"Miss Xiaoyu."
Xu Taiping smiled at Duan Xiaoyu.
Though Duan Xiaoyu's face had lost the youthful innocence of seven years ago, her lovely almond-shaped eyes remained as clear and bright as ever.
"Eldest Brother Taiping, I..."
Thud!
To Xu Taiping's mingled amusement and exasperation, perhaps because she had been running too fast, Duan Xiaoyu failed to notice a raised floor tile and fell flat on her face, all five points touching the ground.
"What an endearing little girl."
Inside the gourd, Fairy Lingyue rocked back and forth with laughter.
"Yes, she's still the same Duan Xiaoyu. She hasn't changed."
Xu Taiping smiled too.
For some reason, after seeing Duan Xiaoyu, Xu Taiping's desire to return to Qingxuan as soon as possible grew stronger and stronger.
"What? You're not coming back to Qingxuan with me?!"
That night, at the banquet Vairocana Temple had prepared for Xu Taiping, he looked utterly astonished when Duan Xiaoyu said she could not return to True Martial Heaven with him the next day.
He had promised Duan Xiaoyu's mother that he would personally bring her back.
"N-no, that's not it, Eldest Brother Taiping. I want to go back too, but this opportunity is so rare..."
"Let me explain for the little girl."
Seeing Duan Xiaoyu stammer without managing to explain clearly, Abbot Huiming, who sat beside them, immediately took over with a chuckle and turned to explain to Xu Taiping:
"When Xiaoyu was in Tianyuan City, she happened to save Great General Jiang Cuicui, the Cloud Emergence Kingdom's Martial God."
"Later, after they became acquainted, Great General Jiang Cuicui found that she and Xiaoyu got along very well. She insisted on taking Xiaoyu as her disciple and having Xiaoyu inherit her mantle."
"Yes, yes, it's just as the abbot said." Duan Xiaoyu nodded repeatedly.
Xu