Yanqing: I'll Try

Bai Tang: "Look, he forged the Stonefire Dreambody Jing Yuan is holding."

Yanqing: "!!!"

He hugged the sword even tighter.

This sword had been made by the same person as the general's Formation Saber!

"And he forged the Cloud-Piercer in Dan Heng's hands, too."

The familiar combination of Jing Yuan and Dan Heng instantly reminded Yanqing of the story Bai Tang had told him before. "The master artisan you mentioned was Yingxing?"

That wasn't right. Wasn't Yingxing a short-life species?

Shouldn't he have died after all this time?

How could he still help forge a weapon for him?

"Oh, you guessed?"

Bai Tang hefted the sword in her hand and laughed. "This one is his handiwork too. You really had your eye on it back then."

Yanqing had kept staring at Bai Tang's sword, so she had thought of giving him one, ideally by getting Blade to come help.

Yanqing: ! It really was Yingxing!!! That couldn't be right!!

Little did he know that Yingxing had now become Blade.

Blade, who had beaten him up, had forged a sword, and now that sword was in his hands. It really was rather surreal.

"You're not allowed to stare at my sword anymore."

Yanqing obediently replied, "I'll try."

It wasn't as if he was the sort of person who would snatch someone else's sword. At most, he would just cast a couple of envious glances at it. Now that he had a sword Bai Tang had given him, asking him not to look at hers seemed a little difficult.

As a good child who told the truth, Yanqing could only say he would try.

"Hahahahaha, I know it's pretty hard. Just don't get distracted by my Blessing and Peaceful during a fight."

Bai Tang knew Yanqing wouldn't get distracted right now, but it was worth warning him just in case. She could also tease him about how he couldn't tear himself away from a good sword.

The joking was over, and Yanqing had received the sword Bai Tang gave him. He felt a little embarrassed.

"Martial aunt, I don't know how to repay you."

"Jing Yuan, he's really different from you."

Someone who didn't know better might have thought Bai Tang was criticizing Jing Yuan, but Jing Yuan knew perfectly well that she was teasing him for stubbornly staying by Yingxing's side, seizing the opportunity to climb up, and refusing to let go of the Formation Saber no matter what, leaving Yingxing no choice but to give it to him.

"It seems you're in no position to say that about me, either."

Jing Yuan smiled. Given Bai Tang's personality, she was probably much the same as him. He could already hear her little demon personality in the stories she had told earlier. How could she have the nerve to talk about him?

"Yanqing, I'm your martial aunt. You mustn't refuse a gift from an elder."

Bai Tang's goal was to have Yanqing spread the word about how close she and Jing Yuan were. Whatever help that offered was worth having. If all else failed, she could go beat up those old fogeys.

Ultimately, strength decided everything.

"General Jing Yuan!"

Just then, Stelle arrived with the Ghost-Hunting Squad.

To avoid being pressed into service, Bai Tang slipped away.

"You carry on. I'm leaving."

She had said goodbye to Jing Yuan and thought there was nothing more for her to do, when a faint green flame appeared, floating in front of her.

Bai Tang: "...Who are you?"

"Who I am doesn't matter. First, let me take a look inside your heart!"

The flame flashed and entered Bai Tang's memories, parting the clouds. Just as it was about to look at Bai Tang's obsessions, a pair of eyes appeared before it.

Unlike Bai Tang's blood-red hyacinth eyes, the hyacinths in this pair were a deep purple, with an almost transparent quality, as if carved from the purest crystal, refracting delicate light.

The blue pupils were as deep as the night sky, standing in sharp contrast to the purple hyacinths, mysterious with a hint of coldness.

Most absurd of all, the eyes actually gave it a sense of divinity.

The eyes soon vanished, as though they had all been its hallucination.

"Let me see your obsessions."

The Heliobus forcibly suppressed the increasingly strong sense of foreboding in its heart, refusing to let it affect its judgment.

It chuckled, then unfurled its form and turned into a streak of light, flying swiftly into the area shrouded in the power of a Path.

"Where did this wisp of ghost fire come from?"

A Foxian who looked a lot like Bai Tang appeared. There were no hyacinths in her eyes. Her pupils, ears, hair, and tail were all pale purple; she was practically a copy of Baiheng.

"I'll take it back and show it to my big sister."

The Foxian reached out to grab the Heliobus.

The dense Path power on her hand would probably make it dissipate with a single touch. Terrified, the Heliobus fled for its life, getting away from "Bai Tang's" hand.

"Who's causing trouble on the Yaoqing?"

Another Foxian appeared, somewhat different from the one it had just seen. She had quite a few wounds and scars. Some had faded to faint marks, having apparently healed some time ago.

A hammer appeared in her hand. She aimed it at the Heliobus and smashed it down. "You dare cause trouble on the Yaoqing with so little strength? Die!"

"Waaaaah!"

It had barely managed to escape when another Foxian appeared. Her eyes had turned red, filled with irrepressible killing intent. Clearly, she was not under the sway of Moon Madness.

"Who sent you here? Turning you into one of us works just as well."

"Bai Tang" tried to capture it, sending it fleeing once more.

"What kind of memories are these?!"

"Hm? What memories? Coming to the Luofu at a time like this, you must be prepared to die."

The Foxian pursuing it had changed again. The light had vanished from her eyes entirely, and her hair had turned white except for the ends. Only the tips of her ears remained pale purple.

She viciously swung two swords, slashing straight at the Heliobus.

"Aaaaaaah!!!"

In Bai Tang's memories, it simply couldn't escape their pursuit. As soon as one was gone, another appeared, each stronger and crazier than the last. Most importantly, they could actually see it!

This Heliobus bitterly regretted it. If it had known, it would never have come to look at Bai Tang's memories.

This time, the ears of the "Bai Tang" pursuing it had turned entirely silver-white. Only the ends of her hair still retained a trace of pale purple, and even her tail had purple left only at the tip.

"***Get off the train!"

The exit! It needed the exit!

Where was the exit?!

It fled in every direction, the flames on its body growing fainter and fainter. Clearly, it had been "plucked."

It was still looking for the exit when an even more terrifying presence appeared. This "Bai Tang" was the most terrifying one it had seen, even more terrifying than the little fox outside.

Her eyes were red, her right hand withered and charred, and golden lines flowed across the wound. Unlike the one it had seen, she had no hyacinths in her eyes either.

She said nothing. Like a walking corpse, she struck it out of Bai Tang's memories with a single sword blow, nearly annihilating it.

"Wasn't I letting you look at my memories?"

Bai Tang held the now lightless flame in her hand. One look told her it had been attacked by several versions of "her," and the last one had struck hardest, knocking it out.

That made sense. The earlier ones had probably focused on pursuit and interrogation, while the later ones killed on sight.