Hearing this, Zero stopped in his tracks, his tone giving away neither anger nor joy.
"Dan Feng, do you know what you're saying?"
Dan Feng stared at Yingxing beside him, his gaze moving from the streaks of white at his temples to the fine lines at the corners of his eyes.
He turned his head to look at Zero.
"Sorry, I…"
Dan Feng paused, changing how he addressed him midway.
"I lied to you."
Even after being deceived by his friend, Zero's expression didn't change at all.
Dan Feng gave a bitter smile.
Were they friends? Or superior and subordinate?
With Yingxing and the Vidyadhara involved, Dan Feng had no time to think about that. He could only choose every word carefully, weighing each sentence, afraid that one wrong word might drag others into it.
After hearing what Zero had just said, Dan Feng felt like he had suddenly woken from a dream.
To the outside world, Dan Feng was the brave and skilled Vidyadhara High Elder who healed the wounded.
Within, he fought against numerous dragon elders, the "Imbibitor Lunae" who carried the hopes of his people and was most likely to resolve the extinction crisis of the Vidyadhara.
In dreams, Dan Feng had received fragments of memories from past cycles. With thousands of years of memories, when facing the Cloud Knights and his people who entrusted him with their faith, he would sometimes feel overwhelmed.
Then what about Zero? The Marshal of the Xianzhou who commanded eight ships and countless planets?
Zero was right.
They really were alike.
They could have many identities, but they alone were not themselves, and could not be themselves.
Dan Feng quickly arrived at the answer.
They were friends.
His expression turned dazed. He closed his eyes briefly, forcing his voice to stay steady.
"Zero, you don't need to… you don't need to go find Zandar."
'Someone as proud as you… how could you bow your head to others for the sake of the Vidyadhara?'
Not even Zandar, who created an Aeon. Not even the Reignbow Arbiter. Even before Aeons, you've never bowed your head.
If Yubie found out about this, he'd probably enter your dreams just to scold you.
The sound of the wind by his ears irritated Dan Feng.
But the moment he met Zero's gaze, his thoughts instantly calmed.
On that face was the same gentle expression the "Imbibitor Lunae" had seen countless times.
Those who had witnessed Zero's thunderous methods and grew wary of him would feel he was overly arrogant when meeting his gaze.
That look seemed to have already seen through others' lies, simply watching the farce before him in silence.
But those who trusted him, who admired him, would instinctively want to pour out their thoughts to him.
They knew the person before them would unconditionally accept them and fulfill their wishes.
In the entire star sea, only Zero was qualified to listen to the troubles of the Vidyadhara High Elder, the "Imbibitor Lunae."
Only he could understand him.
Dan Feng opened his mouth, but for a moment didn't know where to start. He could only speak in fragments, saying whatever came to mind.
He first talked about the complicated rules and customs of the Vidyadhara, then cursed the dragon elders who always blew their beards and glared.
After cursing them, he began talking about the comrades he had known who were buried in the Forest of Loyalty.
"I don't understand why the abominations can return again…", Dan Feng spoke incoherently.
He was completely lost in his own thoughts, not noticing Bacchus's expression suddenly change, nor the color slowly draining from Zero's face.
Aha was furious.
They had worked so hard to save their best friend and the star sea… and now there was someone dragging things down? Why bring up the Cloud Knights now? Why mention mara?
Even Akivili's death, his best friend had blamed on himself… now he was going to take on the burden of the Xianzhou people again. Wasn't this like stabbing him straight in the heart?
Aha trembled as he raised a hand, about to point at Dan Feng, only to have it pressed down by Zero.
Yingxing, who had been out of the loop the whole time, held his jade communicator and fell into thought.
Maybe… he should just follow Jingliu's suggestion and find a few Vidyadhara to accompany Dan Feng?
He carefully glanced at the three people around him. Seeing no one paying attention to him, he started scrolling through Dan Feng's contact list again.
After talking for a long time, Dan Feng paused, then sighed.
"You're right. We are very alike."
"Those in power… must avoid acting on emotion."
"But… my friends, they see me as Dan Feng's friend…" There are only these few.
Zero said nothing for a long time.
Seeing this, Dan Feng immediately sped up his speech.
"You also said, if it were possible, you would save them..."
Zero's expression went blank. A sharp, piercing pain surged from his chest, as if a blade had stabbed straight through him, twisting again and again, then dragging upward, tearing through his throat.
It was clearly phantom pain, so why could he still smell blood when he breathed?
Was it some unknown illness? Or a lingering effect from when he had nearly died last time?
Zero had no time to think.
He struggled to breathe, swallowing down the metallic taste in his throat.
Zero thought, that's right.
He would save everyone.
Not… let them leave him, not let them die.
His voice was barely audible.
"Dan Feng, what about you? How do you plan to solve your people's problem?"
Dan Feng said, word by word, "The Transmutation Arcanum."
Zero nodded and asked, "Would Yingxing agree?"
Yingxing had been flipping through the communicator until it grew warm in his hand. He had just filtered out a dozen or so Vidyadhara contacts for Dan Feng and sent them his location when he suddenly heard Zero mention his name.
He looked up, confused.
Dan Feng's eyes flickered.
"Yingxing…"
He rarely lied, and one of those times had even been mercilessly exposed by Jingliu.
Facing the unguarded Yingxing, Dan Feng only called his name, then fell silent.
Yingxing didn't understand. He thought for a moment and recalled the purpose of their trip.
"Uh, I know you're doing this for the Vidyadhara, but I think… shouldn't we take this slow?"
Dan Feng subconsciously repeated, "Take it slow?"
Yingxing said awkwardly, "Yeah, like the weapons the Zhuming Artisanship Commission mass-produces."
"From research, to testing, to finally rolling them out to the Cloud Knights, which one didn't take decades, even hundreds of years?"
Dan Feng went absent-minded for a moment, then stared at him with a strange look Yingxing had never seen before.
"Decades… hundreds of years…"
Dan Feng frowned deeply and shook his head with a sigh.
"Yingxing, that's too long for you."
Yingxing instinctively felt something was wrong and turned a pleading look toward Zero.
The Zero he was counting on suddenly pulled a knife out of his coat pocket.
Yingxing, "..."
He looked at Dan Feng, who was staring at him in a daze, then at Zero holding a knife.
Why did it feel like neither of them was quite right in the head?
Yingxing instinctively took a step back.
Only then did Dan Feng come back to his senses and turn to look at Zero.
He stood there without moving, as if asking for permission.
Zero's expression was gentle, his eyes carrying a kind of fondness that Aha and Dan Feng knew all too well, as if no matter how much trouble the person he looked at caused, it wouldn't shake him in the slightest.
He let out a soft laugh. "Alright, let's begin."
Just in time to verify his guess.
Aha said nothing and quietly watched.
He thought, this was a dead end.
His best friend had already given up the first option. He wouldn't die at the Imaginary Tree, wouldn't use his flesh as fertilizer.
But now, whether it was sister-in-law or the people his best friend had raised, no one could stop him anymore.
Forget about Mati, the one his best friend spoiled the most. Probably only Akivili coming back to life could break this situation!
But where in this world was there a divine tool that could bring the dead back to life?
Even though dying sooner or later was inevitable… Aha still wanted to struggle a bit more.
No, he needed to drag another Aeon into this to share the burden.
'Lan. You're the one.'
Otherwise, Aha himself really would die here on the Luofu. He was using his true body to be with his best friend.