"I just performed a divination, and the signs matched our current circumstances. It seems we cannot take a Starskiff straight to the Divination Commission today. The Stellaron has caused some trouble there as well." Fu Xuan sighed.
"Alas, without me overseeing things, who knows what chaos has broken out in the commission..."
"Indeed, I imagine the Divination Commission cannot go even a day without Lady Fu Xuan~" Phantylia chimed in with an obliging smile.
Hearing that the Divination Commission apparently depended entirely on Fu Xuan, March 7th could not help suggesting, "Then you should work on building up your staffing pipeline. What if you need to take a day off or something? That'd be a real hassle..."
"Wait, what? You can barely count, but you know about staffing pipelines?" Zhang Xiu looked astonished.
"I only used my fingers because it was convenient! I'm not an idiot!" March 7th shot him a fierce glare.
"Considering that neither of you knows the circumstances, I shall overlook those presumptuous remarks." Fu Xuan stepped aside, preparing to head to the Divination Commission. "I shall go ahead to prepare for the interrogation. Farewell."
"What about Kafka?" Stelle glanced at Kafka, who was quietly observing them from behind, then turned back to Fu Xuan.
"The prisoner will naturally remain at my side without straying a single step. Those are Jing Yuan's orders."
Just as March 7th finished thinking and was about to speak, Zhang Xiu raised his eyes and signaled for Stelle to shut her mouth. After all, if his memory served him, March 7th was about to say something that would anger Fu Xuan.
Stelle watched him wink and pull faces, unable to make out what he meant. In the end, she pointed at her own mouth, and Zhang Xiu hastily nodded.
Then they watched as Stelle puckered her lips, intending to stop March 7th's mouth with her own.
"What are you doing?" March 7th pushed her face aside, utterly bewildered.
"Whoa! That's not what I meant!" Zhang Xiu straightened up, waving both hands helplessly in the air.
Welt said nothing at the sight. He merely turned away in silence, avoiding looking at March 7th and Stelle.
"Hm? I have already dispatched a disciple to wait in front of the Exalting Sanctum plaza. Once our internal affairs are in order, I shall send word for your guide to bring you into the Divination Commission. Please wait patiently here."
With that, Fu Xuan took out a spherical machine and placed it in front of Kafka.
The next moment, Kafka's presence faded considerably, prompting Stelle to reach out blankly, trying to touch the "vanished" Kafka.
"Heh, see you in a little while." Kafka chuckled and followed Fu Xuan, gradually disappearing from everyone's sight.
"Aw, I was going to remind her not to forget to let us watch..." March 7th scratched her head, then glared at Stelle. "It's all your fault!"
"Oh, come on. Diviner Fu seems like someone who keeps her word to me. No need to worry." Zhang Xiu stepped in, drawing everyone's attention to himself.
"The Divination Commission will probably need plenty of time to get ready. Let's have some fun here~" As he spoke, he took the new mask his wife handed him, waved to the others, and stepped into the Exalting Sanctum.
The moment he entered the Exalting Sanctum, an air of prosperity washed over him.
The Stellaron had not affected this place in the slightest. Everyone chatted and enjoyed themselves as though nothing had changed.
The bustling crowds, hawking vendors, and people telling stories or savoring tea were everywhere, making Zhang Xiu feel as though he had traveled through time once more, arriving on a street in the flourishing Tang dynasty.
Behind him, Yaoshi gently tugged at Zhang Xiu's clothes and, with his help, climbed onto his shoulder.
Then, in the hands of this Lord of Longevity, Zhang Xiu's hair began to grow longer. She only stopped once it reached his waist.
"Mm-hmm~ My husband truly is a beauty without equal." Chuckling, she brushed aside the hair covering Zhang Xiu's cheek and kissed it softly.
"Of course~ Back when I was in school, people even pursued me." Zhang Xiu brimmed with pride, only to abruptly realize something.
He immediately cast a cautious glance at Yaoshi, but found her wearing an amused smile. "Could it be that my husband thinks I would grow jealous over this?"
"Ahem. Would you?" Zhang Xiu blinked innocently at her.
"Mm... indeed." As she spoke, Yaoshi gently pinched the spot she had just kissed, but quickly let go, afraid of hurting him.
"Haha. Hm? Over in that plaza..." Zhang Xiu's eyes widened slightly as he looked at the crowd gathered in the distant plaza.
Yaoshi also noticed the heaviness emanating from her husband, while the worried conversations of those around them reached his ears.
Right, I almost forgot. The wounded brought here from elsewhere would all receive treatment from Bailu in the plaza.
At that thought, Zhang Xiu abandoned his plans to get a haircut or pick out clothes and headed inside with Yaoshi.
The crowd stood packed in layers around the center, still talking among themselves...
"Tsk, tsk. How did they get hurt this badly?"
"Yeah, I heard the Xianzhou was facing some sort of crisis, but was it really bad enough that they had to use the Exalting Sanctum to house the wounded?"
"You said it. If you ask me, could this be the work of those Skydeep people who arrived a while ago?"
"Hmph. Those people still worship The Plagues Author. How could they possibly stand united with our Xianzhou?"
Zhang Xiu paid those remarks no mind. He knew these misunderstandings could only be dispelled through time spent getting used to one another. A few words would never sway the Xianzhou natives.
"Sorry, please let us through. My wife's a doctor. Let her take a look."
Soon, Zhang Xiu squeezed his way to the front of the crowd and saw more than a dozen Cloud Knights lying on stretchers, gasping for breath.
Without much hesitation, Yaoshi jumped down from Zhang Xiu's shoulder and approached someone on the verge of succumbing to mara.
Golden light spread from her hands as she gently swept them over the patient's face, gradually steadying their breathing.
Yaoshi saved the others in the same manner.
Just then, a commotion arose at the outer edge of the crowd. Hurried footsteps accompanied a youthful voice. "Everyone, make way!"
Yet when the owner of that voice reached the Cloud Knights, she found that they had already stabilized. "...Huh? What's going on here?"
Zhang Xiu looked up at her. The newcomer had pale purple hair and resembled a young child, her bright cyan eyes sparkling with lively intelligence.
Bailu, the Dragon Lady of the Healer's Apothecary. In her previous life, she had been Baiheng of the High-Cloud Quintet, who died in battle against Shuhu.
To resurrect their friend, Dan Heng's previous incarnation, Dan Feng, had joined forces with Yingxing to use the Dragon Transformation Method, only to turn her into an abominable dragon. Had Jingliu not intervened in the end, there was no telling how much havoc they would have wrought.
After the Imbibitor Lunae Rebellion, Dan Feng and Yingxing were confined in the Prison of Deep Seclusion.
A languishing crimson dragon, solemn green pines. Dan Feng's scales were stripped away one by one, leaving his body like a blood-red dragon.
Afterward, Dan Feng reincarnated as Dan Heng. Only after two hundred years of imprisonment was he exiled by his former friend, Jing Yuan.
Yingxing had originally been sentenced to immediate beheading, but after swallowing Shuhu's flesh and blood, he could not die even if he wished to. He was imprisoned in the Prison of Deep Seclusion, until Jingliu broke him out.
"Hey, mister, what are you thinking about?" Bailu's voice pulled Zhang Xiu back to reality.
"Oh, nothing, nothing... Ha, hello there. My name's Zhang Xiu." Zhang Xiu shook his head, chuckled, and crouched down to look at her.
"Zhang Xiu? My name's Bailu. Who's this lady beside you?"
Zhang Xiu did not give it much thought. Before his brain could catch up, he blurted out, "Oh, she's my wife. Her name's Yaoshi."
"...What?"
Before you continue