Jingliu's residence sat in a quiet corner of the Luofu, far from Changle Heaven's bustle—like it belonged to an entirely different world.
"Come in."
The courtyard gate closed behind them with a soft click as Jingliu led Wei Qing and Baiheng into her home.
"Sit."
Her calm voice broke the silence, but Baiheng had zero intention of sitting. She gripped Jingliu's wrist so tightly it looked like she feared letting go would make Jingliu vanish.
"Jingliu, tell me what's going on! Back then we—"
Halfway through, Baiheng turned toward Wei Qing, eyes full of pleading and confusion.
Baiheng knew Wei Qing had once left a Blessing of Abundance on Jingliu. It hadn't pushed Jingliu far down the Path of Abundance, sure—but if the goal was merely suppressing mara, it should've been more than enough.
Yet Jingliu was still "about to fall."
That made no sense.
Wei Qing stepped closer, ignoring Baiheng's panic. He lifted a finger and tapped Jingliu lightly between the brows.
Jingliu's body stiffened—but she didn't resist.
That compliance made Wei Qing's brow tighten.
It wasn't rational.
When he'd decided to reveal himself, Wei Qing had already prepared for Jingliu to draw steel immediately. Instead, she'd said nothing, and—at Baiheng's request—brought them straight home.
This wasn't Jingliu's style.
Wei Qing activated Abundance. A pure surge of life seeped into Jingliu's meridians and sank into her sea of consciousness.
Jingliu still didn't fight it. She simply allowed the current to roam.
Baiheng held her breath, eyes darting between them.
After a moment, Wei Qing withdrew his hand—his frown deepening.
The Blessing of Abundance he'd left behind was still there. Not diminished. If anything, it was more stable than before.
Which made Jingliu's condition even stranger.
By Wei Qing's standard, Jingliu should've been able to outlast several Huaiyans without blinking.
Ridiculous as that sounded, the universe had precedents: Polka of the Xth Mechanism, Fleming of the IPC, even Herta in the future—longevity on that level wasn't unheard of.
"How is it?" Baiheng demanded, barely keeping her voice steady.
"Wait," Wei Qing replied.
Then he raised his hand again—this time calling on Harmony.
A few breaths later, he stared into Jingliu's clear, cold eyes and spoke slowly.
"The Abundance blessing in you is intact—more stable than when I first left it. By all logic, mara shouldn't be able to touch you right now."
Baiheng almost collapsed in relief—
Until Wei Qing's tone dropped.
"But deep in your soul, there's something that shouldn't exist."
His fingertip flicked, and he forcibly peeled away a thread of faint gray mist—so thin it was almost imaginary, yet stubbornly alive.
"This is…" Baiheng's face went white. "…Nihility?"
"Jingliu—how did you get contaminated by that?!"
Jingliu didn't rush to answer. She looked at the gray thread twisting at Wei Qing's fingertip, emotion flashing briefly—then smoothing into calm again.
"It wasn't contamination," she said.
"It was my choice."
Baiheng stared at her as if she'd lost her mind.
"You chose it?! Are you insane? That's Nihility—do you understand what you did?!"
"I understand," Jingliu replied, eyes closed.
"And because I understood, I chose it."
"For eight hundred years… to make sure I could keep you when I found you again, I wanted power so badly I stopped caring about the price."
"But I could no longer see the road on the Hunt."
"So you went to Nihility," Wei Qing said.
Jingliu nodded.
"During a pursuit, I stumbled into ruins once soaked by Nihility. There I felt it—'emptiness' as a certainty. That all things end in silence."
"And after that, I found a new path."
"Nihility."
"IX never cares how much you take," Jingliu continued. "In a way, it is the lowest-threshold Path."
Baiheng's jaw clenched.
"But you still can't choose Nihility! That's not something you 'touch' casually!"
"…Sorry," Jingliu said, quietly.
That weightless apology made Baiheng choke. She wanted to keep arguing—
Wei Qing lifted his hand and pressed down on Baiheng's shoulder.
"Stop."
"Leave it to me."
Half a day later, in a tavern in Changle Heaven—
"Honored guests, would you like to order something?" the waiter asked, eyeing the three of them with increasing suspicion.
"No," Jingliu answered evenly. "We're waiting for someone. When everyone arrives, we'll call you."
Jingliu's cold, expressionless tone should've made her look aloof.
Instead, in the waiter's eyes, it was somehow more unsettling—because Jingliu had one arm hooked around Wei Qing, and the other around Baiheng, clinging to them like a child refusing to let go of her parents.
It looked absurd.
Wealthy eccentric? Rich lady with strange tastes? The waiter's imagination ran wild.
In the end he backed out obediently.
Baiheng immediately hissed under her breath, "Do you have to hold this tight? My arm's going numb."
Jingliu's face didn't change. Her grip didn't loosen.
"I feel safer like this."
Fine. Patient status. Comply.
Wei Qing said nothing, but his thoughts ran.
Earlier, during the initial treatment, he'd already realized Jingliu's Nihility was troublesome.
This wasn't ordinary corrosion. It was self-admission. Deliberate.
And although Jingliu hadn't said it, Wei Qing—who had spent ten years inside IX—could tell:
Jingliu's Nihility wasn't as "simple" as she claimed.
There was a real chance she'd also gone to IX's domain to take more.
Fortunately, Wei Qing's control over Harmony and Nihility wasn't shallow. And Jingliu hadn't carried this for very long. Given time, he could solve it.
Right now, they were waiting for Jing Yuan and Yingxing to arrive.
Yes—this was Jingliu's demand after the first stage of treatment.
A demand that could not be refused.
Wei Qing knew it risked exposing him, but he'd accepted.
If it exposed him, it exposed him.
Jing Yuan was smart. Wei Qing had just saved Fanghu under the identity of Hua's "friend." Even if Jing Yuan guessed, he'd likely pretend not to.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
Before long, Jing Yuan and Yingxing arrived.
And the moment their eyes landed on the scene inside the room, both of their expressions froze.
The Galaxy Ranger "Yi Qing" who had saved Fanghu—and his partner "Bai Qing"—were sitting left and right with their arms tightly captured by Jingliu.
Yingxing & Jing Yuan: "???"
Jingliu, perfectly calm, ignored their faces and simply spoke.
"Sit."
Jing Yuan's usual lazy smile stiffened. Yingxing's brow furrowed hard, gaze sharpening with distrust.
"Master… what is this?" Jing Yuan asked carefully.
Jingliu lifted her eyes, still not letting go.
"Sit."
Jing Yuan and Yingxing exchanged a glance—both seeing the same alarm.
They sat, but their eyes kept flicking between the three bodies nearly pressed together.
Baiheng forced a dry laugh.
"Uh… Jingliu's not feeling well lately. We're staying close so we can—y'know—help."
The explanation was so weak even Baiheng didn't believe it.
Jingliu? "Not feeling well"? Needing this?
Jing Yuan's gaze lingered on Wei Qing and Baiheng before returning to Jingliu.
"Master is unwell?"
"Shall I summon a healer from the Alchemy Commission?"
"No," Jingliu refused crisply. "Old ailment. They can handle it."
Jing Yuan swallowed whatever he wanted to say.
He rebuilt his mask of politeness, gesturing toward Wei Qing and Baiheng.
"I am Jing Yuan, General of the Luofu. This is the Galaxy Ranger Yingxing."
"Lord Yi Qing, Lady Bai Qing—Luofu and the Alliance are indebted to you for Fanghu… and for the matter of Phantylia."
Yingxing gave a short clasp of hands. "Greetings."
Wei Qing nodded. "General Jing Yuan. Mr. Yingxing. I've heard of you."
Baiheng flashed her bright smile. "Oh, I've heard the General's name for ages—seeing you in person really is different!"
Jing Yuan smiled lightly, then returned to Jingliu.
"Master called us here today. For what purpose?"
Jingliu was silent for a moment.
"…It's been a long time," she said. "I wanted to see you."
That statement, from Jingliu's mouth, landed like a meteor.
Jingliu was not someone who spoke like that.
The atmosphere grew even stranger.
Baiheng hurriedly clapped her hands.
"Since everyone's here, how about we order some food and drink? This place's Drunken Immortal Brew is supposed to be great."
"Good," Jing Yuan latched onto it smoothly. "Yingxing, you should try it. You haven't been back in years. Let's see how Luofu's wine compares to what you've had out there."
Yingxing gave a low "Mm." But his eyes still kept straying to the three locked together like a knot.
The food and wine arrived quickly.
Baiheng did her best to keep the mood light, telling "travels" stories. Jing Yuan played along, chuckling at the right moments.
But besides those two, the other three stayed mostly quiet.
Especially Jingliu.
Even now, she refused to loosen her arms.
At last, Jing Yuan couldn't hold it in.
"Master… you seem different today."
Jingliu looked at him. "Different how?"
"You never cling to people like this," Jing Yuan said plainly.
Baiheng's scalp went numb. She hurried to interrupt.
"Ahaha—like I said, she's not feeling well, so we—"
"I am relying on them," Jingliu cut her off, tone calm.
"They are my medicine."
The room went cold.
Medicine?
Jing Yuan and Yingxing both stared, stunned.
"Master," Jing Yuan asked slowly, "what do you mean? Is it an injury? Or something else?"
Suspicion was practically written across his face.
Jingliu's state was too abnormal to ignore.
Jingliu didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she tightened her arms a fraction more, as though drawing security from their warmth.
Then she spoke, voice flat, almost indifferent.
"My mood hasn't been good lately."
"I like them."
"I feel better holding them."
Even Wei Qing and Baiheng—who had braced themselves for a lot—went blank for a second.
But Jingliu herself remained unmoved, as if she'd merely stated a preference for tea.
At this moment, she could clearly feel the warmth through her sleeves, the steady evidence of reality. It soothed her.
She knew how strange it looked.
She simply didn't care anymore.
Jing Yuan's probing eyes. Yingxing's deep frown. She saw it all.
Eight hundred years was long enough for a boy to become a general, for a stubborn craftsman to learn restraint.
And for her… to gradually lose her way.
Choosing Nihility had been her own decision.
When the Hunt's road ended, when hunger for power burned the soul, silence became the only exit.
And yet—after stepping toward Nihility—Jingliu had also gained time to think.
Her original purpose as a Galaxy Ranger was to seize Qingzhou and ask him why.
But after she truly quieted her mind, she realized: that "why" might not matter.
He belonged to Destruction from the start. A Destruction Emanator. They had never been on the same side.
Even if she caught him, she wouldn't get the answer she wanted.
But obsession still rooted itself in her bones—becoming the demon she couldn't cut away.
"Master?" Jing Yuan pressed gently.
Jingliu's eyes refocused.
"I just… suddenly understood something."
At last, she released their arms and lifted her cup for a small sip.
Everyone in the room, visibly and invisibly, exhaled.
Then Jingliu's next sentence dropped like an aftershock.
"I like them."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 165)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter220)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter125)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (This matter is completely finished.)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 220
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 185
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/20
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 248
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 230
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/40
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 125
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 145
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 120
I Can Copy Unique Skills 115
Summoning an Evil God, but the 75
Supernatural Multiverse 110
My Harem Is Indescribable 100
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 105
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 67
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 105
Still playing traditional Honk 80
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 85
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 78
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 80
Checking In in Demon Slayer 85
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 100
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 85
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 80
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 90
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 75
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 85
Why did they assign me to Uma 75
MYGO Beauties 70
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 75
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 80
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 100
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 60
The Uma Musume Who Became 60
I'm Definitely Not the King of 80
After Maxing Out Every Class 80
Naruto: I'm Konoha's Local Men 44
Honkai: World Modulation Mode 57
I, the Elden Sword Saint 50
Dio Brando Is Challenging FGO 43
No One Knows Pokémon Better 50
I, Sakazuki, Won't Go Down Tha 45
From Trilobites to Titans 45
Chainsaw Man: Contracted with 55
DanMachi: My Party Members Are 60
An Anime Heroine Darkened 55
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