Qi Yuan first thanked Yan Chihuo for saving his life, then sighed and said, "It's a long story. Qilin Manor was originally split off from Spirit Island. Back then, our ancestor rendered great service and was permitted to leave Spirit Island, taking two qilins with him. But an agreement was made at the time: if, one day, no one in Qilin Manor possessed a qilin spirit pet, we would have to return to Spirit Island."
Yan Chihuo had already learned of this during his time at Qilin Manor. Naturally, Qi Yuan did not know that Yan Chihuo possessed the Spiritual Ear, so he briefly recounted everything from the beginning.
Yan Chihuo said nothing, merely listening in silence. Qi Yuan continued, "Our ancestor had also feared that Spirit Island might have tampered with the qilin spirit pets, so he took every precaution. Yet until his death, no problems arose. More than two thousand years later, Qilin Manor finally discovered that there were still qilins within Qilin Cave, but no matter what we did, we could not capture them. And qilins only mate and breed within Qilin Cave. Thus, by my generation, we faced the danger of having no qilin spirit pets."
"Fortunately, Fellow Daoist came to our manor at that time and helped me find the qilins, thereby preventing Qilin Manor from being swallowed up by Spirit Island. But some days ago, Spirit Island sent people here again..."
Snow Fairy asked, "You have already severed ties with Spirit Island. Why would Spirit Island still come knocking?"
Qi Yuan gave a bitter smile. "Although Qilin Manor separated from Spirit Island, we remained its subordinate faction in name. Spirit Island has many enemies, and my ancestor feared that Qilin Manor would not be able to stand on its own, so he had always