His warm breath dampened her lips.
Unable to endure this increasingly audacious dragon any longer, Mu Wanwan kissed him until he was thoroughly cooked. Then, doing her best to ignore the thing pressing against her, she panted softly.
For the dragon, this was far too stimulating.
His mind went completely blank. By the time he regained his senses, Madam had already slipped away.
“Wanwan.”
He caught her wrist. Mr. Dragon’s large hand brushed against her delicate neck. His clothes were dishevelled, and his voice was low and hoarse.
“I-I think I’m about to break through.”
Mu Wanwan: “…”
She turned and looked at his completely flushed face, momentarily speechless.
The dragon was also deeply embarrassed.
However, after their spiritual senses had intertwined, the dust that had settled over his heart seemed to have been gradually wiped away. Never before had he felt that his existence was so clear and pure.
He wanted to break through.
He wanted to become stronger.
He wanted to give her a better life.
Mu Wanwan smiled, took Mr. Dragon’s hand, and kissed it.
“I’ll wait for you here. Once you return, shall we leave for the Demon Realm?”
“Mm.”
His raven-feather-like lashes lifted. Mr. Dragon looked at her and curved his lips into a smile.
The window abruptly flew open.
Perhaps a certain dragon was trying to conceal something. A gust of wind swept past Mu Wanwan, and in the next instant, he had already disappeared from the room.
A distant dragon’s cry sounded beside her ears. Clouds and mist gathered, and the sky darkened.
Mu Wanwan smoothed down the hair the wind had blown into disarray and pressed her hands against her burning cheeks. Then she closed her eyes and extended her spiritual sense.
Its range had expanded severalfold and become much stronger. She even felt as though she was approaching a breakthrough to the fifth rank.
Previously, her spiritual sense could only fill a single room. Now, she could spread it more than a hundred metres away.
Mu Wanwan slowly breathed a sigh of relief.
She touched her soft lips. Remembering what he had just said, her heart gradually settled.
She picked up the jade slip and carefully reviewed the map and information regarding Yifa City, gradually developing a clearer understanding of the area.
Yifa City lay at the edge of the Demon Realm, close to the Abyss.
Its resources ranked among the poorest in the entire Demon Realm. There was almost no vegetation or mineral ore, and the soil was extremely barren.
Its only advantage was that, due to the presence of the dragon race’s forbidden land, the surrounding area was protected by a barrier. Demons from other cities could not invade, so living there was relatively safe.
However, Yifa itself was so impoverished that demons from other cities generally had no reason to invade it. Very few demons lived there, and it was essentially no different from an abandoned city.
Mu Wanwan rubbed her forehead.
Ao Qin had joined forces with the witch clan. They would never let Mr. Dragon escape so easily.
Their journey to Yifa City would probably be accompanied by another bloody storm.
It was fortunate that Yifa was nearly empty. At the very least, innocent demons would not lose their lives because of their conflict.
After reading the intelligence, the pressure weighing upon her heart intensified.
It felt like a sharp sword suspended above her head, ready to fall at any moment, leaving her increasingly restless.
“Chirp!”
Mengmeng, who had obediently remained outside the door, probably sensed her anxiety. He shuffled into the room and touched her hand with a wing that had grown considerably larger.
This chirp will protect Wanwan~
Mu Wanwan stroked his fluffy feathers.
Looking at the howling wind and rain outside the window, she sighed, stood up, and closed it.
There was no use being anxious.
She might as well consider what she could do.
After merging spiritual senses with her husband… she had grown much stronger.
Perhaps she could attempt to refine fifth-rank pills despite not yet reaching that rank herself.
A sudden idea occurred to Mu Wanwan.
The map of Yifa City had shown that there was a Xianqing Pavilion inside the city.
Since her pills could be exchanged for information, could even higher-ranking pills be used to recruit forces?
The dragon and witch clans did not control the entire continent.
Whether they were demons, human cultivators, or members of the demon tribes, someone would always have a need for pills.
How could pills such as Snow Condensation Pills and Spirit-Congealing Pills, which nearly every race required, possibly lack a market?
Mu Wanwan’s eyes brightened.
What she needed to do now was refine as many pills as possible and use them to safeguard their future.
“Mengmeng, come here.”
Mu Wanwan picked up the plump chirp and brought out her pill furnace.
The large, fat chirp also understood that he had once again been conscripted into labour.
He chirped gloomily twice before resigning himself to his fate and beginning to breathe fire.
The rain outside grew heavier and heavier, while inside the house, one human and one chirp desperately refined pills.
Approximately ten hours later, when the final trace of spiritual energy in Mu Wanwan’s body had been drained and the Spirit-Congealing Pills inside the furnace were about to form, a violent clap of thunder sounded outside.
Had Mr. Dragon already broken through?
The thought abruptly flashed through her mind.
The medicinal liquid inside the furnace trembled.
Mu Wanwan gritted her teeth and forced herself to stop thinking about him. Holding her breath and concentrating, she desperately scraped together every remaining trace of spiritual energy within her dantian and sent it into the furnace.
A stabbing pain gradually spread through her meridians, while her sea of consciousness felt as though it were being pierced by needles.
“Spirit Ascension…”
Blood overflowed from the corner of her mouth.
Mu Wanwan exhausted every ounce of her strength and poured all her spiritual energy into the furnace.
*Buzz—*
A crisp sound rang out from within.
Purple light shot into the sky, and the force directly threw her onto the floor.
Three pills marked with two pill patterns flew out of the furnace. Their medicinal fragrance spread through the room, and in the next instant, they attempted to fly outside.
Fifth-rank pills already possessed a degree of sentience, so it was perfectly normal for them to resist.
Mu Wanwan did not have enough spiritual energy left to retrieve them. Watching the pills prepare to escape, her heart trembled.
“Giggle~”
The sentient pills emitted thin, high-pitched sounds, almost as though they were mocking her.
Mengmeng leapt into the air, chasing the pills while breathing flames at them.
Just as the three pills were about to slip through the gap in the window, they seemed to collide with an invisible barrier.
With three soft *plops*, they fell.
Then they obediently flew backwards into the jade bottle in Mu Wanwan’s hand.
Mu Wanwan immediately sealed the bottle.
The door opened, and Mr. Dragon walked inside.
His face was pale. Rainwater slid down his long hair and dripped into the partly opened front of his robe, faintly revealing his lean waist and tightly defined abdominal muscles.
He had probably succeeded in breaking through.
Mr. Dragon’s phoenix eyes swept over the somewhat disordered room.
He walked to Mu Wanwan’s side and wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth with his thumb.
“Madam has worked hard.”
Mu Wanwan shook her head and pressed the bottle of pills into his hand.
They did not waste any time.
After briefly packing everything inside the wooden house, they followed the map stored in the jade slip and set out for Yifa.
Because Mu Wanwan had severely overexerted herself, she could only lie beside one of Mr. Dragon’s enormous furry ears and rest.
It would take one day to travel from the island to Yifa.
From Yifa to the entrance of the forbidden land would take another half day.
Only a day and a half remained before she would have to separate from Mr. Dragon.
…
Shortly before they departed for Yifa, Ao Qin finally obtained Mr. Dragon’s other broken horn as he had wished.
The broken horn had been buried in the heart of the witch clan’s territory, guarded by several hundred powerful witches.
“You certainly kept it well protected.”
Ao Qin looked at the enormous dragon horn, then glanced at Wu Yao beside him, who wore a false smile.
“Rise!”
Wu Yao shouted.
Ao Qin watched as countless blood insects dragged the broken half of the horn upwards, lifting it little by little.
A swarm of hideous blood insects writhed beneath the lustrous, translucent horn.
The sight was revolting.
Ao Qin silently suppressed his nausea for several breaths. Then he exchanged a glance with Wu Yao.
Only after Wu Yao nodded to indicate that the horn could be taken did Ao Qin wave his sleeve.
A beam of light shot from his brocade robe and struck the broken horn.
A moment later, the horn shrank and disappeared into his sleeve.
“Let’s go. I’ll come with you to retrieve the treasures,” Wu Yao said casually.
Now that the broken horn was in his possession, Ao Qin’s attitude improved slightly at the thought of all the treasures inside the forbidden lands that he had previously been unable to retrieve.
“Wu Yao, don’t forget our agreement.”
“I remember. Don’t be so impatient.”
Wu Yao whistled.
The blood insects that had been crawling around began rapidly devouring one another. Eventually, they transformed into several powerful gu insects and merged into his body.
“All right. Where in the Demon Realm is the entrance to the forbidden land?”
Ao Qin’s eyelid twitched at the sight.
He secretly became even more wary.
Being bitten by one of those blood insects would be disastrous. Even with his sixth-rank strength, he would struggle to resist them.
However, he currently needed Wu Yao’s assistance.
“Yifa City.”
Wu Yao closed his eyes.
Under Ao Qin’s puzzled gaze, his entire body convulsed for several moments before he opened them again.
“Let’s go.”
“You transmitted the message?” Ao Qin asked.
“Of course.”
Wu Yao sneered mockingly.
“The witch clan isn’t like your dragon race. We don’t need to rely on communication tokens.”
He was the leader of the witch clan. The mother insect corresponding to the heart insects inside the witch generals resided within his own heart.
He could transmit messages through the mother insect and naturally also possessed the authority to kill the child insects.
That was the reason the witch clan had not experienced constant upheaval over the years as the demon tribes had.
However, there was no need to tell the dragon race that.
The two soon arrived outside one of the dragon race’s forbidden lands closest to the witch clan’s territory.
A large number of Azure Dragon guards had gathered there.
Ao Qin’s heart burned with excitement.
He exchanged a glance with Wu Yao and stepped into the forbidden land.
This time, he would finally obtain the dragon race’s most important treasures.
Standing before the barrier, Ao Qin could not restrain his laughter.
He had waited more than sixty years for this day.
“Go.”
He took the two halves of the broken horn from his spatial storage and tossed them towards the barrier.
They embedded themselves into it.
The barrier, which had refused to open no matter how fiercely he attacked it before, slowly split apart.
Ao Qin impatiently flew inside.
The smile on his face gradually froze.
At the heart of this forbidden land, there was no mountain of treasure like the one he had imagined.
There were only a few scattered treasures and an extraordinarily desolate-looking stone tablet.
He had paid an enormous amount of treasure to obtain the dragon horn.
He had assumed that the heart of the forbidden land would be piled high with riches.
Yet the spirit stones and other items inside were even fewer than those found in the outer area.
How was that possible?!
Ao Qin’s eyes nearly split from rage.
He desperately reassured himself that perhaps the stone tablet itself was a treasure and quickly flew towards it.
However, before he could touch the tablet, a tremendous force slammed him into the ground.
A beam of golden light shot directly from the stone tablet and struck his sea of consciousness.
His mind trembled violently, and an ancient voice sounded beside his ear.
“The successor has not reached the seventh rank and therefore cannot obtain the seventh-rank cultivation method. Information concerning the heart of the forbidden land is strictly confidential. Anyone who reveals it shall die!”
Ao Qin’s lips trembled.
His sea of consciousness throbbed painfully for a long time before he managed to climb to his feet.
He looked around the empty heart of the forbidden land and felt the absurd sensation that he had been deceived.
He reassured himself that not every forbidden land could possibly be like this.
Forcing himself to remain calm, he attempted to take the few treasures that were present.
However, just as he was about to touch the third treasure, the ancient voice sounded again.
“The successor may take no more than two treasures from the heart of each forbidden land. Violators shall die!”
Ao Qin nearly vomited from frustration.
His eyes filled with hostility.
Refusing to believe it, he reached for the third treasure again and nearly had his claw severed by the beam of light fired from the stone tablet.
“Damn it!!”
Ao Qin’s eyes reddened with rage.
In the end, he selected two relatively high-quality treasures and left.
When Wu Yao saw him emerge, he smiled.
“How was it? Were there many treasures inside?”
Ao Qin had just begun to say the words “the heart” when an excruciating pain tore through his sea of consciousness, as though his skull were being split into two.
Veins bulged across his forehead, and a ball of fury burned in his chest.
He finally understood why that orphan dragon had never mentioned anything about the heart of the forbidden lands.
He also understood why his worthless father had not brought out more of the treasures inside.
“Fine, don’t tell me.”
Seeing his reaction, Wu Yao assumed that he was simply unwilling to speak.
“You’re truly stingy, Your Majesty. Why don’t you give me my payment first?”
Faced with Wu Yao’s mocking attitude, Ao Qin forcefully swallowed his fury.
“You’ll receive it after we’ve finished retrieving everything.”
He refused to believe that all five forbidden lands would be exactly the same.
“Tsk.”
Wu Yao nodded, agreeing for the moment.
And so, while Jiu Qing and the others consolidated their control over the demon tribes and Mu Wanwan and Mr. Dragon continued travelling, Ao Qin and Wu Yao swept through all four forbidden lands within the dragon territories.
Unfortunately, Ao Qin’s dream of obtaining vast treasures was completely shattered.
The second forbidden land was exactly the same, except the “cultivation method” had been replaced by a “secret technique.”
In the third forbidden land, the “secret technique” had become “techniques for using a dragon’s tail.”
Holding onto his final shred of hope, Ao Qin entered the fourth forbidden land.
When he discovered that its core contained “a method for cultivating spiritual sense,” he finally reached the limit of his endurance.
Thinking about the decades of scheming and painstaking effort he had invested, his heart felt as though it were being carved apart.
When he emerged and saw Wu Yao extending a hand to demand his treasures, Ao Qin felt a mouthful of blood lodge itself in his throat.
“Urgent report!”
A dragon guard stationed nearby forced himself to kneel before him.
“Lord Ao Qin, the Demon King was assassinated last night. A large number of royal Sun-Devouring Rats were killed. The Sun-Devouring Rat soldiers who were supposed to arrive this morning were also intercepted and slaughtered along the way.”
“It has been confirmed that the Alliance of Special Lifeforms was responsible. All the intelligence they previously sold us was false!”
Upon hearing this, Ao Qin felt a wave of vicious rage surge from the depths of his heart.
Blood churned in his throat.
Unable to suppress it any longer, he spat out a mouthful.
**Author’s Note:**
The heart of the forbidden lands: “Sorry, but we really are all exactly like this~”
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