"It's been a long time since I've enjoyed a meal like this."
Having eaten their fill, Chu Xin and her brother Chu Chen lay on the ground, rubbing their flat little bellies, faces full of satisfaction.
"It's so nice outside, being able to eat so many Demon Beasts as soon as we come out. Daddy used to bring back only one Demon Beast each time, so stingy."
Chu Chen slightly squinted his eyes, his little tongue still licking his greasy lips, looking utterly content.
"They are too cute, I really want to hug them."
Looking at Chu Xin and Chu Chen's little arms and legs, a female guard felt her heart melting.
Long Yufei looked at the siblings and asked, "Where are you two planning to go?"
"Oh dear, I almost forgot about our real mission."
Hearing this, the siblings suddenly remembered their purpose and quickly got to their feet.
"Auntie, is this the south?" Chu Chen asked, looking up.
"The south?" Long Yufei was also a bit confused; surely one should add a reference point when talking about directions.
Chu Xin's delicate little face was also full of confusion. "Village Chief Grandpa said that the Imperial City is south of our village, but we don't know where south is, we just flew here."
"You want to go to the Imperial City? What for?"
Long Yufei looked surprised.
"We're going to save our mother."
Chu Chen nodded vigorously, the flesh on his little face trembling, his tone and gaze extremely serious.
"Save your mother? Is your mother in the Imperial City?"
Long Yufei's expression was a bit strange, a feeling she couldn't quite describe emerging in her heart, as if she had forgotten something important.
"Daddy said mother is locked in the Imperial City. We want to emulate Yang Jian and Chen Xiang and rescue our mother in the Imperial City."
Chu Xin waved her little fists determinedly as she spoke.
Looking at the siblings' serious expressions, everyone was charmed by their cuteness.
A female guard asked with a smile, "So, how do you plan to rescue her?"
"Split open the Imperial City."
Chu Chen held up his chubby little hand like a chopping knife and swung it left and right. He was very serious, but the whole set of movements was extremely cute, making Long Yufei and the others burst out laughing.
Split open the Imperial City? Even the Martial Emperor couldn't do that.
"Don't laugh, we are very serious."
Chu Xin put her hands on her hips, speaking in a huff.
"Yes!"
Chu Chen nodded vigorously, his two buns on his head and the flesh on his face also shaking.
For them, saving their mother was a very sacred matter. It was not something to laugh about.
"Alright, alright, we won't laugh."
Long Yufei reined in her smile and said, "This is the northern border of Lanzhou. I don't know where you came from. The Imperial City is in Central State, and to get there from Lanzhou, you have to cross several states, and there are State Seas between the states. The State Sea is vast, and those unfamiliar with it can easily get lost. Even if you don't get lost, it would take at least ten years for a cultivator below the Martial Saint to fly there."
"How long is ten years?"
Chu Xin and Chu Chen asked curiously. They had no real concept of time.
"Well,"
Long Yufei paused, unsure how to explain, and after a moment she said, "It's about enough time for you to eat a few hundred thousand roasted blue wolves like we did today."
"What?"
Chu Xin and Chu Chen, upon hearing this, immediately hung their heads, looking gloomy.
Although they didn't know how much a few hundred thousand was, it sounded like a lot.
How long would it take to eat that much roasted meat to reach the Imperial City?
"However, if you have special flying artifacts, it will be much faster. Plus, there are Transmission Arrays between the states, which would speed things up even more," added Long Yufei.
"That's great, where is the Transmission Array?"
The siblings, upon hearing this, became excited again and eagerly inquired.
"Transmission Arrays are generally located in State Cities. We're a bit far from the State City here. Let's wait for my master to arrive, and I'll take you there," said Long Yufei with a smile.
Somehow, seeing these two children gave her an inexplicable sense of warmth, and since they had also saved them, it was only right to help them both factually and morally.
"By the way, what is your mother's name?" Long Yufei asked.
"Sister, what is our mother's name?"
Chu Chen turned his head and asked Chu Xin.
Chu Xin furrowed her brows tightly in distress, "How would I know? Dad never told us. The village chief also wouldn't say, always telling us we're not grown up yet."
You don't even know what your mother's name is?
The group of girls were stunned.
Long Yufei asked again, "Then what does your mother look like? I have some connections in the Imperial City, maybe I can help you look for her."
"Sister, what does our mother look like?"
Chu Chen turned his head to look at his sister again.
Chu Xin scratched her head, growing more distressed: "I don't know, I've never seen our mother."
So these two children have been motherless since they were little, such poor children.
Looking at the troubled siblings, Long Yufei and the others couldn't help but feel pity.
Long Yufei touched the little heads of Chu Chen and Chu Xin, gently saying, "Then you should come with me to the Lanzhou State Mansion for now, but some people don't want me to reach the mansion, and the journey there might be very dangerous."
"It's okay, we can help auntie beat the bad guys."
Chu Xin swung her little white fists.
"That's right, we're very strong."
Chu Chen also swung his chubby little hands as he spoke in agreement.
For some reason, they felt a kind, familiar aura from this beautiful aunt, and sometimes they even wanted to call her 'mother.'
However, they knew that this beautiful aunt was not their mother because their real mother was still confined in the Imperial City, waiting to be rescued by them.
Moments later, a figure broke through the sky, approaching with incredible speed.
"Sister, someone is coming."
Chu Chen was visibly startled, assuming a combat stance.
"More formidable than the Green Wolf."
The Divine Rune inside Chu Xin also began to flicker slightly, a sharp Sword Intent soaring into the sky.
Long Yufei and the others watched the siblings in shock, realizing that these two had been hiding their true strength?
Especially this little girl, whose Sword Intent instilled fear in them.
"Don't be nervous, it's my master."
Seeing the Sword Intent from Chu Xin growing stronger, Long Yufei quickly interjected.
"It's Auntie's master!"
Chu Xin relaxed, her Sword Intent dissipating into nothingness. Seeing Chu Chen still in a combat pose, she lightly tapped his head, saying in a grown-up manner, "Didn't you hear Auntie say? That's Auntie's master, he's a good person."
"Oh!"
Chu Chen rubbed his head, grinned sheepishly, his cute appearance making the group of girls' eyes sparkle.
Moments later, an old woman with white hair landed in front of the group of girls.
"We see the Pavilion Master." The female guards stepped forward to greet her.
"Master!" Long Yufei also stepped forward and bowed gracefully.
The old woman, however, did not attend to the girls but instead looked around intently and called out in a deep voice, "Whoever is here, since you have arrived, please show yourself."
The fleeting Sword Intent from before was by no means something any ordinary cultivator could possess, even stronger than hers based on the Sword Intent alone.
Her expression was extremely solemn, her long sword lightly trembling in her hand, ready to attack at any moment.
"Granny, my sister is not tall, she is right here!" Chu Chen lifted his sister Chu Xin's hand up, saying innocently.
"Stinky brother, how am I not tall? I am taller than you." Chu Xin was not pleased, striving to stand straight and comparing her height with Chu Chen. In her view, as an elder sister, she ought to be taller than her younger brother; if she were shorter, wouldn't that make her the younger sister?
Thus, she always took her height quite seriously.
"Master."
Long Yufei also tugged at the sleeve of the white-haired old woman, pointing at Chu Xin, "The Sword Intent just now, it was released by her."
"..."
The white-haired old woman looked towards the little girl arguing about her height, her expression dumbfounded.