Nonsense! How could my adopted son be a villain?

The arrival of the parents finally ended the brawl among the cubs.

Xu Lingguang stepped forward and separated the cubs, only to see Yu Rong sitting on the ground, exhausted, angrily saying, "I was the one who discovered it first!"

Yun Feng curled her claws and shifted her rear end, saying, "But I got it first!"

Xu Lingguang sensed something was wrong. The little ones didn't seem to be talking about gems. There were gems all over the ground, so they shouldn't be fresh anymore. He asked, "What are you talking about?"

When he asked, Yun Feng said, "It was found at my home at the foot of the mountain."

The cub slowly moved its body, and with its hind paws pulled out a crystal-clear, glistening fruit from under its rear end.

The fruit looked strangely familiar. Xu Lingguang frowned and examined it for a while before asking Lan Jian incredulously, "Is this a Shattered Star Fruit?"

The flowering vine blooms every thousand years, and the fruit it produces after flowering is called "Shattered Star".

The broken star fruit will record the magnificent scene of the flowering vine.

Xu Lingguang once had a Shattered Star Fruit, which was left over after the flowering vine planted by Si Yuan bloomed. Lan Jian gave it to Xu Lingguang at the time, and later Xu Lingguang brought it back to Ailao Mountain. With some inexplicable expectation, he buried the Shattered Star Fruit in the yard, thinking that maybe one day the Shattered Star Fruit would sprout again.

However, Lan Jian had actually said that the Shattered Star Fruit would not sprout again.

Lan Jian looked at the beautiful fruit the little boy had taken out, and after a while said, "It's a Star-Shattering Fruit."

"But it's not the one you brought back."

Although he only glanced at the one that Xu Lingguang brought back briefly, he remembered that it contained the images of Si Yuan and Liu Zhu.

This one, however, only displays its flowering.

Xu Lingguang also recognized it, and the two of them simultaneously thought of a certain possibility, turning their heads to look at the little cub: "Where did you find the Star-Shattering Fruit?"

Perhaps because the adults' expressions were too serious, the little ones thought they had done something wrong and shrank back in unison. Finally, Yun Feng whispered, "It's at the house at the foot of the mountain. Little Qilin and the others have never seen the house at the foot of the mountain, so we took them there to see it, and then we saw this fruit fall on the ground."

The little ones always love pretty things. Yu Rong spotted the fruit first, but she was a step too slow and Yun Feng, who was closer, snatched it first.

The cubs returned noisily, all curious about the fruit, which was even more beautiful than a jewel. They even fought over who owned it.

When Xu Lingguang heard the cubs say they had gone to their home at the foot of the mountain, he noticed that their paws were indeed covered in dust and dirt. Although they had been carefully cleaned, a closer look revealed that they were not as clean as when they first arrived home.

Unexpectedly, in just a short while, the cubs ran out of the clan's territory on their own.

Xu Lingguang looked helpless, but the most urgent matter at hand was to find out the origin of the Star-Shattering Fruit. He didn't have time to lecture the cubs anymore. Xu Lingguang stuffed the Star-Shattering Fruit into Lan Jian's arms and then waved to You Yu, who had transformed into human form and was standing behind him with pursed lips: "You Yu."

Yu walked forward somewhat embarrassedly, her head down and ears blushing with shame. Her two furry ears drooped listlessly, as if she had forgotten to retract them.

Before Xu Lingguang could speak, he admitted his mistake: "I should have kept a closer eye on them. I wasn't there when the kids sneaked out."

As the young yellow cubs were just as clean as their older brothers, while the other cubs were still playing in the cave ahead, he went back to his room to take a bath.

Xu Lingguang hadn't meant to blame him, but upon hearing this, he chuckled and patted the cub's head, saying, "It's not your fault. They're all so big now, how can you manage them all by yourself?"

After looking around, he realized someone was missing: "Where's Nie Yuqin?"

Youyu said, "I took him to the guest room. He should rest there, right?"

Hearing this, Xu Lingguang ignored Nie Yuqin and said, "Your older brother and I are going out for a while. You have to keep an eye on the kids this time, lest they sneak out again."

After saying that, he turned serious and instructed the kids, "If you sneak out again and I catch you, you'll lose three days' worth of snacks."

This punishment had a huge deterrent effect on the cubs. The guilty cubs all lowered their heads and said in unison, "We understand, Brother Lingguang. We will listen to Youyu."

Xu Lingguang was satisfied. He turned his gaze to Qi Tu and Hun Dun, who were still peeking out from under the chandelier, and warned them, "You two better behave yourselves and stop stirring up trouble."

The quail that was called out immediately fell silent, its head drooping listlessly, looking as if it knew it had done something wrong.

Only Chaos, with his rebellious nature, craned his neck and, mimicking the cubs, said in a sarcastic tone, "I know, Brother Lingguang~"

Xu Lingguang glanced at him speechlessly, not having time to argue with him. After settling the little ones, he went with Lan Jian to the small wooden house at the foot of the mountain to check on the situation.

Although Xu Lingguang guessed that the house must be quite dilapidated after being neglected for so long, he was still quite shocked when he arrived at the place and saw the house covered with vines, resembling a primeval forest.

What's even more striking is that these vines look remarkably like flowering vines.

Not to mention Xu Lingguang, even Lan Jian looked surprised.

After the two went forward to examine it, Lan Jian said, "It is indeed a flowering vine."

Xu Lingguang has found the main trunk of the Flower Vine, which did indeed grow from the place where he buried the Star-Shattering Fruit.

He said uncertainly, "Could it really be that the Stardust Fruit I planted back then has sprouted? But didn't you say that Stardust Fruits don't sprout?"

Moreover, if he remembered correctly, the growth rate of the Flower-Turning Vine was not fast. The Flower-Turning Vine that Si Yuan had nurtured for a thousand years had not bloomed. It was only later, in Fengling City, that Si Yuan gave the Soul Pearl to the corrupted Flower-Turning Vine before his soul was scattered, which prompted the Flower-Turning Vine to bloom and bear fruit.

Without the blood of the Qilin to nourish it, the Flowering Vine will neither bloom nor bear fruit, and its lifespan will be endless.

A guess popped into Xu Lingguang's mind, and he hesitated before speaking: "The Flower-Turning Vine is growing so lushly, could this Star-Shattering Fruit be a fruit of the Flower-Turning Vine?"

Although this conjecture does not conform to the growth pattern of the flowering vine, the broken star fruit, which should not have sprouted at all, has sprouted and climbed all over the house while they were away, so it seems that flowering and fruiting is not impossible.

Most importantly, the flowering vines have all bloomed, which means that it's very likely that they were once watered with the blood of a Qilin. Could it be that Si Yuan and Liu Zhu were also...?

Xu Lingguang opened his mouth, but didn't dare to voice his guess.

Lan Jian clearly had the same idea as him, but the guess was too astonishing and too unrealistic, so neither of them said it aloud.

"Let's split up and search."

As for what they were looking for, both of them had the answer in their hearts, but neither of them said it aloud.