Secular morality and rules.
These seven words were like ten-thousand-catty shackles, firmly imprisoning that unacknowledged emotion in the depths of Jingliu's heart.
From that day on, she seemed to have changed.
She restrained all overstepping glances and hid those little gestures filled with clever thought.
She no longer secretly touched him, nor did she greedily breathe in the scent he left behind.
When standing before Qi Zhimu, she was as respectful as a jade carving devoid of emotion.
Every time the word 'Master' left her mouth, it was always tinged with a perfect sense of distance.
As if it were just an ordinary relational address, rather than the person who occupied her entire soul.
Qi Zhimu seemed satisfied with this change, or perhaps, he simply didn't care at all.
In Jingliu's eyes, he was always like this.
Not long after, Jingliu submitted a transfer order.
The reason was valid: the war on Yaoqing was stabilizing, so she applied to support other Xianzhou ships and continue practicing the will of The Hunt.
Qi Zhimu fell silent for a moment, making no attempt to keep her or asking many questions, simply nodding faintly in agreement.
Jingliu left, drifting between Zhuming, Fanghu, Yueque... wherever there was war, a cold flash of sword light would pass through.
She became numb in the slaughter and sank into the blood, using endless battles to fill the massive void in her heart.
Until that name appeared.
—Hoolay.
The new war leader of the Borisin, a cruel and cunning wolf.
No one knew when Hoolay rose to power, nor had they ever heard this name among the Borisin hunting packs.
But this did not hinder the spread of his cruel deeds; every time intelligence on him returned, it was accompanied by the complete disappearance of several galactic civilizations.
Countless Foxians were kept by him, bled for medicine, and eventually became food.
This atrocity enraged the entire Xianzhou Alliance, and countless Cloud Knights vowed to take his head.
When the news reached Jingliu's ears, she was sitting on the ruins of a desolate planet, slowly wiping the edge of her sword.
At that moment, her eyes, which originally lacked emotion and highlights, suddenly erupted with a heart-palpitating crimson.
That was the excitement of a hunter smelling top-tier prey, and even more so, a near-pathological desire.
war leader, Borisin war leader... Back then, Master killed the previous war leader Ussa, leaving his name in the Xianzhou General Record with illustrious military achievements.
If... if she also cut off the head of the new war leader Hoolay?
Would that mean she could also stand at that height?
Would it mean she finally had the qualification to make Master look at her once?
"Hoolay..."
Jingliu lightly stroked the blade, her fingertips grazing the sharp edge, drawing a thin line of blood.
The aimless Hunt expedition began to have a crystal-clear goal.
However, Hoolay, this wolf, was cunning to an outrageous degree.
He never faced the main force of the Cloud Knights head-on, always setting traps with false intelligence, causing the hunting units of various Xianzhou ships to come up empty time and again.
Jingliu didn't care much, traversing the vast starry sea; whether she dragged out a double or a phantom, they were all cut down without mercy.
It's just that her killing intent grew more intense, and her obsession with catching up to her Master became nearly maddening... star calendar 6745.
Jingliu returned to Yaoqing after a long absence.
The starship slowly landed, and the hatch opened.
The moment she stepped out of the hatch, a black warship at the opposite berth also happened to come to a steady stop.
A figure so familiar it was etched into her very bones was stepping off the ship.
Their eyes met.
Jingliu's breath suddenly hitched.
After many years, time had left no mark on him.
Master's figure was still as upright as a pine, his eyes deep.
The defenses in her heart almost collapsed at this moment; the impulse to rush up and hug him, to tell him of her longing over these years, was more turbulent than a tsunami.
But in the next second, those cold words echoed in the depths of her mind again.
Secular morality and rules.
Jingliu forcibly suppressed her surging emotions and performed an impeccable salute.
"Master."
Her voice was steady and cold, like greeting an ordinary superior.
Qi Zhimu's footsteps paused slightly, his gaze lingering on her for a moment before he gave a faint nod.
"Mm."
After speaking, he withdrew his gaze and headed toward the military council hall with Sleeping Snow and the other behind him.
At the moment they brushed past each other, Jingliu caught the scent that had penetrated her very marrow; her heart trembled violently, yet she never turned back to look.
Their vacation periods coincided, and everything was strictly by the book, ordinary... if one ignored the fact that Qi Zhimu frequently stayed in Sleeping Snow or Clear Cold's rooms until late at night... Unfortunately, she could not ignore it.
In fact, most of the time he stayed until dawn.
On even rarer occasions, both sisters would enter Qi Zhimu's room to spend the night.
With every occurrence, the darkness in Jingliu's pupils would spread a bit further.
Just as she was about to lose control over the emotions she had suppressed for hundreds of years, an emergency battle report arrived from the Sky-Faring Commission.
The main force led by Mo Tingquan encountered an ambush by Hoolay in the Yinghuo Sector and requested reinforcements.
The new General, Zhuiyun, gave the order without hesitation: Qi Zhimu and Jingliu were to lead their troops together and provide immediate reinforcement!
Finally... she had finally waited for this day, to fight side-by-side with her Master!
Finally... Hoolay had appeared!
Jingliu looked at the military order on the jade message projection with both their names printed on it, her pupils trembling slightly.
One by one, the marching warships sped through the starry sea and descended upon the Yinghuo Sector, preparing to land on the planet where the distress signal originated.
That place had already become a living hell, with starship wreckage and corpses from the war floating in orbit.
The ground was even more unbearable, with the severed limbs and broken bodies of Cloud Knights and Borisin scattered everywhere.
But at the coordinates where Mo Tingquan had last sent for help, there was no one.
"They must have made an emergency relocation."
Qi Zhimu examined the holographic map with a calm expression.
After a moment of thought, he turned to Jingliu and spoke concisely.
"We will split into two paths. I will lead a team to search the north, and you go south. If you find any trace of the enemy, send a signal immediately. Do not linger in battle."
"Yes."
Jingliu wasted no words, not even looking at him again as she took the order and set off with her detachment.
She moved through the ruins; wherever her blade passed, the wandering Borisin scouts were decapitated.
As the search deepened, she finally discovered traces of Mo Tingquan's remaining troops deep within a canyon.
He was facing a tragic, desperate struggle like a trapped beast.
The surviving Cloud Knights in the rear had lost their equipment and were tightly besieged by Borisin Wolf Soldiers who outnumbered them several times over, with nowhere to retreat.
Had Mo Tingquan not single-handedly blocked the canyon pass, one wouldn't even need to think about the fate of those unarmed comrades.
A coordinate flare soared into the sky, dyeing half the heavens red.
"Kill!"
Jingliu gave a cold command and led the charge into the siege, her frigid sword qi crisscrossing and brutally tearing a hole through the Borisin's airtight encirclement.
Qi Zhimu arrived very quickly.
The moment the signal rose, he realized the reality that Hoolay had already fled.
This cunning new wolf king seemed to have anticipated that reinforcements would arrive, having slipped away as early as three standard days ago.
Qi Zhimu had just arrived at the coordinates with his troops when Jingliu's urgent call came through the communication channel before he could even give an order.
"Master! Come quickly! Senior Mo Tingquan, he..."
Qi Zhimu's figure instantly vanished from the spot.
When he reached Jingliu's side, the scene before him made his gaze darken.