"Do you use a sword?"
The barefoot girl looked at Caelus, who was standing with her in front of a street vendor buying snacks, and asked this.
"Hmm? How could you tell?"
Caelus looked at the young girl beside him with curiosity. This was the first time someone had been able to tell at a glance that he was actually someone who knew sword techniques.
"Just a feeling, I suppose. Anyway, I can sense that you seem to be a sword user, but this feeling is particularly vague, like there is a thick layer of glass between us. I can't feel it very clearly, which is why I asked you."
The girl seemed particularly curious as she sized up Caelus. She felt like she had seen this face somewhere before, but she could not recall where. However, she quickly cast that feeling to the back of her mind and asked with some curiosity.
"What does your sword look like? Can you let me see it?"
"No."
Caelus shook his head. The Spiral of Contradiction was not something he could show others. It was not because he valued this weapon so highly, but mainly because the weapon itself was extremely dangerous. Even without being tempered by the power of Nihility, the Spiral of Contradiction itself was an extremely aggressive weapon.
After all, the structure of this weapon destined it to focus on piercing, and its characteristics confirmed this point. As long as the attack frequency was fast enough, it could pierce through any material blocking its path.
And now, after being tempered by the power of Nihility and fused with the powers of various Paths, if an ordinary person were to hold this weapon, they would likely have to face the various Paths contained within it and the inherent sharpness of the Spiral of Contradiction itself, which sought to pierce through everything.
If this girl's nature caused her to attempt to perceive the Spiral of Contradiction itself, she would likely be directly corrupted by Nihility, becoming a Self-Annihilator, or even a Blood-Sin Spirit.
Caelus's refusal only intensified the girl's curiosity.
"Is there something special or dangerous about your weapon?"
"Yes, very dangerous."
"Could it be a cursed sword?"
"A cursed sword..."
Caelus thought about it. From the perspective of novels or even biographies, his Spiral of Contradiction, no matter how one looked at it, could indeed be considered a cursed sword.
"Judging by the situation of my sword, it can indeed be considered a cursed sword."
Who would have thought that upon hearing the sword was a cursed sword, the girl's emotions would become somewhat extreme.
"A cursed sword!"
"Yunli! Do not be rude!"
An old man's voice rang out, interrupting what the girl was about to say. Caelus then looked over and saw a short old man wearing a straw hat walking toward them.
"Hello, Mr. Caelus. I am General Huaiyan, the Zhuyuan General of the Xianzhou Zhuming."
"It seems you arrived a bit earlier than planned. Jing Yuan had invited me to meet you with him earlier."
"Haha, to be welcomed by a renowned Apostle of the Gods in the universe is truly a fortunate event."
"Apostle of the Gods... That title isn't wrong, but I had expected some more unpleasant and radical titles. I didn't expect it to be so ordinary."
"Hehe! You jest. To some people, your actions have indeed caused them great trouble, but to the vast majority of people in this universe, you are undoubtedly a hero. Even the Reignbow Arbiter has acknowledged your heroic deeds. How could we people of the Xianzhou think otherwise?"
Huaiyan said this with a smile, then looked at Yunli, who was standing to the side, and spoke with a serious expression.
"Yunli, the sword in this gentleman's hand is not a cursed sword forged by your father. Do not be overly stubborn."
"I know, Grandfather."
The girl named Yunli lowered her head and obediently admitted her mistake.
Caelus looked at the girl standing to the side. This was the newly accepted disciple that Blade wanted him to check on.
"Well, General Huaiyan, I have a request from an old acquaintance of yours. They want to know about your situation over these years, and by the way, also want to know about this newly accepted disciple of yours. As for which old acquaintance issued this request, let's keep it between us."
Caelus said this, causing Huaiyan's expression to freeze. After a long silence, he sighed, and his figure seemed to stoop a little more.
"I have a courtyard on the Xianzhou. The environment is quite quiet. Shall we go sit there? We can chat while drinking tea."
"Very well, then I shall trouble you for a cup of tea."
Yunli showed no signs of leaving, but instead watched the two of them with curiosity. She always felt that this old acquaintance seemed very important to her master.
When the group returned to the courtyard, they found that quite a few people were already standing at the entrance.
"General Jing Yuan, General Feixiao, what a coincidence."
Huaiyan looked at his two colleagues and said this with a smile.
A Foxian man with narrowed eyes, holding a feather fan and dressed in particularly red attire, stepped forward, gave Caelus a respectful salute, and said, "I am Jiaoqiu. In coming here this time, I still wish to ask you to treat General Feixiao."
Caelus looked at the seemingly carefree Foxian woman. With just a brief moment of perception, he knew that her illness stemmed from her own Abundance blessing.
It should be something similar to being mara-struck.
"Why come to me?"
Caelus said this, then noticed Jing Yuan smiling somewhat awkwardly. The latter then took out a few ancient books and stepped forward.
"Please forgive us, sir. After all, the Xianzhou places too much importance on this matter."
Caelus took the antique books, looked at them briefly, and after confirming they were authentic, said this.
"I can cure it."
...
Blade sent over the notes he had organized. Not long after, a large amount of information came back, all concerning General Huaiyan's affairs over the years, as well as information about the young girl named Yunli.
In the last line of the transmitted message, there was a sentence left.
"Yingxing, are you doing well?"
Blade looked at this last sentence and remained speechless for a long time.
...
"Partner, aren't you going to keep watching?"
Inside Caelus's System carriage, Cyrene asked this.
"There's nothing left to see. Those Borisin who infiltrated the Luofu, even if they could cause some big trouble, couldn't possibly contend with Jing Yuan, who has rediscovered his youthful spirit and restored both his mental and physical states to their peak."
"And Feixiao, whose Moon Rage I have cured, and who can now fight with full power without worrying about the series of risks caused by losing control."
"Not to mention the Astral Express crew. That so-called chaos is just a means laid out by Jing Yuan to clear out internal problems within the Luofu and flex his muscles to the outside world. Let them play out this drama themselves."
Caelus packed up all the ancient books he had gathered and stuffed them into his backpack.
"System, the difficulty of the next world can be a bit higher, but the mission rewards must be generous. I'm still too short on System Currency. I still need to spend some money to buy things related to the Path of Equilibrium and give them to Equilibrium."
["Does this count as a form of bribery?"]
"Strictly speaking, it should count as paying a fine."
["Then in the end, doesn't that just mean Caelus is poor?"]
"Yes, I am poor, so release some missions that can earn money."
["That depends on fate! Let me see where we are going in the next world. I'll try to see if I can get more missions out of the mission system."
"The next world, if for a beginner, could be considered a pretty good place for farming points, but for you, it won't be very good for farming points."
"It is filled with Monsters mutated under various circumstances. For those below the third tier, there are indeed missions for farming points there, but for you... let's leave it to fate! Link, start!"]
(To be continued.)
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)