Then, What Was Your Price?
The Denizens of Abundance Allied Forces had scattered and fled before nightfall.
After the proclamation issued by Yaoguang was spread in all directions, the gates of the Fanghu opened one by one. The Cloud Knights and the Pearl-Bearers poured out of the city and pursued the enemy along the mudflats.
Although the Vidyadhara the meat grinder on the battlefield, they are quite enthusiastic about Pearl-Bearers.
The Denizens of Abundance Allied Forces, which witnessed the Jidu Mirage, already lacked any backbone. Those who fled later didn't even dare to look back, leaving only trampled flags and weapons stuck in the mud on the beach.
After losing the gravitational pull of the Jidu Mirage, the rising tide gradually receded, leaving behind a muddy area. Some of the pursuing Cloud Knights simply took off their boots for convenience.
Let Fu Xuan hold Jingxing as they continue sitting on the pier. He sees the city gates opening one by one, sees the jade ornaments on the armor plates forming a resounding river flowing onto the beach, and hears the horns finally blowing with great force, as if morale has been greatly boosted.
He saw someone run past him and Fu Xuan, shouting until their voices were hoarse. There was a Cloud Knights among them. He stopped running, looked up at the sky and shouted joyfully, then continued charging forward. He seemed to have been driven to despair by the oppressive atmosphere of the city.
The people who chased after them formed lines, the ends of which disappeared into the night fog. On the beach, someone squatted down and pulled half a flag out of the mud, straightened it, and then stuck it back in. The flag pointed north, in the direction the Denizens of Abundance Allied Forces had fled.
After nightfall, the Cloud Knights and the Pearl-Bearers finally sounded the retreat and returned to Fanghu to begin counting their numbers.
Roll call was conducted class by class, the voices stretching from the docks all the way to the inner city. When someone's name was called, someone would respond; if no one responded after two or three calls, the person calling the name would move on, skipping quickly as if not giving themselves time to pause.
As the night deepened, the night watchman would strike his clapper at the street corner, striking it once before continuing on his way, striking it at the end of the alley and then striking it back.
The lights in the inner city were lit one by one. Several houses had set up tables at their doorways, with cool tea and a few rough bowls on them, where anyone passing by could stop and rest; the teapots were long gone, but the bowls were still placed side by side.
Jingxing finally got up, took Fu Xuan's hand and walked down from the pier, standing at the highest point to look out over the city for a while.
"Peace has finally been restored." He turned his head to look at Fu Xuan and said softly.
Fu Xuan closed his eyes. "Next, we just need to wait for Senior Sister to come and join us."
As for the mudflats, the cleanup work continued until late at night. The burning boats illuminated the fog on the mudflats with an orange glow, which remained bright until late at night.
Most of the ships of the Denizens of Abundance Allied Forces were burned, and the remaining few were towed into the outer harbor, where they will likely be dismantled and sent to a warehouse for materials. The Wingweavers had already crashed and the Houyhnhnms stuck in the mud did not escape either. They were all tied up and prepared to be taken over by the Ten-Lords Commission. According to Fu Xuan, barring any unforeseen circumstances, these Denizens of Abundance would be sent to the Prison of Deep Seclusion to spend the rest of their lives.
The sound of the tide lapping against the pillars of the pier echoed. Jingxing listened intently, counted a few times, then gave up. The frequency of the tide hitting the pillars was completely irregular and lacked any aesthetic appeal.
At the same time, in the military affairs hall of the Yaoqing Xianzhou, a Jade Abacus kept ringing.
The signal came from the Interastral Peace Corporation. The letter was politely worded, but the questions were anything but. They wanted to know if the Xianzhou Alliance had truly established a deep connection with the followers of the Beauty Aeon. Otherwise, why would a massive amount of Beauty Path Energy have erupted from the direction of the Fanghu Xianzhou today, and why would the general of the Yuque have issued such a self-deceiving notification?
"The Interastral Peace Corporation didn't just send it to us, they sent it to other Xianzhou too." The aide handed over a copy, "Zhuming, Luofu, Yuque, and us. They all asked the exact same questions."
"What do they want us to say?" the aide complained. "We don't know the answers to these kinds of questions either; General Rongtao has handled everything."
"They want to know if the Xianzhou is going to elevate Idrila to the position of Siming," said the current Moon-Chaser, Yaoqing the letter on the table. "And even if we don't give a concrete answer, as long as we start a conversation, they'll keep pressing us. The Interastral Peace Corporation currently controls the largest propaganda channel in the entire universe; we can't give them any opportunity to exploit this."
The aide was stunned. "Then, General, what should we...?"
"So let's avoid talking about it." Moon-Chaser made up her mind.
She read the letter from beginning to end, then read it again, and said aloud—
"Reply: Yao Qingyun's cavalry are currently pursuing the remnants of Feng Rao's forces; we know nothing else."
After saying that, Moon-Chaser handed the Jade Abacus back. "Is there still no news from Feixiao? She begged me to experience fighting against the Abominations of Abundance. Now that the Jidu Mirage has been destroyed by General Rongtao's scheme, she should be back by now..."
The aide shook his head. "I'm sorry, General, there's been no news from the front yet."
"I hope everything is alright, Feixiao." Moon-Chaser rubbed her temples. Her intuition as the Hunt of Pathstrider made her vaguely uneasy, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what was wrong. All she could do was pray for her disciple.
On Zhenhai Platform, the Cloud-Gazing Mirror is still sealed inside the bronze door.
Jingtian stood on the top step, a copper coin in his hand. He didn't throw it, but just twirled it between his fingers. His metal prosthetic hand rested on the copper door, and he gently knocked on the door.
Although the war was won, Jingtian's expression was not good.
He recorded every divination he had performed over the past hundred years on his Jade Abacus, and he could recite the key divination results backwards.
For example, the fact that his own fate would be cut short because of Fu Xuan... This divination result caused his youngest disciple to flee to Luofu, and his eldest disciple, after being promoted to general, would occasionally cast more glances at him. But Jingtian was quite calm about this; death was death, as long as his death was worthwhile.
But today, at the very moment that Jidu Mirage vanished into thin air, a line in the Jade Abacus recorded a change within itself. It was this very divination.
"Did one of them do something?" Although Yaoguang claimed to have used the legacy of Idrila, Jingtian was more inclined to believe that Fu Xuan had done something. After all, the divination result pointed to her.
"This old man, who should have perished today at the Reignbow’s Manifestation, has somehow survived..." He extinguished the Jade Abacus and stood there for a long time, "What exactly did you demand from whom...?"
What happened above Fanghu today was beyond his divination. And the being that could act beyond his calculations must almost certainly be Aeon.