"Thank you all for your assistance. But why do I feel as if we've met before?"
After the danger of Phantylia was dealt with, Jing Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. He then turned to the Candle Bearers who had arrived on the battlefield to aid them and offered his thanks.
At the same time, he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd seen this group, composed of individuals of various ages, somewhere before.
"General, perhaps you have seen us in an intelligence report, or maybe you visited us in the sickroom. The twenty-four of us are the same twenty-four who were cured of the Mara-Struck."
The one Candle Bearer who had spoken with Phantylia stepped forward to address Jing Yuan.
"It's you!"
Jing Yuan looked at the people he had previously only seen in photographs and noticed so many differences. Some who were meant to be younger were now much older, while some who were clearly elderly had regained the appearance of their youth.
"We received salvation and rebirth from that deity, and in turn, we offered the only thing we could—our own faith."
"We believe in that deity, and the deity has given us a boon in return, granting us the power to interfere with time. It is because of this power that in the previous battle, the injuries you sustained and the toll of the fight were all reversed by our interference, returning you to a perfect state."
"And as a price for this power over time, we have become as you see us now. Some of the young have aged rapidly, and some of the old have regained their youth."
"For other people, their outward appearance is a mark left by the passage of time. But for us, our physical appearance has become meaningless. If we so choose, the power of time can allow us to maintain the appearance of any stage of our lives."
"However, we see this as the price for the power we've obtained, so we will not alter the changes that occurred when we received this gift."
"General, after helping the Xianzhou Luofu through this crisis, we will assist with treating the injured and with the post-disaster reconstruction. Once all of that is concluded, we will depart the Xianzhou Luofu for the vast cosmos to spread the faith of our deity, and to help others who are in need of the Candle Bearers."
"We take our leave."
With that, the twenty-four Candle Bearers gave Jing Yuan no chance to detain them, dissolving into bubbles and vanishing on the spot.
Jing Yuan watched the twenty-four figures disappear and sighed. It was obvious they had no intention of staying.
And that was to be expected. If the higher-ups of the other Xianzhou flagships learned of this, they would undoubtedly use every means at their disposal to keep these twenty-four people here. After all, the power of time was far more potent than mere longevity. Furthermore, the Candle Bearers themselves had said they could use this power to fix their forms in place.
This was, in a sense, a method to escape the Mara-Struck, a way for people to attain true immortality.
"Once news of these twenty-four people spreads and they cannot be found, I wonder how many people will try to place their faith in that mysterious deity..."
Jing Yuan fell silent, recalling the mysterious man he had met before—the one who had taken him back to the distant past, to once again witness the scene of the High-Cloud Quintet gathered together.
To be capable of such a feat, was that mysterious person a favored child of this deity, or was he the mysterious deity himself?
Could this deity be a new Aeon?
Jing Yuan felt that although the crisis on the Xianzhou Luofu had been resolved, a mountain of new problems awaited him. There was the aftermath in the Alchemy Commission, the reason the Stellaron had entered the Luofu, and the possibility of a new Aeon's birth—an Aeon who was connected to the Astral Express, no less, since all twenty-four of his followers had been Mara-Struck patients cured by that Nameless.
Thinking of the mountain of trouble ahead, Jing Yuan suddenly had the urge to feign illness for two days and dump all his work on Fu Xuan.
But the moment he imagined Fu Xuan pointing at his nose and calling him a terrible person, Jing Yuan could only abandon the thought and begrudgingly get back to his duties.
Fortunately, he saw a lively Yanqing on the way. After a moment's thought, he smiled and grabbed the boy to serve as his manual labor.
---o---
Aboard the Astral Express...
The atmosphere was a bit somber. Himeko and Pom-Pom, who had remained on the Express, had already been informed of Xin Yu's situation.
At first, everyone was a bit sad but respected his decision. However, after the sudden appearance of the faction known as the Candle Bearers, everyone sensed that something wasn't quite right.
"So, Xin Yu is very likely a newly born Aeon, or someone on the verge of becoming one..."
March 7th scratched her head. As a Nameless, she was naturally aware of the story of Akivili, the Aeon of Trailblaze who once journeyed the cosmos with the Nameless. But she never imagined that one of her own companions would one day turn out to be an Aeon.
"That's the only possibility. The energy of the Path emanating from those who call themselves Candle Bearers is unlike the vast majority of Path energies we've encountered... And the ability to interfere with time, to the point of being able to share it with others, is an incredibly unbelievable power that no ordinary person could possess."
"So, in other words, if we run into an enemy we can't beat, we can just do what the Candle Bearers did and pray to Xin Yu, and call in a deus ex machina!" Stelle proposed.
"It's possible, yes. Because Xin Yu was once a member of the Astral Express, the Candle Bearers specifically gave us a prayer slip. They said reciting the prayer on it would be enough to attract the deity's attention. They also mentioned that we shouldn't disturb... Xin Yu, unless it's for something urgent."
Welt produced a thin tablet. Based on its texture, it seemed to be made of reshaped wax from a melted candle. Inscribed on it were a few lines of prayer, written in the common language of the cosmos.
"The Xianzhou Luofu, as thanks for our help this time, has gifted us an Alliance Jade Talisman. They said that if we ever need help, we can use it and the Xianzhou Luofu will come to our location and aid us, no matter the cost."
Dan Heng took out the Alliance Jade Talisman that Jing Yuan had given the Express crew upon their departure.
"In other words, our Express crew now has the ability to summon both an Aeon and the Xianzhou... I get it! If we get bullied somewhere in the future or run into trouble, I'll just call for Xin Yu!"
"Don't just go bothering him over trivial things! He has the power to manipulate time, you know. He's probably busy with something very important right now," Himeko chided.
"Huh..."
"What's wrong, Uncle Yang? Why do you have such a strange look on your face?"
"...It's nothing."
Welt pushed up his glasses. He couldn't possibly tell March 7th that the person she just said was probably busy with something very important was, at this very moment, in a past point in time, dating a certain girl.
And how did he know?
...
"Xin Yu, this is our history teacher, Welt Yang. Teacher Welt, this is my boyfriend, Xin Yu."
"...Mm, a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Welt."
"Hello, Xin Yu. Since you are Kiana's boyfriend, please pay a little more attention to your girlfriend's grades. She got an unprecedented score of zero on her first history exam. I've never seen someone fill an entire test paper with words and still not manage to earn a single point."
"Right, right, I'll be sure to help her study hard."
"Noooo~!"