"Oh my, Little Jingliu! I told you already, if you're feeling cold, you can totally come to me! I'll warm you right up~♪"
Jingliu: ...
Hearing that voice—annoying yet not truly hateful—Jingliu's fingers twitched, itching to draw her sword and slice her into eight pieces on the spot...
But remembering the woman's nature as an Emanator of Abundance, Jingliu suppressed the urge to draw her sword.
Even if she could defeat her—and that was far from certain—she couldn't truly kill her. Jingliu had personally experienced just how perverse and tenacious an Emanator of Abundance could be.
Moreover, each strike of her sword might only provide the Emanator with a piercing, bone-deep thrill.
So, Jingliu silently dismissed the thought.
Her true target was the Aeon of Abundance itself. So, in some future corner of the cosmos, their blades would inevitably clash...
But until that future arrived, Jingliu chose silence...
No longer dwelling on the matter, Jingliu turned to face Dan Heng, who had approached. A fleeting flicker of disorientation flashed through her eyes beneath her black veil, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared.
Her voice remained utterly flat, devoid of emotion, as she said, "When I left the Xianzhou, I heard they had seized your scales and horns, forced you into molting, and cast you into the Shackling Prison."
"I had assumed the Luofu's Imbibitor Lunae would be no more... Yet when I returned to the Luofu, I witnessed you parting the sea and summoning the tides in that desperate moment. It truly felt like a lifetime had passed..."
As she spoke, a hint of nostalgia and disorientation crept into Jingliu's millennia-unchanged tone. It seemed that despite her repeated claims of having abandoned the past, her true feelings lay in stark contrast...
"I don't know you," Dan Heng replied. Hearing Jingliu's somewhat nostalgic words, he recognized that she must have been a familiar figure from his past life.
I'm sorry, but I am who I am. My name is Dan Heng, and I've never been called Dan Feng.
With a ruthless shake of his head, Dan Heng rejected Jingliu's words.
"Hmm... I understand," Jingliu replied, nodding slightly without argument.
She then asked, "Vidyadhara Reincarnation should erase the sins of past lives, shouldn't it? You are now a passenger on the Astral Express, a Nameless traveler wandering the stars... But can a person truly bid farewell to their past?"
"If I'm not mistaken, your current appearance is likely the work of those Preceptors."
"What is your purpose?" By now, Dan Heng understood that the letter left on the Astral Express must have been placed there by Jingliu herself.
"My purpose? I've come to the Luofu to surrender myself," Jingliu stated truthfully, revealing her reason for coming to the Luofu.
"Surrender..." Dan Heng murmured under his breath.
Returning to the Luofu after centuries—it hardly seemed like she was here to surrender.
"Seeing you two chatting so happily, I won't interrupt any further. I'll take my leave now," Lumina said, observing Jingliu and Dan Heng with a faint smile and a farewell nod.
Neither Jingliu nor Dan Heng responded.
Given the tense atmosphere of their conversation, how could Lumina possibly use the word "happily"? Perhaps she was simply blind to the situation.
Jingliu cast her a fleeting glance, but out of courtesy to a friend, she nodded slightly in acknowledgment, offering a small farewell.
[Lumina: o(* ̄▽ ̄*)ブ]
Seeing Jingliu initiate a farewell, Lumina's spirits soared.
She scrutinized Jingliu's figure, her expression earnest, and sincerely advised, "Jingliu, remember to come find me if you're feeling cold, okay?"
[Jingliu: (╯▔皿▔)╯]