Time flowed differently for those who walked the long path of years. For most Xianzhou natives, several decades passed like a single breath of wind through the delves. Yet when those same years were cast into the meat grinder of an endless battlefield, every heartbeat stretched into an eternity of blood and ash.
The flames of war across the Yatedelan Ring Star Belt had burned for another twenty-two years.
This was no mere footnote in some distant history tome. It was a Shura field built from the flesh and blood of countless Cloud Knights. At first the Abominations of Abundance had poured forth like an endless tide of locusts. Kill one wave and another surged forward in its place. In a galaxy thousands of light-years wide, there was almost no patch of pure land left untouched.
The faces of the soldiers under Kanzaki's command changed with grim regularity. Fresh recruits who had only just learned the weight of their glaives would vanish within months, replaced by even younger faces still bright with the illusion of glory. Veterans who had once shared quiet jokes around the watchfires simply stopped returning. Yet both Kanzaki and Mo Tingquan had grown used to it. That, more than anything, was the truly terrifying part.
The detachment numbered one was fated to be nailed to the very forefront of every front. Heavy casualties were never a question of if, only when.
For decades, wherever the densest concentrations of Abominations festered in dead zones, a single blood-colored figure always appeared. He needed no reinforcements. He asked for no tactical coordination. Wherever that shadow passed, Borisin with their monstrous regenerative flesh and Wingweavers dominating the skies alike crumbled into withered bone and drifting ash.
No one dared voice it aloud, but the awe many Cloud Knights felt after witnessing those scenes far outweighed their admiration. That blood-red shadow was too cold. It was not the cold of ice or vacuum, but the indifference of one who regarded life itself as nothing more than grass to be scythed.
Even though Kanzaki was slaughtering the mortal enemies of the Xianzhou and every Cloud Knight who fought beside him, that chill still lingered in the air.
Over the long years he had rarely removed his armor. During the endless slaughter he had seized every scrap of power the enemy could offer. Countless chaotic, majestic blessings of Abundance had been forcibly torn from their sources, purified, and compressed through the higher blessing of the Aspect of Self-Actualization. What remained flowed into his body like rivers of molten force, tamed and integrated until they answered his will as readily as his own limbs.
When the final nest of Abominations finally crumbled into ash, long-awaited cheers erupted across every communication frequency in the Yatedelan Ring Star Belt.
The war that had lasted thirty-two years was over.
Mo Tingquan stood on the battered bridge of the command ship and let out a long, heavy breath. He turned to look at the figure seated not far away. Kanzaki sat in silence, Xueyi and Hanya standing guard at his sides. His eyes were closed, the metallic scent of blood still clinging to him like a second skin. A heart-palpitating aura of tyranny had only just been forced back down into the depths of his being.
"It really wasn't easy, Lord Kanzaki."
Mo Tingquan walked over and offered a flask of wine.
Kanzaki slowly opened his eyes. For a single heartbeat a dark-red light flickered deep within them before fading back into calm clarity. He accepted the flask without drinking, simply gazing down at the devastated world below.
"Yes. It's enough…"
Mo Tingquan thought he meant enough Abominations had been slaughtered.
Only Xueyi and Hanya, standing behind him, understood the true weight behind those three quiet words.
On the day of the triumphant return, the Xianzhou Yaoqing rang with gongs, drums, and the roar of countless citizens. As one of the greatest heroes of the entire campaign, the name Kanzaki had become known to every corner of the ship.
This had been the largest expedition in modern Xianzhou history. With the General himself leading from the front, battle reports had arrived every month. Yet those same reports had also carried the names of the fallen.
Some wept in grief. Others choked back tears yet still felt fierce pride. Countless people mourned the Cloud Knight martyrs and sang of their courage.
In the great square before the Cloud Knight barracks' delve, General Sha Feng and the Valiant Guards personally bestowed posthumous honors upon the dead.
"Salute!"
Thousands of Cloud Knights moved as one, offering the highest military salute to their fallen comrades.
Then came the commendations for those who had achieved the greatest feats in battle.
Foremost among them was the one who had slain the most Abominations.
Looking at Kanzaki, whose aura had grown increasingly unfathomable over the decades, a faint trace of complexity and something deeper flashed through General Sha Feng's eyes.
"Fighting on the front lines for over thirty years… you've worked hard."
Sha Feng stepped forward and pinned a special purple-gold medal onto Kanzaki's chest. His voice carried genuine emotion.
"According to Cloud Knight regulations, you are entitled to five years of long leave. During this time you will not be mobilized unless a major conflict arises. Rest well."
"Thank you, General."
There was no joy on Kanzaki's face. Only the quiet relief of a man who had finally reached the moment he had been waiting for.
After the post-war formalities concluded, Kanzaki did not return home.
He went straight to the Alchemy Commission and pushed open the door to a special care ward he had not visited in decades.
The furnishings inside were exactly as he remembered. Time seemed to have frozen within these walls.
The hospital bed was clean and neatly made. Jingliu lay there in silence.
Decades had passed, and time had left marks on her face that should never have appeared on a long-lived species. Prolonged bedrest and the constant drain on her vitality had left her thin and pale.
Kanzaki walked to the bedside and gently placed two fingers against her wrist.
Her pulse was far weaker than it had been thirty-two years ago. The Sky-Quelling Danzu nestled inside her continued its insatiable work, devouring everything it could reach—including her life force itself. Only the Alchemy Commission's relentless use of precious medicinal ingredients had kept her alive this long. Without them, she would have slipped away years ago.
"Master is back."
His voice was soft, carrying an indescribable complexity.
His fingers brushed lightly across his disciple's pale cheek. In his eyes, for the first time in decades, appeared a tenderness that had never once shown itself on the battlefield.
The next morning.
"Lord Kanzaki, given Miss Jingliu's current condition, once she leaves the Alchemy Commission's care I'm afraid she won't last ten days… Please reconsider."
Healer Jiao Ling's forehead was damp with anxious sweat as she watched Kanzaki calmly remove the monitoring equipment piece by piece. He gathered Jingliu into his arms with careful strength.
"If Xianzhou medicine could have saved her, she would not have remained in this slumber all these years."
"If we leave things as they are, she won't survive another three years. I have found a renowned doctor from beyond our stars. This is her last chance."
"But—"
"Any consequences will be mine to bear as her master. They have nothing to do with the Alchemy Commission. Thank you for your dedicated care these past years, Healer Jiao Ling."
He turned and strode away, Jingliu cradled against his chest.
Jiao Ling could only sigh as she watched the master and disciple disappear down the corridor.
A long-distance starskiff was already waiting at the port.
Kanzaki settled Jingliu into the passenger seat with meticulous care, fastening every complex strap and buckle. Only when he was certain she was secure did he speak.
"Let's go."
Xueyi and Hanya, seated in the pilot and co-pilot positions, nodded in unison. The jade wheel turned.
The starskiff became a streak of light and rose into the skies above the Xianzhou, vanishing through the delve gate.
No one knew where they were headed. No one knew the identity of the renowned doctor Kanzaki had spoken of.
Three years later.
A remote but elegant delve on the Xianzhou Yaoqing.
It was late autumn. Golden ginkgo leaves carpeted the long streets like fallen sunlight.
A black starskiff cut through the air and passed unhindered through a restricted zone before descending smoothly into the docking area.
The hatch opened.
Kanzaki stepped out first.
He wore a simple green robe, his long hair tied back in a casual knot. He looked every inch an elegant scholar returning from distant travels. After three years of complete disappearance, the faint aura of blood and slaughter that had once clung to him had settled completely, leaving no trace.
Then a cold figure followed him out of the hatch.
A moon-white dress trailed across the ground. Ice-colored hair cascaded down her back like a frozen waterfall. Her skin was whiter than fresh snow, her features clear and otherworldly. She lifted her head slightly, gazing at the home she had not seen in decades. Her expression was distant, as though she stood in another world entirely.
It hadn't changed one bit.
But she… she had slept through several decades.
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T/N: I'm surprise, i honestly thought she's gonna be asleep for more years