A few more years passed, and that person turned eighteen.
He had finished all his credits ahead of schedule and, just before graduation, signed up for the exams of the Luofu Six Commissions, intending to enter the Divination Commission.
Guanliang asked, "Tell me, what if he doesn't pass?"
It wasn't just Guanliang who felt uncertain. Hua felt the same.
The competitors taking the exam with him weren't just people from the Luofu, but also people from other Xianzhou ships and affiliated planets.
The ratio of accepted applicants to total applicants was staggering.
Besides the initial written test, there were also multiple rounds of assessments and interviews.
And one part even required drawing questions by lot.
With that person's luck… he probably wouldn't pass.
After thinking it over again and again, Hua said, "Let him take the test himself. So what if he fails? Doesn't he still have several billion patrol credits?"
She said she didn't care, but the day before the results were announced, she still couldn't help herself. She contacted the Luofu and took the initiative to request the acceptance list for the Six Commissions.
Hua and Guanliang held their breath as they checked the Divination Commission list from beginning to end. At last, they found that person's ID number.
The two of them finally let out a long breath.
Next came the academy's graduation ceremony and coming-of-age ceremony.
Guanliang didn't mention it, and Hua didn't bring it up either.
He quietly cleared Hua's schedule for that day.
When the day came, Guanliang rubbed the top of Hua's head and said, "Go to the Luofu."
'Ever since that person died, in these past several hundred years, nearly a thousand years, you've never celebrated your birthday.'
'I know you want to see him.'
'So go see him.'
A rare trace of helplessness appeared on Hua's face.
Ever since she officially became the Xianzhou Marshal, she had rarely shown such an expression in front of others.
Guanliang urged her again, "Go on."
Hua opened her mouth. After thinking it through several times, she didn't refuse.
She didn't inform Luofu General Tengxiao. She boarded a ship alone, arrived at the Luofu, and went to the academy where that person was.
Unfortunately, Hua had inherited his bad luck. She was just a step too late and only managed to catch the final graduation ball.
Using the dim lighting as cover, she looked around and quickly found the dessert table.
Hua hurriedly picked up a glass of non-alcoholic champagne and walked quickly toward it.
As expected, she saw him.
Hua couldn't help slowing her steps and looked toward him.
He still wore that gentle, flawless smile and, in a soft tone, declined the invitation of a woman who had asked him to dance.
Hua shifted her gaze away as if by accident.
He turned his head and chatted casually with the white-haired boy beside him.
Hua recognized that white-haired boy's identity at a glance.
It was Jing Yuan, the exceptionally talented officer who had been allowed to join the Cloud Knights early as a special exception.
After Hua learned that her ward had been bullied on campus, she had casually looked into the records, so she naturally also knew about this young man who had stepped forward to help.
During his first expedition, the ship Jing Yuan was on encountered long-life species capable of hijacking people's minds. These enemies had quietly infiltrated the fleet.
When the enemy was on the verge of taking control of the ship, Jing Yuan remained calm in the face of danger, came up with a countermeasure, and ultimately defeated them.
From then on, Jing Yuan was given important responsibilities and repeatedly achieved extraordinary merits.
However, the young man's unexpectedly unconventional tactics gave the Cloud Knight leadership quite a headache.
To superiors who were each several hundred years old, Jing Yuan's strategies still weren't stable enough.
Hua could understand her subordinates' thinking.
War always demanded "stability."
And among her subordinates, there was always one who didn't act so "steadily."
Luofu's Sword Champion Jingliu extended an invitation to Jing Yuan.
This promising talent, loved and hated by the other subordinates alike, joined her ranks and served under her.
At this moment, Jing Yuan, still with some childishness on his face, stood with Zero at the dessert table. As he ate a small cake, he teased, "I really didn't expect you to actually get into the Divination Commission..."
Zero didn't seem to care. "Barely passed."
Jing Yuan clicked his tongue in amazement. "Your luck is really good."
Zero paused, then asked Jing Yuan instead, "How many credits are you still short? Can you graduate on time?"
Jing Yuan showed a pained expression. "Don't ask… why can't Cloud Knight battle merits count toward credits…"
Hua held her champagne glass and stood at a distance that was neither too close nor too far, looking at the sky, looking at the ground, looking at anything except the two of them.
Coincidentally, she had set this rule herself.
The Xianzhou Academy's delayed graduation rate ranked among the highest in the star seas.
In Hua's view, this was normal.
Most short-life species studied until about age twenty.
But what about the Xianzhou people?
They could hold a funeral and still suspect the upper ranks of wasting tax money. Clearly their understanding was too shallow. They hadn't read enough books.
That person had spoiled them too much.
Hua had no intention of indulging them.
Holding to the principle of having been caught in the rain herself, so now she would tear up everyone else's umbrellas, Hua adjusted the academy system.
She added a small number of courses and set the standard for Xianzhou adulthood as whether one could graduate from the academy.
Because of this, there were still Xianzhou people over two hundred years old in the academy who had not yet graduated. They weren't allowed to drink alcohol or read storybooks intended for those over two hundred.
Of course, the marriage age was still twenty. That had never changed.
Hua took a sip of champagne and observed them from the corner of her eye.
She saw Zero pick up a small cake, put it into Jing Yuan's hand, and actively share his experience on how to earn credits.
For example, timing enrollment to grab the easiest electives.
Trying not to skip more than three classes per course.
Also actively participating in various academy activities and striving to place in competitions.
Jing Yuan couldn't help sighing. "Sigh… I'll try… but those abominations never pick a convenient time."
"If it really doesn't work out, I'll just save up my annual leave and take one or two years off all at once. I'll try to finish my credits early and graduate sooner."
Zero agreed, "Yeah, that way the patrol credits you get each month will be a bit higher too."
Jing Yuan's mouth twitched slightly. "A bit? That's several thousand!"
After saying that, he remembered that the person in front of him was a rich man who could sell a single talisman for seven figures, so he took the initiative to skip the topic.
"Honestly, before I joined the Cloud Knights, I didn't even know they had so many subsidies..."
"Especially married Cloud Knights. They can get a lot of patrol credits every month, and more than ten extra days of leave every year. But the whole process is pretty troublesome. You have to fill out a lot of documents…"
Zero listened quietly. A waiter came to the dessert table carrying a tray. With quick movements, he grabbed several more small cakes for Jing Yuan.
Hua withdrew her gaze and finished the remaining champagne in one gulp.
She thought, 'Things like this are already pretty good.'
'Even if he forgets them, even if he doesn't know them, it's still good.'
Hua casually handed the empty glass to a waiter and left the Luofu.
Speaking of which, another mechanical species had submitted an application, wanting to join the interstellar community.
Better reject it again.
Hua returned to Xuling and, in her residence, saw a figure she hadn't seen for several hundred years.
It was the "Reignbow Arbiter."
This taciturn Aeon was no different this time.
After seeing Hua, he suddenly said without context, "He will remember."
Hua thought of the fragment placed inside the sword case, and a nameless anger suddenly rose in her chest.
All those who knew the truth had kept their distance from that person.
Even if they didn't know him… even if they couldn't go to the Luofu…
As long as he was happy, that was enough.
Hua couldn't read any emotion from the Aeon's expression or tone. She could only try her best to control her voice, "If that memory would be painful for him, then why make him remember it?"
Lan said, "Hua, this is not something you can decide."
One god and one human looked at each other, silent for a moment.
Lan added, "This is a matter between him and the Aeons."
Hua closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and after calming the anger in her heart, said evenly, "If it is the oracle of the Reignbow Arbiter, how could we not obey?"
Hua raised her eyes to meet Lan's gaze and said word by word, "I am different from you."
Her brows were tightly furrowed, her tone firm.
"This time, even if he is gravely ill and cannot be cured, I will still do everything in my power to save him."
The Aeon stared steadily at her and asked, "What if he is unwilling?"
Hua fell silent first, then let out a soft laugh.
"So what? They waited for hundreds of years, nearly a thousand years… they can't wait for another hundred years, another thousand years."
Lan said nothing more.
Because he knew that those who couldn't wait weren't just those generals.
Another two years passed. The Diviner of the Yuque Xianzhou bypassed the normal hierarchy and reported directly upward, telling Hua all the hexagrams they had divined for the Luofu.
In one sentence, fortune and disaster could not be determined.
After hearing this, Hua understood.
She could never learn the talismans that person had drawn.
Successive Diviners had also never been able to calculate that person's fate.
If the future of the Luofu could not be deduced… then presumably the Aeon of "Remembrance" was about to seek him out.
Hua very skillfully reassured her subordinates, then turned around to find Tengxiao, saying she needed to go to the Luofu.
Coincidentally, Daiyang's subordinate Baizhu was also at the Luofu.
Hua hurriedly made trips to the Sky-Faring Commission, the Alchemy Commission, and the Divination Commission.
After that she found Luofu General Tengxiao, gave her subordinates a bit of advance warning, then went to find Baizhu.
The white-haired Foxian looked as if she might cry. "That person really doesn't understand romance…"
Daiyang was known for being flirtatious, and the subordinates he trained were similarly fond of acting spoiled and taking verbal advantage.
Hua smiled helplessly. "That person… you could call him smart, but also slow…"
"But if you have other motives, he'll see right through them..."
Baizhu's ears twitched. She glanced at Hua cautiously, then boldly said, "With looks like his… am I not even allowed to fantasize a little?"
Hua, "..."
She really didn't want to hear a junior fantasizing about her own ward.
Baizhu went on and on about that person's past, talking about how he automatically filtered out all strange remarks.
As she talked, she suddenly said with emotion, "Now that I think about it, it's kind of strange. How did the Luofu Sword Champion even come to know him?"
Hua thought for a moment and replied, "Maybe because of that officer."
At the time, Hua had never paid attention to Baizhu's remark.
She had never imagined the two of them would end up together.
Even less had she imagined they would jump straight to marriage.
As Xianzhou Marshal, Hua had personally stood on the battlefield with her subordinates countless times.
As overseer of the star seas, she had mediated conflicts between various star systems several times.
Looking far back, in these nearly thousand years, she and the Xianzhou Alliance had made enormous contributions to universal peace.
Looking closer, she had led two campaigns against abominations. This time, the Imbibitor Lunae and the Emanator of Elation Baiheng had together killed the Abundance Emanator Shuhu.
The war was already over. The Imbibitor Lunae had led part of the fleet back to the Luofu first, while the remaining Cloud Knights temporarily stayed behind to rest and reorganize.
Hua considered herself someone who had seen the world, right?
Then why couldn't she understand the words in front of her?
Hua sat upright inside the command tent, staring face to face with Luofu General Tengxiao.
Tengxiao took a deep breath, carefully placed the paper in his hand onto the table, and pushed it toward his superior.
Hua, "..."
'Wasn't it supposed to be an engagement first?'
She subconsciously widened her eyes, as if she couldn't find her voice, and just silently looked at Tengxiao.
Under the Marshal's disbelieving gaze, Tengxiao carefully repeated, "It's Jingliu's application."
Hua opened her mouth. After quite a while, she finally forced out a single word.
"…Huh?"
Tengxiao's eyes were blank.
"It's like this, Marshal. Do you remember the Cloud Knight marriage process?"
Hua also looked blank and nodded subconsciously.
Tengxiao repeated the marriage procedures.
"They need to submit an application when preparing for marriage, wait three months, confirm their relationship is stable, then formally submit a marriage report."
"After that they fill out a series of forms and submit them for internal review by the Cloud Knights. Once the spouse's identity is confirmed, they go to the Balance Commission to register the marriage…"
Tengxiao's chest rose and fell, and his tone became somewhat unsteady, "Luofu Sword Champion Jingliu submitted a personal application to me."
"The application states that she and Divination Commission diviner Zero have confirmed a romantic relationship and that their relationship has been harmonious during this time…"
He suddenly stopped, then spoke faster, "I know this application shouldn't have been sent to you."
"You handle countless affairs every day and only approve marriage applications for the generals. But Jingliu's status is special. She is an Emanator of the Reignbow Arbiter…"
Tengxiao said in resignation, "The rest is written in the application. You can read it yourself. In short, Marshal… they're getting married."
Hua, "..."
'How come I didn't know? Wasn't it supposed to be an engagement first?'
'Tengxiao, are you even speaking Xianzhou language?'
———
(A/N: There's one thing to clarify. As long as Zero is a "god," it's impossible for him to fall for any particular person. So no matter how many reincarnations there are, he only has Jingliu as his one lover.)