Swept up in extreme exhaustion, his head lolled to the side, and his breathing grew even and steady.
"Ugh, this guy is spouting weird nonsense again."
Kiana sat backward in a chair next to the bed. She reached out and poked his cheek, which looked remarkably peaceful in his deep sleep.
Hovering mid-air, Kallen wore an incredibly bizarre expression. She couldn't help but recall that time in the virtual space of Kolosten Town.
Fuli had literally yelled at the virtual Otto: "Besides, experts have studied it: the more outstanding a man is, the more he likes a woman's legs and feet. Brother, as the smartest person in the world designated by the Void Archives, you must be hopelessly in love with girls' feet, right?"
He had choked the virtual Otto so hard the man couldn't say a single word in response.
On the other side of the room, Prometheus's gaze slowly swept across the massive crowd currently gathered on the expansive deck of the Hyperion.
Thanks to the iterative upgrades of the Finality Coordinator System, the lunar duo no longer needed to completely rely on Fuli's physical senses to observe the outside world.
And right now, the warship's deck was an absolute gathering of stars.
Schicksal's strongest Valkyrie, Durandal, was present, currently engaged in her usual bickering with the Death Knight, Einmaid, who had arrived a step late.
Not far away, Asta stood with her arms spread wide while Anna diligently dusted off the microscopic particles of dirt she had accumulated during her dive to the planet's core.
Several Chrysos Heirs were also present. Topaz, having somehow caught wind of the "Golden Mead," had eagerly approached Hyacine, trying to negotiate for the recipe and exclusive distribution rights.
On a neighboring escort frigate, Robin was gently singing to soothe the traumatized Foxian slaves. Klein, acting under Mobius's orders, was meticulously bustling about to help organize the refugees—all within a clearly visible distance.
Houraiji Kyoushou and Bronya sat together, loudly bragging to each other about their latest gaming high scores.
Miyuki Asakura and Yuno, having just experienced a massive, apocalyptic war for the first time, still looked slightly shaken. Himeko projected a calm, "the youth need this kind of tempering" attitude, but was actually keeping a highly protective eye on them.
And then there was Hua, Raiden Mei, the currently absent Mobius and Vill-V, the Xianzhou Generals Fu Xuan and Feixiao, Jingliu (who hadn't yet received the news)...
Looking at this gathered force, it was highly likely that even if a Sequence Level powerhouse personally attacked right now, they would struggle to break through.
"Look at this! Just look at this! I told you my plan was absolutely foolproof!"
Dr. MEI, sitting on the moon, looked incredibly smug. "Look how massive a network he's accumulated in such a short time! Give it another two years, and the future successors of every major faction in the universe will share the surname 'Fuli'!"
(Surname 'Fuli' sounds identical to the word for 'Happiness'—pfft, truly hilarious.)
Prometheus wanted to retort, but catching another glimpse of the crowd on the deck, she couldn't help but deflate.
The evidence was right in front of her. While the affection levels of most of the women present were still hovering in the "more than friends" category, that level alone was more than enough to cross the threshold for marriage discussions.
If Fuli genuinely asked any of them out, it wouldn't be all of them, but at least 90% would instantly say yes—only to subsequently be assassinated by the remaining members of the group.
Factoring in her Host's passive incubus-like attraction, his disaster-magnet constitution that dragged him into a major incident every other day, and the fact that it had only been half a year since his rebirth...
The "Sow Seeds Across the Universe" plan... might actually work?
"Li-baooooooo!!!"
See? Here comes another one.
A shout brimming with absolute vitality echoed from the distance, rapidly drawing closer. Both members of the lunar duo simultaneously shifted their gazes toward the source.
In ancient times, Minamoto no Yoshitsune leaped across eight enemy ships in rapid succession to chase down Taira no Noritsune.
Today, Yunli was literally using dozens of warships as stepping stones, aggressively parkouring her way toward the Hyperion.
---||---
Rewinding time slightly to the day Yunli was sealed:
As the contemporary Master Artisan, Yunli possessed the unique innate talent to read a weapon's memories and perceive the emotions and history imbued within it.
Thus, the exact microsecond she laid eyes on the Tyrant's Barricade, an absolute flood of images and emotions smashed into her mind like a bursting dam.
It was the incredibly dense, unyielding yearning and fatal resolve etched deeply into the very steel of the blade.
Because of this, all of Fuli's bizarre actions—how he knew about the Formless Sword she had prepared for her future husband, why he had acted completely insane in Jigui City—all the logical links were instantly connected in her mind.
Under normal circumstances, upon learning all this, the girl would have immediately tracked Fuli down and laid everything out on the table.
That was just her personality. When she got fired up, her actions always moved faster than her brain. Beating around the bush simply wasn't in her vocabulary.
Who could have predicted that Phantylia would suddenly play an entirely unmartial move and lock Yunli inside a completely isolated dark room via the Prison Realm?
But it was exactly during this unexpected window of isolation that the young girl took the time to repeatedly savor those warm, incredibly precious memories.
"Setsuna Blade Arts: Tyrant's Barricade... huh?"
"Hmph. That Li-bao... if he liked me, he should have just said so~"
Inside the Prison Realm, Yunli rolled over, a terribly inappropriate smile spreading across her face—one that was a mixture of sweetness, cuteness, and pure degeneracy.
Eventually, the girl slowly calmed down. And then, a suffocating, abyssal, world-ending murderous intent erupted from her.
In 1794, the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, right before being executed by guillotine, requested his executioner to observe if his severed head continued to blink, in order to test how long consciousness remained after decapitation.
The experiment proved that even for an ordinary human, consciousness could persist for a fleeting moment after the head was severed from the body.
As an exceptionally powerful combatant, even after her head was brutally chopped off, the Yunli from the previous timeline didn't die immediately.
She had to helplessly watch as her own severed head was picked up by the enemy and forcefully pressed against Fuli's lips, completing that final, desperate kiss that tasted entirely of rust and blood.
Only then did she plunge into eternal slumber.
And based on a quick analysis of Fuli's behavioral patterns in those memories, it was painfully obvious that his time of death was likely only moments after hers.
In other words, right after she died, Li-bao quickly followed in her footsteps.
So, here was the question: From Yunli's perspective, which "kind soul" was the most likely candidate to have sent Fuli to the afterlife?
"Shuhu!!!!!"
An absolutely irreconcilable name squeezed through the girl's gritted teeth.
That's right. It could only be her. It had to be her.
At the time, the only people on that battlefield were Shuhu and Fuli. Even though Yunli had relied on the Tyrant's Barricade and a massive arsenal of weapons to kill Shuhu once—severely weakening the Great Sequence—Shuhu was absolutely not an opponent the Fuli of that era could face alone!
And regarding this, the girl felt she bore a massive portion of the blame.
Luminous Glazed Sword Soul.
The sword-type floating funnel-array forged by the contemporary Master Artisan of the Taixu Frontline, Yunli. It was the ultimate ace-in-the-hole for the Fuli of the previous timeline.
It was composed of two parts: the Luminous Sword Heart Array and the Peaceful Glazed Han Swords.
Outwardly, it appeared as a palm-sized orb of glowing light, resembling transparent glazed glass, with twenty-four chi-dragon-engraved Han swords dancing within it. It required a specific incantation to activate.
When infused with energy and activated, the Luminous Sword Heart Array expanded outward from Fuli into a massive, spherical golden barrier that could cover a radius of several miles.
Not only did it completely isolate space, but it could selectively control the flow of matter and energy inside and out. Once fully deployed, it forcefully suppressed the activation of all items and abilities of equal or lower conceptual tiers within its domain.
And once the Luminous Sword Heart Array was fully deployed, Fuli could condense up to twenty-four Peaceful Glazed Han Swords.
These longswords didn't possess physical bodies; they were fundamentally the essence of twenty-four Demonic Swords that Yunli had recovered and reforged.
Not only were they absurdly fast, but theoretically, every single blade carried the lethal force of a standard Sequence Level attack.
If all twenty-four blades attacked simultaneously, the sheer destructive output was enough to instantly drain the energy of any equal-tier defensive item.
The residual shockwave alone could severely injure and blast away a standard S-Rank combatant, while the impact point would generate an explosion capable of vaporizing everything within a multi-mile radius into ash.
Was it strong? It was so broken it defied the heavens!
If used properly, even an A-Rank Valkyrie could jump two entire tiers and arm-wrestle the weakest of the S-Ranks!
And yet, an item this absurdly overpowered was merely one of the many armaments Yunli had gifted Fuli.
As mentioned before: if he hadn't burned through his entire arsenal fighting Shuhu, even if the subsequent Herrscher of Dominance had reached the pinnacle of S-Rank, the boy would have had an incredibly high chance of escaping alive!
The problem was, precisely because these external items were so absurdly powerful, the Fuli of the previous timeline unintentionally neglected the growth of his own fundamental strength.
After all, the Honkai universe was filled with paths that relied on external power—Schicksal's Valkyrie Battlesuits being the prime example.
The younger Fuli failed to realize the absolute necessity of personal strength, which directly resulted in him being hard-stuck at A-Rank for so long.
And this was exactly why the reborn Fuli rarely sought out overpowered weapons or items.
It wasn't that they were bad. Humanity had clawed its way to the top of the food chain entirely by using tools.
But in a supernatural world, concentrating absolute power within one's own body was ultimately far more reliable.
In Yunli's eyes, the fault lay entirely with her. She had spoiled Li-bao too much, unconditionally shoving a massive pile of overpowered junk into his hands. As a result, she stunted his natural talent, causing him to fall prey to Shuhu's demonic claws.
What?
You're saying that after I died, another Sequence Level powerhouse just happened to pass by the battlefield? And not only did she possess the Edge of Taixu that specifically counters divine entities, but she also had a deep relationship with Li-bao and was willing to risk her life fighting Shuhu for him?!
Are you absolutely joking?
Save the sleep-talking for your dreams!
Therefore, during her rare, quiet downtime inside the Prison Realm, Yunli began plotting exactly how she was going to claim Shuhu's life.
True, at this specific point in the current timeline, Yanqing hadn't yet gone to hunt Shuhu down to retrieve the stolen corpse of the Divine Foresight General, only to be killed in the Imaginary Space.
But Li-bao from the previous timeline died!
Isn't that tens of thousands of times more serious than little bro Yanqing dying?!
I'M GONNA KILL, KILL, KILL, KILL, KILL HER! I'M GONNA USE HER SKULL AS A CEREAL BOWL!
Wait. No. She couldn't kill her right now.
Yunli let out a ghostly sigh.
Shuhu was notoriously adept at repeatedly bouncing between life and death. The previous General of the Luofu, Tengxiao, had engaged in mutually assured destruction with her.
The result? The General died, and Shuhu instantly respawned on the spot, happily skipping off to absolutely crush Jingliu and Dan Feng during the High-Cloud Quintet era, forcing Baiheng to sacrifice herself in an attack that still didn't manage to kill Shuhu.
The Yunli of the previous timeline had learned from this history. She specifically forged an artifact to seal the resurrection ability, then used the Tyrant's Barricade and other pay-to-win gear to kill the Great Sequence once.
Who could have predicted that Shuhu's mechanic wasn't just "Resurrection"—it was also "Form Switching"!
According to the ancient text 'Zhuangzi': "The Emperor of the South Sea was called Shu (Swift), the Emperor of the North Sea was called Hu (Sudden), and the Emperor of the Center was called Hundun (Chaos)."
Shuhu, fully titled "The Divine Authority: The Twin Emperors of Shu and Hu," was fundamentally the amalgamation of those two ancient God-Kings. It was a two-faced entity.
Yunli had finally managed to kill one side and successfully sealed its resurrection.
The result? The other side of Shuhu instantly switched in and launched a sneak attack. Caught completely off guard, the girl was instantly killed.
But since she had paid with her life to figure out the boss's mechanics, Yunli knew exactly what she had to do next.
First, rapidly elevate her own strength, at least returning to her peak S-Rank standard from the previous timeline.
During this process, she would repair the Tyrant's Barricade and restore the blade to its absolute peak EX-Class state.
Once she thoroughly executed Shuhu, she would use the broadsword form of the Tyrant's Barricade as a betrothal gift to marry Li-bao. The Tensa Zangetsu-style aesthetic of the blade paired perfectly with her own greatsword, Ol' Iron.
That's right. This time, Yunli had zero intention of giving the Luminous Glazed Sword Soul to Fuli.
Mainly because the bastard was growing way too fast. That sword array wouldn't be of much use to a guy who could solo Hoolay. It was better to just go all the way.
But before all that—
"Li-baooooo!!!"
Obviously, I need to get a reunion kiss first!
A proper one! Without the blood, rust, and forced non-con!
Just like that, Yunli transformed into a scorching streak of light, recklessly charging toward her target.
With an almost barbaric momentum, she rapidly parkoured across the hulls of the various hovering warships!
Unfortunately, she vastly underestimated the defensive perimeter currently established on the Hyperion.
"Neko Charge!"
"Project Bunny, Fire!"
"Star-Flare Fist: Extreme!"
"Hear the prelude to the Death-bringing Blessing..."
"Striking long from afar is the true secret to success!"
Strictly adhering to Hyacine's earlier warning: "Everyone, absolutely no one is allowed to disturb Li-bao while he's sleeping peacefully!"... the girls didn't hesitate to each launch their ultimate moves directly at the loudly yelling Yunli.
"WHAT THE HELL?! WHY ARE THERE SO MANY WOMEN?!!"
And just like that, the newly unsealed Master Artisan of the Zhuming, the grand leader of the Octolet Wheel, the fierce Sword Hunter whose momentum had been surging to the heavens... didn't even get the chance to see exactly where her beloved Li-bao was before she was violently swatted out of the sky like a stray dog by a barrage of ultimate attacks, screaming as she disappeared into the distant quantum fog.
On the deck, the girls who had just launched the attacks exchanged glances.
Kiana scratched her head. "Uh... did we hit her a little too hard?"
Durandal coughed softly. "It was just a reflex..."
Bronya remained completely composed. "The Master Artisan Yunli's life signals remain stable. She was merely pushed away by the kinetic shockwave. Furthermore, confirming a visitor's identity is standard protocol."
Hyacine let out a massive sigh of relief, patting her small, yet adorable chest. "Thank goodness! Li-bao didn't wake up!"
Sigh. Little Li and Yunli... truly a pair of star-crossed lovers.