The luminous liquid remained connected to Mu Wanwan’s arms.
Its dazzling light illuminated the entire raised platform. Everyone could feel the warmth and strength flowing from the alchemist’s direction. Perhaps some people glanced her way, but very few noticed that the young woman bringing them light had nearly reached her limit.
“Aunt Hua.”
Mu Wanwan called out weakly.
She was in poor condition. Her spiritual consciousness had been almost completely exhausted, and very little spiritual energy remained within her dantian.
Fortunately, Aunt Hua had arrived.
Aunt Hua looked at Mu Wanwan’s translucent palms and was so angry that she could not speak.
Several flowers bloomed in mid-air around her. She forcibly separated the luminous liquid, storing it inside the flowers one portion at a time. She then used her spiritual energy to suspend them from Moteng’s branches inside the barrier, where they were less likely to be attacked.
They resembled hanging lanterns.
The luminous liquid was extremely difficult to divide. By the time Aunt Hua had removed all of it from Mu Wanwan’s hands, she was shocked to discover that one-third of the spiritual energy within her own body had been consumed.
What luminous liquid?
These were clearly clusters of bloodsucking light.
Finally freed from the luminous liquid, Mu Wanwan collapsed weakly onto the ground.
She had no strength left in her body. Her eyes were closed, so she did not see that her limbs had become almost completely transparent.
Aunt Hua touched her forehead. She fed her several of the Spirit-Concentrating Pills and Snow Condensation Pills she had previously refined, then sat beside her.
“Chirp…”
Seeing Mu Wanwan lying motionless on the ground, Mengmeng cautiously shuffled closer.
Its little wings trembled as it stretched one beneath her nose, checking whether she was still breathing.
When Aunt Hua saw this, she could not hold back her laughter. Her previously heavy mood immediately lifted.
“Chirp.”
Mengmeng carefully felt the faint breath brushing against the tip of its wing and quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
It turned and met Aunt Hua’s smiling eyes, then flapped its wings indignantly.
Chirp was only worried.
“All right, all right.”
Aunt Hua reached out, intending to stroke the fluffy bird, but the enormous ball of fluff nimbly dodged her hand.
“Oh? You won’t even let me touch you!”
Aunt Hua resentfully withdrew her hand.
She bent down and briefly explained the wood spirit and the condition of Mu Wanwan’s body beside her ear.
Mu Wanwan only heard a buzzing sound.
Aunt Hua’s voice was faint and indistinct, making it difficult for her to understand.
Mengmeng’s chirping, however, was very clear.
Hearing it hoarsely chirp an explanation after Aunt Hua, Mu Wanwan more or less understood what she meant—
Her current body was about to collapse, but she did not need to worry?
“Chirp~”
Chirp will always stay with Wanwan~
Mu Wanwan, who had only half understood Mengmeng’s explanation, did not know whether to laugh or cry.
Once she regained her senses, however, her emotions became complicated.
So her body was already on the verge of collapse?
She wondered whether she would still be able to see Mr. Dragon once more before he returned.
Her consciousness gradually blurred.
Before completely losing consciousness, that was the thought in Mu Wanwan’s mind.
Aunt Hua sensed that she had fallen into a deep sleep and curved her lips slightly.
She left one of her life-bound flowers covering Mu Wanwan. If the vital signs of the person inside fluctuated violently, she would be able to sense it immediately.
“Chirp.”
Are you leaving?
“I’ll be just ahead.”
Aunt Hua reached out, intending to pluck some of Mengmeng’s feathers, but it dodged her once again.
She did not become angry.
“You stay here and watch over Wanwan.”
“Chirp.”
All right.
Mengmeng nodded aloofly in agreement.
It stood beside Mu Wanwan and stared at the large sections of the barrier’s inner wall that were gradually falling away. Its bright black eyes were filled with the solemnity of a mature fluffy bird.
Aunt Hua shook her head helplessly.
She glanced towards the increasingly fierce battle not far away, then turned and left.
…
“These people truly refuse to give up.”
After failing to break through for so long, Wu Yao was also beginning to lose patience.
“Nearly a hundred witches on my side have already died, yet we haven’t managed to create a single opening. At this rate, when will we ever begin the blood sacrifice?”
Ao Qin stared at the defenders.
They had been fighting for almost an entire night, yet they were still stubbornly resisting.
He sneered.
“Their light is about to go out.”
Wu Yao narrowed his eyes and looked towards Mu Wanwan, who remained unconscious in the deepest section of the barrier.
He tapped his fingers impatiently.
“I can hardly wait any longer.”
Such powerful spiritual force would surely help him enter a new realm.
“Once the light goes out, we’ll launch the final assault.”
Ao Qin had also become impatient.
These people were as troublesome as flies. With Moteng protecting them, they had suffered very few casualties.
Moreover, Ao Qin remained worried.
He feared that the dragon might suddenly rush out from the inheritance grounds at any moment.
Although he had always firmly believed that the useless dragon could never pass the inheritance trial, an inexplicable unease remained deep within his heart.
The battle had only lasted one night, yet he was already afraid he might fail to kill Mu Wanwan and eliminate the problem at its roots.
“Hah.”
Ao Qin surveyed the visibly exhausted battlefield.
Almost instinctively, he glanced at the soul lamp belonging to that dragon, which he had previously taken from the heart of the forbidden grounds.
With a single glance, delight spread across his face, and he burst into loud laughter.
It had cracked.
It had cracked!
He must have failed!
He had definitely failed!
Ao Qin laughed almost maniacally.
He transformed into an azure dragon and roared, causing enormous clusters of rain to fall from the sky.
Wu Yao looked at the azure dragon overhead as though he were staring at a madman.
The exhausted Jiu Qing, Hai Ren and the others were also completely confused.
Uncle Chen narrowed his eyes, instinctively sensing that something was wrong.
Mengmeng, who was guarding Mu Wanwan, was also startled by the enormous dragon’s sudden appearance.
It angrily spat a tiny flame towards Ao Qin outside the barrier.
Seeing another shock wave flying towards them, it quickly flapped its wings and created a small gust of wind.
It had been raised very well in the past.
The only techniques it knew were acting spoiled and talking back to its old father.
After growing a little older, it had acquired the additional skill of breathing fire into a pill furnace.
Now, however, when the occasional insects and witchcraft attacks rushed towards it, Mengmeng relied on its primitive instincts and fiercely spat scorching flames, burning many insects to a crisp.
After it burned another bisected insect corpse into ashes, Mu Wanwan woke up.
She emerged from the flower covering her and came face-to-face with falling ashes and Mengmeng’s delighted gaze.
“Chirp~”
Her head still hurt slightly, but under the effects of the pills, she had recovered some of her physical strength.
She sat cross-legged on the ground.
Looking at the nearly extinguished lights hanging from Moteng’s branches, the azure dragon spiralling erratically above the barrier and her still somewhat transparent hands, she realised the truth.
They were about to lose.
She had to refine more luminous liquid.
However, she still wanted to see Mr. Dragon again before her body collapsed.
A body created from the wood spirit would require time to slowly grow.
During that period, she would not be able to see him or hear his voice.
Mu Wanwan frowned slightly.
When would Mr. Dragon return?
She instinctively reached for the small dragon horn hanging around her neck.
However, beneath her fingers, she felt an uneven web of cracks.
Her heartbeat stopped for an instant.
Her mind also went blank.
Mu Wanwan’s fingertips trembled with panic as she removed the small horn from around her neck.
The words that dragon had spoken before leaving seemed to echo beside her ears—
“If the horn shatters, it means that I…”
She remembered the sadness curling around his long eyelashes.
“I failed. Tear open the scroll, and you can leave the Demon Realm and be transported to the Human Realm.”
Mu Wanwan stared at the small dragon horn lying in her palm.
Its cracks gradually widened, and its light slowly dimmed.
Her cheeks and eyes burned.
She bit her lip tightly, suppressing the choked sobs threatening to escape, as though he had already left her.
Her vision had long since become blurred with tears.
“No…”
“Please don’t break.”
An enormous wave of grief rose from her heart and completely submerged her.
Mu Wanwan looked pleadingly at the tiny horn.
Within her palm, the cracks continued spreading little by little.
Perhaps her prayers had failed.
The tiny dragon horn, emitting an increasingly faint light, finally began breaking apart.
Accompanied by a crisp sound, a star-like radiance spilled from its centre.
Mu Wanwan reached out to catch it, but could only watch as the dust-like fragments were carried away by a gust of wind and scattered across her cold forehead.
A memory suddenly appeared within her mind, extinguishing the grief that had not yet fully erupted—
She saw a tiny figure wearing a hooded vest altered from close-fitting demonic-creature clothing.
His body was filthy. His immature tail and ears were exposed.
Clinging to a wall, he poked out his little head and secretly listened to a group of young dragons talking.
“What’s your surname?” asked a little White Dragon no more than five or six years old. “My surname is Bai. Bai sounds really nice.”
“But my surname is Ao.”
A little Azure Dragon shook its tail.
“His surname is Ao too.”
“That’s right. Aren’t all dragons supposed to have the surname Ao?” another chubby little Azure Dragon said in a childish voice. “All my friends have the surname Ao.”
“You’re actually surnamed Bai. You’re so strange. We don’t want to play with you anymore.”
The first little Azure Dragon childishly pointed at the White Dragon. It grabbed its companion’s hand, puffed out its cheeks and prepared to leave.
“Don’t!”
The little White Dragon was on the verge of tears. It rubbed its eyes and its horns.
“But Father said everyone in our family is surnamed Bai.”
“Then go and play with people surnamed Bai. We don’t want to play with you.”
As the two little Azure Dragons spoke, the young Mr. Dragon hiding in the corner also revealed a nervous and frightened expression.
Even his little ears trembled.
The little White Dragon rubbed its eyes, seemingly making an enormous decision.
“Then, when I’m playing with you, I’ll use the surname Ao!”
“All right.”
The two little Azure Dragons accepted this suggestion. They took the little White Dragon by the hand and ran away.
They were going to practise swimming together today.
The young Mr. Dragon silently thought that he had been watching them for several days.
However—
So most dragons had the surname Ao.
If someone was not surnamed Ao, nobody would be willing to play with them.
Chaos had previously told him that he was a dragon.
In that case, he should also be surnamed Ao, shouldn’t he?
The tiny, still-infant dragon hiding behind the wall tugged at his grey hood.
He seemed to suddenly think of something, and his eyes lit up with anticipation.
He still remembered.
When he had first hatched, Chaos had laughed and said that he was an abandoned little fellow and would have to live with him from then on.
He had only met Chaos because he had been abandoned…
Therefore, “abandoned” must be a wonderful word, right?
He suddenly became happy.
Moving his short little legs, he ran towards the alley.
Tonight, he would definitely chase away all those bad beastmen who said he had no name.
He had a name now.
“From today onwards, I’ll be called Ao Qi.”
Ao Qi.
It must be a beautiful and meaningful name!
**Author’s Note:**
Back then—
Little baby dragon: “From today onwards, I’ll be called Ao Qi!”
Many years later—
The grown-up Mr. Dragon covered his forehead. “I don’t have a name. I’m called Mr. Dragon.”
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