Xuanwu turned around slowly, like a machine, only upon hearing this voice.
“Am I… free…?”
The voice was icy and clear, starkly different from before. She was choking back sobs.
“Yes, Wu Xuan,” Baihu nodded with a complicated expression, then glanced at Jiang Shi. “Qinglong mentioned this to me, but we didn’t have time to inform you…”
“That’s right,” Jiang Shi added with a nod. “Everything just now was a test Qinglong ordered to assess you.”
Xuanwu trembled again, murmuring, “But… that can’t be… Qinglong clearly used Thunderstrike…”
“You have to trust me,” Baihu said. “There’s no need for us to cover for Qinglong anymore, right…?”
Xuanwu turned to meet Baihu’s gaze.
Indeed, why was she even trying to justify Qinglong’s actions?
How wonderful it would be if all of this were true.
No—she couldn’t think like that.
Because here and now, it *was* true.
A long journey was finally reaching its end.
Xuanwu stared into Baihu’s murky eyes for a long time, her mind drifting into a daze.
Though he had aged beyond recognition, there was something familiar in his gaze.
Fragments of long-buried memories stirred to life, sending shivers through her body.
“Wu Xuan, why do you always try to reason with them?”
A young man’s voice echoed in her ears:
“Aren’t we supposed to be enforcers? Just talking won’t get the job done.”
In her mind’s eye, a young man in white robes sat beside a girl against a crumbling low wall.
The sky back then was tinted pink.
“Don’t call me Wu Xuan!” the girl retorted.
Her voice lingered in Xuanwu’s mind, but she couldn’t recall who it belonged to.
“Oh right, you’re not ‘Little Xuanzi’ anymore—you’re ‘Xuanwu.’ Fits you well,” the young man chuckled. “Qinglong just tossed the name out, but it suits you perfectly.”
The girl laughed softly. “Yeah, Qinglong feels almost… like a Bodhisattva. He fulfilled everything the Bodhisattva promised me in no time.”
“A Bodhisattva…?” The young man frowned, shaking his head. “I… don’t think Qinglong’s a Bodhisattva. I shouldn’t say more, but you’ve gotta be careful. You can’t just reason with rule-breakers—if Qinglong gets angry, it’ll be bad.”
“But Brother Hu, they’re still people. Even the Bodhisattva looks down upon all living beings—how can we just take their lives?”
“They broke the rules,” the man said. “If they understood reason, they wouldn’t have broken them in the first place.”
“But…” The girl hesitated. “I’m scared… If I don’t reason with them, what else can I do? Do we really have to kill with these bodies?”
“You can scare them! Do you watch short dramas? I remembered a line the other day—let me teach you.”
“‘Short dramas’… what’s that?”
“Never mind that,” he waved off. “Just remember this line!”
“…Okay.”
“Listen close… I am Lao Hu! Lay down your arms and embrace your slaughter!” He burst out laughing. “Oh man, sorry—that’s way too dumb. If that doesn’t work, just slam the table and yell ‘How dare you!’ like an ancient official. Maybe that’ll…”
The girl giggled. “Brother Hu, you’re so funny. You sound like an old man.”
“What? Silly girl, that *is* an old man’s line!”
They laughed together, the tension melting away.
That year, the sky was still pink, and the wind carried no stench.
Xuanwu wanted to see what else the girl and the man had said, but her memories blurred into chaos.
The only thing that stuck was the man’s sorrowful gaze as he whispered, “Do you still remember me?”
Then, the memory shifted—the girl stood beside Qinglong, a mangled corpse at their feet.
“I’m disappointed in your current state,” Qinglong said. “I had to step in myself…”
“I’m sorry…” The girl lowered her head.
“I gave you two rules. How many did you follow?”
“The first…” Her voice grew quieter. “I never disobeyed you.”
“No. You followed neither.” Qinglong’s tone sharpened. “First—never defy me. Second—uphold the rules with merciless force. Failing the second *is* defying me.”
“No… I wouldn’t dare…” The girl kept her head down. “You’re like a Bodhisattva… I’d never disobey you…”
“Enough with your damn Bodhisattva.” Qinglong’s brow furrowed before a sudden realization flashed in his eyes. “Wait… the Bodhisattva. Now I see…”
“Huh…?”
“I know what’s wrong with you—you think too much!” He let out a manic laugh. “Of course… if I take away half your reason, you won’t hesitate anymore.”
As they spoke, a disheveled, bespectacled man entered.
His eyes darted nervously, avoiding Qinglong and the girl.
“What?” Qinglong asked.
“‘Overgrowth’ is ready.” The man adjusted his glasses. “The native can trigger a stable version now. I came to report…”
“‘Overgrowth’…?” Qinglong’s gaze turned icy. “And what use is this trash? You—wait.”
A spark of interest flickered in his eyes. “…Does it only work on plants?”
“Uh… I think so…?”
“Try it on a person.” Qinglong stood, gesturing at the girl. “She looks too harmless. Let’s make her ‘overgrow.’”
“Her… whole body?” The man paled, briefly meeting Qinglong’s eyes before flinching away. “That’s… not right. Applying this to a human—there’s no telling if it’ll age her, fatten her, or… She has hair, nails, all kinds of things that could grow. She’d…”
“What did you say?” Qinglong cut in.
“Wh-what? I…”
“What did you say?”
The man fell silent under Qinglong’s glare.
“You doubt your own creation?” Qinglong stepped closer, smiling as he whispered, “If she loses control, you’ll stay there and die with her.”
The girl shuddered, an inexplicable fear gripping her.
Yet Qinglong only smiled, placing his hands on her shoulders. “No need to tremble. Today, we’ll refine you further—a privilege no other ‘Divine Beast’ has received. You’ll be stronger than ever.”
The girl neither nodded nor refused, only stood frozen in dread.
But… what happened after that?
Where had the girl and the young man gone?
Xuanwu couldn’t remember.
The memory cut off like an unfinished film—no more images, no more sounds, not even the wind.
No matter how hard she tried, only one phrase remained:
“Do you still remember me?”
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