The Heavenly Generals' Council was the highest form of deliberation within the Xianzhou Alliance.
It was not a mere communication link. Either all seven generals had to personally arrive at the designated place, or at the very least, seven unfettered wills had to descend there together.
And this time, the council was being convened remotely through the Yuque.
One by one, seven phantasmal figures took their seats within the Yuque's council hall.
Seven high-backed chairs were arranged in a circle, and behind every chair floated the phantom of a spirit.
That was the fundamental symbol of each general's identity as an Emanator.
Behind Jing Yuan stood the Lightning-Lord, its eyes lowered, silent and still.
The other generals, too, each bore their own spirit as they silently watched the center of the hall.
There, an image was playing on a loop.
It was the very vision Nous had projected on the Luofu.
The tiny white-haired figure—Theresa.
The woman called Red Kite, bow in hand, with a spirit behind her modeled after Lan, the Hunt itself.
And that one line—
"For Yuanqiao."
When the image finished, the great hall fell into silence.
After a long while, a deep voice broke it. It came from Huaiyan, general of the Xianzhou Zhuming.
"We have already verified this footage. There is no trace of forgery."
After a pause, Feixiao of the Yaoqing spoke next, her tone far more direct.
"No matter who she is, the most important thing right now is Yuanqiao."
She turned to Jing Yuan. "General Jing Yuan, you've had the most contact with that Miss Cecilia on the Luofu. Do you have any further intelligence regarding Yuanqiao?"
Jing Yuan shook his head.
"I also spoke with Miss Cecilia before this meeting."
"And according to her, she doesn't know much about Yuanqiao either."
"The only thing she knows is that, before vanishing, the mysterious Miss Theresa once told Cecilia that she had found the lost Xianzhou."
The council fell into another brief silence.
Theresa's name had once again seized the attention of every general present.
At that moment, General Youwu of the Xuling suddenly asked, "General Yaoguang, how goes the Yuque's investigation into this Theresa?"
Yaoguang answered at once.
"Even with the full strength of the Yuque behind me, my calculations failed."
The words made several generals frown at once.
Everyone knew that the Luofu's Matrix of Prescience had been derived from the Yuque's Ten Directions Omniscient Array.
And Yaoguang, general of the Yuque, possessed eyes naturally suited to divination.
"Failed? General Yaoguang, the Yuque's Ten Directions Omniscient Array is the strongest divinatory apparatus in the Alliance. Even you could not calculate her?"
Yaoguang shook her head. "It wasn't that I could not calculate her. It was that I was blocked."
She paused, her gaze sweeping across the assembled generals.
"Every time I tried to trace the causal threads of that Miss Theresa, I was obstructed by a force like a veil of mist. The essence of that force…"
She fell silent for a moment, then spoke two words.
"Enigmata."
The atmosphere in the hall instantly grew several degrees heavier.
"So it truly is Enigmata…" Huaiyan said in a low voice.
"According to Miss Cecilia, Theresa's existence has been obscured by Enigmata. It seems she did not lie."
"And there's more," Yaoguang continued.
"When I tried to push past that layer of mist, I vaguely sensed another power interfering."
"Another power?"
Yaoguang nodded and looked toward the frozen image at the center of the hall, her gaze settling on the bow-wielding woman called Red Kite.
"If my perception was correct… it was the power of the Hunt."
"And it was purer—stronger—than the spirit of anyone seated here."
Once those words were spoken, the generals fell silent again.
Feixiao of the Yaoqing was the first to speak.
"So the general of Yuanqiao is called Red Kite. No idea what her real title is, but if she can use the Reignbow itself as her spirit… I'd love to test blades with her."
By now, before this meeting had even begun, the generals had already reached a shared conclusion about Yuanqiao.
Whatever the reason the ship had vanished for so many years without returning, one fact could not lie—the spirit that served as a general's insignia.
Clearly, that woman called Red Kite was the current general of Yuanqiao.
Feixiao's remark about wanting to spar may have sounded casual, but everyone present understood what it implied.
What did it mean to wield the Reignbow itself as a spirit?
It meant that the blessings of the Hunt bestowed upon Red Kite far exceeded those of any one of them—including the Marshal.
At last, Hua, who had not spoken a single word until now, finally opened her mouth.
"We should broadcast this to the entire galaxy."
Feixiao reacted at once. "Marshal, this concerns a lost Xianzhou vessel. By rights, this is an internal matter of the Alliance. Must we really share this intelligence with outsiders?"
The other generals said nothing, but it was obvious from their expressions that they largely agreed with Feixiao.
Yuanqiao had been missing for nearly five thousand years, yes—but their forebears all came from the same source. No matter what, if there was news of that ship, none of the remaining Xianzhou would abandon it.
Only then did Hua explain her reasoning.
"Have you all really remembered only Yuanqiao's general, and forgotten Theresa?"
"From the vision Nous itself helped reveal, Theresa and Red Kite of Yuanqiao are linked by some sort of causal connection."
"And besides—" Hua paused, her gaze passing over every general in the hall. "Have any of you considered why Nous would personally intervene and complete the Luofu's divination?"
That question drew a range of reactions.
Then Yaoguang gave voice to her own suspicion.
"Could it be… that the Enigmata of Mythus can even deceive Nous itself?"
Exactly so. In the minds of the generals present, the reason Nous had personally descended into the calculation was likely because it wished to examine a past obscured by Enigmata.
But if even a fellow Aeon could have its memories altered by Mythus… then the threat of Enigmata had to be judged even more seriously.
"Why shouldn't it be possible?" Hua said again.
"Otherwise, none of us can explain Nous's actions, can we?"
"And how can you be so certain that the deception which erased the memories of the entire galaxy involved only a single Aeon?"
For an instant, the air in the hall froze.
"Marshal, are you saying that more than one Aeon may be involved in this matter?"
Hua did not answer directly. She merely raised a hand and pointed toward the frozen image in the middle of the hall.
Toward the spirit behind Red Kite.
The one modeled after the Reignbow.
"Do you truly believe that spirit merely resembles the Reignbow?"
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