Chapter 158: Fu Xuan: Let Me See What You're Hiding
Fu Xuan fell into a deep, contemplative silence. What, exactly, had she missed?
She hadn't factored the Aeons into her calculations. Then again, who could have possibly imagined that a group of them would descend upon the Xianzhou Luofu for what amounted to a team-building exercise?
In the public consciousness, most Aeons were extraordinary beings, operating on a plane far beyond the grasp of mortal logic. The only exception was perhaps Aha, who at least possessed a flicker of something resembling "humanity." Even Lan, the Undying Starlord, had never deliberately restrained their divine power when answering the Xianzhou's call to "draw the bow."
Yukong's own Dao heart had once been shattered by one of Lan's arrows. It was she who had uttered that now-classic line: "In the face of an Aeon's great power, what does anything we do truly amount to?"
The power of the Aeons was simply beyond mortal imagination. Even the Emanators, beings of such vaunted status, were often portrayed as if they could genuinely engage in a divine war against an Aeon.
But in the end, results were all that mattered.
The Lord Ravagers of the Antimatter Legion certainly carried themselves with enough lofty arrogance, didn't they? Z-Z-Z-Zephyro, the Eternal Freeze, aimed its very existence at opposing Xipe of the Harmony, a true standout among Emanators. Yet, no one had ever seen Zephyro actually succeed in taking down the Aeon.
The other Lord Ravagers were much the same. Each targeted a specific Path, and their posturing made it seem as if they could one day usurp the corresponding Aeon. In reality, however, the Aeons were all living perfectly well, hanging high in the cosmos, safe, sound, and utterly unfazed.
Even Ennui, the Lord Ravager who targeted the Path of Elation, was a walking punchline. The prevailing theory was that one day, Aha would personally log into the universe just to mess with them. Oh, but don't misunderstand—Aha wouldn't stoop to something as dull as Ennui's one-hundred-and-fifty-two-year war on Syracuse-III.
No, what everyone truly suspected was far more theatrical. They believed that at the critical moment of some grand final battle, Aha would first take care of Ennui, then disguise itself as the Lord Ravager to reenact the drama of "infiltrating the Astral Express and blowing it up."
It would be the ultimate hat trick.
It was easy to see that no matter how much the Lord Ravagers were hyped up, they could, at best, only scratch the skin of an Aeon. It was just like Phainon, the extraordinary Radiance, who exhausted all their power only to leave a faint, insignificant scratch on Nanook's face.
It was precisely because of the Aeons' overwhelming power, combined with their distinct lack of humanity, that even a brilliant strategist like Jing Yuan had never considered this possibility.
Even if Leon had confessed outright, admitting he'd brought a few Aeons over for a company retreat, Fu Xuan and Jing Yuan would have likely just laughed it off as a preposterous joke.
Unless, of course, the facts were laid bare right before their eyes.
"That is precisely why Master Diviner Fu must be the one to step in," Jing Yuan's projection said, his gaze turning toward the approaching members of the Astral Express. His tone was steady. "If we are to restrain the Stellaron Hunters, who can peer into the future, only you, with your ability to foresee what is to come, can counter them. As for assistance… how could I possibly arrive unprepared?"
He set aside the perplexing divination results. The urgent priority now was to use the Matrix of Prescience to probe Kafka's memories. At the very least, they had to uncover the Stellaron Hunters' true objective.
The Stellaron Hunters were not a large organization; their numbers were, in fact, unusually small. But every single member was an elite, and their leader was none other than Elio, the man who called himself a "Slave of Destiny."
And Elio was someone who absolutely had to be taken seriously. His "scripts," as he called them, were simply too accurate.
Fu Xuan's own divinations were certainly precise, but they often only allowed her to glimpse a final outcome, with the process leading to it remaining shrouded in mist. Elio's scripts, however, were terrifyingly complete—or at least, that was the impression he gave to the outside world.
"Grand Diviner, although I didn't receive your direct order, I brought the guests anyway," Qingque reported with a cheerful, slightly sheepish smile.
"The General is certainly opportunistic when it comes to using personnel," Fu Xuan chuckled dryly. "He shows no mercy."
"Since they are here, we must make the best use of them," Jing Yuan replied calmly.
"Entering the Matrix of Prescience without my permission is against the rules," Fu Xuan began, her formal tone softening. "But if I were to say that, it would make me seem rather unsympathetic. It is a pleasant surprise to see you all."
Her gaze swept over the group, lingering for a moment on Leon. She still remembered him. He was the one who had brought that bizarre group of people to the Xianzhou Luofu all that time ago. Where had they gone now? And had he rejoined the Astral Express crew?
"We meet again, Miss Fu Xuan," Leon offered with a friendly greeting.
He was already buzzing with impatience. He couldn't wait to see the legendary scene where Fu Xuan used the Matrix of Prescience to peer into Kafka's memories.
'Elio is, after all, just a wisp of a clone of Terminus, the Finality,' Leon mused.
The sheer, overwhelming power of the Aeons meant Fu Xuan couldn't divine anything related to them. But Elio… Elio could genuinely see it all. He could see it because he was, in essence, a part of Terminus. It was like a monkey created from one of Sun Wukong's hairs; even if it didn't possess one ten-thousandth of the original's power, it could still use abilities like the Fiery Eyes.
Terminus was similar to Fuli, the Remembrance; both ascended to godhood at the end of "the end." The difference was that after Fuli became a god, their projection traversed the past. Terminus, on the other hand, manifested thousands of clones that traveled backward from the future, constantly pursuing the optimal possibility.
According to the worldview of this universe, the end was an inevitability. Thus, the births of Fuli and Terminus were also inevitable. However, the "time of the end" could be tomorrow, the day after, or in the near future. Or, it could be in the infinitely distant future—an eternal tomorrow that would never arrive.
As long as the apocalypse remained in that infinitely distant, unreachable future, the world would never be destroyed. And this paradox did not hinder the existence of Terminus and Fuli in the slightest. In other words, the world never ending and the birth of these two Aeons could exist simultaneously.
Aeons were just that abstract: incarnations of concepts, manifestations of cosmic rules.
'Honestly,'Leon thought,'if Tayzzyronth hadn't been stunned by those three hammer blows from Qlipoth, suddenly feeling that The Propagation was meaningless and contrary to its own Path, I doubt it would have been killed so easily.'
Oh, and of course, there was the bug in the system that was Leon himself. The various Aeons in his chat group already seemed capable of slightly deviating from the influence of their Paths, no longer bound to act according to their nature at all times.
"Although that child Qingque seems lazy on ordinary days, she does her best at critical moments." Fu Xuan pulled herself from her thoughts, her tone softening as she addressed the crew. "Once the Matrix of Prescience restarts, I will let you all witness the miracles of the Divination Commission. Please forgive me for keeping you waiting."
"Spare us the pleasantries! We heard what the General said," March 7th replied with a grin, striking a pose. "Just leave whatever needs to be done to us!"
"Then I will speak plainly," Fu Xuan said with a nod. "The Divination Commission is currently short-staffed. I will have to trouble you all to assist in restarting the array mechanism and, incidentally, clear out the Abundance abominations spawned by the Stellaron."
"If we handle it, does that count as leaking state secrets?" Leon asked with a playful smile.
"And we don't even recognize the structure of the array," Stelle added, ever practical.
"I will have Qingque accompany you as a guide," Fu Xuan said, glancing at the jade-loving girl beside her. "As for clearing out the abominations..."
"I cast a divination for myself," March 7th suddenly declared with a light cough, striking another dramatic pose. "And I discovered that we are all destined for a life of toil."
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