"Stop!" Lucy Luan snatched the branding iron away, revealing herself and Sean.
The old woman saw them and turned pale, dropping to her knees and bowing low. "High Gods, forgive me! Spare me! I’ll never dare again, never!"
Lucy glanced at the little girl—she looked about thirteen or fourteen, with a delicate, lovely face.
"This is horrible!" Lucy snapped. "She’s just a child—how could you even think of doing this?"
"Spare me, High Gods! Spare me!" The old woman kept begging, trembling all over.
But to their shock, just as they were saving her, the little girl suddenly shouted angrily, "Don’t you dare hurt my grandmother! I begged her to do this! If you want to kill someone, kill me!"
Lucy was stunned. "What? You asked her... to do this?"
"Yes! I did!" The girl looked determined and brave.
"You wanted her to brand your face? Why?" Lucy was completely baffled.
"Why else? So I won’t get dragged off to the White Pavilion by people like you!"
Lucy frowned. "You’ve got it wrong. We just heard you crying and came to check—nobody’s taking you anywhere."
The old woman had been watching them for a while and now asked, "You two must be outsiders, right?"
"That’s right," Lucy said. "We’re Divine Generals from Drake Abyss."
The old woman’s eyes lit up. "Really? You’re Divine Generals? The ones who protect the mortal realm?"
"Yes. So… what’s really going on here?" Lucy asked. "If you need help, just tell us—we’ll do everything we can."
The old woman’s brow furrowed, but she said nothing.
The little girl was more innocent. "We can’t say! If we do, we’ll all die!"
Lucy told them, "I promise—if you tell us the truth, we won’t let the bad guys find out. Absolutely not!"
After Lucy’s repeated promises and encouragement, the grandmother and granddaughter finally confessed.
Turns out, Hundred Blossoms Paradise really was a Flower Fairy haven once.
They lived here, happy and free.
But then a Divine Race faction took over.
The Flower Fairies couldn’t freely enter or leave their own paradise anymore.
At first, the Divine Race just forced the prettiest Flower Fairies to "make merry" with them.
Then they built the White Pavilion and made the Flower Fairies sell their bodies for profit.
Most Flower Fairies are born beautiful. Once they take human form and look about thirteen or fourteen, eight or nine out of ten can’t escape this fate.
They tried to fight back, but the Divine Race running this place is terrifyingly powerful. Their resistance was crushed.
Many Flower Fairies died horribly...
Lucy grew angrier as she listened. "The Divine Race you’re talking about—is it the Xuanchen Clan?"
"We’re not sure," the old woman said. "Ordinary Flower Fairies only ever see their Divine Attendants. The real Divine Race—probably only the Flower Fairies inside the White Pavilion know who they are."
"Exactly! They go out of their way to hide their identities. Nobody’s allowed to mention their clan name," the little girl added.
Lucy thought for a moment and said, "Don’t tell anyone you met us tonight. Otherwise, you could bring disaster on yourselves—got it?"
"We understand." The little girl looked at them with trusting eyes. "Divine Generals, can you save us? Can you drive them out?"
Lucy nodded firmly. "We can! We absolutely will!"
Grandmother and granddaughter exchanged a look, then knelt and kowtowed. "If you truly can, then on behalf of all the Flower Fairies in Hundred Blossoms Paradise, we thank you, High Gods!"