After resting for a while, night soon fell.
Looking at Shen as he wiped his long blade, Akali couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and say, "Seems like my teacher isn't as weak as I imagined sometimes~"
"It isn't weakness; it's making the correct decisions and trade-offs."
Hearing Akali's words, Shen shook his head and said calmly, "Akali, I know that in your eyes, I often seem too soft and pedantic. But this concerns the balance of two realms. As guardians, we must be more cautious than anyone else."
"Is it really caution? Or is it anger?" Akali questioned.
There was a brief silence. Shen then shook his head helplessly. "Facing such a scene, what Ionian could not feel anger?"
Hearing Shen candidly admit his rage, Akali was surprised. Usually, Shen was the picture of extreme caution. Now, he was actually admitting his anger so openly? She asked herself, if it were her... uh, she might find some excuses to dodge the question.
Shen remained very calm, saying softly, "The First Lands raised us. The spirits of all things are like our family. I know I am angry, but I will not let that emotion cloud my judgment."
Akali tilted her head, still looking confused.
"Then why are you doing this?" Akali's face was full of bewilderment. "Are your current actions not driven by your anger? Or is it that you don't even realize you're angry, and you've just found a reason to call it a 'calm judgment'?"
"You think too shallowly of your teacher." Before Shen could respond, Faen, who happened to be passing by, shook his head helplessly and walked toward them.
Noticing Faen, Shen quickly bowed in respect. If at the beginning he viewed Faen as a peer, after everything they had been through, Shen realized that in terms of individual power and understanding of the world, Faen far surpassed him. Furthermore, Faen now represented the will of the Enlightened One, so Shen had to treat him with the utmost seriousness.
In contrast, Akali looked much more casual, though a flicker of awkwardness crossed her eyes when she heard Faen's voice. She quickly regained her composure to greet him, but Faen waved his hand to stop her before she could speak.
"No need to be so tense; we're all friends." Faen shook his head, then looked at Akali. "As for what you just asked Shen... the answer is actually very simple. What are the enemies the Kinkou Way faces?"
"The enemies of the Order? Do you even have to ask? Naturally, those who disturb the balance between the two realms," Akali shrugged. "Right now it's the Noxians, but before that, it was the evil spirits, right?"
"Exactly. Evil spirits, those lives of the Spirit Realm." Faen nodded and continued, "Those spirits born of the spiritual plane are best at finding the flaws in a person's heart. A practitioner of the Fist of Shadow can easily turn into a reckless, headstrong fool with one wrong step. It is because of this realization that every generation of the Fist of Shadow follows the wisdom of the Eye of Twilight. In that regard, Shen is doing very well."
Hearing Faen's explanation, Shen was stunned for a moment, then nodded thoughtfully.
The current Shen was still quite green. His true growth would only come after the Ionian War ended, when Jhin escaped prison to plague the people again and Shen reached an understanding with Usan (Zed) regarding the true mission of Balance. One characteristic of Ionians was their refusal to speak plainly, always wrapping things in profound, mysterious concepts rather than expressing them directly.
Of course, it wasn't just to be secretive; it was because the understanding of the Spirit Realm is far deeper when realized personally rather than told by others. However, in the coming era, some of those old ways were destined to be discarded.
While the two were still thinking, Faen patted their shoulders and said, "Don't just stand here dazed. Prepare for battle. We're landing on Fae'lor tonight... and to truly complete our mission, I expect I'll have to go 'offline' for a period of time. While I'm gone, everything will depend on you."
Shen and Akali looked at each other and nodded. "Understood."
Leaving the master and apprentice, Faen went to Irelia's side.
The current Irelia felt like a completely different person. She had swapped her loose dancer's robes for a tight, form-fitting, breathable, and resilient combat suit—the very one from her official artwork. However, her weapon was not the shattered family crest blades from the lore, but a set of pocket spirit-blades passed down through the Xan family for generations, known only to the clan heads.
Faen had known Irelia's awakening of the Blade Dance would be extraordinary, but he hadn't expected it to link her to the Divine Sword legacy. The "Divine Sword" was originally a celebratory skin from the Immortal Journey series.
In the skin's universe, the power level was exceptionally high—while not reaching the cosmic scale of Aurelion Sol, it was at least above the Aspects of Mount Targon or the Primal Demigods of the Freljord.
But looking at it now... they were likely just similar concepts rather than the same thing. Faen mused that according to Lady Xan, the Divine Sword Dancers of this world gained the essence of the Spirit of Ionia during the ancient war, giving them the ability to "slice the world." This didn't quite fit the "weapon-centric" world-building of the Immortal Journey skins. If anything, it was a different manifestation under the same general theme.
Faen didn't get caught up in the logic. He looked at Irelia, who was repeatedly inhaling and exhaling deeply. "You look nervous?"
Irelia gave a shy giggle. "Senior Brother, can you help me relax a bit?"