“For three thousand years, we have been striving to drive away those cruel, vicious members of the Demon Clan, sparing no cost to achieve this.”
“You must remember: the Demon Clan is our sworn enemy, bound to us by oceans of blood. The relationship between us is destined to be one of life and death.”
“The mission of every human professional is to slay the Demon Clan and safeguard the peace of humanity.”
When Long Xingyu spoke of the Demon Clan, there was an overwhelming intensity of hatred in his words. And now, he intended to instill this hatred into Long Haochen and Bai Xi.
Long Haochen had already been influenced, echoing Long Xingyu’s words with shared indignation.
The atmosphere was charged, and through the twins’ psychic connection, Bai Xi was also somewhat swept up by the emotion, her lips moving along as she repeated the words.
“The Demon Clan is our sworn enemy, bound to us by oceans of blood…”
But her mind reacted in time, snapping back to clarity.
That was close—she had almost been brainwashed.
Fortunately, she was no ordinary nine-year-old child. She possessed another set of memories, though that Vermilion Bird always said her memories were incomplete. Still, the existence of these memories prevented Bai Xi from being easily brainwashed.
Unaware of Bai Xi’s inner thoughts and hearing only her spoken words, Long Xingyu mistakenly believed his brainwashing had achieved initial success.
Little did he know that Bai Xi would not be brainwashed, and as her twin brother and a devoted sister-con, Long Haochen was likewise destined to remain unaffected.
In this move, Long Xingyu’s efforts were entirely in vain.
Time passed swiftly during their training. After a year of companionship, Bai Xi’s opinion of Long Xingyu had improved considerably—he was quite competent as a teacher.
If only he hadn’t intermittently instilled the ideology of hating the Demon Clan, it would have been even better.
He really hates the Demon Clan, Bai Xi couldn’t help but think during the hundredth instillation of hatred toward the Demon Clan.
“Hating the Demon Clan so much… I wonder what they did to him. Was it killing his father or stealing his wife? I don’t get it, but he does seem rather pitiful.”
＊
One year later, Hazy Moon City, Hazy Moon Branch Hall of the Knight Sacred Temple.
Bai Xi quietly followed behind Long Haochen the entire time, not uttering a word.
This time, she was also benefiting from Long Haochen’s privilege, able to come here with Long Xingyu’s letter of recommendation.
Unexpectedly, they were stopped right at the entrance.
“We’re also from the Knight Sacred Temple! We come from the Odin Sub-Temple.”
“You?”
Hearing this, the young Knight, who had been fairly polite until now, couldn’t help but inject a note of disdain into his tone.
His gaze fell on Bai Xi, who was trailing behind Long Haochen—with long hair, delicate features, and clearly a girl.
“Little brother, are you joking? Jokes should have their limits. Since when does the Knight Sacred Temple recruit girls? Especially a girl who looks as fragile as her—she doesn’t even carry a sword on her back.”
Bai Xi’s complexion was paler, her frame petite and slightly thin, which indeed gave an impression of delicacy. But that was merely an impression.
“My sister’s sword is on my back. Besides, has the Knight Sacred Temple explicitly forbidden recruiting girls? Female Knights are just rare, not nonexistent. My sister is a female Knight, and she will become a very powerful Knight in the future.”
The voice of the sister-con Long Haochen rose a couple of notches, tinged with anger.
It was fine to criticize him, but not his sister.
“Well said! Who says the Knight Sacred Temple doesn’t accept girls? Am I not a girl? Am I not a Knight?”
A clear, melodious female voice rang out as a pink-haired girl in light armor emerged from within.
Well, talk about a quick turnaround.
“Little sister, I’m rooting for you too. The path for us girls to become Knights may be more rugged, but we’ll tread it more carefully and steadily.”
The pink-haired girl shot a glare at the young Knight at the entrance, then took each child by the hand.
“My name is Li Xin. Come, I’ll take you inside.”
“Thank you, sister.”
Two childish voices chimed in unison, and Li Xin couldn’t help but smile at the address.
“I’m Long Haochen, and this is my younger sister, Bai Xi.”
“You’re siblings? How come you have different surnames? Is it because one takes the father’s surname and the other the mother’s?”
With the genuinely female Bai Xi by his side, no one would mistake Long Haochen’s delicate features for those of a girl.
“Yes, we’re dragon-phoenix twins. I take my father’s surname, while Xi Xi takes our mother’s. But our names together form ‘Chen Xi’ (dawn), which clearly sounds like siblings’ names.”
Long Haochen explained with a smile, carefully avoiding any mention of the year he wanted to change his name to Bai Chen.
They hadn’t walked far into the Hazy Moon Branch Hall when they saw six enormous stone chairs.
These were none other than the Thrones of the Divine Seal, symbolizing the highest honor of the Knight Sacred Temple.
After Li Xin briefly introduced the Thrones of the Divine Seal, Long Haochen instinctively moved to cover Bai Xi’s mouth.
But it was too late. Bai Xi was already gazing at the thrones with sparkling eyes, declaring with absolute certainty:
“Long Haochen, see those six chairs? One of them is yours. You will definitely become a Divine Knight and ascend the Throne of the Divine Seal.”
“Hahahaha…”
Li Xin burst into laughter at Bai Xi’s words.
Long Haochen, however, felt nothing but embarrassment. Such talk was fine in private, but saying it out loud like this was just awkward.
What if he didn’t become a Divine Knight? The pressure was real.
Seeing Long Haochen’s shyness, Li Xin stopped laughing.
“Little sister Xi Xi is right. Who doesn’t want to become a Divine Knight? My ultimate goal is also to become a Divine Knight and ascend the Throne of the Divine Seal.”
“Exactly! A Knight who doesn’t aspire to ascend the throne and become a Divine Knight isn’t a good Knight.”
Bai Xi nodded vigorously in agreement.
“If everyone wants to become a Divine Knight, these six thrones won’t be enough!”
Seeing this, Long Haochen shed his shyness and joined in the joking.
“Little sister Xi Xi, you’re even braver than I was back then, and luckier too. You have no idea—my family didn’t agree with me becoming a Knight, and no branch hall would accept girls. So I disguised myself as a boy, ran away from home, and took the exams all the way. Later, when I couldn’t hide it anymore, I finally revealed myself as a girl.”
Li Xin was quite talkative. While waiting for the master of the Hazy Moon Branch Hall, she took the initiative to chat with the siblings, sharing stories from her past.
“But I guess I’ve managed to tough it out a bit—I’ve already become a real Knight and haven’t let my efforts go to waste. I can look out for you in the future, so don’t give up.”
At that moment, Li Xin didn’t realize that for Bai Xi to openly join the Knight Sacred Temple as a girl, there must be some connections behind her—at the very least, her situation was much better than Li Xin’s had been.
All she knew was that having been through the storm herself, she wanted to hold an umbrella for Bai Xi.
“Thank you, Sister Li. I won’t give up.”
Bai Xi sensed Li Xin’s goodwill and also admired her courageous attitude in striving for her dreams, offering her a genuine smile.