"Jing Yuan..."
[Bai Heng] looked at the silver-haired general walking in with an extraordinary aura, her throat feeling dry as her heart grew heavier than ever before.
This wasn't the young Jing Yuan she was familiar with—the one who would slack off, loved to eat snacks, and was always "bullied" by her and Jingliu—but the Luofu General who had been tempered by time, who governed a Xianzhou, and whose eyes held endless stories.
That formal attire and majesty made her feel a sense of unfamiliarity and distance.
The gentle smile on Jing Yuan's face seemed to deepen slightly. He nodded lightly in [Bai Heng]'s direction, as if responding to a call that had crossed time, space, life, and death.
Then, he turned to the Astral Express Crew, his golden eyes scanning every face before finally settling on Welt Yang, who stood at the front.
He nodded slightly, his posture composed and formal: "General of the Luofu, Jing Yuan, on behalf of the Xianzhou Alliance, thanks the friends of the Astral Express."
His voice was clear and powerful, echoing in the quiet side hall.
"Thank you for your escort along the way, bringing our Luofu's... hero, back to her homeland."
Hero.
The word was enunciated clearly by him, carrying an unquestionable weight.
He didn't mention any terms that might cause controversy or panic, but instead directly bestowed upon [Bai Heng] the most noble and irreproachable identity—a hero of the Luofu.
After saying this, Jing Yuan turned his head again, his gaze falling directly on [Bai Heng]'s fox eyes, which were slightly widened in astonishment.
The smile on his face became a bit more genuine, with less official detachment and more of the nostalgic and warm slyness that belonged to "Jing Yuan" himself.
"A hero."
He said softly, his tone brook no argument.
"Cannot be homeless. Since you are back, the Luofu... is your home."
[Bai Heng] was completely stunned, the tips of her ears twitching unconsciously, unsure of how to respond for a moment.
This sudden recognition and acceptance from the "highest official level" was completely beyond her expectations.
Beside her, Yukong's lips moved, seemingly wanting to say something—about suspicions regarding the Masked Fools, about identity verification procedures, about the potential chaos...
But when she saw Jing Yuan's calm yet firm profile and felt the unquestionable determination in his words, she ultimately swallowed all her words back down.
She knew him too well; when he spoke in this tone, any questioning was redundant.
Fine, since the General had personally defined the situation, the Sky-Faring Commission would act accordingly.
As for subsequent troubles... well, they would just have to deal with them as they came.
The other members of the Astral Express Crew also had various expressions:
Welt pushed his glasses, looking thoughtful;
Dan Heng's eyes shifted slightly;
March 7th looked deeply moved.
"How touching!"
Stelle blinked, thinking the General spoke very well;
Stella, meanwhile, was clapping wildly in her heart: General Jing Yuan! If you're going to talk, say more! Now [Bai Heng] can follow us openly!
[Phainon] smiled and nodded.
——————
Meanwhile, in a quiet, deserted corridor near the site of the old martial arts arena on the Luofu.
[Jing Yuan] and his group, having just escaped Blade's pursuit and preparing to find a place for "special training," unexpectedly bumped into a figure that made them collectively petrify, suffocate, and wish they could vanish on the spot.
It was a woman with hair as white as frost.
She stood with her back to them in the desolate courtyard, looking up as if "gazing" at the sky—the quotation marks were because she wore a black blindfold that covered the eyes that once made the stars lose their luster.
She emitted an aura of loneliness, coldness, and a trace of imperceptible sorrow, as if she had merged with these ruins forgotten by time.
[Jing Yuan]: "..."
His smile vanished completely, his general's poise gone, wanting only to immediately activate a Starskiff and escape—if the Starskiff hadn't been wrecked by his Master.
[Yingxing]: "..."
The craftsman's composure shattered into pieces, his instinct being to hide behind the nearest pillar.
[Dan Feng]: "..."
The High Elder's indifference cracked; he felt that being pursued by Blade wasn't so scary after all, at least he didn't have to face this scene.
[Jingliu]: "..."
As the "clone," she looked at the back of her original self with incredibly complex feelings, and even a bit of... guilt?
The four were frozen as if by invisible ice, their breathing becoming as light as possible, their minds racing wildly:
[Jing Yuan]: Why?! Why do we run into "our own people" no matter where we go?! This wasn't in the script!
[Yingxing]: I'm just a blacksmith! Why do I always have to bear this unbearable weight of existence?!
[Dan Feng]: This is no place to linger... but will I be discovered if I move?
[Jingliu]:... (Her emotions were too complex to put into words)
Perhaps sensing an aura that was too "familiar" yet somewhat "abnormal," the white-clothed woman—the real Jingliu who had fallen into Mara-Struck and walked the world wearing a blindfold—slowly turned around with a hint of doubt.
She raised her hand and gently removed the blindfold that symbolized her severing from the past and restrained her madness.
The eyes she revealed were still beautiful, yet they seemed covered by a layer of perennial frost; deep within them, a crimson glow seemed to be faintly swirling, an indelible mark left by the Mara-Struck state.
She "looked" in the direction of the four, her gaze not fully focused, as if piercing through them to fall upon some void phantom.
She muttered to herself, her voice cold and hoarse, carrying heavy confusion and pain: "Is the Mara-Struck state... acting up again? This time... it's exceptionally clear..."
Her gaze moved slowly over [Jing Yuan], [Yingxing], [Dan Feng], and the clone [Jingliu], "identifying" them one by one:
"Jing Yuan... Yingxing... Dan Feng..."
With every name she spoke, the coldness around her deepened, and her suppressed madness seemed to show signs of restlessness.
When her "gaze" fell upon the clone [Jingliu], she paused for a long time, her brow furrowing tightly as if encountering an incomprehensible paradox.
"And... me?"
Her voice was filled with an unbelievable sense of absurdity, which then turned into deeper pain and self-reproach.
"Why... is there no Bai Heng... Is it that I... can't even remember... her face anymore? Has it been so long since the sacrifice... that even hallucinations have abandoned her?"
The four: "..." (Collectively holding their breath, hearts pounding, cold sweat nearly soaking their backs.)
Absolutely cannot speak! Cannot move! Cannot have any reaction!
The four reached an unprecedented consensus through their eyes alone.
They knew very well that the one before them was the real Jingliu, the Sword Champion in her prime; her Mara-Struck state was unstable, and once they were "confirmed" as "real hallucinations" or "interference factors," the consequences would be unthinkable!
Saying one wrong word might lead to being "purified" as a derivative evil spirit or heart demon of the Mara-Struck! In a physical sense, they would be hacked into "minced meat"!
[Yingxing] even began to frantically signal [Jing Yuan] with his eyes: Quick! General! Think of a tactic!
[Jing Yuan] glared back: The tactic is to play dead! Don't look at me!
"Of five people, three must pay a price..."
Jingliu murmured again, those nightmarish words making the scalps of the four clones tingle.
Her gaze finally focused on [Jing Yuan], yet seemed to pierce through him.
"Jing Yuan... you are not one of them."
Her tone carried an eerie calmness.
"The three of us... are."
The named [Jing Yuan] maintained a stiff composure on the surface, but internally he was screaming and using the "Summoning Contract Channel" that only Stella could receive to send an encrypted SOS:
[Jing Yuan: Main body! Stella! Help! Help me! Coordinates XXX, YYY! We've run into Jingliu herself! Mara-Struck state! She looks ready to draw her sword at any moment!]
Soon, Stella's reply came through the "channel":
[Stella: What?! Why did you guys go there?! We're currently in friendly and cordial diplomatic talks with the local General Jing Yuan, we can't get away! You guys... improvise! I believe in you, General! Use your wisdom!]
[Jing Yuan:...]
Wisdom? Against a Mara-Struck Sword Champion herself? Right now he just wanted to shout, "Of five people, four are playing dead"!
Just as the atmosphere reached its peak of tension and the four clones felt they would be crushed by the sword aura in the next second, Jingliu made no further move.
She simply stood there, surrounded by an unshakeable sorrow and loneliness, as if trapped by the hallucinations and memories she had constructed herself.
"I really... want to go back to the past..."
She murmured, her voice as soft as a sigh.
"Everyone together... for one more drink..."
Perhaps it was because the levels of the four clones were indeed only LV.23, far from their prime, and their auras were "weak" and carried a certain unrealistic "sense of roleplay";
Perhaps it was because Jingliu's Mara-Struck symptoms at this moment were more about falling into an internal illusion rather than external aggression;
Or perhaps, deep in her subconscious, she didn't want to "break" this "reunion," however illusory and rare it might be...
In the end, she did not "recognize" them, nor did she draw her sword.
After standing there for a long time, Jingliu, who seemed to have exhausted her strength from the immense internal struggle, slowly put the black blindfold back on, hiding those eyes filled with pain once more.
She took one last "look" in the direction of the four (despite the blindfold), then turned around and quietly left the desolate corridor, her steps somewhat unsteady, carrying a weight of loneliness and sorrow that was suffocating.
It wasn't until that white figure completely vanished at the end of her sight that another full minute passed...
"Thud!"
[Yingxing] was the first to have his legs give out, sliding down against the wall to sit on the ground, gasping for air.
"Scared... scared me to death... I thought I was really going to be finished here..."
[Jing Yuan] also let out a long breath, wiping away non-existent cold sweat from his forehead: "Fortunately... there are benefits to being low level..."
Could this be considered a blessing in disguise?
[Dan Feng] silently checked himself, confirming that his dragon scales (if he had any) hadn't popped out due to excessive tension.
[Jingliu] looked in the direction the original had left, her gaze complex and unreadable, finally letting out a soft sigh.
The four looked at each other; in the relief of surviving a disaster, there was a deep sense of helplessness regarding the high "density of acquaintances" and the off-the-charts "fright index" of this Luofu trip.
Everyone's internal thoughts: This job is impossible! I need a... I need to level up quickly! Immediately! Right now! Special training! Train to death!
[Jing Yuan]: "!!!"