A Web of Pasts Rewoven

A Web of Pasts Rewoven is the second part of the Trailblaze Continuance chapter Finest Duel Under the Pristine Blue (II). It automatically begins after completing At Dawn, To War.
==Steps==
# Investigate the Shackling Prison with General Jing Yuan
# Investigate the borisin corpse in the hall
# Follow the smoke from Lingsha's censer and keep moving
#* (Optional) Investigate suspicious clues along the escape route
==Gameplay Notes==
* This mission uses the Fate's Ensemble system, played from the perspective of Lingsha. The game provides her for use as a Story character.
==Dialogue==
===Investigate the Shackling Prison with General Jing Yuan===
:
: Hanya: I am sorry for our improper management, and I truly appreciate your assistance, General.
: Jing Yuan: There is no need to apologize. We Cloud Knights fight on the battlefield, while you judges punish the criminals. We are two sides of the same Xianzhou Luofu, and it is my honor to serve the Ten-Lords Commission.
: Jing Yuan: I've grasped the situation of the prison break. Now, tell me more about the current state of The Shackling Prison.
: Hanya: Borisin infiltrated the prison in disguise and released the prisoners, spreading chaos.
: Hanya: Among the judges on duty in the four divisions, Judge Xueyi from the Detention Division was killed and is temporarily unavailable. So, I'm taking over her duties and commanding Aurumaton Spectral Envoys and spiritfarers to quickly restore order in the affected areas.
: Jing Yuan: I, and the two behind me, will go deeper into the prison to investigate.
: Hanya: But General, the situation inside is still chaotic and perilous. Your presence would be...
: Jing Yuan: It's common for Cloud Knight generals to face danger directly. Hoolay has escaped, and the Yaoqing envoy is being held hostage by the borisin. His fate is unknown. This is a grave matter.
: Jing Yuan: Not only did the Merlin's Claw offer no reproach, she decided to go after Hoolay herself to prevent further calamity. I believe the Luofu owes her something in return for her fervent determination...
: Jing Yuan: How did the infiltrators learn about the location where Hoolay was held? And how did they time their plan just before the Yaoqing messengers were ready to escort him...?
: Jing Yuan: Finding the answers to these questions shouldn't be too difficult. What truly matters is if we can gather the clues that lead us to the mastermind behind all of this.
: Hanya: I understand, but I'm afraid it won't be an easy task.
: Jing Yuan: For a long time, this hidden force has been pursuing their own goals and undermining the security of the Luofu. Backing down now will only encourage them to further endanger the peace here.
: Hanya: The Ten-Lords Commission will support your decision with everything we have, General.
: Jing Yuan: Dan Heng and Lingsha, I'll need both of you to accompany me on this challenging journey.
: Lingsha: Well, it's part of my responsibilities as the Cauldron Master. So, where would you like to start, General?
: Jing Yuan: Let's start with those borisin disguised as foxians.
: Lingsha: My people have already prepared the evidence.
===Investigate the borisin corpse in the hall===
;(Approach the borisin corpse)
: Lingsha: According to Lieutenant Yanqing's report, he stumbled upon a few suspicious foxians at Stargazer Navalia. After following them, he discovered that they were actually borisin in disguise. This is one of the bodies.
: Dan Heng: Looking at him now, it's hard to imagine how he transformed into a foxian.
: Lingsha: My alchemists detected some... complex ingredients in his remains, which might explain how these borisin were able to disguise themselves as foxians.
: Lingsha: Simply put, foxians and borisin share a common ancestry. Although they look completely different now, there isn't much genetic difference between them. This medicine allows borisin to temporarily change their shape into that of foxians.
: Dan Heng: So, in other words, if they stop taking the medicine, their true form will soon be revealed?
: Borisin have fast metabolisms, so the effects of medicines don't last long...
:: Lingsha: Indeed. This means that these borisin have a steady supply of the medicine within the Luofu.
: An infiltration technique the general is familiar with...
:: Jing Yuan: The formula and technique seem oddly familiar.
: Lingsha: The Disciples of Sanctus Medicus. Looks like the Alchemy Commission is involved once again.
: Lingsha: When I was sorting through the prescriptions they used, I came across one called "Semblance Reversion Essence." It's designed to help those disciples suppress signs of their mara-struck form and maintain their normal appearance. When I compared it to the medicine found in the borisin's body...
: Dan Heng: They're one and the same, aren't they?
: Lingsha: The medicinal properties and ingredients may differ, but the principle remains the same.
: Jing Yuan: Since ancient times, the borisin have always sought to have more powerful bodies, regarding the foxians as weaklings. Yet, in order to save their Warhead, they were willing to disguise themselves as foxians... Their determination is quite remarkable.
: Lingsha: If these infiltrators rely on the medicine to maintain their disguise, then following this lead in our investigation seems prudent. Please follow me.
===Follow the smoke from Lingsha's censer and keep moving===
: Lingsha: Here we are. According to the judge, this area is not yet under control, so we should proceed cautiously.
: Lingsha: I've captured the nature of the medicine in my censer.
: Lingsha: By following the medicinal fumes, we should be able to retrace the steps of the disguised borisin.
====(Optional) Investigate suspicious clues along the escape route====
;(Investigate the prison guard corpse, optional)
:A prison guard is collapsed on the ground, her body twisted unnaturally.
: (Examine the remains of the warden)
: Lingsha: Incredible strength... The attacker shattered this warden's bones with a single blow.
: Jing Yuan: Such brute strength is not something an ordinary borisin possesses... This is likely the work of Hoolay.
: Lingsha: If I may be so bold to ask, is this borisin truly that formidable?
: Jing Yuan: I have lived a bit longer and engaged in a few more battles than you, Miss Lingsha. To the Alliance, borisin have always been the most formidable adversaries, and Hoolay is a monster feared even among his own kind.
: Jing Yuan: With his strength, Hoolay united numerous borisin packs, forming a grand army of Abominations of Abundance. They constantly pushed the Alliance's armies into perilous positions.
: Jing Yuan: Over seven centuries ago, I followed my mentor on a campaign against the abominations, and I personally witnessed the devastation on the battlefield after Hoolay appeared.
: Jing Yuan: Even with medicinal pellets that suppressed the fear caused by his Lupitoxin, countless Cloud Knights succumbed to panic in the face of his murderous aura. They couldn't even raise a hand in resistance... If the former Sword Champion hadn't immobilized Hoolay with her Frost Blade, the outcome of that fateful battle could have been very different.
: Jing Yuan: By the end of the battle, only a few of us remained. "The crimson moon casts the sheen of blood on all"... Everything I saw was painted dark red.
: Lingsha: If that's the case, why wasn't the beast executed instead of being imprisoned?
: Lingsha: On the Xianzhou Zhuming, the judges cast those unforgivable and nearly immortal Abominations of Abundance into the eternal flames of the stars, reducing them to ashes.
: Lingsha: Their so-called "immortality" is just a facade. I mean, nothing can truly defy death, can it? I just don't understand why the Luofu kept this tumor for so long, leading to the terrible situation we're facing now.
: Lingsha: But I guess I understand. The people of the Luofu are known for their kindness. Even when faced with the malignant tumor within the Alchemy Commission, they couldn't bring themselves to cut it out. Instead, they exiled the healer who tried to solve the problem to the Xianzhou Zhuming.
: Jing Yuan: I understand if you hold grudges against me, Miss Lingsha. I take the blame for the resurgence of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus. As for why Hoolay was only imprisoned... I can shed some light on that too.
: Lingsha: I'm just a healer, and I'm not familiar with the past. I'd appreciate it if you could enlighten me, General.
: Jing Yuan: Alright, let me tell you more about it as we go.
----
;(Investigate the Cloud Knight corpse, optional)
: Dan Heng: ...Did this Cloud Knight also take the medicine?
:
: Lingsha: No, this is a borisin in disguise. A guard killed him before he could return to his original form.
: Jing Yuan: All these borisin are dressed in official attire. Besides the Cloud Knight, there were also two borisin disguised as members of the Sky-Faring Commission and the Artisanship Commission.
: Jing Yuan: Whoever is providing them with official identities must hold a position of power... Let's search elsewhere.
----
;(Investigate the prisoner corpse, optional)
:A prisoner is on the ground. The joy of regaining freedom and sudden shock, these two expressions are frozen on his pale face at the moment of death.
: Dan Heng: Someone bit open his arteries and drained almost all of his blood while he was still alive. Such a cruel and ruthless act...
: Lingsha: Despite being a long-lived species, borisin are actually more like predatory beasts that must feed on raw blood and flesh. I've heard that Hoolay was deprived of food and water in The Shackling Prison...
: Lingsha: It's hard to imagine how he managed to suppress his hunger for over seven centuries. Will the hostage from the Yaoqing be able to avoid being his meal?
: Jing Yuan: Such is the terrible nature of the Abominations of Abundance. We subjected him to the Forest of Swords to drain his life force, but in the end, his punishment turned into a test of our patience.
: Jing Yuan: Just like you said, Miss Lingsha, casting a creature that can't be killed into a star would be a way to permanently get rid of it, but unfortunately...
: Lingsha: ...The foxians didn't agree to that.
: Jing Yuan: Exactly. The atrocities committed by Hoolay went beyond mere massacres. Throughout numerous wars, we made every effort to eradicate the borisin, but Hoolay, with his mysterious sorcery, turned countless foxians into his pawns, and so the borisin kept returning.
: Jing Yuan: The foxians curse his name day and night, and they even use it to scare children into staying quiet. How could they grant a swift death to such a great sinner?
: Jing Yuan: I wonder if you know why Hoolay wasn't taken into custody by the foxian-majority Xianzhou Yaoqing, but instead imprisoned in the Xianzhou Luofu, Miss Lingsha.
: Lingsha: As you mentioned, your mentor was an exceptional warrior and was the one who defeated Hoolay, an extraordinary achievement. Therefore, the marshal placed this feral beast under the jurisdiction of the Xianzhou Luofu as an honor, I assume?
: Jing Yuan: It seems you have a major misunderstanding about this arrangement, Miss Lingsha. Allow me to explain it to you.
====Follow the smoke from Lingsha's censer and keep moving====
;(Approach the wolf-shaped mech)
:The wolf-shaped mech disintegrates into a pile of metal.
: Jing Yuan: Yanqing told me that an IPC ship was attacked by borisin. Is this what they were transporting on the ship?
: A biomimetic weapon that will auto-restart even after being turned off...
: The Intelligentsia Guild's research on the traits of longevity...
: Lingsha: Yes, the Artisanship Commission and Alchemy Commission conducted a joint examination and found that... the parts of this machine are made from specially refined borisin bio-tissue.
: Lingsha: I heard the Intelligentsia Guild has been researching the biological properties of long-life species, hoping to make medical or combat-related discoveries. However, they haven't dared to cross any lines due to their so-called "relationship" with the Alliance.
: Dan Heng: Perhaps to those scholars, borisin are no different from lab animals. Maybe the borisin attacked that ship to retaliate against the Intelligentsia Guild for experimenting on them?
: Lingsha: No, if it were only about revenge, they could just wreck the ship and destroy all the cargo, instead of allowing it to end up in The Shackling Prison.
: Lingsha: It was a deliberate display to showcase the dangerous nature of the "cargo" in broad daylight. This way, the cargo would end up in The Shackling Prison, serving as a tool for the prison break.
: Jing Yuan: This skill in exploiting the blind spots of others' mindsets is so atypical of them. I'm afraid the IPC and the Intelligentsia Guild unknowingly became their accomplices.
:Something seems to be hiding in the pile of metal on the ground, ready to move.
: Dan Heng: Watch out. This thing is still alive!
----
;(Begin battle against )
: Dan Heng: It can regenerate even after suffering such severe attacks?
: Lingsha: Their imitation of long-life species has crossed the line.
;(After the Howling Casket enters the Moon Rage state)
: Jing Yuan: If it can still move, it means it wasn't damaged enough.
: Jing Yuan: Let's make sure it never moves again.
----
;(After the battle)
:The giant machine goes silent again. Like a wounded beast drained of blood, it can no longer move.
: Lingsha: You haven't answered my question about why Hoolay was imprisoned in the Luofu instead of the Yaoqing, General. You've been reserved in your response. Could it be that such an arrangement wasn't an honor?
: Jing Yuan: The reason why the marshal didn't leave Hoolay on the Yaoqing lies in the very mech in front of us.
: Lingsha: ...Are you suggesting that there are people trying to understand Hoolay's secrets and use them for their own purposes, just like with this mech?
: Lingsha: Well, I understand. I've heard that the foxians on the Yaoqing share a bloodline with the borisin, and just like the borisin, some of the foxians there experience an uncontrollable insanity called Moon Rage.
: Lingsha: The marshal believed that this would be inhumane and no different from what the borisin did, so...
: Jing Yuan: Exactly. While borisin see Moon Rage as a blessing that unlocks their true potential, foxians see it as an inevitable curse within their bloodline. Countless healers of the Yaoqing have attempted to unravel this mystery, but to no avail.
: Jing Yuan: "Why can borisin control the power of Moon Rage?" "Can we foxians break free from this curse?" ...These questions were asked frequently.
: Jing Yuan: Each questioner had good intentions, but the road to catastrophe is paved with good intentions.
: Jing Yuan: To the foxians of the Yaoqing, Hoolay was not only the Warhead of the borisin but also a monster that could be the subject of much research. Hoolay thus became a poison that corrupted people's minds without their knowing.
: Lingsha: That's why the marshal decided to imprison Hoolay in the Luofu. It wasn't an honor but rather... a warning.
: Jing Yuan: Because such selfish pursuits in the name of "good intentions" once led to a tragedy on the Luofu that served as a warning to future generations.
: Lingsha: The Sedition of Imbibitor Lunae.
: Dan Heng: ...
: Lingsha: By imprisoning Hoolay in the Xianzhou Luofu, the marshal both suppressed the dangerous intentions of the Yaoqing foxians and warned the Xianzhou Luofu to refrain from repeating its mistake.
: Jing Yuan: That was a necessary trade-off. The Xianzhou Alliance is not solely about the Xianzhou natives. Only when all three races — Foxian, Vidyadhara, and Xianzhou natives — form an alliance will there be a promising future for all.
: Lingsha: Thank you for enlightening me. Was it for the same reason that you "traded off" my mentor to the Xianzhou Zhuming, only to stand idle and allow the resurgence of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus?
: Jing Yuan: You said that I couldn't bear to cut out the malignant tumor within the Alchemy Commission but instead exiled the healer who tried to solve the problem to the Xianzhou Zhuming...
: Jing Yuan: But did your mentor tell you... her "good intentions" led her to perform certain healing arts on Dan Heng, who had just finished his hatching rebirth, so that he would regain the memories of his past life?
: Dan Heng and Lingsha: What did you just say?
: Jing Yuan: She believed that restoring the High Elder's knowledge of his past life would allow the Vidyadhara to resume their duty as the guardians of the Ambrosial Arbor, quelling the strife within their clan and bringing everything back on the right path.
: Jing Yuan: But just as I mentioned earlier, the road to catastrophe is always paved with good intentions. Since then, the Six Charioteers decided that the Alchemy Commission would no longer have a Cauldron Master, until your arrival now.
: Lingsha: If that's the case, I should thank you for protecting my mentor by exiling her, General.
: Jing Yuan: Quite the contrary. I should be the one thanking you.
: Lingsha: Thanking me?
: Jing Yuan: All I ever want is to have a clear conscience. However, can long-life species truly achieve that goal in their long-drawn lives? For example, you were implicated along with your mentor and forced to leave your homeland without knowing the truth.
: Jing Yuan: And now, with the complicated situation in the Alchemy Commission, the Alliance has spared me a lot of trouble by sending you to handle this challenging task. Shouldn't I be thanking you instead?
: Lingsha: ...Your eloquence is indeed impressive, the Divine Foresight. You won't even leave me any excuses to hold a grudge against you.
: Lingsha: But let me make it clear: The Alliance sent me here to handle the business impartially, not to choose sides.
: Jing Yuan: It doesn't matter which side you choose, Miss Lingsha. At the end of the day, both you and I stand on the side of the Alliance, don't we? Let's keep going.
----
;(approach marked location)
:A mess of bodies, a fierce battle must have been fought here.
: (Examine the mara-struck remains)
: Lingsha: These mara-struck soldiers... don't appear to be escaped prisoners.
: Jing Yuan: How can you tell?
: Lingsha: These soldiers are fully armed. Obviously, they didn't hastily join the battle.
: Dan Heng: The messenger named Moze did say that there were two groups of attackers. The other attackers, aside from the borisin, could hide their tracks. I believe he was referring to these people.
: Jing Yuan: Hide their tracks?
: Dan Heng: Exactly. I've engaged with these attackers before, and they used cloudhymn magic to hide their presence. Without careful observation, no one can detect them.
: Lingsha: You once warned me to be cautious of the Vidyadhara Elders' influence within the Alchemy Commission. Could it be...
: Jing Yuan: What's on your mind, Miss Lingsha?
: Lingsha: Well, it seems that someone provided the attackers with a map of The Shackling Prison. And considering the Vidyadhara's involvement in the prison's construction, it raises suspicions about their role in this.
: Lingsha: Additionally, the fact that the borisin need medicine to disguise themselves suggests that there are still moles within the Alchemy Commission assisting them covertly.
: Lingsha: Moreover, forging official identities for the undercover borisin would require someone with significant authority.
: Lingsha: And the presence of assassins capable of using cloudhymn magic deepens my suspicions about the Preceptors.
: Lingsha: But why would the Vidyadhara collude with the borisin and aid in Hoolay's escape?
: Dan Heng: They aim to spread chaos. They believe that only in chaos can they regain their former power and influence.
: Dan Heng: Since the Sedition of Imbibitor Lunae, the once-proud dragon race has been powerless, watching their influence wane. Being a native of the Luofu, Miss Lingsha, I believe you understand the implications.
: Jing Yuan: However, I don't think the Preceptors are the true masterminds. If I'm not mistaken, the one behind all this treachery is the Lord Ravager who exploited the weaknesses within the Luofu and instigated the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, ultimately leading to the Ambrosial Arbor's resurrection — Phantylia.
: Lingsha: Please remember, General, that everything I've mentioned is mere speculation. We need concrete evidence for a public trial. If you want to interrogate someone within the Vidyadhara's ranks, you'll need irrefutable proof.
: Jing Yuan: So, what's your plan, Miss Lingsha?
: Lingsha: I'll send an "invitation" to the Preceptors.
: Dan Heng: An invitation?
: Lingsha: The Preceptors have been inviting me for a personal meeting since my arrival on the Luofu. Now, I'll send them the remains of these mara-struck soldiers and the route map I found in the prisoner's possession. Then, I'll ask them to meet me at Scalegorge Waterscape.
: Lingsha: I'd like to hear their explanations.
: Jing Yuan: Good idea. If I were to take action, it might alert the true mastermind. I trust you to handle this matter, Miss Lingsha. The internal affairs of the Vidyadhara should remain under their jurisdiction.
: Jing Yuan: And don't worry even if things don't go smoothly. Once the Wolf Hunt operation is over, the hidden truths will come to light.
: Lingsha: Speaking of the Wolf Hunt operation, I'm truly worried about the Yaoqing messenger who was taken hostage. Hoolay was starving in The Shackling Prison for centuries... I don't know if the messenger can survive in that wolf's clutches.
: Lingsha: May Reignbow's blessing keep him safe.
----
:Switching to Jiaoqiu's POV...
:Falling into the hands of the borisin, Jiaoqiu is trying to find a chance to survive... but it is not his own chance that he seeks.
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