The person Anda was referring to was none other than Lumine.
Back then, Lumine had chosen to follow them back to the Cloud Continent instead of returning to her home in the Protogaea Continent. Her goal was to pioneer the Spirit Gourmet Maestro profession here.
Her plan had been simple. First, spread her own reputation through her exceptional culinary skills, and then recruit Tasya to work alongside her. If Tasya's talent was truly as great as she had heard, then together they would undoubtedly soar to prominence.
That way, when Spirit Gourmet Maestro eventually became popularized across the Cloud Continent, Lumine's name would be immortalized as the one who paved the way for Tasya.
Unfortunately, things had not gone well for her. While she was trying to build her fame through her cooking, she caught the attention of an influential family that had two Nascent Soul Realm experts.
Since she was just a Core Formation Realm cultivator with no background or backing, she was quietly kidnapped one night and forced to become the family's personal chef against her will. She had been unable to escape. Her sudden disappearance did not cause any waves at all, because she was essentially a nobody on this continent.
Right after returning from the Mystic Realm, Anda had instructed Layla to investigate and keep an eye on Lumine's whereabouts, intending to use her when the time was right. With Senior Lapin's celestial clouds, surveillance became incredibly easy. So when Lumine was kidnapped, Layla immediately knew what had happened to her.
Fortunately for Lumine, after a year of being held captive, she would soon be rescued by Anda and put to work under Tasya. She would finally meet the person she had been seeking, but their roles would be completely reversed from what Lumine had originally intended.
---
"Is this where your friend lives?" Leyvi asked after Caterina led them to a quieter, less bustling area of the city.
In front of them stood an average-sized house surrounded by tall, graceful bamboo. It was nestled within a fairly large bamboo garden. Through his spiritual sense, however, Leyvi could detect a much larger basement space hidden beneath the house.
"Yes," Caterina nodded. "Back then, she used to be obsessed with pandas. That's why she chose to live here. It's the only area in the city where bamboo grows naturally."
"Hahaha. If that's the case, she will definitely like Anda," Leyvi joked.
Caterina giggled softly. "I'm not so sure about that. She used to be obsessed, but now… I don't know."
"Don't worry. Panda's charm is forever," Anda said confidently, defending her panda ancestry. "Even if she's not obsessed with it anymore, I'm sure she definitely still likes it."
Caterina then walked up to the gate and rang the bell repeatedly without stopping.
"If I don't do it like this, she won't come out from her basement," she explained. "This girl always gets too focused on her experiments."
Caterina kept ringing the bell for nearly three minutes before a loud, irritated voice finally came from inside.
"Aaaaaa! I'm coming, I'm coming! Stop being so noisy, Rina!"
As soon as Caterina stopped ringing, the door to the house opened. A pale woman with unkempt wavy hair appeared. She also had two prominent dark bags under her eyes, making her look very tired. It was obvious that she was quite beautiful underneath it all, but her messy appearance hid much of that charm.
"See? I told you she still likes pandas. She even cosplayed as one," Anda joked.
"Hehe. She always looks like that," Caterina giggled. "I wonder how she even reached her current realm with this habit."
"Rina, I know it's you! Nobody else would ring the bell like that! And you brought more people to talk bad about me this time!" the messy woman complained as she pressed something to open the gate.
When the gate swung open, Caterina immediately walked in with a bright smile.
"Kajol, I came to visit! I brought my daughters with me," she said happily.
"What?? Daughters?" Kajol's eyes widened in shock as she stared at the babies being carried by Fifi and Nikita. "Those… those two are your daughters? When did this happen?"
"When… did you say?" Caterina replied, her voice carrying a hint of disappointment. "I invited you to my wedding and you didn't even come."
"Eh? But you just got married not long ago. How come you already have children?" Kajol fired off questions rapidly. "No, wait! What about your husband? Did my pills manage to save his manhood?"
Caterina immediately hugged Leyvi's arm affectionately, showing him off to her friend with pride.
"This is my husband," she said. "For your information, he didn't even consume your pills and yet he could endure my Yin devouring. You can check his manhood if you don't believe me. It's fully functional. He's the man I've been waiting for so long! My fated one!"
Anda, standing nearby, also smiled proudly.
Leyvi's mouth twitched. Why would you let a stranger check your husband's manhood?
Kajol blinked, scrutinizing Leyvi from head to toe. "This youngster overcame your Yin devouring without even consuming my pill? And he even impregnated you? How is that possible?"
She knew exactly how much trouble this had been for Caterina. Her Yin devouring would even consume a man's seeds, making it nearly impossible to impregnate her. The fact that she was now standing here with two children meant it had truly been overcome. Not to mention, she also had to battle the naturally lower fertility rate of high-level cultivators, which made it even harder. These two daughters were nothing short of a miracle.
"Heh, just because the probability is very low doesn't mean it's impossible," Caterina continued bragging proudly. "My husband is just that great. The best man in the world!"
Anda's smile grew even more satisfied. Caterina was truly her best catch. She hadn't even needed to "pandawash" her yet, and she had already come to the conclusion that Leyvi was the best man in the world and went around bragging about it. With her, Leyvi's fame would spread far and wide. Truly a great ally!
Kajol looked at Leyvi again, studying him carefully.
"Can I have a sample of your sperm?" she requested bluntly, extending her palm as if Leyvi could hand it over right away. "I want to study it. To be able to impregnate a Soul Formation Realm cultivator so quickly, there must be something special about it."
This time, Leyvi's mouth and eyebrow twitched together. What the heck is going on? All the women want my seed now.
Anda and Caterina both giggled at his dumbfounded expression, clearly enjoying the situation.
"Don't be so surprised," Kajol said. "With how difficult it can be for cultivators to get pregnant, you think nobody would try to research this? There are many studies focused on increasing the fertility rate of cultivators, you know? They are quite desperate for children."
"Really?" Leyvi replied, genuinely surprised. But now that he thought about it more carefully, it actually made a lot of sense. He recalled that Vitali Clover was desperate for children. Magnus Goldstone and Tordin Homun keep mocking him for being childless after so long.
"In fact, back in the old days, many powerful female cultivators would abduct men with high virility because they wanted to leave behind descendants," Kajol continued. "Powerful men would take as many women as possible to increase their chances, while powerful women actively sought out men with proven high virility. Isn't that right, Rina?"
Caterina nodded, not denying it at all. "Be careful, husband. There's a chance you might get abducted too if they think your seed is as miraculous as the rumors say."
Leyvi was speechless. Of all the possible reasons, he had never imagined that this would be the most likely way for him to get kidnapped.
Imagining all the powerful female cultivators out there aiming for his seed gave Leyvi chills. Fuck! The cultivation world is scary!
Kajol quickly lost interest in Leyvi and turned her attention to Anda instead.
"You panda girl. Where did you get that panda artifact?" Kajol asked, pointing at it. "That used to be mine, you know. I didn't expect it to return here like this."
It was Anda's turn to be surprised. She had already handed Leylin over to Hana. Now she was holding the panda plush toy like usual. She looked down at the panda in her hands.
This panda was hers?
"Someone gave this panda as a gift to me," Anda replied truthfully, raising her head.
"Was it Albert Wood, that weirdo?" Kajol squinted her eyes suspiciously.
"Right. President Albert gifted this to me," Anda nodded.
"Damn that weird guy!" Kajol exploded. "I gave him something precious to me as a remembrance, but he actually gave it to someone else! I'm going to kill him!"
Leyvi and Anda exchanged a quick glance. What a coincidence. It turned out that President Albert had a history with Caterina's friend… and they seemed to have been romantically involved at some point.
They both recalled how President Albert had mentioned someone who was obsessed with pandas when he gave the plush toy to Anda. So it had been Kajol all along.
"Oh right. I remember now," Caterina said suddenly. "Albert was the one who introduced me to Kajol."
"Hahaha! Kajol, you used to have a chapter with him?" Caterina found it very amusing. Kajol had never mentioned this to her before.
"Shut up, Rina! What's wrong with that?" Kajol rebutted, her cheeks flushing slightly. "He was a handsome and promising man. A genius in many ways. Who wouldn't be attracted to him?" Her eyes turned dreamy as she described him. It was obvious she still harbored those old feelings.
Then she turned back to Anda, her expression becoming a little hostile. "Why did he give this to you? What's your relationship with him?"
Anda was momentarily speechless. This was the first time she had ever been misunderstood as someone else's lover. And it had to be the eccentric President Albert of all people.
Leyvi almost laughed out loud. It wasn't easy to see his panda wife get rendered speechless like this.