"Um."
Qiong solemnly accepted the metal plate and put it in his pocket. The group then walked out of the prison together.
Sunlight streamed down, and Hanxing squinted. For a fleeting moment, he felt that his life might end down there.
"Then, we'll split into three groups."
He removed his hand from the sun; he had been there long enough for Hanxing to adjust to the intense light.
" Firefly and I will continue chasing Hoolay. You go find March 7th, Yunli, and Yanqing. Moze and Dan Heng, you go and pick up the General and Jiaoqiu."
"Receive."
The group of people present spoke in unison, then dispersed into three groups and headed towards their respective destinations.
"Bu Li's leader... is truly cunning and treacherous."
Hanxing sighed softly and tried to mobilize her power again. Unfortunately, she still couldn't activate any abilities other than the Star Eyes.
"Xing, you need to rest now. Let me take you away."
Before Hanxing could refuse, Firefly, clad in her mecha armor, wrapped her arms around Hanxing's waist, pushed off with her feet, and activated the thrusters in mid-air, leaving a green trail behind her.
"Firefly... relax... relax a little --"
Hanxing shifted his body slightly. After spending so much time with Firefly, he seemed to have discovered that his waist was a little... sensitive.
"What's wrong, Xing?"
For some reason, Firefly's voice seemed to carry a hint of provocation, but she quickly restrained herself and gently relaxed her movements.
"What, didn't you have enough fun those few days?"
Hanxing's voice was dissatisfied. The two of them had barely left the house for the past few days, so it wasn't hard to guess what they had been doing.
"No, it's just... don't push yourself so hard next time--"
A sudden sob appeared in Firefly's voice:
If I had come any later... those few days would have been the last time I saw you--
Hanxing composed himself. He was lucky that the little pendant worked this time; otherwise, no one would have known he died down there.
Gently embracing that steel-hard body, Hanxing's voice was so soft it was almost inaudible:
"Yes, next time... I definitely won't do it again."
"It's good that you know you were wrong, hmph--"
Inside the mecha, Firefly pouted, but her search of the surroundings didn't slow down at all. After scanning the various people with the mecha's HUD, it unlocked and scanned for a new target.
"It seems... not so easy to find, but... how about trying the power of ' Harmony ' now?"
Hanxing rubbed her eyes, which were fogged up by the wind and sand, and suddenly came up with a brilliant idea.
In the blink of an eye, the deep blue stars were edged with yellow and purple, and the black and red hair turned golden red.
"As expected, this energy didn't integrate into my body; it seems it's still usable!"
Hanxing's face was filled with joy. Although she couldn't get a replenishment of the Path Energy for the time being, according to the amount stored in this pendant, she could probably last for another 10 minutes.
The locked marker was activated, but unfortunately, the previous marker link was broadcast as location coordinates. Although the Firefly successfully found itself, it also completely severed its connection with the marker of the Modu.
"This is... really not good news."
Hanxing sighed and put down the firefly pendant. The border disappeared, and the blue Star Eyes went out along with it.
"The marker is missing; we'll have to search for it slowly."
Letting out a sigh of relief, Hanxing and Firefly continued scanning downwards. Although they found nothing, it was better than doing nothing at all.
At this moment, Qiong could already see Yanqing standing in the middle of the crowd.
There were three people talking nearby. One of them was a local from Xianzhou, and the other two were Penacony who had asked the group about tourist attractions earlier.
"Sigh... Speaking of which, when exactly does this Wardance begin? I've seen that Skysplitter floating in the sky for days now; when can we finally board it and take a look?"
The Pepeshi sounded somewhat frustrated; they had to admit, they had indeed been waiting for quite a long time.
"Is this the lifestyle of the Long-Life Species? The pace is so slow. The 'expectation' level in my emotional center is at an all-time high. I need to drink some cooling liquid to cool down."
The Intellitron next to him clearly spoke with higher emotional intelligence, but his words still implied that he was complaining about the machine's slow pace.
"Don't worry, as long as you buy tickets, the Earth-Balance Commission will send you the boarding notice in advance. I saw in the official gazette that the Skysplitter will fire a salute before the ceremony!"
The locals in Xianzhou said this, as if they were companions the two had just met on their travels.
"Looking at the first day's schedule, the defending swordsman from the host country has accepted four challenges in one go? I heard he's just a kid, is that true? Bardo, which side are you betting on to win?"
Pepeshi sighed, but she didn't realize that the person she was talking about was listening to everything not far away.
"I can't download anything over there. I lost all my Credits watching Motorball on Tayzzyronth. This time, I'm not going to rely on probability games to achieve my 'get rich quick' goal anymore..."
The Intellitron's voice was filled with regret; it seemed he had a good understanding of the adage, "Gamblers gamble, gamble until they lose everything."
" Wardance, sigh..."
Yanqing sighed softly. He had already visited the Seat of Divine Foresight once before and knew about Hoolay's prison break. Thinking about how many tourists might be affected, he felt a headache coming on for General Jing Yuan.
Qiong had been observing Yanqing for some time. Just as Yanqing snapped out of his own world, he saw Qiong in the blink of an eye:
"Teacher, you've arrived."
Yanqing paused, as if she were still somewhat frightened:
"I heard that you and Mr. Dan Heng went to see the judge, and as a result, the entire Prison of Deep Seclusion was thrown into chaos. I was worried about you two. I'm glad you're both alright."
" Hoolay from prison, and we couldn't stop him... Hanxing lost most of his abilities and almost died down there. Luckily, Firefly saved the day; otherwise, we might not even have been able to get out."
Qiong paused slightly before speaking again:
What are the plans of the Seat of Divine Foresight?
" Borisin traveled thousands of miles to infiltrate Luofu, attempting to rescue their leader through treachery and trickery... This whole affair is too suspicious, unlike what Bu Liren would do, but rather bears some resemblance to the actions of the Demon King's rebels during the Ambrosial Arbor catastrophe."
"That makes sense. And the smoke bombs Hanxing mentioned can even sever the connection with Path. It doesn't seem like something a bunch of muscle-bound, simple-minded guys could make."
Qiong rested her chin on her hand, pondering for a moment. Perhaps more mysteries could be uncovered in the whole incident.
"For this reason, the three generals were on high alert and took action, intending to eradicate the fugitive and the culprit to prevent further trouble."
Yanqing continued:
"But... if these Borisin can disguise themselves as Foxian... where do we even begin to dig them out?"