Nous: Don't talk nonsense, I've never glanced at that pink-haired girl

Watching the Cloud Knights, who showed no signs of slowing down, rush to the front lines again, Jingxing took a half step forward, preparing to draw his Cloud-Washing Ink-Tracer. Just then, Fu Xuan grabbed his wrist. "No."

"Just this once," Jingxing's voice was a little hoarse, "I'll help you this once."

"We've stabilized this place, but what about the next one?" Fu Xuan countered. "What if this expenditure affects our subsequent plans?"

"..." Jingxing didn't know how to answer for a moment.

"So, no." Fu Xuan gripped Jingxing's wrist tightly, just as determined she was at that moment.

"You need to conserve your strength. After all, our real opponent isn't these Abominations of Abundance, but the Jidu Mirage. Every bit of strength you expend here, who dares say it won't make us pay for it with even greater effort when the Jidu Mirage crashes down?"

Fu Xuan kept her eyes fixed on the battlefield as she spoke. Jingxing turned his head and saw that her lips were already bleeding from being bitten.

He wiped his hands on his trouser leg. "... Okay, I understand."

"That's right." Fu Xuan took out a talisman from his sleeve. "Besides, you don't need to lift a finger for this Abominations of Abundance; I can handle it."

She raised her hand and pointed vaguely towards the pontoon bridge. A ripple silently appeared on the water's surface, and the next second, the entire river surged forth, sweeping towards the direction of the Denizens of Abundance Allied Forces.

"The upstream dam will breach soon, and the water will drive them away." Fu Xuan withdrew his hand, turned around and took Jingxing's hand. "Let's go back."

The battle at Green Conch Crossing lasted until evening. The Denizens of Abundance Allied Forces had failed to break through and could only retreat in disarray. The defending troops had no time to pursue, as they had to clean up the battlefield.

In the twilight, scattered fragments floated on the water's surface. Jingxing closed his eyes. "If only the world could always remain at peace."

"Then perhaps Equilibrium will intervene," Fu Xuan remarked. "We still don't know anything about that person's situation."

"There's nothing we can do about it; the Xianzhou Alliance only has a history of a few thousand years." Jingxing shrugged, not surprised at all—to be honest, the Xianzhou Alliance's history is not even as long as his homeland Klimt Constitutional Republic.

The fact that they were able to rapidly rise to become one of the top powers in the universe in less than ten thousand years can only be attributed to the fact that they have a significant advantage in this version of Path, thanks to the blessings of both Abundance and the Hunt.

Over the next few days, Fu Xuan and Jingxing changed their viewing locations several times. Perhaps because there was too much water here, the fog in Fanghu was much heavier than in Yuque. At night, the visibility was so poor that they could only see about ten steps away, which meant that the two of them had to stay in the Starskiff at night.

In the past few days, the intelligence sent by Yaoguang showed that the number of scattered soldiers among the Denizens of Abundance had decreased significantly. The Denizens of Abundance, who were originally as numerous as puddles, had almost disappeared overnight. After divination and observation, the Xianzhou discovered that they were gathering in the far north of the Fanghu Xianzhou.

Jingxing initially thought this was a good thing, but Fu Xuan's face darkened.

"The Jidu Mirage is about to come to life," she said. "And this time, the location where the Abominations of Abundance summoned it is different from historically."

"Huh?" Jingxing was taken aback. "You mean..."

"The tide recedes before the high tide," Fu Xuan said. "The Abominations of Abundance are gathering their forces because what they rely on is coming."

Activating planets, Jidu Mirage.

Although it had been repelled once by the High-Cloud Quintet, another activated planet had devoured the Cangcheng Xianzhou. Who could guarantee that the Jidu Mirage wouldn't be able to do something similar this time?

If the Fanghu Xianzhou, upon which the Vidyadhara depends for survival, is swallowed up, what will the greatly devastated Vidyadhara do to ensure the continuation of their race?

Fu Xuan dared not think any further.

But the existence of objective facts is not delayed by the fear of subjective consciousness—even Fu Xuan, Yaoguang, and many others do not want to see the appearance of the Jidu Mirage, this revitalized planet, awakened by the Denizens of Abundance, still heads straight for the Fanghu Xianzhou.

Along with this came even more strange phenomena.

The sky Fanghu began to brighten abnormally. Jingxing looked out of the porthole and saw a visible layer of red on the horizon, as if it had been smeared with blood.

By noon, something began to appear from the blood-red layer: one layer, two layers, three layers upon layers; the eaves, roof ridges, corridors, watchtowers—the outline of Fanghu was hanging in the sky.

"This is..."

"It's a mirage reflected from the Jidu Mirage," Fu Xuan replied. "Once this mirage becomes reality, the Jidu Mirage will descend upon this place."

At that point, it will be time for Jingxing to step in and try to "de-harm" it.

Next, Jade Abacus received a dense stream of military reports from Yaoguang. She was addressing the problems raised in the early warnings one by one, while the outposts guarded by the Pearl-Bearers were being retreated one by one. The High Elder of the Vidyadhara were unwilling to see the Pearl-Bearers and these Abominations of Abundance exchange lives for each other. Since they had the assistance of the Cloud Knights, preserving the life force of their the Family was, in their eyes, also human... oh, the nature of dragons.

However, Jingxing and Fu Xuan were not concerned with this. They were more concerned with the Yaoguang of when the mirage of the Jidu Mirage would materialize and descend upon the Fanghu.

Soon, General Rongtao sent her divination result—one month.

After receiving the result, Fu Xuan performed another divination based on the Yaoguang to verify it. Soon, confirming its accuracy, Fu Xuan looked up at Jingxing: "We have one month to prepare."

"A month." Jingxing turned to look out the porthole.

"Yes, there's only one month left." Fu Xuan looked at the mirage in the sky. "In one month, regardless of success or failure, we will bring Senior Sister back to the real world."

"I hope that you, me, and she can all get what we want." As Jingxing finished speaking, Fu Xuan grasped his hand.

"Mm," she replied softly, "So starting tomorrow, we're going to find a new way to kill time."

Which one should we choose?

"We're not staying here any longer." Fu Xuan looked up at him. "We'll put out fires wherever they're burning. It sounds diligent, but we can't put out all the fires in Fanghu."

Jingxing observed Fu Xuan's gaze. The Lord Diviner of Luofu's eyes shone as brightly as the stars in the sky.

"So what should we do?"

"I'll figure out some ways to help you build up your power," she said. "If it works, a month from now you'll be able to unleash your full power on the Jidu Mirage while ensuring your safety."

"Really?" Jingxing sized up Fu Xuan. Could this Lord Diviner be an inventor?

"Don't underestimate me." Fu Xuan curled his lip. "Although I didn't embark on the Path of Erudition, I did have a brief encounter with the incarnation of that Heavenly Lord."