In the distant cosmos, at the place where the Amber Lord builds His wall, the Aeon representing Preservation brought down His mighty hammer. It struck the clown with tremendous force, flattening him into a sheet of paper.
The paper-thin clown drifted through space, running for a while in his two-dimensional form. He then cupped a hand over his mouth and, with a great puff of air, blew himself back into his three-dimensional shape.
"Haha! Thanks!"
Aha departed with a triumphant laugh.
The Aeon of Preservation, seeing the clown had left, simply resumed his work of laying bricks.
On the Xianzhou, Xin Yu rubbed his temples, which were beginning to ache. To this moment, he still couldn't fathom why Aha had suddenly appeared before him, given him a little scare, played a prank, and then simply left. What was his objective?
Then again, for a being of an Aeon's caliber, time probably held few secrets. The video he had brought back from the future... no, it wasn't a problem with the video. The problem was with the person in the video from the very beginning.
That "Stelle" was either possessed by Aha or was simply Aha in disguise all along.
After collecting himself, Xin Yu went to check on the others. He found that Mr. Welt had indeed only thrown out his back and had recovered after lying on the floor for a moment. As a Pathfinder, his body shouldn't have been so fragile; it was purely the result of some cosmic being's mischief.
As for Stelle, who had been laughing so hard her throat was now hoarse, she was currently unable to speak. Her face was frozen in a sort of paralysis, forcing her to maintain the expression of an icy, aloof beauty. It had to be said, when she wasn't making strange faces or talking, she actually looked much better than before.
March 7th had also recovered from her earlier panic. The fit of uncontrollable laughter had truly frightened her, making her fear she might end up like Stelle—permanently abnormal.
Welt got up from the floor, rubbing his lower back. Even though it no longer hurt, he still felt a lingering discomfort.
"Should we call this expected or unexpected? The fact that your unique ability has drawn the attention of that Aeon... seems like a rather logical development. That uncontrollable laughter just now was likely nothing more than a greeting, as far as that Aeon is concerned."
Xin Yu sighed. That was true. After all, considering that even Emissaries were beings on a galactic scale, Aeons were on an entirely different level exponentially. A prank of this magnitude was probably just a casual hello to them.
Xin Yu now made a decision. He couldn't rely too much on his power over time. This encounter with Aha might have been a coincidence, but if another coincidence brought him to the attention of a different Aeon, he might not get off with just a simple scare.
The Stelle in her "icy beauty" state just nodded silently. She gave off the vibe of a cold-blooded assassin, as if she might whip out a blade and slit someone's throat in the next second.
March 7th, finding this state of Stelle's fascinating, couldn't resist taking out her camera to snap a few pictures. After all, the usual Stelle was either goofy or mischievous. This current, cold and beautiful version was a limited-time exclusive that had to be documented.
Xin Yu, though he didn't understand Aha's purpose, knew that the Aeon would definitely be watching him. Therefore, he decided it was best not to travel with the Astral Express crew for a short while.
His original plan had been to use his own power to face the Lordly Ravager alongside the crew, to see how his strength truly measured up. But now, if he remained with them, there was no telling if Aha would pop up during the final battle to cause trouble. It was better to keep his distance for now.
After Xin Yu explained his reasoning, Welt could only agree with a helpless sigh. In fact, the moment he saw Xin Yu could cure the mara-struck, he had wanted to get him off the Xianzhou immediately. That ability was simply too significant to the Xianzhou Alliance.
What was the internal state of the Xianzhou Alliance? Welt wasn't entirely sure, but he knew the complexity and darkness of the human heart. The current high-ranking members of the Alliance followed The Hunt to fight the Abundance because of the unavoidable mara-sickness. But if they learned there was someone who could grant them longevity without any side effects, would those people truly not be tempted?
And once the Denizens of Abundance learned of this, Xin Yu's own existence would become even more perilous.
The boy had now also revealed his ability to traverse time and space. That was a bit better, as it guaranteed he could escape instantly if danger arose.
But the problem that followed was, if this boy continued to roam the cosmos, countless factions would likely try to get their hands on him... If Akivili, the Aeon of Trailblaze, were still around, those factions wouldn't dare to harbor such thoughts. But now, the Aeon who symbolized Trailblaze was gone.
Those factions backed by other Aeons might not act too brazenly on the surface, but they would absolutely resort to underhanded means.
Before Xin Yu left, Welt made sure to explain all of this, telling him that if he wanted to avoid future trouble, the Astral Express could arrange to send him to a relatively remote and underdeveloped planet.
Of course, the choice would always be Xin Yu's. The crew of the Astral Express respected their companion's decision.
Xin Yu, after hearing this, indicated that he would resolve his own problems and wouldn't bring trouble to the crew.
As Xin Yu and Welt were talking, and March 7th was engrossed in editing the photos she had just taken, Stelle, still in her icy state, slowly turned her head and looked towards a corner of the room that no one was paying attention to.
She walked over to the corner alone and picked up an extremely inconspicuous-looking stone fragment.
She stared at the stone fragment, as if seeing through it to a certain being who had existed since the distant past.
"Equilibrium... Xin Yu's very existence has already disrupted the balance... That prank just now... Aha was actually helping Xin Yu hide from Equilibrium's notice..."
Stelle whispered, but her tone was unlike her usual self. The cadence of her speech and the emotion she conveyed were colder than ever before.
"This was not in the script."
A mysterious power, the likes of which was unknown, suddenly surged in Stelle's palm, grinding the stone to dust. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, the coldness in them had been replaced by a familiar clarity, one that even seemed a bit foolish.
The demeanor of an icy mountain beauty vanished without a trace, and she was back to being something like a college student fresh out into the world.
"Huh? What am I doing here?"
Stelle scratched her head in confusion. Hadn't she just laughed herself into a faint? Why was she standing now? How strange.