Chapter 1180: Chapter 356: Wait, How Can You Be This Awesome? (6k)
Upon hearing Shen Yunzhou’s explanation, Lu Yaoyao breathed a sigh of relief and looked at him with a touch of sympathy.
She then grabbed a walnut pastry and took a big bite, her cheeks puffed out, and suddenly asked in a muffled voice, "Do you think... I look like your sister?"
Shen Yunzhou looked at the crumbs at the corner of her lips, trying not to laugh, "Your hair color is quite similar. As for temperament..."
He rubbed his chin, "One’s a big iceberg, the other’s a small iceberg. But you definitely talk a lot more than she does."
"Then..." Lu Yaoyao wiped her mouth and eagerly picked up a piece of jujube cake, "Do you think I resemble you in any way?"
Shen Yunzhou froze for a moment, looking at her delight as she ate, and suddenly grinned mischievously, "What? Trying to claim kinship? Come on, call me daddy."
"Scram!" Lu Yaoyao grabbed an almond pastry and threw it at him.
Shen Yunzhou sidestepped to dodge, his movements smooth as flowing water, as if such actions had already become second nature to him.
This commotion drew the attention of the surrounding diners.
After all, the recent rumors about a white-haired female Spirit Slash causing chaos in the Royal Array Hall were quite widespread.
The silver-haired girl wearing a half silver-patterned mask, revealing a delicate chin, although only with Divinity Transformation Early Stage aura, her frost-like hair was too conspicuous.
But soon people shook their heads with a smile: Such high and mighty Spirit Slash Great Power, how could she be so lively and jumpy?
At this moment, Lu Yaoyao also realized this scene, so she restrained herself a bit, then propped her fragrant cheeks, boredly swinging her legs, and changed the topic.
"Brother Shen, you said last time that Sister Shen doesn’t have a master...is that true?"
Shen Yunzhou immediately sat up straight: "Of course, would your Brother Shen be one to casually deceive kids?"
"First, I’m seriously telling you this, otherwise, I’m not a child!" declared Lu Yaoyao.
Yunzhou couldn’t help but laugh, raised his tea cup in a gesture of surrender: "Alright, alright, you’re not a child."
He put down the tea cup, rarely speaking seriously: "My sister indeed doesn’t have a master, she’s been getting by all on her own, do you understand that feeling of self-taught magic?"
Lu Yaoyao nodded slightly, many times she also saw such signs from her father.
But if there were really no master, why did her father deceive her?
Was it unasked or was there some sort of taboo?
Then, she stared at the array of pastries on the table, hesitated for a moment: "Does Sister Shen like these?"
"Uh..." Shen Yunzhou scratched his head and smiled awkwardly, "I’ve seen her run away from them, how would she notice these things."
Lu Yaoyao helplessly held her forehead—what a perfunctory brother you are.
"Speaking of which," Shen Yunzhou curiously poked at the pastries, "Why do you have such a preference for these sweet things?"
Lu Yaoyao’s hand holding the cake suddenly paused, the eyes under her mask gradually darkened.
She gently traced the intricate patterns on the pastries, her voice barely audible.
"When I was young, always fleeing with my father, for three years, I was even fostered in a mortal village for shelter."
"Later, father came to take me..." A smile slowly graced her lips, "And brought me to a city, bought me several pieces of cake."
"At the time, I felt it was the best thing in the world, never had anything this sweet before."
Shen Yunzhou’s raised tea cup paused in mid-air, sighed lightly after a long time: "What you cherish isn’t the pastry itself."
He looked out the window at the deepening twilight, "But because your father bought them for you."
At this moment, he suddenly remembered the always gentle smiling woman.
In memory, mother would also stuff freshly steamed osmanthus cake into his and his sister’s hands at dusk.
If only back then... If only someone could have saved mother...
Shen Yunzhou closed his eyes briefly.
Perhaps his sister wouldn’t have turned into such a frost-bearing smile.
Because of this, when he and Zhou encountered Lady Li being chased, looking at her highly swollen belly, he almost charged ahead without thinking.
Who would have thought this crazy woman not only refused to appreciate, after failing to catch Zhou, she turned and beat him black and blue.
"Maybe," Lu Yaoyao carefully wrapped up the remaining pastries, stood up: "Let’s go, we still have to keep searching for the... that, Zhou."
"By the way, who was chasing you? What was the reason? Where’s your father?" Shen Yunzhou stood up to follow and asked.
"I don’t want to say!"
"Hey, you girl, how can you always leave things half-said, look at me, I basically answer everything you ask."
...
A month later!
Zhou Qing sat alone in the quiet chamber, his face slightly haggard, shadows beneath his eyes, yet unable to hide the growing brightness in his gaze.
"Finally sorted it out..."
He suddenly sighed quietly, fingertips tracing through the air, myriad Spirit Seals began to weave into a brilliant Star Map within the chamber.
Each Spirit Seal precisely corresponded to a node in the Hidden Dragon Path, connected to each other flawlessly.
As the last Spirit Seal fell into place, the entire Star Map suddenly lit up, transforming into a lifelike light dragon, spiraling around the quiet chamber.
The dragon’s head proudly raised, tail stretched, with four claws each corresponding to the four regions, a complete Hidden Dragon Path Array!
Zhou Qing’s lips finally curled into a smile.
The endless days of sleepless struggle and countless failures finally paid off at this moment.
He reached out to gently touch the dragon-shaped Array Map, the light dragon placidly coiling around him, no longer the slightest sign of disturbance.
"With my current proficiency in arrays..." Zhou Qing gazed at the light dragon, sighed softly, "I still can’t lay out such a grand array."
"If I’m not mistaken, the master who arranged these two Four-Color Arrays for the Holy Martial Dynasty must have gathered at least twenty thousand Spirit Seals."
