The Grotto-Dust Inn delve, adjacent to the Artisanship Commission.
A squad of Cloud Knights, urgently summoned via transfer orders to support this location, was currently engaging in slaughter against the Abundance Spirit Beasts rushing out from the Artisanship Commission delve.
The Cloud Knights held the advantage in both numbers and weaponry. Mara-struck and Abundance Spirit Beasts were beaten to the ground, and as their vitality gradually dissipated, the soldiers breathed a sigh of relief.
"So... solved."
The young girl dressed in apricot-yellow clothes sheathed the heavy sword in her hand, wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead, and panted while roasting the situation.
"Why are there suddenly so many of these strange wild beasts? And it's endless, too. Is this also caused by the Ambrosial Arbor's resurgence?"
Sushang scratched her head, looking up at the Ambrosial Arbor, which swayed with golden light and whose branches extended infinitely toward the horizon, its end invisible.
A sense of insignificance, typical of humans facing a colossal object, was born in the girl's heart. An indescribable emotion filled her chest. Sushang couldn't wait to express it, but she didn't know how to phrase it, holding it in until her small face turned red.
"Ah! This tree is so big!"
The words, recited in the tone of reciting poetry, almost made the female Cloud Knight beside Sushang spit.
"Sister, looking at you, it's like you didn't know about the Ambrosial Arbor or something?"
"Ah, about that. I was transferred here from the Yaoqing Xianzhou, so I haven't been on the Luofu for long."
Sushang responded carelessly. Although she didn't know the sister who spoke to her, since they were gathered together in a formation, they were comrades-in-arms.
"Our Yaoqing's Traces of the Plagues Author is a round moon. Tsk tsk, I feel it looks better than the Luofu's."
Her tone referenced Lu Bu: Big Brother, your armor doesn't look as good as mine~!
"Uh..."
Looking at the girl who started critiquing the Traces of the Plagues Author, the female Cloud Knight was somewhat speechless.
Is there anything to be proud of in that?
There's absolutely no meaning in comparing that, right?
Why does this girl look like her brain is missing a screw?
The female Cloud Knight looked at the brown-haired twintails, who was staring blankly at her own heavy sword again, and sighed.
The future of the Cloud Knights is worrying!
Sushang wasn't staring blankly; she was thinking about something.
Thinking about something very seriously!
"I feel like there are a lot of strange things happening lately."
Sushang's small face was confused as she tried hard to use her brain to think.
Starting from the rescue of the trapped civilians at Cloudford, strange things had been happening around her.
First, she was inexplicably praised by her comrades. Even those fair-weather friends no longer called her 'Li Big Pillow' and their attitudes became inexplicably respectful.
Sushang thought she had received the script of a protagonist from a scenic fiction or novel, and that her family heirloom was actually an incomparably powerful demonic sword, the kind that could teach her Heaven-tier battle skills via possession.
She secretly ran to a hidden place to try calling out to the demonic sword spirit, but she didn't get a response even after shouting herself hoarse. Not only that, but she also met a mysterious white-haired woman in a mask who called her 'Sister Sushang'.
She was almost sent to a freezing hell with one sword strike!
With her slow-by-half-a-beat brain circuit, by the time Sushang's brain thawed from the ice pillar and she reacted, she was almost done for in the underground daylight array.
After that, she wanted to find her bestie for comfort, but the Ambrosial Arbor suddenly resurfaced, and riots occurred everywhere on the Luofu.
The main Cloud Knight troops were suppressing the Ambrosial Arbor's roots within the various delves of the Xianzhou. The Cloud Knights guarding each delve were urgently mobilized to make up for the manpower shortage.
They went wherever there was trouble.
"Forget it, I won't think about it. I just need to execute the mission!"
After thinking for a long time, apart from her head becoming more chaotic, there was no result. Sushang shook her head, attempting to mix the water and flour in her head more evenly.
Cute and lovely, but no brain~!
"Li Sushang, there's a new mission. We should go," the Cloud Knight squad leader called out loudly.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!"
Sushang snatched up the Xuanyuan Heavy Sword, ran over boisterously, and caught up with the team.
"Where are we going next? What is the mission? Is it still handling the Mara-struck and wild beasts?"
"Grotto-Dust Inn delve, not far from the Artisanship Commission. This time it's not a combat mission. The officer asked us to take over custody of some criminals."
The Cloud Knight squad leader spoke, leading the brothers to board a Starskiff, driving it at full speed toward the mission location.
Inside the Starskiff, the squad leader explained the mission details in depth. The many soldiers waited quietly. After he finished speaking, a Cloud Knight shared:
"It is said to be a Great Expert. Without shedding a drop of blood, easily and effortlessly, they captured over thirty core members who were secretly transferred by the Head of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus all at once..."
"So, so amazing!"
Listening to the comrade's vivid description, Sushang's eyes shone with light, mixed with a few strands of unstoppable longing.
Over thirty!
Core members transferred by the Head at a critical juncture!
How great of a merit must this be!
"Sigh, when will I be able to establish such great merit?"
Every time her mother asked about career issues, Sushang felt a wave of urgency. She desperately wanted to make contributions and establish a career to prove herself to her mother.
"A Great Expert."
Images from comic books where only the flash of sabers and shadows of swords were seen but not the person, and cool combat scenes from scenic fictions where sword qi filled the sky and ten thousand swords returned to one, floated in her mind.
"When can I become a Great Expert?"
Without shedding blood, easily and effortlessly. Listen to that!
Listen! How stylish~!
Fantasizing about various grand scenes in her little melon head that lacked sufficient computing power, fervor and worship emerged in Li Sushang's eyes.
Including Sushang, the other Cloud Knights asked the well-informed Cloud Knight about the Great Expert in a few words. Anyway, they were traveling; being idle was just being idle.
In the military camp, strength was respected. Given the power of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus core members, to easily resolve over thirty of them, they were probably even stronger than an ordinary Grand Commander!
The delves with Ambrosial Arbor roots inside, like the Artisanship Commission and Alchemy Commission, along with the surrounding delves, were already under martial law. Civilian Starskiffs were prohibited from passing.
On the broad air route, only military Starskiffs speeding back and forth could be seen.
It didn't take long for the squad's Starskiff to arrive at the mission location, Grotto-Dust Inn delve.
Sushang, who had been thinking all the way about how to establish merit, carried the Xuanyuan Sword and jumped off the Starskiff in a bustle, ready to do a big job.
Then, she was dumbfounded.
"Little Gui?!"
Gazing at that figure walking around a group of neatly arranged unconscious people, with a fiery red long skirt swaying and tangerine-red hair tied into a ponytail swinging.
Who else could it be but her die-hard bestie?
Sushang couldn't hold back and screamed on the spot:
"Why are you here?"
Although the Grotto-Dust Inn delve hadn't been completely put under martial law yet, a major event had happened here, and the surroundings had been sealed off in advance. Civilians certainly had no way to enter, so how could her bestie be here?
"Shangshang, how come you're back?"
Guinaifen was also stunned when she saw the brown-haired girl and asked subconsciously.
"Huh? Back? What back? I just received the mission to escort heavy criminals and just came over."
Sushang was completely confused, scratching her head in bewilderment.
"What?"
Hearing Sushang say this, Bailu, who was using medicine to keep the numerous Disciples members in a coma, also couldn't stay calm. Her tail twitched as if pricked by a needle, and her whole body jumped up.
"You say you haven't been here?"
"Right. Eh, isn't this the Lady Dragon High Elder? Why are you with Little Gui?" Sushang tilted her head and asked in confusion.
"Wait, you don't know me?"
Bailu revealed an expression like she had seen a ghost, stretching out her small head and pointing a finger at herself.
"How could that be? Although I haven't been on the Xianzhou for ten years yet, I'm definitely familiar with Lady Dragon High Elder's reputation."
Just how many Xianzhou people didn't know the Healer Lady?
"The knowing I'm talking about isn't that kind of knowing." Bailu waved her small hands repeatedly.
"Uh... then what does it mean? Does 'knowing' have other meanings?"
Sushang asked in a whisper. Her bright apricot-yellow eyes seemed uncontaminated by the turbid world, revealing a kind of clear stupidity and surprise.
Bailu and Guinaifen's expressions spun rapidly like a turntable at the same time.
Guinaifen: This flavor is right! This is the Shangshang she is familiar with!
The Shangshang who, the first time she went to manage her street performance, was bamboozled by her into helping smash a large stone on her chest—
Bailu: That's the flavor!
The Sushang before her eyes perfectly matched the temperament in Bailu's impression from when she ran away previously and met the 'Gui-Shang Duo' performing the boulder smash on the chest.
The two were dumbstruck, turning their heads to look at each other.
Then who was the Sushang playing with us?
"Lady Bailu, d-did we see a ghost?" Guinaifen asked trembling.
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"
Bailu shook her head vigorously.
Sister Sushang saved her from the guards sent by the old geezers in the clan. She must be a person so good she couldn't be better; how could she be a ghost!
Even if she were a ghost, she would be a good ghost!
Just kidding~
Sister Sushang has a body, how could she be a ghost?
"Little Gui, what's wrong with you?"
Seeing her bestie and Lady Dragon High Elder standing side by side performing face-changing acts, Sushang's face was full of doubt and blankness.
"This matter is a bit weird, Shangshang. Don't be scared when I tell you."
Guinaifen's mind operated at high speed. She recalled many details from when she was with the Sword Immortal Girl Shang. Suddenly, the darkness full of doubts was pierced by a flash of inspiration.
Guinaifen realized something. She leaned close to her bestie, hugged her arm, and asked mysteriously:
"Shangshang, do you have a twin sister or younger sister or something like that?"
"Huh?"
The unprovoked question left Sushang looking dumbfounded: "W-Why ask this question?"
"Aiya, just say if you do or not."
"No, I'm the only daughter in my family."
Xianzhou's reproductive culture had undergone earth-shaking changes after the initial Mara disaster; basically, everyone was an only child.
"Certain?"
"Certain."
"Is there a possibility—I'm saying a possibility, okay—that in case something unexpected happened when you were little, and Auntie lost your twin sister, and to avoid being sad after mentioning it, she never spoke of it or something? Is it really not possible at all? That you actually have a twin sister or younger sister separated for many years?"
Guinaifen probed carefully.
As an internet streamer, Little Gui still had some imagination.
"Ah this..."
Sushang scratched the back of her head, but she couldn't make heads or tails of it. Her brain wasn't enough.
"I dunno."
Her eyes were filled with a bewilderment that was totally comprehensive.
If it was like that, the possibility still existed...
"Wait, what exactly happened?!"
Shaking her head to throw the paste out of her brain, leaving only half a brain of paste, Sushang grabbed her bestie and asked.
"The thing is like this..."
Guinaifen seriously began to recount the sequence of events.
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