The Xianzhou Leadership's Decision

The sand was white, as fine as flour. The sea was deep blue, as still as a pool of ink that had been flattened.

Jingxing's terminal was on the camera screen, and it had already taken many pictures in just a few minutes.

Fu Xuan tiptoed closer to take a look. "It's a pity we can't be photographed either."

"It doesn't feel right to take a group photo here," Jingxing complained. "It feels like we've entered someone's ancestral hall."

"You're right." Fu Xuan turned to look at the sea. "For the Vidyadhara, this place is both their ancestral hall and their birthing room."

At the edge of the beach, in a shallow depression, lay rows of eggs taller than a person, translucent and tinged with a pale bluish-gold. The most recent one had a shallow mark on it, next to which sat a small bunch of seaweed, weighing down a stone with inscriptions.

"These are the Vidyadhara eggs. Vidyadharas who have lived to the end return here, transform into eggs, and then hatch," Fu Xuan explained.

"Although we already know they are an oviparous species, seeing the actual eggs is still a bit..." Jingxing's lips twitched.

There were many faint footprints on the sand underwater, one layer on top of the other.

"These probably belong to the guards here," Fu Xuan said. "Of course, there are also some who belong to the Vidyadhara came here to Molting Rebirth."

"It's like a high-ranking monk choosing a place to pass away." Jingxing complained, while the deathbed poem of the monk Lu Sanzang from a famous novel in his previous life floated into his mind.

After taking a quick look around, the two quietly left without alerting anyone.

"I think I understand why you felt the Pearl-Bearers might not perform at their best in a tough battle," Jingxing said as they walked down the street. "But I believe Fanghu is their home, and the Pearl-Bearers will definitely give their all for it. However, I suspect the Marshal and generals will most likely leave the real assault to the Cloud Knights."

Why would you think that?

"Because they can't afford to die, or rather, the Xianzhou Alliance can't allow the Vidyadhara to suffer too many casualties," Jingxing explained. "The Vidyadhara's population is finite; if one dies, there's no one else. But to put it cruelly, Cloud Knights die, at least there will be successors."

Fu Xuan pursed his lips, recalling the casualty figures of this war in history, and could only nod in agreement. "Indeed. The marshals and generals certainly don't want Fanghu to feel like he's being used as expendable material, as this would exacerbate the divisions within the Xianzhou Alliance... So they'd rather have more Cloud Knights than have the Pearl-Bearers fill the gaps on the front lines."

"Even so, the sacrifices of those Pearl-Bearers will not be small," Fu Xuan said.

She paused, her voice lower. "I remember after that battle, more than half of Fanghu was destroyed. After that, they chose to flee to the Star Sea, almost completely severing contact with the Alliance."

"But compared to changing the history you want to change, the Pearl-Bearers don't seem to be of a high status," Jingxing pointed out.

"Yes," Fu Xuan closed his eyes, "But as long as we minimize everyone's sacrifices, history will surely develop in the direction we hope for."

"The reproductive capacity of the Vidyadhara is practically nonexistent. Is it really Equilibrium at work?" Jingxing asked first on the way back, "But the Propagation capacity of the Celestials on the Xianzhou seems unaffected?"

Fu Xuan felt his gaze and turned his head away. "Of course we're not affected, but if we want children, we'll have to submit an application first, and only after it's approved can we have offspring."

"So it shouldn't be a matter of Equilibrium," Fu Xuan continued, "But something that can affect the offspring of Aeon must be related to other Aeon."

"How about we have a fortune told?"

"That won't do. Divination can't involve the Aeon." Fu Xuan shook his head vigorously. "This is a lesson learned the blood of the Divination Commission."

As soon as she finished speaking, a soft and sweet voice floated into Jingxing's ear. "I can answer that question."

"Speak," he replied silently, without stopping.

"Of course it wasn't done by Equilibrium," Polka Kakamond said. "The Permanence fell before the Swarm Disaster, and the culprit of the Swarm Disaster possessed some powers that were separated from the Permanence 'Path. Guess what it is?"

As everyone knows, the culprit behind the Swarm Disaster is the Aeon of Propagation. Recalling the question from earlier, Jingxing naturally arrived at the answer.

"So it's the influence of the Aeon's concept of Path again?" he muttered to himself.

"That's right," Polka Kakamond said with a smile, "And you and I are among them."

"What do you mean 'me too'?" Jingxing was taken aback. Polka Kakamond was ensuring that Nous's calculations were correct, but he hadn't done anything for Idrila. After all, Idrila was now in outer space.

But Polka Kakamond didn't answer Jingxing's question. Noticing that he had stopped, Fu Xuan turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," Jingxing waved his hand. "I'm just thinking about when we should make our move."

"No rush," Fu Xuan said. "Before the Jidu Mirage is activated, the battles on the front lines are just attrition. There's no need for you or me to take action."

Back on the Starskiff, Fu Xuan unfolded the war chronicle he had transcribed from memory and used his fingernail to mark several locations on the navigation map where smoke signals had first been lit.

"These places will be the first to be attacked by Abominations of Abundance," she said. "But..."

Which one should we choose to help?

"Don't rush. The attacks on these places aren't very intense. Your current condition doesn't support continuous attacks. We need to maximize the gains from each attack."

"Then we can only rely on the all-knowing and all- Lord Diviner."

"We're the ones who really owe you a debt of gratitude." Fu Xuan looked at Jingxing, his expression turning serious. "If it weren't for your special status, Senior Sister definitely wouldn't have made this attempt, and I wouldn't have dared to agree to it."

"Then when we get back to the 'present,' it's okay if I get some payment, right?" Jingxing asked with a smile.

As if Fu Xuan had thought of something, the Lord Diviner jumped off his chair. "That depends on the specific requirements!"

The next morning, a bell rang at the port of Fanghu. As the bell rang, the Cloud Knights who had come from afar and the Pearl-Bearers who guarded the homeland began to assemble.

There were no idlers to be seen on the streets; everyone stayed quietly at home, not wanting to cause any trouble for the Cloud Knights and the Pearl-Bearers lined up outside.

Fu Xuan half-asleep, got up and found a message from Yaoguang: [The Jidu Mirage has finally started to come alive, please be careful.]

After reading it, Fu Xuan put the Jade Abacus into his sleeve, looked up at him, and said, "I thought we could wait a few more days, but it seems we have to find a suitable opportunity to make our move today."

Jingxing stood up and put the Heavenly Wisdom Jade Knot into his bosom.

The bells outside the window stopped ringing, but the entire Fanghu awoke. This Xianzhou, autonomously controlled by the Vidyadhara, had been preparing for this day since very early on.