Dan Heng and y/n didn't quite start off very close when she first boarded the Astral Express. Nobody did when first meeting someone, of course, but she was just...

There was this look in her eye.

She didn't sleep, eat, or do much of anything.

She was sort of somewhere else for some time.

With time, they began to get along and become close comrades who could trust one another. Not enough to dump their entire pasts on one another, y/n couldn't for obvious reasons, but just enough to know that one had the other's back.

Y/n happened to trust him enough to tell him things she couldn't tell anyone else. Things she didn't want to burden the happy go lucky March 7th, things she didn't want Himeko and Welt to worry about.

"If... if the Xianzhou Luofu ends up being my home, what will it be like?" y/n wondered aloud.

Dan Heng wasn't quite sure how to answer, and even if he knew, he doubted it'd be an answer that would ease y/n's worries.

The woman didn't wait for a reply, only letting out a heavy sigh, "Guess we'll see if we go there, eh?" she turned her head to give Dan Heng a smile, "Just in case this is my stop, you wouldn't mind being full time Archivist and Train Guard, right?"

She promised to fill him in on everything she learned over text, but Dan Heng hadn't received a single message from her since her and the others had departed.

He was already pretty concerned after reviewing the hologram thing and seeing a very dangerous dude, and y/n's lack of a response wasn't helping ease his nerves.

At first, Dan Heng figured she'd forgotten, so he tried messaging her to see if she was alright.

The message didn't go through.

He tried March, Caelus, and Welt, but none of his messages got through to them. Strange. And awfully concerning.

In the end, he ended up following them.

Well, following the trail they left behind.

It wasn't difficult to tell which way they went, y/n always left some kind of path when she was going somewhere. Footprints, food, blood, and this time... headless mara-struck. Lots of them.

Of course, this could've been someone else's doing, but y/n had Mimi with her. Mimi's missing ear sometimes dropped stuffing, and there it was right on the ground.

So... yes. Y/n had been there.

Dan Heng didn't know whether he should be worried or absolutely devastated. Well. At least she was doing her job.

"What the hell?!" someone shouting from up ahead, drawing Dan Heng's attention, "What happened here?!

Oh yeah, Dan Heng currently had two others he was navigating Cloudford with. A Cloud Knight who had just transferred from the Yaoqing, Sushang, and a strange merchant carrying a casket, Luocha.

Dan Heng wandered over to join the two and found that the path before him was very clear, just that a bunch of shipping containers had been flung further down the path.

His eyes immediately found one containers with a large dent in it that seemed to have nearly caused the entire side to cave in.

From the way the containers had been flung, plenty of people were able to walk through, but there were more containers that had fallen down in the path. Almost as though someone had deliberately knocked them down there.

'Definitely y/n's doing.' he concluded.

"Y/n!!! Why would you do that, now we're trapped!!!" March shrieked as she stared at the wrecked elevator before them, the only thing that separated them from their pursuers and their only way out.

"I'll just clear a way through again." y/n replied with a shrug before patting March on the head, "Ease up, will you? I'm on duty, so I wont let anything happen to you guys."

"Could it be...?" Sushang murmured as she took a closer look at the dent, "No... it couldn't be."

"See something strange?" Dan Heng inquired.

"No. Well, yeah, kinda, I just thought it was strange how something managed to hit a shipping container this hard to send it flying." Sushang mumbled, "I do have a theory, but that doesn't matter, whoever did it blocked our way!"

"Perhaps we could find another path around. They might be blocked by more shipping containers, but I'm sure the Cloudford control panels could help us out." Luocha suggested.

"Ah... but I'm terrible with machines and stuff-!" Sushang protested before pausing and giving Luocha a suspicious look, "Wait a minute. How do you know?"

"I'm a traveling merchant. I've been here many times." Luocha pointed out, "Now, for a Cloud Knight to be unfamiliar with the local topography..."

"I told you. I was only just transferred from the Yaoqing-!" Sushang reminded him, "I don't come here very often."

The group took an alternate route away from the blocked path and searched for a control panel.

"You know of someone who could've blocked the path with those containers?" Dan Heng asked during their search.

"Mm... sort of. I don't know her, but I do know of her!" Sushang hummed, "She's like a celebrity on the Xianzhou Ships! Well— the Luofu and Yaoqing, at least. She had a lot of names, so I'm not sure what to call her."

"A lot of names?" Dan Heng echoed.

"Oh yeah, when she was just starting out as a Cloud Knight, they called her Dozing Knight, and then Demon Knight later on after she'd become a pretty formidable fighter. She eventually got the name Hellraiser because she made a ruckus about the second nickname. Something about it being lame and making her sick." Sushang continued, "We've got Mad Demon, Demon Lieutenant, the Divine Foresight's Shadow, and so much more."

"Did she not have a name?"

"Of course she did! It's just..." Sushang lowered her tone to a whisper, "It feels very rude to speak the true name of a legend, y'know?"

"I doubt she'd mind." Dan Heng murmured and Sushang pondered over his words for a brief second.

"I guess you're right... she did seem to really hate all the nicknames she received, but she sure liked to give them out." Sushang said before shaking her head, "I've heard stories about how she'd call the General the Luofu Cloud Knights Divine Slacker, and there was even an occasion where she visited the Yaoqing and got into a fight with the lady general. Apparently, the two of them got into it and she left a pretty big indent on a door from where she'd kicked it in. Like those shipping containers."

As Sushang rambled on and on, Dan Heng was only slightly paying attention. Selective hearing, let's call it that. (Susshang 📮)

A distaste for nicknames only to dish them out automatically, a habit of slacking and fighting.

Sound familiar?

"She was aboard the Yaoqing a couple times before she went MIA, but I didn't get many opportunities to see her. Though I did get to see the aftermath of her scuffle with the lady general." Sushang continued before smiling, "Despite her messy reputation, most people aboard the Luofu and Yaoqing still respected her, and were all pretty devastated when she went missing a while back."

"Missing?"

"Mm... she ended up staying behind on a planet so other Cloud Knights could escape. It was quite some time before the Luofu was able to go back to look for her, but the entire place was deserted. All enemies had been killed, there was no sign of life aside from a withered tree, and no sign of Miss y/n. She still hasn't been declared dead, but everyone acts like she was." Sushang let out a sigh.

Oh. So she was talking about y/n.

Dan Heng wasn't surprised to know y/n was a maniac before she'd been stuck in a tree for who knows how long, but at least she wasn't a criminal like she'd initially feared.

She was clearly loved and respected, and she definitely had quite the reputation. Nothing bad here from the sound of it, hopefully it wouldn't get to her head.

"Personally, I think Miss y/n is still out there."

Dan Heng glanced back at Sushang who wore a simple look of wonder, "Why do you say that?"

"I just think so. The lady general promised her a sparring rematch as well as a customized bow for her to use. Miss y/n had this look about her when we met, the look of someone who wouldn't die until she was ready to." Sushang replied before giving Dan Heng a smile, "So long as she was owed something, Miss y/n wouldn't die. I'm sure you'd think so as well if you met her, silent but deadly."

Dan Heng had never heard a statement about y/n as accurate as that one. If only Sushang knew, whew...

After finding the control panel, thanks to Luocha's sharp eyes, they were able to clear a path with another to get to the one that Luocha had spotted. Of course, it was blocked by some mara-struck, but they handled that quickly enough.

They moved some more shipping containers, looped back around and were on their way out— oh. Another one.

Finally, they were able to call in a starskiff.

"Whew... that's a relief." Sushang let out a breath, "There's one starskiff left."

Dan Heng frowned, "Wh-Where does it go?"

"Judging by where it's docked, it'll likely be headed for Central Starskiff Haven. Nice! We'll be safe there." Sushang replied, "Come on, let's hop on!"

Dan Heng paused, gave his phone one last look, then nodded with a soft, "Alright." 'I hope y/n and the others are alright.'

Alright?

Mm... y/n was fine. Confused, but fine.

She'd left the others only for a second, wandering off to explore a little bit. Y/n had been wandering before some dude on the street called her over.

"Excuse me, guest from another world!" a man called out to her and she paused, looking over with a frown, "Please spare me a moment of your time!"

She gestured to herself with a raised brow and he nodded, urging her to come over, "Yes, you!"

Suspicious... was this really worth her time?

"Mimi!" Caelus shouted as he ran to her, joining her where she stood, "There you are! You disappeared!"

Mimi? The hell? Why was he talking about her plush?

She gave him a confused look and he returned it with one that almost seemed to plead just go with it.

Y/n blinked, 'You've gotta be kidding.'

"My bad, my bad." y/n apologized with a smile before glancing over at the strange man, "This guy over here is calling me over..."

"Mm?" Caelus looked over to the strange man before beginning to drag her over, "Maybe he recognizes you!"

"He sounds more like one of those shady marketers."

"Come on, let's just go see!"

"..." 'He seems really eager about this. Odd'

Now y/n was interested.

She blinked when Caelus looped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer so they were hip to hip, but she didn't question it.

Y/n would interrogate him about it later.

"Oh my, apologies, I guess I should say guests." the man chuckled after the duo walked over to him, "Do you yearn for immortality?"

Immortality?

"I desire power!" Caelus declared.

Y/n gave him a weirded out look.

The strange man didn't seem to know what to say before continuing, "I understand! Eternal life is indeed a form of power, wouldn't you say?"

"Nah, I just want power. Pure and simple." Caelus exclaimed and the man faltered a little bit.

"Uh... I'm afraid not much can be done for you, brother." the man chuckled, "And what of your companion here?"

Y/n resisted the urge to scowl, plastering on a ditzy little smile, "I wanna love with my dear husband for all of eternity! I know when we did our vows, we said all that till death so we part 💩, but I don't ever want to part with my beloved." she turned her head to give Caelus a smile with hint of malice, "Ever~"

'Playing the part of the obsessive wife, now are you?' he thought, 'Spicy. I like it.'

'If I'm going to play along, I'm at least going to have fun with it.' y/n turned her attention back to the man, "You said something about immortality, right? You're suggesting that myself and my beloved won't have to part ways?"

"Indeed, Miss!" the strange man exclaimed, "To outworlders, I offer the chance of immortality. Let's keep our voices down though, eh? This isn't the kind of conversation we should be having out in the open."

Y/n raised a brow.

"Before you can grasp absolute power, and live an eternity with your loved one," the man glanced at y/n, "You must yearn for immortality. The problem is that the Xianzhou Alliance doesn't care one but for the well being of short life species! They stubbornly blockade the glorious path to immortality."

Y/n was beginning to understand the situation a little better now. This was some kind of cult, wasn't it? Caelus knew it, y/n could tell. But why was he so eager to approach.

'Maybe he was put up to it. That General seems fond of making people run his errands for him.' y/n thought before heaving a sigh, Ah whatever, I've got nothing better to do anyways. If we do this, I could probably use it as leverage to get them to take me to the Artisanship Commission.' "Who are you anyways?"

"My name is Green Hibiscus." the man introduced himself, "I came to Exting Sanctum in hopes of a fated encounter with people such as yourselves — another who is also on the road to immortality. What do you say? How about we find a more appropriate spot to talk about this?"

"Sure!" y/n exclaimed before expression darkened, "Just a fair warning. If you lay a hand on my beloved, you'll be dead before you even realize what's happened. I've killed before and I'll do it again."

Silence.

"...my wife is very protective, don't mind her! Lead the way, Green Hibiscus, sir!" Caelus chimed and Green Hibisucs gulped quietly.

"O-Of course, follow me."

. 　。　　⋆　　•　 　ﾟ　　。 .　.　.　。 .　。
⋆　　　。　　 ⋆。　 ඞ 。　 . • . . ⁎ 。　. 　。　.　　⋆. 　　。 .　 .　　 . ⋆. 。. ⁎ 。•　 　ﾟ　　。

They ended up in a very... secluded, corner with tall walls surrounding them on each side. Caged in.

"Here we are. This is the place." Green Hibiscus hummed as y/n carefully scanned the other individuals there with them.

"Alright. How do we gain immortality?" y/n demanded, "If you intend to mug us, think twice. My husband may be forgiving, but I lack that sort of charming virtue."

Caelus felt sweat roll down the back of his neck, 'Really playing the part, aren't you, y/n?'

"Now, now, let's not get ahead of ourselves. If immortality were so easy to achieve, we'd be a far larger group, and there'd be no need for secrecy." Green Hibiscus said as Caelus took y/n's hand in his, just to make their relationship seem a bit more real and to also remind her not to do stupid 💩, "Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am a member of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus. I was unable to share my true identity in Exalting Sanctum, but now I can reveal everything."

"Sanctus... Medicus..." y/n murmured.

"Yes, we are a devout group, holding firm in our belief that Merciful Medicus is the one, ultimate faith. As followers, we refer to ourselves as decides, dedicated to our cause." Green Hibiscus explained, "If you wish to gain the means to immortality, then you must become a disciple. But to become a disciple, you must first pass several small trials."

Caelus heard a crack. Then another.

Green Hibiscus and the other strange people with him also noticed, and they all looked to y/n who was cracking her fingers on her free hand. One by one. The look on her face was menacing.

"N...Not those kinds of trials..." Green Hibiscus clarified with a wary smile, "You may calm down, miss. We must be careful, as our expansion has attracted the attention of those Devilish Archer followers."

"No worries! I don't mind a challenge!" Caelus exclaimed, ignoring how someone in the back muttered clearly, since you married that lady, "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly is a Cloud Knight doing here?"

"There's no need for you to be concerned about him. Like you and your... ahem, lovely wife, he's here to undergo the trials." Green Hibiscus replied.

'Ah, he's digging for information.' y/n realized, "I thought that the people of the Xianzhou despise the Abundance."

"Ha! Only those led astray by followers of the Devilish Archer could despite Merciful Medicus. Sadly, there are many such people. Too many."

Ugh, y/n disliked this dude even more. She wanted to punch him for that tone of his... what a prick.

"What can we receive from Merciful Medicus?" Caelus asked again and the weird man's mood perked up again.

"Every species yearns for the favor and curing of Merciful Medicus." 🧢 "Regardless of whether they have heard of the Abundance or not. Foxians wish to cure themselves of their 300-year lifespan. The Vidyadhara yearn to cure themselves of the pain of reincarnation and lack of progeny. As for Xianzhou Natives, they long to cure themselves of the torture of become mara-struck. Of course, we know that this torture is rather a kind of blessed evolution."

What kind of 🐂💩 was this man spouting?

Living for more than 100 years was already a hassle, who in their right mind would want to live forever?!

"Back to your question... Sanctus Medicus can cure the aging that short-life specifies face. Along with disease and death." Green Hibiscus droned on, "Sanctus Medicus can do for you what they did for the Xianzhou Natives."

"I see... well, what type of trial do we have to pass?" Caelus questioned as y/n internally tucked away this new information for another time.

"What you seek, you will surely find. Merciful Medicus is magnanimous—"

"Get to the point!" y/n snapped and the man flinched.

"I... uh, right! Of course!" he sputtered, "All you must do is transcript this copy of Thousand-Handed Merciful Medicus' Salvation 500 times by hand. This will allow your brothers and sisters to trust your faith, and for you to become a disciple."

...EXCUSE ME?!
500 TIMES?!
AND WHAT WAS THAT LONG 🍑 NAME?!

"Can we both just do one together?"

"Why of course not, if only one completes the trial, then—" Green Hibiscus silenced himself when y/n fixed him with a glare, "...marriage does indeed make the two one... I don't see why not, haha..."

Y/n smiled, "Lovely."

The weirdos left the area so y/n and Caelus could sit at the table together where they were given the copy of the text as well as a paper and pen.

Y/n gestured to her phone, and Caelus nodded.

Attack dog Y/n
So. What's all this about?

Caelus
I found a letter on one of those mara-struck you'd killed. I brought it to the Realm Keeping Commission and it turned out to be real important.

Caelus
They brought in someone from the Seat of Divine foresight and ask me to infiltrate this cult or whatever.

Attack dog Y/n
I don't have much of a choice.
You already dragged me into it 🗿

Caelus
Sorry! Sorry!
I'll treat you to something after this, I swear!

Attack dog Y/n
If it's not another one of Mr. Yang's hugs,  you're dead
Compensate me properly or die!

The two tucked their phones away... and y/n began writing first. Caelus watched with round eyes as she wrote swiftly and effortlessly, her eyes focused.

He took a moment to watch her face, taking in her stoic expression and the way her eyes scanned the page as she wrote. Darting from the thing they needed to copy, and back to the page she was copying it onto.

"Woah... you write pretty quick." Caelus murmured.

"When it's my turn