Alchemy Commission · Special Care Ward
"Ah—!!!"
A short, startled scream broke the silence of the ward.
Fu Xuan sat up abruptly from the hospital bed, her chest heaving, her forehead covered in a fine layer of cold sweat, with a few strands of her pink hair dampened.
Her eyes, which usually saw through everything, were now filled with lingering terror and confusion, as if the dizziness of being thrown like a shooting star across endless dimensions still remained.
"General! Master Diviner is awake!"
Qingque, who had been guarding nearby and secretly playing *Celestial Jade* on her jade abacus, jumped in fright, her hand shaking so much that the device almost fell to the floor.
She quickly shoved the jade abacus into her sleeve and yelled toward the door.
"Qingque?"
Fu Xuan panted as she looked at her subordinate, her voice still a bit hoarse.
"How... how long have I been asleep?"
She needed to confirm the time to determine whether that absurd "Aeon tea party" had lasted for eons or just an instant.
Qingque counted on her fingers, her eyes darting around as she calculated: "Uh... about... two system hours?"
She tried to make her tone sound reliable.
"Two system hours?"
Fu Xuan breathed a slight sigh of relief; it seemed not much time had passed in reality.
But immediately, the outrageous memories filling her mind made her temples throb—
The Reignbow Arbiter and Plague Author calmly passing her back and forth, The Aeon of Elation Aha spilling the unofficial history of "The Hunt pursuing the Path of Abundance," the destruction Aeon Nanook throwing her back like a shooting star... and that final thumbs-up!
"Minister Fu, how are you feeling? Do you still have any discomfort?"
Jing Yuan pushed the door open with his usual reassuring smile, his tone filled with concern.
However, the moment he stepped into the ward and his gaze truly landed on Fu Xuan, his footsteps came to an abrupt halt!
The smile froze on his face, his golden eyes contracted sharply, and his usually squinted eyes even widened slightly.
He looked as if he had seen something incredibly unbelievable, or even terrifying.
Fu Xuan was still immersed in her chaotic memories and the relief of surviving, so she didn't notice Jing Yuan's abnormality, instead eagerly wanting to share (or pour out) her incredible experience:
"General! When I was activating the Matrix of Prescience to divine the girl named Stella, I encountered unimaginable backlash! My consciousness was dragged into a strange space, and I met... uh, General? Why is your expression..."
She stopped mid-sentence, only to realize that Jing Yuan was staring at her with an extremely complex, almost constipated look.
"You met Plague Author... didn't you?"
Jing Yuan stepped in, speaking the name for her, his voice sounding dry.
"Ah?!"
Fu Xuan choked, her eyes widening.
"How do you know?!"
But then she realized something was wrong.
"No! Why would you think that?! Could it be that you also..."
…also had a similar experience? That's impossible!
Jing Yuan didn't answer directly. Instead, he slowly raised a hand and pointed at Fu Xuan, his expression even more "constipated": "Because... Minister Fu, the Path aura radiating from you right now... is terrifyingly dense, and it is... the aura of the Abundance Path."
He paused, adding a judgment that made Fu Xuan's soul fly out of her body.
"Its concentration... is almost approaching the level of an Emanator."
"What?!!"
Fu Xuan's voice instantly rose by an octave, almost blowing the roof off the ward.
She sprang up from the bed like a cat whose Tail had been stepped on, jumping onto the floor barefoot.
"How is that possible! I am the Grand Diviner of the Xianzhou! I follow the Reignbow Arbiter! How could I have the aura of the Abundance on me?! And close to an Emanator level at that?!"
She shouted incoherently while frantically checking herself up and down—patting her arms, touching her cheeks, tugging at her collar, as if trying to pat away this "unclean" aura.
However, she soon froze herself.
Because in her panic, she had unconsciously touched the third eye on her forehead, the one bestowed by Nous that symbolized wisdom and sacrifice.
The touch... was wrong.
Usually, this third eye was constantly pouring vast knowledge into her, while also bringing eternal pain like needles and burning—a "torture device" that must be endured to obtain Erudition.
But at this moment...
"The third eye... it doesn't hurt?"
Fu Xuan muttered to herself, her fingers cautiously stroking her forehead.
Not only did it not hurt, but it also emitted a gentle, peaceful, and vibrant... feeling of comfort?
This feeling was so foreign that it left her stunned for a moment.
"Master Diviner! You, you, you... your third eye!!"
Qingque's scream rang out again, more terrified than before.
She pointed at Fu Xuan's forehead and backed away repeatedly, almost knocking over the medicine cabinet behind her, her face filled with an expression that screamed, "I've seen a ghost!"
Jing Yuan also completely wiped away all smiles. His eyes, usually squinted, were now fully open, with sharp light radiating from his golden pupils, accompanied by unprecedented gravity and... a trace of cold vigilance.
Behind him, the air distorted slightly, and a huge, golden Lightning-Lord vaguely appeared, "staring" at Fu Xuan with its majestic eyes.
"The... Lai... fong..."
Jing Yuan spoke word by word, his voice low and dangerous. The Formation Blade in his hand had quietly revealed a portion of its edge; although the tip wasn't fully pointed at Fu Xuan, his posture was one of absolute vigilance.
"No!"
Fu Xuan instantly snapped out of the shock of her third eye's transformation, sensing the unmasked hostility and pressure from the General and the Lightning-Lord.
She suddenly realized the problem—it wasn't that she had changed, but that...
She turned around abruptly and looked at the empty corner of the ward!
Her heart stopped beating.
There, standing quietly, was a figure.
The figure was not the towering body of an Aeon, but shrunk to the size of an ordinary person.
A soft emerald green light enveloped her, her four arms hanging down naturally. On her compassionate and gentle face, there was currently a kind of... almost playful smile?
The Abundance! Plague Author!
And she appeared in the Alchemy Commission's ward at an extremely "approachable" size!
Under the stunned gaze of Fu Xuan, Jing Yuan, and Qingque (plus a Lightning-Lord), this "human-sized aeon of abundance" happily used her four hands to make a big—
"Peace sign ( ＾ － ＾ )"
The gesture was standard, full of vitality, and even carried a hint of "Surprise?"
After making the peace sign, Plague Author seemed satisfied.
She floated forward lightly, coming before the completely petrified Fu Xuan, who had even forgotten how to breathe. She extended one of her most gentle hands and lightly stroked Fu Xuan's third eye, which had already turned green.
The movement was gentle, carrying infinite compassion and... a trace of pleasure from a successful prank?
Then, just as silently as she had appeared, the emerald green light and her figure slowly dissipated in the ward like morning mist, leaving no trace, except...
The third eye on Fu Xuan's forehead, which had completely changed from the pink of wisdom to the green of life, and no longer brought pain.
And the aura of the Abundance on her body, which had been so dense it was approaching the level of an Emanator, had been hidden away as if by the most brilliant technique, instantly vanishing without a trace, as if it had never existed.
If not for the green third eye and the palpable pressure from just a moment ago, one would almost think it was a collective hallucination.
In the ward, there was a deathly silence.
The light of the Formation Blade in Jing Yuan's hand slowly extinguished, and the Lightning-Lord quietly faded away.
The vigilant expression on his face was gradually replaced by a deep, thick, and exhausted helplessness, as if he had gone through eighty-one trials.
He rubbed his temples, feeling that today's quota for "surprises" had been severely overdrawn; even the General's composure was about to break.
Qingque's gaping mouth was finally able to close. She cautiously inched toward Jing Yuan, her voice trembling: "Gen, General... that just now... was a hallucination, right? Right? It must be a side effect of Master Diviner's coma that spread to us..."
Fu Xuan remained frozen, maintaining her turning posture, her fingers still resting on the green third eye on her forehead.
The cold touch reminded her that this was not a dream.
The third eye didn't hurt anymore, its color had changed, and it had been personally "consecrated" (?) by Plague Author...
Was this a blessing in disguise, or had she landed in even bigger trouble involving the level of an Aeon?
"Sigh..."
Jing Yuan let out a long, deep sigh, which contained too many things—
Incomprehension of the Aeon's performance art, a headache over the increasingly complex and treacherous situation, sympathy for his subordinate (Fu Xuan), and the mental exhaustion of having to deal with such "supernatural events" as a General.
"Troubled times indeed..."
That was all he could lament in the end.
"Miss Qingque."
Jing Yuan looked back at Qingque, who was trying to shrink herself into a ball to lower her presence. His tone returned to its usual gentleness, but carried an unquestionable authority.
"Yes!"
Qingque instantly stood at attention, her back straight, although her legs were still shaking a little.
"What you saw and heard in the ward today..."
Jing Yuan's gaze swept over the green gemstone on Fu Xuan's forehead and her still-dazed expression, and he said in a deep voice.
"Is classified as the Luofu's top secret and must never be leaked to the outside. Especially regarding... the form and behavior of 'that one'."
He really didn't want to use "peace sign" to describe an Aeon; it was too blasphemous.
"Yes! General! I, Qingque, swear on my jade abacus account that I will keep my mouth shut! Otherwise, let me never win a hand at cards again!"
Qingque swore to the heavens, using the most "poisonous" oath she could think of.
Jing Yuan nodded and then looked at Fu Xuan, who was still questioning her life: "Minister Fu, you... rest well for now and adapt to your... 'new' third eye. We will discuss other matters later."
He also needed some time now to digest the event of "The Xianzhou Grand Diviner having her third eye skin personally changed by the aeon of abundance, while also having her Abundance aura hidden," which was enough to top the list of "Xianzhou's Outrageous History."
Fu Xuan nodded blankly, her mind still playing on a loop:
The Reignbow Arbiter catching me, Aha spreading rumors, the Destruction throwing me, the Abundance making a peace sign...
Today was absolutely the darkest, yet most colorful day in the history of the Divination Commission