Chapter 378 — The Xuanmai Sect Is Watching from Above

The two beams of light above the Fortress of Defiance still shone brightly into the sky. As the giant sun sank below the horizon and night gradually fell, those beams stood out all the more sharply against the darkening heavens, like two swords piercing the gloom, visible for several kilometers around the fortress.

Perhaps those beams did represent two swords—the sword of Ansu and the sword of Typhon—and now those two swords were engaged in negotiations for peace.

The king and the emperor's face-to-face private talk had ended; the general tone had been set in their exchange. No one knew what they had said, but since the formal negotiations were proceeding as scheduled after nightfall, it meant everything was broadly going according to plan.

After formal negotiations began, Duke Silas Loren, highest guardian of the kingdom's eastern marches and first executor on the border, entered the Long Hall of the Fortress of Defiance with his eldest son, Belk Loren, and sat to the king's rear flank. From there he could see Anluo Wendel across the long table, and even more the legendary Typhon ruler, Emperor Luoyan Augustus.

Luoyan Augustus wore a black coat with gold trim. The almost plain garment did nothing to diminish the Typhon emperor's imposing presence. He sat directly opposite Francis II, a limited smile on his somewhat gloomy, gaunt face. To Duke Silas Loren he felt like a predator born of shadow: the predator had come into the light, yet still carried with him a darkness that would not disperse; he smiled in the brightness, but seemed always to keep another face hidden in the dark.

By contrast, Francis II wore only a calm, faint smile. There seemed no pressure at all in the old king's eyes, yet they never left Emperor Luoyan. His steady, powerful voice reached the duke's ears: "Seven hundred years have passed since the forebears of the human nations cut their way through the wasteland and founded new countries on the continent's edge. We have enjoyed seven hundred years of peace, but every one of us knows that in those seven hundred years the wasteland has not receded by so much as a hair. As many scholars have warned, we may be at peace now, but between our peace and utter ruin there stands only a wall."

"That wall was built by the elves, but it is not as permanent and reliable as we imagine," Luoyan Augustus said, giving a slight nod in acknowledgment of Francis II's words. "There is now clear evidence that the monsters of the wasteland are capable of crossing the barrier. This is a common threat."

"So we have come here, like the forebears seven hundred years ago, to unite and seek a way to face this threat together," Francis II said solemnly, raising a hand toward the sky. "The ancestors watch us from the realm of the gods. Under their gaze and before their witness, it is time to set aside pointless greed and quarrels and seek the path of peace together."

In the night sky, within the reach of the two bright beams, a swift little bird darted through the columns of light, chirping crisply as it flew higher.

It climbed higher and higher. In a few breaths it had risen into the clouds, to a height beyond the reach of human eyes. In both speed and altitude, this small bird had already surpassed the ordinary notion of a "bird," yet at this height, in the dark of night, the sentries on the ground gazing skyward could never have seen this sight that defied common sense.

The bird turned over in the air. A sudden surge of magical current wrapped swiftly around its whole body and tore the surrounding clouds to shreds. Within the pale cyan-glowing stream of magic, an enormous body rapidly emerged from the air and gradually condensed into solid form: hard blue-green scales, a long elegant neck, and huge wings that seemed to blot out the sky. As these features appeared, the former "bird" had transformed into a dragon.

The dragon adjusted its flight posture nimbly in the air. Magical radiance rippled over its wings; by magic rather than aerodynamic force, it turned its heavy body at a sharp angle high in the sky. In its huge golden vertical pupils, the two beams from the Fortress of Defiance on the ground were still reflected.

The dragon took one last look at the fortress, then abruptly beat its wings and continued to climb swiftly, rising to a height no mortal creature could reach before it began gliding along the edge of the atmosphere.

At this altitude, the faint curve of the earth was almost visible.

After gliding for a moment, a pale golden glow appeared before the dragon and quickly unfolded into a crystalline curved screen. Complex curves and constantly refreshing runes danced across it. When those leaping curves gradually steadied, the dragon spoke, in a majestic, low female voice: "Signal transmission altitude reached. Beginning report of observations."

"The two human kingdoms of Ansu and Typhon have begun peace negotiations. The site is the Fortress of Defiance on their border. They have now entered the substantive stage..."

"No abnormal surges of magic have been detected across the continent. Since the last incursion of aberrations into the two kingdoms, no further aberrations have been found in the northern regions."

"The magical environment at the top of the atmosphere remains stable... temporarily stable."

The lines and runes on the curved screen trembled, and after a moment a voice came back through it. Despite the howling air currents around her, the voice was still clearly audible: "Do not forget the code. Do not interfere in the affairs of mortal kingdoms. Unless they show sufficient variables, or have already come into contact with the legacy of the Voyagers, dragons may not involve themselves in the world."

"Don't worry. The lesson of the Reverse Tide Rebellion, right? I got full marks in history," the blue-scaled dragon replied lightly to the voice on the other side of the screen. "If I was sent out as an observer, the Review Council must trust me."

"...They actually regretted it on the third day after sending you out. You went and burned human farmland," the voice on the other side suddenly became a little frantic. "And I don't understand—do the people on the Review Council really not know you have a problem with your eyesight? How on earth did you ever qualify as an observer?!"

"Observers don't necessarily have to use their naked eyes," the blue dragon snorted with some displeasure. "No dragon in the country is as familiar with this season's human world as I am. On that alone, the Review Council had to let me out."

As she spoke, the blue dragon suddenly turned her neck awkwardly. She kept gliding, but strained to lift her head and glance at the dense, bright stars in the high night sky.

The voice on the other side began grumbling again, but the blue dragon cut her companion off: "By the way, I don't know if it's my imagination, but I've had the feeling since a moment ago that someone is watching me..."

"Someone watching you?" The voice on the other side was full of surprise. "Where are you now?! Who could see you?!"

"At signal transmission altitude, the top of the atmosphere," the blue dragon said, awkwardly tilting her head up again and constantly changing her gliding direction, as if trying to evade a gaze that seemed to follow her everywhere. "I don't know what's going on. The line of sight seems to come from above."

"Above? You... don't talk nonsense. The Voyagers left millions of years ago! Are you sure someone above is watching you?"

Hearing her companion's voice, the blue dragon once again strained to look up at the sky. But in that clear, star-studded night there was no sign of the Voyagers: neither the legendary engine flashes like falling stars, nor the enchanting halo of a star gate opening, nor the brilliant streaks of star routes cutting across the night. The stars simply hung quietly in the darkness, as they had since time immemorial.