Upgrading the Armor

By the time Zuo Yi returned home, it was already evening.

All the lights in the living room were on, their warm orange glow spilling through the glass windows into the courtyard, casting shifting patterns of light and shadow. The air was filled with the scent of delicious food.

"I'm back."

He walked into the room and smiled at the two little girls playing together. "Are you playing with paper cranes again?"

Twenty or thirty paper cranes flapped their wings as they danced through the living room. They swooped up and down around the chandelier as though guided by invisible threads, performing all sorts of nimble movements.

Such scenes were common at Linjiang Old Residence. Xia Yunqi was training her mental control, using techniques Zuo Yi had taught her.

Xia Yunqi possessed outstanding Puppetmaster talent. Though she was only five or six years old, her mental power already rivaled that of an adult, allowing her to easily control several paper cranes she had folded herself.

Bao'er also deserved credit for this. Without the natural spirit she had bestowed upon the paper cranes, they could not have moved with such agility and speed.

Interestingly, a tiny white unicorn Griffin was among the paper cranes. It beat its little wings with all its might, chasing after the fluttering cranes and having the time of its life.

When this Griffin, whom Bao'er had named Xiao Ying, was first born, it had been tiny. Now, its body had grown at least twice as large. Under the attentive care and feeding of the two little girls, its increasingly powerful wings could already provide the speed and strength needed for flight.

"Daddy!"

Bao'er spread her arms and threw herself into Zuo Yi's embrace. "Hug."

Zuo Yi reached out and picked her up.

Bao'er: "Mwah!"

Xia Yunqi