"A... portal? How strange." They can be just as confused as each other, it's okay. Jing Yuan can't imagine the kind of power it would take to open a portal to the Luofu from some isolated world, and the thought of it happening unintentionally is vanishingly unlikely, but he doesn't read anything but honesty in Shang Qinghua's face or voice. "I will do my best to explain. Long ago, an ancient emperor, eager to secure his legacy, sent a fleet of starships out into the galaxy to search for the secrets of immortality. After many trials, the surviving ships found the Aeon of Abundance, Yaoshi, who 'blessed' them with marks of THEIR favour that gave them what they sought, but by then they had lost their way home and could no longer return." Please note the heavy irony on 'blessed'. "The six ships continued to travel the galaxy and enjoyed their newfound blessings, but before long they realized the hidden poison in the gift - overpopulation, lack of resources, and the curse of mara all began to blight the Xianzhou people."
He frowns, stirring the boba in his tea. "Ah, mara is a curse unique to the Xianzhou, a result of our long lives - a transformation that removes our humanity and replaces it with boundless madness and aggression. It usually strikes after three or four centuries, depending on the person, but all Xianzhou natives and others who try to achieve immortality the same way will eventually fall into it." He wants to be specific and detailed about this just in case Shang Qinghua starts getting some ideas about trying to find the Xianzhou secret, as so many have. "Anyway, in the greatest moment of our need, the Reignbow Arbiter, Lan the Hunt, arose and struck the Ambrosial Arbor of the Luofu, the source of our immortality and greatest emblem of our foolishness, and the Xianzhou swore to serve THEM and to hunt the other Abominations of Abundance, to render the cosmos free of Yaoshi's 'gifts'. Our ships have sailed the cosmos ever since, wiping out abominations as we find them."
Jing Yuan chuckles a bit sheepishly before taking a sip. "Well, you probably didn't need to know all that, but most visitors to the Luofu hear the story in one way or another. Best to get it out of the way, hm?"
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He frowns, stirring the boba in his tea. "Ah, mara is a curse unique to the Xianzhou, a result of our long lives - a transformation that removes our humanity and replaces it with boundless madness and aggression. It usually strikes after three or four centuries, depending on the person, but all Xianzhou natives and others who try to achieve immortality the same way will eventually fall into it." He wants to be specific and detailed about this just in case Shang Qinghua starts getting some ideas about trying to find the Xianzhou secret, as so many have. "Anyway, in the greatest moment of our need, the Reignbow Arbiter, Lan the Hunt, arose and struck the Ambrosial Arbor of the Luofu, the source of our immortality and greatest emblem of our foolishness, and the Xianzhou swore to serve THEM and to hunt the other Abominations of Abundance, to render the cosmos free of Yaoshi's 'gifts'. Our ships have sailed the cosmos ever since, wiping out abominations as we find them."
Jing Yuan chuckles a bit sheepishly before taking a sip. "Well, you probably didn't need to know all that, but most visitors to the Luofu hear the story in one way or another. Best to get it out of the way, hm?"