"Oh? An Overlord to benchmark 'The Abundance'?"
Quietus was quite interested in this.
Celenova said as much. But the vacancy left by Iron Tomb was an existence of such high quality foundational substance that it wasn't something a regular character could just casually fill.
Zephyro had also just died. The Destruction hadn't fallen so low as to prepare for the death of a Lord Ravager—a top-tier existence belonging to its own arm—so early, to the point of picking out a replacement candidate in advance.
Among the eight Lord Ravagers, Zulo had the lowest alloy content. He also died the earliest, so it wasn't surprising that there was a replacement candidate after such a long time.
But if one were to discuss who would be the first to fill the vacant position of a Lord Ravager, then it truly had to be her.
"Someone from the Xianzhou Alliance?"
Quietus recognized the "Abundance" on this newly appointed Overlord. It was the illness known by the Xianzhou Alliance as "Mara." If not for "The Destruction" suppressing it for her, she would likely have already deteriorated beyond human form.
"Lord Ravagers do not ask of origins," Celenova did not answer directly, but it was no different from a tacit admission. "As long as one is willing to dedicate themselves to the great cause of 'The Destruction,' then they are our colleague."
If one were to discuss origins, which Lord Ravager was truly clean? Leaving aside others, just discussing Celenova herself—she belonged to the direct line of descendents within The Harmony. One could say she had the highest purity of defection among the Lord Ravagers.
So where did Jingliu, a mere Xianzhou talent, rank in comparison? She wasn't some Reignbow Heavenly General. It wasn't worth exclaiming over at all.
"Oh, I am not questioning her loyalty," Quietus expressed that Celenova was overthinking it; He wasn't idle enough to point fingers at others' backgrounds. "It is just that with that Heavenly General present, does she still have any reason to defect to us?"
The Xianzhou Alliance currently had Leon, after all. Just based on his performance, probably every high-ranking official would feel that he was the greatest hope against "The Abundance." Not to mention that he had killed so many of "The Destruction."
With the style and prestige completely gone, was there really any necessity for Jingliu to surrender to "The Destruction"? It felt less effective than clinging to Leon's thigh.
"Just the arrowhead of The Hunt alone is not enough."
Regarding this question, Jingliu spoke quite seriously. "Even if it is an arrowhead tempered to the extreme, it will not do."
Leon, this Eighth Heavenly General who had not been born for long... Jingliu had naturally heard of all the magnificent feats he had accomplished.
"The Golden Blood of Destruction, the fluttering Swarm."
But Jingliu didn't feel there was any problem. Because from the very beginning, she had no intention of being an enemy of the Xianzhou Alliance. Her obsession, the target she wanted to target and take revenge on, had always been "The Abundance"!
There was no place for conflict between the two; it could even be said they were on the same front line. The stronger Leon was, the more beneficial it was to Jingliu's plan.
"The Hunt, The Destruction, The Propagation."
Among the eighteen Paths, these three were the ones that could target "The Abundance" the most. Just "The Hunt" alone was not enough; it could not kill The Abundance. The powers of "The Destruction" and "The Propagation" were necessary.
In Jingliu's plan, The Hunt was responsible for dealing Yaoshi a fatal wound, while The Destruction was responsible for destroying Yaoshi's capital for self-healing, and The Propagation would swallow Yaoshi's vitality. The division of labor among the three was clear.
"To completely put an end to 'The Abundance,' not one of the three 'Paths' can be missing."
Only by taking every aspect to the extreme, leaving no room for Yaoshi, could one exchange for a single chance to kill The Abundance! Jingliu was determined to put Yaoshi, to put The Abundance, to death!
She sought nothing else, throwing everything about herself to the back of her mind. Only to be able to complete her cherished desire, and the cherished desire the Xianzhou Alliance dreamed of: To witness the demise of "The Abundance"!
"I will negotiate the outcome with the Xianzhou Alliance myself."
Strictly speaking, Jingliu was not actually a true Lord Ravager. It was true she wanted to "Destroy" The Abundance, and she was willing to become a weapon used by "Nanook" to burn the Path. But her becoming a Lord Ravager did not mean she wanted to "Destroy" the entire Universe; this was the biggest difference between her and other Lord Ravagers.
After "Destroying" The Abundance, she would voluntarily ask the Xianzhou Alliance to kill her.
In the eyes of these Lord Ravagers, Leon was big trouble. But in Jingliu's eyes, he was insurance. If she were to be detrimental to the Xianzhou Alliance later, then that Heavenly General would naturally end her life. His appearance not only did not hinder Jingliu's plan but could even be said to have perfected it. With him there, Jingliu had nothing left to worry about.
"I am not your colleague, but I will complete my mission."
Under the black veil, Jingliu's eyes looked at the five Lord Ravagers. The reason Nanook promoted her was that He took a fancy to her obsession with destroying The Abundance, and she would become the weapon burning the "Path" just as He wished.
The Xianzhou had always been particular about clearly distinguishing kindness and hatred. Revenge for grievances, repayment for kindness. Nanook gave her the power she needed, and she gave Nanook the destruction of The Abundance. The relationship between the two was just that simple.
And when everything was over, after repaying the price, she and "The Destruction" would have no further involvement.
"First of all, let it be stated: I and you all are enemies."
After leaving this final sentence, Jingliu withdrew from the Path Space of "The Destruction."
...
...
"You're back?"
A male voice pulled Jingliu's thoughts back to reality.
"Where did you go?"
The blond man with a bewitching face asked the woman whose eyes were covered by black gauze with great interest.
"Someone called me; I had to go meet them more or less."
regarding this curious question from her partner, Jingliu replied calmly.
"Oh? A summons from the Lord Ravagers?"
Luocha understood what she meant. "What happened that they would suddenly call you over? Is this planning to let you get familiar with them in advance? What, are you about to officially ascend to the position?"
Luocha asked with considerable curiosity. As a partner, he naturally knew that there were quite a few conditions for Jingliu's plan to be realized. The first to bear the brunt was the "Golden Blood of Destruction."
Nanook did not directly promote Jingliu. Instead, He acknowledged her will and gave her the qualification to ascend into His weapon. But her "Destruction" was ultimately only targeted at The Abundance. This "Destruction" was not enough to make that Wounded God willing to directly open a back door for her, like Celenova or Iron Tomb, to leap up and become a Lord Ravager.
He only let her hang a name among the Lord Ravagers, occupying a fruit's position and becoming a reservist. Whether she could truly succeed in the end depended entirely on Jingliu herself.
For this reason, obtaining the "Golden Blood of Destruction"—obtaining this item that could easily elevate a Pathstrider to an Emanator of Destruction—became an indispensable condition in Jingliu's plan.
What did this mean?
Simply put, Nanook gave Jingliu the qualification, but He did not give her the power. This led to the situation where if she wanted to become a Lord Ravager, she could only walk the path of the "Golden Blood of Destruction."
So what exactly did this qualification refer to? Naturally, it referred to the fact that not just anyone could use the "Golden Blood of Destruction" to promote to an Emanator of Destruction. The Golden Blood had a hidden usage condition. As the embodiment of "The Destruction," if one did not have sufficient Will of Destruction, then before successfully refining the Golden Blood, there was a high probability that one's existence would be destroyed first by the massive power within the Golden Blood.
This meant that if an ordinary person got the "Golden Blood of Destruction," they could only use it as a nuke—throwing it out to explode together with the enemy. Refining it or anything like that was out of the question.
But Jingliu was different; she didn't need to worry about this issue at all. Her will had already been acknowledged by Nanook, and she had obtained the qualification for promotion early on. She was just missing a promotion channel.
Get the Golden Blood, attempt to refine it, the deceased is the greatest. This is the process for an ordinary Pathstrider who doesn't know the immensity of heaven and earth attempting to refine the Golden Blood.
Get the Golden Blood, refine it in an instant, ascend to Overlord. This is the process for Jingliu, and also for anyone who has obtained Nanook's acknowledged qualification.
The two returned to the Xianzhou this time aiming to let the Alliance also participate in their plan, to have them help think of a way to seize a drop of "Golden Blood of Destruction."
"Zephyro died."
Jingliu did not answer whether she was officially ascending, only answering why she was summoned.
"That most vicious Lord Ravager died?"
Hearing this news, the traveling merchant using Luocha as an alias pretended to be surprised. "My heavens, this is truly explosive news. If this is released, I'm afraid it will cause another wave of turbulent seas."
Luocha said so with his mouth, but in reality, he felt no ripples about it.
"Who did it?" Luocha asked despite knowing the answer. "I guess it was that Heavenly General."
The broadcast of the Corporation softening its stance toward him hadn't even settled the waves it stirred up among the various factions yet. Now he had pulled off another earth-shattering feat. It made one lament that he really wasn't willing to stop for even a moment. Besides him, no one else had that capability.
Jingliu's voice remained calm. "I'll ask one extra question: you are sure that Heavenly General will also stand on our side, right?"
Luocha felt he had to confirm this issue first. "This Heavenly General who suddenly appeared is the biggest variable in your plan."
In Luocha's view, if there were no Leon, the probability of Jingliu's plan being adopted by the Xianzhou Alliance was 80%. But with Leon, only 30% remained. The logic was simple: who would choose to go for broke when they could play it safe?
Leon was that 'playing it safe'; Jingliu was that 'going for broke.' Probably more than half of the Xianzhou Alliance had placed their bets on killing "The Abundance" on Leon. This Heavenly General's performance was indeed worth betting on. Compared to waiting for this Heavenly General to slowly develop and then dry up The Abundance, regarding Jingliu's scheme which had extremely high risks and unknown returns... were you sure anyone in the Alliance would still support it?
"I do not know." Jingliu spoke the truth, not exaggerating.
She hadn't met this Heavenly General face-to-face; everything she knew was hearsay. Who could say for sure whether he would stop this plan of deicide?
"However, what can be confirmed is that we have no risk of conflict with him."
Even if Jingliu became a Lord Ravager, her ultimate goal was consistent with the Xianzhou Alliance: The Abundance. There was no need to worry about being directly killed by Leon like Iron Tomb was.
"Haha, then we can only hope that on this trip back home, both you and I can have our wishes fulfilled."
Hearing this, Luocha said no more. As long as they wouldn't be enemies with this Heavenly General, it was fine. As for the final result of this trip to the Luminary Wardance... that only Heaven knew.
The Astral Express.
"Children, I'm back."
Leon brought the three back safely.
"Welcome back."
The people on the train had gathered early to welcome them. After a round of pleasantries with the dozen or so people, Leon began to ask about Frebass's plans for the future. After all, Frebass's ideal was to go to the end of "The Nihility," and now that this ideal was successfully completed, it made one quite curious about her whereabouts.
He also asked Acheron. This Emanator of "The Nihility" decided to continue her journey, bringing the salvation of Lethe to those trapped under the shadow of "IX" and the blood-sin spirits. And Frebass prepared to go with Acheron, unexpectedly choosing not to stay. Perhaps she couldn't bear to see her travel companion alone.
After deciding to leave, the Golden Progeny had some gifts to give the two, so saying goodbye to each other took quite a bit of time.
"Passenger Frebass, the Astral Express is always your home-pom. You can come back whenever you want; Pom-Pom will be waiting for you here."
Pom-Pom seriously saw the two off.
"Mhm, thank you, Conductor." Frebass nodded and smiled. Then she moved her gaze from Pom-Pom to Leon.
"Thank you too, Navigator." Frebass expressed her thanks. "Although the time wasn't long, the care received was really not a small amount."
On this journey, Leon put in the most effort. The irreplaceable MVP! If not for his care, perhaps neither Frebass nor Acheron would have been able to return.
"Anyway, it was really great to meet everyone!" Frebass said from the bottom of her heart.
"If you have trouble outside, remember to report the Astral Express's name." Leon nodded, indicating she shouldn't stand on ceremony.
"Don't worry, I will definitely help the Navigator carry forward the reputation of the Astral Express and the Nameless!" Frebass agreed with a happy laugh.
"Mhm, let's go."
Leon was just about to see the two off when he saw a fair white palm suddenly intrude into his line of sight. He looked up.
"I remember, it seems we haven't had time to do a formal self-introduction yet."
Acheron, wearing a light smile, extended her hand to him.
"Leon."
Leon shook it back, giving the version's main push sufficient respect.
"My name is Raiden Bosenmori Mei."
Acheron spoke in a voice that could only be heard by the two of them. Leon gave her a surprised look, then fell into a bout of contemplation.
"I am Leon, the Miracle Male God."
Acheron was slightly stunned, then laughed.
After that, Leon and the Golden Progeny saw off these two friends they met by accident.
"What, did something happen on this trip?"
Cerydra was a bit strange, because Hysilens' gaze had never left Leon. This was very incorrect.
Usually, when attending to her side, the Sword-Banner Earl would never shift her gaze away from her for too long, and her observation of the surroundings had always been a simple assessment. After all, if some avoidable accidents happened due to not paying constant attention to the monarch's situation, it would be the greatest dereliction of duty for a subject.
But since coming back, Hysilens had begun to neglect her duty. Was she still in shock? It shouldn't be; how could Caesar's sword-banner be so weak?
Regarding Caesar's question, Hysilens just smiled.
Cerydra glanced at her. Without a doubt, her fish had been abducted.
____
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