"Silver War Maiden? Why are you still standing there?" Xiang Ling, who had already walked out of the door, turned back to look at her with a curious expression.

"It's, it's nothing," Tiran snapped back to reality, forced a chuckle and also walked out of the storage room, shaking the bamboo slips in her hand, "By the way, do you mind if I ask a question, who actually wrote this?"

"The information in the storage room was left behind by the guards of Yanmen Pass of various generations, compiled by different people, and it's already difficult to find records about the authors. Did you discover something?"

"Not really. Just felt that there are some heroes in your army..." Tiran said bitterly.

"?"

"Instead of that, have you figured out what's the story with the child that the little Feizi... the spirit, threw down?"

Walking out of the storage room and onto the school grounds, the wild beast that the spirit threw onto the field was still frozen motionless by Tiran, but from the occasional movement of its eyeballs and the pulsating veins under the exposed skin, it seemed like it wasn't dead.

"The description in the letter indeed matches this kind of wild beast, as for the purpose," Xiang Ling paused for a moment, "the wild beast you have frozen is actually a youngling."

"You mean..."

Tiran's expression visibly changed, remembering what was recorded in the letter, her eyes suddenly lit up, "These kinds of wild beasts have offspring, and if only females can reproduce through parthenogenesis?!"

"..."

Noticing Xiang Ling's silent and awkward expression, Tiran slightly toned down her thoughts that were going in some unknown direction, looking a bit more serious.

"No more jokes, I understand. Is that guy planning to lure the mother with the youngling?"

Yes, that's the only reason that comes to mind.

Whether it was the invasion of the steppe people before or now throwing a wild beast, the intention is to cause big trouble and drag Xiang Ling into Yanmen Pass. Whether as the northwest gateway of the Chu Empire in the west or Xiang Ling's territory, she would never allow this place to be ravaged.

However, the steppe people were as fragile as paper and made no real impact — of course, that's an exaggeration, after all, Yanmen Pass suffered tens of thousands of casualties, but repelling a hundred thousand cavalry in just a day would be enough to be recorded in history books.

"By the way, Silver War Maiden, you didn't make it clear before, what's your relationship with that guy with long wings?"

"Well... how do I explain," Tiran rubbed her temple, "That guy, as well as the man you mentioned meeting, are the people I came to East Land to deal with this time."

"Ha, what a coincidence."

A slight smile appeared on Xiang Ling's face, "That guy is also someone I aim to get rid of."

"Huh?" Tiran raised an eyebrow, "I never thought Yuan would stir up so much trouble."

"Is his name Yuan? I'll remember that." Xiang Ling clenched her fist, "No matter what he's done before, since he dares lay a finger on my city, he must be prepared to pay the price."

"I say, you're not yet an emperor, your highness..." Tiran reminded in a low voice from the side.

Moreover, if she really gets stuck here, she won't even have a chance to return to Luojing to fight for the throne.

"You're right, so we have to deal with things here first."

"That being said... but if I remember correctly, it's said that the adult form of the wild beast, Mǎng Qīng, is at the level of an Earth Immortal, right? How do you plan to handle it?"

Tiran looked at the bamboo slips in her hand. Indeed, this is what makes wild beasts scarier than city-level threats; as a low-ranked celestial creature, they also belong to the category of the "spirit." Just by reading the description on the bamboo slips, it seems that they could give a golden dragon a run for its money.

When it comes to the Holy Rank and Earth Immortal levels, it's not something ordinary people can overcome with just simple sacrifices. It's like what a certain great magician once said: only Magic can defeat Magic, and rules can only be countered with rules.

Tiran didn't plan on thinking too much about it. After all, this is Xiang Ling's territory, so she must be the first one to figure something out, especially with the strength of a Holy Rank...there shouldn't be any issues, right?

"Leave the city and hunt down that wild beast."

I like the straightforward approach.

The princess couldn't help but applaud, marveling at the woman whose thought process somewhat resembled her own.

Well, despite being straightforward, it seems like there aren't many other options at the moment. It's almost predictable that a mother beast whose child has been taken would fall into a rage. Waiting for it to show up and then returning the child... does anyone really think that the enraged mother of this naive youngling Pang Qing would suddenly calm down and go back peacefully?

Maternal instinct is a great force that gives courage to a mother sheep to stand between her offspring and a hungry wolf.

...Of course, this may not apply to certain creatures, such as a golden dragon who remains indifferent when her snatched cub is returned home.

Ah, my heart aches for Aya for a moment.

...

"Hey, my heart aches for you for a moment."

In the chamber of a young lady from the Qiao family, a white-haired youth, with a soft and steaming bun in his mouth, mumbled unclearly.

Since causing a commotion in the slums and wiping out a criminal syndicate led by an old wolf, Miss Qiao had proudly declared herself a hero for saving the slums and was now under house arrest by her father, Joe Sida.

She also had to transcribe the Quiet Scriptures of the Sanqing Sect three thousand times. If she seriously transcribed all of it, Qiao Qiao would probably have to stay in her room for ten or fifteen days.

On the first day, Qiao Qiao boldly declared that rescuing so many people in the slums was a good deed, so what did it matter if she copied some scriptures? Let the storm rage even stronger.

But now...

"Why should you do this? Clearly, I was doing a good deed! Why are you punishing me like this, dad!"

"Uncle Yu, kind Uncle Yu, please beg dad to spare me..."

From raging incompetence to quietly pleading with the steward outside the door, it took just the time it takes for an incense stick to burn – truly a remarkable change for you, Qiao Qiao.

Aya sat on a bamboo stool, nibbling on a bun, used to the various antics of Miss Tiran, and largely unfazed by Miss Qiao's situation.

"Uncle Yu... If I continue to be confined like this, I’ll turn into a chubby otaku beauty. Wouldn't Dad be horrified seeing his daughter weighing two hundred pounds? Please think about Dad's health and let me out!"

"Sister, you've only been locked up for two days..."

Aya couldn't help but finally comment.

"Tsk, every day feels like a year, you know?" A furious Qiao Qiao, driven mad by transcribing the scriptures, slammed the brush in her hand on the snowy white paper on the table, splattering a few drops of ink. Pointing at Aya with the tip of the brush, she continued, "And you, Aya, are you being unreasonable! You know I can only eat steamed buns with dried radish and white porridge daily, why are you intentionally eating buns in front of me!"

Hmm, being grounded also means a downgrade in the quality of food consumed, making Joe Laoshi quite tough on his daughter. In his words, he wanted Qiao Qiao to remember not to be conceited.

"I'm sorry, it's my bad." Aya apologized sincerely, then took a big bite out of the bun, revealing the delicate red bean paste inside, holding a look of happiness on her face. "Uh, let me tell you, this red bean bun is super sweet."

Aya, you're picking up bad habits from Tiran.

Sigh, there's no way around it, isn't there a saying in the East that goes something like "those who are close to vermilion are stained red while those who are close to something dark are stained black"? Back then, I was indeed a naive little dragon who didn't know the dangers of human hearts until I took a sword to my knee. But Aya is still Aya after all, not like Tiran who can bully young girls to the end. After teasing Jojo a bit, she softened up.

"How about this, you give me your allowance, and I'll help you buy some food and sneak it back for you," Aya suggested.

"Can I?" Jojo's eyes lit up instantly. Even though Uncle Yu wouldn't let her out, being able to soothe her taste buds and belly a little was not bad at all.

"Sure, there's really nothing else to do lately," Aya said sincerely, as Jojosta had mentioned that things would be busy for the time being, and she didn't want to leave casually before the seal was lifted, so she had no choice but to wait here. Luckily, Jojosta treated Aya, who helped his daughter, very well, accommodating her in a first-class compartment with high standards. If not for her firm refusal, Aya would have thought that Mr. Jojo intended to send her a warm bedmaid....Honestly, being able to come and go freely to the residence of the Foreign Minister and being treated as an honored guest was something that could truly be boasted about for ordinary people, but Aya just wanted to quickly restore her powers.

Now stuck alternating between watching Jojo copy books and wandering outside, Aya was feeling a bit frustrated.

"Then...I want candied hawthorn, mung bean cake, red bean cake, custard bun, beef hot pot, Dongpo pork, West Lake vinegar fish, and congee..."

"Stop, stop, stop! Miss, are you reciting a menu here? Where do you expect me to hide and bring back all those things? At most one snack, and it's better if it's pastries that are easy to carry, forget about stews and noodles," Aya glared at her.

"Ah? Why like this..."

"It's already good enough to have something to eat, don't be greedy," Aya scolded.

... Leaving the Jo household, Aya leisurely arrived at a riverside market two streets away. Believe it or not, most of the dishes Miss Jo had listed earlier could indeed be found here.

"Mung bean cake..."

Blending in with the crowd, Aya started searching for a stall selling pastries. Miss Jojo was indeed a young lady, with quite a lot of allowance money. It felt like the money she gave herself could cover her three meals a day in the city – based on a Dragon's eating standard. But with so many people around, Aya was soon disoriented by a collision with someone and lost her sense of direction.

Just then, as luck would have it, she happened to look up for a moment and caught a glimpse of a figure on top of a building.

"Angelo?!"

It wasn't a mistake, it was indeed that rogue Judicator, the one who betrayed and kidney shot Johannes from behind.

Fortunately, she was mingling in the crowd, and he didn't seem to be paying attention to the market side, so he probably wouldn't notice her for a while. But...what was that guy doing in such a place? Is he standing high and seeing far?

Aya momentarily forgot about mung bean cakes and focused entirely on Angelo.

He kept looking around as if... looking for something? But it couldn't be that he was looking for her, right? Yuan wouldn't resort to such a meat-eye search method, would he?