Using the Artisanship Commission's handy shortcut, the group hustled over to the Alchemy Commission—and there was Phantylia, disguised as Tingyun, rubbing her neck with a grimace.
"Pfft—Tingyun, your neck..." March 7th knew full well this was the Lord Ravager playing dress-up, and she could hardly stifle a giggle.
"Goodness, is this what Merchant Guild life boils down to? Can't even catch a nap without tweaking something." Stelle shot her a mock-sympathetic glance.
"Ah, powering through the ache like a champ. Miss Tingyun's dedication is truly something else."
As they ventured deeper into the Commission, they picked off a handful of Disciples of Sanctus Medicus spies skulking in the shadows.
"These Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, lurking in the fringes for ages, pick now to crawl out of the woodwork. I wonder if the Grand Diviner had a hunch..." Phantylia fluttered her fan with dramatic flair.
"Benefactors, watch your step. The Disciples revere the Plague Author Yaoshi—they're the Xianzhou's sworn foes."
"For millennia, the Alliance has hunted this cabal, but they've always slipped the net. Surfacing right in the thick of this crisis? No such thing as coincidence."
"Thanks for the heads-up, Miss Tingyun. We've already crossed paths with them once or twice."
"Yeah, yeah! Didn't you and that church deacon trash one of their hideouts near the Exalting Sanctum just yesterday?"
"Guilty as charged." Stelle struck a proud pose, hands on her hips, owning every bit of it.
"Deacon?" A flicker of unease crossed Phantylia's features, but she masked it with a tight smile.
"Ugh, why does it feel like the entire Alchemy Commission's infested with these Sanctus Medicus creeps?" March 7th griped.
...
It wasn't long before Fu Xuan swept back into the Cloud Knight outpost in the Commission.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. I've dug up the dirt on the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus."
"We've been on pins and needles here, Grand Diviner." Stelle gave a quick, respectful nod.
"My apologies. To avoid any leaks... only the General and I have the full picture. They're a shadow syndicate hell-bent on toppling the Alliance."
"They've festered in secrecy for years. This Stellaron crisis finally flushed them out—and it's tangled up with their schemes in ways you wouldn't believe."
"The tide's against us, and yet here you are, Grand Diviner, leading the charge and scouting the enemy lines yourself. Truly admirable." Welt inclined his head in genuine praise.
Fu Xuan's cheeks pinked a touch, and she couldn't quite hide a smile. "W-well, it's hardly that! Divination demands fresh data for any shot at real precision..." She snapped back to composure, straightening her posture.
"Hold on—who said the tide's against us? The Disciples have schemed for eons and fight filthy, sure, but our troops aren't crumbling. How's that 'against us'?"
"Just a figure of speech. Let's cut to the chase." Adrian smoothly took the reins. "So, ready to unleash the General's ace in the hole?"
"You all look primed..." Fu Xuan's eyes drifted to Adrian. Was he about to make his move?
"Ugh, first chat with your Lady Yukong, and she freezes us out: 'This is Xianzhou business—stay in your lane.'" March 7th dropped into a spot-on icy impression.
"That was yesterday. Fast-forward a day, and we're suddenly elbow-deep in every grimy errand? Even the IPC doesn't strong-arm like this."
March wasn't throwing shade—she was just venting. "Lemme guess: frontline meat grinder with the Cloud Knights?"
The idea of slugging it out with those Abundance horrors—and their nightmare revival gimmicks—sent a shiver down her spine.
"Nope, nope! Big brawls just make my head spin!"
Spotting the mix-up, Fu Xuan waved it off. "Who said a word about the front lines...?"
"You... didn't?"
"As Mr. Adrian put it, you're the wildcard fate dropped in our lap—wild being the operative word. The Cloud Knights' push was the straight-and-narrow diversion."
"The real curveball? That's up now." Fu Xuan motioned them along as she laid it out, leading the way.
"After basking in the Ambrosial Arbor's gifts, the Alchemy Commission once stood as the Luofu's beating heart. They molded the Xianzhou's people into long-life species... and brewed endless marvels from the Arbor's essence."
"But eventually, the alchemists' hunger soured. They started meddling with life at its core. Probing the Arbor turned into an addiction—the further they delved, the more they needed."
Fu Xuan halted before a colossal cauldron, plumes of white smoke roiling from its mouth.
She recited a line from ancient Xianzhou verse: "'Dawn bells rouse us from dreams within dreams; mists and clouds coil beyond the flesh'... Spot it over there?"
"Whoa, that's one massive cauldron—and it's still puffing away." Phantylia widened her eyes in feigned wonder.
"This is where the old alchemists chased immortality. They forged the furnace, siphoned power from the Arbor, and bent dreams into truth... The perpetual fog within christened it the Cloudsia Violet Palace."
The phrase rang a bell, and Stelle elbowed March 7th. "Told ya—ancient smarts."
Back at the Artisanship Commission, she'd tried channeling the old ways, siphoning the Arbor on her own terms. Adrian had reined her in. She was still a tad salty about it.
"Elegant moniker, but a nightmare from a tactical standpoint. As long as that furnace blazes and the clouds churn, we're hamstrung."
Welt folded his arms. "That's what broke the Cloud Knights—mara took them down?"
"Spot on." Fu Xuan nodded. "The Disciples of Sanctus Medicus spiked the mist seeping through these caverns with a mara-inducing toxin."
"Unless the troops can charge without so much as inhaling, the Cloud Knights fold before the first clash."
Fu Xuan eyed the drifting white haze. The Disciples fought filthy—a flat-out lethal debuff. Cloud Knights couldn't hold formation; in the heat of battle, your squadmate could flip to the enemy in heartbeats, eyes wild with mara.
"Nothing shreds morale like second-guessing if the guy next to you's about to snap. Paranoia alone can shatter a force."
Welt nodded, seeing the angle. "So the Knights' assault was bait. You dangled the main army to pull focus while we kill the furnace and choke off the smoke."
"The Disciples ditched centuries of stealth for this moment—they're cocky. But no matter their prep, it's all tuned to the Cloud Knights."
"They've got zero intel on your skills... or even that you exist. No traps laid for you."
"Hmm. We know the fumes won't touch us, but... why not loop in the church's knights for this?"
Adrian fielded it for Fu Xuan, flicking a glance at March. "The church tackles Destruction-flavored threats. The Disciples of Sanctus Medicus? That's a whole other mandate."
"Wait, seriously...?" March picked up on the corporate undertones, like some shady boardroom shuffle.
"Why not the Foxians or Vidyadhara?" Stelle nudged the conversation along—hell, there was a prime Foxian example right there, even if she was a Ravager in fox's clothing.
Fu Xuan dove into the mara-struck weeds: "You've got it twisted. It's no human-only hex."
"Foxians dodge it more often since, long-life or not, their years have limits. Vidyadhara slough off the past via molting. On mara alone, long-life species hold even."
"But the Disciples never imagined the General calling in outsiders. They wouldn't prep for short-life breeds, let alone..."
In a heartbeat, every gaze snapped to Adrian.