Chapter 120: Two Children Debating the Sun
"Didn't I just say? I'm not charging you," Rekka said, spreading his hands with an air of unimpeachable righteousness. "A free divination means I tell the unvarnished truth. I'm all about sincerity. In the future, you should just focus on being a proper General and stop thinking about how to slack off all day. Once you become the General of the Luofu, you'll have plenty of things to give you a headache. That person... they'll just be one of your many troubles, at most."
"Plenty of things to give me a headache?" Jing Yuan's eyes flickered with a brief glint of interest before he smoothed his expression back into its usual nonchalance. "You're getting more and more ridiculous. You've already promoted me to General?"
"Believe it or not, it's up to you." Rekka pushed himself up from the ground, patting the dust from the hem of his long, flowing robe. "Anyway, the message has been delivered. I'm off, I'm off."
He turned to leave, but Jing Yuan's hand shot out and clamped around his wrist.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute. You can't just pique someone's interest and then try to walk away."
Rekka made a show of shaking his hand, theatrically pulling his wrist free from Jing Yuan's grasp. "I already said I'm not taking your money, so how can this be called a business transaction? This is called forging a karmic bond. Besides, the secrets of the heavens must not be revealed in their entirety. If I say any more, I'll be struck by lightning."
"Stop trying to fool me with that mystical nonsense," Jing Yuan said, his gaze fixed on the supposed diviner. "You said I'll be a General in the future, and you also said I'm fated to clash with someone whose name carries the character 'You'. If you can't give me a clear explanation today, I'm not letting you go."
Seeing Jing Yuan's relentless stance, Rekka's eyes darted about. He tapped his fan against his palm twice and put on an expression of deep regret. "Revealing half and keeping half is the rule of the trade! If you insist on me chewing the words up and feeding them to you, it'll shorten my lifespan. Besides," he gestured vaguely at the bustling street, "with people coming and going, what does it look like for us to be pulling and tugging like this? Anyone who doesn't know better would think I owe you money."
Jing Yuan didn't buy the act for a second. He took a single, deliberate step forward, blocking Rekka's path completely. "Then let me ask you this: what is your name?"
Rekka offered no answer. Instead, the two young girls who had been standing silently behind him moved as one. With two sharp, metallic clangs, they crossed their heavy swords, forming a barrier that halted Jing Yuan in his tracks.
With a low hum that seemed to warp the very air, the three of them vanished.
Jing Yuan was left frozen in a half-reaching posture, standing dazed on the busy street. The clamor of the crowd continued around him, a stark contrast to the impossible event he had just witnessed. It was as if three living people hadn't just dissolved into thin air right before his eyes.
He slowly withdrew his hand, rubbing his fingers together as if to confirm that he was still awake, that the whole encounter hadn't been some bizarre daydream.
Just like that, with a soft hum, they were gone.
'Could he really be a master?'he wondered.'And he even said I'm fated to clash with someone named 'You'...'A sudden, absurd thought struck him.'Did he travel all this way to give me a fortune reading just so he could personally clash with me? If so, this master's eccentricities are a bit too strange.'
Jing Yuan shook his head, deciding to put the absurd matter out of his mind for now. Whether the man was a true immortal or a common charlatan, he hadn't been swindled out of any money. He would just have to chalk it up to a curious encounter.
He was probably just someone looking for a bit of fun.
The air distorted slightly, and the figures of Rekka, Rozaliya, and Liliya stumbled out into a quiet alleyway.
"Wait, Captain, our mission isn't over yet?" Rozaliya asked, steadying herself.
"Right," Rekka confirmed, already shrugging out of the ornate robe. "It's not over."
"I need to go return these clothes."
"Return? What are you returning?"
"I have to give this robe to Dan Feng," Rekka said, waving the garment in his hand.
Rozaliya and Liliya exchanged a confused look. "Wait, what?"
"What do you mean?"
"To put it simply," Rekka began, choosing his words carefully, "this robe was brought back to the past by the future me. It then became the robe that Dan Feng wears for specific festivals. It's precisely because of this that I was able to get this robe from Dan Heng in the first place. Now, I have to find a logical way to give this robe to the Dan Feng of this era, and then make him believe the robe was always meant for him."
Rozaliya blinked, her mouth opening and closing a few times. "I don't get it, but that's not important. Captain, we'll do whatever you say."
"You're saying this robe was specifically sent by the Dragon-Sovereign's attendants for me to wear during the festival?" Dan Feng's voice was low and cool, his crimson eyes scrutinizing the garment.
"Yes, yes, yes," Rekka chirped, bowing slightly. "Uh, that attendant said he saw your clothes were a bit worn, so... uh, he asks that you please go easier on them next time."
"...Hmph." Dan Feng accepted the robe, the fine fabric settling in his hands. "Tell them to reflect on their own actions properly."
He was, after all, the strictest father figure to the Dragon-Sovereigns. During this period, if any of them dared to cause trouble, they would be whipped into a spinning top by his discipline.
"Wait a moment." Dan Feng's voice stopped Rekka just as he was about to slip away. His gaze shifted, fixing on Rozaliya and Liliya, who were cloaked in an aura of Permanence to blend into the Vidyadhara territory. "The two children behind you... are they Vidyadhara?"
"Ah, yes..." Rekka stammered.
"Don't be in such a hurry to leave. Explain yourself." Dan Feng's voice dropped, carrying an authority that was impossible to question. "Where did these two children come from? Who is so bold as to let them run around the clan grounds with such features?"
"Those are just decorations! They can be pulled right off. They aren't real dragon horns..." To prove his point, Rekka reached out and unceremoniously plucked the horn from Liliya's head.
This Liliya, after all, wasn't a MANTIS. Her fusion surgery had failed, and the horns and tail she wore were auxiliary prosthetics Rekka had installed for her later.
"Besides, High Elder," Rekka continued, holding up the object for inspection, "these are just toys I made for the children to wear because they look nice. There's nothing wrong with that, right?"
"...Hmm." Dan Feng took the horn and examined it carefully. It was indeed a mechanical creation, carefully made but certainly not a real dragon horn. "I misunderstood. You may go."
Rekka wasted no time, quickly leading Rozaliya and Liliya out of the Vidyadhara territory. After confirming there were no more temporal debts to pay, he brought the two girls back to the Astral Express.
"I finally managed to fool him," Rekka sighed, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead. "That gaze was like a knife. When he was staring at me just now, I was breaking out in a cold sweat. Acting in front of Dan Feng is so exhausting."
Liliya stopped walking and held out her fair, delicate little hand. "Captain, give me back my horn. I want to put it back on."
Rekka quickly handed over the mechanical horn he had pulled off, taking a moment to gently tidy her messy blue hair. "Sorry, Liliya. It was a sudden situation, so I had to wrong you for a bit."
Liliya clicked the horn back into its slot on her head with a soft snap and adjusted her small top hat. "Captain, actually... I want to install another one."
"Install another one?"
"Yes," she said matter-of-factly. "So it's more convenient for you to grab onto."
"Why would I need to grab onto it?" Rekka asked, feigning ignorance.
"Don't play dumb, Captain," Rozaliya chimed in, pointing an accusatory finger at him.
It was like watching two children debate the sun.
A familiar, calm voice cut through their bickering. "Rekka, is the matter resolved?"
"Resolved," Rekka confirmed, turning to face Dan Heng.
"Good. Then where are my clothes?"
Rekka's smile became a touch strained. "Uh... how about you go back and check if they're still in your wardrobe?"
Dan Heng just stared. "...?"
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