The Bonds of Family and a High Priest’s Schemes

“Familiarity breeds affection.” This adage was far from a casual saying, nor was it an impractical notion.

It didn’t exclusively refer to mutual love either.

After all, time ranked among the most precious commodities in the world. The common phrase, “Blood is thicker than water,” held little weight without countless shared moments paving the way.

Xie Haizhu and Mizuki Aoi had spent five years together.

Even if their relationship during those five years had been largely superficial, they never once harbored suspicion towards each other. The instances of genuine emotion shared between them were countless.

They had long since forged a deep bond. Despite lacking blood ties, they were no longer strangers, nor could their connection be simply dismissed as mere acquaintances or friends.

Naturally, their own feelings were paramount.

For Xie Haizhu, her desire was to become family with Mizuki Aoi.

As for Mizuki Aoi, despite her claims of unworthiness, of bringing trouble and danger to Xie Haizhu, one crucial reason was conspicuously absent from her arguments.

She never once said she didn’t *want* to be family with Xie Haizhu.

Thus, it was clear she was simply afraid.

Conversely, the more she feared, the more she worried and considered Xie Haizhu’s well-being, the more it underscored the depth of her regard.

Yet, her fear was ultimately meaningless.

Because they were family. No matter what Mizuki Aoi said, Xie Haizhu would still pursue her, still offer her a helping hand, and still treat her as a beloved younger sister.

She would care for her, cherish her, and wish for her happiness.

In Xie Haizhu’s eyes, Mizuki Aoi would forever remain Xie Shenai.

Severing ties or driving the other away was destined to be an impossible feat.

This was because what Mizuki Aoi truly desired in her heart was precisely what Xie Haizhu wanted.

She, too, wished to remain Xie Shenai forever.

“Sister… I’m so sorry!” Xie Shenai sobbed, burying her face in her family’s embrace. “I said so many terrible things. I’m truly, incredibly sorry.”

“It’s alright, Shenai. You’ve always been a little willful, and I won’t get angry.” Xie Haizhu gently stroked her sister’s head. “Rather, I am truly sorry for not noticing your struggles and only pushing my own views.”

“That’s not true at all, Sister. You’ve already done so much, and now I’m still troubling you with my worries.”

“My silly child, how could I *not* worry about you? In fact, it pains me to see you, who needs so much care, still constantly thinking of me.”

“How could I possibly…”

“Everyone in this world encounters countless troubles and anxieties. The extent of that struggle and suffering is something only one can truly understand, incomparable to others.”

“There’s no notion of one person being nobler and thus deserving priority. All we can do is resolve these issues as swiftly as possible.”

“Can they truly be resolved?”

“Regrettably, there’s no difficulty in this world that is *guaranteed* to be resolved. However, if we don’t acknowledge it or face it, then resolution naturally becomes impossible.”

“So, Shenai, will you strive forward with your sister?”

“Have the two of you finished your discussion?”

The soundproof barrier dissolved.

The High Priest clapped his hands, a cheerful expression on his face. He didn’t know the exact words exchanged between them, but the gist was obvious: Shenai didn’t want to leave.

And Xie Haizhu, emboldened by her Battle Lord cultivation, arrogantly intended to take her back, leveraging the information he had previously disclosed. It was all too easy to deduce.

He didn’t need to concern himself with it, for they were destined to…

‘If he was so confident, why allow them to create more variables? Why not simply deal with them directly and take them?’

Initially, the High Priest had indeed planned this. If Xie Haizhu proved uncooperative, he would kill her without a moment’s hesitation.

This wasn’t about currying favor with some nation; mere exile wasn’t enough to make him grovel. He simply found her displeasing, and so he would casually eliminate her.

Such was his contempt for the backward natives of the Europa Continent. A Battle Lord?

Even a Battle Beast was no exception.

After all, Battle Beasts possessed nine tiers. The gap between each tier was greater than all the previous ‘tiers’ combined, with the advancements from tier three to four, and six to seven, being particularly monumental leaps.

The rare first and second-tier Battle Beasts found here were utterly insignificant on the Divine Dragon Continent.

Furthermore, despite appearing to be only a novice Battle Beast, his apparent weakness was merely due to a restriction placed upon him during his exile and the exceedingly sparse magic on the Europa Continent.

If he could only return to the Divine Dragon Continent and receive the Sacred Temple’s blessings… by then, let alone Battle Beasts, even ascending directly to the fourth tier of Battle Beasts would be no mere dream!

Therefore, he did not regard these ‘frogs in a well’ from the Europa Continent as actual people.

However, every rule had its exceptions. For instance, the reason he hadn’t eliminated Xie Haizhu upon sight, and why his demeanor now seemed surprisingly respectful, was entirely due to what had just transpired.

“Esteemed guest, might I inquire if you were the one who cast the time-stop magic just now?”

The Divine Dragon Continent boasted extremely advanced magical technology.

This wasn’t solely evident in its magical energy and technical prowess, but also in its broader understanding of the arcane.

Transmigration, reincarnation, cycles of rebirth, body snatching, immortality, parallel universes, myriad realms… the Divine Dragon Continent had encountered all these bizarre abilities and phenomena.

They had even developed methods to observe them and, to a certain extent, countermeasures.

Among these, abilities related to space-time were undoubtedly the most beneficial to the Divine Dragon Continent’s situation. Whether it was time reversal, future prediction, world-line jumping, or even the weakest form of limited-range time stop, all were desperately sought-after talents by the Sacred Temple.

Such abilities hadn’t appeared for hundreds of years. Thus, when he was exiled to this place, the Sacred Temple had provided him with a detection device, instructing him to constantly monitor the local talent. If he could find someone with a space-time talent, it would atone for his past transgressions.

However, he held a pessimistic view regarding the possibility of this magic-deprived, backward region producing exceptional talents.

His true hope lay in his family’s rescue, but after several years passed with no word from home, he was forced to shift his focus to finding talent. This search, it turned out, would last fifty years.

Five years prior, just as he had all but given up, resigned to spending the rest of his life on the Europa Continent, the detection device registered its first reaction.

The ability detected was future prediction. Regrettably, by the time he reached the destination, the caster had already vanished.

However, he later managed to identify the person who had been there: the runaway daughter of the Heavenly King. He immediately understood that this was a phenomenon of atavism.

He hailed from the Land of the Rising Sun on the Divine Dragon Continent, and the Sakura Nation, a millennium ago, had been founded by personnel from the Land of the Rising Sun who had assisted the Four Sacred Families.

The Sakura Nation boasted a long history on the Europa Continent, and its bloodline had been preserved with remarkable purity. Thus, the emergence of descendants with rare talents was not surprising.

Consequently, he covertly instructed the Sakura Nation’s rulers to capture Mizuki Aoi at all costs. However, this endeavor only provoked the intervention of the Vermillion Bird Kingdom’s sole Battle Lord, leading to the Sakura Nation’s subsequent demise.

During this process, the detection device reacted once more. The ability was still future prediction.

At that time, he had yet to discover a way to restrain the Demon God of Europa, nor did he possess sufficient strength to confront a Battle Lord aided by a precognitive.

Therefore, he fled with his loyal subordinates.

He bided his time, cultivating his strength in secret for five years. After preparing the necessary countermeasures, the detection device reacted again approximately half a month ago.

The abilities detected were future prediction and… world-line alteration. The location was the Vermillion Bird Royal Capital. Thus, this entire chain of events unfolded.

What he hadn’t anticipated, however, was that just moments ago, the detection device had reacted once more, yet the signal hadn’t originated from the pink-haired girl beside him.

Moreover, the ability was entirely different from the previous two instances.

“That’s right, I cast the time stop. So, what of it?” Xie Haizhu stared coldly at the High Priest.