Chapter 124 : Almost Forgot Xiao Ying

Chapter 124: Almost Forgot Xiao Ying

Just as Zhu Huaisu and Nan Yuchen were still shocked by the astonishing rate at which the Long Clan produced Spiritual Roots, Nan Yuchen suddenly thought of something and hurriedly asked,

“Senior Brother Long, your younger sister… does she look like you?”

“She does!” Long Tao immediately broke into a grin.

“Especially these eyes—we look exactly the same. Why are you suddenly asking about that?”

Upon receiving this answer, Nan Yuchen instantly put on an expression of complete vindication and turned to Zhu Huaisu.

“Senior Fifth Sister! You heard that, right? Senior Brother Long’s sister looks just like him. So the girl I ran into a few days ago must have been his sister. I wasn’t lying to you!”

Zhu Huaisu had not expected that she had truly wronged him back then.

Thinking that her junior brother’s favorability toward her might have decreased because of it—and then thinking that it had once again been trouble caused by someone surnamed Long—she immediately shot Long Tao an aggrieved glare.

“Oh? You’ve met my sister?” Long Tao had not noticed Zhu Huaisu’s resentment at all and said cheerfully, “Her name is Long Xi. She’s a lively girl. If you run into her in the sect in the future, please look after her a bit.”

Seeing that Long Tao had completely failed to grasp her dissatisfaction, Zhu Huaisu did not bother to dwell on it.

Besides, his sister was currently below participating in the Disciple Recruitment Ceremony; it would not be appropriate to keep harping on this matter.

So she changed the topic.

“Since everyone in your family has Spiritual Roots, why don’t your parents and sister want to cultivate?”

“Well…” Long Tao scratched his head.

“My father married into the family, so my sister and I take our mother’s surname. I heard from my mother that the Long Clan was quite a large clan in the northeast. That Long Clan had a high number of Spiritual Root births, but most of them had Four or Five Spiritual Roots. She saw many elders in the clan toil their entire lives only to reach Foundation Establishment at best. She felt it was not as carefree as living as an ordinary wealthy family, so she moved to the Nine-Xia Realm with my father.”

“Oh… your parents are quite open-minded. Though I can’t say they’re wrong.” Zhu Huaisu nodded thoughtfully and continued,

“As long as someone with Spiritual Roots isn’t too poor, even if they don’t cultivate seriously and just casually practice a basic Qi-Guiding Art, they can usually reach around the Qi-Refining Third Layer by middle age. Some who persist can even reach the Fourth Layer. Take a few longevity pills, and living past a hundred years is easy. On the other hand, those who struggle desperately to reach Foundation Establishment only live about one hundred twenty to one hundred fifty years. When you think about it that way, it’s actually not bad.”

Zhu Huaisu came from the former imperial clan and had seen many relatives without talent who still insisted on staking their lives on pursuing the Great Dao.

Many exhausted their entire lives and endured endless hardship, only to barely achieve a lower- or mid-grade Foundation Establishment.

Until death, they could not even touch the threshold of Half-Step Golden Core.

“However…” She suddenly thought of something and frowned in confusion.

“I’ve never heard of any major Long Clan in the northeast. Is your mother’s clan especially far away?”

Long Tao tried to recall and said uncertainly, “I’m not sure exactly where. But I’ve heard them mention in conversation that it seemed to be around the Heavenly Eye Sacred Land and the Suhuang Heavenly Dynasty. Anyway, they never took me back to visit relatives.”

“So far?!” Zhu Huaisu’s eyes widened in surprise.

“That’s at least several thousand li away! Yes, from here to the Suhuang Heavenly Dynasty it must be nearly eight thousand li. Your parents really moved a long way!”

The two boys immediately thought that Zhu Huaisu might have been to the Suhuang Heavenly Dynasty before.

“Senior Fifth Sister! Have you been to that Suhuang Heavenly Dynasty? I heard it’s ruled by an Empress.”

“Hmph, of course I’ve been.” Zhu Huaisu lifted her chin proudly.

“Although our Zhu Clan has declined terribly, we still carry the name of the Mingde Dynasty. So that Empress gives us face. We receive invitations for every major event. When I was young, I followed my imperial fa—… father there once.”

The two boys tacitly ignored the word “imperial father” and continued listening attentively.

“Although the Suhuang Heavenly Dynasty’s territory is vast, over twenty percent of it belongs to the Heavenly Eye Sacred Land. But that Sacred Land is said to have declined severely and is nominally subordinate to the Empress. Thus, on paper, their territory also belongs to the Suhuang Heavenly Dynasty. Of course… in reality, it governs itself.”

Hearing this, Long Tao silently complained inwardly.

Wasn’t that the exact opposite of their situation here? In the Nine-Xia Realm, the Nine-Xia Heavenly Sect held actual dominance, while the Mingde Dynasty nominally retained its imperial title but had little real power.

At present, it only governed the capital and some surrounding territories.

When ordinary people in the Nine-Xia Realm mentioned the “capital,” they were referring to the former capital of the Mingde Dynasty.

To preserve a bit of face for the imperial clan, newly appointed city lords and officials still had to go through the formalities of receiving imperial investiture.

Seen this way, the sect had been quite courteous to the Zhu Clan.

In many other places, an imperial house reduced to this state would likely have already faced extermination.

While the three were chatting about distant lands and customs, Long Tao suddenly remembered that Xiao Ying was still on the original Cloud Vessel.

The girl could neither fly nor pilot a Cloud Vessel, and he had been abruptly taken away by True Person Mingzhu.

He needed to bring her over quickly.

“Junior Brother Nan, when your master suddenly brought me here, I left Xiao Ying on her Cloud Vessel. Could you pass through the Mountain Gate and bring her here?”

Nan Yuchen nodded at once and steered the Cloud Vessel, following Long Tao’s directions through the Mountain Gate and returning to the front of the Grand Ceremony Plaza.

Soon, the three spotted Xiao Ying’s Cloud Vessel not far away—and the little girl pacing anxiously by the railing.

……

“Young Master! You’re so mean, leaving me there all alone!”

After the two Cloud Vessels drew alongside each other and Xiao Ying was brought aboard, she pounded her young master’s chest with a wronged expression.

There were even tears at the corners of her eyes, prompting Long Tao to hurriedly comfort her.

After soothing the little girl for a while, she wiped her tears and bowed to Nan Yuchen and Zhu Huaisu.

“Xiao Ying greets the two Martial Uncle and Martial Aunt.”

Zhu Huaisu and Nan Yuchen inclined their heads in return.

However, at that very instant, both of them sensed something unusual.

This little girl’s cultivation had already reached the mid-stage of Qi Refinement Second Level!

This discovery sent shockwaves through their hearts.

Three months ago, when they had first met at the spirit beast shop, this girl had only just broken through to Qi Refinement Second Level.

The stretch from Second Level to Third Level was entirely a matter of steady, painstaking effort—there was no shortcut.

Though they had been shocked before, they had assumed perhaps True Person Zhiying had used some special method.

Now they were certain—there was definitely something unusual about this girl.

With Five Spiritual Roots aptitude, no method should allow such rapid progress at this stage.

At the same time, both of them glanced at Long Tao, who showed no sign of surprise.

They did not know whether he was aware of something—or whether he had simply never used his Divine Sense to examine his own maid.