Chapter 151: Cirrus: Why is the Luofu General's Dream So Abstract?
"Your wish is to have a fair and square fight with the General, is that it?"
"Exactly, exactly! Is it really possible?" Cirrus's voice buzzed with manic energy. "Ancestor, I beg of you! This is the request of a lifetime!"
"Alright," Rekka said with a magnanimous air. "First, go collect more than half of the Heliobi in this place and bring them back. Then I'll consider giving you a chance."
"You'll keep your word?"
"I always keep my word."
Cirrus spun around twice in mid-air, its green flames flickering as if it were wrestling with a momentous decision.
"Ancestor, just you wait! I'm going to drag out every single one of those hidden cowards for you right now—!"
With a final, determined flicker, it shot off into the depths of the garden.
Tail floated beside Huohuo, his spectral form watching the direction Cirrus had vanished. After a long silence, he managed to squeeze a single sentence through gritted teeth.
"...Are you tricking it?"
Rekka looked down at the little Heliobus. "What do you mean, 'tricking'? I'm giving it a chance to realize its wish. It wants to have a fair fight with the General; what a noble ideal. Stelle, don't you agree? Our Astral Express loves helping every reckless dream come true."
"Exactly, exactly." Stelle nodded vigorously, her expression dead serious. "There's an old saying on the Xianzhou... 'Those who understand the times are... a hero of the people.'"
"Why do you have an Izumo accent?" Tail deadpanned.
He understood now. These two living devils weren't helping at all; they were digging a pit for Cirrus, and they were doing it with an air of such self-righteous dignity it was nauseating.
"Suit yourselves." Tail huffed and floated back to huddle behind Huohuo's shoulder.
Cirrus moved faster than anyone expected.
In less than half a system hour, motes of green light began to drift above the Garden of Serenity. The lights emerged from every corner—from behind crumbling statues, within the roots of ancient trees, and deep inside shadowed grottos—all converging in the same direction as if summoned by an irresistible call.
At first, there were only a few scattered clumps, but their numbers swelled with each passing minute, painting the sky with an eerie, verdant glow.
"Whoa, quite efficient." Stelle looked up at the scene, her baseball bat propped on the ground. Her voice carried a hint of genuine admiration. "This fellow's got some skills."
"The more it collects, the better," Rekka mused, a faint smile playing on his lips.
The larger the gathering, the stronger the Heliobus. He was truly curious to see how Cirrus intended to challenge Jing Yuan.
Faint, ethereal whispers carried on the wind.
"Cirrus~ Cirrus~"
"We'll give you our parts~"
"You must defeat the Xianzhou General~"
Many of the Heliobi came out voluntarily. This kind of life form naturally gravitated toward the largest source, eager to become part of that singular, powerful energy reservoir.
On that day, Cirrus became the light.
And it truly carried the wishes of all those Heliobi who yearned to fight the Arbiter-General once more.
But what terrified Cirrus was that even after absorbing almost every Heliobus in the garden, looking at Rekka still felt like staring up at a mountain so tall its peak was lost in the heavens.
Cirrus hovered before them, its form now ten times larger than when it had left, a swirling vortex of emerald flame. "I've brought all those that could be found in the Garden of Serenity."
After saying this, its massive body contracted slightly, a flicker of apprehension in its fiery core.
"Is that all of them?" Rekka asked.
"All of them. A few refused to come out, but they're insignificant. It doesn't matter if we catch them or not."
"You want to fight the Xianzhou General, right?" Rekka said, his tone casual. "I'll give you the chance to face him directly. Tell me, how exactly do you plan to fight the General of the Xianzhou Luofu?"
Upon hearing such a wonderful offer, Cirrus immediately perked up.
"Hehe~ By infiltrating his dreams, of course! In his dreams, I'll make him see the things he fears most!"
March 7th:?
Stelle:?
"A sneak attack, then," Rekka stated, crossing his arms.
"Look at you, so pathetic! You've disgraced all Heliobi!" Tail cursed loudly from behind Huohuo.
"Pathetic? This is called outsmarting!" Cirrus shot back, displeased. "Didn't General Tengxiao use despicable and treacherous means back then to cause our crushing defeat?"
"Over a thousand years ago, this Garden of Serenity was the battlefield where the great Heliobus and the Luofu General fought! That battle was devastating and moved the gods! The great one transformed endlessly, using floods, fire, landslides, and lightning, fighting that General to a standstill, evenly matched!"
"B-but..." March 7th piped up, confused. "In the records, wasn't the battle between General Tengxiao and the Heliobus... a crushing defeat for the Heliobus?"
"Defeat? What defeat? Where was the defeat?" Cirrus grew anxious, its flames flaring. "How can human records be trusted? Naturally, they only boast about the General's military achievements!"
It continued its tirade. "Clearly, although the great Heliobus absorbed the power of countless compatriots, he still underestimated human treachery! After the final battle, he could no longer reform and scattered into different spirit fragments, which were then sealed into the Creation Furnace!...Hmph, little girl, as for this Tail of yours, I thought he had escaped to enjoy himself, but I didn't expect him to be a little lackey following you around."
"Come, come, write this down—the Cirrus oral history version," Stelle elbowed Rekka and whispered. "We'll check with Jing Yuan later to see what the official version is like."
"Recorded, recorded," Rekka nodded sagely.
"Wait, um..." Huohuo plucked up her courage, tugging on Rekka's sleeve and looking at him with wide, piteous eyes. "Are you really going to let a Heliobus... attack the General? Please, d-don't do this!"
"Don't worry," Rekka gave her a reassuring thumbs-up. "Everything is according to plan."
He then turned back to the massive ball of green fire. "Cirrus, let me tell you, this white-haired, Lightning-wielding... oh wait, this white-haired man right here is the General of the Xianzhou Luofu, Tengxiao's successor."
After many days of utter exhaustion, Jing Yuan was sleeping soundly. The Lord Ravagers, the Astral Express, the whole mess with the Vidyadhara... In his dreams, at least, the General could finally get a good night's sleep.
Jing Yuan frowned in his slumber.
When he opened his eyes, the scene he saw was...
The moment he took over the burden from General Tengxiao.
The moment Jingliu was struck by Mara.
The chaos during the Sedition of the Imbibitor Lunae.
The moment Bai Heng died.
But the memory that suffocated Jing Yuan the most was...
Yingxing and Jingliu, sitting in one of those small, single-wheeled construction barrows, repeating the words they said all those years ago...
Cirrus was confused. It thought it would see clashing steel and charging cavalry, mountains of corpses and seas of blood—a Xianzhou General's dream should be a Shura field, an abattoir filled with endless war and earth-shaking battle cries. That way, it could amplify the terror and break his spirit.
Cirrus's plan was stuck at the very first step.
It couldn't understand why this General's dream was so abstract.
Why were people sitting in a wheelbarrow?
You're a General, and you're afraid of this?
It refused to give up and decided to go deeper.
The dream rippled like the surface of a pond, and the scene shifted.
The world before Jing Yuan's eyes changed.
This time, he seemed to have returned to his carefree youth.
"Yo! White-haired lad over there, please wait!" a cheerful voice called out. "I'm in a good mood today, so I'll give you a free fortune reading!"
Jing Yuan was stopped by someone.
In a daze, he remembered.
Oh, this seems to be... something that happened in my youth.
When he saw the face of that fortune teller, Jing Yuan snapped awake with a jolt.
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