177: If he doesn't come, I'll tie him up

"You, you, you, you—" Mo Yingying stammered, her heart pounding wildly, unable to speak from excitement.

"Are, are you Mo Fan's daughter?" Xu Jing was equally astonished, staring blankly at Mo Yingying.

When she was in the Menial Service Yard, she had caught a glimpse of Mo Yingying once.

At that time, she happened to see Mo Yingying not far away.

And Mo Yingying had not noticed her.

Later, she asked Mo Fan.

Mo Fan told her that it was his daughter.

Although this sounded absurd.

Xu Jing did not think Mo Fan was joking.

Because Mo Fan had never joked with her.

As for why eighteen-year-old Mo Fan would have such a grown daughter?

Xu Jing couldn't figure it out, so she didn't think about it.

Perhaps she had Transmigrated from the future?

"Daughter? What daughter?" Chu Qian, standing to the side, was dumbfounded.

Her Junior Brother's relative was actually his daughter?

What the hell was this?

Wasn't her Junior Brother only eighteen or nineteen years old?

But soon, Chu Qian understood.

Junior Sister Xu Jing saw that the young lady looked like Mo Fan, so she subconsciously guessed she was Mo Fan's daughter and blurted it out.

But then again, in this situation, shouldn't guessing they were siblings fit a normal person's thinking better?

Just as Chu Qian was completely confused, Xu Jing immediately reacted and hurriedly said:

"No, I... I said it wrong." She looked at Mo Yingying again and said, "Are, are you Mo Fan's relative?"

For some reason, she felt an inexplicable sense of intimacy toward the girl in front of her.

"I, I, I—" Mo Yingying continued to stare fixedly at Xu Jing, her head buzzing. She opened her mouth, but couldn't say a single word.

The outfit similar to the one in the photo...

A figure that was almost identical...

Even the facial contours matched the photo!

And that inexplicably familiar sense of connection!

Was the person in front of her... Mom?!

But if the person in front of her was Mom—

Then who was the person she saw near Myriad Realms Mountain last time?

Mo Yingying was completely confused.

Finally, she took a deep breath, forced herself to calm down, bit her lip, looked at Xu Jing, and asked cautiously:

"Um, do you have a twin sister? And is she a very powerful Sword Cultivator?"

Hearing this, Xu Jing shook her head blankly: "No, I don't have a sister."

"Then does your mother look similar to you? Even the style of clothing is the same?" Mo Yingying asked again.

"I, I don't know..." Xu Jing shook her head.

"You don't know?" Mo Yingying was dumbfounded.

"My mother passed away when I was very young," Xu Jing explained.

"I'm sorry..." Mo Yingying apologized quickly, while becoming more and more confused.

Who exactly was Mom?

Was there any connection between the person in front of her and the one she saw near Myriad Realms Mountain?

After her thinking stalled for a long while, Mo Yingying rubbed her face hard.

Forget it!

Things will work out in the end!

Once she and her dad both reached the Supreme level and entered that space to take a look, everything would have an answer!

Taking a deep breath, Mo Yingying looked at Xu Jing and asked cautiously: "Um, how should I address you..."

"Just call me Xu Jing," Xu Jing said.

"Okay, then I'll call you Old Xu from now on," Mo Yingying nodded immediately.

"Ah?" Xu Jing was a bit confused.

This address... was so strange.

"Old Xu, tell me about your childhood, okay?" Mo Yingying held Xu Jing's hand, her face full of expectation.

"Okay," Xu Jing nodded, "Shall, shall we go to the backyard?"

"Sure, let's go to the backyard!" Mo Yingying nodded.

Thus, the two held hands and walked toward the backyard, leaving Chu Qian alone, confused in the wind.

"Why is Junior Sister Jingjing so easy to talk to?

"With Junior Sister Jingjing's personality, could she be this familiar upon first meeting?"

Chu Qian found it incredible.

Back then, she had spent half a month with Xu Jing before they could barely exchange a few words.

Now, they were holding hands and chatting about family matters just after meeting?

...

Yuxu Academy Secret Realm space.

Mo Fan and Liu Xiyan headed toward the main city.

Along the way, the two encountered many spirit bodies, all of which were very powerful, with over ninety percent possessing Peak of Heavenly Mandate combat power.

"If we had faced such an array last time we came to the Secret Realm, we probably would have been wiped out—" Mo Fan sighed.

It was too terrifying.

High-Tier Spirit Bodies were everywhere!

Fortunately, Liu Xiyan was ridiculously strong; with a flash of sword light, the spirit bodies would crumble and fall apart, and there were never any accidents.

"Sword Cultivators are too strong—" Mo Fan lamented.

Currently, Liu Xiyan's cultivation was only equivalent to the first level of Heavenly Mandate, yet it seemed she could kill even a Peak of Heavenly Mandate with one sword strike.

And watching her strike sword after sword, it seemed she didn't expend any energy and never felt tired!

Did such combat power mean that no matter how many Heavenly Mandate creatures she faced, Liu Xiyan could quickly resolve them like chopping melons and vegetables?

Seemingly guessing what Mo Fan was thinking, Liu Xiyan shook her head and explained:

"I am currently cultivating sword in three hundred and sixty-two small spaces simultaneously, so my Sword Qi is not easily exhausted.

"Plus, I had already cultivated the Sword Nurturing Art to Perfection, and my Mental Energy has already undergone a transformation.

"The consumption generated by this level of attack can naturally be ignored—"

"So that's how it is!" Mo Fan suddenly understood.

...

The two moved very quickly, and before long, they arrived at the unavoidable path: that strange stone forest.

The stone forest was piled with High-Tier Spirit Bodies. Sometimes, when Liu Xiyan couldn't kill them all alone, Mo Fan could pick off one or two to practice.

Besides that, Mo Fan specifically went to check the nest of that "Tyrannosaurus" beast-type spirit body.

What puzzled him was that not only was the beast-type spirit body nowhere to be seen, but even its nest, and even the stretch of stone forest in front of the nest, had vanished without a trace.

It made sense that the beast-type spirit body had been exhausted by the Field and disappeared.

But it was a bit strange that the nest and the stone forest had disappeared along with it.

Thinking of this, Mo Fan connected his consciousness to the system space and sensed a dark token inside.

The po jun token.

He suddenly felt that it was a bit of a coincidence that this token had appeared in the nest of that beast-type spirit body.

"What's wrong?" Seeing Mo Fan lost in thought while looking at the empty ground not far away, Liu Xiyan asked with confusion.

"It's nothing, let's keep moving forward. The main city isn't far ahead," Mo Fan shook his head and said.

"Mm," Liu Xiyan nodded, not asking further, and continued to focus on the journey.

Because neither of them was slow.

Plus, they were crushing everything along the way.

Even though some areas had inexplicable resistance that greatly slowed their speed.

They still only took three hours to arrive at the base of the city wall.

"City wall Magic Array—" Looking at the city wall emitting a faint red light, Liu Xiyan focused slightly.

She could sense the danger of the city wall Magic Array.

She feared that even for a Returning to Origin expert, forcefully breaking in would only lead to death.

"This is only the Outer City—" Liu Xiyan lamented.

"Watch me," Mo Fan stepped forward and began to crack the Magic Array on the city wall without saying a word.

Along the way, Liu Xiyan had been crushing enemies.

This made Mo Fan completely become a bystander.

Now, finally, he could be of use.

"Be careful," seeing Mo Fan step up to crack the Magic Array, Liu Xiyan hurriedly reminded him.

"It's fine, it's a piece of cake. Give me ten minutes!" Mo Fan turned back and smiled confidently.

Compared to last time, his attainments in Magic Arrays had improved by more than just a little.

If the current city wall Magic Array was an elementary school math problem.

Then Mo Fan at that time was an elementary school student.

Although the problem was simple, for an elementary school student, even if they knew how to solve it, it would take some time to finish.

But now, the problem was still an elementary school problem.

But Mo Fan's attainments in Magic Arrays had upgraded to middle school, or even high school.

Solving elementary school problems at this level was naturally incomparably easy, and he could even see the answer at a glance.

Sure enough, in less than ten minutes, Mo Fan had cracked the Magic Array on the city wall.

The heavy gate creaked open, revealing a crack.

"So fast—" Liu Xiyan was full of shock, somewhat frightened by Mo Fan's speed.

She could tell that Mo Fan's attainments in Magic Arrays had improved significantly since he cracked the blood-colored array.

This kind of thing was too absurd.

While maintaining his martial arts cultivation.

His Magic Array Domain could also improve so quickly?

Not only that.

Liu Xiyan even felt that Mo Fan's sword Dao cultivation was also rapidly improving.

Did this guy have three heads and six arms?

It was too absurd!

Liu Xiyan let out a heavy breath, frightened by Mo Fan's terrifying talent.

"Let's go, Elder, we can enter the city," Mo Fan turned around and said to Liu Xiyan.

Fortunately, although the recovery level of the Secret Realm had increased significantly.

The city wall Magic Array was still the original city wall Magic Array, and the recovery level was still limited.

If the city wall Magic Array had also strengthened, Mo Fan would have been slapped in the face.

"Okay," Liu Xiyan replied and walked toward the city gate.

...

Upon entering the city, Mo Fan sensed rich Origin Qi fluctuations.

Of course, this so-called richness was relative.

There was no Origin Qi outside the Secret Realm.

The Origin Qi outside the city was so thin it was like nothing.

Inside the city, it was slightly more normal, so to Mo Fan's senses, it felt incomparably rich.

"It's a pity, Heavenly Mandate is a process of comprehending the Dao; relying solely on absorbing energy can no longer improve cultivation."

Shaking his head in regret, Mo Fan greeted Liu Xiyan and began searching in the buildings near the street.

Like last time, except for a few specific places, the Outer City was not dangerous.

Unfortunately, this time Mo Fan didn't even find a single Origin Stone.

"There are no more Origin Stones."

Mo Fan frowned.

"Every time the Secret Realm was restarted in the past, new resources would appear, allowing every batch of trial-takers to obtain certain benefits, which is the so-called Opportunity.

"This time is different.

"But it makes more sense."

Mo Fan furrowed his brows and began to ponder intently.

"Who was replenishing resources regularly in the past?"

Seemingly thinking of something, Mo Fan looked up toward the direction of the Inner City Military Camp.

"Why is it like this?"

However, soon, Mo Fan thought of another possibility.

He thought about when his daughter entered the Secret Realm and took away the indestructible substance inside.

"Could it be related to this too?"

Pondering for a moment, Mo Fan finally shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

A moment later, Mo Fan found Liu Xiyan, who was also exploring the buildings.

"Did you find anything, Elder?" Mo Fan asked.

"It's a bit different from the description in the records; this place looks like it has been completely ransacked," Liu Xiyan said.

"Mm, it's different from before; perhaps it will be in this state from now on," Mo Fan said.

Liu Xiyan nodded and didn't say much.

"Let's go, let's go to the Inner City. Hidden Sword Manor is in the Inner City; I'll take you there in a moment," Mo Fan composed himself, recognized the direction slightly, and headed that way.

"Okay," Liu Xiyan stepped forward to follow Mo Fan.

Neither of them had any interest in exploring the few special areas of the Outer City.

For example, the bathhouse in the west of the city.

Oh no, it was the Water-Bathing Immortal Pool.

...

The two traveled at high speed all the way.

Before long, they saw the Inner City wall.

The Inner City had four city gates: East, West, South, and North.

This time, Mo Fan again chose the East Gate, which was the easiest to crack.

Mo Fan remembered that last time, it took a full half-month to break the East Gate Magic Array.

And after the city gate Magic Array was cracked, the core Array Patterns of the city wall would quickly react, automatically repairing the loopholes and reactivating the city gate Magic Array.

The operating logic of the repaired city gate Magic Array would naturally be different, requiring it to be cracked again, and the difficulty would be even greater.

Last time, it took Mo Fan half a month to break the city gate Magic Array.

Even though his attainments had improved significantly now, it would still take four or five days to break the Inner City Magic Array again.

For him and Liu Xiyan, who now had a clear goal, four or five days was undoubtedly a bit long.

But there was no other way for now; they could only honestly crack the array.

Mo Fan could use the po jun token to enter the Inner City directly.

However, in that case, Liu Xiyan, who didn't have a po jun token, would only be blocked outside.

Perhaps she could use Sword Qi to slowly wear down the Magic Array, but that would probably take half a year to forcefully open the city gate.

...

Four days passed in a flash.

With a click, the rune markings on the city gate dimmed, and then with a creaking sound, the heavy city gate slowly opened.

"Let's go, Elder, the city gate has opened—" Mo Fan called over Liu Xiyan, who was meditating and cultivating.

"The Inner City is much more magnificent than the Outer City," feeling the heavy aura rushing toward her, Liu Xiyan couldn't help but sigh.

Compared to the Outer City, the Inner City's buildings were more magnificent, various facilities were more perfect, and the buildings on both sides of the street were well-spaced and not crowded.

"Mo Fan—" Liu Xiyan suddenly said.

"What's wrong?" Mo Fan asked with confusion.

"Let's part ways here," Liu Xiyan said.

"Uh, we're not going to Hidden Sword Manor?" Mo Fan was dumbfounded.

"I'll go there myself. The time for the Secret Realm to be open is limited; you don't need to worry about me, go do your own things," Liu Xiyan said.

Along the way, although Mo Fan didn't make many moves.

But Liu Xiyan could tell.

This guy's combat power was ridiculously strong.

It was probably already not weaker than hers.

In that case, Mo Fan naturally didn't need her protection.

Since that was the case, it was better to act separately.

Looking at Liu Xiyan, Mo Fan finally nodded: "That's fine, Elder's combat power is peerless, so there won't be any problems."

After pondering for a moment, Mo Fan added: "There will be guards patrolling the Inner City. Although Elder doesn't fear them, you should try to avoid conflict to avoid bringing unnecessary trouble. You should do this—"

Mo Fan quickly introduced the patrol guards to Liu Xiyan and told her how to effectively avoid them.

"And then there is Hidden Sword Manor. Although there are no guards guarding it, there are many Magic Arrays and Fields hidden there. You need to pay attention. After entering the gate, walk two hundred steps to the north—"

Then, Mo Fan quickly told Liu Xiyan about the precautions for Hidden Sword Manor.

Mo Fan didn't stop until he had explained for a full hour.

"Alright, that's all I have to say. With Elder's strength, there shouldn't be any problems."

Mo Fan smiled. Seemingly thinking of something suddenly, he added:

"By the way, if you meet an old man with white hair and beard, say hello to him for me."

"Okay, I will. Thank you, Mo Fan," Liu Xiyan said solemnly.

"Why be so polite? I'm leaving. I'll go find you when I'm done," Mo Fan waved his hand and turned to head toward the east.

That was where the Flower Queen Palace forces were located.

Mo Fan guessed that the location of the Chixia Peak Legacy was the Flower Queen Palace.

Of course, this was just his guess; he would need to go over and see to know for sure.

"Stay safe," Liu Xiyan watched Mo Fan's back and reminded him.

"I know," Mo Fan waved his hand without looking back, and his figure slowly disappeared at the end of the alley.

...

At the same time.

Center of the main city.

Garrison Military Camp.

The figure wearing crimson battle armor was still sitting on the dilapidated wall, looking up at the twisted, deformed, and somewhat gray sky.

"Meow~"

The black cat on his shoulder curled into a ball and let out a lazy meow.

The Crimson Armor turned his head, looked at the black cat, and slowly opened his mouth: "He has come in."

The black cat stretched out its pink fleshy paw, rubbed its face, and spoke in human language: "I said he would come again."

"If he still doesn't come to the Military Camp this time..." The Crimson Armor said with worry.

"He will come," the black cat said confidently.

"What if he doesn't?" The Crimson Armor was still worried.

"He will come. If he doesn't come, I'll tie him up and bring him over," the black cat said.

"That would be great," the Crimson Armor nodded, finally relaxing.

"Might you have recognized the wrong person?" The black cat suddenly said.

"The po jun token won't recognize the wrong person," the Crimson Armor shook his head.