Night falls, and all weapon spirits—regardless of their factions, are gathered near the base of the black tree.
"Ai…"
Holding a bowl of instant curry in his hand, Ye Chen heaves a sigh. Beside him is a stack—made up of five emptied bowls.
Currently, he and Li Xue are seated down together with the members of the Ashen River Hall—situating themselves near an overgrown tree.
The crown of the colossal black tree—despite having some of its branches snapped off by Long Hua, it still has plenty of leaves left for grabs.
The general plan of the weapon spirits was to spend the majority of tomorrow collecting as many leaves as possible.
Rule wise, NPI and the Long Yue family—who are sponsoring this excavation through a livestream, will be able to obtain most of the leaves, while the leaves that are still left afterwards shall be divided among the various factions.
"What? Meal not good enough for you?"
Towards Li Xue's question, Ye Chen shakes his head, and replies—
"That's not it. I'm just… Thinking about what that surnamed Qing said."
Simultaneously, Shao Tianming, Wang Yongning, Chen Lan, and Li Zi Xiang turn their focus onto Ye Chen.
Swallowing a spoonful of rice, Shao Tianming asks—
"What did that Immortal say exactly?"
"Li Xue asked him, what's the point of introducing himself to us, and his reply was—if we wanted revenge on him and his brother, our strengths are sorely lacking. Why bother to say that? Couldn't he have just killed us, and settled everything then and there? It made me feel like, he's…-? He was encouraging us."
Having used this method in the past on Li Xue, Ye Chen believes that the likelihood of his speculations being true is high.
"An IML encouraging us to kill him?"
Raising an eye, Wang Yongning finds this guess of Ye Chen's to be rather ridiculous, whereas Li Xue frowns in thought.
Now that Ye Chen had pointed this out, Li Xue is also starting to believe that—that might have been the case.
Constricting his eyes, and setting his bowl of curry down, Chen Lan remarks—
"That final boss-like Immortal that the ancestor ran off with—with that much power, they could have easily killed everyone here, and yet they didn't… Were they looking for something among our numbers? If they were… Have they been testing us all this time?"
"…"
"…"
Going off Ye Chen's speculations, silence loomed over the air, as everyone turned their heads in contemplation.
Eventually, Shao Tianming shrugs his shoulders, and replies—
"…Beats me."
"Speaking of surnamed Long, is he going to be fine?"
Towards Li Zi Xiang's question, Ye Chen replies—
"Surnamed Long, he isn't the sort to sacrifice himself for others. When he stepped out, he probably already had a plan in mind."
Raising an eye, Li Zi Xiang remarks—
"You trust him that much?"
"It ain't trust. I just know that he's quite capable of keeping himself alive. Remember that crocodile Sinner back in the second excavation? Everyone believed that he died, but he came onto the third island like nothing happened."
"…True."
Setting his emptied cup of ramen down, Wang Yongning picks up a soft drink. Taking a sip, he asks—
"Out of curiosity, what's Lady Li's father's name?"
"Hm? Li Qian He, something wrong?"
"…?"
"Hm?"
Simultaneously, Shao Tianming and Wang Yongning tilt their heads—thinking the name to be somewhat familiar.
...…
With an emptied cup of instant ramen beside her, Xun Yu examines her Relic—with a portion of the straight sword drawn from the umbrella's handle.
Near her were Qing Yue, Hong Xuan, and surprisingly, Zhui Yun as well.
Directly behind Zhui Yun's back are the rest of NPI.
Among the various factions that are nearby, they are the two factions situated closest to the black tree.
"Xun Yu, you've been like that for a while now. Something wrong with your Relic?"
Towards Hong Xuan's question, Xun Yu shakes her head, and—
"…"
In an absentminded manner, Xun Yu looks up at the snow filled skies.
"Snow…"
Muttering this, Xun Yu finds this scenery of falling snow overlapping with a memory that may, or may not have been her own.
Within this memory, the scenery is also filled with snow, but in much denser amounts, and she—her hands in this memory are much smaller than the hands that she currently has.
At the same time, the lands within this memory, it was constantly haunted by the sounds of war—ranging from the shrieks of people to the clashing of steel arms.
Having nowhere to go in this strife-ridden land, Xun Yu roamed the ruined earth alone and cold—until she eventually came across a shrine that was dedicated to a deity.
Judging by the small idol within that shrine, the shrine itself should have been dedicated to the Lord Tian She Zi of whatever time period this memory had occurred in.
"…"
In front of that idol—at the time, were four meat buns.
Out of hunger, Xun Yu had taken them.
As for what happened afterwards—
"…"
She couldn't recall.
...…
"…"
Leaving Xun Yu to her thoughts, Qing Yue turns to Zhui Yun, and asks—
"How come your Partial-Apotheosis is the same as mine?"
"…"
Coincidentally, it is for this exact reason that Zhui Yun had chosen to sit with them.
"I could ask you the same."
"Maybe, you two are actually related?"
"…"
"…"
Towards Hong Xuan's remark, both Qing Yue and Zhui Yun turns to her with an unamused look on their faces.
"C'mon, you both have ruby-red eyes now. I can't help myself in thinking that…"
Much like Qing Yue, Zhui Yun has also undergone a permanent change—after activating her Weapon Spirit True Body. Other than her eyes becoming the same color as Qing Yue's, her white hair has turned pitch black.
"Chi Yun Continent, Celestial Demon Tribe, does any of that ring a bell?"
"…?"
Hearing these two terms, Qing Yue blinks her eyes in confusion, but momentarily—
"…! …Ack!"
Her expression distorts with a clear sign of escalating pain.
"Same reaction as me when I first heard those terms…"