"Hahaha, congratulations to Miss March for stepping onto the Path of the Hunt! Truly cause for celebration!" Jing Yuan said, cupping his hands toward March 7th, his tone brimming with sincere admiration.
The bow March 7th had just wielded was no ordinary weapon. The power of the Hunt's Path it contained left even Jing Yuan, an Emanator of the Hunt, quietly astonished.
It was no exaggeration to say that if March 7th had used that bow from the start of the battle, Phantylia, with her Abundance-forged body, would likely have been slain by her long ago.
A treasure like that, though it sounded exaggerated, was likely one of a kind, not only in the Xianzhou Alliance but across the entire cosmos.
With this thought, a spark ignited in General Jing Yuan's mind—a slightly unethical idea.
Poaching! Poaching from the Astral Express!
"Ahem!" Jing Yuan cleared his throat, a warm, spring-like smile spreading across his face.
"Miss March, have you ever considered developing your talents with the Xianzhou Alliance?"
March 7th: "???"
Trailblazer Team: "!!!"
At Jing Yuan's words, the surrounding temperature seemed to drop a few degrees.
Feeling everyone's gazes on him, our General of the Seat of Divine Foresight maintained his smile, though inwardly, he was panicking.
But having spoken, the deed was done, and Jing Yuan had no choice but to press on.
"If Miss March is willing to join the Xianzhou Alliance, I swear, in the name of the General of the Seat of Divine Foresight, to train you as the next General of the Luofu!"
Fu Xuan: "??!!!"
Hearing Jing Yuan's words, our Master Diviner's eyes widened in disbelief, her expression one of shock.
Her large, watery eyes stared pitifully at Jing Yuan, as if saying, "How could you do this?"
Feeling Fu Xuan's pitiful gaze, General Jing Yuan's sense of guilt deepened.
Before setting out, he had promised Fu Xuan that upon their triumphant return, he would petition Marshal Hua to pass the generalship to her.
Moreover, both emotionally and logically, it was inappropriate to poach from the Astral Express right after they had helped save the Xianzhou Luofu.
But… for the future of the Luofu, our General Jing Yuan had to swallow his pride.
"Ahem, General Jing Yuan, that seems a bit inappropriate," Welt said, coughing lightly and adjusting his glasses. The lenses reflected the sunlight, exuding a cold air.
Then, Old Yang subtly tightened his grip on the Star of Eden, disguised as a cane…
"General!" Fu Xuan's delicate brows furrowed tightly, her fists clenched. Looking up at Jing Yuan, who towered over her by a head or two, she spoke with barely contained anger.
"General, you're such a jerk!"
— — — —
Meanwhile, in the heart of the cosmos, two great existences clashed.
Nanook, the Aeon of Destruction, waved his massive hand, and in an instant, hundreds of stars hurtled toward Yun Fan, the Lord of Samsara.
In response, our Mr. Yun Fan stood calmly in place. As the stars approached, a glint of the Causality sigil flashed in his eyes.
In the next moment, the countless stars turned to ash, reduced to cosmic dust.
Back on the Xianzhou Luofu, Yun Fan had used his authority over Causality to warp space, transporting Nanook, the Aeon of Destruction, to another corner of the universe.
He hadn't created an alternate dimension as Qingque had done to face Zephyro. By common reasoning, Yun Fan would hold the advantage in a dimension of his own creation.
But Nanook was an Aeon, and an Aeon of Destruction at that. An alternate dimension couldn't withstand his chaos.
Moreover, trapping an Aeon would require Yun Fan to expend an immense amount of power.
When his attack missed, a trace of surprise flickered across Nanook's face. The longer an Aeon existed, the stronger they became—a common trait among them.
Though his earlier attack hadn't used much power, a newborn Aeon shouldn't have countered it so effortlessly.
It was much like when Nanook, newly born and brimming with inflated power, had recklessly challenged Aha, the Aeon of Elation.
The result? Aha had thoroughly beaten him, leaving scars on Nanook that would never heal.
"Nanook, Aeon of Destruction, your strength is only so-so," Yun Fan said with a playful smirk.
Immediately, a vast surge of Causality energy swept forth, spreading in all directions, reaching unknown corners of the cosmos. Then, Yun Fan clenched his fist, tearing through space and aiming a punch at Nanook's face.
Capture the leader to defeat the enemy; strike the face to defeat the man!
Seeing Yun Fan close in, intent on engaging in close combat, Nanook's eyes lit up.
In close-quarters battle, he was confident he wouldn't lose to any Aeon. Back then, Aha had defeated him with endless tricks… or so Nanook believed.
Yun Fan and Nanook clashed, their overflowing energies of Destruction and Causality radiating outward, shattering countless stars and causing suns to fall.
Meanwhile, countless light-years away…
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh…!
Lan, the Reignbow Arbiter, drew the Bow of the Hunt. In an instant, countless arrows shot toward the planets inhabited by the people of Abundance. The arrows tore through the void, reaching their targets in the blink of an eye.
Then…
All the divine arrows suddenly vanished, as if they had never existed. The planets inhabited by the Abundance's people stood unscathed, as if nothing had happened.
This sudden turn left our Reignbow Arbiter utterly bewildered, but he didn't dwell on it, dismissing it as a trick of the eye.
Drawing the Bow of the Hunt once more, Lan sent another volley of divine arrows toward the lands of the Abundance's people.
This time, no surprises occurred. The divine arrows reduced several planets to dust, incinerating the Ambrosial Arbors and the people of Abundance into embers.
A similar scene unfolded at the galactic center, where Qlipoth, the Aeon of Preservation, resided.
The Amber Lord, who had lived for 500,000 years, was swinging his massive hammer, continuing his grand work of building walls.
Of course, the time it took for one swing was immense—an Amber Era spanned decades, the duration of a single hammer strike.
As the Amber Lord's hammer slowly descended, a massive spatial gate suddenly appeared before him.
Caught off guard by this sudden event, Qlipoth had no time to react. In the next moment, his hammer fell through the spatial gate.