Watching Feng Yuan’s retreating figure, Mo Li suppressed the urge to explain and said,
"Regarding his matter, let’s wait until we return to Yongning to discuss it."
"What? Did I just hear you talking about me?"
Feng Yuan, holding up his right hand with a hint of curiosity, looked towards Mo Li. Noticing the black sphere floating above Feng Yuan’s hand, which contained a streak of purple constantly moving, both Mo Li and Hua Yiyou were somewhat surprised. Realizing everyone’s gaze, Feng Yuan said helplessly,
"This thing is much tougher than the previous ones. I’ll seal it up and take it back for a slow processing, otherwise who knows how long it would take."
Pointing at the sky, it was then that everyone noticed the daylight fading. Guo Huai exclaimed in surprise,
"Is it evening already?!"
"Didn’t you see those dark clouds? It’s going to rain heavily..."
said Feng Yuan somewhat speechlessly. Guo Huai walked out from under a tree and peered through a gap in the leaves up at the sky, indeed seeing thick dark clouds obscuring the sun. Scratching his head, Guo Huai said embarrassedly,
"I didn’t notice..."
"Xiao Ji, let’s go."
Upon hearing Feng Yuan’s call, Xiao Ji cheerfully squawked, readying himself. As Hua Yiyou climbed onto Xiao Ji’s back, he gently patted Xiao Ji and whispered,
"Excuse me."
Mo Li glanced at Hua Yiyou but said nothing more. Nearby, Zi Mo, somewhat scared, huddled close to Mo Li’s side. After all, the horrifying aerial rolls they had encountered before had terrified the non-flying creature. Holding Zi Mo, Mo Li whispered comforting words.
When Xiao Ji landed outside the city gates, the soldiers who had been waiting for a long time hurried forward to greet them. Noticing that Hu Weng and Mo Ling were absent, Mo Li asked the Messenger Officer beside her with some confusion,
"Where are Xiao Ling and Old Hu?"
The Messenger Officer straightened up and saluted Mo Li respectfully, replying,
"They said that with you in his company, there would be no danger, so there was no need to come meet you specifically."
Mo Li’s mouth twitched slightly; at that moment, Feng Yuan, holding the black sphere, approached and said,
"I still have to deal with this thing, so I won’t be going back with you."
Seeing Feng Yuan turn to leave, Guo Huai hesitated, then spoke to Mo Li and chased after Feng Yuan. Hua Yiyou, watching the two depart, remarked softly,
"Their relationship seems quite unusual..."
"How so?"
With a slight smile, Hua Yiyou whispered,
"He seems to not care about your opinion, yet his strength isn’t that formidable..."
"You’re setting your sights a bit high. His strength would rank among the top even in my personal guard."
"Oh?"
Hua Yiyou looked at the guards near Mo Li with skepticism. The recent battle had allowed Mo Li a glimpse into Hua Yiyou’s capabilities, just as it had allowed him to gauge the strength of Mo Li’s guards. Noticing Hua Yiyou’s gaze, Mo Li smiled and said,
"They are very strong, but they are here to protect me only because of certain reasons."
"I see..."
Hua Yiyou felt somewhat disheartened. Mo Li smiled and continued,
"If someone could see everything clearly without any mistakes, that would be problematic. Come, follow me. I will introduce you to the current situation in Yongning. I hope you won’t hold back."
Saying this, Mo Li stared at Hua Yiyou and added,
"I certainly hope the person he thinks so highly of isn’t just an ordinary person."
With a slight smile, Hua Yiyou did not explain but slowly followed behind Mo Li, listening to her introduction while sizing up Yongning City. Since the beast tide incident, he had not come to Yongning to avoid drawing the attention of any villains. Now, seeing Yongning rebuilt, he couldn’t help but scrutinize it.
"It seems some of the original flaws have been fixed, but some things..."
Mo Li smiled slightly and said,
"Don’t spell it out; there might be spies nearby as well."
Smiling, Hua Yiyou whispered,
"If there were spies, how could they not discover these secrets?"
"That’s not necessarily true."
Mo Li said with a mysterious smile.
"What a pain... I really wonder how Lorraine Tower dealt with this stuff back then."
Looking at the black sphere burning with black flame in his hand, Feng Yuan, supporting his head with one hand on the table, said helplessly while Guo Huai asked, puzzled,
"Can’t you just let Lorraine Tower handle it?"
"I’m afraid their solution might have problems; after all, a lot of things were pretty strange during the middle period of the Dynasty Era. It’s hard to say if it was because they didn’t handle things properly that caused the trouble."
"Besides, seeking them out is such a hassle..."
Agunas’s shadow disdainfully glanced at Feng Yuan and flicked his tail. After a while, the Shop Assistant brought over a plate of peanuts. Seeing Feng Yuan casually leaving the black sphere on the table, Guo Huai asked, somewhat worried,
"Is it okay to just leave it there like that?"
"What could go wrong? I’d like to see who would dare to touch the Obliteration Flame, thinking they’re some invincible creature or what."
Hearing Feng Yuan’s words, Guo Huai, who was about to curiously poke the black sphere, retracted his hand abruptly and tumbled to the ground. Yao Yin walked in from outside with an umbrella, seeing Guo Huai on the ground she stared speechlessly at Feng Yuan and said,
"Why did you hit him?"
"Hit him?"
Feng Yuan, who was peeling peanuts, looked up innocently at Yao Yin. Sitting up from the ground, Guo Huai scratched his head and said with a beaming smile,
"I fell by myself; it has nothing to do with him."
Yao Yin handed the oil-paper umbrella painted with several blue butterflies fluttering freely to the Shop Assistant, then glanced at Guo Huai and remarked,
"Clumsy as ever."
"What were you doing taking Mo Li out earlier?"
Sitting opposite Feng Yuan, Yao Yin scrutinized him as she asked. Before Feng Yuan could reply, noticing the black sphere with the black flames floating on the table, Yao Yin’s expression changed and she said in a low voice,
"The Flame of Destruction? Did you do this?"
"To me, it’s called the Obliteration Flame, since some trash can’t be completely burnt by ordinary flames."
Feng Yuan said while munching on peanuts. Yao Yin observed the black sphere for a moment, noticing the faint purple figure within it, she lowered her voice and interrogated,
"Did you take Mo Li out this morning to deal with this kind of thing?! Do you realize what would have happened if something had happened to him...?"
"You really have a wild imagination. Would I take him out monster hunting? Do you think I need that kind of trouble?"
Cutting off Yao Yin’s words, Feng Yuan replied irritably. Seeing that Yao Yin seemed ready to guess further, Feng Yuan directly said,
"I took him out to meet someone; after all, that person’s target was him. It showed sincerity to bring him along."
"Is that really so?"
Yao Yin eyed Feng Yuan skeptically. He’d often do unreliable things, so it was hard for her to be sure of his true intentions.
"Two plates of peanuts?"
Yao Yin, seeing the Shop Assistant bring another plate of peanuts, asked Feng Yuan in surprise. She took a peanut from the newly served plate, peeled it, and Feng Yuan directly fed it to Xiao Ji, saying,
"Try this."
After eating the peanut, Xiao Ji looked up expectantly at Feng Yuan. Patting Xiao Ji’s head, Feng Yuan said with a hint of amusement,
"Can’t you eat on your own?"
Xiao Ji nuzzled Feng Yuan’s arm with his head and whined playfully. Glancing at the black sphere burning with black flames and noticing that the purple figure had hardly dissipated at all, Feng Yuan sighed and said,
"It’s so stubborn, it might as well be maxing out its resistance."
"Should we intervene?"
Agunas’s shadow asked somewhat worriedly. After thinking, Feng Yuan said,
"Go ask Lorraine Tower about what happened back then. You can leave Odinis now, right?"
"I won’t have much problem for a short while, I’ll go ask."
Agunas’s shadow replied and fell silent. The reason why it didn’t suggest Feng Yuan go and ask was that such things might not be recorded; apart from those directly involved, no one else could clarify the situation. After all, Feng Yuan saying this meant that he didn’t have any relevant information in his records.
"Seems to be quite a hassle; do you want me to think of a solution?"
Yao Yin, glancing at the black sphere, said. Feng Yuan waved his hand and replied,
"Forget it, your methods might not be a match for the Obliteration Flame."
"That’s true..."

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