❝𝙻𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜?❞

❝𝚈𝚎𝚜, 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝! 𝚈𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚊 𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚕. 𝙸'𝚖 𝚐𝚕𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞. 𝙸𝚝 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎.❞

🫧𓇼𓏲*ੈ✩‧₊˚🎐
𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐟𝐟 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧
🫧𓇼𓏲*ੈ✩‧₊˚🎐

Tingyun led the four off down the storage area. Meanwhile, M/n was deep in thought. The foxian's comment about his fighting style... that really didn't set him off... it couldn't have, but it did. Memories from thousands of years ago began to surface up in his train of thought. Of course, all he had to do for the past millienas was think, reminisce, hope... well, it looked like all that hoping amounted to nothing.

March looked over to M/n and furrowed her brows. No one was going to be mopey on her watch! Even if she did just meet this guy, she was going to make this man smile, even if it was the last thing she did!!

"Soooo, M/n, you looked really cool back there fighting. Do you think you can teach me?" She asked, staring up at his sharp facial features with a smile.

"My fighting..isn't exactly one that can be taught. I'm hardly qualified to teach it. Besides, you fare pretty well on your own, so I doubt that you need any assistance from me." The corners of M/n's lips curled up slightly, but it was so unnoticeable that it could be hardly considered a smile.

"Awe, thanks! Who was your teacher? I bet he was just as cool as you are! Were you guys close?" M/n laughed solemnly and nodded at her statement.

"He was a great teacher. I made plenty of mistakes, and he was still so calm with me despite that. He pushed me, but not to my limits until I was ready. And...yeah...I suppose that we were pretty close. Once I find him, though..."

His once calm hands balled up into a fist as he looked down at his feet. March started to panic. She was saying all the wrong things!! And it was going so well!!"

"Uuuuh...nevermind about him...tell me what living here was like!" She said quickly,  snapping her fingers once she thought of something to take his mind off of. Before she could get an answer, Tingyun suddenly stopped before a staircase.

"Huh? Why have we stopped?"

"Don't worry, Miss! I have... a favor to ask of you."

"Whattt?! But what if we do it wrong? You're going to call your cloud knights on us and throw us in jail!" Tingyun sighed and laughed

"I shouldn't have doubted you! Please accept my apologies! You see that road over there? It's been blocked off, you see. The cloud knights on duty must've turned it into a roadblock."

"I'm sure that M/n and Mr. Yang can clear them out..." Caelus mentioned. M/n shrugged. He probably could, but March stood in front of the two elder men and frowned at Caelus. "Do they look like cranes to you?!"

Tingyun giggled and covered her mouth to hide it. "Awe, it's okay! I bet that even with all of us, we wouldn't have been able to move one. Don't get me wrong, I'm not doubting your skill. It's just... I would feel really bad if any of you got hurt in the process. If I'm not mistaken, the containers in the Trove of Venture can be moved by around by a control panel. You've already put on quite a show, so I'm sure it'll be easy to move a control panel, yeah?

🫧𓇼𓏲*ੈ✩‧₊˚🎐

After moving all of the blockade out of the way, they made it to the entrance of the ships. The vessels would carry them all the way to Starskiff Haven. They were only one staircase away from safety.

"Ah~ Good! We just need to pass through here and take the barge to Starskiff Haven. Then we'll be safe." The foxian reassured the crew with a smile.

"You know, you sound so nice when you're talking, but you were just threatening us to take us away with your Cloud Knights! If it wasn't for Mr. Yang..." March commented

"Well~ If you were in my shoes, then you would want to keep your guard up, yes?"

"Yes..but...we're here to trailblaze! Not go to jail!" March pouted and crossed her arms in annoyance. M/n hesitantly pat her had to reassure her that it was alright. They didn't get jailed, and that was a good thing. Though, he was rather surprised that Tingyun working close with the Commission wouldn't warrant any suspicion about his newly established bounty.

But...it's not that he would tell her anyway.

🫧𓇼𓏲*ੈ✩‧₊˚🎐

Eventually, they made it to the Starskiff. March and Caelus continued to make conversation with each other throughout the flight, and they made it safe and sound. As the four spoke among each other, M/n kept to himself and just observed Starskiff Haven again. In his opinion, it was one of the better cities within the Luofu. Other than the capital and the Waterscape, Starskiff Haven came in a close third.

Soon enough, they were in the very heart. Or, the building of the Sky-Faring Commission. He hadn't seen that yet. He had taken another way to the port. It was breathtaking, but he knew he couldn't stay for long. M/n began to walk away but was quickly pulled back by March, who was dragging him into the large building. Aka, where the security there was higher than most of the city.

🫧𓇼𓏲*ੈ✩‧₊˚🎐

"Yes ma'am." The female voice on the speaker spoke to the foxian woman, however, this one wasn't Tingyun, but rather Madame Yukong herself. The Astral Express Crew and M/n walked through the Sky-Faring Commission building, looking around at the different things around the place. Yukong proved herself to be a powerful leader in M/n's eyes, because literally everything revolved around her in this place.

"Greetings...guests from the Astral Express. And...a convict." The woman looked at M/n, snapped her fingers, and Cloud Knights surrounded him, pointing their spears. March began to panic, yelling that he did nothing wrong.

"Calm down. He's going to be fine. Tingyun informed me of your visit. Receiving guests aren't normally among my responsibilities, but since you are aware of the Stellaron, I'd figure I'd meet you in person."

"How can you be so calm! Tell them to let M/n go! He did nothing wrong!"

"March." Welt warned the girl, she looked at M/n worriedly before turning away to look at Yukong.

"And...we politely decline your proposal." The woman said, seemingly done with the conversation. Caelus' eyes widened, and he stepped forward.

"Decline?! What do you mean?!"

"The Xianzhou Alliance knows what a Stellaron is and is more than capable of handling this by ourselves. We have been around for 8000 years and have dealt with countless dangers and crisis. While the situation is serious, we have plenty of resources to spare."

M/n was suddenly shoved to his knees and his hands were tied behind his back. March turned to M/n once again to attempt to help him, but Welt held her back, warning her once again not to get involved. Soon, M/n was taken away once again...back to Jing Yuan...and back to the hell he had only just escaped...

🫧𓇼𓏲*ੈ✩‧₊˚🎐