"Ah, this…"
March 7th scratched her head, watching the gray-haired one scrambling after weeds with a helpless look on her face.
Admittedly, in a setting this eerie — one that wouldn't need a single filter tweak to pass as a horror film set — the way the two Astral Express members were acting looked, from any angle, like they'd had their minds hijacked by something supernatural.
If she hadn't already gotten used to those two going off the rails on a daily basis — pointing at all manner of dry trash, wet trash, hazardous waste, and spare parts yanked from street-corner crêpe carts and space station central air-conditioning units, insisting each and every one of them was a Crystal — March 7th might genuinely have believed some immortal, unkillable malevolent spirit had possessed them both; that the ghost Caelus had described earlier had clawed its way back out from inside their bodies.
Caelus and Stelle had shared the secret that "Ah Qi is just a cute little Crystals-charging device for the magic ruby — it's only the two of us who draw out the staff's true power," which had successfully convinced her to forfeit this round of the Crystal-grabbing contest.
"Why is everyone looking at us like that?"
Having cleared every treasure chest in sight — Crystals +8 — Caelus strolled back to the group with the absolute confidence of a man who owed the world nothing, and noticed the atmosphere had gone strangely quiet.
Xueyi, Herta, and Raven were holding their Demon-Quelling Awl, Nether Brush, and respective weapons, wariness flickering behind their eyes — they lowered them silently at Caelus's words.
"Caelus — Mr. Caelus — are, are you… are you alright?"
Her tail having knocked her out of her ashen stupor a few times over, Huo Huo curled in on herself, knees trembling and pigeon-toed, eyes brimming with tears.
"First: my name is Caelus. Not Caelus-Caelus-Caelus."
"Second: you don't need to call me Mister."
"Third: what on earth would be wrong with me?"
Caelus spread his hands with a baffled look at the matcha-green little cake who was practically melting from fear, and absently gave her soft fox ears a Rua.
"Then, then why did you…"
Huo Huo's voice trembled soft and timid as she pointed at the object now inexplicably in Caelus's hand: a red wedding shoe embroidered with golden thread and the double-happiness character.
"Crystal. Want one? I can lend it to you for a bit."
Caelus held out a Crystal — smooth, clear blue, pleasant to the touch — and offered it to Huo Huo.
"Eeeek!"
That red embroidered wedding shoe, in this atmosphere, paired with Caelus's cryptic almost-smile — Huo Huo petrified on the spot, then broke into a shrieking sprint, clutching her white command banner and shaking head to toe.
"Tail, please save me!"
"Pathetic!"
Tail let out a derisive snort, then turned to look at Caelus, who was wearing a thoroughly wicked grin. "Heh heh heh. Interesting human. This Great Lord rather likes you."
Not that it would say so plainly — but this guy really was something else.
As a fragment of a Heliobus, Tail could sense the emotional fluctuations of humans — it was how Heliobus fed. And right now it could feel, with perfect clarity, the genuine fondness and tender attachment Caelus had for that red wedding shoe.
What the actual hell.
These two gray-haired ones were absolutely cut from the same cloth. What kind of freak hobby was this?!
"Tail, could you put a scar on your face?"
Storing her Crystal into the System screen, Stelle stared at the pale-green ball of ghostfire for a moment before speaking.
"Hah? What kind of nonsense are you spouting?"
Tail snapped irritably. "Why would This Great Lord put a scar on its face?"
"Ahh, not a scar exactly — more like… the look of a stuffed doll stitched shut with needle and thread."
Stelle rubbed her chin, grinding her rusty mental gears for a moment until she landed on the right analogy. She held up a finger like a blade and drew it across the right side of Tail's face. "Best if you also wore an orange hat with a yellow patch on it. You'd be way more popular with kids."
"What are you rambling about?"
Tail grumbled. "I am the mightiest and most fearsome Heliobus! I have no need to be popular with human cubs!"
"Don't be shy now. If you're scared to do it yourself, we can help," Caelus said with an expression of the utmost sincerity.
"Help your *ss… I told you, I don't need it!"
Tail's composure was beginning to crack.
Could this gray-haired idiot not understand plain speech?!
"I said don't be shy about it."
Caelus smiled and turned to call out toward the livestream crew in the distance: "Sushang!"
Both Li Sushang and Sushang turned to look at the same time.
The shared name had its drawbacks — calling for one of them occasionally caused little mix-ups like this. Caelus added a qualifier and called again: "The one who can read the name of the livestream website."
Sushang blinked those big, clear, guileless eyes and pulled out her phone to check the site name displayed before the stream link:
"Luofu Myths… 蛆? What the heck — I may not be educated, but I do know the character for 'maggot.'"
Li Sushang: "..."
"That character is pronounced Zǔ."
She exhaled a long, silent sigh in her heart, and the idea of going back to give this world's version of herself some remedial literacy lessons took shape.
"Oh…"
Sushang cast her eyes downward, aggrieved. She felt her educational credentials had just been looked down upon.
Moonscar took back control of the body and answered her own cue: "Caelus, what is it?"
"Work with me and use your Taixu Sword Heart to shape something — we're giving Tail an image makeover."
Caelus cheerfully produced a splendid black-and-white tachi radiating an excess of divine light.
"Hey! What are you two trying to pull?!"
Tail immediately tensed and drifted backward, the pale-green ghostfire erupting in a sudden blaze, the shadow of a fox specter flickering in and out of visibility.
"This Great Lord is warning you — I am no harmless vegetarian. If you dare touch me… I'll eat you!"
Tail's entire flaming form bristled like a cornered animal as it fixed its gaze on the tachi in Caelus's hand. It could sense a threat emanating from that blade.
"Please don't, Tail…"
Huo Huo first gave Tail a hasty pat of reassurance, then turned to explain to Caelus: "It's just saying things. Tail is actually a vegetarian."
"Don't worry, I know it's a vegetarian."
Caelus activated the Jizo Mitama. A crimson nebula billowed out like a net launched from a cannon, blanketing the pale-green fox specter that was snapping its jaws and spewing colorful insults.
"You two #¥@!… This Lord Tiger has fallen from the mountain — what rotten luck!"
The Authority of Corruption had a minor suppressive effect on pure-energy constructs; what really countered Heliobus was binding authority. If Caelus had activated Judas's Covenant through his Godhood Awakening, every low-grade Heliobus fragment throughout the entire Fyxestroll Garden would have been done for.
Using the Authority of Corruption to erode the energy comprising Tail, combined with Moonscar's Taixu Sword Heart to shape the form — the two forces solidified together, locking Tail out of reverting through its own power.
"Done!"
"Beautifully executed! Caelus-cub, the spitting image of Gray-Uncle!"
Stelle extended her little hand for a high-five with Caelus, produced a mirror, held it up in front of Tail — now trapped inside the cage of Corruption — and gave a cheerful wave:
"Hey now, Tail, quit biting — this is a free makeover. Other Heliobus beg us for this treatment and we turn them down. Take a look at your fierce new image."
Tail had been gnawing at the cords of Corruption energy, trying to break free — but when it caught sight of its reflection in the mirror, its struggling gradually slowed.
"…I'll admit it, this design does make This Great Lord look significantly more fearsome. It's just this hideous yellow hat on top — absolutely stupid-looking!"
"Don't sell that hat short, Tail — it's the true form of the Strongest Wolf King!"
Stelle's expression was dead serious and utterly convincing.
"…Really?"
Tail hesitated. It could sense that Stelle was not lying — her emotions were genuine and earnest.
If it was the hat of the Strongest Wolf King, then it was indeed fit to sit atop This Great Lord's head!
"By the way, Tail — I think you've got what it takes to become king of the Heliobus. Maybe it's time for a rebrand: This Great King has a certain ring to it, don't you think? More dignified than This Great Lord?"
Caelus put away the Jizo Mitama — his minimally-invasive surgical tool.
"You've got a decent eye, kid."
Taking Caelus's words entirely as flattery, Tail's temper cooled somewhat, and a good deal of its pent-up frustration dissipated.
Sealed as it was, it had no choice but to let Caelus knead it into shape. And even if the seal were broken, it wasn't certain it could contend against that blade and the mysterious aura emanating from the brown-haired woman.
"Seeing as you two have such discerning taste, This Great King shall let the matter drop."
Listening to those proud, unruly words, Caelus and Stelle nodded along in unison, satisfied smiles blooming across their faces.
"Now that's the vibe!"
"That's exactly it!"
Moonscar smiled quietly to herself, about to return body control to Li Sushang — but then the Taixu Sword Heart fed back a sudden signal, making her pause mid-step. She called out a warning at once:
"Everyone keep it down. There are Heliobus ahead."
The three Judges looked at Li Sushang in surprise — especially Xueyi and Raven. She had detected the Heliobus's presence before them. Truly worthy of being the Sword Immortal who shared a Grand Master with the General and had driven away a Lord Ravager.
Tail took a second look as well. Heliobus were perceptive toward their own kind, and this person had apparently sensed them at the same moment it had.
"Miss Xueyi, shall we cut down those evil spirits?"
Having given the warning, Moonscar activated Auto-Battle, and Li Sushang turned to ask the Judge with the highest rank in attendance:
Xueyi shook her head. "Heliobus are not flesh-and-blood mortals — they cannot be easily destroyed."
"Then how do we deal with them?"
March 7th asked.
"Before the Creation Furnace is repaired, the Ten-Lords Commission plans to erect a Form-Binding Warding Array throughout this ruined garden to confine these demon entities."
Raven hugged her notably substantial chest and spoke in that flat, eerily even tone of hers:
"But as you can all see, that array has yet to be completed. This is the Yue-Hiding Gourd — a spirit tool crafted by the Artisanship Commission, with certain modifications made by the Ten-Lords Commission. It should be capable of temporarily trapping Heliobus."
Raven produced a pale-blue gourd etched with talismanic inscriptions.
"Got it. We just use a Poké Ball to catch them."
Stelle nodded.
Xueyi: "?"
Raven: "?"
"Come on, let's go catch some Pokémon."
In a flash — before Raven could object — Caelus snatched the Yue-Hiding Gourd right out of her hand, called to Stelle, and went charging off singing toward where the Heliobus were located.
Stelle: "Sky-blue waits for misty rain~?"
Caelus: "Watashi wa waiting for you~?"
Caelus: "Cooking smoke curls upward~?"
Stelle: "Sneaking into the village~?"
Raven had been about to call them back — after all, even if they were guests and benefactors of the Xianzhou, this sort of specialized work was still better left to the Judges. But at the thought that shouting might startle the Heliobus ahead and send them fleeing, she had no choice but to follow.
By the shadow of a cracked stone stele in a dark corner among the rockery, two pale-green wisps of ghostfire drifted back and forth.
Caelus and Stelle crept stealthily up to the side of the artificial hill, and found the two Heliobus apparently in the middle of a conversation.
"I'm telling you — some human had the nerve to propose a business partnership with me!"
The voice had the drawling cadence of a deadbeat young man.
"Whoa, wanted to cut a deal with a Heliobus? Bold."
A slightly honky, duck-like voice.
"He wanted to partner up to run a barbecue stall… and use me as renewable-energy charcoal."
"Man, you got played, bro."
Hearing the two of them chatting, Caelus — who had just been about to pull the stopper off the Yue-Hiding Gourd — froze.
"Hold on, actually — don't dismiss it. That's genuinely a solid startup concept!"
He still had some Abundance Ebon Deer meat left over in his spatial ring from earlier. With zero-cost renewable-energy charcoal on hand, setting up a barbecue stall was practically handed to him on a plate!
Under the silent or bewildered stares of Raven, Xueyi, and the others, the two gray-haired ones put the Yue-Hiding Gourd away and leapt straight out into the open.
"Hey, brothers — the Astral Express is investing in this venture!"
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