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Baiming couldn't stand riddle-makers.
So, she reached out and pinched the scruff of Elio's "neck of destiny." She hoisted the black cat up into the air.
"Still giving me riddles at a time like this, are we?"
But Elio had no intention of relenting. Instead, he crossed his paws over his chest, his tail curling around 'Jingliu's' wrist as he spoke.
"Even if you say that, I have my principles. If I tell you, I'll have to rewrite the script on the fly, and there isn't enough time."
Did she think writing scripts didn't take time? Someone who hadn't even joined the Stellaron Hunters wanting to read the script—what if she read it and then just clapped her hands and walked away? He'd have to exert himself to change it all over again. There was no such thing as a free lunch!
"Besides, in Jingliu's current state, it's hard enough to get her to remember the new script."
"..."
One person and one cat sat there, staring each other down. After a long stalemate, seeing that Elio had no intention of budging, 'Jingliu' chose to give up. She rubbed the cat's head vigorously a couple of times before releasing his scruff.
"Fine. I'll trust you once."
"Meow~"
After landing, Elio shook his body elegantly and even let out a soft cry. Then, he stuffed that conch-like object into 'Jingliu's' hand.
"I'm leaving this to you now."
"What's that supposed to mean? Are you saying I'm the one who will solve Jingliu's Mara-struck condition this time?"
"Meow~"
This time, Elio didn't say a word. He simply stretched his back and walked away without looking back.
Jingliu was still leaning against her chest, having not yet recovered. 'Jingliu' looked at the conch filled with the power of Harmony, then back at the real Jingliu.
She initiated Tuning.
Although she had obtained roughly half of Ruan Mei's talent, whether she could fix a Mara-struck condition was still up in the air. After all, when it comes to intelligence... if you cut it in half, the actual level of performance drops by significantly more than fifty percent.
Furthermore, Jingliu's type of Mara was different from the others. Mentally, she became frantic and aggressive, but her body showed no physical mutation whatsoever.
If she had drawn Bailu's character card, she could have simply used her own Vidyadhara marrow to treat her. Character cards could be reset after recharging, anyway. But now that she was also "Jingliu," things were complicated. She had to understand the situation before making a plan.
While trying to use Tuning to diagnose the state of things, 'Jingliu' was also pondering Elio's goal.
What was he trying to do? In the original plot, every one of his actions seemed nonsensical but always carried a strong purpose. Calling her here so decisively this time meant something was bound to happen.
But what, exactly? She really couldn't guess.
Better focus on what's in front of me.
While Jingliu was still unconscious, she hurried to check her condition.
First was that "Movement" from the Family. It seemed to be a specialized type, relying on Tuning to soothe Jingliu's murderous emotions. It wasn't the kind the Family used regularly.
As 'Jingliu' observed it, she began to feel that something was off. This Movement, while smoothing out the murderous intent, was also continuously strengthening an emotional anchor.
And wouldn't you know it, Baiming was that anchor.
A single Harmony creation couldn't perfectly solve the Mara-struck issue unless Jingliu joined the Family and was assimilated by them; only then might it be suppressed. Considering that some forms of Mara are triggered by the consciousness becoming "empty"...
In short, to make this creation effective long-term, the Family had used a bit of clever engineering. The Movement would soothe her while guiding her to anchor herself to a specific image.
However, Jingliu had used "finding Baiming" as her excuse to leave, and she was subconsciously avoiding the events that had occurred back then. This led to a situation where, after she avoided those memories, the deepest impression left in her mind was the scene of Baiming subjugating Shuhu.
With every use of the Movement, that impression deepened in her mind. Eventually, it evolved into the twisted obsession she held now.
The good news: Jingliu's Mara-struck state was indeed suppressed. On normal days, aside from being a bit cold, she was no different from a normal person and could even fight normally.
The bad news: If Baiming were involved, it would directly ignite Jingliu's madness. If it were just false news, using the Movement after venting would be appropriate.
But now, the real Baiming had appeared. Jingliu would "explode" the moment she came into contact with anything related to Baiming. Yet Baiming was exactly who she was looking for. She couldn't just keep hiding and let the search go on forever.
If, early on, the person using the Movement had been someone from the Family, they might have been able to adjust it in time. But unfortunately, in the early days, Jingliu used it herself, and later Elio was the one helping. Neither of them understood the Path of Harmony. Neither could perform a correction.
And so, it had spiraled into this.
"..."
'Jingliu' fell into a long silence after realizing this. The person she was looking for had been found, but the seeker couldn't meet the target normally. It was quite a "hellish" irony.
She reached out and stroked Jingliu's head. She began trying to use Tuning to prune away the overly deep impressions related to herself. At the same time, she started analyzing Jingliu's state. She didn't know if her current abilities were enough to solve the issues within Jingliu's body.
But even if she couldn't handle it alone, she could still rely on Ruan Mei and Herta.
And if she could temporarily remove those obsessive impressions, Jingliu wouldn't be so frantic when she woke up and saw her again.
However, impressions built up over centuries were much harder to dismantle than 'Jingliu' had imagined. Perhaps it was due to her own lack of proficiency.
Moreover, as she tried to erase her own image, Jingliu's consciousness put up a violent resistance. Before she had even erased much, Jingliu's eyes snapped open. She stared fixedly at 'Jingliu,' her frenzied pupils containing a trace of pleading:
"Get... your hands off me—!!"
BOOM—!!
Frost erupted violently with Jingliu at the center. Holding her blade, she charged toward 'Jingliu' with the force of a thunderbolt.
"I can feel it... I can feel it! Baiming, it's you!! But why are you trying to erase my feelings for you?! Are you going to abandon me again!!"
Jingliu screamed, her figure soaring into the sky. A storm of sword qi swept toward 'Jingliu.'
The Tuning wasn't over. Or rather, Jingliu was unwilling to let it end, even though she knew the other was trying to diminish her impressions of Baiming. She didn't want to break free from the Tuning; she was simply resisting and refusing it.
'Jingliu' flickered into the air, dodging the frantic attacks. At the same time, she wanted to move the battlefield to the high atmosphere to avoid tearing the planet apart during the fight.
As expected, Jingliu followed. Sword light bloomed like a hurricane. 'Jingliu's' blade was more restrained, steadily parrying every attack while she continuously divided her attention to continue Tuning Jingliu.
The battle between the two lasted for a considerable time. Gradually, the battlefield shifted from the high altitude to outside the atmosphere.
BOOM—!!
A silent roar accompanied the appearance of a sword light condensed to the absolute limit! It was a strike that bore a slight resemblance to Acheron's blade. While condensing power to the peak, it overlapped a second strike in an instant, doubling the power with pure violence.
'Jingliu' flickered to avoid it.
But just then, a streak of blue light and a sphere of red light came entangling through the deep void of space. They approached almost instantly, reacting to that sudden sword light.
However, a Stellaron emerged from the void, colliding almost perfectly with the blue streak. The power of the Stellaron caused the blue streak's trajectory to suffer a momentary interference.
Then—
The ferocious sword light struck the blue bullseye dead center!
The legs of the person within the blue light suddenly twitched; they plummeted headfirst toward a nearby moon.
Meanwhile, the red sphere merged calmly into 'Jingliu's' Tuning. Accompanied by that brilliant radiance, a gentle voice echoed in her ear:
"Mother?! Please be careful, this person is a galactic villain—Doctor Primitive!"
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