"Am I... dying?"
Darkness enveloped her vision. The last thing she remembered was a flicker of eerie purple flame—there one moment, gone the next.
Agony wracked her body. She reached out into the void, grasping at nothing.
Falling, endlessly, into the abyss.
Then—a face emerged from the gloom. A face wreathed in emerald vines.
Her own face.
"No...!"
"Save me..."
Her weak plea was swallowed by the creeping foliage. Death seemed inevitable—here, in this forgotten corner of the universe, her journey would end.
She still had so much left undone. She wanted to see the Luofu's skies one last time.
So unfair.
—SWISH!
A blade's keen edge sliced through the vines, reducing them to glowing dust.
Sunlight flooded her vision once more. Blinking, she saw a girl wielding a violet shortsword, a third eye blazing on her forehead. Beside her, a petite foxian hopped anxiously, too short to find footing.
"You're Tingyun, correct?"
Fu Xuan's voice was calm as Wuming Sword hovered mid-air, its edge severing every remaining vine. With a flick, it hooked Tingyun's collar, lifting her to safety.
"From now on, you work for me."
"Huohuo, the medicine."
"R-right here!" Huohuo fumbled through her pockets, producing a red case. Inside lay a life-saving pill—prepared three days prior, as Fu Xuan's divinations had foretold this very moment.
Without it, Tingyun would have been lost to the cosmos.
It took minutes after swallowing the pill before Tingyun regained full awareness. She stared at Fu Xuan—this version of the Master Diviner was unlike any she'd known.
Cold. Powerful. Yet inexplicably kind.
With a deep bow, Tingyun pledged: "This one owes you her life. If you'll have me, let me serve you, Lady Fu."
Fu Xuan nodded.
Her pieces were falling into place.
Elsewhere - Astral Express
"Mr. Yang, can you do the thing?" Anming grinned.
"...Which thing?"
"You know! The Yang Sit-Up!" Anming mimed the legendary "revive from death" maneuver.
Welt: "I'm... fatigued."
"Stop corrupting the adults!" March dragged Anming away. With Dan Heng hiding and Himeko perpetually caffeinated, Welt was their last bastion of sanity.
As the Luofu's Jade Gate loomed ahead, Anming checked his messages:
Anming: Hey Xuan, almost there!
Fu Xuan: 1.
Anming: ???
Fu Xuan: Busy. Saved someone.
Signal lost.
Anming sighed. Typical Luofu "advanced" tech.
No matter—he'd hunt her down at the Divination Commission soon enough. With Qingque (codename: Mountain-Piercer Sparrow) as guide, how hard could it be?
"Master-in-Law," Qingque whispered, "once we land... I'm counting on you."
Despite her bravado, the Stellaron crisis had her nervous. But then she brightened.
Wait—Fu Xuan's got this. And if she doesn't, Jing Yuan does.
This is basically already a victory!
Might as well scout banquet venues now.