Whether it was Tail, Huohuo, or even Qingque, everyone stood frozen the moment those words left her mouth.
Tail was utterly shaken by the revelation that one of the Lord Ravagers was actually a Heliobus.
No wonder he'd felt like his stomach was turning inside out after consuming just that tiny sliver—it had nearly burned him alive. It turned out that spark of energy carried the destructive might of an Emanator.
If that was the case, there was truly no way he could stomach it.
This wasn't even a matter of strength anymore; it was the pure, unadulterated ruin of the Path of Destruction, something fundamentally incompatible with his very existence.
Even if Tail were to swallow every other shard out there and merge into a Great Heliobus, he still wouldn't be able to handle this fragment.
One wrong move with that concentrated power, and it would likely snuff him out for good.
As for Huohuo, her legs had already turned to jelly.
She couldn't stop thinking about the fact that another version of her—wearing her face—had beaten a Lord Ravager to a pulp right in front of everyone.
Not only that, but she'd torn the entity's body in half and handed the remains to her as a gift.
Setting aside whether a Lord Ravager would hold a grudge and come hunting her down, would people start thinking she was some kind of terrifying powerhouse who could just slap around Emanators?
And... since this was the power of a Lord Ravager, how many people would start eyeing this flag in her hand once word got out?
Was this really something she was allowed to keep? Maybe it would be better to just hand it over to the authorities...
But then again, it was a gift from her other self.
Wouldn't it be too cruel to just toss it away? If that other version of her found out, Huohuo feared she might face her own "judgment"—the kind that involved being split in half with a single palm strike.
Huohuo felt like the orange flag in her hand was a searing coal.
She didn't dare hold it, yet she didn't dare give it to anyone else, either. If someone asked about it later, she wouldn't even know how to begin explaining.
In the past, whenever she faced a dilemma, Tail was always there to solve it.
Huohuo had subconsciously grown to believe Tail could handle anything. But this was different. Just a tiny trace of that power had sent Tail into fits of agonizing howling.
She couldn't even fathom the staggering level of power contained within this small banner.
And besides... who exactly was this other version of herself?
The opponent was a Lord Ravager—a cosmic terror that ran rampant across the universe with no one to stop them. Why did she make it look so easy?
If Tail's reaction hadn't been so visceral and real, Huohuo wouldn't have even sensed anything particularly "Emanator-like" about the foe.
A torrent of questions flooded Huohuo's mind, leaving her in a state of total mental chaos.
Qingque, meanwhile, was mostly dealing with the lingering dread.
Lately, she had been meeting all sorts of people, both good and bad. But because she had the protection of the Xianzhou and the IPC—and the power bestowed upon her by 'Huohuo'—she had managed to navigate some intense situations without any real harm.
But today's events were a sharp wake-up call. She wasn't nearly as safe as she'd imagined.
A life-or-death crisis had crept right up to her side, and she'd been completely oblivious.
That was a Lord Ravager.
The thought that she had met that person so many times, played tiles with her, and even interacted with her true form on several occasions made her skin crawl.
If that entity had harbored even a shred of ill intent toward her, she wouldn't be standing here so easily now.
Cold sweat prickled Qingque's back.
She didn't for a second believe she could survive an ambush from a Lord Ravager. A being like that wouldn't come to the Luofu just for the sights; there was no way their meeting had been a mere coincidence.
Wait, had the Master Diviner and the Divine Foresight failed to divine this person's presence?
For some reason, Qingque felt a subtle, nagging suspicion. She even wondered if those two had noticed but purposely kept her in the dark.
"Alright, snap out of it! Don't just stand there dazed. If we don't move now, the 'NPC aura' I put on us is going to wear off. Don't blame me if I bolt and leave you behind."
'Huohuo' broke the silence, snapping them out of their trance as she pointed toward the crowd whose gazes were beginning to drift their way.
The lingering power of Remembrance hadn't fully dissipated yet, so people hadn't swarmed them, but that wouldn't last much longer.
Qingque was the first to recover. At the mention of leaving, she immediately grabbed Huohuo's small hand and spun around to run.
This was a rare day off, and she wasn't about to waste it on some nonsensical trouble. As for the threat of a Lord Ravager's revenge? Well, she still had her Boss's metaphorical coattails to cling to.
When the time came, she'd just do a sliding kneel, grab her Boss's legs, and turn on the charm.
There was no way her Boss would leave them hanging. And since Huohuo was so soft and cute, her acting spoiled would definitely be even more effective.
She'd have to teach the girl how to do it properly—one of them on each leg. Her Boss wouldn't stand a chance!
Ever the optimist, Qingque quickly shifted her focus to exploiting her Boss's kindness and threw her worries to the wind. Priority number one: enjoy the tiles!
"Move, move, move! Huohuo, I'm taking you somewhere quiet to rest, and then I'll teach you how to play! I promise you'll love it!"
"Wait—I, I don't know how—"
"Oh, hush! If you don't know, you learn. It's a blast!"
While Qingque was dragging Huohuo off to find a place to play, Jing Yuan had finally made it to the tile shop in a hurry.
The moment he landed, the Lightning-Lord sensed something amiss and sent a warning to Jing Yuan's mind. However, Jing Yuan simply sent a quick message to Fu Xuan and ignored the alarm, stepping into the shop.
As soon as he entered, he felt a strange sense of tranquility wash over him. The urgency of his travel and his anxiety regarding the Lord Ravager were instantly soothed.
It wasn't until he took the gourd from the Cloud Knights and moved away from the shop that his normal emotions returned.
"Truly a miraculous technique... though you've certainly handed me a difficult problem, Madam Bai Ming."
Jing Yuan looked at the gourd in his hand, feeling a headache coming on. Escorting a Lord Ravager to the Shackling Prison? By what merit did the Luofu's prison deserve the "honor" of hosting such a guest?
Moreover, a truly heinous individual had already been confined to the lowest levels of the Shackling Prison for centuries. Did he really have to lock Phantylia in there too?
Even with his renowned wit, the thought of pairing Phantylia with the creature at the bottom of the prison made him wince.
But if he were to transfer her to another Xianzhou ship, the journey would be long and fraught with potential disasters. Who knew what might happen?
A Lord Ravager's army could show up to blockade the Luofu tomorrow. If he actually tried to transport Phantylia off-world, things would get messy fast.
"But why wasn't she just killed?" Jing Yuan mused, puzzled. Given that person's usual temperament, it didn't seem like her to hold back.
It wasn't as if Lord Ravagers hadn't been slain before.
Just then, Fu Xuan's voice reached him from a distance.
"In my observations, there appears to be a lingering entanglement between the Xianzhou Luofu and the Lord Ravager Phantylia. Furthermore, the Astral Express will establish a friendly relationship with the Luofu because of it."
"Master Diviner, you've arrived. But since when did your divination skills take such a leap forward?" Jing Yuan smiled as he turned to face the approaching Fu Xuan.
He was genuinely surprised she could see matters concerning the Astral Express, considering they were still wandering on the other side of the cosmos. Since when could her third eye see that far?
"The General overestimates me. I see these things not because my power has grown, but because that Destiny's Slave visited the Luofu."
Fu Xuan gave a helpless twitch of her lips.
If she had the ability to observe the future trajectory of the Astral Express from such a vast distance, she wouldn't be the Master Diviner of the Divination Commission—she'd just go be Nous the Erudition.
Even as an Emanator, that was beyond her. At most, she was nearly omniscient only within the confines of the Luofu.
"That said, Elio's point was that the alliance between the Xianzhou and the Astral Express is the priority. The process itself is secondary. Therefore, the General doesn't necessarily have to follow his script to the letter."
Fu Xuan felt that the being known as Elio had intentionally leaked this information to her. Perhaps it was because she was an Emanator of 'Huohuo'.
If Elio had told anyone else, she might not have cared, but since the person exchanging intel with Elio was the one who granted her power, she couldn't simply ignore it.
"Your information is timely, Fu Xuan. I will give it careful consideration."
Jing Yuan didn't press for more details. If Fu Xuan hadn't volunteered them, it meant he didn't need to know. When it came to professional matters, she was an exceptionally reliable subordinate.
With that, Jing Yuan handed the gourd containing Phantylia directly to her.
"Master Diviner, I'll leave the task of escorting this high-profile prisoner to you. Since she was captured by Madam Bai Ming herself, it's only logical that you handle the transport."
"..."
Fu Xuan took the gourd and shot Jing Yuan a deeply unimpressed glare.
"I suspect the General simply wishes to continue slacking off and is using this as an excuse to dump his work on me."
Since her power had been bolstered, Fu Xuan had gained an even clearer insight into Jing Yuan's habit of idling.
Sometimes she got so annoyed she wished their positions were reversed just so she could use her rank to give him a piece of her mind.
"Ahem..."
Jing Yuan gave an awkward cough. He was one of the few who knew just how much Fu Xuan's strength had increased. And because of that increase, his opportunities to slack off had dwindled significantly.
Often, just as he was about to slip away from his duties, Fu Xuan would catch him red-handed and pin him back to his desk.
"The situation was urgent, and there's still much paperwork left on my desk. If I personally made the trip to the Shackling Prison, I wouldn't be able to finish my duties today. I must trouble you to go in my stead. Besides, I could only trust such a vital mission to you, my Master Diviner."
"Hmph. You'd better mean that."
Fu Xuan huffed. Even if Jing Yuan was likely going to slack off the moment he got back, his logic for handing over the task was sound.
She couldn't find a flaw in the reasoning, and she couldn't exactly berate her superior for something that hadn't happened yet.
With one final pointed look, she turned and departed with the gourd in hand.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL