With the roaring wind released by the Qi Scales, there was a commotion at the bottom of a mountain gorge near Seabreeze Town - although there were no chickens or dogs here.

After three rapid descents, Aya finally approached the destination indicated by Xuanzi.

"I must say, this doesn't look like a place with a village. You're not trying to deceive me, are you?" Aya surveyed the surroundings but couldn't find any signs of human habitation. On both sides were steep slopes and dense trees stretching upwards, with a small stream flowing through the bottom of the gorge where they stood... a good place for camping.

"Of course not!" Xuanzi shook her head and assured him, "Just keep following the stream a little further. Mr. Aya, you have shown great kindness to me. How could I possibly deceive you?"

"Alright..." Aya continued walking forward, increasing his pace.

Xuanzi had promised to provide Aya with any local information he wanted to know, including the geographical location, as well as the way back to Milanía, once they reached the destination. Regardless of the return journey, Aya was becoming curious about this place.

Along the way, Aya encountered a total of four elemental creatures known as "Dark Forms." Their strengths varied greatly - the weaker ones were instantly killed with a single kick, while the stronger ones could withstand several kicks after Aya released his Qi Scales. From the perspective of a Warcraft player, they were at a mid-level.

Although they were weak, the fact that elemental creatures were naturally generated was unnatural in itself. Even in extreme polar conditions where elemental forces were exceptionally high, natural laws did not allow for the formation of freely flowing elements, let alone the weakest elemental creatures.

Unfortunately, his magical power had been sealed, otherwise he would have used his psychic abilities to investigate the distribution of Magic elements in this place.

Xuanzi did not deceive Aya. After walking along the stream for about a hundred steps, Aya stopped in front of a crack in a side wall according to the instructions of the girl on his back.

The crack was wide enough to barely accommodate two or three people side by side, and its height was only about two meters. The most crucial thing was that it was pitch black inside, which made Aya feel a little uneasy.

"Hey... don't tell me..."

"Mr. Aya, this is our destination! " Xuanzi, on the contrary, raised her spirits and slapped her cheek forcefully. "Let's go in!"

"Are you serious? This doesn't look like a place with a village at all!"

"Please trust me, Nia!" Xuanzi's tone was full of earnestness. It seemed that because of this, her voice couldn't help but rise in excitement.

Ahem... Aya suddenly felt a bit injured. Although the princess was usually unreliable and tricky, she didn't say anything wrong sometimes. For example, when a beautiful girl eagerly requested something from you, no normal person could refuse.

Carefully walking into the crack, Aya couldn't help but sigh. If he was really tricked because he couldn't resist the princess's request, he would definitely be despised by Tiran to death.

Fortunately, he wasn't tricked this time. After entering, Aya felt that it was different inside. The passage descended all the way but didn't give off the stifling and deep feeling of a typical deep pit. On the contrary, there was a faint airflow. Moreover, the surrounding walls were not entirely natural; there were obvious signs of artificial polishing.

Hidden in the corners of the passage were arrows made of a fluorescent material, indicating the direction and guiding Aya away from the wrong path.

Finally, the dim path gave way to warm light.

"Mr. Aya, we have arrived!" Xuanzi's voice sounded a bit excited as she urged Aya to quicken his pace.

"You bastards, let me go! Are you planning to watch Miss Xuanzi die like this?!"

The anger-filled young boy voice.

"This is Xuanzi's will, what she said... It's impossible for us to save her with just a few of us. We'll only sacrifice ourselves in vain."

Just as he stepped out of the dimly lit passage, his eyes still adjusting to the sudden brightness, he could faintly hear arguing in the distance.

"Who's there!"

Aya's intrusion was immediately noticed, and before she could even figure out the situation, a sharp cold light was already coming towards her.

After a crisp cracking sound, Aya took a step back, the energy scales that covered her right arm shattered.

"Do you guys always greet people like this?!"

Taking a step back, Aya stared at the woman in front of her, who was wielding a curved long knife, with frustration.

Her appearance reminded him of Brad's sidekick, that unlucky sword saint Nishino who attacked him and was instantly defeated by the princess. Only this woman's long hair was slightly neater, tied up a little. She was also wearing wooden clogs, making it hard to imagine how she could move so quickly in those shoes.

Not to mention, even though the energy scales were shattered, even after being released multiple times without recovering its strength, the power of that last strike was still commendable.

Although the girl in front of him, the ronin, was equally surprised.

"How is this possible?!"

By this time, the others had also caught up from behind, each one holding a weapon and a tense expression. Although they relaxed slightly when they saw that Aya was alone, they showed no intention of lowering their weapons.

"Miss Sakuya, what's going on with that person?"

A young man holding a bow and arrow aimed at Aya on the side stepped onto the stone steps and witnessed the scene of the girl slashing at Aya but unable to inflict any harm.

Sakuya shook her head in silence, took a slight step back with her right foot, and changed her grip on the knife—although her expressionless face showed no signs of "getting serious now", or something like that.

"Hold on, hold on, I didn't come here to fight anyone."

Sensing the hostile atmosphere, Aya quickly put down Xuanzi, who was on her back, and stepped aside. Whether she could defeat them or not was one thing, she still needed to find her way back, and she didn't have time to waste.

When the girl with a somewhat apologetic smile appeared in front of them, everyone froze in place.

Hmph, dumb humans, thank me. Even though I don't know the details of why Xuanzi was captured by the people from Haiqi Town, judging from their reactions... Xuanzi must be an important person, right?

It seems they were planning to publicly execute her in the town before. But from her behavior and speech along the way, she didn't seem like a wicked criminal—

Aya stood on the side, secretly observing the several people who were still surprised by Xuanzi's return, speculating on the relationship between Xuanzi and them.

A criminal organization? That's too far-fetched, isn't it?

Compared to Aya's wild guesses, it was still more reliable to directly see the truth.

Before everyone else, the silver-haired girl who had just shattered the energy scales with her sword flashed forward to Xuanzi, embraced her, and buried her face in Xuanzi's long hair, her body trembling uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

Xuanzi was also stunned for a moment, then showed a comforting smile, gently reaching behind her to embrace Sakuya.

"It's okay, I'm back."

...Crack.

As Aya, who was standing on the side, revealed a joyful smile, ready to witness the heartwarming scene of the reunion, it was as if she heard her own cracking sound.

If they were just hugging from a distance, it would still be fine. But the problem is, Aya clearly saw the expression on Xuanzi's face and the affectionate gaze in her eyes...

That gaze was so familiar, Coco used to look at the princess with the same look, love was written all over her eyes!

Aya would never believe that there was nothing going on between these two!

What's wrong with this world? Why are there girls who like other girls everywhere you go?

And those people standing silently behind them with understanding expressions, they looked like old mothers... The atmosphere suddenly became subtly different from the joy of returning companions.

Well, it's not bad though...

Unfortunately, there are always people who are not tactful.

"Miss Xuanzi? Wait, is Miss Xuanzi back?"

In a corner where no one had noticed, a person suddenly wriggled out like a bug from their tied-up body and got excited when they saw Xuanzi. They continued to crawl towards her frantically.

"Miss Xuanzi! Ahh!"

That's right, this is the normal situation.

But it's so disgusting! It's fine if you're excited, but can you not crawl on the ground towards her with snot and tears all over your face!

"Hold him down!"

As expected, Aya was not the only one who couldn't bear to watch. The other companions of Xuanzi had already rushed in and dragged the wriggling worm-like person away, leaving the space for Xuanzi and Shayue.

At this time, Aya also carefully surveyed the surroundings.

This is really a good hiding place. The gap in the stones on the other side of the mountain stream seems to be the only entrance that can be entered, and the interior is not a closed cave, but a semi-open underground space. There is a crack above on one side that goes unnoticed and can be connected to the outside world. But it is extremely difficult to be discovered from the lush mountains outside.

This is also the reason why it is not stuffy inside the cave. There are several underground passages leading deeper underground. The most spacious one has been artificially carved into separate spaces for living, working, and storage, making it a fairly well-equipped base.

"Longjing, can't you control your emotions a little? We all get excited when we see Miss Xuanzi, but we can't be impolite."

The group dragged Longjing back to the spacious cave that was usually used as a gathering place, and they all looked at the struggling boy on the ground in silence.

"I am also worried about Miss Xuanzi—not, why do I have to explain to you! It's you who didn't want to save Miss Xuanzi!"

Remembering the reason why he was tied up here, the boy glared at his companions and boldly said.

"If it wasn't for Miss Xuanzi... wait... who saved Miss Xuanzi?"

Hearing this question, the group also paused in astonishment.

They didn't choose to rescue Xuanzi solely because of her request, but also because the actual situation made it extremely difficult to handle the tight guard in a short period of time.

In that case, how did Xuanzi... come back? It's not like the rockslide suddenly had a change of heart and let Xuanzi go?

"Do I have such low presence? You just cut me when I entered, how did you forget so quickly!"

A disappointed voice came from the cave entrance, and the white-haired boy chewed on a piece of dried sweet potato, staring at them speechlessly =_=.