“You’re acting like we’re afraid of you.”
The speaker was the one who’d been unfriendly with the Outsider Gu Li right from the start. As the words left his lips, he readied himself for battle.
But the situation was rather awkward. He was the only one of the Four Great Auxiliary Stars to move; the others remained in place.
“We aren’t here to fight. What are you doing? I’m the Minister of the Right. I’m supposed to be the warlike one, so why is it that all these yours, your temper’s been even worse than mine?” said one of the four disdainfully.
Ye Zichen narrowed his eyes; he was pretty sure he knew who all of them were now.
If he made some assumptions based on this era’s Auxiliary Stars, the one who’d lost his temper was the Minister of the Left, while the one talking to him was the Minister of the Right. The woman was the Martial Star, while the man who’d told him about the River of Time’s destruction was the Literati Star.
But what surprised Ye Zichen was that, in his eyes, Yin Shang had always been rather calm and steady.
So why did his First Era predecessor have such an explosive temper?
But when he thought about it, Ye Zichen could understand. After finding out he was an Auxiliary Star, Yin Shang’s temperament had changed dramatically, especially with Ye Zichen…
And the Outsider Gu Li had stolen the Master of the Star’s celestial fate.
If the current Gu Li usurped Ye Zichen’s destiny, Yin Shang might change like this too.
Just as Ye Zichen was lost in thought, the Minister of the Right stepped forward and cupped his fists. “Your Excellency Gu Li, please don’t be angry. We aren’t here to fight you. But, please forgive me for what I’m about to say, should it really come to a fight, a half-step transcendent like you wouldn’t necessarily be a match for the four of us.”
“Hmph. If that’s what you think, go ahead and try it,” snapped the Outsider Gu Li.
“As I said, we aren’t here to fight you. It should have been enough to send the Secretariat Star, but out of consideration for your perhaps less-than-stable mood, we decided to come along. As you can see, the Master of the Stars has sent a message. Please, don’t make this difficult for us,” said the Minister of the Right.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that!” The Outsider Gu Li snorted. “You want me to go back? If he really wants me back, he should come here and invite me himself. If I’m in a good mood, I might very well listen.”
“After you seized his celestial fate, the Master of the Star’s body isn’t what it once was. It’s better for us to handle a long journey like this one,” said the Minister of the Right as politely as ever. “Besides, the Master of the Stars told us to pass on a message: if you come back, we might very well be able to revive An Lu!”
The Outsider Gu Li’s aura disappeared in a flash. He rushed right up to the Minister of the Right, grabbed him by the shoulder, eyes wide and breathing ragged. “What did you just say? Say that one more time!”
“The Master of the Stars told me to tell you that we might be able to revive An Lu, and that he requests you hurry back!”
When he heard that, the Outsider Gu Li’s hands trembled even harder.
Gu Li had the strongest reaction to this. He was deeply in love with An Lu, and was keenly, painfully aware of how important the former An Lu must have been to his predecessor. At their core, the two Gu Li’s weren’t really any different. Meeting An Lu changed their temperaments, but losing her had only made the Outsider Gu Li more explosive and irritable. Now they said they could revive her…
It was completely normal that he’d react like this!
“Are they telling the truth?” Suddenly, the Outsider Gu Li roared into the skies.
The floating golden character ordering him to return started to shift, and in a few breaths of time, it formed a new message: “Yes!”
This scene shocked both Gu Li and Ye Zichen. What kind of cultivation did this take? To think the Master of the Stars could send a message all the way from the Outside, another era!
Transcendence!
Was it really this strong?
“You’d better not be lying to me. You know how important An Lu is to me,” the Outsider Gu Li roared into the sky, quivering from head to toe.
Before long, the message written in the sky: just come on back!
When he saw this, the Outsider Gu Li lowered his head.
Suddenly, he fixed his gaze on Ye Zichen and took in the golden light around him. “If you’d sink so low as to use An Lu to trick me, all for the sake of protecting him, I won’t let you off.”
The message didn’t change. The Outsider Gu Li furrowed his brows. “I’ll go back with you.”
“Please.” The Minister of the Right gestured for him to follow, while the others walked behind them and off to the sides.
Just before they left, the Outsider Gu Li turned to the Third Era’s Gu Li. “Take good care of her.”
“I will.” Gu Li nodded.
“And be careful of him.” The Outsider Gu Li pointed at Ye Zichen. Both Gu Li and Ye Zichen knew the meaning behind those words. If the First Era’s An Lu had died, this era’s could die too.
Gu Li looked at Ye Zichen, his eyes filled with complex emotions. He nodded. “I know.”
“I hope that when I come here next, you won’t have fallen like I have.” The Outsider Gu Li let out a deep sigh, then followed the Auxiliary Stars into the sky. Their steps were slow, but upon their fifth step, they snapped their fingers, seemingly ripping the pitch-black skies apart and scattering the pieces. As the darkness dispersed, all six Outsiders disappeared from view.
“I have to go too,” said Gu Li. “Now that the Dream Arts have dispersed, these people will wake up on their own, and quickly. It won’t be good for either of us if I stick around.”
“It’s my turn to thank you now.” Ye Zichen cupped his fist.
“There’s no need to thank me. If you want to thank someone, thank An Lu.” Gu Li shot him a deep look. “I trust about thirty percent of what Senior told me. I don’t want what he described to happen. If it does…. I won’t let you off.”
“I won’t let that happen,” said Ye Zichen.
“I won’t either.” He stared intently at Ye Zichen, but said nothing. He simply vanished into the sky. Ye Zichen watched him fade away, memories of what had just happened playing through his head on look.
Their conversations echoed through his ears, too; it had been far too much information. Ye Zichen couldn’t digest it all at once.
The Outsider’s Master of the Stars was still alive.
It was because the Outsider Gu Li stole his celestial fate that the primordial giant beasts could break through the First Era’s Barrier of Transcendence.
That An Lu had died, and it was because of the Master of the Stars.
As shocking as this news was, the way Ye Zichen saw it, this wasn’t the FIrst Era. He refused to believe history would repeat itself here.
Gu Zichen was proof of this. If everything had gone the same way as in the First Era, his era ought to have transcended and survived its demise. But that hadn’t happened; everyone had died, save for him and Zuo Mo.
The future had changed!
Ye Zichen clenched his fists. Everything Ye Zichen did now was to stop the past from repeating itself. He wouldn’t let this world wind up like Gu Zichen’s, with only two people left. He wouldn’t let them wind up like the First Era, either.
What he wanted was….
He took a deep breath, then looked up into the sky.
But Ye Zichen saw it: the character in the sky had changed, and this message was clearly intended for his eyes.
