All beasts submit, and the peerless imperial princess is about to defy the heavens!

I never expected my little secret to be exposed so quickly.

Yao Feibai straightened his expression and said, "You shouldn't use this ability lightly in the future. Today, it was Senior Ye Yuan who showed mercy. If it were anyone else, you would be dead by now."

"understood."

Duan Menghua smiled and agreed, quickly changing the subject, "Let's not talk about that. What should we do now? Should we go back to the sect first, or go find Liu Yuanxiu?"

Yao Feibai thought for a moment, then looked at Feng Ning, "We accepted a mission earlier, and the time is almost up. Let's go back and hand it in first. Things with Liu Yuanxiu probably won't be resolved so quickly."

Feng Ning agreed with him, "His mother is unwilling to leave. Now we'll see if Liu Yuanxiu can persuade her. If he can't, it might really take some time. We should go back to hand in our mission first, and also go back to the sect to keep an eye on Gu Wenlang and his group to prevent them from doing anything underhanded."

“Then let’s go back,” Duan Menghua replied in the same way.

After they finished speaking, the three of them turned their gazes to Ye Yuan.

Ye Yuan seemed indifferent. "I'll go with you."

Feng Ning nodded, "Then let's go back."

After saying that, the group prepared to fly back to Tianxuan Sect on their swords.

Just as Feng Ning was about to set off, she suddenly received a telepathic message from Nian Zhao.

She took out a communication stone, and Nian Zhao's anxious voice came through, "Little apprentice, are you alright? How did the flying artifact return by itself? Where did you go?"

Feng Ning secretly regretted that she had forgotten about this matter.

"Are you in any danger? Tell me your location quickly, I'm coming to find you right now."

Feng Ning quickly replied, "Master, don't worry, I'm not in danger. I'm ready to come back. I'll tell you when I get back."

Nian Zhao asked uncertainly, "Really? You're not lying to me."

Feng Ning replied with a grin, "If I really have to go back, would I still be so calm if I encountered any danger? I would definitely ask you to back me up."

Nian Zhao breathed a sigh of relief when she heard that Nian Zhao was still in the mood to joke.

"Alright then, come back as soon as possible."

"Yes, Master."

After saying that, he cut off the contact.

Ye Yuan's eyes flickered.

Master? That sounds so annoying!

Go back and see if he's qualified to be Feng Ning's master.

Feng Ning, of course, had no idea what he was thinking. After hanging up the call, she said, "Let's go back quickly."

The group didn't linger any longer and flew back to their sect on their swords.

While they were talking, in Jiuling City on the other side, Liu Yuanxiu had already returned to the Liu family.

He rushed into the Liu family's house in a hurry, startling the guards at the gate.

One of them saw Liu Yuanxiu rushing inside and immediately pointed his spear at him, demanding, "Who goes there?"

Another guard quickly pulled him back. "Greetings, young master."

The man was so frightened that he quickly sheathed his weapon. "Greetings, young master."

Liu Yuanxiu didn't bother to deal with them and rushed straight in.

The man was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat. "Wasn't the young master cultivating at the Tianxuan Sect? Why did you suddenly come back?"

"Why do you care so much? That's the master's business. We just need to keep an eye on the gate."

The man who had made the move patted his chest in fright, "That really scared me. Luckily, young master didn't pursue the matter."

"Alright, stop talking and keep watching."

Liu Yuanxiu had already rushed into Qi Cuihe's courtyard.

"Mother? Mother, where are you?"

The courtyard was quiet; there wasn't a soul in sight.

He suddenly felt a pang of panic, "Mother?"

He searched the entire yard, but after turning the whole yard upside down, he couldn't find a single person.

His anxiety had reached its peak.

Then, as if remembering something, he rushed out again and into Liu's father's courtyard.

He felt a glimmer of hope; his mother was thinking of his father and might be in his yard.

He ran all the way to Liu's father's courtyard, where guards stood at the gate.

He glanced around. "Is my mother here?"

The guard immediately bowed and said, "Young master, the madam has not been here."

"What about father?"

The guard hesitated for a moment, "This..."

Is he here or not?

"exist."

Liu Yuanxiu nodded. "Go in and announce my arrival. I have something to discuss with my father."

The guard hesitated even more. "Young master, the head of the family might be... unavailable at the moment."

"Is it inconvenient? Is he meeting with someone?"

An awkward expression flashed across the guard's face.

Liu Yuanxiu seemed to have thought of something and asked, "Tell me the truth, I won't blame you."

The guard then whispered, "Aunt Xiang is inside."

A surge of anger welled up inside Liu Yuanxiu, but he suppressed it. "Go and ask Steward Liu if my mother went out today, and where she is now?"

The guard breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that he wasn't going in, and hurriedly ran to find the steward.

Liu Yuanxiu left his father's courtyard, since his father and aunt were inside, and it wouldn't be appropriate for him to stand outside.

The guard returned shortly after leaving, bringing with him Steward Liu.

Butler Liu bowed slightly and said, "Greetings, young master."

Liu Yuanxiu waved his hand. "Steward Liu, there's no need for such formalities. I called you here today to ask about my mother. I went to her courtyard, but she wasn't home. Did she go out?"

Butler Liu shook his head, "No invitations have been sent to the mansion these past few days, and I haven't seen Madam leave the house."

"Then why isn't my mother home?" Liu Yuanxiu asked immediately.

Butler Liu didn't know either, but still tentatively replied, "Perhaps Madam has gone out for a trip."

Liu Yuanxiu grew increasingly panicked. "No, none of you have seen her go out. How could she possibly be going on a trip? If she were going on a trip, why would she go so secretly?"

After saying that, he asked again, "What about Xiao Hong, who's always with Mother? Haven't we seen her either?"

Everyone shook their heads.

Liu Yuanxiu immediately sensed something was wrong. "Go and summon all the servants in the mansion."

Before long, all the servants arrived in the courtyard.

Liu Yuanxiu asked, "When did you see Madam in the last three days?"

A young maidservant came out and said, "Reporting to the young master, the day before yesterday, the madam went to the kitchen and cooked for the master."

What about yesterday?

Another maid said, "Yesterday morning, I saw Madam. She went to the master's place."

After that, no one else stepped forward.

"Has no one seen her today? What about last night? Did Mother eat?"

"We haven't seen her before. Yesterday, the lights were off in Madam's courtyard, so we didn't dare to disturb her."

This is Qi Cuihe's habit.

She never turns on the lights when she's in a bad mood; she locks herself in her room and refuses to come out, and everyone else knows it.