Chapter 137: A Regret Called the High-Cloud Quintet
"However, the final outcome was..." Leon's voice was low, each word landing like a stone in the heavy silence.
"The one who guarded the Xianzhou became Jing Yuan; the one who stepped onto the Express was Dan Feng's reincarnation; the one whose life is endless but seeks death in vain is Blade; the one who left the Alliance and departed their homeland forever is Jingliu."
His gaze finally settled on Jingliu's face, which was contorted by a pain so deep it bordered on madness.
"...And the one whose 'life was short'..." he paused, letting the weight of the unspoken settle.
"...was Bai Heng."
"Why... why did it turn out like this...?" Yanqing murmured, his world tilting on its axis. The entire narrative he had grown up with had been subverted, replaced by a cruel, tragic reality.
"Indeed..."
Jingliu's head snapped up. A searing red light seemed to burn straight through her blindfold, a terrifying glow from within. Her long-suppressed madness, remorse, anger, and an ocean of sorrow finally shattered their chains, erupting in a sharp, twisted, and prolonged laugh.
"Hahahaha... Why did it turn out like this?!!"
Before the sound of her laughter could even fade, a chilling sword intent exploded from her. At some point, she had already gripped her longsword. Her entire form dissolved into a desolate cold light, carrying an overwhelming storm of killing intent and madness as she lunged straight at Leon.
The speed and power of this strike far surpassed anything Yanqing had ever witnessed.
He couldn't even process the movement; his pupils only managed to catch a fleeting, ice-blue trail that was little more than a blur. The sight sent a jolt of pure ice through his veins, and the young prodigy, who was confident he had few rivals on the Luofu, broke out in a cold sweat.
Faced with a strike capable of piercing mountains and freezing the very soul, Leon simply raised his right hand. He pressed his index and middle fingers together and, at the critical moment, casually caught the tip of the blade.
CLANG!
The sharp ring of metal on flesh pierced the air, and the rampaging, overflowing sword qi came to an abrupt, impossible halt.
The tip of Jingliu's sword, an artifact that could freeze a person's spirit solid, was held fast between his two fingers, unable to advance another inch.
In that instant, Jingliu's aura surged to its absolute peak. The terrifying sword intent coalesced into sharp ice blades that materialized in the air around them, frantically shooting out and exploding against the surroundings.
The very space around them seemed to warp and distort. The temperature plummeted until every breath plumed into a thick white frost. Layers of pale, crystalline ice instantly condensed on the ground, the nearby containers, and even the distant surfaces of buildings.
No one was more shocked than Yanqing.
From the moment he learned Jingliu was his master's master, he had tried to estimate her terrifying strength. But to see it unleashed was another matter entirely.
And Leon, who had so nonchalantly stopped a blow that could devastate an entire district... just what kind of existence was he?
'I... I actually wanted to take these two to the Shackling Prison earlier?'he thought, a wave of nausea washing over him.'Thank the stars I didn't try...'
At the Seat of Divine Foresight, Jing Yuan, who had been leaning against his desk and idly tapping a scroll, suddenly froze.
He looked up abruptly, his gaze piercing through the window like a bolt of lightning, locking onto a specific direction.
"Master...?!"
Sensing Jingliu's presence, Jing Yuan felt a complex mix of joy and apprehension. He was happy she had returned, but deeply wary of the timing.
Could the Stellaron crisis be related to his master?
What concerned him even more was the sheer intensity of that sword intent, a power so immense it threatened to dye half the sky with a chilling frost. She was clearly locked in a full-strength battle.
'Who is her opponent?'he wondered, his mind racing.'Who could possibly force Master to use such power?'
That direction... it seemed to be the dock area where Yanqing had gone earlier.
A thought that made his blood run cold flashed through his mind. 'Could it be... that the one fighting Master is Yanqing?''No, surely not,' he tried to reassure himself, though a bead of cold sweat trickled down his forehead.'Master, you wouldn't need to use that much force just to discipline a child.'
Jing Yuan hesitated no longer. His figure vanished from the desk, leaving behind only the gently swaying window frame and the unclosed scroll.
"So, what exactly is the regret of the High-Cloud Quintet?"
Leon, still holding Jingliu's sword at bay, didn't stop speaking. His intention wasn't to provoke her, but to continue his story.
"Hahahaha, hahahaha..."
Seeing her ultimate strike blocked so effortlessly, Jingliu's laughter grew even more manic.
She suddenly withdrew her sword and retreated, her figure leaving a cascade of afterimages in mid-air. In the next instant, an even denser and more violent barrage of sword light, like a torrential downpour of frozen needles, assaulted Leon from every conceivable angle.
"It's the Foxian girl who yearned for freedom," Leon continued, his voice calm and steady amidst the storm. His figure remained motionless in the center of the swirling sword shadows. With just one hand, using his fingers to block, parry, or flick, he accurately deflected every single fatal flash of cold light. "The one who gave up her dream of being a Trailblazer for the sake of responsibility, who became a genius pilot galloping across the battlefield, and who finally held high the sun to perish with the enemy, leaving not even a body behind..."
"Hahahaha..."
Jingliu's attacks became increasingly frenzied, her sword intent erupting as if it had broken free from all control.
An ice-blue storm of sword qi swept out with her at its epicenter. Everywhere it passed, giant shipping containers were torn apart like paper, and metal structures twisted and disintegrated.
Deep ravines were plowed into the ground as everything in the storm's path was frozen, shattered, and violently thrown aside.
The entire dock area was instantly transformed into a wasteland ravaged by a supernatural blizzard.
On the other side of the Luofu, Tingyun was piloting a starship, carrying the Astral Express crew and Fu Xuan toward the Divination Commission.
Tingyun—or rather, Phantylia—who was steadily piloting the vessel, suddenly felt a surge of agitation originating from the depths of her Path.
Feeling the eruption of a familiar aura, she couldn't help but turn her head to look in its direction.
'Such a pure and powerful aura of Destruction... Who is it?'Phantylia mused, her mind filled with suspicion.'Could it be that another Lord Ravager has also quietly infiltrated the Luofu?'
Naturally, there was a degree of contact between the Lord Ravagers, but their connection wasn't particularly deep. Each had their own grand designs for destruction and rarely made them public, let alone interfered with one another's actions.
Just like her own plan to invade the Xianzhou Luofu and seize the Ambrosial Arbor to construct a new body—no other Lord Ravager knew of it.
But sensing this kindred aura, Phantylia couldn't help but suspect that another had followed her.
'After all,'she considered,'this aura of Destruction is already no less than my own... Could it be a colleague has also set their sights on the miracle of Abundance? Or... is this a Pathstrider who has traveled so far on the Path of Destruction that they are just one opportunity away from ascending to a Lord Ravager?'
After all, besides receiving a direct blessing from an Aeon, one could also become an Emanator simply by walking far enough down a Path.
"Such strong fluctuations of Path energy..." Welt pushed up his glasses, his expression behind the lenses turning solemn as he, too, gazed into the distance. Even from so far away, the aftershocks of that energy clash were clearly perceptible. This was by no means an ordinary fight.
"That direction is near the Seat of Divine Foresight..." Fu Xuan withdrew her gaze from the window, her brow furrowing slightly. "The General will handle it himself. Our priority is to return to the Divination Commission."
As she spoke, she habitually lowered her eyes, her fingers beginning to move as she silently recited a divination. "The hexagram rises and falls, between Dui and Kan; the boat is mired, unable to advance..."
"Is that the Xianzhou's divine divination technique? It just looks like someone counting on their fingers," March 7th couldn't help but whisper.
"The expert sees the method, while the layman sees the show," Caelus replied with a wry smile.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm a layman for now," March 7th said, rolling her eyes at him. "Then why don't you, the 'expert,' explain it to me?"
"If I dared to say it, would you dare to believe it?" Caelus shot back, raising an eyebrow.
Just then, Fu Xuan finished her calculation, and her brow suddenly furrowed into a tight knot.
This hexagram... what in the world was going on?
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