Mu Wanwan knew his plan. She merely linked her arm through his and silently followed Mr. Dragon to the entrance of the inn.
This place truly deserved to be called the safest location in all of Yifa City.
Mu Wanwan could not determine the rank of the barrier, but it was probably at least fifth rank. There were also people stationed at the entrance to receive guests, and not everyone was permitted to enter.
After paying enough spirit stones, they rented a room.
The interior of the inn differed considerably from those in the dragon capital. There were very few communal areas, and the building was extremely spacious and empty. Hardly anyone was staying there.
Mr. Dragon wrapped an arm around her and led her into the room before closing the door.
Mu Wanwan looked at the downward curve of his lips. She had intended to smile and say something, but the moment she opened her mouth, her voice emerged unbearably strained and hoarse, carrying an embarrassingly tearful tremor.
“You’re leaving?”
Mr. Dragon did not answer.
His palm gently caressed her cheek, and his thin lips pressed against hers while his other arm tightened around her waist.
He was not as restrained as he had been in the past, nor did he lower his eyes out of shyness.
His kiss was passionate, and his breath was scorching. His brilliant golden eyes stared fixedly at her as he held her tightly, as though he wanted to melt her into his very flesh and bones.
Mu Wanwan allowed him to take whatever he wanted. Her spiritual sense entwined with his, and she felt as though she were about to drown in that domineering kiss.
She wrapped her arms around his waist.
Her face and cheeks were burning hot. Warm tears slipped from her eyes, and she desperately wished time could stop at this moment—
Then he would not leave.
And she would not have to wait.
Perhaps a long time passed, or perhaps it was only an instant.
The dragon finally released her and gently licked the corner of her eye.
“Sweet.”
“…”
Mu Wanwan glared at him irritably.
Mr. Dragon smiled. He lifted her hand and pressed a soft kiss against it.
Through her blurred vision, she watched him transfer ownership of the mustard-seed space to her.
“For Madam.”
He spoke words of love he had previously been too embarrassed to say. Even his half-bald ears appeared, no longer concerned that they might damage his dignity as a dragon.
“Everything I have belongs to Madam.”
He was so despicable.
Watching her cry because she could not bear to part with him made his heart swell with an unprecedented fullness.
“I’ll come back.”
Mr. Dragon then took out two objects.
One was a small, crystalline object shaped like a dragon horn.
The other was a scroll.
“What… are they?”
Mu Wanwan’s voice was hoarse as she watched Mr. Dragon slowly place the small, glowing object in her palm.
Mr. Dragon rested his forehead against hers.
“It’s my horn.”
There was a trace of embarrassment in his voice.
“It was the first horn I ever shed. There were originally two, but I ate one later, so only this one remains.”
Mu Wanwan: “…”
Her heart ached, yet she did not know whether to laugh or cry.
“Hundun …”
Mr. Dragon paused before continuing.
“Hundun once told me that a dragon should give his juvenile horn to his beloved mate.”
Mu Wanwan watched his face flush and his eyelashes tremble.
“It’s a token of love.”
“Mm.”
Mu Wanwan smiled as well.
Mr. Dragon stroked her cheek. As though he had finally made an enormous decision, he said, “If the horn shatters, then it means I…”
Mu Wanwan’s heart contracted painfully.
She heard him continue, “It means I failed. Tear open the scroll, and it will transport you out of the Demon Realm and into human territory.”
He tried to place the scroll in her hand.
However, merely imagining that possibility left Mu Wanwan nearly unable to breathe.
She felt nailed to the spot, incapable of moving. All she could do was threaten him.
“If you don’t come back, I’ll marry another dragon and forget all about you…”
She could not finish the sentence.
Only broken sobs emerged, as though she had already lost him.
“I’ll come back.”
Mr. Dragon kissed her forehead before releasing Mengmeng from the mustard-seed space.
For the first time, the large, plump chirp sensed that something was wrong. He tilted his head and cautiously chirped.
Mr. Dragon rarely behaved so seriously towards him.
He bent down, extended his hand towards Mengmeng, and smiled gently.
“If a bad dragon comes, will Mengmeng risk his life to protect Wanwan?”
“Chirp?”
Mengmeng froze for a moment before proudly puffing out his little chest.
“Chirp—!”
Of course!
Mengmeng would definitely protect Wanwan!
“Then it’s a promise.”
Mengmeng stretched out a wing and touched Mr. Dragon’s hand.
“Chirp~”
Mengmeng was a real man. He would definitely keep his promise.
Her dragon was about to embark on a dangerous journey.
Although Mu Wanwan had known that he would leave and had already done everything she could to prepare, she still found it difficult to accept.
She calmed herself, placed the pills and clothing she had packed beforehand into a spatial pouch, and put it in his hand.
When he turned to leave, Mu Wanwan could not restrain herself after all.
She grabbed his wrist and met his smiling phoenix eyes. Summoning all her strength, she said, “Even if you fail, you must come back alive. All right?”
“All right.”
Mr. Dragon placed a light, raindrop-like kiss on her forehead. Moisture shimmered on his eyelashes.
Mu Wanwan bit her lip and lowered her head so she would not have to look at him. Then she pushed him away forcefully.
“Go. I’ll wait for you to come back.”
“All right.”
As soon as he finished speaking, a gust of wind swept past Mu Wanwan’s ears.
She tightly clutched the tiny dragon horn emitting specks of light.
When she raised her head again, he had already gone.
“Chirp…”
Mengmeng walked over to her.
Probably sensing her sorrow, he gently patted her with his wing as though comforting her.
…
It took Mu Wanwan another hour or two to feel slightly better.
Using the golden thread he liked, she carefully wove a sturdy pouch around the tiny dragon horn and hung it from her neck.
She opened the window.
Rain was falling unusually heavily over snowy Yifa, mingling with large snowflakes and striking the passing demons.
The clouds were dense and dark, while the wind was fierce. The temperature was so low that even a cultivator like her found the cold almost unbearable.
Mu Wanwan pulled the clothing she had altered from Mr. Dragon’s old garments more tightly around herself, attempting to block some of the freezing wind.
An ugly smile curved her lips.
She tugged at her sleeve and began to think.
The entrance to the forbidden land was located at Yifa’s outskirts, close to the Abyss.
Mr. Dragon wanted her to wait for him here, where it was comparatively safe. If he failed or encountered danger, she was supposed to tear open the scroll and leave.
But Mu Wanwan had no intention of doing that.
Ao Qin undoubtedly knew that Mr. Dragon was in Yifa. Perhaps they were already travelling here.
The moment Mr. Dragon emerged, he might face an ambush by both the dragon and witch clans.
Mu Wanwan would be worried even if he succeeded, let alone when there remained a possibility of failure.
She sighed before smiling in resignation.
Picking up the large, plump chirp, she said, “Mengmeng, let’s go.”
She would first visit the Xianqing Pavilion and announce that she was offering pills in exchange for the assistance of powerful cultivators.
Accumulating as much strength as possible was the only thing she could do now.
She had just opened the door when Mengmeng seemed to sense something.
He began struggling fiercely in her arms.
“Chirp!”
“Chirp, chirp!”
Mu Wanwan cautiously released her spiritual sense and caught a fleeting figure at its very edge.
“How perceptive.”
The person stopped concealing herself and appeared before Mu Wanwan.
She was a strikingly beautiful woman. Despite the freezing weather, she wore revealing clothing, and fiery red hair spilled over her shoulders.
Mu Wanwan instinctively retreated two steps.
“What do you want?”
“To talk.”
The woman smiled. Seeing Mu Wanwan’s pupils contract warily, she said, “Don’t be nervous. I waited with great difficulty for you to calm down and prepare to leave before approaching you, Little Junior Sister.”
Mu Wanwan: “…?”
Seeing her utterly confused expression, Chi Yan seemed to realise something. She weakly rubbed her forehead.
“Don’t tell me Master still hasn’t accepted you as his disciple?”
Mu Wanwan: “???”
Chi Yan: “…”
“It seems he really hasn’t.”
The two spoke for quite some time and eventually moved from the inn to the Xianqing Pavilion before Mu Wanwan finally understood the situation.
“So your master noticed my talent and wants to accept me as his disciple?” Mu Wanwan attempted to summarise. “He sent you to receive me after the dra—after my husband left?”
“I’m nearby, and I’m also the Pavilion Master in Yifa, so I was sent here.”
Chi Yan nodded and tossed back her fiery red hair.
“I always assumed Master had already accepted you. I didn’t expect that he still hadn’t done it.”
Chi Yan studied the somewhat haggard woman before her.
The faint disdain that had lingered in her heart ever since receiving her master’s orders surfaced once again.
Humans were not as loyal as special lifeforms.
Humans only stabbed others in the back.
Now that this woman had attracted Master’s interest, perhaps she was secretly delighted.
Maybe she had never followed that dragon to Yifa willingly in the first place. Now that she had an opportunity to leave, she would probably accept.
Just like the human who had betrayed Chi Yan in the past, mercilessly abandoning the person who had supposedly been their lover.
Thinking this, Chi Yan concealed the mockery in her eyes.
Her expression revealed nothing, and even her tone remained gentle.
“We mean you no harm. Are you willing to return to the Alliance with me now?”
Mu Wanwan smiled at her.
“I know. I’m extremely grateful to the Alliance Leader.”
When Mr. Dragon had gone out before, the Alliance Leader had saved him once and greatly weakened his curse.
Only because of that could he attempt the inheritance trial now.
Had Mu Wanwan been relying solely upon herself, they might already have been imprisoned in the dragon race’s dungeons.
The Xianqing Pavilion had also helped her considerably in the past.
“Oh.”
Chi Yan curved her lips.
Seeing the gratitude in Mu Wanwan’s eyes, she thought that her assumptions had been correct.
“Then shall we leave?”
“No.”
Mu Wanwan shook her head.
“I’m going to wait here for him to return. I was also preparing to issue a request through the Xianqing Pavilion.”
Chi Yan looked slightly surprised.
“You aren’t leaving? The armies of the dragon and witch clans are already approaching. Haven’t you noticed that the number of demons in Yifa is unusually low?”
“This is our first visit.”
Mu Wanwan stroked Mengmeng in her arms.
“So Yifa’s residents have already evacuated? That’s good. At least they won’t be caught in the conflict.”
Chi Yan raised an eyebrow.
A peculiar feeling emerged in her heart.
Thinking of the human who had betrayed her, she could not help threatening Mu Wanwan.
“If you don’t leave with me today, you won’t have another opportunity. We’re preparing to evacuate today.”
“That’s fine.”
Mu Wanwan looked at her.
“Before you evacuate, can you complete a transaction with me?”
Chi Yan paused.
“What transaction?”
“I want to purchase a batch of seeds from the Xianqing Pavilion.”
Mu Wanwan took out the few seeds she had left and her pill furnace from her spatial pouch.
She had given all her spirit stones and finished pills to the dragon who had gone to risk his life.
But she still possessed the ability to refine pills.
“I want to exchange pills for troops,” Mu Wanwan said firmly. “I want as many cultivators as possible who are willing to fight the dragon and witch clans.”
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