Chapter 223: What Do You Mean the General Is Monopolizing Divine Favor?
Leon casually swiped across the holographic interface of his jade scroll, a lazy smirk playing on his lips as he watched the interstellar network completely lose its collective mind.
Aside from Cocolia and her miraculous recovery, the Xianzhou Luofu had skyrocketed to the absolute top of the universal trending searches. The source of Qlipoth the Preservation's gaze had been definitively traced back to this very flagship, and the discovery spread across the cosmos faster than a light-leap jump.
During the incident, countless residents on the Luofu had witnessed that blinding, golden light. The sheer weight and majesty of the Preservation's movement was far too conspicuous to sweep under the rug. What started as a localized clamor on the internet was evolving into a nationwide carnival at an astonishing speed.
The local Luofu forums were boiling over. Every single topic related to the rumored Aeon Team Building was pinned at the top of the boards, followed by a bright red Explosive tag that flashed incessantly.
Down in the physical world, the atmosphere was just as chaotic. In every street, alley, and teahouse of Exalting Sanctum, people who usually spent their afternoons debating medicinal herb prices or the latest starship models were now huddled in tight circles. They lowered their voices, exchanging excited yet deeply apprehensive guesses.
"Heavens above! The Amber Lord's gaze actually came from our Xianzhou Luofu?!"
"Hold on, does that mean the Amber Lord is physically on the Luofu right now?"
"It certainly looks that way."
"Combine that with Aha's previous broadcast about an Aeon Team Building on the Luofu... Could there be more than one Aeon walking among us right now?"
"The Xianzhou Luofu is truly defying the heavens!"
"Are the locals not going to lose their minds over this? The Amber Lord has arrived in person!"
"Think about it! How could the Reignbow Arbiter be missing from a team building event on their own ship? Lord Lan must be here too!"
"The other Xianzhou ships must be so green with envy they have turned into sour lemons..."
"Wait a minute. Didn't the news say the Luofu was heavily troubled by the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus and the Phantylia crisis? If the Aeons were here the whole time, how could those disasters have possibly happened?"
"I am now reasonably suspecting that the so-called crisis on the Luofu was just an act!"
More and more comments of this nature flooded the screens, and even the native Luofu residents began to feel entirely dazed by the logic.
Could it be true? Were there actually several Aeons treating the Luofu like a vacation resort?
Could the terrifying Disciples of Sanctus Medicus uprising and the devastating Phantylia disaster... all be entirely fake?
After all, if the Reignbow Arbiter was truly presiding over the Luofu, how could such petty crises have ever taken root?
"No wonder I felt an inexplicable sense of peace in my heart during the battle. It turns out it was Lord Lan's direct protection!"
"But if the Arbiter was here, why would they let the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus and Phantylia get their way in the first place?" someone on the forum raised a valid doubt, only to be immediately drowned out by a tidal wave of zealous responses.
"What do you know about divine warfare? This is a classic military tactic called luring the snake out of its hole to catch them all in one fell swoop! The General's divine strategy is not something us commoners can easily speculate on!"
"Exactly! Maybe that entire Phantylia disaster was just a massive theatrical play co-acted by the Arbiter and the General to test the faith of us Xianzhou citizens!"
The direction of public opinion gradually shifted from initial shock and frantic verification to immense pride and absolute certainty.
Meanwhile, sitting in the Seat of Divine Foresight, Jing Yuan rubbed his temples. 'Is it remotely possible that you people are over-interpreting this?'
Down in the commercial district, Guinaifen bounced on her heels, her eyes sparkling with boundless curiosity as she grabbed her best friend's sleeve.
"Shangshang! Have you heard the news about the Reignbow Arbiter being on the Luofu?"
"Could it be that you Cloud Knights knew about this all along and were just keeping it a secret from us commoners?" Guinaifen asked, shaking the other girl's arm excitedly.
"Ah? This... I really do not know anything about that..." Sushang scratched the back of her head sheepishly, her ahoge twitching in confusion.
Unfortunately for Guinaifen's gossip gathering, Sushang truly had not heard a single rumor. She only had a partial, incredibly vague understanding of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus matter to begin with.
"Sigh. If what they are saying online is true, that several Aeons are doing team building on our Luofu, then wouldn't the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus and Phantylia crises all be entirely under the General's control?" Guinaifen could not help but speculate aloud, her streamer instincts tingling.
"So that is how it is!" Sushang's eyes suddenly lit up as she slammed her fist into her palm, coming to a completely baseless realization.
As expected of the General! The Divine Foresight General Jing Yuan was indeed incredibly far-sighted, calculating every single variable without fail! It was no wonder he was hailed as a Master Strategist across the galaxy.
People from the other Xianzhou ships also gradually found these wild discussions to be highly reasonable. If the Aeons were genuinely holding a gathering on the Luofu, the Reignbow Arbiter Lan would absolutely be present as the host. And if Lan was personally presiding over the Luofu, then the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus and Phantylia... could they even be considered real threats?
"Holy cow! So those people on the Luofu are just enjoying divine protection behind closed doors?"
"The Reignbow Arbiter heavily favors the Luofu. What a massive honor this is!"
"I guess the ordinary civilians on the Luofu might not know the truth, but the higher-ups definitely know everything!"
"Damn it, the Luofu high-level officials hid this too well. How could they keep such an devastating secret so airtight?!"
Netizens from the other Xianzhou ships were highly skeptical at first, but in the face of so many well-founded details and logical leaps, they also began to lean heavily towards believing the conspiracy.
The Luofu, which was supposedly deep in a life-or-death crisis not long ago, had probably just received extraordinary, unmatched favor from the Aeons.
Watching the intensifying speculation on her terminal, Yukong sat in the Palace of Astrum, her expression completely frozen.
How had she never heard a single whisper about the Reignbow Arbiter being on the Luofu?
As the Helm Master of the Sky-Faring Commission, she was universally recognized as one of the absolute highest-level officials of the Xianzhou Luofu.
The governance system of the Xianzhou was strictly based on the Six Commissions. The Cloud Knights were led by the General, the Divination Commission was governed by the Master Diviner, the Sky-Faring Commission was headed by the Helm Master, and the Alchemy Commission, Artisanship Commission, and Realm-Keeping Commission each had their own respective heads.
The top officials of these divisions constituted the Six Charioteers, the absolute highest power level of the Xianzhou.
Of course, there was also the highly secretive Ten-Lords Commission which operated entirely independently, meaning there were technically seven of the Six Charioteers, a quirk of bureaucracy that everyone simply accepted.
But she, one of these esteemed Six Charioteers, was actually completely unaware of the Reignbow Arbiter's supposed arrival on her own ship?
However, the fact that the Aeon of Elation was still on the Luofu was an absolute certainty. 'Could it be that among the entire Luofu high command, I am the only one being kept in the dark?'
Yukong no longer hesitated. Her fingers flew across her jade scroll as she directly sent urgent messages to Jing Yuan and Fu Xuan to demand answers.
And Jing Yuan, who was currently trapped at the dead center of this massive public opinion vortex, found himself completely unable to defend his own reputation.
'No... Aha, why are you still on the Luofu?'
And to be perfectly honest, the Reignbow Arbiter really was not on the Luofu. If Lord Lan had actually been here, why would Jing Yuan have been forced to be so passive during the Ambrosial Arbor crisis?
Facing the aggressive inquiries sent one after another by the generals of the Yaoqing, Zhuming, and Fanghu, Jing Yuan only felt a deep, bone-weary mental exhaustion.
He had no idea how the news was being twisted so badly, but as it went around the network, it had officially become a stated fact that the Reignbow Arbiter was presiding over the Luofu, and all crises were merely training exercises.
It had even evolved into a malicious rumor that the Luofu General was intentionally hiding the Aeons to enjoy divine favor all by himself.
To be fair, did he really look like that kind of selfish person?
If the Reignbow Arbiter were truly on the Luofu, why would he still be sitting here drowning in endless paperwork and headaches?
Leon, lounging somewhere in the city, probably knew the truth. 'If the Reignbow Arbiter really came down here, you would probably just complain about the extra property damage.'
"Master Yukong, this matter is indeed a massive public misinterpretation. Currently, there are indeed Aeons staying on the Luofu, but exactly how many and who they are... remains a highly sensitive question."
"As far as I know, besides the Aeon of Elation, the Aeon of Nihility, the Aeon of Remembrance, the Aeon of Erudition, and the Aeon of Preservation... I am afraid they have not left our borders yet either."
Driven entirely by desperation, Jing Yuan summoned the heads of the Six Commissions to the Seat of Divine Foresight and told them the raw, unfiltered truth.
As soon as the words left his mouth, the entire room plunged into a suffocating, horrified silence.
Especially the officials belonging to the Ten-Lords Commission and the Shackling Prison. Their faces turned a ghastly shade of pale, their bodies trembling as if the sky had physically collapsed on their shoulders.
What did the General just say? The highly suspicious, unregistered individuals they had previously issued strict arrest warrants for were actually five Aeons walking around in disguise?!
This was just too ridiculous.
Absurd. Utterly absurd.
"Everyone, please calm down first." Jing Yuan raised his hand, his voice perfectly steady and smooth. "What kind of decorum is this to be in such a blind panic?"
"You should all learn from me. Quiet your minds and steady your spirits."
Looking at the hyperventilating, panicked expressions of the heads of each prestigious division, a very strange, highly satisfying sense of peace actually washed through Jing Yuan's heart.
After all, he had already gone through this exact same mental breakdown days ago.
Now, seeing his esteemed colleagues completely lose their composure, he actually found the sight quite entertaining.
Of course, Jing Yuan could only afford to act so calm and collected because he was completely and utterly out of options.
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