Loulan.
It was a wilderness, overgrown with weeds and thorns.
The terrain here was perilous, and there were numerous untamed spirit beasts and monsters.
Few people ever came here.
But now, a beautiful figure was darting through the thorns.
Taking a closer look, it was a woman.
The woman had a graceful figure and a fierce look on her face as she moved through the horde of monsters.
The levels of those monsters should not be very high.
On the periphery, a man in a black robe stood there.
He stared intently at the woman constantly moving through the thorns.
The woman had the same face as someone else, but in terms of temperament, demeanor, and tone of voice, there was no similarity between them at all.
Wherever the woman went,
Blood was everywhere.
The miserable cries and roars of the monsters rang out from time to time.
This massacre and struggle didn't end until dusk.
The woman stepped out of the thorns in the afterglow. She walked up to the man and opened the cloth bag.
"Twenty - four demon cores."
Mo Yan took the demon cores without saying a word.
The woman who had just carried out the massacre was the real Luo Qiu.
Seeing that Mo Yan showed no expression, Luo Qiu said, "I know I'm far inferior to my sister, but I will strive to catch up with her, even if it means paying any price."
Mo Yan nodded.
Luo Qiu followed behind Mo Yan, walking in the direction of the high - rise buildings in Loulan.
This thorny area was a hundred miles away from Loulan, and it would take quite some effort to get back.
On the way,
Luo Qiu asked, "My Lord Mo Yan, how many demon cores did my sister get in her first demon - hunting?"
Mo Yan stopped in his tracks.
He seemed to be in deep thought.
But in the end, he couldn't find the relevant memory.
"She doesn't hunt demons."
Luo Qiu also stopped.
This answer seemed a bit unexpected to her.
"Has my sister never killed a demon? Right, with her kind of personality, how could she do such a thing?"
Mo Yan asked, "Do you regret it?"
"I want to be a person like my sister."
Hearing this, Mo Yan burst out laughing as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world.
Luo Qiu just stared at him without refuting.
After he stopped laughing, she asked, "What's so funny about what I said?"
"Not only is it funny, it's extremely ridiculous. Luo Qiu, you are the Holy Maiden of our Loulan. Your talent is naturally good, but if you want to compare yourself with her, the gap between you two is not just a little bit."
Luo Qiu said, "I naturally know that."
"If you don't want to hunt demons and don't want to quickly replenish your spiritual power with demon cores, you may never catch up with her in your entire life."
Luo Qiu clenched her hands tightly.
Mo Yan added, "A person like her is unique. There is no one in this world more talented than her. If you rely on proper cultivation, you will never be able to match her."
Mo Yan was actually right.
Mo Yan had witnessed Zhao Shuning's strength since she was a little girl. That girl seemed to have a hundred years of experience even though she didn't seem to have done much.
She rarely hunted demons. The demons that died at her hands were all ferocious beasts.
"I know that my sister is unique in this world, and no one can compare with her." Not even herself.
"That's good that you understand. So remember, as the Holy Maiden of our Loulan, I will surely cultivate you with all my might and do everything possible to make you the most powerful person in Loulan. You should also put Loulan first and always act in the interests of Loulan."
Luo Qiu nodded.
"I understand."
After they finished talking, they didn't say a word for a long time.
They walked for a long time.
When they were almost at the high - rise building,
Someone brought a letter.
After Mo Yan read it, his expression was rather meaningful.
"What's wrong?"
Hearing Luo Qiu's question, Mo Yan handed the letter to her.
"What? The elder of the Thousand Machine Kill has returned?"
"Yes."
"He said that we don't need to prepare the birthday gift for him this year? And that the gifts we gave before were too bloody?"
Mo Yan nodded.
Luo Qiu said, "We've been sending gifts normally in previous years. Why not this year? Has the Thousand Machine Kill become indecisive?"
Mo Yan said, "This time, it's neither the idea of the elder of the Thousand Machine Kill nor that of the protector. Take a closer look at this letter. Do you notice anything different?"
Luo Qiu read it carefully again.
Then she shook her head.
She still didn't see it.
Mo Yan said, "It's her idea, and she wrote this letter."
Luo Qiu looked up.
"Do you mean... my sister?"
"Yes."
"My sister is kind - hearted. It's understandable for her to make such a decision. She is different from us. We are mandala flowers that grew in hell, while she is a snow lotus that grows on the top of a high mountain. It's only natural for her to oppose what we do."
At this moment, Luo Qiu showed what it meant to be inconsistent.
"Why is my sister in the Thousand Machine Kill?"
"The leader of the Thousand Machine Kill, Ye Feng, is her grandfather."
Luo Qiu said bitterly, "I forgot about this relationship."
"Do you want to go to the elder's birthday banquet of the Thousand Machine Kill?"
"Can I go?" Luo Qiu's eyes were full of eagerness.
"If you want to go, of course you can."
"I want to go."
She wanted to see her sister.
She hadn't seen her for so many months and wondered how she was doing.
They hadn't seen each other since the video communication some time ago.
"Okay, I'll take you there. But before that, you need to raise your strength to the fifth rank. Otherwise, you'll just bring disgrace to Loulan if you go."
"I understand."
Just as Mo Yan finished speaking,
A servant rushed in.
"My Lord, a woman is asking to see you."
"What woman? Just drive away anyone irrelevant."
The servant lowered his head and said, "My Lord, the woman claims to be the Holy Maiden's birth mother. She also showed a lot of evidence. We didn't dare to act rashly, so we invited the woman to the main hall for tea first."
Mo Yan looked down at Luo Qiu.
There was a glimmer of joy in Luo Qiu's expression.
Could it be...
Could it be that her mother had come to see her?
Of course, the mother she was thinking of was not Liu Yuan, but Ye Qingluan.
"You go and have a look."
With Mo Yan's permission,
Luo Qiu quickly ran towards the main hall.
Since childhood, Ye Qingluan had been very kind to her, and she really regarded Ye Qingluan as her own mother.
"Mother—"
Luo Qiu was still at the door of the main hall and hadn't pushed it open when she called out eagerly.
"Creak—"
The door opened.
The woman sitting there, smiling obsequiously, quickly stood up when she saw Luo Qiu coming and whispered, "Qiuqiu."
Just these two words made Luo Qiu catch her breath.
Hearing her call her name, Luo Qiu felt extremely disgusted.
Her mood instantly sank to the bottom.
It wasn't Ye Qingluan.
It was Liu Yuan.