Chapter 606 - 377: Leaving

Falling Blossom Villa.

The quiet chamber was isolated from the drafty meeting hall, shielded by thick sandalwood panels and sound dampening barrier arrays.

The delicate fragrance of burnt medicinal agarwood drifted through the still air, mingling with the bitter, sharp scent of crushed spirit herbs and dried salve.

Huo Yue lay tucked beneath layers of embroidered crimson silk, her breathing deep, steady, and unbroken.

The terrifying, necrotic puncture wound through her sternum had been thoroughly knitted closed by the Nine Revolving Primordial Life Restoration Pill, but her spiritual meridians had been pushed past their natural thresholds.

Her core had been drained of ninety percent of its ambient flame essence, leaving her in a deep, restorative slumber.

Beside the wooden bedpost stood Shen Ying.

Her slender frame was draped in a plain white robe, her long sleeves pinned back with silver clips to expose pale, uncalloused forearms.

Across a low wooden stand beside her lay a collection of bone-handled lancets, hollow silver needles, and strange, iridescent vials filled with bubbling luminescent extracts.

Although as an alchemist she’s rather crooked, having chosen alchemy for the sole purpose of inhuman experiments, she still possessed intensive knowledge of human body and medical expertise.

To Shen Ying, the boundaries between medicine, poison, dissection, and cultivation were completely fluid.

She had spent decades carving apart rogue cultivators, rare spirit beasts, and all sorts of anomalies in subterranean laboratories, dissecting their organs layer by layer solely to chart the precise flow of life-force through flesh and bone.

Because she understood precisely how to tear a human vessel apart down to its marrow, she knew with terrifying, clinical exactness how to stitch it back together.

Shen Ying wiped a pair of slender silver needles with a clean silk cloth, her dull, hooded eyes showing no trace of fatigue.

"Her core has stabilized," Shen Ying reported, her voice flat, monotone, and devoid of any emotional inflection. "That disgusting traces have been entirely purged from her bone marrow. The essence from your pill has reinforced her heart valves, and the residual trauma in her lung tissue has calcified into clean muscle. Right now, her soul is recuperating in a dormant state, and she will awaken within three days."

Shen Haoran, standing beside the bed, caressed Huo Yue’s cheek, his thumb gently smoothing over the warm, soft curve of her cheekbone.

A strand of her wild crimson hair had fallen across her brow; he brushed it aside with uncharacteristic, unhurried gentleness, feeling the steady heat humming just beneath her skin.

She had stepped onto the blade of Azathoth without flinching, plunging straight through her own marrow just to reach his drowning soul.

Such loyalty was a debt that could never be repaid with simple words or empty treasures.

He pulled the edge of the silk blanket over her shoulder, ensuring she was completely sheltered from the draft.

He turned towards Shen Ying, "I’ll leave her to you, make sure take care of her."

"Understood." Shen Ying nodded, still as expressionless as ever.

Her heavy eyelids drooped slightly, giving her the appearance of someone perpetually on the verge of falling asleep, yet her fingers precisely organized the glass vials into a velvet-lined case.

With that, Haoran walked out of the room.

Click.

The heavy cedar door closed behind him.

In the long corridor, where afternoon sunlight poured through carved paper screens, Ling Luochen stood leaning nervously against a red lacquer pillar.

She wore a tailored white and azure academy coat, her slender fingers fidgeting with the glowing blue interface floating around her left wrist.

The moment Haoran stepped into the hallway, his imperial black and gold robes flowing behind him like a quiet storm, Ling Luochen straightened her posture instantly.

"Young Master!" she spoke quickly, her eyes wide with eager determination. "Take me with you to the Eastern Region. My system holds the connection to Sister Yunxi’s sub-system, so once we are close, the system can calculate the exact spatial fault line and tear open a short-range wormhole directly onto her coordinates! It will save you days of blind searching!"

Haoran’s golden eyes studied her resolute expression.

Eastern Region might be the weakest of the four Cardinal Regions, but it’s the one that possessed the largest landmass.

Searching a vast regional sector on foot or through divine sense would take precious time—time during which Qian Yunxi might fall into danger.

With the system acting as a localized spatial compass, they could bypass weeks of dead-end expeditions.

So he nodded.

"Very well," Haoran replied simply, his voice cool and decisive. "Let’s go."

"Yes, Young Master!" Ling Luochen let out a breathless sigh of relief, immediately closing her hovering system window and falling into step behind his right shoulder.

They passed through the central pavilion, crossing the stone courtyard where the fallen petals of the peach blossoms were swept clean by the mountain wind.

Stepping through the arched gatehouse that led to the outer training grounds, the open expanse of the sky widened before them.

There, a massive Profound Ark can be seen hovering.

Hundreds of complex defensive arrays and killing formation runes were carved deep into the dark metallic hull, glowing with a subdued, deep violet luminescence.

Four gargantuan spiritual engines shaped like coiling dragon heads hung suspended beneath the stern, their exhausts humming with the low, suppressed vibration of bound lightning.

Beneath the colossal shadow cast by the hovering warship stood Xu Xiansu.

She was dressed in a dignified gown of black and orange silk, her hair piled high in an elegant scholar’s bun secured with jade pins.

In her hands, she clutched a thick stack of finalized administrative ledgers and jade talismans, her posture straight and elegant.

Even standing alone beneath the immense, terrifying silhouette of the war machine, she carried the poise of an empress holding the reins of an entire province.

Haoran and Ling Luochen walked towards her.

The wind generated by the hovering ark rustled the fabric of their robes as they approached the base of the descending boarding ramp.

Xu Xiansu stepped forward, her bright, orange eyes reflecting the golden sunlight as she looked at the young master.

Haoran patted her on the shoulders, his palm was heavy, warm, and steady, coming to rest against the delicate silk of her shoulder.

He looked down into her clear, unwavering gaze, his golden pupils carrying the absolute weight of his household.

"Many academy factions are watching," Haoran murmured, his voice cutting through the hum of the engines. "They are waiting to see if we stumble. So, hold the lines, maintain the markets and morale of the people and gamers, and show no mercy to those who test our boundaries."

Xu Xiansu did not offer grand promises or long-winded oaths. She simply met his golden gaze with an unshakeable, profound understanding that had been forged across trials and life-or-death crises.

The subtle, resolute nod of her head and the steady light in her eyes communicated everything.

Haoran smiled at her and turned on his heel, his boots clicking firmly against the etched bronze steps of the ascending ramp.

"We’ll be going then, Sister Xiansu," Ling Luochen whispered respectfully, bowing from the waist before jogging up to catch up with the young master.

The boarding ramp groaned as its heavy gears engaged, folding inward and sealing flush against the iron belly of the vessel.

Xu Xiansu watched as the Profound Ark closed and slowly rose up.

The four engines along the stern ignited with a sudden, deafening roar of violet plasma!

The air distorted violently, bending light and space in concentric shockwaves that pressed the grass flat against the earth.

The massive warship ascended vertically, slicing through the low cloud layer in seconds, climbing toward the outer boundary of the academic realm.

Although the entire Academy Dimension was closed off from the outside world, such thing is not a problem for an Ark of that level.

As the prow of the Profound Ark neared the blue sky, the ancient runes carved into its hull flared with authority.

Then, a concentrated lance of pure energy erupted from the ark’s ramming spike, tearing open a stable, circular rift directly through the dimensional seals!

With a concussive flash of thunder, the warship plunged through the rift, vanishing completely from the Academy Dimension, leaving behind only swirling clouds of fading purple sparks.

Xu Xiansu herself did not linger to watch the empty sky. Clasping her ledgers tightly against her chest, her skirts whispered against the flagstones as she walked back through the courtyard gates, her mind already shifting to the mobilization of the battalions, the stabilization of gamers, and the intimidation of other factions.

*

Inside the Profound Ark.

The interior of the command bridge was vast and quiet, lined with dark cedar paneling and lit by soft, pale blue luminescent crystals embedded in the high vaulted ceiling.

A massive, floor-to-ceiling panoramic viewport dominated the front of the bridge, displaying the boundless, shifting sea of the cosmic void through which the ship was currently cruising at space bending speeds.

Stars and distant nebulae blurred into streaks of glittering light outside the reinforced glass.

Haoran sat on the command seat.

The throne-like chair was carved from polished black basalt, elevated on a wide dais at the center of the bridge.

Haoran leaned back against the high leather backing, his right elbow resting casually on the carved armrest, his chin propped upon his knuckles, his expression unreadable as his golden gaze stared into the passing void.

Ling Luochen was standing beside him and looking at her system.

The translucent blue screen hovered before her face, its light reflecting in her focused pupils.

Complex topological grids, dimensional depth readings, and ancient astral maps were continuously rendering across the display, tracking the faint, pulsing amber signature of the sub-system.

"How is it?" Haoran asked, his voice low and steady, breaking the quiet hum of the engines.

"It’s strange, Young Master," Ling Luochen replied, tapping her fingers against the floating interface to bring up a layered topographical scan. "The coordinates sit firmly within the boundaries of the ancient Eastern Region, but the spatial depth reading is anomalous."

Haoran raised an eyebrow, "How so?"

She pointed to a dense, swirling cloud of red warning symbols clustering around the amber beacon.

"According to the system’s spatial frequency analysis, she is probably trapped inside a severed micro-realm."

"Hmm, I see," Haoran murmured. "A secret realm, maybe?"

"That’s just one of the primary possibilities," Ling Luochen added, nodding rapidly. "The system lists three distinct possibilities for what that place truly is. The first is an ancient burial battlefield. If that’s the case, the realm is likely teeming with vengeful spirits and remnants."

"And the second?" Haoran inquired, his fingers drumming lightly against the basalt armrest.

"The second possibility is that it’s the ruins of an ancient kingdom," Ling Luochen continued, her tone growing heavier. "Meaning, it should have many buried cultures that were lost through the passage of time."

She paused, taking a breath before pointing to the pulsing resonance radiating from the amber marker.

"And the third possibility... is that it is a dedicated inheritance ground."

Haoran hummed, "That’s the most likely possibility. Eastern Region holds a lot of secrets."

This is something he had considered since he found out that about that shabby and imperfect cultivation method of the Eastern Region.

They formed a contract with various ancient beasts and artifacts, which altered their bloodline.

In other words, that place has countless bloodline heritage. Enough heritage for an entire Region to form a unique cultivation method of their own.

"There is something else, Young Master," Ling Luochen added, her brow furrowing as she brought up a secondary telemetry feed. "The system detected a second biological signature entering the spatial rift alongside Sister Yunxi."

"Oh?" Haoran’s voice dropped into a colder register.

"Yes. I have no idea who it is, but they should be traveling together."

Haoran scoffed softly, a faint, chilling smirk touching the corner of his lips as he looked out through the massive viewport toward the distant, shimmering veil of the Eastern Region’s celestial border.

"...if that person aids her, fine. But if he harbors some ulterior motives..."

He leaned his head back against the command throne, closing his eyes as the Profound Ark accelerated into the deep void, tearing through the cosmic currents on an unyielding course toward the eastern skies.