Yaoguang: A Fortune for You

Was this the strength of a Xianzhou general?

Although he had long suspected her identity, he was still somewhat surprised when it was confirmed.

Jingxing quickly nodded politely and introduced himself. "Jingxing, a recent graduate. You're also the second general I've met."

Yaoguang smiled faintly. "I know. General Huaiyan has boasted to me plenty about what you gave Zhuming's Flaming Wheel Forge Palace—"

Before she could finish, she realized something and stopped herself, then looked elsewhere as though nothing had happened.

Jingxing noticed nothing amiss. He merely felt that the general was looking at him as though he were someone familiar, even though they had only met for the first time today.

The woods fell quiet again, and a gentle breeze stirred the woman's long, silvery-white hair.

Only then did Jingxing take a good look at her. Yaoguang didn't look very old, yet her demeanor was remarkably serene.

She had neither the hint of weariness that came with General Huaiyan's age nor the fierce, martial air of the Xianzhou Cloud Knights. Instead, she seemed more like an immortal wandering the mortal world for amusement.

As Jingxing observed her, Yaoguang was also watching him. Soon, she seemed to remember something and pointed at the suitcase behind him. "It looks like you really do like this style of trunk from Zhuming."

Jingxing froze. "How did you know?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized that since she knew his future self, it was only natural for her to know some of his preferences.

Yaoguang, however, looked away a little awkwardly. "I guessed."

Jingxing blinked. Really? She guessed that accurately?

Still, he didn't press her. Since she had said she couldn't affect the future, there were probably many things she wouldn't tell him.

With that in mind, he decided to ask something else. "General, since you know my future self, did I achieve my dream?"

Since she knew him, she must know about the dream he had received from Idrila.

For some reason, Yaoguang's gaze softened a little at the question.

"You did," she answered. "And you did very well."

Jingxing smiled a little sheepishly. "You think that highly of me?"

"Of course." Yaoguang showed no hesitation. "Your paintings will appear on the Xianzhou, in Penacony, and at the Genius Society. The company even presented one to the Amber Lord."

She didn't list his works, but in just a few words, she had sketched out a brilliant future for Jingxing.

Jingxing listened, dumbfounded, and couldn't help pointing at himself. "That impressive? Are you sure you haven't mistaken me for someone else?"

His graduation exhibition hadn't even been held yet, and his best-selling painting had only earned him 5,000 Strale from General Huaiyan's granddaughter—about a million Credits. No matter how he looked at it, he was a far cry from the galaxy's greatest painter.

Seeing his disbelief, Yaoguang's eyes filled with a hint of amusement. "How could I possibly mistake you for someone else?"

Just then, another breeze blew through the woods, gently lifting a strand of silver hair beside Yaoguang's ear.

She instinctively raised a hand and reached toward Jingxing.

But she stopped halfway. Her slender, fair hand hovered in midair for a brief moment before she withdrew it as though nothing had happened. The whole motion was so natural that it was as if nothing had happened at all.

Jingxing paused, feeling that she had seemed to be reaching for his collar just now.

But this was their first meeting. How could that be?

Perhaps he was overthinking it.

Yaoguang's expression remained calm, as though nothing had happened.

"Sorry," she said softly. "A... little habit I picked up a long time ago."

Jingxing didn't understand, but he nodded anyway and asked no further questions.

The woods fell quiet once more.

Jingxing couldn't shake the feeling that there was something indescribably strange about the Xianzhou general before him. This was clearly their first meeting, yet there was not a trace of unfamiliarity in the way she looked at him.

Unable to make sense of it, he put his doubts aside for the time being and looked at Yaoguang. "General Yaoguang, since you can appear here, does that mean you have a way to take me away?"

That was what concerned him most right now. Compared with the future, it was more practical to leave this unfamiliar planet first, return to Klimt, and make new plans for his field trip.

At that, the smile on Yaoguang's face faltered slightly. Then she shook her head. "Sorry. That used to be easy for me. But now..."

She looked as though she wanted to say something, but stopped herself.

Jingxing noticed that Yaoguang's figure was beginning to turn faintly insubstantial.

"Are you hurt?"

Yaoguang looked down at her hand. Her fair, slender fingertips were gradually turning transparent. Sunlight passed through her palm, casting a hazy patch of light and shadow on the ground. Then she smiled somewhat helplessly. "You could say that. Some time ago, I took part in a campaign against the Lord Ravager Guiji."

Jingxing's pupils contracted. Lord Ravager was another name for an Emanator serving Nanook, the Aeon of Destruction. Any one of them was enough to strike fear into countless civilizations.

And the general before him had actually taken part in a war of that magnitude.

Yaoguang continued, "Although I suppose we won in the end, the price I paid was greater than I'd imagined."

She raised her hand. The transparency had spread to her wrist, making her look like a painting slowly being erased.

"My existence was scattered."

Jingxing said nothing and continued to listen quietly.

"As I am now, I can't stay fixed at any point in time. Every so often, I'm thrown into the past or the future. I stay for a short while, then move on to the next place. Sometimes it's one year ago, sometimes hundreds of years ago, and sometimes... even dozens of Amber Eras ago."

Yaoguang spoke calmly, as though she were recounting someone else's experiences.

Yet Jingxing felt that beneath that calm lay an inexpressible loneliness.

Alone, drifting endlessly through the long expanse of time, unable to stay or choose a destination. With every encounter, she had no way of knowing whether it would be the last.

The mere thought of such a life was suffocating.

Jingxing clenched his fist. "So meeting me today was just an accident too?"

"Mm." Yaoguang nodded. "I didn't know I would come here either."

She looked at Jingxing and smiled faintly. "It seems our luck is fairly good."

Jingxing didn't respond. He certainly didn't consider being inexplicably thrown onto an unfamiliar planet good luck.

Yaoguang was turning transparent quickly. By now, Jingxing could even make out the scenery behind the trees through her sleeve.

She noticed the change as well. Looking up at the sky, she sighed softly. "It seems my time is almost up."

Jingxing froze. "Already?"

"Mm." Yaoguang smiled. "I've never been able to stay in one place for long."

Just then, she seemed to remember something. "I almost forgot."

She raised her right hand, holding three ancient-looking fortune slips between her fingers. Their surfaces were covered in fine, arcane patterns that resembled peacock feathers.

With a light flick of Yaoguang's hand, the three fortune slips floated in midair and began to spin. Azure-gold divination patterns spread rapidly and joined together, eventually forming a complete omen.

After studying it carefully for a few seconds, she smiled.

Her smile was more relaxed and brighter than when they had first met.

"It's the most auspicious fortune," she said softly. "It seems you don't need to worry about yourself, Jingxing."

Jingxing was puzzled. "This is..."

"I used the last of my time to tell your fortune." Yaoguang put away the fortune slips. "Don't worry. Everything that happened today is an opportunity meant for you."

Jingxing nodded thoughtfully. A fortune told by a Xianzhou general had to be more accurate than the charlatans in his school's divination club.

While Jingxing was thinking, Yaoguang added a casual word of advice. "If you meet any Pathstriders of Harmony in the future, try to stay away from them."

Jingxing stared. "Why?"

Yaoguang didn't answer.

It wasn't that she didn't want to. There was no time left.

She looked down at her body, which had become completely transparent. Specks of light drifted slowly from the hem of her clothes and the ends of her hair.

In the next instant, Yaoguang's entire body turned into a shower of light, scattering on the wind into the woods as though she had never been there.

Only the faint floral fragrance lingering in the air proved that everything just now had not been an illusion.

Jingxing stood where he was, unable to collect himself for a long time.

"It wasn't a dream, was it?" He knocked on his head and muttered under his breath.

The next second, a stern shout suddenly rang out from deep in the woods. "Don't move!"

A chill ran down Jingxing's back. He instinctively realized that something had locked onto him.

"Unidentified person up ahead! Put your hands up! Don't move!"

Wait, what kind of opportunity is this?! Jingxing cried inwardly. Turning around and noticing several guns aimed at him, he helplessly raised his hands.