The news of the return to Wo Hua Imperial City brought the most joy to Lie Rou. Ever since the Blood Cherry Duke, who was Yue Jinghua’s father Yue Nian, went missing, Lie Rou had no choice but to take her twins and lead a dependent life in Shang Kingdom for three years, far from her home. Throughout these three years, she did not go a day without missing Yue Minzhi in Wo Hua Imperial City. Although she seldom mentioned it in front of Yue Jinghua and Yue Chen, on every festival, when Jingxin Courtyard prepared a small family feast, Lie Rou would always set aside an extra set of tableware. After receiving the Duke Gold Voucher from the Empire, Lie Rou caressed it and burst into tears of joy. This left Yue Jinghua flustered beside her, fearless of heaven and earth but unable to bear seeing Lie Rou heartbroken and in tears. Earlier, when Yue Jinghua learned of Yue Chen’s unannounced departure (her version was that someone from his hometown had come to take him back), her beautiful mother grieved for months, only managing to crack a smile a few days ago. Yet, upon seeing the Golden Scroll from her brother, she started crying again. "Huahua, your mother is worried about Minzhi. It’s been hard on him these years. If it were the heyday of the Blood Cherry Duke Mansion, there would be no need to brandish the heirloom Golden Scroll of the Duke Mansion." Lie Rou was a thousand miles away, but her heart was always with Yue Minzhi in Wo Hua Imperial City. Yue Minzhi was two years older than Yue Jinghua, and as the years passed, Yue Jinghua had turned seventeen and Yue Minzhi nineteen. When the Blood Cherry Duke Mansion fell into ruin and bankruptcy, Yue Minzhi was the first to bear the brunt of the impact. Handsome and young, Yue Minzhi’s family was one of the few distinguished ones in the previous Imperial City. By the age of fifteen, he was already engaged to the eldest daughter of Fuluo Family, a prominent noble lineage at the time. After the Duke Mansion’s crisis, the Fuluo Family immediately annulled the engagement, and the upper-class Imperial Nobles secretly mocked Yue Minzhi for being jilted. Fortunately, Yue Minzhi was strong-willed and never showed a hint of sadness in front of his family. In the Dragon War Empire, men are considered adults at eighteen and women at sixteen. Descendants of Imperial Nobles, with a Cultivation level of Dark Earth and above, can participate in the Dragon Pulling Test and qualify for selection into the Dragon Rider Team. "The Dragon Pulling Test, no wonder big brother said in his previous letters that he was attending training – he aims to become a Dragon Knight." Having seen Jin Nuo’s Black Beauty, Yue Jinghua had a rather positive impression of the Imperial Dragon Knights. Being a Dragon Knight would be advantageous both for the Blood Cherry Duke Mansion and Yue Minzhi himself. But what are the rules of the Dragon Pulling Test? Yue Jinghua pondered this, considering she could learn about the Dragon Pulling Test through Jin Nuo. "Your mother also hopes for your brother’s safe passage through the Dragon Pulling Test, but..." Lie Rou’s expression turned troubled. Seeing Lie Rou’s look, Yue Jinghua guessed there might be some tricks involved in the Dragon Pulling Test. Meet the soldier with a shield, the flood with a dike – since they planned to return to Wo Hua Imperial City, even if demons and monsters roamed the city, she was confident she could eliminate them one by one. Having decided to return to Wo Hua Imperial City, Yue Jinghua immediately began making travel arrangements. On their journey up until now, they had taken their time, stopping and going from Shang Kingdom to Fengdan County, braving the wind and sleeping under the stars. Now heading to Wo Hua Imperial City, the distance was tens of times greater than before, and she did not know how much it would delay the journey due to bumps along the way. Asking Jin Nuo how he had rushed there in the first place, Yue Jinghua was frustrated by his answer. Since he was traveling with an Imperial Tax Officer, Jin Nuo had set off from Wo Hua Imperial City four or five months earlier. Although they passed through several Transmission Arrays, most of the journey was spent overcoming mountains and riding Dark Beasts. Because in the two powerful nations, aside from a small number of civilian Transmission Arrays, most of the Transmission Arrays were under military control, it was only in small barbarian territories like Fengdan County that one could create their own Transmission Arrays. Thus, the plan Yue Jinghua thought of, to quickly head to Wo Hua Imperial City using Transmission Arrays, was dead on arrival before it could even get off the ground. When she was outside the Dragon Bone Great Wall, Yue Jinghua single-handedly killed all of the Empire’s berserk rhinos, causing the Imperial Army to lose the majority of their Xuan Beasts. If they were to follow Jin Nuo’s original plan to return, it would probably take another four to five months to get back to Wo Hua Imperial City. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩⁂𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾⁂𝔫𝔢𝔱 After mulling it over for an entire night, Yue Jinghua suddenly realized that she already had an empty "ship" at her disposal. The Sky Sun Shuttle, ever since being transferred to Yue Jinghua by Yue Chen, had yet to be used by her. Firstly, because between Xuan Beast Ridge and her territory, Yue Jinghua had already ordered Qian Luo to set up several Arrays, and secondly, the Sky Sun Shuttle was meant for long-distance flights, something Yue Jinghua had no use for earlier on. Prior to leaving, Yue Chen had already passed on the usage mantra of the Sky Sun Shuttle to Yue Jinghua. After taking out the jujube kernel-sized Sky Sun Shuttle, Yue Jinghua started reciting the mantra. At first, the tiny Sky Sun Shuttle the size of a jujube kernel didn’t budge for quite some time. Yue Jinghua couldn’t help feeling puzzled – could it be that the Sky Sun Shuttle was damaged from not being used for too long? She examined the Sky Sun Shuttle, which didn’t seem much different from a hard jujube kernel, several times in her hand. Unwittingly, the sharp end of the Sky Sun Shuttle pricked Yue Jinghua’s fingertip. The moment it touched Yue Jinghua’s blood, the Sky Sun Shuttle reacted like a parched traveler finding a water source, almost frantically sucking up Yue Jinghua’s blood. "Tch, blood activation," Yue Jinghua watched as the Sky Sun Shuttle clung to her fingertip like a blood-sucking leech, unable to be removed no matter how hard she tried. Just as the significant blood loss was making Yue Jinghua feel faint, the Sky Sun Shuttle went "clack" and fell from her hand. Like a drunkard who had had too much to drink, the Sky Sun Shuttle, after absorbing a substantial amount of Yue Jinghua’s blood, floated midair, swaying unsteadily. The originally desiccated black body of the shuttle, now like coated in a layer of luminescent spiderweb, emanated a red glow akin to bloodlight. The Sky Sun Shuttle grew larger and larger, eventually transforming into a submarine-like airship, resembling a torpedo in shape, with two entrance ports on the sides. Yue Jinghua entered the Sky Sun Shuttle, curious about the interior arrangements. Once inside, Yue Jinghua couldn’t help but twitch the corners of her mouth. It turns out not only should one not judge a book by its cover, but the same also applies to ships – this Sky Sun Shuttle was indeed the most outstanding work of Yue Chen, its interior was simply breathtaking. After coming out from inside the Sky Sun Shuttle, Yue Jinghua first found Qian Luo to come in and make some minor adjustments to the construction of the Sky Sun Shuttle, then she gathered several subordinates to discuss matters within the territory and the affairs within the July Mercenary Team for the journey to Wo Hua Imperial City. Soon, after about ten days of preparation, Yue Jinghua found Jin Nuo and agreed to return to Wo Hua Imperial City with him, but she had one additional condition: "Returning to Wo Hua Imperial City is fine, but we must go back by empty ship." After pondering for a moment, Jin Nuo casually agreed. After all, he had originally planned to use Cloud Sailing to return to the Imperial City, and it didn’t matter to him if there were a few more people tagging along.