As Siegfried watched with a twisted expression behind his mask, the Hyperion trio squeaked and groaned to a stop.
July, in the height of summer, was undoubtedly peak tourist season. It was only the first of the month, so the main army of vacationing students, led by their parents, had yet to descend upon the nation's attractions.
In another week, things would be different. Considering the impending surge in visitors, it was best to resolve the Lake Kanas monster issue as soon as possible.
With this in mind, Fuli opened the car door and hopped out of the driver's seat, shirtless.
The gym car was a little too effective; his shirt was soaked with sweat, and with no air conditioning inside, he wanted to cool off.
The morning sun flowed over the boy's chiseled, handsome face. His taut latissimus dorsi were like a fully drawn bow, and his scapulae rose and fell with each breath like the wings of a butterfly poised for flight. Beads of sweat traced the groove of his spine, catching the dawn light in broken golden lines.
The beautiful sight caused passersby on the street to stop in their tracks, whispering amongst themselves.
"Is this a movie shoot or a bodybuilding competition?"
"Look at those abs! They're like piano keys!"
"Slurp! I'd love to get a feel of those!"
A little five or six-year-old girl pointed excitedly. "Mommy, look! A super handsome big brother!"
Fuli remained calm on the outside, but he was quite pleased with himself.
Just as he was about to secretly strike a pose to show the world the peerless charm of the Great King of Hyperion, he saw the little girl's mother rush over and cover her eyes.
The beautiful woman in a white dress shot Fuli a wary look and whispered to her daughter, "Don't look, sweetie! That man's tattoos are so prominent, he can't be a good person!"
"Exactly!" another middle-aged woman chimed in. "Scumbags have all sorts of tricks these days. What if he's trying to get you to lower your guard with his good looks, and once he gets close, he'll lure you and your daughter to elope with him, only to sell you off to Northern Myanmar to get your kidneys harvested?"
"It's true they have a lot of tricks," a male college student pushing a bicycle said with a pained expression of shame. "Last time I was on Douyin, someone in the comments said they'd share some 'goodies' if you invited eight people to a pinned group chat. I invited my parents and all my relatives. My mom even went in asking if they were giving out rice or cooking oil. Turns out the 'goodies' were uncensored JAVs."
"My good sir, drop the group ID?"
"Hiss—!"
Kiana, the second to get out of the car, couldn't help but look up at the speaker in awe. Calling him 'daddy' just for the sauce? she thought. Man, this guy... he's a sworn enemy of gambling and drugs, alright... because they'd get in the way of his real addiction.
"Huh? Tattoos? A bad person? Me?"
Fuli, having been called out, instinctively looked down at his own body.
He hadn't noticed before, but now that he looked, he instantly understood why the beautiful woman had said that.
Of the four Stigmata he had successfully imprinted so far, "Reason" was a pale pink Eye of Revelation on his lower abdomen, "Void" was a silver-white bird with wings poised for flight in the center of his chest, "Lightning" was a purple, lightning-shaped mark on his inner thigh, and "Star" was a dark, black-hole-like sigil on his left shoulder.
With that kind of aesthetic, standing on the streets of a simple, conservative town, he looked like a total 80s punk.
If he had a daughter in the future, he'd die before letting her hang out with a shamate-style delinquent who'd say things like, "Yo, boomer, I'm revving my souped-up scooter outside your apartment!"
And the fatal part was, he didn't care about the opinions of random passersby, but Cousin Hua was right there!
Dammit, and I was planning to use this chance to show off my heroic spirit to my cousin!
At this thought, Fuli quickly dove back into the car, grabbed a spare set of clothes, and put them on. After making sure he was neat and tidy, he kicked the door open, launched himself into the air with an agile leap, and made a beeline for the gray-haired girl who was lost in thought in the corner.
"Cousin Hua, I'm your fan!!!"
"Eh?"
Faced with a large lump of "cousin" flying at her, the completely unprepared Fu Hua froze on the spot, a rare dazed look on her face.
A few days ago, after learning from Theresa that the technique Fuli was practicing was the Peerless Nine Revolutions, the girl was immediately perplexed.
She didn't understand. She had personally erased every last trace of that nefarious technique, so how could someone in this world still learn it?
After absentmindedly finishing her discussion with Theresa, Fu Hua immediately contacted Otto to ask if that bastard was up to his old tricks again.
That's what happens when you have negative trust. That lovesick piece of crap with nothing but Kallen on his mind had screwed her over more than once. Besides, he had helped in the large-scale destruction of the Peerless Nine Revolutions back then, so the technique was definitely stored in the Void Archives.
And Otto's answer?
"Celestial Master, you know me," the golden-haired man on the screen said with a shrug. "With my cautious personality, how could I possibly create such an uncontrollable factor?"
Fu Hua was silent for a moment before hanging up.
Judging by his attitude towards Theresa (who had a high probability of becoming the current era's first complete being, embodying all of Brahma's beasts), she knew he wasn't lying.
It was a well-known fact that Principal Theresa's favorite food was Mimic Fenghuang Down. Every time she showed a little growth, Grandpa Otto would feed her some, and she'd go quiet every single time.
As Fu Hua pondered, another communication screen lit up to her left.
"I can probably guess what you're thinking, old friend. My advice would be—"
Otto swirled the red wine in his glass on the screen. The next moment, the screen was shattered by the girl again.
"Man with a big mouth."
Fu Hua knew what he was getting at. She wasn't stupid. She knew what kind of waves the energy coiled around Fuli would stir up if something happened to him.
If nothing else, Rita alone was enough to give her, in her weakest state ever, a run for her money.
Even if she got past Rita, there was still Theresa, Durandal, Raiden Mei, that Death Knight whose allegiance was unclear, and the Famine Knight who had been acting stranger and stranger since the trip to the virtual space.
Besides, after reading Fuli's file, Fu Hua had to admit her heart had softened a little.
The kid's life was a bit tragic.
If she were still the Celestial Master Phoenix of the past, whose subconscious was hijacked by the Divine Voice and who only knew how to eliminate the Honkai, she would have just said "oh" and slapped him into oblivion, no matter how sad his story was.
"I thought he was a potential Herrscher."
"Blame yourself for practicing a forbidden art."
"What's wrong with me just wanting to protect Shenzhou?"
"We're all just hacking away with all our might."
"Go tell it to the Sword God of Taixu in your head."
However, after the Arc City incident, Fu Hua's Heart of Taixu Sword was completely shattered, and she gradually emerged from her former fanatical state.
Even when she sensed something was off, her first reaction was to investigate the cause, not to generously gift the other party a blast of Edge of Taixuan: Sword God.
What's more—
"Cousin!!!"
Remembering the look on Fuli's face when he saw her in the virtual space—a look of adoration, attachment, and reverence, like a believer seeing their god—Fu Hua covered her forehead and fell silent.
She had seen a similar expression fourteen years ago.
At the end of the Second Honkai War, while she was heavily injured, a strange A-rank Valkyrie named Cheng Lixue had faced the Second Herrscher. The look in her eyes as she turned back was just like that.
There was adoration, reliance, and reverence, but also a deep sense of reluctance and longing.
Lixue, this is as far as I can accompany you...
Complex emotions churned within her, and Fu Hua stood motionless under the sun for a long while. Only when her shadow had rotated a good distance did she open her eyes, having made a decision.
She needed to observe for a while to determine what kind of person Fuli truly was.
And so, after subtly getting the Hyperion crew's itinerary from Raiden Ryoma, Fu Hua had beaten them to the punch, using her public identity as an A-rank Valkyrie to accept the mission posted by Dr. Zhou.
She had then logically arrived at the Kanas scenic area, ostensibly to work, but in reality, to secretly monitor Fuli.
If his character was acceptable, she would have a civil discussion with him, appeal to his reason and emotions, and persuade him to give up the Peerless Nine Revolutions.
In exchange, she could personally teach him the Edge of Taixuan.
This was an absolutely fantastic deal. The Peerless Nine Revolutions would cause its user to go berserk upon reaching the seventh revolution, a state equivalent to the critical level, turning them into a beast of pure slaughter and destruction.
But the EX-rank Edge of Taixuan, even if the Mind Aggregate—the Sword Heart Resolve (SWARA)—could only reach the "Dustless" state when practiced by a male, could still easily reach S-rank when combined with other forms and realms like the Form and Soul Aggregates.
For example, the original Seven Swords of Taixu from five hundred years ago were all S-rank powerhouses on average, even including the male anomaly Ma Feima.
Combined with the beyond-S-rank Unfettered Sword, Cheng Lingshuang, they could even ambush and defeat Celestial Master Phoenix at her peak.
Of course, achieving all this required top-tier talent, unyielding effort, and the guidance of a master teacher.
Celestial Master Phoenix rarely took disciples; every generation that inherited the Edge of Taixuan was exceptionally gifted and brilliant. In other words, the damn thing had sky-high talent requirements. Average people shouldn't even try; it would be a waste of time.
If Fuli didn't have the talent, Fu Hua could offer him another technique instead of Edge of Taixuan. As the origin of all of Shenzhou's martial arts techniques, the five-thousand-year-old Celestial Master Phoenix was not lacking in A-rank or higher skills.
Even if memory loss had made her forget most of them, as long as she went to the Shenzhou capital of Yingtian, those priceless techniques would be hers to choose from.
The Taixu Frontline was a recently emerged superpower. Unlike World Serpent, its revival had happened right under the noses of Schicksal and Anti-Entropy. Did the two giants that divided the world just willingly let it grow? Did they never try to suppress it?
Of course they did.
But they were all stopped.
While it wasn't solely due to Celestial Master Phoenix's efforts, she had undoubtedly played a major role, to the point that she was still fulfilling her contract with Otto to this day.
Even setting aside her past merits of guarding Cathay from the Honkai for five thousand years, for this reason alone, Shenzhou's doors would always be open for their Matriarch.
The conservatives, who found the radical faction too conservative, even said that if Fu Hua was willing, the Taixu Frontline would not hesitate to use military force to bring her home.
Fu Hua had refused, reasoning that since she had made a promise, she would continue to fight as a Schicksal Valkyrie for the years stipulated in their contract. As a long-term vegetarian, Hua was just too honest—except when it came to not bullying Senti.
---||---
Returning to the present at the Kanas scenic area—
Carefully observing the shirtless Fuli emerge from the car, Fu Hua, recognizing the boy's potential, realized that her "little cousin" did have the talent to learn Edge of Taixuan.
His beyond-A-rank strength was one thing, but as a newcomer who had only been using cold weapons for a few months, his swordsmanship was already close to her own!
This is going to be trouble.
The girl clicked her tongue.
Geniuses always had a streak of pride, believing they could do what others couldn't, turning the impossible into the possible. Fu Hua had seen too many such youngsters in her long life, and they all had two things in common:
One, they were troublemakers.
Two, they didn't listen to advice.
What if Fuli was one of them? What if, after hearing the truth, he casually declared, "The side effects of a mere Peerless Nine Revolutions? Watch this genius overcome them in a jiffy!" and continued on his merry way?
If the situation truly developed to that point, she would have no choice but to take drastic measures.
Physically cripple his cultivation and use the Key of Sentience to wipe the related memories. A two-pronged approach.
I hope we can resolve this peacefully, she thought, stroking the Fenghuang Down shaped like a hair ornament.
But then again, this was only the second time she and her "little cousin" had met. Why was he so enthusiastic?
Her azure eyes reflected the image of Fuli joyfully pouncing towards her, and she fell into thought.
The second time... wait! The first time was in the virtual space?
What form had she appeared in that time?
Phoenix!
It was Celestial Master Phoenix!
No wonder he, a citizen of Shenzhou, was so enthusiastic. That explained it, that explained everything...
Realization dawned on the girl, but her brow immediately furrowed in panic.
As an undercover agent sent to St. Freya, her true identity had always been a secret. Kiana and the others were right there. If Fuli blurted it out, wouldn't her entire infiltration be for nothing?
"Um, c-cousin!"
People tend to make mistakes when they're flustered. Fu Hua subconsciously reached out and caught the pouncing boy in an embrace, cautiously probing, "About what happened in the virtual space last time, do you still—"
"Virtual? Oh, you mean when you guest-starred as Celestial Master Phoenix to help out?"
Fuli hugged Fu Hua naturally, rubbing his cheek against her chest with practiced skill.
His eyes lit up. "That's right! This is the hard, firm feeling I remember! It brings an unparalleled sense of security!"
Observing from the moon, Prometheus admitted that she was now super curious about what had happened between Fuli and Hua in the previous timeline.
And back on Earth.
Whoosh—
A gentle breeze blew Fu Hua's bangs over her eyes, hiding her expression.
Bronya and Kiana, who had just gotten out of the car, saw this and turned away in unison, their young, innocent faces showing various degrees of pity.
"Amitabha."
"Hallelujah."
One made the sign of the cross over her chest in prayer; the other put her palms together in a bow.
Completely oblivious to the impending danger, Fuli chattered on, "Oh, that virtual space thing, I get it. Cousin Hua is the successor to Celestial Master Phoenix. As a successor, it's perfectly normal for you to be able to control the Celestial Master's virtual avatar."
"You didn't think I was crazy enough to mistake you for the real Celestial Master, did you? Of course not, hahaha!"
The idol filter was truly a wonderful thing. He didn't even need her to explain; he came up with a perfectly plausible reason for her all by himself.
"Yes. That's right. I am... Phoenix's successor."
A dark voice, seemingly squeezed from her throat, emerged. Fu Hua clenched her fists, the phantom of the Grips of Tai Xuan shimmering in the sunlight.
Normally, she didn't care about this. Even with her occasional memory wipes, she was still fifty-five thousand years old.
But since you decided to mock her to her face, then she was sorry, but not sorry.
A dark aura began to emanate from her.
A killing intent born from serenity.
She lowered her head, feigning ignorance.
Then, a sudden gale—
"Inch Force: Heaven Splitter!!!"
"AHHH—!"
A terrified scream, like tearing silk, pierced the clouds. Countless startled wild geese took to the sky.
Amidst the frantic honking and squawking, one could sense an instinctive fear of a superior being's wrath.
...