Xuling Xianzhou.
"Greetings, Marshal."
"What is your request?"
Atop a mountain peak that pierced the clouds, Fu Hua stood with her back to Qi Zhimu, hands behind her back as she faced the cliff, getting straight to the point as soon as she spoke.
Marshal Fu Hua's reaction was not outside of Qi Zhimu's expectations, nor did she beat around the bush.
"I want to see the Originator of Longevity."
"..."
Fu Hua's expression flickered slightly. Though she didn't turn around, her pupils instinctively darted to the side.
He said 'want', not 'would like'.
"Tell me first, what does she mean to you?" Fu Hua asked again, seemingly tangentially.
Qi Zhimu did not answer immediately.
His thoughts drifted through past years, skimming across his previous life and this current one.
He had ready-made answers, but he wanted to know and find the most authentic emotions deep within his heart.
Having lived two lives, his experiences had many overlaps.
Comparing them by life stages, both began with enduring loss from a young age.
In his life as a Short-Lived Species, he had stayed away from the clamor, finishing his life without being stained by the mortal world.
In a narrow sense, from the moment his hometown was destroyed, he had lost everything and was left all alone.
But in a broad sense, he had... a senior from the Genius Society who was both a mentor and a friend.
There was also the young girl who accompanied him through the final journey of his life and gave him her heart.
He could only sigh that he was born before she was, and by the time she was born, he was already old.
And in his life as a Long-lived Species, from the moment he shouldered responsibility, he lost two close relatives in just a few decades.
Qi Zhimu looked up at Fu Hua, slowly recounting the most authentic voice from the depths of his heart.
Since the second Abundance Plague War, he had become the anchor for his mother's existence in the world, regarding her as the primary seal for the fire of hatred in his heart, and they had supported each other for hundreds of years.
Until the year 6300 of the star calendar, when this seal completely shattered.
He should have been left with nothing once again.
However, at the last moment, his mother used a single thread to sew back together that shattered seal.
Although the mending was not thorough, let alone airtight.
At least... it was enough to become a new anchor.
Qi Zhimu, born on the Azure City Star Skiff, who should have died in a spiritual sense in the year 6300, thus lived for another dozen or so years.
Jingliu was that thread.
His initial thought was likely just to take care of her until she reached adulthood, and nothing more.
But gradually... it changed.
He saw Jingliu pour out countless amounts of sweat and effort, unwilling to fail the arts he taught her.
He saw her instinctively shrink back when facing difficulties, yet still choose to grit her teeth and meet them head-on.
He saw her grow from a thin, weak girl who had lost everything into the Cloud Knight she was now, capable of standing on her own.
It was only because of his deliberate high demands and even difficult challenges that she remained entirely unaware of this.
In reality, she had done very well... very well... To a Long-lived Species, a dozen or so years were but a brief moment.
Yet Jingliu, with the steadiest of steps, had grown from a wealthy young lady with no foundation into a standout among the Cloud Knights, surpassing countless seniors.
Given a little more time, she would surely take the top spot in the Cloud Knight martial examinations and be promoted to Vanguard.
On many nights, looking at his disciple's face as she fell asleep exhausted, his long-dead heart actually began to feel warmth.
The increasingly uncontrollable madness also gradually became more gentle.
Unknowingly, she had become his concern, as well as an important anchor for maintaining his humanity.
Once, his disciple had said she wanted to kill all those Abominations of Abundance and begged him to teach her the methods of slaughter.
He had agreed.
But now his disciple lay on her sickbed, unable to wake up, her physical condition deteriorating day by day, and even the cause of the illness could not be found... It shouldn't be like this.
"The day I gave Jingliu my word, I secretly made a promise. Therefore, I will not, and absolutely cannot, fail her."
Hearing this, Fu Hua's eyes flickered, showing a hint of being moved.
From Qi Zhimu's calm eyes, she could read no other emotion.
Without any warning, Fu Hua suddenly stepped forward and grabbed Qi Zhimu's wrist, only letting go after ten seconds.
At this moment, complexity surfaced in her eyes.
She had many things she wanted to ask in her heart, but when the words reached her lips, she didn't know how to speak them.
Azure City had fallen, and as the Marshal of the Xianzhou, she had been unable to do anything. What right did she have to say those things?
Just because of this status?
Fu Hua only felt the sense of powerlessness in her heart grow deeper; the higher the position one held, the more many things were beyond one's control.
She had no standing and no angle from which to criticize such a candid Qi Zhimu.
Some things didn't need to be said in full to be understood.
"Is it worth it?"
In the end, Fu Hua felt she could only say those four words.
"Such is fate; I have no other choice, Marshal." Qi Zhimu was entirely composed.
Fate... Hearing those words, Fu Hua instinctively held her breath and slowly closed her eyes.
The Qi Family owed no one, they didn't owe the Xianzhou, and they certainly didn't owe her.
Everything had started because of the Xianzhou; the gears of fate were inextricably linked.
The cause was planted during the second Abundance Plague War, and the effect was reaped when Azure City fell.
From then on, Qi Zhimu could never turn back.
He wasn't supposed to have walked such a path of fate.
Rather, many descendants of the Qi Family wouldn't have; they were too coerced by the shackles of the past, left with no choice.
Instead... she was the one who owed him.
A jade message flew toward Qi Zhimu.
"Go to the Luofu, then." Fu Hua turned to look at the misty distance.
"Thank you for your help, Marshal. This subordinate takes his leave." Qi Zhimu caught the jade message, put it away, and turned to depart.
"I hope that one day in the future, you will be able to pass away in peace."
"I will leave a sharp blade for that day."
Qi Zhimu understood the meaning behind Marshal Fu Hua's words and did not stop his pace.
From the moment he told Wind of Evil he wanted to see Fu Hua, he was prepared to confess everything... Teng Xiao never imagined that reuniting with Qi Zhimu would involve personally taking him to the deepest part of the Shackling Prison.
Even less did he imagine that the person he was taking him to see was an absolute taboo of the Xianzhou.
The Originator of Longevity, the first person recorded in Xianzhou history to obtain longevity.
His crimes were vaguely recorded, only noting the refinement of the Elixir of Immortality.
The cell imprisoning him had to be cast from Celestial Gold, the thickness of the four walls could not be less than seven inches, and Sedative Gas had to be continuously injected.
Under normal circumstances, no one was allowed to wake him, let alone enter the cell to speak with him.
Even if signs of awakening appeared, the Marshal had to be notified immediately.
But now, while the Luofu's Vidyadhara High Elder was undergoing hatching rebirth, Qi Zhimu had arrived at the Luofu with the Marshal's instructions to see the Originator of Longevity.
It was truly intriguing.
"Zhimu, what exactly is going on? Is there any scrap of info you can reveal?" Teng Xiao couldn't help but ask.
Qi Zhimu could not be talkative, nor did he intend to inform him of Jingliu's condition.
"You know that anything involving the Originator of Longevity is strictly confidential."
"I'm not surprised by that. What surprises me is why the Marshal sent you, who are stationed on the Yaoqing, instead of a General from the Xuling."
"..." Qi Zhimu chose silence.
"In recent years, I've only heard of your achievements in slaying Abominations, but I don't know how you've been doing. And what about that little disciple you took in? After that accidental battle, I'd imagine she's returned to the front—"
"You're as talkative as ever, Teng Xiao."
"Am I? You're not even willing to call me General now."
"Just lead the way, General."
"...It seems I'd prefer you call me Teng Xiao; at least it sounds a bit more human."