Long Chen and Mi Liayi stepped out of the Spatial Portal in the desert. The Spirit Eagle was still waiting nearby. As the location they Teleported back to was some distance away from the location Long Chen intended, he appeared fifty meters away from the Spirit Eagle.
The Spirit Eagle saw Long Chen even though he was standing a little far. It flew towards Long Chen and landed in front of him. Long Chen didn't even need to play the Spirit Flute to call it closer.
"Where are we right now?" Mi Liayi asked Long Chen as she got on top of the Spirit Eagle with Long Chen.
"We are inside the Sunai Kingdom near their southern border. If we fly in that direction for just a little longer, we'll be back where we came from," Long Chen replied as he pointed towards the North.
"Sunai Kingdom, are we going to stay here? What do you have in mind? This is the enemy Kingdom; if someone recognizes you or me, things can be really bad. Did you manage to find a safe place here?" Mi Liayi said to Long Chen as he glanced at him with concern, but then she suddenly realized that Long Chen was staying here for over a month. He still looked fine, so he probably found a safe place already. That must be why he came to bring her back.
"I did find a safe place here, but I can't take you there. There are too many complications. We're leaving this kingdom. I'll find a safe place for you in a different place. You can stay safely there without worrying about any War," Long Chen said as he patted Mi Liayi like he was patting a little girl.
Mi Liayi didn't know, but she found it weird. She was supposed to be the mother, yet she was being patted by Long Chen like she was a kid. She didn't resist, though. It felt soothing.
After a brief moment, Long Chen took off his hand and sat down. The Spirit Eagle started rising into the air and flew northeast.
The Kingdom of Reanto was the Kingdom that shared the border with both, Sunai Kingdom and the Aksha Kingdom. It was on the East of the Aksha Kingdom and on the northeast of Sunai Kingdom.
Long Chen's journey was going to start from there
As the Kingdoms were much smaller than the Sunai Kingdom of Aksha Kingdom, he needed to cross four small kingdoms in order to reach the north of Aksha.
That's why there were four kingdoms on his path of approach, the Kingdom of Reanto being the first of them. The Third Kingdom was the one which had the town where Long Chen wanted to go to find the Sword of Time before crossing the fourth kingdom and reaching his destination.
As the Spirit Eagle continued flying, Long Chen told Mi Liayi that he was going to the fourth kingdom for a mission and he couldn't take her there. He explained to Mi Liayi about his plan of finding a safe place for her where she could stay. He also said that he probably wasn't going to meet her after that for quite some time until his mission was completed, but he assured her that once he was done with everything, life was going to be eternally peaceful.
****
The Journey lasted for twelve hours before Long Chen had to stop the Spirit Eagle and land in the nearest town. He was a Cultivator, and he could go on for days without eating, but Mi Liayi wasn't a Cultivator. She couldn't live without eating for longer periods of time. As he was going with Mi Liayi, he had the need to go down and have her ear.
Fortunately, when he left the Royal City of the Sunai Kingdom, he was given the currency of every kingdom he was going to pass through to make his journey easier.
He landed in the town with Mi Liayi.
He walked towards the nearest restaurant with Mi Liayi. It was a small town, but it seemed to have a lot of facilities. Still, the town seemed empty. Only a few people could be seen in the town streets. Those rare few people were staring at Long Chen and Mi Liayi.
He was walking towards the town when he stopped. He didn't know why, but he was finding their gazes weird. Why were they staring at him so much? Even though he was a stranger in this town, he shouldn't have attracted so much attention. Could this be because this town didn't get many visitors? Was this why people kept leaving this town, and it became empty like it was? That could explain why people were looking at him with such exciting gazes.
He still kept his suspicions on this town as he walked towards the restaurant. He could see a board of the restaurant.
As I entered the place.
"You sit here, I'll order something," Long Chen said to Mi Liayi as he walked towards the reception where an old lady was standing with a caring smile on his face.
Mi Liayi sat at the table and watched Long Chen going towards the reception.
"Ah, Hello. We would like to have something to eat. What does this restaurant have available at the moment?" He asked the old woman.
"Oh, welcome, welcome. We have everything you might need. Just sit there comfortably and let us feed you. It's been so long since a guest came here. Let us take care of you to the best of our abilities," the old lady said with a fawning smile on her face.
" But the expenses and everything else..." Long Chen asked as he frowned.
"Don't worry about that. Everything's on the house for only one bronze Coin since you're our first guest. Sit comfortably," the old lady said as she came forward. She held Long Chen's hands and brought him closer to the table where Mi Liayi was sitting. She made Long Chen sit down.
"You wait here. I'll go back and tell our chef that guests are here," She said gently before the old lady turned back and went back. She entered the door in the back and disappeared from the view.
"What a nice lady," Mi Liayi muttered with a smile.
"Yeah, a little too nice," Long Chen muttered as he frowned.
'Xun, do you find it strange as well?' He asked Xun through his thoughts.
Strangely enough, Xun didn't reply.
Long Chen didn't know why, but since he left the Royal Palace of Sunai Kingdom, he hadn't heard Xun's voice even once. She didn't appear in front of him even though he called her a few times.
'What happened to this girl? Is she angry or busy with something?' Long Chen thought as he frowned. He shook his head and placed his focus back on the situation at hand.
"Don't eat or drink whatever she gives us. Just pretend that you're not hungry. Only eat when I tell you that everything's fine," he told Mi Liayi abruptly while keeping his voice low.
"Eh?" Mi Liayi glanced at him in confusion, but as she saw his serious expression, she didn't say anything. She didn't know why, but it was like Long Chen was an entirely different person than the boy she had known since he was born. He looked more dependable and mature now. How did it suddenly happen? She couldn't put her finger on it.
She simply agreed to do as he said.
****
Back in the Bloodline Temple, Xun was still sitting in front of the mirror, sobbing.
"Don't worry. Soon, he will be ready. I'll bring you back. Even if I have to sell my soul to the devil and destroy everything, I'll bring you back. Long Chen... will not exist for longer..." Xun muttered as she steeled her expressions.