"Why are you here, Chu Feng?"
Long Xiaoxiao raised her small face, her lively eyes fixed tightly on Chu Feng, not daring to look away for even a moment — afraid that if she shifted her gaze, he would disappear.
"Just a lucky coincidence," Chu Feng said.
"Lucky coincidence?" Long Xiaoxiao blinked, not quite catching what Chu Feng meant.
"Ahem..." A sudden cough rang out — it was the white-robed man, who had walked over together with the black-robed man.
"Little Junior Sister, aren't you going to introduce us?" the black-robed man said.
"Chu Feng, these are my two senior brothers."
Long Xiaoxiao pointed at the white-robed man. "Eldest Senior Brother, Cheng Tianchan."
Then she pointed at the black-robed man. "Second Senior Brother, Zhao Yunmo."
After the introductions, Long Xiaoxiao turned to her two senior brothers with a radiant smile. "Eldest Senior Brother, Second Senior Brother, this is Chu Feng — the one I'm always telling you about, the greatest genius of our Holy Light Galaxy."
"What a remarkable coincidence, running into Brother Chu Feng here."
"Brother Chu Feng, a pleasure."
Cheng Tianchan and Zhao Yunmo cupped their fists toward Chu Feng in greeting.
"The pleasure is mine." Chu Feng returned the gesture.
Through their conversation, Chu Feng learned what had happened.
Long Xiaoxiao had once fallen gravely ill with a strange ailment, and no treatment could cure it.
Though she lay in a coma, every night when the stars appeared, she would reach out her hand and point toward the vast starry sky.
And the direction she pointed was precisely toward the location of the Totem Galaxy.
One night or two might have been a coincidence, but Long Xiaoxiao did this almost every single night. No matter how the stars shifted, the position she indicated was always accurate — each time pointing unerringly toward the Totem Galaxy.
So Long Xiaoxiao's parents concluded that perhaps the Totem Galaxy held a cure for her illness and brought her there.
And once they arrived, Long Xiaoxiao actually woke up. Not only that — the bloodline within her underwent a transformation. Her cultivation advanced rapidly, breaking through to the first rank of Martial Ancestor, and she even triggered a celestial phenomenon.
That phenomenon attracted a powerful martial cultivator, who took one look at Long Xiaoxiao and immediately saw her potential. He took her on as his disciple.
This master also had two other disciples — Cheng Tianchan and Zhao Yunmo.
They were not natives of this world. They had come here on a single errand and happened to hear that someone had been captured.
They had tracked the trail all the way to this place.
Under Long Xiaoxiao's prompting, Chu Feng also explained why he had come here.
"So you came to save me?"
"What a wonderful coincidence."
When Long Xiaoxiao learned that Chu Feng had appeared here specifically to rescue her, a brilliantly beautiful smile bloomed across her gorgeous face.
Watching that smile of hers, both Cheng Tianchan and Zhao Yunmo felt a wave of unease cross their expressions.
The truth was, they had long heard Long Xiaoxiao speak of Chu Feng.
Though Long Xiaoxiao described Chu Feng as a hero of the highest caliber, in their eyes, the Holy Light Galaxy was nothing but a backwater — a place not even dogs would want to visit.
How could somewhere like that produce anyone truly remarkable?
Even its greatest genius was, to them, trash among trash.
Long Xiaoxiao only thought he was impressive because she had never seen the wider world.
Both of them had believed they could easily win Long Xiaoxiao's heart.
But today, upon meeting this Chu Feng, they realized that Long Xiaoxiao's feelings for him were anything but ordinary.
From the moment Chu Feng appeared, her eyes had barely left him.
And the smile she wore today was one they had never seen before.
After all, they had done plenty to win Long Xiaoxiao's favor over the days. She was a cheerful girl by nature, and she had shown her happiness in front of them more than once.
But never like this — never this happy.
"Look at those two — I told you they'd be your rivals, but you wouldn't listen."
"For all you know, they're already plotting how to get rid of you. Be careful, Chu Feng," the queen said.
Chu Feng had naturally noticed the shift in their expressions, but he pretended not to see.
For Long Xiaoxiao's sake, as long as they didn't do anything to harm him or her, he saw no reason to make things difficult for them.
"Oh, right, Chu Feng — we're heading to the Strongest Trial. Come with us!" Long Xiaoxiao suddenly said.
"I'd better not join your trial," Chu Feng said.
He had come here because he was worried about Long Xiaoxiao's safety, but his real objective was to destroy the Situ Spirit Gate.
Now that Long Xiaoxiao was safe and had even found a powerful master to back her, Chu Feng naturally wanted to return and deal with the Situ Spirit Gate.