Jing Yuan hadn't had high hopes for this reunion. In his mind, this was always going to be the final meeting before they all went their separate ways for good.
But looking at the scene before him, it was clear that while they would indeed part ways, everyone seemed to have found their own path forward.
He took a deep breath and gazed at the sky. In this world, everyone's fate was predetermined. Every person was a slave to destiny. Even the Stellaron Hunters merely chose what they believed to be the best path among countless possibilities.
But Pei Guang's existence completely shattered that predestined fate. Pei Guang was like an observer who had personally stepped into the world, capable of changing individuals and even altering the fate of the entire world itself.
The Xianzhou Luofu's current experience was proof of that. Jingliu, Blade, Dan Heng, even Bailu—all of them had been changed.
He didn't know what the future held, but watching the two fighters about to unleash their decisive blows, Jing Yuan smiled.
One way or another, he had placed Luofu's future in Pei Guang's hands…
No, rather, in all the futures he could foresee, it was Pei Guang who was willing to take the Luofu and the Xianzhou Alliance along for the ride.
As Jing Yuan contemplated this, Dan Heng and Jingliu had also finished their final preparations.
Dan Heng took a deep breath, steadied his emotions, and looked at Jingliu.
"One last warning. This strike could kill you. It's my first time using this technique, and I'm not confident I can control its power. There's a chance you could get seriously hurt."
This was a technique that Pei Guang had proposed long ago. However, using it would consume one of Dan Heng's teleportation charges, and since he had never encountered an enemy that required such an ambush, he had never used it before.
But against Jingliu, Dan Heng knew that without this move, he would definitely lose.
Seeing that Jingliu had no further objections and was fully prepared to take the attack head-on, Dan Heng decided to stop holding back.
This strike was not just to fulfill Dan Feng's old wish—it was also to prove, once and for all, that he and Dan Feng were different.
"The truth of life and death… revealed in an instant.."
At first, Jingliu thought this would be just another ordinary attack. But when Dan Heng truly unleashed his power, she suddenly realized how terrifying he was.
She had assumed his weapon effects were the same as hers—merely altering the appearance of a weapon and adding some silly sound effects during attacks.
But the moment Dan Heng went all out, she knew she had been terribly, terribly wrong.
Dan Heng's effects were on an entirely different level: more advanced, more overwhelming, and far more terrifying.
If her weapon had simply turned into a salted fish sword—one that looked, felt, and even tasted like salted fish—then Dan Heng's pink fluffy bunny was something else entirely.
It was alive.
Neither Blade nor Jingliu had ever had their own power affected by their weapons' effects. But Dan Heng… Dan Heng's power was completely transformed by it, and even the surrounding environment warped under its influence.
As he activated his ultimate move, the world around them turned a soft pink. The air was filled with the lazy sounds of purring cats, and countless tufts of pink fluffy bunny fur floated through the air like cherry blossoms.
Even the dragon-like aura surrounding Dan Heng's body had turned pastel pink.
Jingliu, who had been so confident moments ago, instinctively took a step back.
This was too terrifying. It was truly too terrifying.
For the first time, she finally understood Pei Guang's true power. Changing weapon appearances was just the most basic function.
The truly horrifying part… was the complete transformation from the inside out.
And because Jingliu's heightened spirit had also increased her perception, she could clearly feel the pink fluffy bunny… watching her.
She would die. She was absolutely going to die.
Maybe not physically, but if she got hit by this attack… her dignity would be absolutely obliterated!
The future Cloud Knights would undoubtedly shout, "The Sword Master from millennia ago was actually impaled by a pink fluffy bunny wielded by a glowing pink maniac!"
Her dear disciple, Jing Yuan, would sigh in remembrance, "Jingliu, oh Jingliu! How did you end up getting stabbed by that?"
It was even possible that, through the rumors spread by the Masked Fools or the Riddlers, people would come to believe she had been slain by a pink cat.
Yes, for most people, using a pink fluffy bunny to kill someone would be utterly ineffective. But Jingliu could feel it—within Dan Heng's weapon effects, there wasn't just the power of Pei Guang, a force strong enough to distort and rewrite reality.
She also felt the gazes of certain… special existences. The attention of certain factions. Those people were undoubtedly watching the spectacle unfold, fully intent on making sure that anyone struck down by Dan Heng would suffer a social death of catastrophic proportions.
Between social death and being condemned for eternity… Jingliu would much rather be reviled forever. At least if her name was cursed throughout history, her story could serve as a warning to future generations.
But if she truly suffered social death, then she would be ridiculed until the end of time.
Jingliu became serious.
And when she got serious, the expression on her face made Jing Yuan cover his own.
No. This was too much. Even someone like Jing Yuan, who had lived for centuries and seen countless adorable things, found himself captivated by how cute Jingliu looked at that moment.
There was even a hint of… heartache.
The truth was, no one could resist an adorable Jingliu. Her usual icy demeanor, combined with such an unexpectedly cute expression, created a contrast that made her beauty all the more striking.
But an adorable Jingliu… paired with a Dan Heng glowing pink from head to toe…
At that moment, Jing Yuan took out his flask and took a long sip to calm himself down.
"Looks like even I have a limit when it comes to handling alcohol."
Jing Yuan completely gave up trying to make sense of the situation. This was a private gathering, after all.
Since it was private, as long as he ensured everything remained under control, he might as well indulge himself a little and watch the duel between his old companions play out.
As for the danger? He wasn't worried in the slightest. Forget Dan Heng—even he had a few consumables from Pei Guang that could restore all attributes to full instantly.
Unfortunately, those items couldn't counteract the effects of Mara. If they could, and if they could be mass-produced, Pei Guang would probably have already been carried off by the Xianzhou Alliance's generals in an eight-man palanquin.