Contains all three books from my Xiaolumi series: Dark On Me, War of Change, & Everything To Me. All information can be found inside. It is advised and encouraged to read the prequal, "Thousand Years" before this mega book then move onto "Edge of Da...
Shenhe upon their arrival at the pool ruins stepped forward a swipe of her hand revealing the seal on the barrier. That one action to the girls' shock distorted time and reality briefly before breaking. A lone anemo seelie soon revealed to them just casually floating about. "There, I removed the adeptus art concealing the abode, we'll be able to find and enter it now."Shenhe informed.
"You've been practicing I see. Good to know Cloud Retainer's training hasn't dulled."grinned Xiao.
"That was pretty cool, I'll admit. I never get tired of seeing tricks like that."agreed Lumine.
"Wow~! That really was amazing, lets go take another look around then."suggested Paimon in amazement. Paimon looked over at spotting a familiar little anxious seelie. "Hey look, is that a new seelie over there?"
"Follow the seelie. It used to be Sea Gazer's familiar."Xiao stated following swiftly after the floating pixie.
"Right behind you."agreed Paimon as the girls followed after.
The little seelie with a melodic trill and a happy twirl came to stop in a small cliff of the waterfall. The little creature happily flying circles around them, particularly Lumine making the blonde smile in delight. The little pixie then vanished through an invisible barrier, causing the water to distort and ripple. "The seelie got to here but where did it go?"Paimon wondered.
Xiao was the one to step forward this time and walked right through the same barrier, making the girls gawk in surprise. Xiao quick to his head out from the barrier a moment later. "Well are you coming or what? We're burning daylight, move it."he huffed hastily before vanishing back inside.
Lumine could only stare in mixture of astonishment and childish wonder as she touched the barrier making it ripple. It seemed to be a dimensional door just like with Cloud Retainer's own. Shenhe not even hesitating to enter as she just walked right through. Lumine swiftly following in right after with Paimon not far behind. inside what greeted them was a beautiful sight. A sea of clouds with scattered small floating islands of gingko and sandbarrier trees. The one they were standing on lush and green with a lotus pond waterfall and greenery.
"W-What!? I thought we were at a waterfall earlier, how did we get here?"stammered one very confused celestial fairy.
"You've been in countless abodes and domains all winter and this still shocks you annoying fairy?"The girls looked up and no surprise Xiao was calmly sitting on the high branch of the massive tree. Lumine and Shenhe not shocked Xiao had instantly gravitated towards the tree, being a bird yaksha adeptus and all.
"There you are."smiled Lumine as Xiao hopped down and went straight for them with polearm in hand. He must have just cleaned it off by how it was shining and gleaming.
"I took care of the monsters that accumulated here, but beyond Sea Gazer's security barrier I have no idea what we'll find. The seelie went below it."Xiao informed.
"Swift and thorough as always, Lord Xiao. It's appreciated."Shenhe thanked.
"So how do we get below the clouds?"Paimon wondered.
"Shenhe, Xiao what do you think?"Lumine asked. "I have very little experience with this sort of thing."
"Its not clouds, it only a tangible illusion. Sea Gazer was a master at this type of adepti arts...that cheerful old sea dragon adeptus loved his tricks."stated Xiao, a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. But there was slight sadness in them too. Didn't Xingqiu say that Sea Gazer died rather recently? Question was to Lumine just how recent was the death of the old adeptus that even Shenhe, only in her twenties knew? It was odd. Actually she could sense the sadness coming off Xiao which prompted Lumine to offer a smile and discretely grabbed his free hand to give it a reassuring squeeze. He seemed to get the message she wanted to convey, gently squeezing her hand.
"Lord Xiao is correct. They're not real clouds, Paimon as they are the product of an adepti art for spatial partitioning. If we want to go down to the treasury and his home we'll need to remove the barrier first from the security system."Shenhe explained smoothly pointing out each switch's location in the distance. The plan of action decided, Shenhe, Lumine, and Xiao each took a different mechanism at the same time deactivating them. Leaving only one left at the center as they hurried over. However upon activating it seemed to attract some slimes, but it posed no threat to the trio. once the core of the mechanism was destroyed however the floor under their feet began to vanish.
"Um, what's going on?"Paimon stuttered.
"Please don't tell me it's going to..."squeaked Lumine nervously
"We're going fall!!"wailed Paimon as the fog and floor vanished.
"AAAEEEEIIIGGGGHHHHHH!!!"
"LUMINE!!"Xiao rushed in without hesitation and grabbed Lumine into his arms, wings of brilliant gold appearing as they fell. A might flap of his wings unfurling enough to break the rapid plummeting fall. Setting her safely down on the new platform as Shenhe landed with a plunge of her crystal spear. Unfortunately that also activated the ruin guard as it blew up the next mechanism core.
"Not again!"screeched Lumine and Paimon, Lumine fast to hop back into Xiao's arms as the platform broke. Causing them again to fall; This was going be a long day.
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Some how they had made it through this abode of pure chaos and Sumerian puzzles. The entire way they had almost be squished by falling rocks, became target practice by multiple ruin guards, and got lost once thanks to Paimon's horrible sense of direction. But here they were finally inside Sea Gazer's home. A truly massive chunk of vermillionite just like Shenhe promised and confirmed. Lumine's cyan colored sword in hand Xiao could see its integrity was gone and it was a miracle it was still in one piece after all this.
But as the girls went to go grab the vermillionite, Xiao attention turned elsewhere. He had his own reason for wanting to come here. Even though the seal weakened and held off the effects the urge remained. There was something here he wanted to get and gift to Lumine. Sea Gazer traveled many places, grabbing whatever carried his fancy. From rare ore to artifacts to ancient weapons. "Guess he was like much like Lady Guizhong in this regard."he thought. His sharp gaze scanning the area until something shiny grabbed his full attention. There in a brilliant black sheath trimmed with gold and laced with with jade was a sword. Resting safely on the sword rack at the top was the ancient ceremonial sword covered in protective cover of brilliant gold.
Instantly he knew what it was. "An adeptus sword, here?"he muttered under his breath. Quickly he wasted no time going over and great care picked it up in his hands. Removing the golden cloth case to reveal the ceremonial sword sheath and all. The distinct black and jade hilt trimmed in gold. "I know this sword...this used to be Lord Morax's sword."he thought as he unsheathed it. Before his eyes the shine of a sharp, brilliant ceremonial blade made of only the finest adeptus treasure grade jade. A smile on Xiao's face as he unsheathed it and covered it back up in the clothe case. His gaze going back over to see Shenhe leaving after getting the jadeite. Yes this sword would be perfect for his beloved. Adepti swords were sharp and would last many a millennia. But one forged by his lord? It would take a god to shatter it. Seeing Lumine coming over Xiao yelped and swiftly hid it behind his back.
"Shall we get going?"Lumine asked as she came over.
"Xiao are you hiding something? Paimon thought she saw something just now."the fairy asked.
"Nope, prosperous! I'm not hiding anything. Now don't we need to go report your findings to Ningguang's secretaries?"Xiao swiftly stammered quickly stashing the sword away in his dimensional storage. Lumine looking curiously at Xiao's rushed effort to dodge the question. The girls shrugging as they stared at each other as they followed their adeptus companion. Just what did Xiao find? Lumine was curious as they left Sea Gazer's domain behind.
