Leaving the Seat of Divine Foresight, Leon strolled leisurely through the bustling streets, attempting to contact Dan Heng.
As expected, the message failed to send.
Oh well.
They'd meet when the time was right.
He took out the Knight piece he'd taken from the Seat of Divine Foresight and looked at its base.
An address was written there.
As long as he waited there, he could reunite with Stelle's trio, who had disembarked earlier.
Leon considered whether the timing was right.
The Luofu's current situation offered few entry points, but there was at least one—the Secret of the Medicine Sovereign.
On the way to the Seat of Divine Foresight via starskiff, Leon had already pieced together the general motives behind the Secret of the Medicine Sovereign's rebellion.
He paused, gazing at the divine relic standing in the sea of clouds—
A tree that appeared lifeless yet retained an eerie vitality.
The divine relic bestowed by Yaoshi, the Ambrosial Arbor, recognizable at a glance.
Based on the intelligence from Zigui, the Secret of the Medicine Sovereign's leader had ordered their planters to head to a delve likely tied to it.
The Stellaron, an unknown Emanator, and the Secret of the Medicine Sovereign betraying the Luofu…
There must be a connection between the three.
A simple, blunt hypothesis: the unknown Emanator brought the Stellaron to the Luofu through the Secret of the Medicine Sovereign's leader.
Leon had many theories about the Emanator's faction.
Preservation was unlikely—too focused on the Company and the Amber Lord.
Remembrance acted as historians, with unique powers forming their own system, gaining nothing from targeting the Ambrosial Arbor.
What the Memokeepers wanted most were the precious, unique memories of people and things in the universe.
Harmony typically had no human Emanators, ruled out.
Nihility, 0.0.
Enigmata lacked the ability to tamper with an Aeon's divine relic, barely worth a glance.
Finality—even he had never seen a Finality Emanator.
Whether Elio counted was uncertain.
Excluding the above, only Abundance, Erudition, Elation, and Destruction Emanators might target the Ambrosial Arbor.
Abundance needed no explanation.
Erudition had its share of lunatics. Since the Genius Society's founding, he knew of every genius's emergence.
One perk of living long was having faint impressions of many major cosmic events.
Some geniuses didn't walk the path of order.
For what they pursued, they'd do anything.
Geniuses might unravel many mysteries, but when it came to the secrets of Aeons, they could only glimpse the tip of the iceberg.
An Aeon's creation—few geniuses wouldn't be curious.
That was the motive for an Erudition Emanator, or even a non-Emanator genius.
Some geniuses had that capability.
Herta was surely curious too, but she was among the more normal geniuses.
She wouldn't make an enemy of the Xianzhou.
Ruan Mei was a possibility, but a very slim one.
Beyond her, there were notorious figures like Dr. Primitive.
Some of those seats had been judged and executed by the Order's Emanators, long dead.
Leon himself had once repelled a Dr. Primitive who committed heinous acts.
Back then, he wasn't an Emanator but a guardian of a certain star system.
Most of the galaxy's infamous Erudition geniuses had since toned down.
As for the most unique one, Polka Kakamond, she had no interest in this and wasn't worth suspecting.
While the Hunt's path was narrow, that didn't mean the Xianzhou Alliance was weak.
No matter how wild Polka was, she was unlikely to target the Luofu's Ambrosial Arbor relic.
That left Elation Emanators… no need to elaborate.
If they wanted to, what wouldn't they dare do?
Oh, except himself.
"Darling, you can do anything you want, and I'll have your back~~"
"Then I'll go chat with IX?"
"What are you doing, hai-hai-ow!" Aha nearly jumped. "Anything but that!"
"Then I'll go full throttle, unleash the Imaginary fluctuations of the Mercy Emanator, how about that?"
With the faith points he'd collected, he could sustain it for a while.
Aha overheated.
"That's off-limits too!"
Leon laughed.
"Then what's allowed?"
"Wahh, as long as darling doesn't deliberately court death with those two things, Aha will listen to you and do anything~~"
Leon's smile cooled, tinged with disdain.
"Then take back that 'do anything' nonsense. You're not some ancient god from the universe's chaotic dawn."
"You're just a latecomer Aeon. What gives you the right to say that?"
"Do anything? All you think about is yourself, huh."
Aha was steaming.
But seeing Leon's disdainful expression, the steam dissipated, and They stuck out Their tongue, turning playful.
Classic red-faced tongue-out emoji.jpg.
"I've always wanted to see this expression on you, looking at Aha like trash, yahahahaha, ahahahaha~~"
"Next, it's the desire to… ah-hoo—"
Aha took a deliberate heavy punch.
Swatting away the annoying fly, Leon gazed again at the Ambrosial Arbor, pondering the last faction.
Destruction.
Mostly a bunch of unhinged, reckless brutes.
The power granted by Nanook was already formidable.
Targeting the Ambrosial Arbor would generally be redundant.
Still, listing Destruction Emanators as potential suspects wasn't unreasonable.
The most suspicious faction: Abundance.
Emanators weren't common creatures, nor did their emergence instantly become galaxy-wide news.
Aha might know.
But—
Who'd believe Aha?
No way, right?
With the enemy in the shadows, pursuing the Emanator lead seemed unlikely.
The Stellaron Hunters were a smokescreen, leaving only the Secret of the Medicine Sovereign.
But that Zigui brother didn't seem to have started moving yet.
"Honored guest from afar, do you crave immortality…?" A hushed voice came from behind.
Leon turned, sizing up the Vidyadhara man addressing him, and hid the expression he shouldn't show.
Searching far and wide only to find it effortlessly…
But… Leon couldn't help but feel pity for the Luofu's state.
They dared to recruit targets openly on the streets, in the Exalting Sanctum delve where the Seat of Divine Foresight stood.
Even with the Stellaron crisis and many Cloud Knights away on expeditions, causing a manpower shortage, this level of lax oversight was inexcusable, right?
Or had they overlooked the darkness under the lamp?
---
"I crave power!" "…" Green Hibiscus nearly choked.
With a synesthesia beacon, he understood Leon's words. But this was completely off-topic. "…I see. You mean you crave immortality, right? After all, immortality is a form of power!" "No, no, no, I crave pure power. Combat, thrill!"
Leon raised his fist to his face, knuckles cracking sharply. Green Hibiscus: "…Uh, brother, you're really… quite a character!" "As long as you gain the power of immortality, you can become stronger and face more battles…"
Seeing Leon's intrigued expression, Green Hibiscus's eyes lit up, gently coaxing. "Brother, if you're interested, could we step aside to talk?" "Alright."