The Wary Mingke Guards and the Luofu's Lord Diviner

The ship in the air repeated the broadcast, its voice polite and its wording standard.

But Jingxing, lying on the ground, could only laboriously raise one hand and wave it towards the sky.

In order to completely eradicate the branches of the Qiong Sang, Jingxing experienced a long-lost feeling of emptiness. Now, he even had difficulty getting up.

Soon, three silver rope ladders were thrown down from the foremost ship, followed by a neat "whoosh" as they landed. Several teams of elite Cloud Knights dispersed in three directions, forming a semicircle. The heavily armored Cloud Knights at the front gripped their weapons tightly, staring intently at Jingxing lying in the center of the circle, their eyes full of vigilance.

The Cloud Knights of the Jade Abacus Xianzhou is called "Mingke Guards," and it is also the Cloud Knights unit in the Xianzhou Alliance that pays the most attention to military appearance.

The other Cloud Knights, hiding behind their shields, swept through the outer perimeter, measured the Abundance and pollution index of the area, and finally all turned their attention to Jingxing.

When the measurement results came back, the Cloud Knights in charge of the cavalry presented the readings to the captain and uttered two words in a low voice. "Nothing at all."

None.

There wasn't a single trace of Abundance left on this entire open space.

The captain leading the group did not approach Jingxing. He stood twenty paces away, wary. "Please state your identity."

Jingxing was still unable to get up, gave his name, his background, and told them that his spaceship was parked nearby.

"We'll discuss the rest after you return to the Xianzhou with us," the captain interrupted him. "This is not a place to linger."

Jingxing was taken aback. He had expected to be questioned from head to toe on this white ground, but the other party hadn't even asked him why he was there.

Well, I've never been to the Jade Abacus Xianzhou before, so it's good to go and take a look—I can also discuss with them how to retrieve Yaoguang.

Two Cloud Knights forward, one on each side, and lifted Jingxing up from the ground, preparing to "escort" him back to the ship.

As Jingxing flew into the air, he glanced down at his feet. The open space shrank smaller and smaller in his field of vision until it gradually disappeared.

However, the white ripples that were no longer under their control were spreading outwards continuously, and because they were no longer being consumed by the branches of the Qiong Sang tree, the ripples were spreading faster and faster.

Behind him, the Chasing the Moon was gently lifted by several tow cables and took off together. Jingxing breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this. He didn't want the spaceship, a gift from his teacher, to break down after only a few months of use.

Upon arriving at the landing ship of the Xianzhou, the corridor inside was longer than Jingxing had expected. Jade-colored patterns stretched along the walls, and there was a lit lamp every ten steps or so.

The accessories of the Mingke Guards jingled against their armor. Jingxing was led by them through two gates before finally entering a small cabin. Inside, there was only a narrow table, two chairs, and a bed.

The sergeant stepped forward, holding a wooden tray in both hands, and said politely, "According to regulations, your personal belongings will be temporarily registered and kept by the Mingke Guards. Please cooperate."

Jingxing placed his terminal on the wooden tray, but then pressed his hand against the Jade Knot in his robes. "That's out of the question."

The sergeant looked towards the door with a troubled expression. At this moment, the captain of the Mingke Guards walked in, nodded and said "No problem," then sat down across the table and pushed a registration document with Jingxing's name on it onto the table.

"Please do me the same thing again," he said.

So Jingxing recounted everything that had just happened—he had decided to land on this planet on a whim to gather material, only to stumble upon Borisin. He used a clever scheme to destroy their biological weapons, and then met General Yaoguang. The two explored the pit and discovered that the Borisin were trying to awaken the branches of the Qiong Sang. In the end, he successfully thwarted the Borisin's plan.

But judging from the expression on the face of the Cloud Knights, he didn't seem to believe his own words.

"You said you met General Rongtao, when was that?"

"Just a few hours ago," Jingxing replied.

"What is the general's code word for communication?"

"How would I know your Yuque's secret code?" Jingxing frowned. "I only met her once."

The captain wrote all of this down, his face expressionless.

"If I'm lying," Jingxing took out the Jade Knot from his pocket and held it in his palm, "You'll recognize this, won't you?"

The captain's gaze lingered on the Jade Knot for a moment, then he shook his head with a wry smile, "Sorry, I can't recognize the general's personal belongings."

Jingxing was speechless. He decided to try a different approach to prove his safety. "I have my friends' contact information stored in my terminal."

He pointed to the terminal on the wooden tray in the corner. "It belongs to Zhuming Xianzhou. And you should have heard of her."

The captain remained vigilant, only instructing the Cloud Knights behind him to retrieve the terminal. Jingxing unlocked it in front of them, brought up the chat window labeled "Yunli," and scrolled through the message history one by one.

The more the captain looked, the more his brow furrowed.

"This only proves you chatted with a swordsman from Zhuming." He closed the terminal. "It doesn't prove that this swordsman is Yunli of the Flaming Wheel, Eight Leaves. Besides—"

He paused for a moment. "Verification with other Xianzhou requires procedures, but we don't have the time or resources for that right now."

"So what?" Jingxing retorted, "Before your process is even finished, I'm already being presumed to be Abominations of Abundance?"

The captain didn't speak, but simply nodded silently.

Jingxing closed his eyes and suddenly felt a bit absurd: just now, he was standing on the land of Priva II, having overexerted his body to prevent the Abominations of Abundance from succeeding.

In order to avoid being devoured by his own power, Yaoguang risked extricating himself from the "present".

Now he's sitting in a cabin of Xianzhou, with a group of armored soldiers pointing their swords at him.

"You want me to tell you what you believe to be the truth," Jingxing Xing laughed angrily. "I did, but you didn't believe me."

Just then—"Stop!"

A voice came from the doorway.

Passing by the Cloud Knights' formation, a petite girl entered. She had long, light pink hair, and a small gemstone was embedded in her forehead, shining like a lit star under the overhead light.

In this cold-colored cabin filled with armor and glint of swords, her pink hair seemed almost out of place. However, Jingxing noticed that she walked with great discipline, each step as if measured with a ruler.

"Fu Diviner, Fu Xuan Divination Commission the Xianzhou Luofu." Standing at the forefront, she introduced herself to Jingxing, "--also General Rongtao's junior sister."

The captain respectfully sheathed his sword and saluted. "Lord Diviner of Luofu."

"Put the knife away." Fu Xuan glanced at him, then at Jingxing, his brows furrowing slightly. "He's not an enemy."