Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Oh,” Shen Ying answered lazily. Yet, she made no move to get up. Shen Ying turned to face Yi QIng, then paused. “Eh? What did you call me earlier?”
“Master?”
“No, I thought I heard Father Niu’s voice,” Shen Ying answered.
Chef paused. He released his divine perception once again, but did not find any trace of Father Niu. Just as he was about to ask, he heard a familiar voice. “Cheater Shen, Chef! Do you hear me?” The voice was extremely soft, but it sounded very close by.
Yi Qing seemed to recall something. He opened his storage bag and pulled out the transmission amulet that he had carried around with him for years. Indeed, that was where the voice was coming from.
“Father Niu?”
“Nonsense! Where the hell have the two of you been? Quick, come and save me!” Father Niu’s voice was breaking up, but they could hear his desperate tone. “I’m telling you, that… is… perverted! I’m not in the same city anymore, now listen-”
Then, the connection was lost. The transmission amulet was still lit, but they could no longer hear Father Niu’s voice through it.
“Eh?” Yi Qing was still listening. “Father Niu… Lonemoon?”
Chef called out for a long time, but Lonemoon’s voice did not come through the transmission amulet anymore. A moment later, the transmission amulet dimmed down. Even the light was gone.
What was going on?
Yi Qing’s heart sank. Father Niu seemed to be in big trouble this time. “Master, it looks like we cannot remain this way anymore. He must be stuck.”
“Mm, mm.” Shen Ying continued gnawing on her fruit.
“But…” Yi Qing frowned. “Father Niu’s sentences came in fractions earlier, and we have no way of figuring out exactly what he was saying. If those people meant to hide him, how would we know where he is?”
“I know!” Shen Ying suddenly exclaimed.
“Ah! Huh?” Yi Qing stared blankly at Shen Ying. “Master… you know?”
Shen Ying reached out and pointed toward something opposite from them. “Isn’t it written here?”
Yi Qing turned and looked. There was a notice board right in front of them, with many people crowded around it. Huge words were written on the notice, and it looked like there was even some kind of sorcery done on it. One by one, the words flew out of the paper and flew in mid-air. They also came with a voice that read the words out to the entire city.
[Special news: The Empress Tao Chu, will be holding a grand wedding in three days at her palace! She will be marrying a man of the God Gremlin race – Sir Lonemoon! Sir Lonemoon is heroic, brave, and extraordinarily righteous. He is indeed one of a kind in the world. The empress is pleased and is thus inviting all the gremlins of all the countries to come and witness this grand occasion where Sir Lonemoon will be crowned king! Long live the kingdom! Huge celebrations!]
Yi Qing: “…”
Shen Ying: “…”
Suddenly, they understood why Father Niu sounded so desperate.
This was considered… groom-napping? He had nobody to blame, since he set up his flags all over the place for no good reason!
“Master, what should we do?” Yi Qing turned to Shen Ying with a dark expression.
“What else can we do?” Shen Ying tried to dust the pastry crumbs off her hands, but failed to do so. Wiping her hands on Yi Qing’s sleeves, she said, “We have to go and attend the wedding!”
“…” Father Niu would surely dock their pay if he heard what Master had just said.
Shen Ying really had not expected that a man like Father Niu, who had remained single for tens of thousands of years, would be able to captivate a woman the moment he decided to make the effort. It was indeed wrong of her to belittle his capabilities.
Now that Father Niu was getting married, as his family members, they had to be present. Thus, they found out the way to the empress’ palace and quickly flew toward it.
The territory was huge and in quite a mess. From time to time, they would meet with spatial storms. Yet, they could not teleport in front of everyone. Thus, they had no choice but to summon their flying sword. Yi QIng was flying fast, but still it took them two whole days before they arrived at the empress’ palace.
From afar, they spotted a pink palace that looked very different from the ones they had seen before. This particular palace was situated atop a huge tree. That tree was a peach tree and was so big that it was covered a part of the sky. Its leaves stretched out toward the cities on the ground. There were also many peach blossoms on the tree, which fell down toward the cities continuously. It was almost like an endless rain of peach blossoms.
They had to say it – this was the most girly city they had ever seen. Things were really different with an empress around.
The two of them hopped off the flying sword and entered the city. There was no doubt about it – the palace atop the peach tree belonged to Empress Tao Chu. On hindsight, they realised that the name “Chu Tao” was too obvious. Only foreigners like them would have been tricked. Chef and Shen Ying guessed that Father Niu was being locked in the empress’ palace on the tree.
Yi QIng immediately released his divine perception to sweep the entire palace, yet there was again no trace of Father Niu’s presence.
“Master…” Yi Qing hesitated. “There seems to be some kind of strange sorcery around the empress’ palace. It’s preventing my divine perception from scanning inside.”
“Mm.” Shen Ying nodded and explained, “There are all kinds of living creatures from different planes in the void. It’s normal for the system to reject your powers.”
“Then what should we do? Should we just barge in?”
“There’s no hurry.” Shen Ying narrowed her eyes and looked suspicious. “We’re his actual family members after all. I’m sure we can walk in openly.” Shen Ying pointed to the entrance underneath the tree.
Yi Qing stared blankly at her, but obediently flew over to the entrance nevertheless. They stopped in front of the gremlin guarding the door.
“How dare you! Who dares to barge into the empress’ palace!” More than ten guards suddenly joined them at the entrance of the palace.
Yi Qing was just about to respond, when the head guard seemed to pause. He broke into a grin, stepped forward and cupped his fists. “So you’re distinguished guests!” He waved at the guards behind him, gesturing for them to move aside and make way for Yi Qing and Shen Ying. “Distinguished guests, the Empress told us that you would be coming. That’s why she instructed me to stand here and wait for your arrival. The Empress has been waiting for a long time. Please, follow me.”
Yi Qing looked at him, surprised. He had thought that since the Empress waited for them to turn their backs before abducting Father Niu, that she would not want them to attend the wedding. Why did it look like she was totally unconcerned that they had come to rescue him?
“Master…” Yi Qing hesitated, unsure what to do.
“Let’s go.” Shen Ying followed the guard, unfazed.
Thus, Yi Qing followed the head guard and Shen Ying into the palace. They walked toward a huge hole in the tree. After going through several transportation arrays, they found themselves in a completely different place. Several minutes later, they arrived outside a pink main hall. Throughout their entire journey, they did not meet with any dangers at all. It was truly like the Empress welcomed them in her palace.
“Please, distinguished guests!” The head guard stopped at the door of the main hall. “The Empress is already inside.”
Yi Qing became even more suspicious. He subconsciously grabbed Shen Ying’s hand as they both entered together. The inside of the main hall looked very similar to the outside. There were thick layers of peach petals everywhere. On either side of the room, there were also strings of translucent wool hanging from the ceiling which swayed with the breeze. They felt like they were in a dreamland.
