Good times were always short-lived, for ten minutes had unknowingly passed.
Herta, her face flushed, immediately turned and headed into the bathroom to change her clothes. But as she reached the door, she stopped.
"You're not allowed to tell anyone about this... Otherwise..." Herta, standing before the door, turned her head and glared fiercely at Lucian.
"Otherwise what?" Lucian asked with interest, genuinely curious to hear what kind of threat she could come up with.
"Otherwise, don't even think about there being a next time!" Herta shouted in a fit of anger, then quickly stepped into the bathroom.
However, just as the bathroom door closed, she froze as she realized what she had just said.
Now that she thought about it, what kind of threat was that?
Her threat was practically... practically an invitation that there would be a next time!
In an instant, deep regret flooded her mind—it nearly made her want to bite her tongue off and slap her own face.
Regardless, now that the seed had already been sown, she could only hope Lucian would not delve too much into it.
Unfortunately for her, he loved to read too much into things.
'Next time, huh?' Lucian thought with a smirk, then exclaimed toward the bathroom. "In that case, I'll have to keep this a strict secret no matter what!"
He was already imagining what outfit he would make Herta wear next time.
A swimsuit, a bunny girl costume, or maybe a school uniform?
Too many choices—he wanted to see them all.
Especially when paired with her disdainful expression, which was uniquely her charm—nobody else could give him that taste.
A few moments later, Herta finally came out of the bathroom and returned in her regular clothes.
"Now the bet is done! We're even!"
Leaving those words behind, Herta, blushing furiously, stormed out of the bedroom—only to run right into Cocolia, who had come looking for Lucian.
"Madam Herta? What happened?" Cocolia asked, surprised to see the blushing Herta.
"Your boss is not a good guy." Herta remarked without looking at Cocolia, then left angrily.
'Lucian... not a good guy?' Cocolia thought in confusion. 'Wouldn't I know that better than anyone?'
A while later, when she entered Lucian's bedroom and went to bathe, she found a maid outfit lying on the bathroom floor.
"Could it be that Madam Herta was just here...?" Cocolia muttered in disbelief, then scoffed. "And there you were, pretending to be mad... Heh."
Before long, when Lucian saw Cocolia step out of the bath wearing the same maid outfit Herta had worn, his eyes lit up instantly.
Cocolia's shy expression, so different from the stern lady she was during the day, felt like seeing a whole other person.
Needless to say, this was what people called 'gap moe'—another flavor entirely.
Now that it was Cocolia, his own woman, Lucian could indulge himself without restraint, savoring everything completely.
===
Early the next morning, Cocolia, waking up early, folded the torn maid outfit neatly and left the bedroom for work.
Lucian, on the other hand, soaked in the bathtub for a while before going out to take the Xianzhou Cangcheng to the Xianzhou Luofu as promised.
Thanks to Absolute Hit, in just a single flash, the Xianzhou Cangcheng arrived at the star system where the Xianzhou Luofu was docked.
Not wasting time, he immediately led a fleet of the Xianzhou Cangcheng's starskiffs to the Xianzhou Luofu's Jade Gate.
Because he came by invitation this time, he had to follow proper etiquette by entering through the main entrance, which kept him from teleporting directly into the Seat of Divine Foresight like he usually did in the script.
===
Xianzhou Luofu, Central Starskiff Haven, Starskiff Jetty.
In an area that served as the port for spaceships to land and take off, many kinds of spaceships—though the majority were Xianzhou starskiffs—rose and descended like game pieces being set down and lifted from a board, carrying medicine seekers, knowledge pursuers, and merchant traders to every corner of the universe.
Amid the bustling crowd, however, the Cloud Knights had taken over an entire port specifically to welcome an honored guest.
Such a grand spectacle naturally drew curious stares from passersby.
Who could command such grandeur?
Looking ahead, a white-haired man stood beside a pink-haired girl, with a banner hung behind them that read: "Welcome the delegation of the Xianzhou Cangcheng."
Anyone in the Xianzhou Luofu knew who they were—they were none other than the Luofu's Arbiter-General and the Master Diviner, Jing Yuan and Fu Xuan.
"Xianzhou Cangcheng? What Xianzhou is that? Never even heard of it."
"Kid, you're too young, so of course you don't know. It got wrecked way back in Star Year 6300—wait, if it was already gone, then what the hell is this Xianzhou Cangcheng?"
"Man, too much weird crap's been goin' down in the Xianzhou Alliance lately. Not long ago, the old Arbiter-General of the Yaoqing popped back up, and just yesterday, the one from the Luofu came back too."
"You serious? Is that news reliable?"
"What? My uncle's cousin sweeps floors at the Seat of Divine Foresight—he saw it with his own eyes!"
"So… you think the Cangcheng came back to life, too? Which Aeon's miracle would that even be?"
"No clue, but it sure as hell isn't the Reignbow Arbiter. I mean, after what happened to the Fanghu, it's obvious this isn't THEIR handiwork."
Some words could not be spoken too openly.
Even though the Xianzhou Fanghu was nearly destroyed by the arrow shot by the Reignbow Arbiter Lan, it couldn't be denied that its survival was thanks to THEIR involvement.
By comparison, the Xianzhou Cangcheng that should have vanished and then suddenly reappeared clearly had no relation to Lan, who only had the power to destroy things.
Many people were drawn in by the spectacle, pausing to watch with curiosity.
Plenty of locals were also live-streaming with their jade abacuses, eager to verify whether the Xianzhou Cangcheng's return was real.
Needless to say, this was a golden wave of popularity, so they had to seize it!
For example, a pretty young woman with long orange hair tied in a high ponytail on her left side and golden eyes was here now, squeezing into the front row with her phone-type jade abacus raised, doing livestreaming.
"Fam! I finally made it to the front! Gimme a sec, and I'll show y'all the Cangcheng delegation."
Her name was Guinaifen, a street performer and a streamer—though streaming was just her side job, her dream was to become an internet star one day.
"Fam, this is wild! Even the General and the Master Diviner showed up to greet them. I swear no other Xianzhou General ever got treated like this."
Guinaifen had lived in the Xianzhou Luofu for a while, yet she had never once seen General Jing Yuan personally welcome anyone at the Starskiff Jetty.
Not far from her stood a blond man clad in white, watching the spectacle with serious eyes.
He was none other than the man who had been with Jingliu before—Luocha.
"Cangcheng... wasn't that her homeland?" Luocha muttered quietly, feeling deeply intrigued. "Wasn't it destroyed by a living planet? How can it appear again?"
Recently, it was well known that strange incidents had kept piling up across the Xianzhou Alliance.
Understanding this, he ultimately decided to stay and see whether this Xianzhou Cangcheng was truly the one long gone from history.
===
"General, with the two of us coming out in person, that's quite a lot of face to give." Fu Xuan, shading herself with a parasol, said calmly while keeping her gaze fixed on the Jade Gate. "I mean, won't the other generals have something to say?"
"Well, the decision was made by all the generals anyway, so no one will complain." Jing Yuan shrugged and smiled casually.
Besides, he himself felt a personal urge to greet them, especially the man leading them—how could he stay in the Seat of Divine Foresight?
Perhaps it had something to do with that dream.
In that dream, he had been that man's student, so now he felt compelled to honor his teacher.
Unlike Jing Yuan, Fu Xuan, who had no memories from Jingliu's script, had come of her own accord because she was curious about the reemerging Xianzhou Cangcheng, and even more curious about its Arbiter-General, Lucian.
She was determined to be the first to see him, intending to catch him off guard and observe him with the third eye upon her forehead, which was Nous's own gift—a supreme treasure capable of perceiving all things.
A few moments later, neatly arranged starskiffs appeared at the Jade Gate, and soon, on the frontmost and largest starskiff, a young man standing on its deck with his hands behind his back came into view of the watching crowd.
In that instant, his bearing, his looks, his figure, his aura—all at once, he seized every onlooker's attention.
Among the onlookers, the women's eyes widened, their throats tightened as they swallowed their saliva unconsciously, as if their very eyeballs were glued to him.
As for the men, they felt hostility rise in their hearts and an urge to curse him.
Attracting a few women, a dozen perhaps, was normal—since, at most, men would only envy him.
However, attracting tens of thousands of women at once?
It was a real problem.
At this moment, every man, especially the still-single men, was not only filled with jealousy but also hatred.
"Fam! Did y'all see what I saw?! He's hella handsome! Y'all like him?!"
Guinaifen spoke excitedly into her livestream, eyes locked on Lucian.
[UltimateSwordmaster123: Little Gui, c'mon, get closer! I gotta see this!]
[DrinkMoreWater: Hold up for me! I'm almost there! I gotta see that face with my own eyes!]
[User_5318008: Damn, who the hell is that guy? Even back at my peak, I'd still have to step aside for him.]
Now standing beside Guinaifen, Luocha pondered silently and couldn't shake the feeling that Lucian was unusually special.
He immediately recorded a short video focused on Lucian with his phone and sent it to Jingliu, asking if she recognized him.
===
Thirty thousand light-years away, Jingliu picked up her ringing phone, then opened the video sent by Luocha.
As she watched the video and saw the figure within it, she froze instantly.
In the video, that familiar, handsome figure, radiating an undeniable aura, instantly melted her frozen heart.
Who else could it be but her beloved master, Lucian?
"Master... I've found you..."
Jingliu muttered softly, her breath slightly ragged, her eyes filled with yearning and... obsession.
"Wait for me... I will never let you leave me again this time... Definitely..."
===
[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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