Chapter 160: Fu Xuan: It's Over! Everything Matches!
Kafka stepped gracefully into the center of the Matrix of Prescience. Beneath her feet, complex purple patterns flared to life, their ethereal glow reflecting the composed smile on her face. The surrounding jade abacuses began to hum in unison, their beads clattering as countless streams of data flowed through the formation like a miniature galaxy.
Fu Xuan formed a series of complex hand seals, the third eye on her forehead—the Dharma Eye—swirling with a golden light. "Matrix of Prescience, activate."
In an instant, the light within the formation intensified. Fu Xuan's consciousness surged toward Kafka like an unstoppable tide, seeking to trace the threads of her past and unravel the true intentions of the Stellaron Hunters.
The light grew brighter, and the smile on Kafka's face only deepened.
A moment later, Fu Xuan's eyes snapped open, her expression a mask of deep doubt and disbelief.
"Is... is this for real?" she whispered, her voice trembling slightly. "You Stellaron Hunters... you couldn't have conspired just to play a trick on me, could you?"
The Matrix of Prescience could not only deduce the future but also recall the past. It was the very reason March 7th had once tried to use it to reclaim her lost memories, though she had ultimately failed.
The first thing Fu Xuan had sought was a key conversation from Kafka's mind—a private discussion between her and Elio, the enigmatic leader of the Stellaron Hunters.
Elio's voice had emerged with chilling clarity in her consciousness: "Five Aeons have already stepped onto the Luofu... think of it as an Aeon team-building session."
Fu Xuan's first reaction was utter disbelief. She immediately redirected the full power of the matrix, abandoning the past to deduce the future course of the Xianzhou's current crisis. The results, however, were baffling. They indicated that the Stellaron Hunters had no direct connection to this disaster; the true mastermind was someone else entirely. In fact, the "best future" Elio had scripted showed the Stellaron Hunters' goal was to help a friendship between the Xianzhou Luofu and the Astral Express.
But when Fu Xuan tried to peer any further, all visions of the future were suddenly shrouded in an impenetrable fog. No matter how hard she pushed the Dharma Eye, no matter how much of her own energy she poured into the matrix, she could no longer penetrate the haze.
'How can this be?'she thought, a knot of dread tightening in her stomach.'This is the Matrix of Prescience, and my Dharma Eye was bestowed by Nous himself!'
Could it be... that Elio was telling the truth?
Are there really five Aeons on the Luofu right now?
A cold sweat instantly broke out on Fu Xuan's back. This was beyond bad. General Jing Yuan had to be informed immediately.
"How is it? Do you like this truth?" Kafka's amused voice sliced through her thoughts, pulling her back to the present.
"Is this... real?" Fu Xuan felt her vision go dark for a second.
Seriously? She had thought, at most, that some powerful Emanator had their sights on the Xianzhou Luofu. But Aeons? And five of them?
Suddenly, she felt a strange sense of gratitude that Jing Yuan was the one sitting in the General's seat. No, now was not the time for that!
She had to message the General immediately. Closely monitor all unfamiliar faces on the Xianzhou. Restrain all personnel throughout the territory. Suppress the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus and control the movements of the Dragon Master at all costs. She absolutely could not allow any complications to arise that might offend an Aeon. If they did, the Xianzhou Luofu could genuinely vanish into nothingness in a single, silent instant.
No wonder her previous divinations were all a mess of contradictions: blessings and disasters coexisting, fortune and misfortune intertwined, gains and losses inseparable. Now it all made sense. Whether it was a blessing or a curse, good luck or bad, depended entirely on the mood of those five divine beings.
Wait... five Aeons? Five unfamiliar faces?
An almost-forgotten memory slammed into Fu Xuan's mind. That day she had gone to drag Qingque back to the Divination Commission... how many outworlders had been with her?
One, two, three, four, five... six.
Fu Xuan's expression relaxed. She let out a long, shaky breath. Thank goodness, the number didn't match. She was just scaring herself. How could it be such a coincidence? The day she went to catch a slacker, she just happened to run into five Aeons? Impossible.
"Of course," Kafka said, watching Fu Xuan's rapidly changing expressions with great amusement. "In fact, everything is already moving toward the best future."
"It's easy for you to say!" Fu Xuan shot back through gritted teeth. Why couldn't the Aeons go for a "stroll" through the Stellaron Hunters' hideout instead?
"What did you see?" Leon asked curiously from the side. Logically, even with the Matrix of Prescience and the Dharma Eye, Fu Xuan shouldn't have been able to perceive the traces of an Aeon. But judging by her reaction, she clearly knew something. Did she know Aeons had descended, but not which ones?
"By the way," Fu Xuan suddenly turned to Leon, suppressing the frantic palpitations of her heart. She asked tentatively, "Those five friends of yours... where are they right now?"
She paused, then added with forced casualness, "And what were... their names again?"
"Qingque should still remember, right?" Leon didn't answer directly, instead turning to the girl beside him with a knowing smile.
"Oh, of course I remember! We were just talking about them," Qingque replied, completely oblivious. She began counting on her fingers. "One is named Elysia, one is Sampo, and then there's Fu Huimian, The Omniscient, and the Amber King."
As she spoke, she started laughing. "Speaking of which, when they first arrived, they were playing some 'Aeon Roleplay' game, claiming to be Aha, Fuli, Nanook, Nous, and Qlipoth..."
Before Qingque could finish, Fu Xuan felt her legs give out. She stumbled backward, a wave of dizziness washing over her. Leon, reacting with lightning speed, caught her and held her steady.
'It's over,'Fu Xuan's mind screamed.'It's over. It all matches.'
It really was them! She wished she could just faint and be done with it. She had almost forgotten this detail, but Qingque's reminder brought it all flooding back with horrifying clarity.
Five guests, five Aeons. It matched. It all matched.
Elation, Remembrance, Destruction, Preservation, Erudition... exactly five. But... how could Destruction be mixed in with them? Would the other Aeons really get along peacefully with Nanook? And why in the world would they come to the Luofu for a "team-building session"?
'Wait, Fu Xuan, calm down. Don't panic,'she told herself, her thoughts racing.'The Luofu doesn't seem to have offended any of them, so... we shouldn't be their target, right? Right?'
"Hey, hey, hey, Lady Diviner, what's wrong with you? Don't scare me!" Qingque yelped, startled by her master's sudden collapse. She rushed to support Fu Xuan's other arm.
"Qingque..." Fu Xuan's voice was weak, barely a whisper. "Where are they... now?"
"Where? The Omniscient, the Amber King, and Fu Huimian were playing Celestial Jade with me all afternoon," Qingque answered honestly.
"Did you... win a lot?" Fu Xuan's heart tightened.
"No, no! I only won three rounds at the start, then I kept losing and losing, until I finally won one more at the very end," Qingque sighed, scratching her head. "That 'The Omniscient'is way too good; he was constantly on the verge of winning or had already won."'Right,'Fu Xuan thought grimly.'That's Nous for you. To be able to win even a few rounds against the Aeon of Erudition... Qingque, your luck is already defying the heavens.'
"And where are they now...?" Fu Xuan pressed.
"I don't know. They should still be wandering around, right?" Qingque shrugged. "As for the other two... I heard Sampo seems to have entered the Shackling Prison, and Elysia... I heard she's disguised as a Cloud Knight."
As Qingque's voice fell, Fu Xuan's vision went dark again.
Shackling Prison?
Sampo... who was roleplaying Nanook, the Aeon of Destruction... had entered the Shackling Prison?
Aha, the Aeon of Elation, was masquerading as a Cloud Knight?
'General!'she mentally shrieked.'Nanook is in the Shackling Prison! Aha is loose among the Cloud Knights!'
"Lady Diviner, you're acting so scary," March 7th said, seeing Fu Xuan's pale, horror-stricken face. "What on earth is going on?"
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