# 1080
Chapter 1081: The Oath That's Missing
Sunlight pierced through the clouds and mist, falling upon the distant snow-capped mountains, painting them with a faint golden edge.
Lin Qiye gazed at the swirling gray-white fog beyond the border line, sitting atop the mountain like a statue. His crimson cloak spread across the snow was like a splash of red ink in the pristine white world.
A rough hand reached out from behind him, holding a packet of cigarettes with one cigarette protruding from the box, waiting to be taken.
"Want one?"
Shen Qingzhu's voice sounded from behind Lin Qiye.
Lin Qiye glanced at the cigarette box before him, paused for a moment, hesitated, and then somewhat absently grabbed the entire packet.
Staring at his empty palm, Shen Qingzhu froze in place.
"Smoking too much isn't good for your health." Shen Qingzhu sat down beside him and snatched the cigarette pack back, pulling out one and handing it to Lin Qiye before tucking the rest back into his own pocket.
"I'll give you one this time. Next time you want one, come get it from me."
"Mm."
Lin Qiye awkwardly tried to imitate Shen Qingzhu, clamping the cigarette between his lips.
Shen Qingzhu brought his fingers to the cigarette tip and gently rubbed out a spark. Orange-yellow flames ignited the white paper, and wisps of smoke drifted upward.
"Cough cough cough..." Lin Qiye broke into violent coughing.
Shen Qingzhu patted Lin Qiye's back like a kindly father while wearing an expression that clearly said "I expected this."
Lin Qiye took a deep breath, pinching the cigarette between his fingers. He gazed at the busy border defense company below, and a complex emotion flickered in his eyes.
"Zhuai-ge, do you think... am I a qualified Night Watch?"
"If someone who holds two group Star Sea Medals and one individual Star Sea Medal isn't considered a qualified Night Watch, then there are few qualified Night Watch in all of Great Xia." Shen Qingzhu answered without hesitation.
"I'm not talking about merits. Those don't mean anything..."
"Why don't merits mean anything?" Shen Qingzhu asked, confused. "If even the deeds you performed for Great Xia can't judge whether someone is a qualified Night Watch, then what should be used?"
"I mean in terms of ideological awareness." Lin Qiye continued quickly.
"Ideological awareness?"
"Selflessness, dedication, sacrificing oneself for others... things like that."
"..."
Shen Qingzhu stared at Lin Qiye with a strange expression for a long moment. "What are you going on about?"
Lin Qiye was stunned.
"We're Night Watch, not saints, much less ideologues." Shen Qingzhu shook his head. "These things are indeed important, but for us, fulfilling our duties is what matters most. To judge a Night Watch, we should look at what they did, not how glorious their thoughts are...
Why are you suddenly asking about this?"
Lin Qiye fell silent for a moment, then recounted everything he had witnessed and heard about in the Shadow of Time.
After listening, Shen Qingzhu looked at him with a complicated expression.
"You're overthinking this." He said. "Being a Night Watch doesn't come with so many stringent conditions. All we believe in are the four sentences on the back of our Coat of Arms."
Shen Qingzhu pulled a cigarette from his chest, clamped it between his lips and lit it, naturally exhaling a puff of smoke. A nostalgic gleam appeared in his eyes.
"The Night Watch oath has a kind of magic to it. Back in training camp, I was also a good-for-nothing who understood nothing. But when I jumped into that cave and made my oath alone facing the endless flames... something was naturally comprehended, and then deeply engraved in my mind."
"The oath, huh..."
Lin Qiye's mind once again recalled the scene of his own oath to the red flag during his time in training camp.
His oath had been plain, ordinary—nothing as profound as Shen Qingzhu's experience, and he hadn't gained any enlightenment from it. Back then, he had been just a fledgling newcomer. What he remembered most vividly was Zhao Kongcheng's blade and his ten-year agreement with the man.
So much so that when reciting the oath, deep in his heart, he had only wanted to inherit Zhao Kongcheng's will and fulfill the agreement. He hadn't truly surrendered himself to those four sentences.
Perhaps this was why, now that he had become a decorated Night Watch, he always felt something was missing in his heart.
"If you think you're unworthy of being a guide for the new recruits because of some so-called ideological awareness, then you're definitely overthinking it." Shen Qingzhu clapped his shoulder, speaking with certainty.
"In this unit, no one but you, Lin Qiye, is more suitable to guide them."
"Go back, Instructor Lin." Shen Qingzhu slowly rose from the ground and extended his hand toward Lin Qiye. "Your last lesson for the rookies isn't finished yet."
The confusion in Lin Qiye's eyes faded somewhat. He was silent for a moment, then reached out and grabbed Shen Qingzhu's hand, standing up from the ground.
He smiled faintly.
"Thanks, Zhuai-ge."
Shen Qingzhu stuffed his hand back into his pocket, glanced at Lin Qiye with a cigarette dangling from his lips, the corner of his mouth curling into a smile. He silently shook his head, turned, and walked back toward the border defense company together with Lin Qiye.
...
Egypt.
Outside the City of the Sun.
Countless stars spilled from the heavens, sealing the entire City of the Sun within them. From a distance, it looked like a massive deep-blue sphere, silently hovering within the gray-white mist.
Surging divine power and flames flickered continuously within the starlight sphere. An unprecedented divine bloodbath had reached a white-hot stage.
At that moment, within the hazy fog, a cloaked figure slowly walked out.
Loki raised his head, gazing at the completely sealed City of the Sun in the sky. His narrow eyes narrowed slightly, and a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"So their target really is the City of the Sun..."
He walked forward, moving unhurriedly toward the edge of the starlight formation. As he moved, his eyes flickered with light as he murmured to himself:
"The City of the Sun is severely weakened now. It certainly can't match the gods of Great Xia, who have just returned from the cycle of reincarnation and are at their peak. The Egyptian gods' defeat is merely a matter of time... However, with this, the situation becomes too boring."
He walked to the edge of the starlight formation, his gaze fixed on the battlefield within the starlight. He reached out and grasped at the emptiness, and an ancient dark-gold spear appeared in his hand.
Around this spear, in the void it created, specks of golden light drifted like fireflies, randomly fluttering around it. The dark-gold spear tip was engraved with dense Runic script, seemingly containing some kind of order power. The moment it was exposed to the air, a mysterious and terrifying aura emanated from it.
This was the strongest divine artifact of Asgard—the weapon carried by the King of Gods, Odin.
The Eternal Spear, Gungnir.
Loki held this spear, standing quietly outside the starlight formation, squinting as he gazed at the battlefield within. It seemed he was waiting for something:
"Not yet... I need to wait a bit longer..."