Turquoise.

"Map. Track."  A large holographic 3D reconstruction of the castle and every floor showed up in a swirl of red and blues when Li Jun clicked his fingers. 

"Internalize." He moved two fingers to his temple and the map turned into a cloud of shimmering purple dust, then moved into his temple. 

"How long do you intend to hold that spell?" Li Wei raised a brow. 

"Till they leave. If I keep tabs on their positions at all times, the odds will be in our favor."

Li Wei sighed. "All you have to do is send them away. Just... Make him go."

"That will look bad on the Kingdom."

Li Wei exhaled in irritation. "I get that you want to make a good impression on Xiao Xia, but you know that man is sporadic and volatile. He's misbehaved and animalistic. How many times has he tried to kidnap Ji Ru already? Now Tai Yang is here too. And they both, mind you, happen to be the two cultivators almost every person in a position of power has been fighting over. In addition, they are literally the last of themselves in existence. We have them both, right here. You know Rai Lin also wanted him and Ji Ru in her Kingdom. And with Wu Ji being as beastly as he is, who's to say he won't ruin everything for you anyway, or kidnap Tai Yang or Ji Ru?"

"Li Wei. I know you're worried about Ji Ru. I'm watching them. Everyone is where they should be. Ji Ru and the mortal are in the Infirmary. The skank and the witch are in a guest room with Xiao Xia."

"He needs to leave. He'll be in heat soon and you know he has no self-control when he is, and he always, ALWAYS targets Ji Ru."

"Have I ever let him do anything to Ji Ru? When he tried to kidnap Ji Ru, have we not always got him back?"

"He shouldn't be getting kidnapped by that pervert in the first place! Him not trying anything on Ji Ru is pure luck, because that pervert, he-"

Li Wei ran a hand through his hair, looking quite stressed. 

Li Jun pursed his lips. "As a measure of precaution, I'll put you in charge of making sure Wu Ji doesn't do anything strange to Ji Ru, or anyone else. General Wang Bin will temporarily be in charge of the Kingdom's defense. You can reclaim your duties when Wu Ji is gone."

Li Wei nodded, looking slightly relieved. This way, he could have his eye on Ji Ru at all times.

"One for you too, Admiral." He said, tapping his temple and flicking his middle finger towards Li Wei's head. A tracking map appeared in Li Wei's mind as well. 

"Make sure my brother-in-law doesn't get kidnapped, will you?" Li Jun waved his hand.

Li Wei grinned. "By the way, what do you plan on doing with Tai Yang?"

Li Jun leaned back in his chair. "Tai Yang." He said the name slowly. "I remember that Ji Ru had many nicknames for that man."

"Mm. He does." Li Wei said, thinking for a moment. "I think most of them were English words. 'Sunshine', 'Honey-Boy', 'Best friend', 'Beastie'... I'm sure I heard him call him 'Shoi-ming' too."

"He's an odd person."

"The Tai Yang I knew was odd too, so that's good to hear." Li Wei said. Li Jun nodded and crossed his arms. "Something about him irks me."

"Because he looks like Xiao Xia?"

"That too... But there's something about him that's peculiar. Just something. You know I don't like being curious without answers readily available for my questions." Li Jun said. 

He looked at Li Wei, chewing his inner cheek. "I was never close with the Tai Yang of this Universe. Tell me, did he ever mention having a family? A child, a wife? A grandparent, sibling, or parent? Anything at all?"

Li Wei shook his head. 

"Tai Yang and Ji Ru were lower class citizens of different territories and were both orphaned at a young age. Nobody took either of them in. That experience was why they got so close to each other, to begin with. In terms of courting, Tai Yang never showed any signs of liking or being attracted to anyone. We all assumed he was asexual, so I highly doubt that he had a lover, or child."

"Yes, but there's someone called 'Tai Yin' who is definitely related to him, or at least close to him." Li Jun said. "He has a bracelet with that name engraved in it. He seemed quite worked up about it." He frowned as he said the last bit.

"Tai Yin? It sounds like a female." Li Wei said.

"Naturally, I'd think so. I thought that perhaps Xiao Xia was his twin, but he said that if she was, the technology on his planet would have indicated it. Besides that, if they were related, it would mean Xiao Xia was adopted, or that Tai Yang was actually royalty, and sent away. Our spies would have let us known if something like that had happened. We've never heard of anything like that... So it can't be the case."

"I see..." Li Wei said. "Ji Ru and Tai Yang used to speak about how advanced the technology on Earth 72 was. I know that they even based some of their inventions off of Earth 72 technology with the incorporation of cultivated magical techniques. If Earth 72 is advanced as they say, then Tai Yang can't be wrong in his thought process."

"Yes... But you saw it too. When they speak, there's something between them. I can't pinpoint it, but Xiao Xia is very captivated by him. She hangs onto his every word."

"Yes, but wasn't everyone that way when he arrived centuries ago? He's a very unique-looking person and a Cognitive type. His mind was brilliant. Ji Ru always talks about it. Everyone was captivated, up until his passing."

"I don't think it's that. It's like... I can't explain it. Trust me on this, I've been watching them, and the way she watches him is not friendly."

"Is it not because she's a fanatic of his research?"

"I doubt that's the only reason." Li Jun sighed, shaking his head. "But you are right in saying that his predecessor was brilliant. He helped father quite a bit, didn't he?" Li Jun looked slightly guilty as he spoke.

Li Wei nodded. 

"Yes. He was a good man. Pity all you did was use him for his brain and mock him whenever he appeared before you. If you got to know him, you would have enjoyed his company. Just so you know when he's comfortable he barely stutters at all. He wouldn't need those pills if you weren't so scary all the time to him."

Li Jun glared at him. "How was I to know he'd suddenly die? If I knew, of course I'd have been a bit...kinder. Anyway, if Ji Ru gives this one his predecessor's memories, what exactly happens to him?"

"I don't know all the specifics, but the memories only include the knowledge he gained in the time he was alive. When he was murdered, his attackers extracted his personal memories from his brain before fleeing. They weren't able to get out his knowledge. Ji Ru told me that he managed to extract it before  Tai Yang's brain started to decay. But even when he did, he wasn't able to look through it. It had some sort of seal put on it."

"A seal on his mind?"

Li Wei nodded.

"His personal memories and knowledge were extractable with much difficulty, but even then, the seal he placed on his information doesn't permit access to anyone but himself. Ji Ru says that Tai Yang can be very private about his personal affairs. At the same time, it may have been because of what he was studying. It was especially dangerous. You remember it right?"

Li Jun exhaled slowly, nodding.

"And Ji Ru was hoping to transfer the knowledge to the Tai Yang we have now." Li Jun stated.

"Yes. He said passing what his predecessor knew onto him would simply add to this Tai Yang's knowledge, but wouldn't affect him on a personal level at all. It doesn't include any personal memories or thoughts, or know-how about how to cultivate a specific power, or use magic. He'll know everything in theory, but he won't know how to conduct spells or use his powers."

Li Jun narrowed his eyes in thought. 

"I don't get it though. I can understand that his research was dangerous, but he didn't even complete it when he died. So why would Tai Yang need to seal his memories? What would be so bad about someone seeing them? And if he was going to seal them, why make them extractable at all?"

"Ji Ru told me that Tai Yang was a very calculated person. The only reason he could think of was that perhaps the original wanted Ji Ru to pass the memories to his successor, and his successor only."

Li Jun sighed. The princes were in silence for a few minutes, both deep within their own minds. 

"We'll leave this to Ji Ru's discretion then. He knew Tai Yang best after all. Anyway, this Tai Yang that we have. He's a mortal. Do you really think he'd be able to cultivate here?"

"No clue, but Ji Ru will know. We'll also have to check what type of cultivator he is."

"Wasn't the original a 2-type? Cognitive and Support?" Li Jun asked, leaning back in his chair and crossing his legs.

Li Wei nodded. 

"It's most likely going to be the same."

Li Jun sighed. "If he can cultivate at all." He drummed his fingers on the table, looking very conflicted about something. Eventually, he spoke.

"Well, I can't have him being lame. If he can't cultivate or impress Xiao Xia, she won't keep coming back. I'll have to train him."

Li Wei raised a brow. 'That's unlike you to be so involved. Guilty much?'

"Well, of course. Aside from your selfish intention, since he's the last, he's at a higher risk of dying. He needs to become immortal, and fast. If he's to become an immortal, he needs to master 12 kinds of cultivation, and you aren't a Support or Cognitive type, so how would you go about doing that?"

Li Jun nodded. "Don't worry. When Xiao Xia returns to her Kingdom, I have a foolproof strategy that I'll implement. I'll get him back to his previous level in no time at all."

Li Wei looked at him oddly. "How? How are you going to do that?"

Li Jun smirked.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Ji Ru stood next to the bed, looking down at Tai Yang as he slept. He had the results of Tai Yang's molecular analysis tests in his hands. 

Something was very, very strange about them. 

'Are these spurious results? Should I run more tests?' He wondered. 'But I made sure I did those tests perfectly. I even had replicates.'

Sighing, he ran his hand through his hair and put the pages down on the bedside table. 

'These tests are correct. That means Tai Yang really is an oddity of the Infinite Universe.' Ji Ru bit his lip and closed his eyes. 'Tai Yang, it would have been nice if you could have at least explained to me what you wanted me to do before you died. How do I make sense of this? What do these results mean? What's really going on?'

Tai Yang flipped over, letting out a small whimper. 'What was that?' Ji Ru tilted his head. 

'Nightmares?' He walked around the bed to see Tai Yang's face since he'd turned in the other direction. 'What could they be about?' He wondered. 'Should I look at them?' He reached out his forefinger hesitantly to Tai Yang's temple. 

'But he wouldn't like that... Tai Yang values his privacy.' Ji Ru said, faltering. Tai Yang's face contorted into a look of intense pain. 'But how am I supposed to understand any of this without even a hint? Tai Yang looks like he's suffering through this nightmare very much... If I know what's in his head, I could help them stop, or ease them, even a little. Maybe it could explain the results of his tests.' Ji Ru reasoned with himself. 

Steeling his nerves, he placed his finger on Tai Yang's temple. '*Second Sight*.'

However, the moment he initiated the spell, Tai Yang's temple started to glow turquoise. Ji Ru's eyes widened. It was as if there was a wrinkle in time at that second, and before he could retract his arm or think of blocking or dodging, a massive amount of what looked like a combination of blue lightning and a firebolt shot up his arm, throwing him to the other side of the room. 

Seconds before he could hit the wall, he managed to cast a strong cushioning charm with his left hand.

His right arm felt like it had exploded, and he gritted his teeth to keep himself from screaming in agony. 

Slowly, he felt the pain seep away, as Li Wei took the damage instead from wherever he was. 

'What the hell was that?!' He stared in absolute shock at Tai Yang who was still sound asleep.