He Xi's Shock

(Training this morning, so the update is late. Sorry.)

The Protoss were a civilization filled with glory. Their victory in the first war of a brand-new universe carried extraordinary significance, and the Protoss returned to Aiur to prepare a Victory Banquet.

Sacrifice was nothing unfamiliar to them. They would forever remember every fallen Protoss, but they would not lose their will to fight because of it.

Shen Jun, however, still could not adapt to such farewells between life and death.

Though he had lived with the Protoss for only half a year, he had somehow developed an indescribable sense of identity and belonging toward this race. More than two hundred people... They had been living, breathing lives just the day before, but now...

On a mountain peak near the city of Daelaam, Shen Jun sat atop the highest boulder, gazing into the starry sky with complicated emotions.

Was this grief?

Shen Jun smiled helplessly. Even now, he did not know the names of those two hundred fallen Protoss, nor could he tell what they looked like. Since when had he become so sentimental?

"Hierarch, as a leader, you should maintain a calm state of mind at all times. The warriors who sacrificed themselves were all heroes. They would not wish to see you so dispirited."

Rohana's calm voice surrounded Shen Jun's ears. During the thousands of years she and the Spear of Adun had been sealed underground, whenever an outstanding Protoss died, their memories would be transmitted into the minds of preservers such as Rohana, allowing her to experience their lives almost firsthand.

Including every emotion they had felt before death.

Death was nothing unfamiliar to Rohana.

Naturally, Shen Jun understood the reasoning. Before the Protoss, he behaved no differently from a victorious general, but the pain in his heart was not something that could be resolved so easily.

Fortunately, the Protoss no longer used the Khala. Otherwise, Shen Jun would never have been able to hide his feelings.

In the end, it was still a lack of experience. Shen Jun sighed. The old saying had long made it clear: the compassionate cannot command armies. Yet he had still gone softhearted.

"Hierarch, Angel He Xi has arrived."

Rohana reminded him.

At that moment, a gentle breeze brushed across Shen Jun's face, light and comfortable.

"On the day of a great victory, why are you sitting alone on this barren mountain, honored Hierarch?"

He Xi landed behind Shen Jun.

Without turning his head, Shen Jun said, "He Xi, the Trigonians have already been defeated. Why aren't you returning to the Angel Nebula? What are you still doing here?"

Ignoring Shen Jun's question, He Xi walked over and sat beside him. Smiling, she asked, "You look like you're in a bad mood. That isn't the expression you should have after a victory."

He Xi said mysteriously, "Are you mourning those warriors who sacrificed themselves?"

"A ruler of a civilization as easily depressed as you is truly rare."

"To be honest, I find it a little unbelievable."

"We Angels have always regarded dying in Queen Keisha's embrace as our highest ideal, and we are all women. You are at least a male creature. Surely you aren't hiding out here alone just to sigh?"

Under that relentless barrage, Shen Jun could not take it anymore.

"Hey, hey, hey, what does the way you Angels do things have to do with us Protoss? And what the hell is 'male creature'? Besides, I'm not as depressed as you say. I'm merely commemorating the warriors who sacrificed themselves."

Shen Jun actually understood that He Xi was comforting him in her own roundabout way, though he could not hear how any of it sounded comforting... As for why she was doing it, he had no idea.

Besides, he had practically recovered already...

"Hey, why exactly are you staying here instead of leaving?"

He Xi raised a delicate brow and stared at Shen Jun with her beautiful eyes. Seemingly in all seriousness, she asked, "Am I beautiful?"

Shen Jun: "??????"

I asked why you weren't leaving, and this is your answer?

What kind of thought process is that!

They say you're a cheeky He Xi, and they were absolutely right.

But seeing that He Xi would not let the matter go without a proper answer, Shen Jun obediently nodded.

He Xi truly was beautiful—that was the truth. Shen Jun did not feel the slightest pang of guilt saying so, and her looks happened to fit his aesthetic preferences perfectly.

Who would have thought that after receiving an affirmative answer, cheeky He Xi would not be happy at all? Instead, her expression instantly changed, and she snapped, "So a stunning beauty like me is keeping you company, yet you're unhappy and still want to drive me away?"

Shen Jun: "..."

"Forget it. Stay if you want. After all, you contributed during the war as well. The Protoss recognize you as a friend."

The moment he said that, He Xi immediately became cheerful again. She certainly looked beautiful, but for some reason, Shen Jun felt a chill run through his heart.

"Shen Jun, why do all you Protoss call yourself Hierarch? Are you a religious civilization?"

Suddenly, Shen Jun realized that this might be a good opportunity to package the Protoss' image. He tried his best to make his expression even more sorrowful, as though he had recalled a past too painful to revisit.

"From a certain perspective, Daelaam does resemble a religion, but it is not one."

"In the language of us Protoss, Daelaam means great unity. It was an ideology proposed by a truly great Protoss, and he was also the one who eventually founded Daelaam."

"Great unity? Were you once a divided civilization?"

He Xi asked curiously.

"To explain this, we must trace things back to a very distant past. Long ago, the Protoss were already a highly advanced civilization. At that time, our civilization illuminated the universe like the stars themselves. In the beginning, the Protoss had eight great tribes. At first, they were united, their fates intertwined, until the outbreak of the Aeon of Strife."

"The Aeon of Strife?"

"The Protoss' insatiable thirst for knowledge drove them to develop an extreme and radical disposition toward science and psionic research. As their understanding and individual consciousness grew, the Protoss became immensely proud and began valuing personal achievements over collective progress. The more successful tribes started isolating themselves from the others."

"As the rise of individualism overwhelmed the collective bonds that had once existed, each tribe, driven by its pursuit of individualism, rekindled its ancient principles and customs in order to distance itself even further from its brethren."

"Then came the bloodiest and most violent civil war recorded in Protoss history: the Aeon of Strife. Countless generations of Protoss fought savagely throughout the Aeon of Strife, while our homeworld was ravaged by the enormous wars between the frenzied tribes. It seemed that the entire once-glorious Protoss culture stood on the brink of extinction."

"Of the eight great tribes, only three remained in the end: the Khalai, the Nerazim, and the Tal'darim."

"For various reasons, the Aeon of Strife eventually ended. Yet the three remaining tribes still stood opposed to one another. No one was willing to be the first to propose reunification, until the appearance of a sage two hundred and seventy thousand years ago."

"Two hundred and seventy thousand years ago!"

He Xi exclaimed in shock. No civilization in the Known Universe had existed for so long. Even the most ancient God River Civilization had only lasted two hundred thousand years, and it had already been destroyed. The Angels had existed for only eighty thousand years, Lieyang for forty thousand, while the Deno Civilization had not even reached ten thousand years yet. (In the Super God Universe, a civilization's lifespan was calculated from the time it entered the Pre-Nuclear Era.)

Yet the Protoss had possessed highly advanced technology hundreds of thousands of years ago?

Was that even possible?