Seeing the tiny cut on the neck of one of the Alchemy Commission cultivators, Jing Yuan's pupils shrank.
He proceeded to check the rest of the bodies one by one.
When he saw that all their wounds were the same, thin, fine cuts, his expression grew solemn.
Pointing at the corpse of one cultivator whose demonic form had already been revealed, he asked Yanqing, "Did you check how they died?"
Those who had revealed their demonic form possessed extremely strong regenerative abilities.
Such tiny wounds shouldn't have been able to kill them at all.
"We checked." Yanqing nodded and looked at the cultivator on the ground.
"All life force within them is gone, and all traces of power related to the Aeon of Abundance have disappeared. The remaining flesh is now similar to that of an ordinary outworlder."
"In simple terms…"
"They've become Xianzhou people who are no longer immortal," Jing Yuan finished the sentence for him.
The moment he heard Yanqing say that their Aeon-given power was gone, he immediately realized what had happened.
That person had stripped these people of their Aeon's power, turned them back into mortals, and then killed them.
Once they became mortal, losing the Aeon's protection, even a slash across the throat would naturally end their lives.
But this result shocked Jing Yuan even more. "The ability to strip away an Aeon's power…"
An Aeon stood at the very pinnacle of the universe. Their power was something mortals could never interfere with.
For example, the abundance within every Xianzhou citizen's body since birth, that power, even another Aeon like Fuli or Xipe couldn't remove it.
In other words, once an Aeon made a choice, mortals could only stare helplessly; there was nothing they could do to change it.
But now, someone appeared.
Someone who could remove the Aeon of Abundance's power from a Xianzhou person's body.
"Yanqing, do you think that's possible?"
"..."
Yanqing didn't know how to answer.
He too found it hard to believe that anyone in this world could interfere with an Aeon's power.
An Aeon could practically be said to be the laws of the world itself.
And if someone could interfere with an Aeon, then that meant their power could disturb the laws of the world.
Without waiting for Yanqing's answer, Jing Yuan looked down at the corpses, lost in thought.
"Cloud Knights, clear the area! No unauthorized personnel allowed!"
"Hey! I'm looking for someone! I divined that my friend is here!"
"Hey! Levi, did you hear me or not?!"
Jing Yuan heard the commotion outside, looked up, and when he saw that flash of green, he gave the order to let her in.
Qingque stepped inside, her eyes quickly scanning every face in the room, but she didn't see the person she was looking for.
"Could my divination have been wrong?" Qingque muttered, beginning to doubt herself a little.
When she saw Jing Yuan walking toward her, she politely greeted him, "Diviner Qingque of the Divination Commission greets the Divine Foresight General. I apologize for the intrusion, I came here looking for my friend."
Qingque looked around again, but still didn't see Levi anywhere.
"But he doesn't seem to be here. Maybe my divination result was off."
'Divination?'
Jing Yuan raised an eyebrow as he looked at her.
From Fu Xuan's report, he already knew that the person who divined Bailu's location was this very girl in front of him.
Even though she was only the lowest-ranking diviner, she had managed to accomplish what even the Grand Diviner couldn't.
That alone made Jing Yuan extremely curious about how she had done it.
He recalled how proud Fu Xuan had looked when she'd introduced Qingque to him back then, clearly, she had believed Qingque capable of succeeding her someday. He just didn't know why that never came to pass later on.
"General, I have a favor to ask!"
Qingque clasped her hands together, looking earnest. "My friend's gone missing, could you send the Cloud Knights to help search for him around Luofu?"
After speaking, she glanced at the still-sleeping Bailu. "That friend of mine is friends with Lady Dragon, too. If he went missing, she'd definitely be really sad."
Jing Yuan smiled faintly. Her little trick was obvious to him at a glance.
"Don't worry. The Cloud Knights are already searching for your friend throughout Luofu. You can just go home and wait."
Qingque pressed her palms together again and thanked him repeatedly before exiting the Alchemy Commission's hideout.
———
[Pre-Civilization Era, Sky City]
Levi's figure slowly appeared on a park bench amid a shimmer of white light.
Fortunately, the park was in a secluded area, rarely visited by anyone, otherwise, some "muggles" might have seen him appear out of thin air.
That would have meant another round of memory erasures.
So troublesome.
Resting one arm along the back of the bench, Levi looked out at the slowly setting sun. The glow of dusk fell across his weary face.
"So tired…"
Why was he so exhausted this time?
It felt like he'd just carried a road roller on his back and run a full lap around Luofu.
He didn't even want to lift a finger right now.
[Stelle: You guys back yet? @LinMao @Elysia]
Levi glanced at Stelle's message and said to Elysia, "You reply. I'm too tired to move."
[Elysia: We're back.]
After replying to Stelle, Elysia turned toward Levi, worried about his current condition, and, a little, about her own.
"Are you okay? Should we go to a hospital or something?"
"Right, because with our current identities as Herrschers, you'd love to see the doctors' faces when they think they're looking at aliens, huh?" Levi rolled his eyes.
Tilting his head back, he looked up at the sky. "No need to worry too much. This is probably just from overusing my power…"
Basically, it was kidney, no, power, exhaustion, leaving him completely drained.
After some rest, once his kidneys, uh, powers, recovered, he'd be fine.
"Guess enclosing all of Luofu in my domain really took a huge toll…"
Crossing his hands in front of him, Levi started giving himself a shoulder massage.
Even though Luofu wasn't a full planet, it was large enough to house millions of people, a city-sized vessel.
To completely cover a city of that size in his domain, and maintain it for so long, was no small feat.
"Hello."
A calm greeting came from beside him. A moment later, Levi sensed someone sitting down next to him.
Turning his head, he immediately smiled. "Well, what a coincidence. Didn't expect to see you here too."
Mei turned a page of her book, eyes still on the dense lines of text. "I didn't expect to see you either… Not many people come here. It's quiet, perfect for reading after school."
Hearing that, Levi looked around at the surroundings.
There were no city noises, no machine hums, only the occasional chirp of birds.
From this seat, the sunlight hit just right, warm and relaxing.
Just as Mei said, it was a perfect spot for reading.
Watching the girl's focused expression, Levi sighed. "Mei really is the definition of a model student. Back when I was in school..."
"At this hour, I'd probably be out running wild with my friends on the streets."
Maybe it was his words that caught her attention, but Mei's page-turning hand paused.
She lifted her head, adjusted her glasses slightly, and said, "If I remember correctly… you've never been to school, have you?"
Levi froze.
'Oh right, she hadn't gone to school. She'd been a troublemaker since she was little.'
Elysia, '? Say that again, I dare you!'
Meeting Mei's curious gaze, Levi scratched his head. "Really? I could've sworn I went to school…"