Behind them, the Sleeping Snow sisters stepped off the starship one after another, looking around at the familiar scenery with a flash of nostalgia in their eyes.
Although they had only left Yaoqing for three years, they hadn't returned home since the expedition ended.
Counting it up, it had been thirty-five years.
"Going home."
Qi Zhimu stepped forward.
Jingliu followed silently, her gaze always resting on his broad back as the scene of her waking up dozens of days ago surfaced in her mind.
When she opened her eyes, she saw her Master keeping watch by her side, but his face was terrifyingly pale.
After learning she had been asleep for decades, she asked her Master how he had cured her.
Master only said he had found an ancient prescription.
But intuition told her it wasn't that simple.
During the return to Yaoqing, she could always smell a scent of blood on her Master—one that seemed to have soaked into his bones and blood, impossible to wash clean.
But that smell wasn't unpleasant; instead, it carried a strange sense of intimacy that made her feel at ease, and even... fascinated.
Jingliu noticed that her Master emitted an aura that intoxicated her, making her subconsciously want to get closer, to press against him... the kind with no gap at all.
But she restrained this impulse, secretly pondering the reason.
Was it because Master had never given up on saving her for decades?
Did this mean her weight in Master's heart was already different than before?
Was that why she felt she liked Master more and more... was that it?
Forget it, time would provide the answer.
Her life was given to her by Master, more than once.
In every lifetime, she would stay by Master's side.
"Master."
"Hmm?"
"I am only one medium-sized expeditionary battle away from fulfilling the condition you set back then."
Qi Zhimu paused slightly and looked sideways at her.
The emotion in Jingliu's eyes was slightly apprehensive, as if she feared his refusal or blame.
"No need," Qi Zhimu said calmly.
Jingliu's heart tightened, thinking he wouldn't allow her to go to the battlefield again, and her lips couldn't help but press thin.
Before she could think of how to speak, she heard words that made her dazed.
"In 125 days, the 427th Cloud Knights Martial Arts Examination will be held. The winner can be promoted to Vanguard. Do you understand?"
Jingliu's eyes suddenly lit up, and she nodded without hesitation.
"Understood!"
Becoming a Vanguard meant having the qualification to lead an army in large-scale expeditions.
Master didn't forbid her; instead, he directly gave her a shortcut to skip the stage of accumulating combat experience.
"I will train hard, complete my rehabilitation as soon as possible, and improve my strength!"
"Hmm, the previous basic training content is no longer very effective for you. From now on, focus on physical tempering. As for the remaining items..."
Qi Zhimu paused, as if judging what level of targets to set for the current Jingliu.
"Accuracy training: deliver ten strikes within 0.2 seconds; all must hit."
"Perform two hours of agility training daily. I will arrange the venue. After completion, perform regenerative power training."
"The training ground for impact and pressure resistance is still that Great Waterfall. You know the location. When you can swing your sword freely under the waterfall, you pass."
"You must complete the above within three months."
Jingliu had suffered quite a bit in her youth. Hearing such harsh requirements now, she felt no fear, but rather nostalgia and anticipation... this was the Master she was familiar with.
Strict, cold-faced but not cold-hearted.
He would understand her physical limits and care for her in an ungentle way.
It was enough to just listen to Master.
"Okay, Master. But there seem to be three more months?"
"In the remaining three months, while maintaining basic training, follow me to practice another skill."
"What is it?"
"Folk martial arts, Eight Extremes Fist."
"Yes," Jingliu realized.
She had seen that boxing style; it was fierce and violent, capable of crushing enemies a hundred times larger than oneself with every move.
Without equipment, the vast majority of Cloud Knights would find it difficult to contend with Abominations.
Those who could tear Borisins apart by hand like she did back then were, after all, a tiny minority.
It wasn't that the Cloud Knights relied too much on various high-tech weapons, but rather that human energy is limited.
She remembered Master saying back then that humans are a species good at wisdom rather than strength.
To fight Abominations whose constitutions are far stronger than most Xianzhou people without relying on weapons, one would have to sacrifice too much.
Currently, the total number of Yaoqing Cloud Knights is just over 500 million.
After screening through the ranks, there are probably not even a million Cloud Knights who can kill Abominations with their bare hands.
This is the limitation of the Primate order, Hominid family, and Homo genus; they naturally lack organs and limbs with high direct lethality.
Even with long life, their starting point is not as good as the animal families of most Abominations.
Abominations have fangs, claws, sharp horns, and even use poison, fire, lightning, and so on... Foxians at least have the advantage of fast reaction speed.
In contrast, the Xianzhou people before they received the blessing of abundance were just ordinary humans; they had no extra advantages besides wisdom.
Therefore, various portable weapons forged with wisdom became their greatest reliance.
Although among the Borisin there are Abominations like the Zaochi Hunting Pack who are good at making weapons, their technology level is far inferior to Xianzhou, or even other developed interstellar civilizations.
For Xianzhou people to give up their advantage and choose to fight them barehanded is no different from attacking an opponent's strength with one's own weakness.
In short: stupid.
Thinking of this, Jingliu realized no wonder there were so few like Master who were willing to temper their physical bodies in such a cruel way.
Without a strong enough foundation, how could folk martial arts cause effective damage to Abominations of Abundance?
There were ready-made examples nearby: the seniors Sleeping Snow and Clear Cold.
At least... Master had never let them practice together.
"Sleeping Snow and Clear Cold, you two learn together as well. With your current physical strength, you can exert enough lethality."
"..." Jingliu's expression froze.
With their current physical strength...?
Did Master also understand Senior Sleeping Snow's body in detail...? She originally thought it was only Clear Cold... it's okay, it's okay.
As long as she was promoted to Cloud Knight Vanguard and fought alongside Master to accumulate more military merits, everything would be fine.
Sooner or later, there would be a place and tenderness for her in Master's heart.
After all... she was the terrace nearest the water; even if she couldn't be the first to capture the moon, the moon should not be shared with anyone else.
The two sisters did not notice the turmoil in Jingliu's heart and nodded in agreement without hesitation.
With a goal in mind, Jingliu was full of energy and began her rehabilitation training that very day.
She didn't know until she tried, and once she started, she was greatly surprised.
She had intended to start with the most familiar weighted long-distance running, just running a thousand li to warm up.
Unexpectedly, she could actually reach a top speed of 800 li per hour... You should know that 35 years ago, this figure was only 300... even if she took off the weights, she could only approach 500 li per hour for a short time.
No wonder Master said the previous basic training content was no longer very effective for her.
It seemed that during her sleep, Master had also done something to her body...
That night, she gathered her courage to ask, but as expected, she met with a soft rebuff.
"Why ask so much? You will know in the future," her Master said.
"Oh..." Jingliu lowered her eyes.