Divination Commission.
"Hey, Qingque, did you hear? Looks like the Luofu's going to war again."
Listening to the Foxian diviner's words, Qingque, the young girl in green with two braids who belonged to this time period, sighed wearily at her new colleague's constant surprise. "Do you even need to hear about it? The Realm-Keeping Commission's restriction notices are plastered everywhere already."
"True... Still, I feel so nervous!"
"Hey, how come you don't look panicked at all, Qingque?" The Foxian diviner was curious. She was part of the new generation of Xianzhou natives born during the decades of peace and recuperation.
She knew her recently onboarded colleague, Qingque, was much the same—born in peacetime, having not personally experienced the Third Abundance War over a decade ago.
"What's there for me to panic about? This is the Divination Commission, not the Sky-Faring Commission or the Cloud Knights or whatever..." Qingque deadpanned. "Even if a real war starts, we'll just be here sorting documents for the higher-ups and clicking abacus beads. It's not like the fighting's gonna reach us."
"Suppose so... Hmm, kinda sad though. I originally wanted to join the Sky-Faring Commission and be a starskiff pilot."
"But working at the Divination Commission counts as contributing to our Foxian kin fighting on the front lines!"
Watching her energetic colleague rush off to her post, Qingque twitched her lips, unable to help muttering, "Sigh... This Divination Commission gig is really endless... I thought I could have a relaxing life here."
Driven by the desire for 'an iron rice bowl, a life where clocking in and out meant being a carefree salary thief,' the naive Ms. Qingque, fresh out of the academy and still inexperienced in the ways of the world, had ignorantly chosen to become a diviner at the Divination Commission.
On her first day, she had even happily taken a photo, thinking she could finally live her dream life. Never did she expect... the gap between reality and ideals.
She was just a minor diviner, yet the workload... Ms. Qingque couldn't help but click her tongue and sigh.
The Luofu was about to go to war again; the Divination Commission's workload would definitely increase.
"Good thing I'm just a minor diviner," Ms. Qingque thought thankfully. While the work was plentiful, it was actually quite easy for her.
As long as she finished the tasks at hand, she could still enjoy her wonderful days of slacking off.
However...
"War..." Fantasizing about her comfortable future, Qingque recalled her colleague's words and couldn't help glancing at the Ambrosial Arbor, visible from the Divination Commission.
Unlike the Foxian diviner who was nervous yet excited about the war, Qingque, an excellent student well-versed in Xianzhou literature, understood exactly what those two words entailed.
Given this, claiming she didn't care at all, wasn't nervous at all, would definitely be a lie.
But Qingque thought about it—for a small fry like her, worrying seemed pointless. She instantly relaxed and smiled.
Time to slack off!
Just as...
"Huh, what's this?" Qingque, planning to find a corner and kill time with her jade abacus, stopped short. A mask had suddenly appeared before her. She froze, puzzled.
The small mask, embroidered with green, sparrow-like patterns, materialized out of nowhere, hovering silently in the air. Qingque was certain it hadn't been there a second ago.
However...
"So pretty..." Qingque examined the mask, feeling tempted. Honestly, she wasn't usually interested in masks—it wasn't like she needed to hide her face—but this mask... really hit her aesthetic preferences.
The pattern, the color, it seemed tailor-made for her. More importantly, it exuded a strange 'allure,' drawing her towards it.
Tempted, Qingque took slow steps towards the mask, then carefully... dodged around it!
"?" Brunhilde, who was about to leave after delivering the mask, froze, watching this unfold. What the? Aren't you gonna pick it up?
Qingque, meanwhile, internally retorted: You think I'm stupid? Why would she touch something that appeared so inexplicably?
Oh, seeing something curious and touching it, only for it to cause a series of troubles later? Qingque knew that trope all too well.
Therefore, although she thought the mask was great and really wanted to wear it, sensing this impulse only strengthened her resolve to flee.
This wasn't baseless paranoia; according to Qingque's knowledge, the Xianzhou Zhuming had 'demon swords' that could bewitch minds.
Appearing so strangely, and being so tempting to me? You still claim you're not trying to harm me?
Go away! Go bewitch someone else! Little Qingque here isn't easily fooled!
"..." Though her metaphorical blood pressure was rising, Brunhilde, needing to complete Her Majesty's task, could only grit her teeth, glare at this ungrateful Xianzhou native, and use her power to manipulate the mask.
And then... Qingque noticed this, and instantly panicked even more. She started running.
An extremely bizarre chase ensued: mask versus human. But no matter how Qingque ran, until she was panting heavily, the mask stayed right behind her.
Not long after.
"Stop!" Qingque gasped, bending over with her hands on her waist, looking at the mask before her with a tearful face. "Look, buddy, please spare me, okay? Go find someone else! Little Qingque is just a humble diviner!"
The mask didn't reply, just hovered silently. The answer was self-evident.
"Fine!" Qingque gave up resisting, exasperated. "I'll wear it, I'll wear it, okay!"
It's just a mask, right? What's the worst that could happen?
Hesitantly, she reached out and took the mask. Then... her expression became trance-like.
In her mind, an ideal future unfolded. In it, she was utterly relaxed and carefree, just needing to drink tea, play celestial jade... feed the cat... wait, that thing's a cat?
Little Qingque never planned on getting a pet... Even if she did, it'd definitely be a bird or a turtle or something, why would she raise such a big cat?!
Snapping back to reality, Qingque felt puzzled, but recalling that future vision made her incredibly excited and motivated. Ah... Is this Little Qingque's future? A happy life of just drinking tea, playing celestial jade, and raising cats!
Just need to wear this mask... Just wear this mask...
The dark mask covered the girl's face. The next moment... amidst pleasant laughter, Qingque seemed to fall into a beautiful dream, an endless vacation.
Her pale fingers twitched slightly, as if adapting to something. The sparrow pattern on the mask flashed momentarily with light.
"A familiar feeling..." The lazy, cheerful girlish voice—unmistakably Qingque's, yet not entirely hers.
"Brunhilde."
"...Your Majesty?" Brunhilde materialized from the void, looking uncertainly at the Qingque before her.
"Not exactly. Just a sliver of consciousness," the girl replied, turning her palm over and shaking her head slightly.
This state was different from Jiang Qiao's 'swap.' It wasn't an exchange, but more like how the Divine Key Fenghuang Down allowed a consciousness shard to reside in another body, as seen next door in Honkai Impact 3rd.
Except Jiang Qiao had anchored this consciousness shard to the mask someone gave him. If anything, it was perhaps more akin to Heliobus possession—not absolute control, but a guidance of the host's will, though Jiang Qiao's touch was far more refined than most Heliobus.
"Alright, time to get to work." Having adapted, [Qingque's] youthful face, hidden beneath the mask, showed a spark of determination. "Can't let the Abominations of Abundance cause trouble right now."
"Brunhilde, go do what he assigned you. I'll handle things here."
"...Yes."
Witnessing Brunhilde's departure, [Qingque] shook her head, then walked towards the Divination Commission's Hall of Providence.
While Brunhilde, the Abundance Emanator, could suppress the living planet from the shadows, the situation on the Xianzhou side wasn't much easier.
One crucial fact: the secret development of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus happened precisely after the end of the Third Abundance War.
She refused to believe that Dan Shu, the Elixir Master still alive at this time, would miss such a golden opportunity and just sit idly by like a good girl. Decades later, she dared lead the Disciples in an assault on the Shackling Prison during the Stellaron crisis, attempting to rescue Hulei (Blade).
Now, during wartime, when the Luofu was at its weakest internally, how could Dan Shu possibly miss this chance?
Under the subtle influence of Elation's power, the diviners within the Commission failed to notice anything unusual about 'Qingque.'
Meanwhile, [she] began making arrangements within the Xianzhou Luofu, utilizing the internal network and various documents within the Divination Commission.
"These Vidyadhara Dragon Masters... Fine, I'll deal with them slowly later." [Qingque] frowned upon seeing the results from the Qiongguan Assessment Matrix, curling her lip.
The immediate priority was dealing with the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus. But this time, she couldn't just charge in recklessly like the future plot; the Disciples weren't that developed yet.
Handling them this way required... 'Qingque's' gaze fell upon the General's Edict issued by the Seat of Divine Foresight, lost in thought.
---||---
...As someone predicted, within the Alchemy Commission, Dan Shu, still alive at this time, was indeed scheming how to screw over the Xianzhou Luofu during this critical juncture.
There couldn't be a better opportunity. The living planet would stimulate Abundance miracles.
If she caused chaos on the Xianzhou now and facilitated its consumption by the living planet, the sealed Ambrosial Arbor could be instantly reborn, rendering the Stellaron unnecessary.
Simultaneously, the Cloud Knights would suffer heavy casualties.
The only problems were that her control over the Disciples wasn't fully solidified yet—their trump cards, the 'Combat Beasts' and 'Six-Phase Ice,' were far from mature compared to decades later.
Furthermore, the Disciples hadn't yet figured out the location of the Shackling Prison.
But... regardless! Time to stir up trouble first! Dan Shu quickly made her decision.
Unleash combat beasts to cause internal chaos on the Luofu, then use the available Six-Phase Ice to induce mara among the Cloud Knights, disrupting the Xianzhou's navigation and defense systems.
This would surely plunge the Luofu into chaos.
However... just as she was about to mobilize her Disciples...
The black-haired puppet girl, Xueyi, appeared directly at the Alchemy Commission, leading a large contingent of Shackling Prison operatives.
Seeing this formation, Dan Shu's heart plummeted. Crap, were we discovered? But how?! She hadn't even started causing trouble yet!
The Disciples were still developing and hadn't caused much disturbance among the populace at this point.
"Judge Xueyi..."
"Arrest them." Xueyi's face was frosty cold. Without wasting a word, she ordered the operatives to seize Dan Shu.
This completely baffled Dan Shu, anger rising within her. "Judge Xueyi, what is the meaning of this?"
True, the Ten-Lords Commission operated outside the Six Charioteers, but she was the Elixir Master of the Alchemy Commission! With the head position vacant, she was essentially the acting head! In terms of status, even General Jing Yuan wouldn't dare treat her so dismissively without concrete evidence, because the Six Charioteers were technically equal.
"By order of the General! You conspired with Abominations of Abundance to bring chaos to the Xianzhou! Ringleader Dan Shu, your crimes are unpardonable."
Normally, even the Xianzhou General had no authority to interfere with the Ten-Lords Commission—at least theoretically. Directly dispatching the Ten-Lords Commission to arrest high-ranking officials of the Alchemy Commission was unequivocally against regulations. But now was wartime.
According to Xianzhou rules, the General's authority peaked during such times.
"..." Dan Shu understood this too, her face turning ugly. She glanced at the General's Edict in Xueyi's hand—it was indeed from the Seat of Divine Foresight, bearing Jing Yuan's signature.
If anything went wrong later, Jing Yuan could be held accountable.
In her memory, that General of the Divine Foresight always acted like a goody-two-shoes, mediating everywhere. Yet that 'closed-eyes General' dared to act so decisively at a time like this?
"Once this is over, the Alchemy Commission will certainly report this to the Alliance and seek an explanation," she threatened, confident that the Disciples couldn't have been exposed at this stage.
Once things settled down, the reckless Jing Yuan would surely face censure from the Xianzhou Alliance.
Xueyi remained expressionless, merely waving her hand coldly. "Search!"
"?"
"What do you think you're doing?" Dan Shu froze, then became enraged. These running dogs of the Ten-Lords Commission aren't just arresting me?!
What made her even more alarmed was that the Shackling Prison operatives were heading straight towards the hidden entrances to the Disciple-controlled Delves... What the? Those dens just finished construction and started production!
"Such blatant disregard...!" She tried to use threats to stop them, but soon...
Roars of beasts echoed from unknown locations. After a period of commotion... everything fell silent.
Disciples of Sanctus Medicus hidden within the Alchemy Commission were captured one by one. Among them was even a core member who had just passed the initiation test yesterday.
Many Disciples resisted arrest, only to be swiftly subdued by the specialized Golden Automata and Shackling Prison operatives.
What about Six-Phase Ice? We operatives are all poets! (Implying immunity or resistance).
What about Combat Beasts? Golden Automaton, go! Take it down!
Looking at the fruitful results of the raid, Xueyi, who had merely followed the edict, was stunned.
Dan Shu too descended into bewildered chaos.
Only one thought remained in her mind now.
The General of the Divine Foresight... terrifyingly competent.