The name Sylvia had become rather well-known among the Cloud Knights recently.
After all, it was because of her that a major internal review swept through the Cloud Knights, and later, she fought alongside the General to severely wound the Emanator of Destruction, Phantylia.
The former might have drawn quite a bit of grumbling from the Cloud Knight officers, but for the ordinary soldiers, that review of the Cloud Knights was definitely in their interest.
All those rotten things they'd seen but never dared speak of in the past… at least now they'd been cleaned up, for the most part, with many high-and-mighty figures they'd long disliked falling from grace.
It wasn't just deeply satisfying; it also freed up a large number of promotion positions within the Cloud Knights.
Though these two Cloud Knights had never met Sylvia, after noting her white hair, her familiarity with Tingyun, her large red sword, and other such features, they still recognized her.
"So it's Lady Sylvia herself coming to assist! We will cooperate with our full strength!"
The two Cloud Knights didn't utter a single word of refusal, even their form of address changing from 'miss' to 'lady'.
They never thought they'd one day meet the real person in the flesh.
They grew instantly excited, practically wishing they could drag the Mara-struck lying on the ground back up to fight another three hundred rounds just to vent their enthusiasm.
"Ah… well, you're too kind. And I'm not a Cloud Knight, you don't need to salute me like that."
Sylvia hadn't expected these two to become so worked up upon recognizing her.
Could Xianzhou's martial culture really be this deeply ingrained?
Sylvia didn't understand her own reputation on the Xianzhou.
After all, the follow-up matters had all been handled personally by Jing Yuan.
But what Sylvia didn't know was that when he handled things, that fellow did everything under Sylvia's banner.
Every time he moved to arrest someone, he'd raise the flag of 'we must not let our ally grow cold-hearted,' extolling the power of Sylvia's single slash.
If anyone dared plead for mercy, Jing Yuan would directly pull out his jade abacus, open Sylvia's contact info, and hand it over, telling them to speak with Sylvia face-to-face.
He even said that if Sylvia agreed, he, Jing Yuan, would have not a single word of objection.
Thus, everyone who wanted to chatter fell silent.
What could they say? Who would dare?
This was a fierce person who nearly split the Exalting Sanctum in two with one slash, clearly standing on Jing Yuan's side, with terrifyingly high combat power.
If you went and contacted her, and she decided to slash you, where would you go to reason?
Jing Yuan was dead set on cleaning house; you running off to deliver yourself might just make him secretly delighted.
Could you really expect him to stand up for you?
So, Sylvia was completely unaware that her prestige within the Cloud Knight ranks was actually quite high.
Many newly promoted officers felt indebted to her.
After all, without this whole business with Sylvia, who knew how many centuries they'd have waited for promotion.
Sylvia didn't know any of this.
So she scratched her head, watching as the two Cloud Knights, as if injected with adrenaline, climbed onto Bella's claws and flew off.
Beside her, Tingyun had now caught her breath.
While Sylvia was giving the Cloud Knights their orders, she had bent down to chat with Huohuo for a bit, finally learning how the two had ended up together.
Sensing Huohuo's social awkwardness, Tingyun didn't press her, letting her rest to the side after a short while.
Standing up straight again, Tingyun looked into Sylvia's eyes, her emotions seeming to overflow, almost forming tangible threads.
"Counting today, this humble one owes the benefactor two lives now… Ah, this humble one has no way to repay—"
"What, are you going to pledge yourself in marriage?"
Sylvia looked at Tingyun with a laugh, her manner open and candid.
But Tingyun was even more direct: "If the benefactor does not find this humble one unworthy, even resigning from all duties to follow the benefactor far away would be fine~"
"Come on—" Sylvia reached out and pinched Tingyun's cheek, giving it a light pull.
She glanced at the system prompt that popped up showing an increase in affection:
--+--
[Target: Tingyun]
[Affection: 81 (Friendly & Curious)]
--+--
The affection had broken through eighty points in one go.
Theoretically, she probably could be persuaded to leave.
But Tingyun held the reins of the Whistling Flames Merchant Guild and was acknowledged by Yukong as the next candidate for Helm Master of the Sky-Faring Commission.
Forget that Sylvia wouldn't actually take her away; even if she wanted to, Yukong would never agree.
'You think you can just run off with my successor, whom I've raised so big?'
Tingyun let Sylvia pull on her cheek without swatting her hand away.
Mainly because she'd already been embarrassed enough earlier; one more thing didn't really matter.
Moreover, Sylvia's timely rescue today had genuinely made Tingyun feel a sense of security around her.
That earlier line was half a joke, but the other half was serious. Tingyun did feel a bit like traveling the galaxy with Sylvia by her side.
Just like Acheron, who accompanied Sylvia during their first meeting.
Sylvia had thought Tingyun would use her folding fan to bat her hand away.
Instead, she saw this woman bent over, cheek being tugged, raising her dewy eyes to gaze directly at her, presenting a look of 'yours for the taking.'
This instead made Sylvia feel embarrassed, and she let go.
"You should go rest a bit. In a little while, I'll clear a path to take everyone out."
While coming from the sky earlier, Sylvia had gotten a clear view of Cloudford's situation.
She now had a general idea of which routes were easier and which were badly blocked. Going to clear a path now would definitely be more efficient.
Tingyun also noticed Sylvia's shyness. Though she herself had been very embarrassed earlier, now seeing Sylvia flustered because of her actually lifted her spirits quite a bit.
"This humble one understands~ The benefactor must be weary from rushing all the way here. You should rest for a while too."
"Alright."
With the enemies cleared, there wasn't much to do now.
They just had to wait for the merchant guild members to recover before setting off.
Naturally, Sylvia nodded in agreement to Tingyun's invitation.
So, Sylvia raised her head and called over to Huohuo: "Huohuo, you've been busy all along the way. Come rest for a while too."
"O-okay, Sister Sylvia!" After using the Ten-Lords Commission's methods to deal with the Marastruck, Huohuo really hadn't known what to do.
Hearing Sylvia call her, she immediately twitched her ears, trotted over, and sat down right next to Sylvia, pressing close.
Tingyun, looking past Sylvia, observed Huohuo snuggled up to her.
This little fox seemed a bit peculiar. After all, that flaming tail wasn't something Foxians were born with.
Tingyun seemed to have heard before about a little Foxian whose tail was on fire.
She thought it was just an urban legend, but it turned out such a person really existed. And she'd actually joined the Ten-Lords Commission, no wonder those rumors were so mysterious.
Thinking of this, Tingyun's large tail subconsciously wrapped around Sylvia's waist. Sylvia glanced at Tingyun but didn't speak yet.
Huohuo, however, noticing Tingyun's tail, suddenly felt a surge of crisis.
A thought emerged: 'Sister Sylvia actually knows such a beautiful Foxian big sister too.'
Sylvia was a rare 'sister' to Huohuo, and she naturally didn't want to yield her to someone else.
So, she proactively reached out, hugged Sylvia's arm, and leaned in.
Being intimately snuggled by two fox-eared beauties like this, Sylvia blinked, unsure what these two were suddenly up to.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.