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Seeing Xing Yan's miserable state, Yu Tianlong's eye twitched. He couldn't help but feel that Liuying seemed to have a personal grudge against Xing Yan—those punches were aimed right at his face. Just a glance at Xing Yan's swollen, pig-like face made even a tough guy like Yu Tianlong shiver.
If he got beaten like that in front of the Tianlong Sect disciples, he felt his position as Young Sect Leader would be up for grabs. It was just too humiliating.
"Hmph! Yu Tianlong, now you know how powerful our Dilong Sect really is,"
Nan Qiuqiu said proudly, hands on her hips, her little head held high in a taunting way.
Liuxing remained silent, speechless. Wait, Miss, Liuying and I are leaving soon. Aren't you afraid that by provoking like this, the next match will end with you guys getting seriously beaten?
Liuxing could already imagine how badly Nan Qiuqiu and her crew would get wrecked next time. He couldn't help but silently mourn for this little witch for three seconds.
Yu Tianlong was silent for a few seconds, then stepped forward, hoisting Xing Yan up and turning to leave. His few loyal disciples quickly followed. Usually, they were the ones bullying the Dilong Sect disciples, but this was the first time the tables had turned—they didn't even dare throw harsh words back.
They had no idea Liuying was leaving today, otherwise they might've at least thrown some verbal jabs back, like Nan Qiuqiu and Xu Shenshu did before.
Nan Qiuqiu strutted around like she'd just won a battle, as proud as a little peacock, happily chattering while pulling Liuying along—she was clearly thrilled.
Meanwhile, Xu Shenshu, Feng Jue, and the others wore bitter faces. They already had a bad feeling about how badly they'd get beaten next time. Liuxing patted a few of them on the shoulder, sighing, "You guys... sigh."
With a sigh, Liuxing followed the others and left the training ground. The Dilong Sect disciples looked even more miserable—like they wanted to cry but had no tears left. Following such an unreliable big sister was definitely tough on them.
Even though they'd probably get their butts kicked hard next time, this time gave them a rare sense of pride and relief. Ever since they awakened their Spirit Beasts, they'd been crushed under Yu Tianlong and the Tianlong Sect's pressure for a whole year, never able to hold their heads up high. And that kind of oppression would likely last many more years, maybe even a lifetime.
But now, Liuying had stepped up and helped them give Yu Tianlong and Xing Yan a good lesson, which made them breathe a sigh of relief. Yu Tianlong and Xing Yan weren't invincible after all—they'd been brutally beaten by their second big sister.
Thousands of meters high in the air, Luan Yu spread out a pair of mechanical wings behind her back. The wings looked like a phoenix, glowing icy blue. At the tail of the wings were several jet nozzles, ejecting invisible airflows to power the wings, letting Luan Yu fly swiftly through the sky at a kilometer's height.
Beneath the giant wings, two floating blue light spheres held Liuxing and Liuying.
After helping Nan Qiuqiu save face, the three said goodbye to Nan Qiuqiu and Nan Shuishui. With tear-filled eyes, Nan Qiuqiu watched them leave Long City. Then Luan Yu unfolded her level-nine flying Spirit Device, the Ice Phoenix Wings, carrying Liuxing and Liuying into the high sky.
Right now, Luan Yu was flying them at near-supersonic speed on the Ice Phoenix Wings. If she wasn't worried about Liuxing and Liuying, the speed could have been even faster.
Originally, Luan Yu thought the two kids would be excited to fly with her, but they didn't seem to react at all, which left her feeling zero accomplishment.
This isn't right! she thought. When my sister took me flying the first time, I was so excited for ages! Why don't these two kids act like normal kids?
Luan Yu was quietly frustrated inside, but since the two really showed no reaction, she just sulkily kept flying at high speed.
What Luan Yu didn't know was that these two little guys were no strangers to extraordinary travel—Liuxing had ridden Starlight through the universe, and Liuying had transformed and piloted Sam out of the atmosphere into space. Flying supersonic at a kilometer high? That was nothing to them.
"Auntie, where exactly are we headed?" Liuxing asked, bored, watching clouds whiz past.
Liuying also looked at Luan Yu. Though they didn't really care where they were going—any place would be new and unfamiliar—they were just bored out of their minds and wanted to chat.
Luan Yu smiled faintly, thinking: Finally, you two little guys can't hold back your curiosity anymore. Honestly, you're no fun. You don't have a shred of childlike curiosity, no wonder I feel no pride.
"We're going to Mingdu, the capital of the Sun and Moon Empire. Our home is there. You'll be living there for many years to come."
"Mingdu? That's the capital of the Sun and Moon Empire, right? The most prosperous and advanced city on Douluo Continent, and the only city without walls," Liuxing said.
Although in Liuxing's memories from the first series there wasn't any mention of the Sun and Moon Empire, he'd learned a lot about it from the Dilong Sect's library. The Sun and Moon Empire was a powerful native force on the Sun and Moon Continent, which collided with the Douluo Continent thousands of years ago and unified that land.
Thousands of years ago, when the two continents collided, their major forces inevitably clashed. Ambitious leaders pushed the world into war.
That war, known later as the Holy War, was between the Sun and Moon Empire and the three major empires on Douluo Continent. The Sun and Moon Empire fought all three at once and, thanks to their advanced Spirit Device technology, had the upper hand for a while.
In Liuxing's memories, the former protagonist's faction, the Tang Sect, declined during this war.
The Tang Sect's survival depended on hidden weapons, but against the advanced Spirit Devices of the Sun and Moon Empire, these weapons weren't useless, but definitely weak. Spirit Devices were like a dimensional downgrade attack against hidden weapons.
After that battle, the Tang Sect's hidden weapons fell from grace and lost their status as a top faction, slowly fading away and falling into dust from the upper echelons of Douluo Continent.
But what confused Liuxing was that the first series' protagonist, Tang San, had hidden weapons strong enough to slay gods, while the Sun and Moon Empire's Spirit Devices obviously didn't have god-slaying power. So how exactly did the Tang Sect, inheriting Tang San's weapons, fall?
No one had an answer. Although the Tang Sect declined, another faction closely related to them rose to glory during the Holy War, shaking the continent.
That faction was the continent's top academy today: Shrek Academy, which produced gods and heroes. Back then, the leader of Shrek Academy's Sea God Pavilion rallied over a hundred titled Douluo to jointly defeat the arrogant Sun and Moon Empire, forcing them to cede land and pay reparations, and humiliatingly rename their continent to Douluo Continent.
"....."