"What? Yanqing, you're not sad again, are you? Don't take it to heart. Partings and goodbyes are simply a part of life. No one can accompany you forever. You are still young, but I hope you can face these necessary farewells with a more open mind. This is a form of growth for you, too."
Baihong gave a soft chuckle and continued, "Though I still can't remember much clearly right now, I have an indescribable sense of relief. Perhaps this too can be considered a precious experience born from meeting you."
"Mm. As long as you're all right. We'll start practicing in these next few days," Yanqing said.
***
At the Alchemy Commission, Lanyue was busy decocting medicinal herbs, carefully adjusting the stove to keep the temperature within the optimal range so the medicine's efficacy wouldn't be compromised. Glancing down at the prescription, she muttered to herself, "Goji berries, baizhi, coptis, peony... that should just about do it. I need to get this brewed quickly and sent over to Bailu."
What Lanyue failed to notice was that Bailu had appeared behind her at some point. "My, you've been busy for days now!" Bailu said. "The number of wounded Cloud Knights has dropped significantly lately, so you don't need to work yourself to exhaustion like this. Give yourself a break!"
Her tone was filled with deep affection and concern. Bailu thought to herself that this young woman was truly diligent—doing the work of several people all by herself, quick-handed, highly efficient, and utterly without complaint. How could there possibly be such a wonderful person in this world!
Lanyue wiped the sweat from her forehead and said, "Thank you for your concern, little Bailu, but a doctor's duty is to save lives and heal the wounded. It's nothing if I suffer a bit, but those Cloud Knights who have braved life and death need help. I cannot slack off! Now, run along and attend to your own matters. I still have to finish brewing this medicine to treat the wounded!"
"I've told you before, stop calling me 'little'!" Bailu puffed out her cheeks with a look of dissatisfaction. "I'm no child—my age might even be greater than yours!"
"Haha, well, who can help it when our lovely little Bailu is so short? You look just like a little sister," Lanyue teased, blinking with a smile. "If Bailu grew a bit taller, you could be the older sister instead. Now, be a good girl and listen to your big sister, or else you won't get any candy!"
Bailu gave a light huff, but obediently walked away.
Inside the ward, there were over a dozen cubicles, each occupied by a wounded soldier—some heavily injured, others lightly—all silently receiving treatment from the healers.
Lanyue walked in, offered words of comfort to several of the patients, and then bandaged the wounds of a critically injured soldier. Once she finished, Lanyue went to the break room to rest, where several alchemists immediately gathered around her.
"Wow, Lanyue, you're amazing! We never would've guessed someone so delicate could be so experienced at this. Which world are you from?"
"I heard you know martial arts, too? And swordsmanship? Is that really true?"
"Um... since you're so pretty, do you happen to have a partner?"
The group chimed in all at once with questions, leaving Lanyue entirely at a loss for how to answer.
"Um, please, one at a time... I-I can't answer so many questions all at once..."
Lanyue cleared her throat and said, "Actually, to tell you all the truth, I'd love to share the whole story. Ever since I was rescued by Bailu, I've stayed here to help treat others. But my memories—well, how should I put it? They seem to have run into some trouble. I can still recall things from the past, but they're always terribly hazy, and some are just fragmented bits. Bailu thinks it might be the work of someone from the Garden of Recollection... though I have no idea why they would do such a thing."
"So that's how it is! That's why you never told us, Lady Lanyue! Don't worry, Master Diviner Fu Xuan can help take a look for you," someone suggested.
"Thank you, Bailu told me about that as well, but I don't want to trouble Lady Fu Xuan right now. She has a mountain of affairs to manage every day, and I don't wish to disturb her."
Lanyue shook her head. "I'm going to step outside for a bit now. You all go back to your work."
After the others dispersed, Lanyue walked outside and gazed at the busy shadows of the distant jixing birds, a look of bewilderment in her eyes. But soon, she made up her decision.
"I cannot let myself sink into despair like this. I will find the Garden of Recollection and recover my memories."
She gathered her composure and began to practice her swordplay. Though her memory was failing her, the muscle memory of the sword could not be forgotten.
"Ice Soul, oh Ice Soul, you have followed me for so long. It must have been hard on you. My good partner—with you here, my heart is at ease."
***
Meanwhile, the Trailblazer was looking for trouble simply because they had nothing to do; after all, idleness breeds boredom, so why not keep busy?
If anyone could be called eternal optimists, it was the Trailblazer and March 7th. Even though they had lost their memories, they still smiled in the face of life.
The Trailblazer and March 7th were chatting cheerfully on the street while taking in the magnificent sights of the Xianzhou. At that moment, a Diting caught their attention. To be fair, there was nothing particularly special about this particular Diting; it just happened to catch a glimpse of them amidst the crowd, and—no, wait—their sharp intuition simply told them that something was happening.
"Woof! Woof-woof!" The Diting barked incessantly, completely unconcerned about whether anyone could actually understand it.
"March, do you have any idea what it's saying?" the Trailblazer asked, resting their chin in their hand.
"It's saying we should follow it."
"Wait... can you actually understand it? Or are you just making things up? And more importantly, why on earth can you understand a dog?"
"What's so strange about that? I'm a pretty girl, isn't it completely normal for a pretty girl to understand cute dogs?" March 7th said proudly.
"I didn't understand it. Does that mean I'm not a pretty girl?" the Trailblazer retorted.
"Y-You actually see yourself that way? Fine, I don't even know how to respond to that. Anyway, let's just follow it."
Led by the Diting, the two of them arrived at an open, deserted area.
"There's nothing here at all. Why did the Diting bring us to this place?" March 7th looked around.
The Trailblazer looked down and spotted a device lying in an inconspicuous spot. Picking it up, they saw it was a recorder, storing events from the past.
"Whose thing is this? The craftsmanship looks quite exquisite," March 7th said, eyeing the object in the Trailblazer's hand.
"The Diting only brought us this far, which probably means the trail ends here, and it has no way of identifying the owner," the Trailblazer analyzed.
"Well, then we'll just have to check the contents. Otherwise, there's no way to know whose it is, and they're probably frantically looking for it right now!"
At this moment, the Trailblazer was faced with two choices: first, take it to the Ministry of Development along with March 7th; second, examine its contents and return it directly to the owner.
"Well, if we happen to know the owner, that's one thing. If we don't, we'll just have to hand it over to the Ministry of Development," March 7th remarked.
As for the Trailblazer, they had already made their choice: examine the contents. Who knew? There might be some earth-shattering secret inside, the kind that concerned the very safety of the Luofu Xianzhou. If they discovered it ahead of time, wouldn't the Xianzhou owe the Astral Express crew yet another favor?
The Trailblazer was deeply impressed by their own genius idea and could only silently comfort themselves: what can you do, a genius's brilliant thoughts always seem to spark out of nowhere! At the very least, the Trailblazer had now successfully convinced both themselves and March 7th.
And so, it was time to take action.
Consciously flipping the switch, they gazed into the device to see what lay within.
***
During the height of the summer heat, Yanqing propped himself up with one hand while carrying a heavy weight on his back, breathing heavily as sweat streamed down his forehead. Raising his head with great difficulty, he asked, "T-Teacher, is this really okay?"
"Haha, Yanqing, if you want to master powerful swordsmanship, how can you expect not to suffer a little bit! I guarantee this will build up your physique and help you adapt to sword techniques much faster. It's also a test of your willpower! Once you finish this set, a long-distance run is waiting for you." Baihong watched Yanqing from the side, covering her mouth with a smile.
"Ah—Yanqing can keep going! Teacher, don't underestimate me!" Yanqing gritted his teeth and pressed on with his weighted push-ups.
Half an hour later, Baihong removed the weights from Yanqing's back. Yanqing wiped the sweat from his brow and replenished his energy with a quick snack. After regulating his breathing, he set off on his long-distance run.
"Remember, Yanqing. Do as I say. Keep your breathing steady while you run. As long as you persevere, it will yield results," Baihong reminded him.
"Yanqing will not give up. Teacher must have a purpose in doing this. I just need to keep going. As long as I can become stronger, Yanqing can endure anything! I still have to lighten the General's burden! If I can't even endure this little bit of hardship, how can I ever share the General's worries?"
Watching Yanqing's receding figure, Baihong let out a helpless sigh. "Though Yanqing is exceptionally gifted, his temperament is unstable and his competitive drive is far too fierce. It's entirely normal for someone his age to experience a few failures. I only hope he can use this training to temper his state of mind, and that he won't remain mired in past defeats. I hope he grows from this."
Baihong believed that one day, Yanqing would undoubtedly become a swordmaster renowned across the cosmos.