"Confirmed! Not a single person injured or killed in this incident!"
"Same here!"
"Here too!"
Marshal Zhang Xianyuan stood in his official uniform, arms crossed, at the center of what now looked no different from a war zone freshly stilled. Flames still spread in patches through the debris of several collapsed buildings. He nodded as trusted subordinates contacted him at intervals with their reports, and let out a long sigh.
"No injuries at all — that's something to be glad about, isn't it?"
Bai Fanxian spoke from beside him, her tone even and unhurried.
"...It's good that the evacuation plan we'd prepared could be used this quickly. But still..."
The elderly Marshal looked around at the wreckage. The cost of damage the military and government would have to cover was already making him wince. He could not blame Tang Yeye for it — the root cause was Fenex going on a rampage after clashing with Grandmaster Lu Qing from the start.
"Next time, could you handle it...?"
Zhang Xianyuan cast a sidelong glance at Bai Fanxian as he asked. Because if this young woman had stepped in herself, the whole thing would have been guaranteed to end in the first three seconds.
But—
"I might have to leave..." Bai Fanxian had been turning something over in her mind and did not catch his question. Afraid she would forget to mention it, she quickly brought up her plan to travel to the Myriad Demon World — because once things got more hectic, she worried she would forget entirely.
"...For a while. Wait — did you say something just now?"
The mention of leaving hit the Marshal so hard that he barely registered her question. In his eyes, Bai Fanxian was the military's trump card. If she vanished and a powerful threat appeared, it would mean certain disaster for the country — and the thought made his chest tighten.
His mind moved quickly. The elderly Marshal looked at Bai Fanxian's unchanged, unbothered expression and found himself imagining, word for word, what she was probably about to say:
"So if there's anything you can handle, handle it yourselves... or if you can't, try struggling to find another way..."
That imagined line cut straight into Zhang Xianyuan, and he came to his senses.
Since meeting this young woman, his thinking had shifted somewhere along the way. He had been leaning on her without pushing himself the way he once had.
Right... we can't just hope she'll solve everything.
There might come a day when Bai Fanxian left this place, as she had once hinted she might. If that day ever came, they had to be able to stand on their own.
"...Thank you for the reminder."
Zhang Xianyuan bowed his head with a look of genuine remorse. He had come to believe that Bai Fanxian saw further and more clearly than anyone — and that even now, on the very day he had begun to slip into something unbecoming of the country's Marshal, she had quietly reminded him. That single short sentence was enough to make the Marshal look at her with deep gratitude.
"...Hm?"
Bai Fanxian herself had no idea what the man was reacting to. She answered with a confused look as Zhang Xianyuan — a completely different air about him now — excused himself to personally direct the subordinates working the surrounding area.
Did I say something wrong?
.
.
.
"How is it?"
"Probably not dead yet..."
Not far from the center of the clash, a large ice sculpture — the result of Tang Yeye's final attack — now occupied the ground. Fenex and the fire bird born from his magic were frozen solid, expressions of pure terror locked in place, unable to move.
Grandmaster Lu Qing walked around it, tapping lightly with one finger as he checked. Light as the contact was, he could confirm the man inside had not yet died.
"...You're too soft."
Chunfeng stood with crossed arms, watching. His gaze moved to Tang Yeye beside him — who was steadily working to recover her entirely depleted qi — sharp and glinting.
"Hehe."
The little one just scratched her head with an innocent look. Chunfeng let out a weary sigh.
"It's fine... you're still so young. Your hands shouldn't be stained with blood this early."
Without the formality, Grandmaster Lu Qing was no different from a kindly grandfather. He patted Tang Yeye's head gently, consoling her.
"But if Grandpa could've handled him, I wouldn't have had to step in, right?"
"Ugh!?"
That unexpected retort made Lu Qing clutch his chest in pain. He looked at the girl flashing her mischievous smile and knew at once she was teasing him.
"I'm getting old too..."
While lamenting this, two black bird figures appeared in the sky overhead, shooting through the air at full speed. Each carried several people on its back. Upon arriving, those passengers did not hesitate — every one of them leapt down from hundreds of meters with not a trace of fear.
"Yeye! Are you okay?!"
The first to reach the ground was another small girl. Grandmaster Lu Qing was taken aback watching Hui'er descend — she moved as though treading on air. The instant she landed she rushed to wrap Tang Yeye in a worried embrace.
"Sister Hui'er? How'd you get here?"
"...Hard to miss a clash this large."
The next to arrive was a man in white clothes, a long sword resting at his shoulder. The moment he landed, a quiet, settling calm spread outward, easing the tension in the area around him. General Liu Yianfei had dropped everything the instant he heard the news and come at full speed. He turned to bow in greeting toward Bai Fanxian, who returned a light nod.
"Sage..."
"Grandmaster Lu Qing. It has been a long time." Liu Yianfei clasped his hands and greeted the elderly man with genuine respect, putting on no airs whatsoever. Lu Qing waved it off and smiled.
"You're doing well, I see."
"Yes. I must truly thank you for your help back then."
The two were on the verge of saying more. At that exact moment, the next arrival came.
"Anyone injured?"
Wu Jia landed with a herbal cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. He had a bag slung over one shoulder packed with tools and medicine, and his eyes made a quick, efficient sweep of the scene.
"Seems safe... came for nothing, huh?"
"How can you say that, Doctor!"
Lin Xiaoting — disciple and assistant both — turned to scold her teacher the instant the black bird touched ground. She took the equipment bags from him and gave him another round of scolding, making him look pointedly away.
"My lady... you caused quite a stir again."
The last to arrive was elderly butler Huang Zihuan. He produced a chair and tea table from somewhere and set them down smoothly behind Bai Fanxian, then served her tea without being asked.
"Things over there went smoothly?"
Bai Fanxian lifted the teacup and sipped. The elderly butler understood her as always.
"Yes. Sword Master and Miss Meiying are watching the house, so I was able to come attend to you here."
"Good."
Bai Fanxian nodded and looked over at the two small disciples fussing over each other.
"You're not injured... that's a real relief."
Hui'er breathed out slowly. She watched her younger sister, who was already smiling and pulling out all three of her new weapons to show off.
"Sister Hui'er, look! Aren't they pretty?"
The small white pistols — compact in a way regular guns were not — were about to be fired as a demonstration. Chunfeng's hand shot out to stop her, the color draining from his face.
"Those are dangerous! Absolutely forbidden to fire them randomly."
He still had a vivid memory of that massive blue-and-white beam swallowing Fenex whole. A careless shot inside the city would not end like a regular pistol round.
"Aww... got it."
Tang Yeye pouted. But she understood, and without pushing back any further, she obediently stowed all three guns away properly.
"Yeye... your power?"
Liu Yianfei, whose senses were the sharpest among them, felt the shift in Tang Yeye's qi clearly and raised an eyebrow.
"Hehe... I'm a Grandmaster now!"
The girl leapt into the air. Her body did not fall. She simply floated there.
Tang Yeye puffed out her chest with pride. Liu Yianfei let out a quiet laugh — but in the same instant, he caught Hui'er's gaze, fixed in a daze on her younger sister, and realized he had done something terribly wrong.
How would Hui'er feel, watching her younger sister pull ahead again?
Older. Training longer. And yet somehow always one step behind.
"..."
But while Liu Yianfei stood at a loss, the girl smiled — slowly, with quiet satisfaction. The air around her shifted. A powerful aura radiated from Hui'er's body, drawing every eye in the area.
"Your sister was just worried about not having a sparring partner..."
"This is..."
Even Liu Yianfei's breath caught. Hui'er had surpassed herself from a month ago by a staggering margin. He watched the two sisters face each other, then looked toward Bai Fanxian for guidance.
"Stop playing."
Bai Fanxian walked over and flicked a finger — and both girls' power vanished at once. Tang Yeye and Hui'er laughed sheepishly and returned to normal. Bai Fanxian walked on to stand before Grandmaster Lu Qing, who had been watching the whole scene in silence for some time.
"Finished with your business, I suppose..."
"...That's right."
He let out one last sigh. When he raised his head, his face and eyes carried the look of someone who had made up his mind.
"Which matter would you like to know about first?"
"Then let's start with... your identity."
"...Bathin."