And Yanqing, who tried to stop her from the side, was also struck by Feixiao's whip kick, smashing heavily into the ground.
-----------------------------------
"She can't be allowed to leave!" Yunli climbed up from the ground and shouted loudly.
March 7th lay on the ground, panting: "But... but aren't we completely outmatched?"
Yunli didn't reply, only glanced back at March 7th and nodded heavily.
Then she charged straight toward Feixiao without hesitation.
March 7th gritted her teeth, pushed herself up from the ground, and the twin swords in her hands vanished into light, replaced by a pink longbow.
Tense music rang out. The final coordinated attack of the three began.
At this moment, Feixiao, driven into berserk frenzy, was already surpassing the limits of consciousness…
Before she could even take a few steps, giant rabbit-shaped ice blocks appeared at the edge of the sky.
They rained down densely at Feixiao's feet.
Such an attack didn't even require Feixiao to lift a hand, she simply strode through as they shattered beneath her.
Amid the billowing mist of ice, a petite figure had already circled behind Feixiao and lunged fiercely.
"Heh!" Yunli burst out of the icy fog, both hands latching onto Feixiao's arms.
Feixiao, unarmed, struck back with equal force. Their hands gripped each other's arms tightly, locked in a stalemate.
Yunli clenched her teeth, summoning all her strength to overpower Feixiao.
But Feixiao's eyes widened, a grin spreading across her face, there was no sign she was straining.
Effortlessly, she forced Yunli down little by little.
Then, with a sudden jerk, she yanked Yunli into the air.
A brutal knee strike slammed into Yunli's stomach.
"Ugh!" Yunli cried out in pain, all strength drained, and was hurled away by Feixiao.
At that very moment, Yanqing, barely able to get up from the earlier beating, gritted his teeth through the pain and grabbed hold of Feixiao's gun-blades.
"She said… the strength in our backs will support us."
"She believed we could do it!"
Yanqing pushed himself up, shouting loudly, and with all his might hurled the gun-blades toward Feixiao!
This strike, timed right after Feixiao had flung Yunli away, her old strength spent, her balance not yet stable, the gun-bladesreached her in an instant, right before her eyes.
Those cyan eyes, ringed with red blood halos, were only a hair's breadth away!
The screen suddenly went black.
The audience's hearts leapt to their throats.
...
On the operating table.
It was Feixiao, after one of those great battles.
She lay there exhausted.
"Feixiao, this time, I will definitely heal you."
"No one can live forever Jiaoqiu.... this time, we must take the risk."
The dialogue echoed in the darkness.
Feixiao opened her eyes.
She was in a vast, endless space, shrouded in heavy black clouds.
"Is this... aboard the Luofu?"
"Or somewhere else."
Her memory still lingered on the moment she swallowed the Crimson Moon.
A voice came from above the clouds.
"Yanqing, Yunli, are you here to enforce the Cloud Knights' military law, or what?"
"She cannot be allowed to leave this place!"
"Wake up, General!"
The first line was spoken by Feixiao herself, the latter two were Yunli and Yanqing's voices.
Hearing them, Feixiao drew a breath. She roughly understood her current situation.
"You always leave the hardest battles to yourself."
Hoolay had appeared behind her without her noticing, speaking slowly: "Just like now, you don't even know the meaning of retreat."
Feixiao turned back, realizing her current state, and spoke.
Hoolay only sneered.
He seemed to sense her doubts: "Strange, isn't it? As your enemy, I know you better than your comrades."
To fight to the death, to endure for eternity. Feixiao's choices had never strayed from that road of struggle.
"Hoolay..." Feixiao turned, staring at the figure manifesting from within her own heart.
That surging rage, born of her own being, an urge to utterly destroy the Borisin, instantly flooded her mind.
Hoolay felt it and grew more delighted: "This fury... it really is nostalgic. It never sought victory, but the hunt itself. Isn't that right, Feixiao?"
Feixiao didn't answer, only said: "You shouldn't exist. I saw you die with my own eyes."
"Then just think of me as an illusion."
Hoolay gave no denial, but explained: "Before every hunt, I always prepared myself for failure. But this time was different, failure was my goal."
"When I learned your story from Jiaoqiu., I realized... he had been hiding something all along."
"And that secret, even the healer could not discover."
In this strange space, Hoolay revealed his findings and schemes to Feixiao bit by bit.
It was one 'warlord' speaking honestly to another destined 'warlord.'
But he didn't notice, when he mentioned Jiaoqiu., especially the word healer, Feixiao lowered her eyes slightly.
To Hoolay, it looked like grief over the healer's death, so he didn't think much of it, and continued.
"Fate is cruel irony. I had always awaited this day, but I never thought it would come like this."
"No matter. I will accept it."
"Now, let's see the impregnable heart of the Vanquishing General. Let's see what she hides in her darkest corners."
Hoolay wasn't in a hurry.
As he finished, frozen silhouettes appeared around Feixiao.
Scenes from her memories. Everything she had once endured.
The most searing, were the images of Borisin using cruel methods to slaughter the her people.
Foxians, Vidyadhara, and Xianzhou natives alike.
They were all massacred before her very eyes.
And at the end of it, was Feixiao clutching her weapons, surrounded by the Borisin.
"These familiar scenes... the Xianzhou must have shown you countless times. But all of it was only what they wanted you to see."
Hoolay's voice echoed: "They made you fight to save the weak, but they never told you that beneath all their masks of compassion lies the true face of the world."
"The law of the jungle."
"When the Xianzhou were weak, they dressed as victims. When the Xianzhou became strong, they crowned you a champion of vengeance, demanding you uphold justice."
"I've found it... this is your 'doubt.'" The audience, hearing Hoolay's words, immediately understood.
This man was trying to reshape Feixiao ideologically.
As for whether this 'doubt' was something Feixiao had truly once felt, or merely Hoolay's manipulation... no one could say for sure.