Chapter 20

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Protagonist:

Xuan Ge

Xuan Ge stood clad in black armor atop the flowing stardust.

He surveyed his surroundings — no walls, no halls, only star debris floating in the cold void and the twisted light and shadow cast from the distant Sui Xing Dai.

"This is your Qin Gong?" Xuan Ge raised an eyebrow, his voice especially clear in the silence.

"Nanuk is this stingy with his Great Generals? Won't even spare a single chair?"

His gaze landed straight ahead. The Monarch of Destruction, Xing Xiao, sat poised in the void, a naturally gathered halo of stardust beneath her.

White robes, white hair, almost blending into the pale background.

Only those eyes encircled by a star ring revealed an inorganic coldness.

"What business?"

Two words, like ice spikes striking each other.

Xuan Ge did not speak, the playful curve of his lips only deepening.

He lowered his crossed arms and began to walk.

Combat boots made steady, light sounds, approaching step by step in this absolute silence.

Xing Xiao's hands rested flat on her legs, fingertips curling slightly.

Not fear.

That "Harmony" trait rooted deep in her origin was her hardest shield, and also the shameful shackles pinning her here.

She simply... intensely rejected it.

Rejected being dragged into that man's rhythm again, rejected reliving the seven days of absurd "guesting" at the General's Mansion.

The tea he sent, she accepted.

The Corps, she could not refuse.

"General Shen Wei."

When Xuan Ge stepped within her ten-zhang range, Xing Xiao spoke again. Her voice steady and waveless.

"You confront without engaging in decisive battle, you hesitate without pursuing. Such conduct seems quite at odds with the Hunt Path's creed of never turning back."

She was seizing control of the dialogue.

This was the lesson bought with seven days of "imprisonment."

Xuan Ge stopped, a mere five steps between them. Hearing this, his golden eyes flashed with a "just as I thought" interest.

Xing Xiao was saying she herself might not be Hunt enough.

Xuan Ge didn't reply; instead he did something that made Xing Xiao's eyelashes tremble —

He mimicked her posture and sat down in the void.

No stardust to support him, just sitting there in midair, even crossing his legs, boot tip swaying lightly.

"Monarch of Destruction Xing Xiao ah~~" He imitated her icy tone, but dragged the ending into a teasing drawl.

"You hold this ground, drink tea, watch stars. Isn't that even more diametrically opposed to the Destruction Path's tenet of burning all things?"

Xing Xiao sneered, coldness leaking out: "You blocked my fleet's route. Xianzhou General, since when did you moonlight as a Universe Traffic Cop?"

"Traffic Cop? Fresh term." Xuan Ge grinned, nodding readily.

"That's right, I'm the one who blocked the road."

Xuan Ge's smile didn't fade; his upper body suddenly leaned forward, elbow on knee, chin propped on hand.

This posture instantly shattered the sense of distance; his face nearly touched hers, his breath seemingly able to brush her icy cheeks.

In those golden eyes, the mockery settled, revealing a blade-like undertone, while the provocative curve of his lips rose even higher:

"But this rock of mine~" He lowered his voice, enunciating each word.

"Hasn't it also firmly jammed you, this Monarch, right here? Us... tit for tat."

Xing Xiao's gray-purple pupils contracted sharply! Lips parting slightly, rage about to shatter the ice beneath her frozen features.

Yet, faster than words, Xuan Ge's hand had already reached before her — pointing straight at the soft halo of the star ring beside her eye.

The lines of her neck instantly tensed!

"Don't move." Xuan Ge's fingers clamped the halo, the touch slightly cool.

"This shiny little toy is blinding~" He clicked his tongue, "In the way. Take it off and then talk."

Before his voice fell, his wrist exerted a slight force, yanking backward.

Xing Xiao's head tilted with the pull.

A strand of pure white long hair slid from her shoulder, the star ring's light beside her eye flickering urgently.

"Xuan! Ge!"

Two words ground out coldly from between clenched teeth.

The surrounding void's temperature plummeted — the fury of pride trampled, the humiliation of dignity dragged into the vulgar.

Memory fragments of being forced to "participate" in the General's Mansion, accompanied by a suffocating sense of control, surged forth.

She violently tried to stand! Her pure white figure leaving afterimages.

However, the rising momentum was cut short midway because the star ring was gripped.

Body off-balance, she stumbled forward half a step before steadying herself again.

That instant of swaying shattered the perfection of an eternal ice sculpture.

The Void was deathly silent. Only starlight flowed.

About two seconds later, the halo was actively dissolved by her, scattering as specks of stardust light.

The halo faded. Her gray-purple eyes were fully revealed, like gems burning with cold flames.

The surging anger, humiliation, and killing intent pushed to the limit within them pierced toward the man nearby like ice arrows.

Xuan Ge smiled. Not his usual unrestrained smile, but a bright one that did not hide his pleasure at all.

He released his hand and naturally adjusted the position of his wrist guards and armor.

"Much more pleasing to the eye." He evaluated lightly.

"If you don't want to retreat your troops, that's fine too." He leaned back, resting against an invisible support, his tone casual.

"Just stay here, watch the stars, count the moons, and wait for me to return. I keep my word."

"Ant."

Xing Xiao had sat upright again, her spine straight as a cold iron spear.

She slightly raised her chin, restoring her indifferent posture of a deity looking down upon the mortal world. Her gaze swept over Xuan Ge, as if looking at trash.

"On... what... basis!?" Each word spoken slowly, every syllable laced with coldness that froze the soul.

"On the basis that I can trap you to death here." Xuan Ge suddenly leaned forward again, instantly closing the distance, leaving only each other's reflections in their pupils.

He lowered his voice, his voice deep and oppressive, wrapped in scorching malice: "On the basis that you will obediently accept my arrangements. And you—"

He deliberately paused, his sharp gaze sweeping over her lips pressed into an ice line, her tense jawline, looking into the depths of her eyes burning with ice flames.

"Can... do... nothing."

Xing Xiao did not retreat.

She even met this aggressive gaze, slightly tilting her face, letting a side of cool starlight outline her cold profile.

The corner of her mouth slowly drew up an arc without warmth, yet breathtaking.

"You... are... the... same."

Her hand in her sleeve clenched into a fist, nails digging deep into her palm, using pain to maintain her calm coldness.

This sentence was a shield, a spear, and more, a reminder of an unchangeable reality.

The mutual restraint of cause and effect originating from the root of fate was their eternal, suffocating deadlock.

We, can do nothing to each other.

"Yeah."

Xuan Ge suddenly leaned back, his posture once again lazy, as if the oppressive momentum was just an illusion.

But the light in his eyes shone astonishingly, like a child discovering a new game.

"So~" His tone was light and cheerful, carrying the excitement of a sudden inspiration.

"I've come up with a new idea. A... way to break this boring deadlock."

The string of vigilance in Xing Xiao's heart suddenly hummed.

"I've decided~" Xuan Ge announced in a tone as casual as discussing "what to eat tonight."

"Next time I go to find Gui Ji for a chat, I'll bring you along. The three of us, let's have some fun."

Xing Xiao's pupils contracted violently!

"You want to—" Xuan Ge waved his right hand casually in the air, sketching an absurd scene.

"He sees, the always cold and elegant, lofty and unreachable Monarch Xing Xiao, being held by her mortal enemy—that is, this humble self—"

"holding hands, leaning against each other, looking helpless and at the mercy of others in a sorry state... how interesting would that scene be?"

"What expression would Gui Ji have? Shock? Bewilderment? Or thinking this bit of fun is a once-in-a-millennium occurrence?"

He blinked mischievously: "If Huan Long knew, he'd laugh until next year."

"You're... dead!" Cold killing intent broke through the restraining shell, seeping from every pore, causing the surrounding Void to condense into fine ice crystals.

Xing Xiao rose! Her pure white figure became the source of the concept of Destruction!

The violent torrent of purple-black energy and the weird Pale White Harmony Light erupted completely, wildly intertwining!

Exerting full strength, intending to shake the bulwark of cause and effect!

Even if there was only a one-in-a-hundred-millionth of a second's possibility, to let the "result" appear!

The destructive energy surge instantly swallowed Xuan Ge's figure, drowning that piece of Void together, the light blinding enough to blind!

Then—

At the center of the light, Xuan Ge's figure clearly emerged.

He merely raised his right hand, fingers spread, and pressed forward steadily in the air.

The terrifying energy capable of annihilating several planets struck an absolutely impenetrable "Sigh Wall," and was forcibly compressed one chi before his palm!

The energy twisted wildly, roared, struggled, condensing into a violently trembling variegated energy ball, yet could not advance another inch!

He even leisurely lowered his head, curiously examining this violent "energy ball."

Then, in Xing Xiao's gaze where her cold mask completely shattered, revealing an expression of disbelief, he leaned close to the energy ball, made a deep-breathing motion, as if savoring the bouquet of fine wine before tasting.

Next, he slightly opened his mouth, inhaling that destructive, violent energy strand by strand into his body, letting it stay briefly in his chest, then exhaling leisurely.

What he exhaled were wisps of pale purple smoke mixed with stardust glimmers, drifting apart in the cold Void, adding a weird "leisurely" air.

He raised his eyes, looking at Xing Xiao radiating cold anger and a hint of stiffness all over, and blinked innocently.

He even raised his hand and waved it in front of him, fanning away the drifting "smoke," his brow slightly furrowed, as if disdaining that the smoke was not mellow enough.

She silently, extremely slowly, sat down again.

She completely moved her gaze away, no longer looking at him, gazing toward the deepest darkness of the Void, as if only there lay a cold truth worthy of eternal contemplation.

Xuan Ge knew, she had submitted again.

Despite this submission, beneath it lay surging rage and cold hatred.

He rose, casually dusting off the hem of his armor — though it was spotless there.

"Alright, just a joke, and you took it seriously."

His tone was relaxed; he shrugged, as if the provocation and clash just now that could have sparked an interstellar war were merely a harmless little jest.

Xing Xiao showed no reaction, as if she had turned into a lifeless ice-crystal sculpture.

Xuan Ge didn't care either; his left hand swept casually at his side, and a fine, dark blue Virtual Number Space rift unfolded silently.

He reached inside, groped for a moment, and pulled out an object.

It was a white jade porcelain bottle of simple, elegant shape; the bottle body was warm and smooth, tied with a dark blue woven tassel.

Through the semi-transparent bottle body, amber liquid could be faintly seen rippling. Xianzhou special brew, mellow fragrant wine.

"Catch, it's for you." He said casually, his wrist shaking lightly.

The porcelain bottle left his hand, tracing a smooth, graceful arc, unhurried, crossing the last few steps of distance, accurately falling toward Xing Xiao's closed knees.

She did not raise her hand, nor even lift her eyes. The porcelain bottle landed lightly on the pure white fabric, emitting a warm, soft sound.

Xuan Ge spoke no more, turning crisply.

The dark purple single-shoulder cloak spun a fluid arc behind him.

He stepped forward, his figure merging into the boundary of starlight and nothingness, vanishing in an instant.

Leaving only absolute silence, flowing stardust, and the Extermination Monarch with an extra warm porcelain bottle on her knees.

Time loses meaning here.

A long while.

Xing Xiao lowered her eyes, looking at the porcelain bottle on her knees.

The transparent bottle body reflected her cold countenance.

Her slender, pale fingertips trembled imperceptibly.

She raised her hand extremely slowly, five fingers loosely curled, summoning the wine bottle from across the air, and placed it gently at her side.

Then, she turned her face back, gazing toward the direction Xuan Ge had long since left.

There was only eternal darkness and starlight.

Her lips pressed slightly tight.

A sound extremely light, extremely cold, almost inaudible, yet clearly containing complex emotions:

"Hmph."

The light scoff scattered into the Void, leaving no trace.