Chapter 602 - 373: Departure(Extra Chap)

The meeting hall of Falling Blossom Villa remained thick with the scent of charred cedar and the heavy, electric hum of unresolved tension.

Outside the high lattice windows, the gentle afternoon breeze brushed against the weeping willow branches, but inside, no one dared to speak above a whisper.

The Ten Crowns, Shen Jian, Shen Tao, Shen Ying, Shen Xinye, Shen Cai, Shen Bai, Shen Xun’er, Shen Ji, and Shen Fei, along with Xia Mengyao, Luo Mingye and Zhu Ziyan, stood around the perimeter of the scorched table, their weapons half-drawn, their nerves pulled taut like iron wires awaiting the thunder of war.

At the far end of the hall, near the grand array nexus, Ling Luochen sat bathed in the cold, flickering azure luminescence of her floating interface.

Her fingers had been dancing across the glowing glyphs for hours, sweat beading along her hairline and dampening her temples.

The mechanical humming of recursive algorithms and spatial calculations had been ringing in her ears until her spiritual sea ached with exhaustion.

The computational load demanded to pierce through layers of chaotic spatial currents and track a severed sub system was immense, burning through thousands of high grade spirit stones that now lay in dull, grey heaps of spent slag at her feet.

Suddenly, the frantic strings of cascading red error warnings on the translucent blue pane froze.

Ding!

A clean, crystalline chime resonated through the quiet hall, followed by a brilliant pulse of emerald light that illuminated Ling Luochen’s wide, bloodshot eyes!

"Finally found her!" Ling Luochen exclaimed as everyone turned towards her!

Her voice, shrill with raw excitement and sheer relief, cut through the suffocating gloom like a silver bell.

Every single gaze in the vast chamber snapped in her direction in an instant!

Shen Jian’s fingers repeatedly tapped against the table, Shen Tao’s arms dropped to his sides, and even the stoic, half dozing Shen Ying jerked her head up, her dead, crimson red pupils focusing entirely on the glowing terminal.

Xu Xiansu’s embroidered silk skirts rustled against the polished cedar floorboards as she crossed the distance in rapid, hurried strides, her heart pounding against her ribs.

She leaned over the edge of the console, her delicate hands bracing against the wooden rim, her eyes scanning the glowing strings of spatial latitude and longitude coordinates.

"Where is she, Luochen? Did the system lock onto her precise dimensional layer? Can we open a spatial tunnel to pull her back?"

Ling Luochen tapped rapidly on the glowing pane, expanding a shifting, three dimensional celestial projection that depicted the vast region of the East.

A small, pulsing amber beacon was flickering erratically at the far right edge of the holographic map, surrounded by dense swathes of grey cosmic dust.

"I don’t what happened and why she was thrown there, but Sister Yunxi is in the Eastern Region," Ling Luochen explained, her voice breathless as she pointed to the blinking beacon. "She was hurled across billions of light years of distance. The interference from the local leylines there is dense, and there are ancient, prehistoric energy signatures blanketing the sector that prevent our sub-system from establishing two-way voice communication or direct spatial recall. But the soul tether signature is unmistakable and the probability that it’s her is ninety-eight percent. Sister Yunxi is alive, and she is walking around somewhere in the ancient Eastern Region!"

"The Eastern Region...?" Xu Xiansu frowned and was about to speak, her brow furrowed into deep, troubled folds.

Why does it seem like Eastern Region almost always is at the center of almost every event.

Thinking about it, most Supreme Emperors she knew in her other life all came from Eastern Region, and each of them possessed extraordinary luck no weaker than her own.

But that’s beside the point.

For Qian Yunxi to be cast into that exact territory, a realm tied directly to her dormant smelled far too much like an inescapable twist of karmic fate.

What the hell happened and how did she end up in that godforsaken place?

What kind of dangers lingered in those untamed lands?

Xu Xiansu parted her lips, ready to formulate an emergency deployment strategy, but then...

.... everyone in the room suddenly raised their heads!

CRACK!

A terrifying, suffocating pressure dropped out of the sky without warning!

The ambient spiritual energy inside the villa froze, the air growing so dense and heavy that the weaker beings gasped, feeling as if a mountain of solid iron had been dropped onto their chests!

The spiritual light illuminating the array pillars flickered and died, suppressed entirely by an ancient aura that carried the majesty of the dual dragon bloodlines!

Then before they can react...

BOOOOOOOOM!

The towering, triple paned stained glass window along the northern wall detonated into a blinding storm of crystalline shards!

Sunlight, mountain gale, and shattered glass poured into the meeting hall in a violent tempest as Haoran touched down upon the cedar floorboards.

His boots struck the wooden floor with an earth shaking thud that cracked the polished grain, sending shockwaves rippling across the chamber that scattered scrolls and overturned heavy wooden chairs!

The wind died down, and the flying shards clattered harmlessly against the stone walls.

Everyone was stunned for a moment.

The Ten Crowns, Xu Xiansu, and Ling Luochen stood frozen in their tracks, their breaths catching in their throats as they stared at the towering, immaculate figure standing amidst the glittering glass dust.

His golden hair was disheveled, whipped wild by the mountain draft, his imperial black and gold dragon robes were torn and frayed along the hem, bearing the faint, scorched traces of celestial fire and the lingering, suffocating chill of an unspeakable abyss.

His golden eyes burned with an icy, lethal stillness that made the hair on everyone’s necks stand on end.

They were about to greet him, but then, they immediately noticed the unconscious Huo Yue holding on his hands.

Haoran stood motionless in the center of the ruined hall, holding Huo Yue securely against his broad chest in a firm, protective carry.

Her appearance sent a jolt of raw horror through the room.

Her fiery crimson robes were shredded and stiff with dried, blackened blood, her magnificent hair, usually dancing like wild flames, hung limp and damp across his forearm.

Her face was deathly pale, devoid of its usual brazen, arrogant fire, her eyelids closed tight in a deep, unnatural coma.

Though the gaping, fatal puncture wound through her sternum had been miraculously sealed and smoothed over by the supreme medicine Haoran had forced down her throat, the lingering aura of violent, near fatal combat clung to her flesh like a heavy shroud.

Zhu Ziyan was the first to react.

After all, she is the closest to Huo Yue, having spent years going on an adventure with her.

Before entering the Imperial Academy, during the long, perilous years they had roamed the savage wilderness of the southern continents hunting for rare spirit beasts and ancient inheritances, Zhu Ziyan and Huo Yue had watched each other’s backs through hundreds of life and death trials.

She had seen Huo Yue take blades to her shoulders and laugh through the pain; she had seen her burn through three days of continuous battle without retreating an inch.

Never once had she seen the fiery maiden lying limp, lifeless, and silent like a withered flower.

"Sister Yue!"

Zhu Ziyan’s voice cracked with panic as she surged forward, her boots kicking a chair aside, her hands trembling as she rushed toward Haoran.

Her face was pale as paper, her eyes wide with shock and grief as she reached out toward Huo Yue’s cold fingers.

She asked what happened, her voice shaking with desperate fury, "Young Master! What happened to her?! Who did this to Sister Yue?! Was it Sky Reaching City?! Tell me!"

Haoran gave no reply.

He did not look at Zhu Ziyan, nor did he offer a single word of explanation regarding the apocalyptic sun that had turned Sky Reaching City into an ocean of glass, the power of Lin Yun, or the terrifying drop of black blood that had awakened Azathoth and nearly consumed his own soul.

Some battles were fought on planes that common mortals and ordinary disciples could never comprehend; to speak of outer gods and conceptual invincibility would only sow needless terror among his followers.

He walked past Zhu Ziyan in measured, unhurried strides, the cold authority radiating from his posture parting the crowd like water before an iron prow.

He approached the head of the long table, gently lowering Huo Yue onto the plush, velvet cushioned high backed seat reserved for him.

He pulled his own torn black and gold cloak from his shoulders, draping the heavy dragon silk over her sleeping frame, tucking it carefully around her throat to shield her from the draft flowing through the shattered window.

Only after ensuring she was resting peacefully did Haoran slowly turn around.

His unblinking golden eyes swept across the silent room, finally locking onto the trembling figure of Ling Luochen standing beside her console.

"Luochen. Report." His voice was quiet, smooth as polished ice, yet carrying an immense gravity that demanded absolute certainty.

Ling Luochen swallowed hard, her throat dry, but she immediately straightened her posture and nodded vigorously.

"Yes, Young Master! The system finally broke through the void-interference three minutes ago!" She pointed toward the pulsing amber beacon on her floating blue pane. "Qian Yunxi is alive, and she is somewhere in the Eastern Region! The coordinate lock is ninety-eight percent secure. She seems to be located within an ancient, unmapped prehistoric sector that carries massive spatial shielding, but her sub-system node is active and intact!"

Haoran looked at the blinking amber light hovering over the eastern quadrant of the map.

The Eastern Region.

Qian Yunxi’s hometown, the weakest of the empire’s region, lacking the most resources to be independent.

Haoran nodded.

There was no hesitation in his eyes. There was no need to convene a council or debate the logistics of crossing regional boundaries.

When one of his own was stranded in a foreign cage, whether it was an ancient graveyard or the throne room of a dead god, the only acceptable response was to tear open the gate and claim her back.

After all, in a similar way that a subordinate was willing to lay down their life for the boss, the boss must also be fiar.

"I will depart for the Eastern Region immediately," Haoran stated, his voice cutting through the vast chamber.

He turned his gaze away from the map, his golden pupils sweeping over the Ten Crowns and the inner circle.

"Until I return with Yunxi, I will leave the city to you for the time being."

His words settled over the room like an iron mantle.

He specifically looked at Xu Xiansu, who nodded.

Their eyes met in the quiet, drafty hall, and Xu Xiansu felt the immense, terrifying weight of his trust settling squarely upon her slender shoulders.

She knew what this meant.

With Haoran departing for the distant Eastern Region and Huo Yue in a deep, recuperative slumber, the entire administrative, economic, and military apparatus of Boundless Sky City fell into her hands.

She must manage the panic, maintain the trade routes, suppress the discontent of the immortal gamers, and ensure that their foundation did not crack by a single millimeter while their sovereign was away.

Xu Xiansu rolled her eyes, but stepped forward, clasping her hands before her chest, her delicate face hardened into an expression of unyielding resolve.

"Rest assured, Haoran," Xu Xiansu said, her clear voice ringing steady and true. "I will manage the city’s affairs and oversee the vanguard. Even if Sky Reaching City marches to our doorstep, Boundless Sky City will remain standing, unbroken and prosperous, waiting for your return."

Haoran offered a subtle, approving nod.

With his household secured and his orders delivered, he turned his back to the hall, his golden eyes gazing out through the shattered window toward the boundless, mist-veiled skies of the eastern horizon.