Master, that's intimidation! (shouting)

"...All right, all right, it's getting late. I just checked the notice on my Jade Abacus. Apparently, something very important is happening tomorrow, and everyone has to arrive half an hour early."

His scalp prickled as he urged them:

"If the general's making such a fuss, whoever's coming must be someone important. Maybe someone sent by the Marshal. Let's get some rest-"

At that, the two put down their Jade Abacuses and discreetly breathed sighs of relief.

They simply couldn't bring themselves to connect Jingliu with the advice recorded in that guide...

Every tip felt like another bolt of lightning striking them! How was this any different from torture?!

Dan Feng's feelings were complicated. Were there really so many intricacies to courting someone?

Yingxing looked dazed as he read. How was Jingliu going to repay him for what she'd put him through...

But the haughty craftsman refused to concede defeat. After saving the guide, he forwarded it to Jing Yuan and declared solemnly, "Jing Yuan, I'll leave it to you to forward this document to Jingliu."

Dan Feng nodded in agreement beside him.

Jing Yuan stared in disbelief. "Me?"

He gave two dry chuckles.

Why dump this on him, the youngest? How was this any different from sending a lieutenant renowned for his strategy to challenge his Sword Champion master to single combat...

The two adults paid no heed to whether Jing Yuan lived or died, then casually claimed a guest room each and went to bed.

Jing Yuan: "..."

Jing Yuan wasn't sleepy at all. He stayed up until his usual sword practice time, then went out to the courtyard to practice by himself. Afterward, he sent his master a message reminding her that she needed to arrive early today.

The youngest yet most reliable of them, Jing Yuan woke the other three one by one, then set off with them as a group.

When they reached the Cloud Knights' training grounds, General Teng Xiao sent someone to summon Jingliu and told everyone else to proceed as usual.

Only after the day's training ended did Jing Yuan learn from his master who had come.

Jing Yuan couldn't believe it. "Master, who did you say? The Marshal? The Marshal came to the Luofu in person?"

Jingliu nodded. "The Marshal is busy with official duties. She only had time to tour the Sky-Faring Commission, the Alchemy Commission, and the Divination Commission with the general and the heads of the six commissions."

Before Jing Yuan could recover from that news, he saw his master walk toward the Diviner of the Divination Commission, who happened to be passing by.

He didn't know what the Diviner said, but Jingliu's already cold expression grew even colder.

Oh no, Jing Yuan thought. I forgot to tell Master about Xianyu.

Friends who knew Jingliu well understood that a cold expression didn't necessarily mean she was angry. Sometimes, she simply didn't know what expression to make.

Perhaps Jingliu had learned that Xianyu was on leave and mistakenly thought she'd seriously injured him?

But Master, if you ask with that expression, anyone who doesn't know you will think you're threatening them!!

After speaking with the Diviner, whose forehead was covered in cold sweat, Jingliu turned and walked over to Jing Yuan.

Jingliu looked as though she had something she very much wanted to say to him. After hesitating for a while, she took a deep breath and asked, "Jing Yuan, do you know Xianyu's address?"

The Diviner must have misunderstood Master and thought she wanted to settle a score with Xianyu, so they refused to give her his address...

With mixed feelings, Jing Yuan recited the address.

Even though he, Dan Feng, and the others had reached their conclusion and decided to help things along, actually facing his master and witnessing her favoritism toward his friend...

He still found it hard to accept!

Jingliu repeated the address and asked, "Has he always lived there?"

After receiving Jing Yuan's affirmative reply, his master revealed an exceedingly subtle expression.

It was so subtle that Jing Yuan had no way to describe it.

Seeing his master lost in thought, he whipped out his Jade Abacus and sent Xianyu a message, then said to Jingliu:

"A milk tea shop near Xianyu's place recently introduced a Peppery Soup flavor. Master, would you like to try it?"

Just as Jingliu was about to shoot him a murderous look, Jing Yuan hastily found an excuse and fled.

Jingliu lowered her gaze, searched her Jade Abacus for the address she'd just learned from Jing Yuan, and chuckled softly:

"It was in the opposite direction, yet you said it was on your way. I really don't understand you..."

Meanwhile, in a tavern on the Luofu that had long since been cleared of other patrons.

Once the subordinates had all left of their own accord, Teng Xiao took a deep breath and looked at the person opposite him.

"I came to the Luofu on personal business this time." The gray-blue-haired woman shook her head and sighed. "Why make such a fuss..."

"I wouldn't call this making a fuss."

Teng Xiao smiled and poured her some wine.

"Besides, Marshal, you spend all day working tirelessly for the Xianzhou. You rarely visit. Surely you can let your subordinates give you a proper welcome?"

"I've merely done what I ought to do. How could I deserve all that praise?" The Marshal chuckled. "If we're talking about achievements, that man is the one worth remembering. He conquered over a hundred planets for the Xianzhou."

Teng Xiao's expression instantly grew complicated.

The Marshal spoke at an unhurried pace. "Some of his Dossier may have been sealed, but you must have read it."

"Yes, I have..." Teng Xiao said with difficulty. "The former Marshal who led the Xianzhou for nearly five thousand years."

The former Marshal was so belligerent that even a dog passing by would have earned a kick.

At home, the former Marshal claimed he couldn't bear slaughter. He wouldn't play some clan-matching game by exterminating nine degrees of kinship; he'd only wipe out three.

Abroad, he attacked indiscriminately, especially when it came to the Swarm Disaster and Intellitrons. Wherever the Xianzhou went, he slaughtered his way through.

His mental state had the peculiar charm of a missing brain stem, as though he'd long since become mara-struck.

He had even personally killed subordinates who had followed him for over a thousand years.

The Chief Strategist, who suffered greatly under him at the time, said outright, "He's a lunatic!"

He had issued countless orders that others found utterly incomprehensible. Only decades or a century later would people suddenly grasp his intentions and marvel at his foresight.

No matter how outrageous his reasons for going to war were, the Xianzhou natives of that era seemed possessed, always carrying out his orders without question.

He would use Neutron Annihilation to destroy all life on a planet and mark its location. Once the environment recovered enough to become habitable, he would have Xianzhou natives settle there.

The former Marshal never tired of this, declaring it his favorite simple, efficient way of dealing with things.

Many intelligent beings beyond the Xianzhou were outraged, but none dared step forward to condemn him.

After all, no one knew what the former Marshal might do. He might turn up on their doorstep with the Colossus the very next second.

People could only refer to him vaguely as "that man" or "you-know-who."

In those days, countless planets submitted to the Xianzhou Alliance-or, more accurately, to the former Marshal's will.

Had he lived another thousand years or so, the Xianzhou Alliance might well have ruled the entire universe and renamed itself the Xianzhou Empire...

When news arrived that the former Marshal had disappeared alongside the Aeon of the Trailblaze and was presumed dead, the followers of the other Aeons all breathed sighs of relief and turned their attention to the Current Marshal, who had just taken over.

Rumor had it that the former Marshal had groomed the current Marshal as his successor.

Yet their ways of doing things were worlds apart. The former specialized in indiscriminate attacks, while the latter avenged actual wrongs, following closely in the footsteps of The Hunt to purge abominations.

Outsiders and Xianzhou natives alike had grown accustomed to the former Marshal's psychological abuse. Seeing this, they were moved almost to tears, exclaiming what a kindhearted Marshal she was!

There was absolutely no way she had been taught by that murderous former Marshal!

Some of the former Marshal's Dossier was sealed away as well.

The man who had ended the Swarm Disaster and the Emperor's War had long since become history. The countless Swarm he had killed and chunks of metal he had scrapped were ultimately reduced to numbers in the Dossier.

That history lay in the distant past, yet those strings of staggering figures still allowed later generations a glimpse of the former Marshal's madness and terror.

Why had the Marshal brought this man up?