Inside the Divine Manor of the Cangyan Xianzhou.
"Welcome, everyone, to the Cangyan Xianzhou."
"Whether you came by invitation or on your own, Cangyan welcomes any friend."
The General, who had been sitting above the hall all this time, finally spoke.
But the moment that voice reached the Federation of Hope's group, every one of them frowned.
It sounded somewhat like Sora… and yet, on the level of its essence, it was subtly different.
Familiar. Too familiar.
Their confusion didn't slow the speaker's pace in the slightest.
"And as for why you've come, there's no need to say it aloud—surely it's for the Heaven-Mending Creation that will be held soon."
"Since today our honored guests just so happen to be gathered here, I'll tell you all the location of this Heaven-Mending Creation…"
"This time, it will be held atop the Ten-Thousand-Zhang Icefield."
The Ten-Thousand-Zhang Icefield?!
Hearing that, the Fangyuan Dragon Lord's cold, proud brows lifted sharply.
Ahri showed no particular reaction—she only nodded, as if confirming the arrangement.
Only Yanqing, after hearing it, couldn't help the three question marks that practically popped over his head.
Cangyan Xianzhou, Cangyan Xianzhou—your very name carries flames.
That should mean what you value most here is fire.
And yet now you're telling him that on this Xianzhou… there's an icefield?
Wasn't that a little too… disjointed?
Yanqing's thinking face was naturally caught by Jing Yuan. He chuckled.
"The Ten-Thousand-Zhang Icefield counts as one of Cangyan Xianzhou's major sights. And this place is also, at present, where the Foxians are gathered."
The Foxians on Cangyan were different from the Foxians on the other Xianzhou ships.
On other ships, Foxians lived mixed in with the Xianzhou natives. But here, the Foxians seemed to share some kind of tacit understanding—gathering together on one side.
And that settlement was right by the Ten-Thousand-Zhang Icefield.
"It's said there's a special rumor among the Foxians on Cangyan. Supposedly, long ago a guardian deity suppressed and sealed the ones who harmed Foxians… inside the icefield."
And now they were choosing to hold it on the icefield—was that implying the host clan this time was, in fact, Foxian?
Jing Yuan's gaze landed on Ahri.
And she, as if sensing his eyes, gave him a faint smile in return.
Such sharp perception.
No wonder she was the leader of the Foxians on this Xianzhou—no wonder she was one of Cangyan's three great masters.
That's right. Aside from the Fearless General, there were three acknowledged great masters beneath the General in Cangyan.
First: the Xianzhou commander who also served as Sword Champion—Yu Yi. At this very moment, she seemed to be traveling back toward the Xianzhou together with a girl.
Second: the Vidyadhara commander, the Fangyuan Dragon Lord—Jin Xing. It was said the thing she loved most each day was wandering all across the Xianzhou, "maintaining public order."
And besides those two, there was the Foxian commander—Tushan Ahri—who rarely made a move, yet whose strength no one questioned.
She seldom fought, but that didn't mean no one came seeking her out for a challenge.
It was just that in the end, her standing never wavered in the slightest—and those challengers had nothing to say about it, either.
Under the General's "leadership," these three great masters together maintained peace across the Xianzhou.
Every time Jing Yuan thought of it, he couldn't help sighing in his heart.
Cangyan was overflowing with talent: beneath the General, three great masters stood side by side.
And on the Luofu… the present generation was withering. It was as if the former High-Cloud Quintet had sucked the Luofu's luck dry.
"Who knows when the Luofu will ever have a scene like this."
Forget it. Why think about that? He'd come out this time to relax.
...
"Khan!"
A Borisin scrambled in on all fours, braving the snowflakes on Mount Buzhou as it rushed into Bolue's tent.
"N-no—something big happened!"
Bolue had been flipping through the documents in his hands. Hearing his subordinate, he frowned.
"What now?"
"They've started pushing forward again—and that guy changed into a new form again!"
The frantic Borisin reported the latest from the front.
After a brief rest, the Xianzhou Alliance had actually begun steadily advancing the battle line again.
More importantly, that monster who'd brought endless terror to the Borisin had even switched to a new color.
"Oh?" Bolue said. "What's the new ability this time?"
He immediately pulled open file after file—records of every form Sora had ever taken.
Know the enemy and know yourself, and you will never be imperiled in a hundred battles.
Sora had put such pressure on him; of course he'd gather as much intelligence on that man as he could.
And through analyzing the places Sora had once stayed, he'd even found something… intriguing.
A mysterious power—one that looked absurdly simple, yet had astonishing plasticity.
So now he needed to collect even more data on Sora.
And the fact that this man had revealed another new "appearance"…
Wonderful. Truly wonderful.
The more power you show, the faster my analysis of your power progresses!
"This time it seems to be flight. He's charging at the very front of everyone!"
"Just flight?"
"Yes! That guy's made it so the brothers blocking the way can't hold at all!"
After hearing that, Bolue felt a little disappointed. If it was just ordinary flight, that hardly counted as "strange."
He'd been expecting Sora to display something like the gravity control or water control from before.
Instead, the new power was simply… accelerating himself, flying.
Too common.
"If it's only that, there's no need to pay it any special attention."
Hearing that Sora hadn't used anything more exotic, Bolue stopped caring about it.
"Then, Khan, how should we handle their offensive?"
At those words, the gaze behind Bolue's gold-rimmed glasses fixed on the Borisin.
The atmosphere in the tent instantly fell into something… inexplicably heavy.
Sensing it, the messenger Borisin couldn't help clamping his tail between his legs. Its ears slowly drooped.
Did I say something wrong? Why is the Khan like this…?
It ran back through everything it had said, everything it had done.
No. It had reported truthfully. Not a shred of concealment.
Then the Khan is…?
In answer, there was only the tapping of Bolue's long, clipped nails against the tabletop.
Tap. Tap.
Like each knock landing on the Borisin's heart.
"In Cangyan all these years, I've spent that much effort… fattened that many Borisin…"
"I raised the clan from a few hundred to tens of thousands. Every weapon and piece of equipment was manufactured according to the high-grade designs in my memory—stronger than this Xianzhou trash by who knows how many times."
"Come," he said. "Tell me. What are we supposed to do on this battlefield?"
The messenger Borisin swallowed hard.
"U-understood."
"What did you understand?"
"I—I…"
Bolue pinched the bridge of his nose, helpless.
"Fine. Then I'll show you what real tactics look like!"
He swept a wolf-claw through the air—and a battle map of deep, lucid blue unfurled before them in an instant.
Across it were marked countless Borisin positions.
"What you're going to do now is push the battle line forward by fifty meters!"
After issuing that order, Bolue extended a finger and pointed at a position near the edge.
"Have everyone here shift all firearms to the left—interdict their flank, stop them from supporting immediately…"
He spoke out one tiny operation after another, so detailed and exact that the messenger stared as if it were beholding a god descending.
As expected of Khan Bolue—such meticulous control down to the finest granule. It made the blood boil, made one submit in awe!
Only after finishing the orders did Bolue slow down a little.
"Did you remember everything I just said?"
"Yes!"
"If you remembered, then why aren't you running to pass my orders down?"
Only then did the messenger Borisin realize—then it bolted out on all fours.
Bolue sat back down, feeling utterly speechless.
Why were these clansmen all so stupid?
Could it be that the entire clan's intelligence had all been concentrated into him?
Tsk…
Thinking about it carefully, it really did seem possible.
As Denizens of the Abundance, the Borisin differed from other Denizens in that their bodies had a specific place where Abundance power gathered.
For ordinary Borisin, it mostly gathered in the liver.
But some special Borisin had it gather elsewhere.
For example, that new warhead before he was captured—"Borisin Warhead: Hoolay"—it was said the Abundance power gathered in his heart.
And Bolue's gathering point was his brain.
That could very well be why his intelligence far surpassed the other Borisin.
Yet every time he thought of this, Bolue couldn't help clenching his fist.
"A bastard who stole the warhead seat while I was away studying… Once I'm out, I'll make you tumble clean off that position."
And in his heart, he also suspected that the reason he'd been captured back then… was because of that guy.
Otherwise, with his intellect—paired with such fine tactical micro-management—how could conquering the Xianzhou not have been effortless?
Wasn't it said that in experiments, the more meticulous the operation, the more precisely you achieved the desired result?
His micromanagement was that detailed—so being taken by the Xianzhou had to be someone sabotaging him from behind!
And if he thought about it, it made sense. He had only just returned from further studies at the Intelligentsia Guild; the people under him didn't know him well at all.
So those dogs being directed by someone else, and creating a fatal flaw… was entirely possible.
In any case, his capture had absolutely nothing to do with him—not even half a hair.
"This time, I'll lead tens of thousands of loyal clansmen—so your petty schemes will have nowhere left to breathe!"
Bolue couldn't help curling his lips into a smile as he thought that.
Returning to his side this time were the utterly loyal subordinates he had painstakingly cultivated over centuries.
Once he led these tens of thousands of loyal clansmen back to Duran, seized the warhead seat from that "Hoolay"—
Bolue seemed to already be dreaming of that beautiful future. In that future…
Fangs hung at his throat as a necklace. He sat upon the warhead throne. With a single point of his finger and a single wave of his hand, enemies fell into the starry void, Abundance blessings laid out before him as offerings.
Under his leadership, the Borisin would stride into an entirely new future!
He dreamed on—until the sound of snow being trodden suddenly reached his ears again.
Bolue frowned, cutting his eyes toward the flap.
And then a figure burst straight into the tent—
It was the very same one who had just left.
"What now? Did my command take effect?"
Push the line forward fifty meters—make those Xianzhou trash understand what Borisin strength looks like!
"Reporting, Khan—your command failed!"
When it said that, the messenger Borisin's voice was trembling violently.
It truly hadn't expected the warhead's tactics to fail so quickly.
And the method the other side used…
It left it utterly dumbstruck.
Pa! Crack!
With a crisp sound, the table before Bolue split cleanly into two.
Documents flew everywhere through the tent, yet none of it could hide the rage in Bolue's eyes.
"What did you say?!!"
My command can't be wrong. My strategy can't fail.
"Reporting, Khan—we had no choice. Those people directly drew in countless azure waves, and then they… they froze the azure waves into ice!"
The messenger Borisin could only spit out the truth.
"Our brothers couldn't retreat in time—every last one of them got frozen solid!"
"What nonsense are you spouting?!"
Bolue lunged forward and seized the Borisin by its mane.
"Even if those Vidyadhara can control cloud-and-water, they can't possibly make water freeze!"
He had already collected all the intel.
Vidyadhara controlling water was a talent. But making water take on all kinds of transformations—that was the power of different Dragon Lords.
And the Cangcheng's Dragon Lord absolutely did not have such power.
"It's—it's true…" The messenger Borisin was about to cry from panic.
It was telling the truth—why wouldn't anyone believe it?
...
"[RAGING WAVES, SETTING SUN—HORN MANSION, NOT YET DAWN]!"
Amid Jin Xing's furious shout, the power of countless Vidyadhara layered onto her at once.
Scale after scale of dragon hide surfaced across her body, wrapping her up completely—like some little dragon maiden.
And the small horn on her forehead, after the power gathered, looked razor-sharp.
Power surged, resonating into waves—until, from the distant horizon, a winding, unbroken long river was carved through the sky.
The Tushan that had been lushly green was swallowed in an instant by those surging tides.
How could the Borisin hidden in each outpost have ever imagined the other side would choose a method like this?
They'd been in the middle of fine-tuning their tactics—only to have the whole place get flooded straight out from under them.
The current was so fierce they couldn't control their bodies at all.
And this wasn't even natural water—it was being controlled. The flow burrowed straight for their noses and mouths, forcing its way in.
They couldn't steady themselves. Breathing started to turn difficult.
But it wasn't over yet. What came next was—
That purple silhouette, soaring and charging through the sky!
He plunged straight into the azure tide without splashing up even a single drop.
And then something that made your scalp prickle happened.
The water that had still been churning and moving… gradually stopped.
Cold drifted through the air. White frost bloomed along fur like flowers. The Borisin's motions froze in that very instant—utterly locked in place.
Even the way they'd strained their mouths open to gasp for air could still be seen through the transparent ice.
And the purple figure who had triggered that massive freezing tide burst out from another direction, continuing to streak toward the distance.
Sora's power seemed bottomless—no sign of running dry.
But Jin Xing couldn't take it anymore.
The dragon scales on her body receded at lightning speed; even the little horn on her forehead dissolved completely.
Facing Jin Xing's overdrawn state, Yu Qi hurried forward to support her.
"Dragon Lord, are you okay?"
"I'm obviously fine. More importantly—shouldn't you be marveling at the spectacle me and Sora just made? Later you won't even get the chance!"
To this Vidyadhara Dragon Lord, compared to worrying about how much power she'd burned, she cared more about the scene she and Sora had forged.
And to be fair… it really was breathtaking.
Waves stretching tens of thousands of li had been frozen at the exact instant of their roaring upheaval—as if endless cold had fallen all at once, freezing and sealing everything in the world.
And that was the scene the Vidyadhara and Sora had created together.
The Vidyadhara used their cloud-and-water secret arts to draw in every surge of tide within Cangyan, flooding the land.
And Sora charged straight into it, using the power of the Dinosaur Combo to freeze and suppress those waves completely.
Only with both sides working in sync did this icefield—stretching tens of thousands of zhang—come into being.
Thinking of it, Jin Xing felt downright giddy.
See? See that?
This is me and Sora, working together!
A spectacle like this—there's no way you could've even imagined it!
If her body would allow it, she'd have wanted to throw her head back and laugh twice.
As for Jin Xing's mood, everyone else could only feel helpless.
But with this, a lot of trouble really did get cut away.
Especially the possibility of the Borisin circling around from behind for a pincer ambush—now that was completely shut down. With that gone, they could charge forward with their backs at ease.
It was just that the exhilarated Fangyuan Dragon Lord seemed a little too hard to rein in.
"I can do it again! I'm not missing a chance this good!"
Miss it now, and who knew when the next time would be.
And besides, these places—she could come back later to admire them as much as she wanted. It was amazing!
She had to seize the moment. One more time.
Faced with this unbearably rowdy Dragon Lord who listened to nobody, everyone present was at their wits' end.
Especially the Sword Champion of the Cangcheng. He'd worked alongside several generations of Vidyadhara Dragon Lords—and he understood their temperament far too well.
No helping it. This one's personality was just like this.
Someone who could make her behave—before now, that had never existed, except…
The Sword Champion of the Cangcheng watched as someone descended from the sky.
Except this one.
"Take her down to rest properly. The hard fight starts next."
The moment those words came from above, the Jin Xing who'd been making a fuss went completely quiet.
Sora dropped from the sky and said to them, "I went to check their movements. They're no longer scattered—they're converging on Mount Buzhou."
Before, those Borisin had been spread throughout Tushan. Trying to catch them all would've been slow and exhausting.
Now, under the ice-sealing offensive, they'd finally chosen to gather all their forces together.
And that meant the goal of this strategy—proposed right at the start—had been achieved.
"It's easier to deal with them when they're clumped together. You worked hard, Jin Xing."
"Ehehe… it's nothing, it's nothing."
Watching the Dragon Lord scratch her head and laugh like an idiot, the Sword Champion of the Cangcheng couldn't bring himself to believe she was the reincarnation of an old friend.
The Fangyuan Dragon Lord back then had been cold and proud, with a terrible temper—and only General Futian could manage to exchange a few words with her.
But the Fangyuan Dragon Lord now—why did she give off such a silly, cute vibe?!
"Hey! Old man, are you thinking something rude?!" Jin Xing suddenly seemed to sense something and fixed her eyes on him.
"N-no. How could I?" the Sword Champion hurriedly tried to clear himself.
On the other side, Sora gathered everyone in charge and laid out what he'd discovered.
Right now, all the Borisin were clustered on Mount Buzhou—and their weapons and equipment were extremely lavish.
Compared to that, their own gear looked downright shabby.
The only thing they could really claim was an advantage in numbers.
If it were only that, Sora wouldn't have bothered saying it like this.
The main thing was—when he went over there, he sensed something was off.
"There's some kind of strange power coiled around the edge of Mount Buzhou. They seem to be able to grasp, to a certain extent, the power of an Abundance blessing."
This discovery could be called heavy, even among heavy things.
If the enemy could, to a certain extent, use an Abundance blessing to bolster themselves—
That feeling made Sora think of a term the Foxian Elder had mentioned.
Path reversion.
It was something the Borisin leader Bolue had been researching all along.
And now it looked like he'd managed to get somewhere with it—enough that these Borisin could, to a certain extent, handle the power of ABUNDANCE.
Which also meant one thing:
On Mount Buzhou, they might be the kind of existence you simply couldn't kill.
Why are the Denizens of the Abundance so disgusting?
Because they don't die, and they're impossible to shake off.
And with Mount Buzhou as a crutch, these Borisin packed together would have the same effect.
"So everyone has to rest this time. This could be a long campaign."
Sora set the expectation in advance—because the length of this battle might exceed what anyone anticipated.
Everyone nodded in turn, tacitly accepting it.
The situation in front of them was simple.
Kill the Borisin holding Mount Buzhou, then use the power of multiple Paths to force Cangyan out of Rahu.
Too bad "simple" didn't mean "easy."
With the enemy able to wield the power of ABUNDANCE, it was an extra hurdle laid right across their throats.
"Then what if we can suppress Mount Buzhou—make the Abundance blessing fail, just for a moment?" the Sword Champion of the Cangcheng offered.
"But with an Abundance blessing this complete, even if I go all out, I can't suppress it," Jin Xing said, vexed.
If Mount Buzhou were only rock and stone, she could press it down easily.
But Mount Buzhou had already recovered in full. Even if she unleashed everything, it would be hard to suppress that Abundance blessing.
"I have a way."
In the Sword Champion's murky eyes, a sharp light stabbed out.
"I have a method—one that can temporarily sever the calamity of Buzhou."
He slowly spoke his plan.
And after he received everyone's agreement, he smiled.
And the final battle… was about to begin.
---
T/N: zhang is a measuring word, translating it a bit differently, tell me how it is, this chapter and the next 9 chapters if i dont see a single comment about these upcoming chapters I WILL DROP THIS FRFR