Friend?
Xuan Tian blinked. Slowly. Twice.
The word echoed in his mind—strange, unfamiliar, and disarming in a way nothing else ever had been. Friend? He wasn't even sure what that meant.
His thoughts froze. The Celestial Great God of War—tactician, commander, iron-willed servant of Heaven—helpless in the wake of a single, honest truth. Not because he didn't understand it. But because he did.
A blinking idiot, felled not by a blade… but by a fourteen year old human girl who meant every word she said.
Xuan Tian's consciousness snapped back. He felt something poking his stomach.
"Hey, Iron Wall. You okay?" Ling Yu asked, her finger pressing against him.
Xuan Tian blinked furiously, forcing himself to respond. His mouth opened and closed a few times, but no words came out.
Ling Yu watched him struggle to form words—and she couldn't help herself. She giggled, then laughed.
Xuan Tian watched her laugh—light, bright, no trace of her earlier mood. A strange warmth stirred in him before he pushed it down.
She was still smiling at him.
"Thanks," she said. "I'm not in a bad mood anymore. Just... still a little sad I'm leaving."
She hesitated for a second but didn't say more.
Xuan Tian looked at her carefully. That was more like her. Lightness with edges.
He nodded once. "You'll be fine."
Ling Yu nodded.
The moment settled again—less charged, more familiar.
Ling Yu got up and brushed off her dress.
"Okay, I'll leave you to rest. I still need to help Shizun."
Before Xuan Tian could respond, she was gone.
He watched her leave.
Friend.
Xuan Tian closed his eyes, crossed his legs, and cultivated.
------------------------------
The final crate had been loaded. All the awakened people were settled in their carriages. Gu Tianzhu and his five disciples were ready to go.
They would make their way back to the field in front of the cavern at Bai Mountain. From there, they'd board Ziyu Sect's Spirit Boat—a quiet, unmarked artifact vessel—and begin their journey home. Fourteen days in the sky to reach the gates of Ziyu.
Bai Xunli and her assistants stood amidst the rubble that used to be Jianxin Courtyard.
Gu Tianzhu approached them. "Should I fix this?"
Bai Xunli saluted. "No, Gu Zhenren. We'll deal with it."
"Thank you, Captain. We're about to go."
Ling Yu and her four shixiongs were standing around the carriages, they were waiting for Gu Tianzhu.
Xuan Tian, the doctors, and two rescued Celestials, stepped out of the residence. They also ready to go.
Gu Tianzhu with Bai Xunli and her assistants, joined them.
Gu Tianzhu bowed and saluted to Xuan Tian, "Shengzun, thank you for everything. We're leaving first."
All of his five disciples mirrored him, "Shengzun, we'll be leaving first."
Gu Tianzhu then looked around the group, and saluted, "Doctors, Captain Bai, Enforcers, thank you for everything. We'll be leaving first."
Again, his five disciples mirrored him, "We'll be leaving first."
Then the carriages started to move.
Ling Yu turned around, and waved at them. "BYE!" She turned around again and walked beside Li Ran.
Xuan Tian turned to Bai Xunli, saluted, "Captain, Enforcers, we'll also leaving first."
Bai Xunli and the Enforcers returned the salute, "Shengzun, take care."
They were off headed to the city gate at the opposite way.
------------------------------
They stood once more before the Tianwei Barrier.
Five went in. Six came back. But the number still felt wrong.
The space where Lei Wen should have stood was empty—noticeably, painfully so. No one spoke his name, but the absence clung to them like a second skin.
The divine light of the barrier pulsed, just as it had on the day they first crossed into the Human Realm. But now, it no longer loomed like divine judgment. It shimmered with something else—recognition. Return.
Xuan Tian stood at the front, posture straight despite the pain burning beneath his ribs. His body was still healing. The wound reminded him of everything: the price, the burden, the failure to protect someone he had sworn to bring home.
Behind him, the three doctors remained quiet. Lin Qian held her breath. Zhao Zhi stood tall but solemn. Xu Yun glanced at the two rescued Celestials—injured, pale-faced, clutching each other for reassurance.
None of them had spoken much since dawn. Words didn't have the weight to hold what they had experienced.
The barrier rippled.
They stepped forward together.
As their bodies passed through the divine veil, it began—just like before, but in reverse.
A deep, quiet shift.
The seal, once wrapped tight around their power, began to dissolve.
One by one, their cultivation returned—slowly, fully. Not with force, but with a blooming warmth that spread from the core out to the fingertips. Like water flowing back into parched soil. Like lungs expanding after being held too long underwater. Like unfastening a corset that had bound them from the inside out.
Power returned—but so did awareness. Pain sharpened. Emotions deepened. The Celestial Realm did not coddle. It stripped away numbness, laid truth bare.
Lin Qian gasped. Zhao Zhi's shoulders dropped slightly, as if remembering what it felt like to carry strength. Xu Yu blinked at her hands, quietly whispering thanks to no one in particular.
The two rescued Celestials stopped walking, stunned by the rush of spirit energy surging into their unsealed meridians. Their knees buckled slightly. Lin Qian reached out to steady them.
Xuan Tian walked ahead of them all, emerging first into the light of the Celestial Realm.
The sky above was vast and clean, unmarred by dust or fire.
But unlike the Human Realm's open skies—raw and alive, ever-shifting with clouds and seasons—this sky was painted in soft pastel hues, like the inside of a pearl. Blue melted into lilac, lilac into pale gold. It was always day here. The moon still hung above, but it served no purpose. In the Celestial Realm, there was no night.
The air was pure, untouched by decay or dust—yet it wasn't fresh. It lacked the crispness of wild wind or the scent of pine and rain. It was like breathing cooled spirit energy, filtered and polished until nothing raw remained. Divine air. Precise. Controlled.
A realm without seasons. A realm that never slept.
The group re-adjusted their breaths, welcoming that familiar sensation back into their senses. They had been gone less than a month—excluding the rescued Celestials—yet it felt as if they'd been gone far longer.
As they approached Tianmen City, a silver-white blur shot toward them. Xuan Tian walked toward it without hesitation.
Jing Xue bounded toward him, eyes gleaming with joy, his silver-white mane rippling like silk in the wind. The intelligent beast nudged Xuan Tian gently, radiating relief and happiness. It had been lonely—and terribly boring—without him.
Behind the beast, two Celestial Imperial soldiers approached at a fast pace, their steps heavy with urgency.
Xuan Tian was still petting Jing Xue when the soldiers halted before him and saluted.
He noted their tense expressions. "What is it?"
One stepped forward. "General! Tianjun has summoned you—it's urgent!" He handed Xuan Tian a scroll, sealed with Tian Xu's personal insignia.
Xuan Tian accepted it and turned to the doctors. "Please go on ahead. No need to wait for me—I have urgent matters to attend to."
They nodded, continuing toward the city gates with the rescued Celestials. Soon, they would return to their duties—checking pulses, preparing prescriptions, arguing over treatments. Life was settling back into its rhythm. Everything was returning to normal.
Xuan Tian broke the seal and opened the scroll.
The second soldier stepped forward, bowed again, and added in a low voice, "I have another matter to report, General."
A beat.
"Lady Shu Yue, your fiancée... is missing."
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In a room decorated with black marble, white granite pillars, and gold trim, a man dressed in black knelt in silence. His presence was a shadow cast in a place meant for light.
"Master," he whispered.
"General Xuan Tian has eliminated Tie Yanfang... exactly as you predicted. Everything has fallen into place, Master."
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End of Arc 1
Xuan Tian and co will return on July 1st.
Stay tuned.