"Princess?"

When Xue Man and An Bai saw Kristina, they were overjoyed.

Xue Man asked, "Princess, why have you come back?"

As they spoke, they both ran over, unable to contain their excitement, completely ignoring Ming Yue.

Meanwhile, upon hearing the word "Princess," all the villagers prostrated themselves on the ground, trembling violently.

"You two, come with me to the Abandoned City to kill Qin Qing and Leng Yue," Kristina said coldly.

She decided not to ask what had happened to the Eternal Kingdom yet, planning to do so after killing Qin Qing and Leng Yue.

Xue Man and An Bai didn’t bring it up either, assuming Kristina already knew about the situation back home. After all, the three great Judicator Families had previously sent men to Tamwood City to contact Kristina and Qiao Beiming, and they had mentioned it when passing by Biluo Island.

Little did they know, the men the Judicator Families sent to Tamwood City had been captured alive by Ye Xiu’s people.

"Kill Qin Qing and Leng Yue? Why?" Xue Man asked.

"Ye Xiu didn’t kill Meng Yinwan..." Kristina recounted the entire incident, including her abduction by Ye Xiu, and added, "I now strongly suspect that Ye Xiu was behind the complete annihilation of the teams the Eternal Kingdom sent to Nanjing."

Xue Man and An Bai were furious upon hearing this.

Xue Man said, "Ye Xiu is courting death!"

An Bai said coldly, "I thought Ye Xiu killed Meng Yinwan because he had a grudge against the Restorer Alliance. I believed that by kidnapping Qin Qing and Leng Yue, we forced him to serve the Princess. It turns out this was all a scheme orchestrated by Ye Xiu; he was working with the Restorer Alliance all along."

"That’s what I think too!" Kristina nodded. "Ye Xiu has already been killed by Lin Feng. Now, let’s go to the Abandoned City and kill Qin Qing and Leng Yue."

"This..." Xue Man and An Bai exchanged a troubled look.

Xue Man explained, "With our strength, killing Qin Qing and Leng Yue would be easy. However, Qin Qing has tamed all the Mutated Beasts in the Abandoned City. If the four of us go there, we’ll surely be swarmed and killed by the horde."

Kristina frowned. "Call for reinforcements."

"Call for reinforcements?" Xue Man and An Bai were stunned for a moment. Xue Man asked, "Princess, are you not aware of what happened back home?"

"What happened?" Kristina asked.

Xue Man and An Bai exchanged a look. They suddenly realized that something must have happened to the men the Judicator Families sent to Tamwood City; otherwise, the Princess couldn’t possibly be unaware of the events back home.

Xue Man immediately recounted the calamity You Ming had unleashed upon the Eternal Kingdom.

"What?" Kristina’s expression changed dramatically. "No wonder Qiao Beiming and I couldn’t get through when we called! That detestable You Ming, that wretched Huang Quan, damn them!"

Xue Man suggested, "How about we go to the other islands to gather reinforcements first, then come back and level the Abandoned City?"

Kristina frowned and said, "All vehicles are useless now. We’d have to run to the north of Biluo Island and row to other islands ourselves. The round trip would take far too much time."

An Bai said, "Then our only option is to mobilize the army from the Biluo Island military camp. All the high-powered thermal weapons requiring an operating system have been destroyed, but manually operated ones like mortars, hand grenades, and TNT are still usable. We can just gather all the mortars and shells and level the Abandoned City."

This was a good idea, and Kristina was about to order just that.

"No!"

Ming Yue panicked. If Kristina really did that, Qin Qing and Leng Yue would be blown to pieces. Who would bear Ye Xiu’s wrath then?

She quickly intervened, "The mortars have a limited range, so the army can only fire from outside the city. If the bombardment misses their residence and only serves to alert them, they’ll just escape. That would ruin everything."

"That makes sense!" Kristina nodded and asked, "So, what’s your brilliant idea?"

Xue Man and An Bai also turned their attention to the unfamiliar girl.

Ming Yue thought for a moment and said, "Can’t we just lure Qin Qing and Leng Yue out of the Abandoned City?"

"Excellent idea!" Kristina’s eyes lit up. "Let’s go. We’ll head to the Abandoned City together. Ming Yue and I will wait outside, while you and An Bai trick Qin Qing and Leng Yue into coming out."

"As you command!" Xue Man nodded.

Thus, the four of them sprinted towards the Abandoned City. Ming Yue breathed a huge sigh of relief. I just saved Qin Qing and Leng Yue’s lives, right? Yes, I have to tell Ye Xiu about this—this is my accomplishment.

At that moment, Ming Yue had fully adopted the role of ’Ye Xiu’s underling.’ She was now dedicated to loyally serving him, hoping to atone for her past mistakes.

***

After robbing Kristina of her Golden Blood, two figures in black robes and masks arrived at the villa in the Abandoned City where Qin Qing and Leng Yue were staying.

Leng Yue was instructing Qin Qing on her sword practice.

Seeing the two cloaked figures return, Leng Yue smiled and asked, "Was it a success?"

Qin Qing stopped practicing and looked at them expectantly.

The two figures removed their masks. It was none other than Mo Luo and Dizang.

"Amitabha. How could we possibly fail at robbing a mere Second Realm like Kristina?" Dizang said with a grin, bringing his palms together.

Mo Luo remained silent, simply handing two Blood Storage Bags to Qin Qing.

Qin Qing took them and asked, "How did Ming Yue and Kristina get through the Formation to enter Biluo Island?"

Mo Luo and Dizang exchanged a glance. Dizang said, "Amitabha... damn it, we forgot to ask."

"I’ll go ask now," Mo Luo said.

"No need!" Qin Qing stopped him. "Kristina will deliver herself to our doorstep. I’ll ask her myself then."

Saying this, she handed one bag of Golden Blood to Mo Luo. "Distribute this among our brothers. Bring the rest back!"

"Alright!" Mo Luo nodded, took the bag, and turned to leave.

Dizang was speechless. "What’s the rush? We could at least have dinner first! Hey, wait for me..."

After they left, Qin Qing and Leng Yue eagerly squeezed out a drop of blood for each of them from the remaining bag.

After consuming it, their Life Totems, previously at the Second Stage, instantly awakened to the Third Stage.

"According to Ye Xiu, Golden Blood allows a person to possess two Totems," Qin Qing said with a smile.

Leng Yue pouted. "You gave the Earth System Totem and Strength Totem from Tu La to Pipi Pig and Da Sheng. If we had known, we could have each kept one."

Pipi Pig was the adorable boar king, and Da Sheng was the strongest monkey in the Abandoned City, second only to the boar king.

"Haha, my mistake, my mistake. How was I to know the Golden Blood had such a miraculous effect?" Qin Qing was incredibly embarrassed.

She had assumed that a person could only have one Totem. Since she and Leng Yue couldn’t send the Totems off Biluo Island, she had simply experimented by giving them to Pipi Pig and Da Sheng.

As a result, when Dizang came running over gleefully to ask for a Totem, there were none left!

"It seems we need to find a way to get more Totems," Leng Yue said, her eyes narrowing.

"We’ll find a way," Qin Qing replied with a confident smile.

The two resumed their training, one practicing her sword and the other her cultivation.

That evening, Xue Man arrived with a beaming smile, acting as if nothing was amiss. She asked, "Have you two had dinner yet?"

Qin Qing and Leng Yue were inwardly puzzled. Why isn’t Kristina here?

Qin Qing replied, "Not yet."

"That’s great! How about I treat you both to a feast in the city?" Xue Man said with a broad smile, feigning a casual air. Inwardly, however, she was extremely nervous, terrified that Qin Qing and Leng Yue would refuse.