How Long Until That Day Comes?

The aroma of roses freely permeates the quiet room, accompanied by a sticky, subtle fragrance, gradually mingling with the shop's own coffee aroma, becoming increasingly pungent and intense.

The girl's eyes were lowered, their blue depths shimmering with a hazy mist. Her pure and aloof face was tinged with a decadent blush, and her lips, under the warm orange light, appeared swollen and red, as if a vibrant lip gloss had been applied with a touch of saliva, giving them an alluring, seductive quality.

Su Qing'an reached out and picked up Abyss Flower scattered on the table. Under the questioning gaze of the other person as they looked up as if they had come back to their senses, he placed it on the lips. His neatly trimmed nails pressed against the cool and moist petals, feeling the softness and warmth beneath.

The boy's dark eyes held a bright and innocent smile. He released his fingertips from the petal, but before the pure white petal fell, he smoothly caught it and chewed it. His free hand then gathered a strand of winter-gray hair from a delicate collarbone, as white as snow, and combed it neatly.

Calm, restrained, yet unrestrained.

Fu Hua let the man do as he pleased, feeling the emptiness of her wavering consciousness. The cluster of roses, having lost its grip between her gradually loosening hands, slowly drooped to the ground...

A little while later.

The girl felt the bittersweet taste left after the petals inside her lips were crushed. She calmly smoothed out the many wrinkles on her white dress, and felt a faint tingling sensation, like an electric current, on her waist and sacral fossa, which had been massaged by fingertips.

She suppressed the martial arts that allowed her to regulate her senses, reducing herself to the level of an ordinary person, letting herself savor the afterglow of this novelty, as if a lingering attachment remained in her heart.

Fu Hua finally had a chance to look around at the scenery. She quickly recognized where she was. In the memories of her second reincarnation, she had made cakes in the kitchen of this coffee shop and occasionally sat down there.

St. Freya Academy.

It seems that after entering the [Lostbelt], some unexpected events occurred that I was unaware of.

Her features softened, and she asked softly:

"Is this the shop you opened in St. Freya?"

Su Qing'an walked to the counter, examining whether the items and materials inside fully represented the artifacts from that time, and then answered the question:

"Yes, it's probably because I came here that the [Lostbelt] created by the [records] has become distorted. You can think of it like the foam splashed up when the tide hits the rocks on the shore. We need to brush away this foam before we can reach the real [Lostbelt]."

The boy pulled out a hand-cranked coffee machine that Himeko had given him before from a drawer under the counter and said:

"You don't need to worry about the time issue. This isn't a real [Lostbelt]. You can think of our time as being infinitely frozen at the moment the bubble popped. That's also the reason why your quantum interaction rate is having problems."

"Therefore, from the time this world perishes until the next [Foam], until we reach the [Lostbelt], the length of time we stay here will have no impact on the outside world."

Fu Hua pursed her slightly swollen lips, picked up the menu on the coffee table, glanced at the table of contents which was exactly the same as she remembered, and asked:

"So?"

Su Qing'an took out coffee beans roasted to a perfect aroma from the bag, let them linger in his palm for a while, and then rubbed the familiar yet unfamiliar touch with the base of his thumb, whispering:

So let's take it slow.

"Since this is merely a dream within the gaps of spacetime and quantum entanglement, why don't we have a cup of coffee together and look at the sea?"

"And... I'm also very interested in memories from a long time ago."

The girl looked at the swaying wind chimes and the foaming tide outside the door, and agreed:

"Um."

This scene, which should have been visible only thousands of years later, unexpectedly came to the two of them.

Rather than violently destroying it, quietly watching it slowly march towards its demise is a better course of action.

Su Qing'an stared at the cabinet behind him, where all kinds of coffee beans were stored in transparent glass tubes, clearly visible. The dazzling array of wines and beverages were neatly arranged, conjuring up images of the unscrupulous red-haired woman drinking here. He let himself sink into a flood of memories, lost in thought for a long time.

But after being pulled out of the tide of memories, he fell into even deeper contemplation.

If this record originating from the [Stigmata] can truly allow me to return to that time, and allow me to secretly reach that ending—an ending that I can reach without much thought, an ending that is beautiful enough for me—then I can return to that time.

Will I start to waver?

Would they trample on rules, ignore sacrifices, and enjoy a life that was originally unattainable in order to satisfy their own selfish desires?

As his past memories became more complete, his understanding of the potential and implications of this ability deepened.

Su Qing'an didn't understand whether she would have the corresponding beliefs and will once she truly mastered this ability.

If everything in the world can be distorted by one's own will, and life, death, and Karma can be molded and altered within it, then in the long run, can we still retain that awe for the future and respect for history?

It's like a vibrant, colorful world that can be transformed into a pure white sheet of paper in your hands, allowing you to paint as you please; or like a player exploring new areas in a game, recklessly trying out countless possibilities without regard for consequences or morality.

No one can guarantee that they will remain true to themselves in this situation.

When no one in the world can know what you have done and criticize you, the only thing that can restrain you is your initial sense of good and evil and your morality.

Too much freedom may itself be a form of unfreedom.

For the first time, Su Qing'an truly realized just how far the interference of the [record] in the world could escalate.

It turns out that once all the shackles are removed, the new "shackles" are simply the absence of shackles.

The boy vaguely knew that within his unrecoverable self lay a yearning for perfection.

This is largely due to past experiences, but after being abruptly elevated to this point, this yearning is like a key to open Pandora's box, a flame that lures moths to fly into it.

Su Qing'an's moral standards and willpower are above average, but it is his personality and thinking that lead him to consider issues that others don't care about. It is precisely people like him who are unwilling to gamble their ability to change the world on their own character.

It's a double-edged sword...

The young man quietly ground coffee beans. His features, which had matured with age, were now rather somber, yet softened as he looked at the person sitting in the chair. He asked:

"Would you like something to drink, Hua?"

Fu Hua withdrew her gaze from the coastline, smiled at the person's gaze, and responded:

"OK."

Su Qing'an hadn't made a cup of coffee by hand in a long time; upon careful recollection, it seemed to date back to the last era.

At that time, he was making coffee in an abandoned high-rise building on a deserted island, while outside the world was apocalyptic with resounding Celestial Phenomenon phenomena.

But if we trace it back further, we can only return to this shop on the edge of the coastline.

So the boy hesitated for a moment. He felt that Fu Hua's tastes and preferences were quite subtle. It seemed that due to the wear and tear of the long years, her current preferences were almost infinitely close to a balanced blandness. She could not distinguish between clear likes and dislikes for normal food.

The memories of the previous era and Young Hua are also incomplete; past experiences are as if sealed away and cannot be counted.

But this didn't stump Su Qing'an for long. He washed the glass that was upside down on the table with clean water, filtered out the water droplets inside with the Heaven and Earth Qi, poured light cream and condensed milk in different proportions into a small white porcelain pot, mixed it evenly with a stirrer, and set it aside with the extracted coffee.

It seems that because it is Imaginary World, everything here is exceptionally vibrant and untouched by the dust of the world.

The boy's coffee-making process was not interfered with or hindered by external factors.

Finally, he skillfully took out a taller glass, the bottom of which was already filled with sugar. After pouring in half a glass of ice and two-thirds of the ice water at the top, he then poured in espresso and whipped cream.

Immediately, the mixture of cream and condensed milk cascaded down, soaking the entire cup of coffee like rain.

Su Qing'an placed the cup in front of the girl, then poured the hot coffee from the machine into the cup until it was eight-tenths full. He added a layer of whipped cream by swishing it, and then drizzled a little mint liqueur on top, making a cup of coffee with a Hawaiian flair. He habitually wiped his palms with a clean towel.

So together we sipped coffee and gazed at the distant sea amidst the tinkling of wind chimes.

Su Qing'an thought that it seemed like only a few years had passed since they last looked at this sea together, but perhaps due to the special nature of the reboot and the fragmentation of memories, he could always feel the changes of time and the remoteness of a different world.

The familiar sun has disappeared from the distance; only the sea of clouds and the shattered scales of the sky reflect the faint light on the sea surface, as if telling a story of the past.

The boy sipped his coffee, the refreshing mint liqueur extinguishing the initial heat, while the whipped cream further neutralized the temperature. When it finally landed on his tongue, it was only warm, with a bitter aftertaste and the aroma of wood.

A gurgling sound emanated from the container, the boiling water steaming incessantly, blending peacefully with the wind chimes and ocean waves.

The immortal sipped his coffee without stirring it.

The way this coffee is made dictates that it's best enjoyed in stages. The first taste is of cool, smooth, and refreshing cream; then comes the rich, aromatic coffee, smooth and slightly bitter; and finally, the partially dissolved syrup provides a delightful surprise, like a hidden treasure.

It tastes great.

And because he made it, even the bitterest coffee seemed to taste sweet.

Every blink of the girl's eyelashes became clearer under the store's lights. Her lips were slightly upturned, like a snow-capped mountain welcoming spring, blooming with a splendor and beauty never seen in previous years.

At this moment, those eyes reflected the sea and the distance.

In Su Qing'an's eyes, however, was a reflection of herself gazing at the tide and the shimmering sea.

Even without sunsets and twilight, some things will not be extinguished.

She and he gazed at the gradually crumbling and broken horizon, quietly awaiting the end of the world, like the most romantic scene in a poem.

Time flows on, at the Mount Taixu.

Li Shishi was still dressed in the same red dress as before. Apart from the faint hint of coldness in the corners of her eyes and the habitual solemnity on her face, her figure was more slender and graceful than before, and her pink lips seemed to have shed the habit of applying rouge.

As the morning sun rose, the eighteen-year-old girl remained silent, gazing at the deserted Fuyun Temple. Her eyes lingered on the bells tied to a red rope on a pillar, a small device she had explored every corner of the temple a year ago during her spare time.

Now the bells outside are exposed to wind and rain, while the bells inside are covered with layers of dust, remaining untouched by the traces of human life even after the immortal's departure.

She turned to look at the sea of clouds gradually being bathed in the first light of dawn, her eyes reflecting the rising sun, and murmured:

"Two years."

It has been quite some time since Su Qing'an and Fu Hua left Fuyun Temple.

For Li Shishi, who had been helping Jiang Rongyue build her power, two years felt like an eternity.

Today is the day those two left.

Just like the morning of the previous year, she gazed at the mountains below the Cloud Cliff Sea, giving herself one of her few moments of relaxation, looking back at the time that flashed by like a rewind.

Under Jiang Rongyue's influence, the measures for sheltering refugees and deserters were improved. Even though there were several unexpected incidents, a prosperous and stable town was still established at the Mount Taixu about a year ago.

Despite being a time of war, this place has maintained a perfect peace and tranquility.

The expansion of their influence also went smoothly.

This is only natural. For Jiang Rongyue, all she needs to do is understand which direction leads to the most correct and successful outcome, and constantly correct herself as she moves forward.

Two years and unconventional developments have caused a mysterious force to stir up a great storm in the chaotic martial arts world.

[Chaoxian].

That is, the official name for the external forces of the Taixu Sect.

Its existence is like the legendary Lou Wai Lou in martial arts novels. In a short period of time, it disappeared into the martial arts world of Shenzhou like a thick fog, silent and without revealing any substance, yet it definitely exists. With its invisible tentacles, it continues to gather talents and wealth while adhering to its original ideals.

The fact that they could achieve this level of success under such restrictive circumstances demonstrates just how terrifying Jiang Rongyue, the mastermind behind the scenes of the Chaoxian Sect, truly is.

She was like an omniscient and eternally correct deity, bestowing upon her believers a divinely granted fervor and a foundation of trust.

Who could have imagined that the current leader of the [Chaoxian] sect, the Holy Master of the Taixu Sect, initially only had fragmented ideas about how to develop and lead a force, and was even almost completely ignorant about it before?

But when it came to actually enforcing it, she used her abilities to erase the lack of experience that should have been revealed.

This operating mode resulted in Jiang Rongyue absorbing a large amount of information through repeated [future predictions], accumulating a wealth of experience as a leader, and making [future predictions] anchored on herself more cost-effective and efficient than before.

The unique nature of this ability means that, if a girl is willing, she can reach the limit of her personal potential in a very short time.

The price, however, is that Jiang Rongyue has actively absorbed so much information that it interferes with her mental state, causing immense pressure and fatigue, and even... gradual distortion.

When the amount of information accumulates to a certain level, it's as if one can glimpse countless paths one has previously foreseen.

It's like a game where players use save and load games as stepping stones to progress through the main storyline, gradually becoming confused about which save file they're actually on.

Jiang Rongyue occasionally doubts whether she is the one being absorbed into a stream of information, rather than the one who is truly using [foreseeing the future]. Once she falls into this vortex, she will gradually be locked in a vicious cycle of interconnected problems, eventually... going mad.

In this situation, because Li Shishi, who was Karma with Su Qing'an, was completely removed from the [predicting the future] path, she became the only anchor and signpost that the girl could use to distinguish between reality and illusion.

Therefore, Jiang Rongyue, who had been using [Predicting the Future] continuously in the early stages, was completely unable to leave Li Shishi.

Otherwise, she would be like a ship lost at sea, stepping into an unknown and dark abyss.

Li Shishi had not yet met the conditions for leaving the mountain, naturally stayed by the girl's side, sometimes wandering the martial arts world with her, and sometimes taking on tasks assigned to her alone, during which time her martial arts training did not slacken.

After two years, she has gradually made up for much of her previous lack of knowledge and skills in martial arts, and would be considered a second-rate master in the current martial arts world.

During this process, the war between the Great Song and the Liao Dynasty gradually transformed from localized skirmishes into a full-scale war.

The wealthy and well-supplied Great Song and the Liao Dynasty, which was showing signs of internal division, were in a strange state of tension. It seemed that only one breaking point was needed for the behemoth to collapse completely.

If the goal is to dominate the world, this should be the best time.

However, Jiang Rongyue ultimately knew that the immortals did not want to interfere with the politics and trajectory of the mortals, and she was also clear about the initial positioning of this power. [Chaoxian] could be an external force of the Taixu Sect and a mouthpiece that spread throughout the world, but it could not be an institution that controlled the regime of Shenzhou. Otherwise, Mount Taixu was destined to be unable to truly transcend the mundane world.

Therefore, the only thing she could do for this war was to alleviate the suffering of the people of Yanbian.

The difficulties they faced were overcome time and time again, but the immortal's prolonged absence remained a persistent worry for the two of them.

Only when Jiang Rongyue's usually aloof peach blossom eyes reflected the girl's increasingly beautiful face, like a peony, could a hint of warmth arise.

The girl had grown taller and more slender than Li Shishi, and standing next to her, they looked even more compatible than before.

She noticed the worried looks in the eyes of those around her, loosened her grip on the sword hilt, and instead grasped the man's soft hand. Gazing at the rising sun, she whispered:

"Master will come back."

Looking at the sea of clouds surging like whales, becoming even more radiant under the morning sun, Li Shishi whispered:

"Yes, I believe them."

"They will come back someday."

But someday, how long will it be?