Arrangements

In the Spirit Domain, beneath Spirit City, the square, orderly "new-era human buildings" established by the Spirit Lord stood in neat formation, all in Order. Through the streets and alleys, the Immortal Retainers—enlightened over several centuries—were lining up to enlist.

The queue held men and women, young and old alike, their gazes resolute. One could see a grown man gently stroking the head of a boy who only reached his chest.

The grown man's eyes held both tenderness for the boy and an unshirkable sense of duty toward the coming battle in the land of fiends. He said to the boy, "Son, today you'll watch your father enlist. Your father spent his whole life cultivating to the Foundation Establishment Realm, all thanks to the Immortals' Protection. It is time for this cultivation of mine to serve the Immortal Domain with loyalty."

The boy's eyes were full of stubbornness and confusion.

Born in the Spirit Domain, he had heard since childhood that beyond the domain lay fiends. Starting twenty years ago, the fiends beyond the southern border had begun planning to invade their Immortal Domain. Every household throughout the Immortal Domain had sent people to enlist. As he had grown up, many uncles and aunts he had once known had entered the army, and a few days ago, they had gone to the Southern Border.

What he knew was that those who went into the army often never came back after a few days. And those who went to the Southern Border... might be gone for a lifetime.

"Father, can't you stay?" The boy clutched his father's rough hand tightly.

"Don't be ridiculous." The grown man barked out a reprimand. Seeing his son lower his eyes, his blade-carved face softened somewhat. Squatting down, he patted the child's arms and said in