Xueyan sat down gently.
"...I will not touch you again without permission," he whispered under his breath.
Shrubby huffed.
Accepting.
Lin Mu gave a single command.
"South."
And in the next instant... BOOM.
Shrubby leaped.
The ground cracked beneath him as he shot into the sky, soaring above the capital in a blur of motion. The city below shrank rapidly as they ascended, leaving behind the towering structures and bustling streets.
Then he accelerated.
His true speed was revealed!
WHOOSH
The wind howled, the sky blurred and Xueyan blinked.
"...Oh."
A second later-
"...OH."
His ears flattened.
His tail stiffened.
"...OH NO."
The sheer velocity hit him all at once.
The world beca a streak beneath them, the air tearing past with such force that it felt like he might be ripped apart.
"I'M GOING TO FALL-!"
SHUA.
A barrier ford.
The harness around Shrubby activated, and a protective formation expanded outward, shielding them from the wind and stabilizing their positions.
The violent pressure vanished instantly.
Xueyan froze.
Then slowly opened one eye.
"...I'm... not dead?"
He looked around.
The barrier shimred faintly.
The air was calm.
The ride... smooth.
He exhaled deeply.
"...That was terrifying."
Then, his eyes lit up again.
"...That was amazing!"
He leaned forward slightly, peering over the edge of the barrier.
"We're moving this fast without spatial displacent? Pure physical propulsion!? The energy efficiency must be insane! And this barrier, this is a wind suppression array integrated into a mobile platform... no, wait, it's more than that, it's also stabilizing the space around us slightly to reduce turbulence -!"
He turned to Lin Mu.
"Did you design this!? Or was it pre-made!? Can it be improved!? Can I study it!?"
Lin Mu didn't even look back.
"...Later.
Xueyan nodded rapidly.
"Yes! Later!"
Then he straightened, rembering his role.
"Ah! Right! Directions!"
He pointed ahead.
"We go south until we reach the Tival Kingdom!"
Then he shifted slightly.
"After that, we turn southwest and continue straight to the Mother Forest!"
Lin Mu nodded.
"I know."
Xueyan blinked.
"...Oh."
Then smiled sheepishly.
"...I'll still guide."
Lin Mu didn't object.
And so they flew.
Through the vast skies.
With a spatial cultivator who wagged his tail like a puppy... Marveling at everything like it was the greatest discovery in the world.
The journey toward the Mother Forest continued without pause.
Shrubby moved like a streak across the sky, his massive body cutting through
the clouds with effortless grace.
The formation barrier around them shimred faintly, keeping the violent winds at bay while allowing a clear view of the world below.
Rivers stretched like silver threads across the land, forests ford vast green oceans, and cities appeared like clustered jewels scattered across the terrain.
Two days passed like this.
For immortals, such ti was insignificant, but for Xueyan, who had spent eight years locked in a chamber, it was nothing short of exhilarating.
Every few minutes, he would shift his position, lean over the edge, or look in a different direction, as if afraid he might miss sothing.
"Look there!" he pointed once. "That's a river convergence point; those are
usually rich in water-elent herbs!"
"And there!" he pointed again a while later. "That's a wind current ridge, you can
tell by how the clouds spiral!"
At so point, ng Bai had stopped reacting to every single observation.
Daoist Chu, on the other hand, seed entertained.
Lin Mu simply let him be.
Eventually, the terrain below began to change.
The forests grew more structured, the settlents more frequent, and large
rivers began to carve through the land in organized channels.
Xueyan leaned forward slightly, squinting.
"We're approaching the Tival Kingdom."
ng Bai perked up at that.
"Tival?" he repeated. "That na sounds... different."
Xueyan imdiately turned toward him, his cars twitching with excitent.
"Yes! Yes, it is!"
Finally! His chance to properly explain sothing.
"The Tival Kingdom is actually one of the few kingdoms on the Central Continent that has a human origin," Xueyan said, his voice carrying enthusiasm.
"It was founded by a human cultivator several thousand years ago, and even
now, it remains one of the largest human-origin kingdoms here."
ng Bai nodded slowly.
"That makes sense." "Though," Xueyan added quickly, raising a finger, "that doesn't an it's purely
human. The population is still about fifty percent foxkin."
"Fifty percent?" ng Bai repeated.
"Yes," Xueyan confird. "The native clan here is the River adow Foxkin.
They've been here long before the humans arrived, and over ti, the two
groups integrated."
He gestured downward.
"Most of the administration is shared, and culturally, it's quite unique compared
to other kingdoms."
ng Bai leaned forward slightly, looking down at the sprawling lands below.
"I see..."
Then, after a mont, he turned back.
"Are you from here?"
Xueyan shook his head.
"No, I'm not from Tival."
ng Bai hesitated, then asked another question.
"...Are you a Frost Foxkin?"
Lin Mu's attention shifted slightly at that.
He had wondered the sa thing earlier.
Xueyan's aura did carry traces of frost, but it wasn't dominant. There was
sothing else mixed within it... sothing subtler, harder to define.
Xueyan smiled.
"I'm actually mixed-blood."
"Mixed?" ng Bai asked.
"Yes," Xueyan nodded. "Half Frost Foxkin... and half Moon Glare Foxkin."
Lin Mu's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Moon Glare Foxkin?" he asked.
That was new. Xueyan's tail swayed happily.
"Yes! They're quite rare."
He straightened slightly, clearly pleased to explain.
"The Moon Glare Foxkin aren't native to the Fox Scion World. My father ca
from another world and settled here."
"And your mother?" ng Bai asked.
"She's from the Eastern Prism Sky Continent," Xueyan replied. "A pure-blood
Frost Foxkin."
ng Bai nodded, absorbing the information.
"Then... how did you beco a disciple of the Temple Head?"
Xueyan scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"...That's a bit embarrassing."
Everyone looked at him.
He coughed lightly.
"Well... growing up, I thought I was talentless."
ng Bai blinked.
"...Talentless?" ng Bai almost couldn't believe his ears.
To think that such a person would be assud to be talentless was highly unsual.
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