[After chatting with Tingyun, Stelle and March 7th were about to stroll around Changming Street casually. But as soon as they reached the square, they noticed a large crowd gathered there.]
[Squeezing through, they saw a Cloud Knight lying on a stretcher, clutching his head in agony as he writhed and howled. The next second, golden light coiled around him, and branches began sprouting and spreading from his body.]
["He's succumbing to mara-struck transformation!"]
[Just as the entire square was about to descend into chaos, a petite girl with horns on her head and a dragon tail trailing behind her came sprinting over at incredible speed: "Everyone, step back!"]
[Then, the little dragon girl's tail crackled with lightning, and with a powerful sweeping strike, she sent the mara-struck soldier into a deep, infant-like slumber on the spot.]
[Afterward, she pulled out a small gourd from her robe: "Quick, feed him this medicine so he stays down peacefully!"]
——
Abyssal Sea Purgatory.
"This… this is one of our dragon kin?!" Ao Guang stared in disbelief at Bailu's twin horns and tail. There was no mistaking it—these were unmistakable traits of their dragon lineage.
"Could it be that there's a branch of our dragon clan on the Xianzhou?" A deep-blue female dragon crawled out of the magma, her sharp claws hooking onto the rocky walls as she chuckled. "It seems the scenes in this Celestial Screen are glimpses of our future."
"How so?" Ao Qin, the Dragon King of the South Sea, asked.
Ao Run narrowed her eyes and pointed at Changming Street on the screen. "Look at the clothing of the Xianzhou humans—how similar they are to the people of Chentang Pass. Perhaps the ancestors of those massive Xianzhou ships included people from Chentang Pass."
"No, no…" Ao Guang slowly shook his head. "Then where is the Heavenly Court?"
"'Beyond the known lies the unknown, beyond the heavens lie greater heavens.' Big brother… how can you be sure there isn't a power greater than the Heavenly Court beyond it?" Ao Run smiled meaningfully.
Her implication was clear—the so-called Aeons of Abundance, Destruction, and The Hunt were forces that surpassed even the Heavenly Court.
"Big brother, is it possible that when the Xianzhou first set sail…" Ao Run trailed off hesitantly.
Ao Guang silently gestured with his chin, urging her to continue.
"That when the Xianzhou departed, the Heavenly Court had already been annihilated by the Emanators sent by those Aeons. That's why those people could board the ships and leave their homeland for the cosmos. And our Four Seas Dragon Clan no longer needed to suppress the abyssal beasts, so we left with them."
"That would explain why there are descendants of our dragon kin on the Xianzhou."
"That makes sense, but the Heavenly Court being destroyed…" Ao Guang shot a sharp glance at the sky. The conclusion was still too unbelievable. With his cultivation and power, he couldn't even fathom the Heavenly Court's fall.
"Could there be some mistake?" Ao Qin interjected. "That girl may be dragon kin, but she hasn't displayed much of the Four Seas Dragon Clan's might. All she did was knock out a mara-struck soldier with her tail…"
"Hmm, fair point. Let's observe further." Ao Guang sighed deeply.
In his heart, he desperately wished Ao Run's words were true. Compared to endlessly suppressing abyssal beasts in this purgatory, he'd rather board the Xianzhou with the humans and venture into the cosmos—even if the future was uncertain and life or death unknown… it would still be better than suffering endlessly here.
——
[The moment the little girl handed over the gourd, four more soldiers succumbed to mara-struck transformation, slowly rising to their feet.]
["Uh… I meant, make them stay down… peacefully."]
[Seeing such an adorable little girl asking for help, Stelle and the others naturally couldn't stand by. Along with March 7th, they swiftly dealt with the mara-struck soldiers, knocking them all out cold.]
[Watching the fallen mara-struck, Bailu finally relaxed: "Thank you, uncles and sisters, for helping stabilize the patients' conditions. That [Heavy Blow Anesthesia] technique of yours is quite impressive."]
["Heavy Blow Anesthesia… Do we even have that?" March 7th had never heard such an obscure medical term before.]
[After this ordeal, the mara-struck soldiers were not only ill but also injured. Bailu sighed, overwhelmed.]
["Little one, treating patients isn't child's play…" Stelle said in a tone one would use to coax a child.]
[March 7th began scanning the crowd: "Where did this kid come from? Where's her dad?"]
[Bailu: "I don't have a dad."]
["Huh?" March 7th's face filled with sympathy and pity. "What about your mom?"]
[Bailu: "I don't have a mom either."]
["…" March 7th was at a complete loss, scratching her head awkwardly as if she'd said something wrong again.]
["I get it. You see how small I am and assume I'm just a kid sneaking out without my parents."]
[Bailu planted her hands on her hips, lifting her chin proudly: "But this is the Xianzhou! Don't judge by appearances, short-life little sister! We Vidyadhara are self-sufficient through reincarnation—we don't need moms or dads!"]
["This young lady has been studying medicine since hatching from her egg, and I'm a fully licensed physician at the Alchemy Commission!"]
——
"V-Vidyadhara? What's that? Some other name for the dragon clan?" Shen Gongbao glanced at Ao Bing, who was training nearby.
"Master, the Four Seas Dragon Clan has never heard of such a term," Ao Bing set down his weapon and replied respectfully.
"Though she shares our horns and tail, this little sister's connection to our dragon clan likely ends there," Ao Bing mused. "She mentioned the Vidyadhara are self-sufficient through reincarnation, which is completely different from how our dragon clan reproduces."
Though he had trained under his master since childhood, Ao Bing still had parents.
And given the little girl's soft, adorable appearance, she didn't seem to embody the might of the Four Seas Dragon Clan.
However, ever since his master witnessed the Celestial Screen's revelations, Ao Bing had noticed a shift in his demeanor.
The vast cosmos seemed even grander than the Heavenly Court. At first, his master refused to believe it, insisting their grandmaster would intervene to vanquish evil. But by the time Stelle and the others finished their adventures in Belobog, not only had their grandmaster failed to appear—there wasn't even a trace of the Heavenly Court.
No dazzling spells, no revered immortals—only the boundless might of the Aeons, ruling over planet after planet.
Recalling the moment he felt Preservation Qlipoth's gaze, Ao Bing experienced the sensation of being a mere speck in the universe for the first time. Before the Aeons, not only he but even the Twelve Golden Immortals his master revered seemed insignificant…
To ascend to divinity was to reach the heavens—yet beyond the heavens lay even greater heavens, and beyond them, the Aeons.