A chill ran down Master Lanton’s spine, constantly reminding her that the Terran Mercenaries had eliminated the Fourth Rank. Despite being a formidable Peak Master herself, she posed no threat to this enigmatic mercenary group.

It had been nearly eight years. Where was His Highness? Not a single word. But surely, he hadn't left the solar system. To find him, she needed to remain within the system, utilizing the intelligence network of the Nian Neng Temple. Therefore, confronting the Terran Mercenaries head-on would be utterly foolish before locating His Highness. Her actions must remain clandestine!

Master Lanton offered a slight smile. “Commander Yang Ying is absent? What a profound pity. I have heard so much about him; I finally managed to free up some time, hoping for a visit.” Her face remained utterly composed, her smile radiating an innate elegance, as if she were genuinely disappointed. Suddenly, her tone shifted. “However, even if my timing is unfortunate, I have traveled this far. Surely, you can allow me in for a cup of tea? I’ve heard whispers about Commander Yang Ying’s castle for a long time now.”

Kalia’s expression remained unmoved, yet his inner doubts refused to settle. Master Lanton’s demeanor was intensely aberrant to him, a seasoned intelligence expert. The very fact that she arrived precisely when Yang Ying was away was grounds for suspicion. Furthermore, given their lack of prior dealings, such an unannounced visit felt rather abrupt.

Still, she was one of the elders of the Nian Neng Temple. Refusing even a request for tea would seem petty and small-minded.

“In that case, please come in,” Kalia conceded, stepping aside and gesturing inward.

Master Lanton’s smile bloomed brightly. With a polite nod, she moved with a light, graceful step past Kalia and into the fortress.

In the woods behind the castle, a small, lithe figure was shuttling at high speed among the trees. The dense, uneven canopy of leaves and branches formed a massive, three-dimensional net, creating considerable obstacles for her passage; one careless move could lead to being snagged by an errant branch reaching out from any direction.

Yet, the small figure was incredibly agile, moving like a spirited monkey through the branches with effortless grace. By merely touching a branch with her foot or lightly tapping it with her hand, she could harness the resulting force to glide nearly fifteen meters. Whenever she neared entanglement, she reacted in advance, shifting her body just slightly to avoid collision. Even when branches grew so closely together that only a sliver of space remained, she could swiftly and gently push several aside, creating an opening to slip through.

In the blink of an eye, the small figure reached the edge of the woods. With a powerful push off the last branch before her, she shot out into the open air. In mid-flight, she executed a 1080-degree rotation and flipped twice, landing solidly on both feet.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

The sound of applause rose before her.

“Excellent. Better than last time. Fewer wasted movements, and you shaved two seconds off your crossing time. You’ve worked very hard, Baibai.”

Baibai laughed happily. She looked up, her pair of large, bright eyes crystalline and clear, radiating an expectant gaze: “Brother Dao Feng, when exactly is Brother Yang Ying coming back? He’s been outside the solar system for days; I miss him so much.”

“It will be a while yet,” Dao Feng, the source of the applause, replied as he approached and gently ruffled Baibai’s hair. “At least ten days to half a month; it could be longer. He has quite a few destinations, and unforeseen changes might add new stops. But don't worry, he’ll bring you back a gift.”

“More than a gift, I just want him back sooner,” Baibai muttered, kicking listlessly at the grass. She accidentally sent a pinkish-white butterfly flying, and Baibai’s eyes immediately widened, shining with delight. Her hand shot out like lightning to snatch the insect.

How could a mere butterfly escape the grasp of Baibai, a Rank Two expert, the 'Five-Finger Mountain'? It was caught, beating its wings in futility.

Baibai held the butterfly, scrutinizing it for a few seconds before tossing it high above her head, setting it free. “Fly high!” she shouted excitedly. Watching the butterfly ascend higher and higher made Baibai even happier; she clapped her hands repeatedly, laughing and jumping.

Despite possessing the power of a Lower-Tier Nian Neng Adept, nearly reaching the Mid-Tier, she was, after all, still a child.

Dao Feng watched her, a smile on his face. At that moment, he glanced toward the castle. At the far end of the stone path leading from the port to the fortress, a beautiful silhouette, accompanied by Kalia, was walking slowly toward them.

Simultaneously, Master Lanton sensed Dao Feng’s gaze and turned to look. Instantly, she froze, as if struck by a bolt from the blue sky.

Her focus locked onto Baibai, her eyes filled with an overwhelming sense of disbelief and astonishment.

Baibai’s usually smooth silver hair, which at first glance appeared perfectly white, was actually composed of countless mixed hues of light, subtly shifting and changing in an instant, becoming more beautiful and magnificent the longer one gazed.

Baibai’s eyes were equally unique. Her pupils seemed dark and plain, yet they glittered brightly, as if the galaxy’s star spirals had been captured within them, intensely drawing the attention of anyone who looked.

In Master Lanton’s memory, even across the entire galaxy, only a handful of individuals possessed such characteristics. And one of them was of Baibai’s age—the very person she had yearned to see again for the past eight years on Earth.

“Your Highness!”

Peak Master Cécile Lanton instantly became agitated. Her feet shifted, and in several flashes, she hurtled toward Baibai.

The Terran Mercenaries had found her Highness before she did. This realization brought a torrent of complex emotions. She had come to Manor City suspecting the Terran Mercenaries were agents of their enemies, only to find the very person she had sought fruitlessly for years—a case of finding something without looking for it.

However, if the Terran Mercenaries had found His Highness already, and if they were indeed enemies, why was His Highness still alive?

She had no mental space to dwell on or investigate this question now; His Highness was within reach and currently in the hands of the Terran Mercenaries. Suspecting their origins were unclear and untrustworthy, she pushed all other thoughts aside. All she cared about was securing His Highness first!

When she started, she was over two thousand meters away from Baibai, but the flashing speed of a Peak Master was like a bullet; she should have reached Baibai in the blink of an eye, yet she failed.

She was intercepted midway.

Dao Feng, starting later, blocked her in mid-air. Both drew their swords, and three golden blades of light clashed violently—one from Master Lanton, two from Dao Feng.

A blast of energy surged heavenward, the resulting gale flattening the surrounding grass, the bent stalks all pointing away from the two figures, radiating outward from them as the center.

Master Lanton retreated two steps but could not dislodge Dao Feng from his stance. Her sword-wielding right hand tingled. From this single exchange, she knew Dao Feng’s Nian energy intensity surpassed hers, nearing that of Master Kong Li.

“Where did so many Peak Masters emerge from? One Yang Ying is gone, and now there’s another!” While she was prepared for the strength of the group that eliminated the Fourth Rank Hadoc, encountering another Peak Master nearly on par with Yang Ying immediately upon arrival made her inwardly groan.

To prevent the collateral damage of their fight from harming Baibai, Dao Feng held back his full strength, and he noticed Master Lanton doing the same, clearly having reservations.

“From the current situation, Cécile Lanton’s target is Baibai,” Dao Feng mused inwardly. “Baibai has barely appeared in public since I rescued her. If Lanton truly knows Baibai, she must have known her long before Baibai entered the Santos secret research base!”

Their light swords weaved back and forth, their forms exquisitely precise, yet devoid of crushing force.

Master Lanton, eager to break free from Dao Feng’s entanglement, employed various intricate maneuvers, her body flashing and shifting rapidly within a small area. Her single sword was like a living thing in her hand, wielded with fluid mastery. However, her internal anxiety prevented her from executing her swordsmanship to its absolute peak. She soon recognized this and immediately suppressed her agitation, pouring her entire focus into the sword in her hand, intent on moving this stumbling block, Dao Feng, out of the way.

Dao Feng did not adopt the Blade Emperor form, but in swordsmanship, he was by no means inferior to Master Lanton. During his intense battle with the pre-breakthrough Hadoc on Pluto, he had absorbed the essence of Hadoc’s staff techniques, refining them through self-study ever since; his swordsmanship had advanced by leaps and bounds. In truth, actual combat honed swordsmanship far better than grueling practice, especially for a Master-level expert with eidetic recall.

There is a saying: ‘Hearing a word from a master is better than ten years of study.’ The same applies to swordsmanship. The fight with Hadoc caused Yang Ying to gain sudden enlightenment on many previous doubts and opened up numerous new domains, leaving even Cécile Lanton, who had been a Peak Master for a longer time, unable to gain the upper hand against him.

“Baibai might originate from outside the solar system, and this constantly mysterious Master Lanton might be as well. I must detain Cécile Lanton and question her thoroughly, but first, I need to apply some pressure,” Dao Feng thought, his mind stirring. His other Yang Ying duplicates instantly grasped his intent.

In an instant, four more duplicates arrived at the periphery of the battle. One appeared on the opposite side of the meadow, one on a castle tower, one by the lake, and one near the forest edge beside Baibai. They did not join the fight directly but focused their gazes on the confrontation.

Master Lanton felt the pressure mounting, and her internal distress deepened. The opposing side had too many Peak Masters—five in total now surrounding her, and their strength surpassed hers!

For her, there was absolutely no chance of victory. She would likely have to yield her sword and surrender first, just to understand what the other side intended.

After a few more exchanges, both realized neither intended a full-scale brawl right there. Their swordplay became predominantly defensive, conveying a mutual understanding of truce intentions.

After one more parry, Master Lanton suddenly pulled back, retreating swiftly. Simultaneously, she stated, “I concede, but please hear my explanation.”