Zuo Xiaoduo froze at those words.
Looking closely, he saw that Zuo Changlu and Wu Yuting really did look much more haggard, and there were even scattered white hairs at their temples. For the couple, this was truly an earth-shattering change.
Zuo Xiaoduo's heart jolted. "Dad, Mom, what's going on with you? How did you get... like this?"
Zuo Changlu and Wu Yuting exchanged a glance. "You've grown up, so of course we've grown old. If we never aged, wouldn't that make us monsters?"
"But it shouldn't happen this fast!"
Zuo Xiaoduo asked anxiously, "What exactly is going on? Does it have something to do with your identities and backgrounds? You said yourselves that we've grown up. Surely you can tell us the whole story now?"
Wu Yuting smiled and stroked Zuo Xiaoduo's head. "Don't worry, nothing's wrong. Our current condition is a good thing for us. We're returning to a state where we can circulate our arts and cultivate. The faster we age, the better."
Wu Yuting's words were entirely true, but unfortunately, they sounded wrong no matter how one listened to them.
"There's actually such a bizarre cultivation art in this world?" Zuo Xiaoduo was skeptical.
"There are all sorts of strange cultivation arts in this world, in countless varieties. How many profound arts have you even seen?"
Zuo Changlu smiled. "In short, put your hearts back in your bellies. There's no need to worry about us."
Zuo Xiaonian pondered for a long, long time before saying, "Dad, Mom, are you undergoing... a Mortal World Trial?"
Zuo Changlu's gaze went still for a moment. "It seems Nian'er really does know quite a bit. You even know about the Mortal World Trial. Yes, it's more or less something like that."
Though she was still two levels off, Zuo Changlu