Time flowed on. In the blink of an eye, several hundred years had passed.
On the Xianzhou Alliance, the Third Abundance War had erupted once again.
In Star Calendar 8099, on the battlefield of the Xianzhou Fanghu, everything had become a flesh-and-blood grinder.
In the void, the Borisin wolf-shaped war-beasts swarmed like hyenas scenting blood—layer upon layer, sealing Fanghu tight.
Yet the Cloud Knights on the front line, as if receiving some order, abandoned their positions and withdrew toward the rear.
At the same time, at the site of the Skywatch Mirror, Abundance-born troops began gathering en masse.
The Diviner of the Xianzhou Yuque, Jing Tian, was down on one knee. The sword in his hand was cracked with multiple chips; his armor was soaked through with blood—his, and the enemy's.
"Die!" a Borisin roared, lunging at Jing Tian.
Jing Tian raised his broken blade to block.
But he was already spent. Worse, he was a civil official by trade—his combat strength was never high to begin with. He couldn't stop this strike.
Just as fangs were about to close on his throat—
The light dimmed.
A figure in silver armor struck like a thunderclap.
One spear thrust—and the Borisin was shredded.
"General Yueyu…" Jing Tian coughed, then laughed weakly. "A little later and you'd be collecting my corpse."
Yueyu didn't look back. She flicked a porcelain-blue medicine vial toward him.
Truth be told, Yueyu's own condition wasn't much better. With injuries like hers, it was a miracle if she could bring out even twenty percent of her strength.
But there was no more room to retreat.
Behind them stood the Skywatch Mirror—the only hope left in this battle.
Yuque was also under siege. Most of the Alliance's forces had been sent there… only for the enemy to reveal a brutal hidden hand at Fanghu.
"How long until the Skywatch Mirror can be activated?" Yueyu's voice was urgent.
Even as she spoke, several more Borisin surged in.
Jing Tian crushed the vial and dusted the powder into his wounds. "The mirror core is intact. But we need a hundred breaths to reboot it."
"A hundred breaths…" Yueyu's silver spear swept, tearing through another attacker. "Then we hold it for a hundred breaths!"
Her words were iron, but her heart sank.
A hundred breaths—normally a flicker—now felt like an eternity.
Reinforcements could never reach Fanghu in time.
And the Abundance tide only grew more frenzied. If no miracle came, Fanghu would fall within half a day.
Left with no choice, the Xianzhou would have to unleash their last resort.
But that was a strike from a god. And the battlefield lay on Fanghu itself—Fanghu would inevitably pay the price.
To avoid useless sacrifice, Yueyu had already ordered her guards to withdraw.
Now, near the Mirror, only two remained:
The strongest fighter still standing on this battlefield—
and the only one capable of operating the Mirror.
The Abundance-born sensed their intent. Their assault became rabid.
Above, the living flesh-planet howled within the cloud-sea; bloodthirsty organisms tasted the moment of decision, their waves crashing harder and harder.
Yueyu's spear had turned a dark, sticky red. Her vision blurred; the wound in her left shoulder made every motion feel like her body was being torn open.
"Eighty breaths left, Yueyu—hold on!" Jing Tian's voice carried a thread of hope.
Then a wolf-howl shook the sky.
A wolf-headed warrior, far larger than any other Borisin, strode through the air. In his hands, a massive axe wrapped in ominous bloodlight.
Yueyu's pupils tightened.
She recognized him.
Bloodfang—the one hailed as the heir to the former war-chief Hulei.
"Yueyu, watch out!" Jing Tian shouted.
Too late.
Bloodfang was already upon them, his axe falling with mountain-splitting force.
Yueyu raised her spear to meet it head-on.
She grunted; armor fragments exploded into the air.
"Xianzhou general," Bloodfang snarled, "I'll make your skull into a wine cup."
Yueyu didn't answer.
Instead, she suddenly released her force and pivoted aside, letting the axe bite into the ground.
At the same time, her spear flashed forward—straight for Bloodfang's vital point.
A suicide exchange.
Bloodfang jerked back in shock. The spear tip scraped his throat, drawing a string of blood.
And Yueyu's right shoulder was clipped by the axe edge—nearly crippling her arm.
"…You damned woman!" Bloodfang clutched his throat, retreating several steps, eyes burning.
But just as he tried to move again, something felt wrong.
"Cough—what… what did you do?!" he choked.
His blood seemed to boil; his muscles spasmed uncontrollably.
Yueyu dropped to one knee, bracing herself on her spear, a cold smile at her lips. "Borisin bloodlines… so you really have no resistance to Bone-Corroding Incense."
Only then did Jing Tian exhale.
Bone-Corroding Incense was a secret Xianzhou drug—crafted specifically for Borisin blood traits.
"Seventy breaths!" Jing Tian forced down his shock and kept counting.
Bloodfang howled in agony. His body began to wither visibly.
Nearby Borisin faltered. "Lord Bloodfang—what's happening?!"
"Don't mind me—kill them! Destroy the mirror!" Bloodfang roared with the last of his strength—
and then burst into a cloud of blood mist.
The sight only drove the Borisin into greater frenzy. They surged again with the rest of the Abundance-born.
Yueyu forced herself up.
Her right arm could no longer hold the spear; she shifted it to her left.
But her vision darkened, faster and faster.
She drew a breath, trying to wring the last thread of power from her channels.
As Yaoqing's general, as the final line before the Mirror, she could not fall.
And yet reality rarely grants what one wills.
"Careful!"
A cold presence locked onto her—not from the front, but from behind.
A lean figure in a dark-green cloak.
In his hand was a curved staff like a serpent. His eyes glittered with cunning and cruelty—
a Wingweaver shaman.
Wingweavers weren't known for frontal assaults. But on chaotic battlefields, their curses and foul arts were lethal.
Yueyu's heart tightened. She tried to evade—
but her body's sluggishness betrayed her.
The shaman grinned. The serpent-staff flashed with a sickly glow. A dark-green beam shot out soundlessly—its target was not Yueyu, but Jing Tian, who was still pouring everything into rebooting the Mirror.
Strike where the enemy must defend.
Yueyu didn't hesitate.
She detonated what remained of her strength and hurled her spear like a falling star into the beam.
Clang!
She intercepted it—
but her spear was stained with an eerie green. Its spirit-light dimmed as it fell.
A second curse followed immediately, this time aimed straight at Yueyu. Death rushed toward her like a tide.
Her pupils shrank.
She could no longer move.
So this is the end…
Then—
BOOM!
A green meteor tore through the layered beast-ship blockade and slammed into the earth.
Countless Abundance-born charging forward were thrown back like leaves.
As the dust cleared, a massive, slab-like mo dao was embedded deep in the ground—and a figure stood proudly atop its hilt.
"…General. I'm back."
Yueyu almost couldn't believe her eyes.
It was Fei Xiao.
"You—" Yueyu's throat tightened. A storm of scolding surged up—only to dissolve into raw pain the moment she saw Fei Xiao's condition.
"Foolish. Who told you to come back?!"
Fei Xiao looked terrible.
Her face had no color. Her breath was ragged, chaotic. She must have carved her way through countless enemies just to reach this place.
Yes—reinforcement had arrived.
And as the general Yueyu had chosen as her successor, Fei Xiao's strength was unquestionable.
But this was reinforcement purchased with death.
The Mirror could not be delayed anymore. The Reignbow Arbiter's arrow was about to fall.
To come here now was the same as throwing herself into the grave.
"General," Fei Xiao forced a smile, "I'm not afraid to die."
She stepped forward and planted herself in front of Yueyu and Jing Tian, facing the incoming Abundance tide.
"Sixty breaths!" Jing Tian's voice trembled—yet for the first time, it carried real backing.
Yueyu stared at Fei Xiao's back.
It wasn't broad. It was almost thin.
And yet it became the final wall before the Skywatch Mirror.
Yueyu understood—there was no point yelling now.
Fei Xiao had returned. She would not leave.
"Leave it to you…"
Fei Xiao didn't look back. She tightened her grip on the mo dao. "Understood!"
With Fei Xiao's self-destructive burst of slaughter—
an eerie silence fell.
No enemies stood before the Mirror.
Fei Xiao sank to one knee. Her mo dao was driven into the earth, propping up her swaying body.
She panted hard. New wounds carved deep to the bone.
Still, she held her spine straight, eyes sweeping the surroundings.
"Twenty breaths remain… but every enemy in sight is down…"
Jing Tian couldn't help praising her. "Yueyu, your disciple is no ordinary one."
But Yueyu's heart only grew heavier.
"Fei Xiao…" Yueyu's voice was hoarse. "Get out of here. Run. As far as you can."
Fei Xiao didn't turn. She simply shook her head. "General. Don't say it."
It was already too late.
The battlefield was on a knife's edge. The Mirror had to be used immediately.
Twenty breaths was nothing against a god's strike.
There was no running beyond its range.
Fei Xiao finally turned toward Yueyu.
"General… is there anything you still want to say?"
Yueyu looked into her disciple's eyes—still clear, still unwavering.
Her throat moved.
"You shouldn't have come back."
Fei Xiao wiped the blood at the corner of her mouth and smiled. "You taught me this, General. Yaoqing's Cloud Knights never abandon their comrades."
"That was an order, not abandonment!" Yueyu snapped. "You were meant to have a longer road ahead—"
"My road," Fei Xiao cut in softly, "is the one I walked behind you."
"From the day you pulled me out of the ruins—my road has been that."
Yueyu froze.
In Fei Xiao's eyes, reflecting the warfire, Yueyu saw a memory—
the little girl on scorched earth, gripping her cloak and refusing to let go.
Jing Tian faced away from them, continuing the count with forced calm. "Fifteen breaths."
"Hey," Yueyu snapped at him like she was venting, "enemies are gone and you're still ruining the mood."
"Cough—sorry," Jing Tian replied dryly, choosing not to argue.
Silence fell between the three.
Yueyu took a deep breath and stepped toward the Skywatch Mirror.
Fei Xiao moved to support her—stopped by a single look.
Yueyu sighed at last. "…Follow."
"At least before we die, the three of us can watch one last meteor."
Fei Xiao withdrew her hand. She and Jing Tian flanked Yueyu as they approached the Mirror.
A vast, majestic presence was waking within it—divine power being drawn down, guided, fixed onto a target.
The closer they got, the more their souls trembled under the pressure.
"Ten breaths," Jing Tian murmured. His face, lit by the mirror-glow, looked pale—part exhaustion, part reverence.
"Any last words?"
Yueyu shook her head. "Only that the Mirror will guide the Reignbow Arbiter's divine arrow true, and scour these Abundance filth from existence."
Then—
a jade talisman on Jing Tian's body lit up. A solemn projection formed before them.
"Marshal!" Jing Tian gasped.
Yueyu and Fei Xiao immediately saluted.
"No need," Marshal Huà said calmly.
And without pause:
"Time is short, so I'll be direct."
"The situation has changed. You no longer need to activate the Skywatch Mirror."
The words hit like thunder.
Jing Tian jerked his head up. "Marshal? Did Yuque break free? But Fanghu—can we really hold long enough for help?"
Huà shook her head.
"Yuque is not yet relieved."
"Then why—?" All three couldn't understand.
"I requested outside assistance," Huà said. "They have entered Xianzhou territory. They'll arrive shortly."
"Outside assistance?" Yueyu fought down the dizziness from her wounds, brow furrowing.
What assistance could replace a god's strike and overturn this doomed position?
"Which faction?" Yueyu demanded, voice rough.
The IPC?
Huà's eyes looked… complicated.
"Not an established friend of the Alliance," she said slowly. "But rather… a Sea-Roving Ranger."
That name jolted them.
Sea-Roving Rangers—fellow hunters of the Hunt. Rumor said that ages ago, the Destruction Lord Zhuo Luo had been surrounded and slain by them.
Their strength was not in question.
But Huà had said one ranger.
"One ranger?" Yueyu's disbelief sharpened. "Marshal, if it's Lord La Mancha—perhaps. But Fanghu's siege cannot be broken by one person."
"An ordinary ranger cannot," Huà replied. "And he is not La Mancha."
"But… even back then, his strength was above mine."
Huà's voice was perfectly level.
Yet above mine struck like a hammer.
The Marshal of the Xianzhou Alliance—a being whose power was unfathomable—was admitting someone surpassed her.
"He's here," Huà's projection said, turning toward the distant stars.
"Third Abundance War… delayed all the way to now, huh?"
A figure appeared above Fanghu.
It was Wei Qing.
Nearly eight hundred years had passed since Vonwacq.
Only one year remained before the main thread of fate would begin.
Wei Qing had thought the Third Abundance War might never happen at all—
until Huà's message arrived.
"Who goes there?!" Abundance beast-ships instantly detected him and tightened their encirclement.
Wei Qing didn't even bother looking.
His eyes swept over Fanghu—now scorched into a wasteland—then fixed on the blood-flesh planet hanging over the battlefield.
He clicked his tongue lightly.
No idea what that thing was called… but it clearly matched the "doomsday mirage" class of threat.
And yet these Abundance-born didn't seem to have an Emanator-level presence anywhere nearby.
So how did they pull this off?
Someone funding them from the shadows?
"You won't answer? Then die!" a Wingweaver howled, driving a beast-ship forward to fire.
Wei Qing didn't turn.
He lifted his right hand—
and flicked a finger.
Bang.
The beast-ship—and the Wingweaver inside it—burst into a cloud of blood mist and twisted metal, no scream escaping.
That casual motion slapped the entire battlefield into silence.
The Abundance-born froze. Bloodlusted eyes, for the first time, filled with doubt.
A war-chief—erased with a flick?
What kind of power was that?
Wei Qing's gaze never left the flesh-planet. He frowned slightly.
"Interesting… using the blood and flesh of billions as sacrifice, forcing a pseudo-stellar body into being, creating an energy reaction close to Emanator level…"
He spoke without hiding it.
"…But it has the shape, not the spirit."
"Arrogant!"
"Kill him!"
The brief silence shattered into crazed roaring.
More beast-ships swung their guns around. Countless muzzles flared with energy—
about to drown Wei Qing in fire.
He didn't dodge.
He simply raised his hand, and Undying Slash appeared in his grip.
The concept of Severing Immortality rolled across the battlefield like a cold tide.
Abundance-born bodies stiffened mid-motion.
They felt it—pure, absolute fear.
And now, running was already too late.
Wei Qing swung.
A thin red line carved across the sky—as if splitting the world in two.
In the next instant, dozens of beast-ships at the front locked in place.
They held their charging postures, their snarling mouths—
and then all life vanished from them at once.
Eyes dimmed. Breath stopped.
The red line didn't fade.
It expanded.
Where it passed, every Abundance-born on the battlefield—Borisin, Wingweaver, all of them—was erased beneath a single equalizing stroke.
The silence after that was worse than any noise.
The remaining Abundance-born finally understood.
They stopped charging, staring at the spreading death-boundary like men watching a plague.
"Monster…!" someone broke, voice collapsing.
Panic detonated through the formation.
They began to retreat, trampling each other in desperation to get away.
But Wei Qing hadn't come here for the fodder.
He lifted Undying Slash and pointed it at the still-throbbing flesh-planet.
"A counterfeit like you dares call itself a living world?"
He raised the blade.
A light upward sweep—
and a red arc flashed.
The flesh-planet shuddered violently.
A smooth, mirror-clean裂 line appeared at its core, racing across its entire mass.
Then it split.
Two strikes.
One strike cleared the battlefield of Abundance-born.
One strike annihilated the pseudo planet that threatened Fanghu.
On the Skywatch Mirror platform, Yueyu, Jing Tian, and Fei Xiao stared into the sky, speechless.
Huà's projection flickered softly, her voice carrying a complexity that traveled through Fanghu's talismans.
"Notify all units: Fanghu's siege is broken."
"This is the work of… the Sea-Roving Ranger, Yi Qing."
"Yi Qing…" Yueyu repeated quietly. She had never heard this ranger's name.
"…That 'outside assistance' is beyond spec."
Fei Xiao braced on her mo dao, staring at the figure holding the blade.
Her eyes shone with something hard to name.
"So strong…"
Below, Cloud Knights who had been retreating looked up at the suddenly-cleared sky, at the vanished threat, and couldn't understand what they were seeing.
"…We lived?"
"It's the Sea-Roving Ranger! It's that ranger!"
"Reignbow Arbiter above…"
Cheers, sobs, and the clatter of weapons hitting the ground rose together—like a breath the entire Xianzhou had been holding for too long, finally released.
Join here to read ahead.
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