Chapter 104: Dan Heng, Look, This Deer Head is So Cool
Before they departed, Jing Yuan pulled Dan Heng aside for a private word.
"You seem to be doing well on the Astral Express," the general observed, his gaze soft. "And you have found new companions you can entrust with your back."
"...Thank you for your concern."
"When I allowed you to leave, I knew you might one day return, in some form or another. I just never expected it would be quite like this."
"Like what?" Dan Heng asked, his expression unreadable.
"Like you have someone watching over you," Jing Yuan said, a low chuckle escaping him. "Their methods are... unorthodox, to say the least, but their capabilities are nothing short of heaven-defying."
The corner of Dan Heng's mouth twitched, a fleeting impulse to smile that he couldn't quite bring himself to follow through on. "Please, don't see me as him anymore. Whether that man was a hero or a sinner, I have already served the sentence for his crimes. I have nothing to do with him now."
"If you and your companions can resolve this Stellaron incident as Trailblazers of the Express, I can, at the very least, provide an explanation on your behalf. It will leave those who wish to make an issue of your past with no ground to stand on." Jing Yuan's gaze was steady and direct. "If problems could be solved with mere words, there wouldn't be so many conflicts in this universe."
"I understand." Dan Heng lifted his head, his own gaze firm. "I have made my decision. I will make a clean break with Dan Feng's past."
Outside the Seat of Divine Foresight, Rekka was squatting on the ground, poking at the moss in the cracks between the floor tiles with a twig he'd found somewhere. Stelle and March 7th were huddled next to him, the three of them whispering like a trio of conspirators as they studied the tiny patch of green.
Hearing footsteps, Rekka glanced up, tossed the twig aside, and patted the dust from his hands as he stood.
"Done talking?" he asked, looking Dan Heng up and down. "He didn't give you a hard time, did he?"
"He didn't," Dan Heng confirmed with a shake of his head.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Stelle stretched, her arms reaching for the sky. "Let's hurry up and find that Stellaron, seal it, and go get something good to eat. I was stuck on that bridge for hours, and I'm starving."
Just as she spoke, a colossal pillar of viridian light erupted into the sky from the direction of the Ambrosial Arbor. The ancient, skeletal tree was utterly transformed. New buds burst from its gnarled branches, sprouting leaves at a speed visible to the naked eye. Within moments, layers of unnaturally vibrant greenery threatened to drown the entire canopy.
"What's going on?" March 7th gasped.
"It seems someone just detonated a Stellaron at the Ambrosial Arbor," Dan Heng murmured, his brow furrowed.
"So...?" Stelle asked.
"So Little Blue Light gets an extra meal," Rekka declared with a grin. He immediately called the Conductor. "Hey, Pom-Pom? Can you let Little Blue Light out for a bit?"
'I wonder if he'll get carbon-sickness today,' Rekka mused to himself.
"Why would a Stellaron explode under the Ambrosial Arbor...?" Dan Heng's mind raced, grasping at the few remaining fragments of memory. 'The duty of guarding the Ambrosial Arbor... High Elder...'"Could it be..." His eyes widened slightly.'Is someone within the Vidyadhara colluding with our enemies?'
"We need to hurry," he urged. "If something goes wrong with the Ambrosial Arbor..."
"It's fine, watch this." Rekka held up his hand, measuring the distance with his fingers before borrowing March 7th's bow. He didn't nock an arrow, simply drawing back the empty bowstring.
A low hum filled the air. Despite the lack of a projectile, a torrential downpour of massive, violet light-arrows materialized in the sky. They rained down upon the Ambrosial Arbor, pinning themselves to its rapidly growing branches and instantly halting its rampant expansion.
A familiar, powerful thrum of beating wings echoed from above. Little Blue Light's massive form descended through the clouds, the complex network of blue and green fluorescent veins across its carapace shining with an otherworldly glow in the sunlight.
"Just in time." Rekka waved. "Little Blue Light, follow my lead! I'm taking you out for a snack!"
Boss is so good, buzz.
"Let's go," Dan Heng said, turning to the group. "I might have some leads. You just need to follow me."
He took the lead, and naturally, no one objected.
"If we want to truly deal with the Ambrosial Arbor, we need to find its root system." Dan Heng stood before them, his back turned. As he spoke, a pair of illusory, azure dragon horns materialized above his head, and a long, spectral tail faded into view behind him.
"I hope... you won't be angry that I've been keeping things from you..."
"Not at all!" Stelle chimed in immediately. "So this is your second phase, huh?"
"Come to think of it, back on the Express, I was just talking about whether you had some kind of hidden power! Turns out you really did," March 7th added, clicking her tongue in amazement. "Who would've thought... So what's this form called, Dan Heng? SV Dan Heng?"
"...Close enough."
Rekka was fairly certain March had meant to say 'SP Dan Heng'for'Special', but 'SV'for'Supreme' didn't seem wrong either.
"It really is very SV," Stelle agreed, nodding sagely. "Look at those horns... and that tail..."
They even say he can part the sea.
"Stop messing around," Dan Heng sighed, though the tension in his shoulders had eased. "We should get going."
Riding atop an enlarged Little Blue Light, they soared toward the coast. March 7th made sure to snap a photo over the shimmering sea as a souvenir.
"This place is so beautiful..."
So pretty.
"Dan Heng, Dan Heng, can you do the thing?" Stelle asked, bouncing on her heels.
"You know... part the sea of hearts..."
He pointedly refused.
When they finally arrived and saw the root system of the Ambrosial Arbor, however, even their usual antics paused. They were all taken aback by the sheer scale of it.
"Whoa, Dan Heng, look! There's a deer head over there!" Stelle suddenly shouted, pointing excitedly at the massive, dragon-like effigy formed by the roots. "Look, look, that deer head is so cool!"
Dan Heng blinked. "?"
"...A deer head?"
"What deer head? Don't talk nonsense if you don't know what you're looking at!" March 7th chided, lightly tapping Stelle on the head.
Dan Heng shook his head with a quiet sigh of relief. At least March was being relatively normal.
"That's clearly a Hippopotamus!" March declared, pointing confidently at the same dragon head.
Dan Heng:...
Rekka stood there, gazing at the colossal Ambrosial Arbor, then at March 7th and Stelle, who were now passionately arguing about whether the dragon head was a deer or a hippopotamus. He fell into a deep, contemplative silence.
"I think it's a deer," Stelle insisted, doubling down on her theory. "Look at the horns, they're branched. Aren't that what deer antlers look like?"
"Have you ever seen a deer with such a long face?" March shot back, hands on her hips as she presented her counter-argument. "That face looks just like a hippo's, so obviously it's a hippopotamus!"
"Since when do hippos have horns?!"
"Can't it be a mutant hippopotamus?"
"You two..." A vein pulsed on Dan Heng's forehead. "That is a dragon. Didn't you see the dragon Rekka turned into before?"
"A dragon?"
March 7th and Stelle stopped arguing simultaneously. They looked at Dan Heng, then back at the huge, wooden head.
"No way," March said. "It looks so different from the one Rekka turned into."
"I think it's definitely a deer head," Stelle concluded, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "No rebuttals accepted."
Just as their debate over the root-sculpture's species reached its peak, a single root slowly snaked its way out from the ground before them. With a sickening poof, the tendril, saturated with the power of the Abundance, swelled and grew into a towering, monstrous tree.
"This is..."
"Careful!"
From the newly formed wood, a beast-shaped monster revealed its form.
Stelle wasn't surprised in the slightest. Instead, her face lit up with vindicated excitement as she pointed at the Abundant Ebon Deer.
"See, March?! I told you it was a deer head! Now the whole deer is out, what do you have to say for yourself?"
Rekka:...
Dan Heng:...
'Sister,'Rekka thought,'you truly are one of a kind.'
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