"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!"
They were both surprised by the sudden fall, just after Xue Lian had finished them off, she had accidentally kicked a stone whilst walking back to Zi Hua causing the ground beneath their feet to disappear.
Zi Hua hadn't been paying attention so she wasn't prepared, thankfully Xue Lian was there to catch her, it's just that...
A qilin appeared and swept Zi Hua on its back and slowly floated down to the bottom.
"Nian Gao?"
"Sorry for triggering the trap but aren't you surprised?" The qilin disappeared and Xue Lian was back.
"No worries, who would've known that there would be a trap there and I had a hunch about your identity" Zi Hua had known that those two siblings were half spirit beasts due to their peculiarity when she looked into their talent and then realized that Xue Lian held some sort of connection to them.
"So why didn't you try to capture me?"
"Why would I? Your my friend and I already have spirit beasts, plus if you can turn into human form it means that you at least Low Staged Celestial rank, I can't take you on alone" Zi Hua replied.
"Haha, you're more knowledgeable than I though you were and it seems that I didn't choose the wrong person to make friends with after all"
"I had just reached Low Stage Celestial rank not too long ago, about 30 years ago, I'm almost 125 in spirit beast years but in human years I should be almost 25" Spirit beasts have longer life spans than humans so their age would be divided by 5 to get their human age.
Zi Hua was quite surprised when Xue Lian said that, although ones egg rank would play a big part in their growth, many do not reach it, only the top members of the clans do.
Although they will get stronger as they age, the older you are does not guarantee that you will be stronger than those younger than you even if you were from eggs of the same rank.
Reaching Celestial rank before 200 years old would be a genius among geniuses of geniuses, although it couldn't compare to her dears who reached it in a couple of years.
Spirit beasts grow stronger much slower than humans so this was extremely impressive, it was the same as a Martial Sovereign at Exceptional State at the age of 25 when you compare it to humans.
"Now that you know my secret, mind telling me about yours?" Xue Lian lifted an eyebrow in questioning.
She could tell that Zi Hua was hiding a lot of things from her, although everyone has their secrets hiding everything from friends isn't nice.
"I guess you knew" Xue Lian was really smarter than how she looked and acted.
"Promise me not to tell a soul"
"Promise, but you know I won't because you won't tell anyone about my secret, right?"
"I won't tell"
"My master is the true owner of what's inside this ruin, the flame fragment, my master has told me to retrieve them so I can protect myself after her passing" Zi Hua was genuinely touched by the care her master had shown her, her master had given her all those treasures so that she could protect herself when the situation calls for it.
Earlier she couldn't sense the flame due to the vastness of the ruins however now she could sense the general direction.
Although they couldn't really sense it thanks to the clothes but the temperature has dropped drastically compared to before.
"I wonder what big figure your master was when she was alive to have a higher continent's people coming down here for a flame fragment" Xue Lian was a spirit beast who's clan had been rather recluse the past few thousand years until recently so they didn't know the details and only the overall picture regarding matters of the outside world as well as bits and pieces that they came across.
Zi Hua gave a feeble smile, how shocked would Xue Lian be if she knew the true identity of her master?
However she couldn't reveal since it may bring danger to Xue Lian if it were to get out in anyway.
"Sorry for getting you dragged into this, you can leave now if you want" Zi Hua stared into Xue Lian's eyes nervously waiting for an answer.