Chapter 54

Seeing him take it, Yu Youyou pulled back her little plump paw.

"So delicious!" she expressed her rustic passion for tasty treats.

The handsome young boy lowered his head and silently watched her for a moment.

It was a small piece of sugar pastry—white and plump, dusted with snow-white powdered sugar on top.

He took a gentle bite, and half of the pastry vanished.

Sweet, soft, and chewy in texture, it was just like... just like what that little creature looked like.

Wen Yu watched as the little one happily chewed on her own piece of sugar pastry, her chubby cheeks white and round, as soft as the pastry itself. After finishing the rest, he still stood silently by Yu Youyou's side.

It took the toddler a long time to realize he hadn't left.

She tilted her small head and, noticing the blades of grass on the ground, realized that the spot where the youth was standing happened to be upwind from her.

Standing there, he blocked all the wind blowing in this direction so that not a single breeze touched her.

Yet she hadn't noticed at all.

Because as a wealthy baby with numerous powerful backers, she possessed a protective magical artifact designed to block the wind.

Worried that she would catch a cold from the harsh, freezing mountain wind while running around nearby all day, Chu Xingyun had already given her a suitable magical artifact capable of keeping the gale at bay.

She couldn't even feel the wind.

Although she hadn't anticipated this kindness, the sentiment was quite nice. The little one decided this young boy was not bad; at least he was considerate and kind.

Anyone willing to take care of a child couldn't possibly be a bad person.

Judging by Elder Wen's expression, he didn't seem very keen on the marriage alliance anymore. Reassured, the toddler fished around in her little pocket, dug out another piece of delicious pastry, turned around to offer it to this rather decent youth, and said obediently, "Wind bad..."

She pointed this way and that, then added happily, "Person good!"

Such simple baby-talk was still easy to comprehend.

The youth named Wen Yu watched her raise her little head to bare her tiny milk teeth at him, listening to her praise. After a long moment, he pressed his lips together and accepted the new pastry.

"Thank you," he said slowly.

He had tried to take care of her, so it was only natural that she thanked him.

Yet why was he thanking her in return?

The toddler couldn't figure it out.

The book hadn't offered any explanation for this.

Still, she beamed broadly. Just then, a huge roar and vibration came from the direction of the cliff. Soon after, a beam of spiritual light soared from the cliff into the sky, only to quickly condense and vanish.

Everything calmed down. Chu Xingyun floated up gracefully from beneath the cliff, a trace of a smile on his face.

Seeing the rather harmonious scene on the cliff, he raised an eyebrow slightly. He walked over, picked up the little one who was eagerly stretching out her tiny arms demanding to be held, and used a handkerchief to wipe away the dust on her little face. At the same time, he said gently to Wen Yu, "A-yu, thank you for looking after the little junior sister."

No one knew where the black dragon had wandered off to, and Yu Youyou would undoubtedly be lonely and bored left here all by herself.

Seeing Wen Yu standing beside her just now, looking as though he were watching over her, Chu Xingyun was naturally not stingy with his thanks.

The handsome youth looked at the toddler, who was laughing and rolling around extremely familiarly in her eldest senior brother's arms, shook his head, and said, "I was merely passing by."

He offered a formal greeting with cupped hands and turned to leave.

Seeing him depart so decisively, Yu Youyou watched for a moment before withdrawing her gaze.

"All... done?" she asked, pointing at the cliff.

"Done," Chu Xingyun said, unable to hold back a smile. He asked her, "Would you like to go take a look together?" He invited her to inspect the array he had set up, much like inviting a great beauty to admire the moon together.

The toddler's eyes lit up, and she nodded eagerly.

Although she knew nothing about the Dao of arrays, looking at it together with her eldest senior brother was exceptionally fun.

She used sweet words, pouring out her abundant emotions to overwhelm her eldest senior brother, and coaxed ingratiatingly, "Us two." The two of them were on the same side; it was wonderful.

The eldest senior brother chuckled softly.

"If Ao Xin hears you say that, he'll throw a tantrum again." The senior brother and junior sister went together to inspect the grand array.

Chu Xingyun was truly a genius in the Dao of arrays, but being able to set up so many formations in such a short time was also thanks to the complete set of materials provided by Sect Master Yu.

Floating together mid-air amidst the cliff, Yu Youyou looked at the interlocking arrays and poked her eldest senior brother's clothes, asking in a soft voice, "Thunder..."

"Shall we put your thunder pearls in as well?" Chu Xingyun considered the feasibility.

Yu Youyou could wield thunder and lightning, a fact that Huangfu Zhou, who had been struck by lightning that day, had already experienced firsthand.

Since that scoundrel already knew, he certainly wouldn't keep it a secret for Yu Youyou; likely, more and more people would find out in the future.

Moreover, Yu Youyou would inevitably use thunder and lightning when walking the world of cultivation in the future; she couldn't just hide it away simply out of fear that others would discover her abnormalities.

"Let's put them in," he agreed after some thought.

The toddler's eyes lit up, and she conjured tiny spiritual pearls from the palms of her hands.

The spiritual pearls were small and very round, bearing no resemblance at all to how terrifying and dangerous they were when transformed into thunder serpents.

With a mischievous smile on her chubby face, she pressed the thunder pearls into the array diagrams according to Chu Xingyun's instructions... The thunder pearls were small, but their power was by no means negligible.

If anyone dared to come to her Gong family to take advantage and break into these formations, they would get to experience the joy of heavenly thunder descending upon them.

Just thinking about it made it a happy affair.

"Super... ferocious!" The toddler pointed at herself, boasting to her eldest senior brother.

At this moment, she had transformed into an extremely vicious toddler.

When dealing with uninvited malicious intruders, one simply had to be even more ferocious.

The little one shook her head as she spouted her own grand logic. Chu Xingyun listened patiently and showered her ideas with endless praise, making the toddler instantly feel that her eldest senior brother had excellent taste.

After the senior brother and junior sister spent a good while flattering each other, and seeing all the thunder pearls silently hidden away within the array formations, Chu Xingyun picked up the child and flew up from the cliff.

Just then, they saw Ao Xin standing at the edge of the cliff, craning his neck and looking around.

"What brings Senior here?" Sensing the damp aura of the ocean on him, Chu Xingyun asked with concern.

He hadn't seen Ao Xin at all since early this morning.

"This seat is a heavenly demon; what's wrong with wandering around? I merely passed by the ocean, discovered an iron ore deposit in the sea, and excavated it on a whim," Ao Xin said with a hint of arrogance, flicking a hand through the empty air. A flash of demonic energy tore the spatial void open, and an enormous fish dropped out from it.

This fish was plump and massive; the toddler measured it with her hands and found that its size rivaled seven or eight of her put together... The giant fish floated in mid-air, looking incredibly fresh and immensely huge.

Ao Xin quickly tried to seal the spatial rift, saying indifferently, "I am certainly not a servant meant to cook for others. Take it and make it go—"

A faint burning smell seeped from the spatial rift, which trembled again, and another blackened, half-charred giant fish rolled out from the void.

That completely charred, obviously burnt-to-a-crisp giant fish left the toddler and Ao Xin staring at each other with wide eyes.

Neither spoke a word.

The air fell silent.

Chu Xingyun turned his head away and exercised self-restraint for a long time, then gently offered his thanks, "Thank you, Senior, for bringing back such fresh fish. I will have my disciples prepare it."

Acting as though he hadn't seen that other blackened fish, the black-robed man busied himself watching Chu Xingyun earnestly gather up the fresh fish, hurriedly used a wisp of dark light to destroy the evidence of the charred fish on the ground, and then turned on the toddler, who was biting her finger and looking at him from inside Chu Xingyun's arms, with exasperation. "I did not secretly learn how to cook for you! This seat, this seat simply likes eating burnt food!"

"Oh," the toddler nodded understandingly, pretending she believed him.

Ao Xin: ......

Ao Xin clenched his back teeth tightly. After a moment, he impatiently asked Chu Xingyun, "Are the array diagrams practically finished? If they're done, just leave the disciples below to keep watch; it's about time to return to the Primordial Sect."

As a malevolent dragon once suppressed by the Primordial Sect, he actually dared to return there. Remembering that the black dragon's suppression was once a closely guarded secret of the sect, Chu Xingyun understood everything in his heart.

Suppression was one thing, but saving face was another.

Just the fact that Ao Xin had been suppressed for so many years without a single whisper leaking out in the cultivation world—with no one knowing about his humiliating confinement—showed that both Ao Qing and the Primordial Sect had been protecting his pride and dignity all along.

...Yet Ao Xin himself constantly let slip the truth, shouting about how he had been suppressed.

Now seeing that he was willing to return, Chu Xingyun nodded slightly and smiled, "We have been out for quite a long time indeed; the little junior sister should also head back."

Sect Master Yu actually missed his daughter dearly, though he had refrained from urging them so as not to ruin his darling's fun.

However, judging by the increasingly frequent inquiries sent via jade slips from the outer sect dojo, most fathers felt their days grew dark the moment they were away from their children.

He knew in his heart that Yu Youyou missed the sect as well.

The toddler was a homebody.

He knew this simply from the fact that the small blanket she currently used was the very same one she had used back in the sect.

"When I get back, I'll pluck Ao Qing's dragon scales clean... Oh, won't need to, he doesn't have any scales right now." This joke was something the black dragon brought up every single day, taking endless glee in others' misfortune.

Seeing the black dragon act like this, the toddler—notwithstanding her lack of cleverness—felt he was likely to get a beating before long... Why couldn't a dragon be a bit more tactful?

Take her, for example; she was so considerate she never once asked her grand-uncle whether he had gone bald after being struck by lightning.

She had already mastered the art of getting along in the world.

Therefore, when Elder Wen also prepared to take his grandson home, she enthusiastically waved goodbye.

Seeing her cheerful appearance, Elder Wen smiled and said, "Youyou, your uncle is getting married soon; you must come and play."

At the mention of Wen Shi's wedding, Wen Yu, standing behind him, felt a flicker of depression deep within his eyes.

The toddler had already heard all about it from her father and had no intention of going, but having witnessed palace intrigue firsthand, she shrewdly replied, "You're busy." Not noticing her scheming, Elder Wen nodded in satisfaction and departed.

Qingwu Immortal Lord, who had stayed near the Gong family for so long without uttering a word, departed directly as well.

Before leaving, he stood amidst the clouds, lowering his gaze to look down at Yu Youyou, who was also waving at him from the ground. After a moment, he cast his gaze toward the Gong family's ancestral grounds for a long while.

He transformed into a streak of flowing light and vanished at the edge of the sky.

The toddler bid an emotional farewell to her fellow disciples from the outer sect once again.

She hadn't been here very long, but she had already forged deep bonds with everyone; they were the best of friends.

Yet the only one with such patience was Chu Xingyun himself. Ao Xin was naturally short-tempered; he had endured suppressing his impatience for half a day without urging her.

By the time everyone finished parting ways with lingering reluctance, looking back every three steps, the black-robed man abruptly transformed into a ten-thousand-foot-long giant dragon.

This black giant dragon soared amidst black clouds and drove demonic mist, a pair of crimson vertical pupils looming indistinctly within the miasma, blotting out the entire sky. With a single roar that shook the four directions, it struck terror into the hearts of all who heard it.