"But didn't you..."
Liu Yianfei was taken aback. Hadn't my lady already set up a protective Border around that location?
Even Bai Fanxian raised an eyebrow. That Border hadn't taken long to create, but with the quality of materials she had used, it should have held against attacks from peak-level Sages without difficulty.
"Is the Border still intact?"
There was a difference between the Border being destroyed and someone finding a way through it.
"...It looks like it was torn open from the outside. Everything else seems fine."
"...Someone helped him escape."
Bai Fanxian concluded. Even if Barbatos had recovered his memories, the power level she had sensed from him was nowhere near enough to break out on his own.
"What do we do?" Zhang Xianyuan looked strained. Barbatos escaping was a serious incident. But they were already dealing with something far larger, and they couldn't redirect resources to chase down one person.
"Leave it for now..."
Bai Fanxian sighed. If someone had come to spring him, they would have prepared an escape route well in advance. She had no trail to follow, and whoever had done this had clearly timed it for the exact moment when no one powerful was stationed in the East.
They had known when to move.
On top of that, whoever was on the other side had enough power to tear through a Grade 5 Border. Without proper preparation, going after them would mean sending her people blindly into danger.
"I should head back then..."
There was nothing left for her to do here. She had come to see how these people would handle the situation, and had somehow ended up being handed a responsibility she couldn't refuse in time.
"Is something urgent?" Zhang Xianyuan asked with concern. He still felt this was partly his fault. He had been the one who promised to keep watch over Barbatos.
"Not really. I just need to go take care of some things."
She shook her head lightly. She didn't blame the old man. The truth was, she had already laid an additional layer of protection with a Border in that room herself.
She was thinking of her private island. Ever since she had acquired it, one troublesome matter after another had kept arriving, leaving little time to properly attend to anything there.
"I'll have someone see you out."
The Marshal let out a tired sigh. Today alone had been enough to make even him want to go home and rest.
"Mm... If anything comes up, contact me or Huang Zihuan."
.
.
.
The day after the incident, the government and military moved quickly to contain the story before it could reach the public. The damage had occurred inside the military's Central Command, which made it far easier to manage.
"I'm heading out, my lady."
Early that morning, per her agreement with Zhang Xianyuan, Hui'er set off to begin her new role training military staff in the forms. She had to leave before the clinic opened and wouldn't be back during the day.
"...Be careful."
Bai Fanxian sat on the balcony with her morning tea and gave a small wave. Her Intent followed the girl without her thinking about it, wrapping quietly around her as she left. Hui'er would be traveling to the Eastern Base today with only the Black Bird for company.
"Don't worry. I'll look after her myself."
Liu Yianfei stepped out from his room in full General uniform, having just finished his morning training. It had been so long since he had worn it anywhere that even Bai Fanxian found it slightly unfamiliar.
"You're going too?"
"Yeah. Time to catch up on everything I've been putting off." He answered with a smile. After listening to the Marshal complain the day before, he had finally agreed to cut his vacation short.
"Mm..."
Bai Fanxian watched from the balcony as the two of them took off on the Black Bird over the beach. She had her own things to see to today.
"...You're heading out again, aren't you?"
Wu Jia appeared from Bai Fanxian's workshop earlier than usual, coffee in hand and an expression she knew well.
"Stop making that face." The Divine Doctor looked put-upon. Bai Fanxian smiled faintly.
"I'll leave this place to you again today."
Her destination was the private island. She was bringing only Uncle Huang, who was best suited to help her manage what needed to be done there.
"What does my lady have planned for today?"
Huang Zihuan made a slow circuit of the main house, checking the state of everything. After the wild boar's carcass had been dealt with, no one had set foot on this island again. Even the caretakers who had been here before hadn't come back.
Parts of the island were still in disarray from the battles. The beach area had taken the worst of it. You could still see the scar of Zheng Renyi's sword cut trailing all the way out to sea.
"...Surveying and getting the place in order, I suppose."
Bai Fanxian stroked her chin thoughtfully. When she had taken ownership of the island, she had noticed large stretches of it that had never been touched, overgrown and left to themselves.
"Should I call in some workers?" Huang Zihuan had his phone ready. One word from Bai Fanxian and a crew would be here within the hour.
"...I think doing it myself will be faster."
She turned him down. She extended her Heaven Sense outward, spreading it across the full width of the island. Once she was satisfied that everything was within her awareness, her eyes narrowed.
*VRRRMMM...*
A tremendous surge of power rose from Bai Fanxian like a breaking wave. Huang Zihuan grabbed the nearest wall to keep his footing. Against power like this, his Martial Master-level strength counted for nothing.
"...Master!"
Several kilometers away, the Dragon Queen shot awake on the balcony of the beach house, eyes wide. She snapped her tiny wings open and launched herself across the water like a streak of red fire, cutting through the sea air at full speed. Something had made her master release this much power.
"...Good thing you came. I need to borrow your strength." Bai Fanxian's words were like a key unlocking the chains that bound the Dragon Queen. The Dragon Queen trembled with barely contained excitement. Her small body blazed red. When the light faded, the sky above the private island was filled with her true form — vast enough to cast a shadow over the whole island.
"What are you going to do, Master?"
It had been so long since she had been allowed to take her real shape. The Dragon Queen was practically vibrating. She accidentally released the pressure of her high noble bloodline, and every creature in the forest and sea scattered at once.
"First of all..."
*THUD!*
Bai Fanxian's foot came down. Deep purple patterns bloomed outward from where she stood, forming a circle that spread to cover the entire island and pushed several dozen meters into the sea before it stopped. It looked like the Borders she had made before.
But this was the first time Bai Fanxian had ever attempted a Grade 8 Border.
A Border that would take even a Semi-Immortal at full strength days to break through. Or might prove impossible to destroy at all.
"Time to make use of these."
She tore open the dimensional space in front of her. Five or six materials of unusual shape drifted out into the air.
The moment they met the open air, they began to vibrate with a force that made the space around them feel unstable. Even the Dragon Queen, floating high above, felt something close to alarm from objects that weren't even alive.
They were all materials of the same grade Bai Fanxian had used to refine the Eternal Myriad Heavens elixir. In the age when cultivation had flourished, they were classified as legendary-grade. In this era, there was no need to even say it.
"..."
She murmured. Creating a Border of this level was no different from refining a Grade 8 elixir. There was no margin for even the smallest error.
"Go."
Her voice was a signal. The materials shot to their positions at each corner of the island. The ancient energy within them began to feed the Border's formation.
"Little Red... pour your qi into the Border."
The Dragon Queen pulled herself back from the spectacle happening around her and focused. Her eyes blazed. Crimson flame erupted and poured through the air across the entire island, spreading outward from her in every direction.
Huang Zihuan felt it instantly — the sensation of something vast and ancient fixing its gaze on him from directly behind. The full presence of a true Queen-level being pressed down on him, and his legs nearly gave way without his meaning them to.
Then Bai Fanxian moved.
Her index finger began tracing characters in the air, one by one. Each one stirred to life the moment her power touched it. They swept through the air, drawing in all the Intent held inside the Dragon Queen's sovereign aura and absorbing it into themselves completely.
In that moment, Little Red felt her power slip partly outside her own reach. Some part of her had already merged with the Border.
Bai Fanxian's eyes narrowed. A vast current of pure qi flowed out from her, moving through the entire island. It poured into the Border and took the shape of a great red dragon, vast and luminous. The Dragon Queen stared at it. It looked like her. But it looked more magnificent than her. More ancient.
Then it roared, the sound rolling through the sky, and came down over the entire island before dissolving into it.
That was their Intent, fused together — hers and the Dragon Queen's.
The soul of this Border.
The strongest Border Bai Fanxian had ever made.