This little girl looked only about one or two years old, her height and build even appearing somewhat smaller, but her appearance looked a bit more mature.

Regardless, how could such a little girl appear in such an occasion? No one would bring her here. If she had wandered in randomly, were the guards outside dead? How could they let a little girl break in?

Not just the guards—the people in this room all seemed not to have noticed the little girl's appearance. Only Xiaoyao might have detected her before this moment—that soft "eh."

At this time, everyone didn't care about how this little girl had appeared. Perhaps they just carelessly didn't notice. After all, she was just a little girl. What everyone was now focusing on was that this little girl called Xiaoyao "daddy"—this was the key issue.

If the little girl had just mistaken him for someone else, everyone would find it quite normal. But the problem was Xiaoyao's reaction made people somewhat misunderstand—misunderstand that he acknowledged this little girl's identity.

"Little thing, how did you get here?" Xiaoyao held the little girl and flicked her forehead.

"Ow..." The little girl held her head, looking very lovable.

"Xiaoyao, is she your daughter? Who did you have her with?" the Young Miss asked dazedly.

Speaking of which, they hadn't seen Xiaoyao for several years. If Xiaoyao really had a daughter with someone, it was quite possible. The reason they didn't know was naturally because Xiaoyao had never told them.

"Daughter? Are you joking? How could she possibly be my daughter? You all know this little thing—she just looks a bit different..." Xiaoyao smiled. At this moment, the little girl had already climbed onto Xiaoyao's shoulder, her pair of snow-white crystal feet kicking in the air.

Only then did everyone notice that the little girl seemed to be barefoot, wearing only shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. On her head were what appeared to be decorative fluffy animal ear-like things, and on her shorts at her bottom, there seemed to be a fluffy little tail.

Such animal-costumed little girls, while not common, weren't rare either. Very cute...

"We know her?" the Young Miss and others were somewhat puzzled, looking at the little girl. How could they possibly know her? Even if her appearance had changed, they couldn't have no impression at all.

Guxing looked at the little girl, reached out her hand, and touched the things on the little girl's head: "Real? Chi Chi?"

"Chi Chi?!"

The Young Miss and others exclaimed in surprise, looking at the little girl. Guxing's meaning was that the animal ears on the little girl's head seemed to be real, and she guessed this little girl was Chi Chi.

Thinking about it, if it was Chi Chi, then Xiaoyao's words became normal. They had indeed seen Chi Chi, and this little girl's appearance had indeed changed from Chi Chi's previous form.

However, how could Chi Chi possibly become like this? Logically, even if monster beasts transformed, they would take adult forms—at the youngest, they would look like teenagers. They had never heard of such small transformations, only one or two years old. This was absolutely unprecedented.

"Chi Chi..." The little girl sitting on Xiaoyao's shoulder nodded and made a sound—a sound they were all familiar with. This was the sound Chi Chi made.

"It really is Chi Chi." The Young Miss and others were stunned, still somewhat disbelieving. This was too incredible—how could a furry ball-type monster beast suddenly become a little girl?

"Of course it's Chi Chi. Would I mistake her?" Xiaoyao said irritably. If someone else said this, there might be room for doubt, but when Xiaoyao said it, it was definitely correct.

Xiaoyao couldn't possibly mistake Chi Chi. Even if Chi Chi changed dramatically, as Xiaoyao's bonded spirit beast, the connection between them couldn't be wrong.

"It actually is Chi Chi. I thought you had secretly had a daughter with someone. Wait, Chi Chi, why are you calling Xiaoyao daddy?" the Young Miss said, then remembered Chi Chi's first words and her address to Xiaoyao.

"Chi Chi..." Chi Chi answered, but no one could understand her words except Xiaoyao.

"You're saying that since I raised you, I'm daddy. Well, that makes sense. You look very cute like this—call me whatever you like," Xiaoyao smiled, seemingly not minding Chi Chi calling him daddy.

Naturally he wouldn't mind. Chi Chi now completely looked like a little girl, and Xiaoyao quite liked Chi Chi in this form, feeling this address was quite appropriate.

He didn't care if having a daughter would make it harder to find a wife. Someone would like it anyway, and besides, Chi Chi was a special case—not real.

Xiaoyao just didn't understand one thing. He picked up Chi Chi and asked: "How did you get here?"

"Chi Chi..."

"I see. What exactly are you made of? This works too?" Xiaoyao's expression became somewhat strange after hearing Chi Chi's explanation.

"Xiaoyao, what did Chi Chi say? Also, how did you suddenly understand Chi Chi's words? You couldn't understand them before," the Young Miss found it strange. Previously, she had asked Xiaoyao about whether he could understand Chi Chi's words, and he had clearly told her he couldn't—he could only guess.

"Right, how did I suddenly understand? I never understood what she said before. What's going on?" Xiaoyao's words left people somewhat speechless. So you're only thinking about this now?

"..." Chi Chi didn't know either, just looking at Xiaoyao with her big eyes.

"Maybe it's because she now looks human. Little thing, when did you transform? Why do you look like this? You should look similar to Guxing and the others," Xiaoyao casually found a reason. This matter wasn't worth deep investigation. Chi Chi had experienced stranger things—this was just a small matter.

"Chi Chi..." Chi Chi shook her head.

Xiaoyao didn't need to translate this—everyone understood. Chi Chi herself didn't know why she was like this. No need to think too much about it. Chi Chi was originally a very strange existence—strange things happening to her was quite normal.

Besides, only a portion of monster beast transformations had been observed by people. No one could definitively say monster beasts wouldn't transform into children. Maybe some did, but people just didn't know about it.

"Big brother, is this little sister a monster beast?" Lingling wanted to touch Chi Chi's little face with her hand, but Chi Chi dodged and didn't let her succeed.

"Yes, my bonded spirit beast. I don't know what species she is—a very strange little thing," Xiaoyao nodded in reply.

"Chi Chi, come here for a hug!" Guxing reached out to hug Chi Chi. Chi Chi obediently went over—Guxing was the only person besides Xiaoyao who could be close to Chi Chi.

"How are you female instead of male?" After looking at Chi Chi for a while, Guxing came up with a question that also reminded Xiaoyao of this matter.

"Right, how are you female?" Xiaoyao asked directly.

"Chi Chi!!" Chi Chi said somewhat unhappily, and now her displeasure came with even cuter expressions that could instantly kill people who liked cute attributes.

"Did I say something wrong? Ah, you're saying you were originally female, and I got it wrong. What's the big deal? You're a monster beast—what's wrong with calling you female? Why do you insist on being called a girl... okay, okay, I was wrong. You're a girl..." Xiaoyao said with a smile, holding Chi Chi who had pounced over to act spoiled.

"Chi..." Chi Chi made a sound of unknown intent.

"Why can't you speak? How strange. Logically, monster beasts should learn human speech when they transform," Xiaoyao found this point strange too, but thinking about how everything about Chi Chi was so strange, this wasn't a big deal either.

Chi Chi didn't know about this either, just saying some things about her evolution.

It turned out that after Chi Chi evolved, she became like this. No one knew why. Chen Xi couldn't figure it out either—he could only say this was just one form, and she might change again in the future.

Through Xiaoyao's comparison, he discovered that his previous slow cultivation speed and later acceleration was because Chi Chi was evolving—she needed this energy. This energy could somehow be transmitted across such great distances—the principle was unknown.

Xiaoyao couldn't figure this out, just like bonded spirit beast contracts, monster beast transformations, and other unexplainable phenomena. Perhaps future people could understand them, but currently there was no way to know.

"So it was you, little thing, dragging me down. Otherwise I might have already entered Saint Level," Xiaoyao concluded and knocked Chi Chi once, showing no mercy, just like before. This made the girls nearby feel heartbroken.

The previous Chi Chi could already gain everyone's sympathy—now even more so.

"Chi Chi..." Chi Chi called out somewhat pitifully, hugging Xiaoyao and nuzzling against his face in a spoiled, ingratiating manner that made people very envious to watch.

"Stop acting pitiful. Your stomach is hungry, right? Eat whatever you want here. If it's not enough, have them bring more," Xiaoyao smiled and patted Chi Chi's little head.

After hearing Xiaoyao's words, Chi Chi immediately lay on the table and began eating. By the time everyone recovered from her cute eating manner, they discovered that most of the food on the table had disappeared. When everyone wanted to speak, all the food on the table was gone.

"Truly a foodie..."

Xiaoyao and the others gave Chi Chi a very fair evaluation. This once again proved that the delicate, infinitely cute little girl before them was definitely that little foodie.

Fortunately, this was the royal palace, a state banquet. If food ran out, more would definitely be brought. Although state banquets generally didn't involve eating too much, the prepared food wouldn't be scarce.

(End of Chapter)