The gears of fate began to turn, and the five figures in the tale appeared one after another.
The film then employed cross-cutting and a slightly montage-like technique.
Multiple scenes appeared in the frames, recounting the deeds of the five before their gathering.
The proud Dragon Lord Dan Feng gazed at the Vidyadhara eggs within the Scalegorge Waterscape, lost in thought.
In his mind echoed the admonitions of the Vidyadhara Elders:
"The Vidyadhara cannot reproduce. If we fail to find a solution, our kind will face extinction and vanish forever!"
At this thought, he couldn't help but feel bewildered.
Just then,
A beating heart appeared in the frame.
A deep voice resonated in the background:
"Do not dwell on it. All life must eventually pass. In death, we will merge with the universe and become part of all things—this is the meaning of «Immortality»."
"I understand. Say no more."
Dan Feng abruptly opened his eyes and left the Scalegorge Waterscape without looking back.
——
With a loud "boom,"
A starskiff crashed onto the ground. From the wreckage emerged a Foxian, completely unharmed.
It was Baiheng. She rubbed her head in confusion. "That's odd. I was only speeding 50% over the limit. How did I lose control?"
Bystanders who witnessed the scene couldn't help but marvel, "This Foxian girl is incredible! How is she completely unscathed?"
The next moment,
Baiheng clenched her fists. "My great-grandmother once said where you fall is where you rise. It's fine! I must not have mastered it well enough. Next time, I'll definitely..."
At the same time, her communication earpiece erupted with a furious roar:
"BAIHENG!!! GET BACK HERE IMMEDIATELY!!! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU CRASHED THIS MONTH?!
DO YOU REALLY WANT TO BE LEGENDARY AS THE 'CRASH QUEEN'?!"
"Sorry, sorry!" Baiheng laughed awkwardly. "Next time for sure, next time for sure. I promise!"
——
"One!"
"Two!"
"Three!"
…
…
…
"...One hundred!"
The scene shifted to Jing Yuan, his sword movements like rain, with Jingliu standing beside him.
Jingliu watched his motions and shook her head slightly.
"Not terrible, but hardly a prodigy either. Why do the higher-ups hold him in such regard? Could it be his family pulled strings behind the scenes?"
She didn't dwell on it further. As a mere Cloud Knight, her duty was to follow orders.
If Jing Yuan wished to learn, she would teach him.
"Raise your hand higher!" Jingliu adjusted the angle of his blade. "If your strike fails to kill the Abundance abomination in one blow, it will be your life that's forfeit.
Remember the more diligently we train, the more of those abominations we can slay!"
Jing Yuan nodded silently, lifting his greatsword overhead with each swing, pouring all his strength into every motion.
Before long,
He had surpassed the training quota Jingliu had set.
Seeing this, Jingliu nodded in approval. "You've done well. If you have any questions about swordsmanship, you may ask me."
Jing Yuan looked at his sword and asked, "Of all weapons, why choose the sword?"
This question struck Jingliu's mind like a pebble disturbing still water.
She fell silent, gazing at Jing Yuan as if seeing her younger self superimposed over him.
That day, she, too, had asked her master: "I just don't understand why must I learn the sword?!"
The camera followed Jingliu's memories back to that battlefield.
Amid the flames of war,
The mechanized beast-soldier "Longbo" rampaged across the battlefield, leaving the Cloud Knights powerless to resist.
"Who can take down this monstrosity?! We can't break through!"
"Hold the line! We cannot afford to lose this position!"
"Even if we're wiped out, we must not retreat! There's no way back!"
"..."
At that moment, Jingliu, wielding a greatsword six feet and five inches long and weighing fourteen pounds.
Simultaneously controlled twelve flying swords as auxiliary support, directing them with her will, unleashing them like a storm of wind and rain.
In an instant, she carved a path to the front lines.
Her eyes locked onto "Long Bo."
In swordsmanship, she believed she had attained mastery.
So she leaped onto the monster, ten times her height.
Yet,
Despite exhausting every technique, shattering every sword she carried, she only managed to inflict superficial wounds nothing fatal.
She was swatted away by a massive palm, collapsing into the blood-soaked mud of the battlefield, swallowed once more by fear.
At the brink of drowning, she realized: even swordsmanship has its limits.
In this life-or-death moment,
A blazing bolt pierced the dragon's skull and detonated.
The monster swayed twice before collapsing, lifeless.
"Get up!" Her master arrived at her side.
Jingliu, disheartened, clutched the hilt of her shattered sword.
"I won't learn the sword anymore. This thing... is useless."
"Useless? It serves me well enough. The truth is, it's the wielder who's lacking."
She glanced at her master, wanting to retort but swallowing her words.
"If not the sword, what will you learn? The alchemical arrows of the starskiff pilots?
The blazing crossbows of the Divine Arm Battalion? Or... the Zhuming flame of the Zhuming Xianzhou?
To destroy that demonic star, any of those would suffice.
You wish to learn those? Fine. Those weapons can slay foes without even crossing blades.
But I just don't understand why must I learn the sword?!"
"From the general to the lowest soldier, every Cloud Knight begins by learning the sword.
The Artisanship Commission's weapons can indeed slay enemies in your stead,
But those are merely machines acting on their own.
If the day comes when arrows are exhausted, starskiffs fallen, and automatons stilled—
Who will protect us? Who will protect the Xianzhou?
Grip this sword, and remember: only when Cloud Knights take up their blades in person do humans fight for themselves.
With our own flesh, our own skill, we prove to those inhuman abominations
We will defeat them, not let machinery do it for us!"
Jingliu fell completely silent, as if waking from a dream.
Only by their own hands could the Abundance abominations be overcome.
Cloud Knights don't merely learn the sword they must learn it!
They must carve out this future with their own strength!
The scene shifted from the battlefield to a courtyard. Jingliu looked at Jing Yuan, offering no direct answer but posing another question instead:
"Will you become my disciple? I will impart to you everything I've learned."
"Huh? Really? That's great! But you still haven't told me why we must learn the sword."
"You'll understand in time..."
——
The scene changed again, this time to the craft-filled workshops of Zhuming.
Yingxing, with his extraordinary talent, fashioned a lifelike mechanical lion from scrap metal.
And with this feat, the short-lived species earned the title "Hundred Refinements,"
Becoming the foremost of artisans.
Yet,
Though Yingxing defied time with his talent, he could not overcome the Xianzhou natives' prejudice.
In the end, it was all for naught.
Huaiyan looked at Yingxing and sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, Yingxing. You cannot serve as the Furnace Master of the Artisanship Commission!"
"Master, I've already claimed the title of 'Hundred Refinements.' How many in Zhuming surpass my skill?
I've exerted a hundredfold effort, yet I cannot shatter this prejudice!
What was the point of mastering this craft, then?
I might as well have taken up a blade to slay Abundance abominations!"