Book 8: Chapter 79: Dream (1)

“Big Sister!” Lyla rushed into the shocked Madeleine’s arms. She had just been trying her best to recover her stamina when a pink haired bundle of joy rushed toward her.“Little Lyla?” Madeleine blinked, trying to adjust her bearings. She hadn’t seen Lyla in more than two decades, how could she not be shocked by the little girl’s growth?Lyla buried herself in Madeleine’s ample bosom, holding onto her tightly.Madeleine smiled an understanding smile, patting Lyla’s head. She knew how hard it was for Dyon to send Lyla away to an unknown place all those years ago, but how much harder had it been for her? Lyla wasn’t even ten years old back then, yet she was thrust into a completely unknown environment.In truth, Dyon did so because he trusted his grand teacher. Abraxus assured him that sending Lyla to the Crystal Dragon Clan would be akin to giving her an opportunity to spread her wings. Why else would Lyla’s True Empath abilities be so far beyond what Dyon’s father in law, King Acacia, was capable of?  Lyla had worked hard in the past decades, often spending months at a time in Calming Lake. Her state of mind had reached such a serene level that she could bring out large percentages of her true potential already despite being so young. Maybe if it hadn’t been for Damaris, and also Zaire who visited her as often as he could, she would have broken down by now.“You too Little Zaire? You two have grown so much.” Madeleine’s caring smile made Zaire blush, he wanted to hug his big sister too, but he was struggling with his pride too much. Unfortunately for him, his big sister was much stronger than he was, so he couldn’t resist as a wave of energy brought him to her side.In the end, it was a funny, but heart-warming image. Lyla holding onto Madeleine tightly, and Zaire kneeling to hug her as well because he was too tall.After a few moments, Madeleine began to scold them as every big sister should.“You two shouldn’t have come here, it very dangerous. How could you let them?”Facing Madeleine’s questioning gaze, Damaris wanted to find a place to bury her head. The obvious defense was that Lyla and Zaire would have come anyway, but she didn’t have the face to say this because she knew very well that she was the first to stand up and say that they should go.“And look at you, you can’t fool me, your qi distribution is all over the place.” Madeleine looked Lyla up and down. “What did you do to get in here that impacted you so much?”Lyla blushed, lowering her head. It had been easy to disperse Alax’s enigmatic qi because his control was so poor, but it had been far more difficult to scatter the qi in the atmosphere. Then, she forcibly took control of a comet grade formation and formed it to her will. It might have been fine if it was a normal scaled formation, but this one covered the whole of Middle Lily City, so it was easily dozens of miles across. If she said that this didn’t impact her at all, she would definitely be lying.“And look at you.” Madeleine turned her scolding to Zaire. “You gave up your lower tier rewards by climbing up here so quickly, those rewards would have been very beneficial to your big brother, but now they’re gone.”Zaire, who had just been snickering, lowered his head as well. He didn’t know why the normally docile Madeleine was suddenly acting like this, he could only be embarrassed.Madeleine was very much used to playing the big sister role. For a large part of her life, she didn’t like it at all. Back during her Focus Academy days, it was a façade she put up to escape the ticking time bomb that was her constitution. Once that worry was taken off her shoulders, she mellowed to the Madeleine they all knew and loved.But, the Madeleine of now had responsibilities to undertake once more. She was the First Wife of a future Emperor and a woman destined to be the First Empress of the Mortal Empire. This didn’t mention that it would be her responsibility to keep the Sacharro household in order. She had to be a little stricter now even if it conflicted with the way she normally wanted to do things.“We understand big sister Madeleine.” The three lowered their heads in shame.“Good.” Madeleine nodded in satisfaction.“Can we still teach them a lesson though?” Zaire asked with expectant eyes.Madeleine sighed, looking off into the distance. “What remains of the Flaming Lily Sect disciples isn’t in good shape. Many of them are dejected.”“They might see a light of hope, though.” Lyla smiled lightly, pointing toward Yandevere who had been trying to give the family some space. Or, maybe she was just too embarrassed to look Madeleine in the eye.Madeleine glanced toward Yandevere silently for a moment. It was true. If Yandevere hadn’t been found out by Dyon, their Sect would collapse. How would the remaining loyalists react to finding out their strongest Legatee was a traitor? There would be no hope left.But, now that she was here, even if it wasn’t entirely by choice, it would still be helpful.After thinking for a while, Madeleine took a deep breath.“Since all of our enemies will gather here, why not? Let’s wipe them out. I don’t believe that even the Golden Crow Sect can recover easily from losing a large portion of their celestials…”