"Raise your hand higher."
Jingliu's voice was colder than ice. The wooden practice sword snapped down with a sharp 啪 against Huo Linfei's wrist.
"Hiss—!" Huo Linfei bared his teeth and hurriedly corrected his stance, his thoughts spiraling into furious internal complaining.
I'm a Super Beast Warrior, damn it. Why am I stuck here drilling basic sword forms?!
Off to the side, Jing Yuan spun his blade in an elegant flourish, smiling like this was all delightful.
"Junior Brother Huo," he said warmly. "Focus."
He is 100% enjoying my suffering.
Huo Linfei shot a glance toward the corridor. Baiheng was lounging there with a fistful of sunflower seeds, watching with the enthusiasm of someone enjoying a street show. When she noticed him looking, she pumped her fist in encouragement.
"Go, Little Huo!"
…Fine. If it makes big sis happy.
He gritted his teeth and kept swinging, his mind involuntarily drifting to how hard March 7th would laugh if she could see him now.
By the time Dan Feng arrived, Huo Linfei was sprawled across a stone bench playing dead.
"Tired?" The High Elder's voice was gentle as he offered a cup of clear tea.
Huo Linfei nearly cried from gratitude.
Finally. One normal person in the High-Cloud Quintet.
"Brother Dan Feng," he said, taking the cup and chugging it like it was salvation, "you're a good man."
Dan Feng chuckled softly, his tail swaying with a slow, calm rhythm.
"Jingliu is strict," he said. "But it does you no harm."
Huo Linfei looked up at him—those horns, that face so reminiscent of Dan Heng. A tight knot formed in his chest.
How were they doing out there?
If he vanished without warning… would March panic? Would she cry?
"Missing home?" Dan Feng asked, catching the shift in mood with unsettling accuracy.
Huo Linfei gave a muffled "Mm."
"Kind of…"
Dan Feng was about to say something—
—when the courtyard gate swung open.
Yingxing strode in with a tool case in hand, gray hair smudged with grease and metal dust.
Huo Linfei's spine snapped straight.
Even knowing this Yingxing wasn't Blade yet, the face alone was enough to drag up the image of that murderous glare in the Shackling Prison.
"Kid." Yingxing flicked him a look and dug around in his tools. "Here."
He tossed a miniature short sword toward Huo Linfei.
Huo Linfei caught it on instinct. "Huh?"
"So you stop waving that worthless piece of wood around all day," Yingxing said, flat and unimpressed. "It's sharpened. Don't be stupid."
Huo Linfei stared down.
The grip was carved with fine cloud motifs, the balance surprisingly perfect for his small hands. The weight sat just right, like it belonged there.
Jing Yuan drifted over at some point, marveling openly.
"Yingxing," he said, half-laughing, "I begged you for a sword and waited three months!"
"You were ten and could swing a heavy blade with one hand," Yingxing replied with a cold snort. "Can he?"
"…Can't I?" Huo Linfei blurted out before his brain caught up.
Silence.
Everyone's eyes turned to him.
Huo Linfei felt his skin crawl.
Oh no. Mouth too fast…
The Luofu's situation remained tense, so Baiheng rarely let Huo Linfei roam outside. But with the High-Cloud Quintet constantly dropping by to gather, he wasn't exactly bored.
Yeah.
Not bored at all.
That night, Huo Linfei melted into the bedding, sore from head to toe.
"Jingliu is absolutely a demon…" he muttered into the pillow. "Who makes a kid train six hours holding an eighty-kilo sword…"
[As if you didn't bring this upon yourself.]
[Host body age: 8 years.]
[Recommendation: Use this opportunity to build a stronger foundation.]
"Shut up," Huo Linfei groaned, rolling over. "With my extranormal energy fully unleashed, I could beat ten Jinglius!"
[Data analysis.]
[Host current extranormal energy upper limit: 1 black hole.]
[Practical utilization: 0.7%]
[Annotation: Like owning a mountain of gold and only knowing how to scrape glitter from it.]
"…Did you upgrade your sarcasm module recently?"
The system politely displayed a smiling emoticon:
^_^
Footsteps sounded outside—light, cheerful.
Baiheng pushed the door open with a food box in her hands.
"Little Huo! Big sis brought you a midnight snack!"
Huo Linfei sprang upright like he'd been electrocuted.
"Sweet-and-sour carp!"
Baiheng laughed and ruffled his red hair into chaos.
"Sword training is hard work. You've got to replenish~"
She watched him devour the food like it was the last meal on the Luofu, then spoke more softly.
"Dan Feng told me… you missed home today?"
"A little," he said, eyes down, shovel-eating rice.
It wasn't nostalgia so much as worry. Outside this memory—outside this "real" fragment—his friends were facing a revived Ambrosial Arbor and the Primitive Doctor, and he didn't even know how to get back.
The system had mentioned a "memory singularity"—a key turning point in this historical segment, strongly linked to Bailu. It couldn't define "key" very well, but Huo Linfei had his own conclusion:
Staying close to Baiheng was the safest bet.
It felt irresponsible, but her resemblance to Bailu was impossible to ignore.
"If Black Swan hadn't told me Vidyadhara can't have kids…" he mumbled between bites, "I'd seriously suspect Baiheng is Bailu's mom…"
He belched, the sweet-and-sour carp wiped clean.
That night, he slept peacefully.
…Did he?
A twisted sky stretched overhead.
The earth was split by something vast and violent. From the fractures seeped a thick, blue-green fluid—like sap…
…or blood.
In the distance, the burning wreckage of a starskiff lay skewered into the ground, flames licking silently along blackened metal ribs. Huo Linfei tried to move toward it—
—but his body wouldn't obey. Like sleep paralysis, pinning him in place.
"Baiheng…?" he called without thinking.
Why did that name come out so naturally?
No answer.
Even the crackle of fire slowly faded into dead quiet, leaving only the oppressive heat—terrifyingly real.
At noon the next day, heavy footsteps jolted him awake.
He rubbed his eyes. Sunlight was high—already midday.
Huo Linfei swung out of bed and pushed open the door.
"Baiheng?"
The courtyard was empty. Fallen leaves spun lazily in circles. A bowl of meat congee sat cold on the table, a note tucked beneath it.
"Little Huo, big sis is going on a trip. Eat on time. —Baiheng"
He pinched the note between his fingers. A strange unease coiled in his stomach.
"I had a nightmare last night…" he murmured.
Then the courtyard gate was knocked—gentle, measured.
"Excuse me. Is Little Huo Linfei here?"
Little Huo Linfei… this is getting weirder by the day.
Outside stood a massive man in armor—similar to the Cloud Knights, but distinct enough that Huo Linfei could tell it wasn't standard issue. The man's frame almost filled the doorway.
Yet his eyes were unexpectedly kind.
Huo Linfei tilted his head up. "You are…?"
"Teng Xiao." The man crouched so they were eye-level. "Baiheng asked me to pass on a message."
Teng Xiao…
He'd heard the name—wasn't he the current General of the Luofu?
Teng Xiao pulled out an oil-paper parcel and handed it over.
"Baiheng said you like sweets. This is osmanthus candy made by the Alchemy Commission. Don't worry—won't rot your teeth."
"…Thanks."
Then Teng Xiao's expression shifted, subtly heavier.
"The High-Cloud Quintet have been ordered to deploy. Return date unknown. You stay here. I'll have supplies delivered regularly."
"They went to fight?" Huo Linfei asked.
Teng Xiao's gaze flickered—just for a breath—before he smiled.
"Routine patrol."
A lie.
Huo Linfei wasn't stupid. Teng Xiao had tried to angle his heavy sword behind his waist, but the residue on the blade—sticky, dark, half-wiped—was unmistakably the fluid of Abundance spawn.
After Teng Xiao left, Huo Linfei shut the courtyard gate and returned inside.
"Pull up the records," he said to the system, voice tight. "What happened on that expedition?"
[Retrieving…]
[Keywords: Xianzhou Luofu · Abundance Emanator Shuhu · Star Calendar 7251.]
[Deviation from historical archives: approximately 5 years.]
[Result: Shuhu exploited Luofu's weakened defenses and infiltrated, attempting to seize the Ambrosial Arbor. Dan Feng and Jingliu—arriving as reinforcements—were severely injured. Baiheng sacrificed herself to heavily wound Shuhu. Teng Xiao ultimately sealed Shuhu at the cost of his own life.]
Huo Linfei went cold.
"…Baiheng… will die?"
Join here to read ahead.
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