Within the General's Manor, an indescribable mix of emotions churned inside the Vidyadhara leader.
It wasn't that she cared that much about the outcome of the bet…
Fine. She cared a lot. She'd practically never won a single gamble in her entire life.
But this time was different!
She had staked her victory on Xi—the undisputed strongest being in the Cangyan!
Did these people not understand what "strongest" meant?
The title implied absolute supremacy—strength that others could never surpass. Otherwise, how could it be called "strongest" at all?
Precisely because of that, the strongest should not lose.
"Invincible" was the definition of the word.
Yet now someone was telling her:
"Xi lost."
To her, that sounded like someone saying, "The strongest isn't actually the strongest"—pure nonsense.
"Stop joking," the Vidyadhara leader snapped. "How could Xi possibly lose?"
"Think about it," came the steady reply. "If Xi had won, do you think we'd still be standing here unharmed?"
She fell silent instantly.
Indeed—if Xi had won, these people who dared challenge her dignity would not have returned alive.
Yet here they were, nearly unscathed.
That fact alone was enough.
A reality she didn't want to accept.
The elderly Foxian beside her raised his brows. He hadn't expected things to unfold like this either.
While the Xianzhou had arrived aggressively, Xi's rapid defeat was far beyond anything he'd imagined.
More importantly—the group had returned almost without injuries.
Aside from a few scratches and dust, they carried no signs of a fierce battle.
That, more than anything, surprised him.
Only two possibilities existed:
Either the heavily injured had fallen behind… or—
"They barely suffered any injuries at all…"
The second possibility became clearer and clearer.
Which only raised a bigger question:
How did people emerge nearly unscathed from a fight against the strongest being in the Cangyan?
There was only one answer—someone overwhelmingly powerful had taken on Xi single-handedly and crushed her.
No other explanation fit.
Even from the group's quiet confidence, he could deduce as much.
"The Xianzhou truly hides dragons and crouching tigers," the old Foxian murmured, stroking his beard thoughtfully.
Wisdom came with age—and right now, his eyes were sharp.
"Fine, fine, you win."
After a long silence, the Vidyadhara leader finally admitted defeat.
Xi losing was far beyond anything she had imagined, but with the outcome laid bare, she couldn't argue.
Let the Xianzhou celebrate this one victory.
Right now, a far more important question pressed on her heart:
"How is Xi now?"
Yes—Xi's condition was what she cared about most.
Even if Xi had lost, she definitely wasn't dead.
If she was, the Cangyan would already be collapsing and fully digested by Rahu.
So, accepting that Xi had indeed lost, she needed to know whether Xi was safe.
In response, the young Xianzhou commander quietly shifted his gaze toward the far corner of the hall.
There, three people were celebrating a joyful reunion.
The moment he entered, Sora spotted Ahri the Foxian and Feng Liqi—the shame of the Upper Gods—completely unharmed.
Both of them had been worried sick.
Others might not know who had caused the Heaven-Mending Creation to spiral into disaster, but these two certainly did.
So they had been fearing for Sora's safety this whole time.
Now, seeing him return, they finally relaxed.
"Geez, Sora-gege! Where did you run off to?! Do you know how worried I was?!" Ahri's voice wavered as tears pooled in her eyes.
Xi's reputation for terrorizing even children was famous across the realm.
Facing such a monster alone—who wouldn't worry?
"Exactly! Ahri's right! Do you realize how dangerous it is for two fragile young women to sit here waiting for you?!" Feng Liqi added from the side.
But as she walked closer, her expression shifted.
She stopped abruptly, staring hard at him. "Wait… your aura. Why does it feel like…"
That familiar pressure. That suffocating weight.
Memories of being scolded resurfaced instantly, making her snap upright in reflex.
This was Xi's aura.
Had Xi possessed Sora's body?!
Then who was controlling the body now—
Sora or Xi?
Gulp.
She swallowed nervously, sweat already gathering at her temples.
If they weren't inside the General's Manor, she would've run for her life already.
"Aura…? Oh, I reclaimed my body," Sora said casually.
"No, no, no, that's a Heliobus aura! And a very specific one!" Feng Liqi insisted.
Not just any Heliobus—Xi.
But she didn't dare say that part aloud.
If Xi truly occupied this body, even a hint of disrespect could lead to horrifying punishment.
Hearing Feng Liqi's panicked accusation, Sora blinked in mild surprise.
None of the other Heliobi had sensed anything, yet this timid girl had recognized Xi's aura immediately.
Truly remarkable in her own strange way.
To clear up the misunderstanding, Sora pulled out a small platinum orb from his pocket.
"You mean this?"
He'd been keeping Xi—now compressed into this little sphere—there the whole time. Honestly, the constant trembling made it feel like a decent portable massager.
Feng Liqi's gaze instantly locked onto the orb.
There was no mistaking it.
This overwhelming, condensed presence—
This tiny orb was Xi's true form.
Xi had actually been captured… and turned into a ball.
Feng Liqi's heart exploded with joy.
"Well, well, well—look who it is~" she cackled, leaning in. "Our mighty Lord Xi, who always claimed to reign over heaven and earth! How did you end up like this~?"
She grinned wickedly as she taunted the helpless orb.
But Sora could clearly see her hands trembling behind her back.
One weird twitch from the orb and she'd sprint out of the manor screaming.
Her cowardice suited her perfectly.
Sora covered his face helplessly—then finally noticed the atmosphere in the room.
Everything had gone silent.
Every Xianzhou, every Foxian, every Vidyadhara was staring directly at him.
The young Xianzhou commander gave him a meaningful nod.
It was his cue.
"Alright, alright. If you want to reminisce, save it until after we solve the actual problem," Sora said, cutting off Feng Liqi's taunting. The collapsing sky came first.
Feng Liqi snapped out of her smugness, turned happily—and froze.
Because every gaze was fixed in her direction.
Though technically people were looking past her at Sora, suddenly becoming the one in front of all those stares was terrifying.
W-what's going on?!
She took two steps back—and every eye followed her perfectly.
"Did… did I hear her say she knows Xi?"
"Yes… She definitely said it."
"Could she actually be…?"
The whispers creeping into Feng Liqi's ears made her gulp hard.
Wait—why was she celebrating just now?
Xi's capture meant all Heliobi had instantly become suspicious, dangerous targets, didn't it?
And hadn't she just loudly exposed that she personally knew Xi?
Did that mean the next Heliobus to get sealed into a tiny little orb… would be her?
She wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but every gaze in the room suddenly felt sharper—almost hostile.
"I—I swear I'm not a Heliobus! Please stop looking at me like that!!"
Completely overwhelmed, Feng Liqi dove behind Sora, clutching his sleeve like it was a lifeline.
Watching this, Ahri—the Foxian girl who'd once admired Feng Liqi as a lofty "Upper God"—felt her eyelid twitch.
Every time she thought Feng Liqi had reached rock bottom, that girl somehow dug even deeper, smashing through the floor again and again.
In a twisted way, maybe that was her one true talent.
But today, Ahri's fragile admiration was shattered so thoroughly it couldn't be put back together.
While the two girls spiraled into their usual chaos, Sora stood apart from it all.
He could clearly sense every gaze fixed on him—more specifically, on the tiny platinum orb resting in his palm.
The most intense stare belonged to the Vidyadhara leader, who had been watching since the beginning.
From her expression alone, it was obvious she'd already pieced things together.
Xi's aura was leaking from the orb in Sora's hand—proof that he was the one behind everything.
This man was absolutely not someone she could afford to offend.
Understanding that, the Vidyadhara leader slowly withdrew her sharp gaze.
She might enjoy gambling on trivial matters, but when it came to the safety of her people, she knew when to hold back.
A heavy silence settled over the hall.
Sora stepped forward under everyone's attention, coming to the center.
"The Heliobus leader is inaccessible for now, but we can't ignore the sky's collapse," the young Xianzhou commander said, cutting straight to the priority.
Xi was no longer an immediate threat—securing the crumbling realm was the issue.
"Oh? And what exactly do you plan to use to mend the sky?" a cold voice sneered.
It was the Vidyadhara leader.
Her carefree attitude was gone—replaced with open disdain.
Tension instantly thickened.
"From your tone, Lord Fangyuan, it sounds as though you already know the requirements of the Heaven-Mending Creation," the old Foxian elder said gently, smoothing the tension with a laugh.
Everyone understood the implication—she clearly knew the method.
"Please enlighten us, Lord Fangyuan," the young Xianzhou leader requested politely.
"Heh, flattery won't help," the Vidyadhara leader scoffed. "The Heaven-Mending Creation requires resonance between a powerful Heliobus and the Hunt's blessing. And the only Heliobus qualified is Xi."
"If you've sealed Xi, forget about mending anything."
This was knowledge she'd inherited from her past life—she knew exactly how the ritual worked.
Now that Xi was sealed, performing it was impossible.
"Can't you speak more constructively? We're discussing survival—"
"The Cangyan has no future!!" she snapped sharply.
"You Xianzhou have lived here the longest—you know our true condition. We're barely scraping by each day, waiting for the end."
She turned to leave, her followers moving with her.
"By sealing Xi, you've already begun your countdown to extinction," she said coldly. "I won't openly oppose the Xianzhou, as our treaty dictates. But once you all perish, I'll free Xi again."
She stepped toward the exit—
"In that case, how about a bet?"
The Vidyadhara leader halted.
"A bet?" she repeated warily. "And what are we betting?"
"We'll bet on whether everything here survives until the end," Sora said, calm and steady.
Silence hung for a moment.
Then, unexpectedly, her cold expression softened into a faint smile.
"Fine. I accept."
"If I lose, I'll forfeit my life and personally free Xi. But if I win…"
"All Fangyuan Vidyadhara will submit entirely to your command."
"Deal," Sora replied without hesitation.
"Good. Then it's settled. And frankly—there is no way you can win."
What delusion convinced you that the Heaven-Mending Creation is still possible?
This gamble was hers to win.
With that, the Vidyadhara departed, leaving only the Xianzhou, Foxians, and Sora behind.
"Hey, hey, Sora! Why did you make such a reckless bet…?" Feng Liqi whispered anxiously, tugging his sleeve. "You even staked your life! Aren't you scared of losing and just… dying?"
Losing? Of course Sora had considered it.
Before arriving here, he'd used the Dark Sword's foresight to glimpse potential futures.
The Sword of Darkness—Kurayami—held a forbidden power: visions of future calamities, forcing its wielder to experience disasters ahead of time.
And in vision after vision, Sora saw only the destruction of the Cangyan.
He watched Ahri's final moments—swallowed by darkness, terror etched on her face.
He saw the young Xianzhou commander collapse in despair, hope ripped away.
But in all those bleak futures, one thing stood out:
The Fangyuan Realm—the Vidyadhara's home—had briefly resisted Rahu's digestion.
That was why the Vidyadhara leader had been so confident.
Fangyuan could survive a little longer, long enough for her plan:
Release Xi after everyone else perished and rebuild a new realm of only Vidyadhara.
Indeed, among all Sora's visions, the future where only the Vidyadhara survived was the most stable.
But in every future Sora witnessed—
He had never appeared.
In every vision of Ahri's death, she never called out "Sora-gege."
In every future, Feng Liqi died quietly, alone.
Every disaster he saw occurred only when he wasn't involved.
But now...
Sora had already intervened.
The future was beginning to shift.
So he decided to gamble.
To gamble everything.
"Nothing is decided before the final outcome," Sora murmured calmly.
Everything remained an uncertain board.
Then I, Sora, will boldly make my move—and challenge the future itself.
Beside him, Feng Liqi blinked blankly, utterly lost.
Wait… what is that supposed to mean?
She couldn't understand why Sora suddenly sounded so mysterious. Yes, nothing was final yet—but why say it like some enigmatic sage?
"Sora… can't you talk normally? Why are you suddenly speaking in riddles…?" she mumbled.
He'd always been straightforward—yet now he was acting like some cryptic mystic.
It was weird…
He hadn't even touched anything suspicious lately…
---
T/N:
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