The spiritual barrier created by Mr. Dragon’s horn had cracked. How could he possibly have failed to notice?
A furious growl nearly escaped his control. His broken tail swung behind him as he fled into the distance even faster.
They were merely three sixth-rank Golden Dragons who worked well together. Had he fought them with his full strength, he would not necessarily have lost.
However, his wife was with him.
His horn was broken, and the protective barrier it created was no longer as powerful as it had once been. The shock waves produced during a battle would undoubtedly reach her.
She was so fragile.
He held her at the very tip of his heart, and even when he guarded her constantly, he remained terrified that he might lose her.
How could he possibly allow her to be hurt?
Yet these dragons—
They had injured her.
It felt as though a piece of flesh had been carved from his heart.
The pursuers roared behind him as Mr. Dragon swiftly travelled through the sea of clouds. He flew extremely quickly, no longer making any attempt to conceal his divine senses.
The powerful divine consciousness of a late seventh-rank cultivator descended.
The three Golden Dragons thirty li behind them immediately became dizzy. Blood flowed from their mouths and noses.
Seizing the opportunity, Mr. Dragon twisted his enormous body around.
Thick black mist surged out beside him and instantly covered half the sky.
Mu Wanwan’s world also plunged into darkness.
Her head continued buzzing from the earlier impact. Only after swallowing several medicinal pills did she begin to feel somewhat better.
She could vaguely hear furious dragon roars sounding from every direction.
All she could do was tightly grip Mr. Dragon’s fur and allow him to carry her wherever he wished.
The three Golden Dragons failed to avoid the attack and were immediately swallowed by the surging black mist.
The Azure Dragon communication token lit up.
Mu Wanwan hurriedly pressed it against her ear and heard Ao Qin’s confident voice.
“I have already discussed the matter with the elders of the Golden Dragon Clan. When the blood sacrifice takes place, we merely need to give those elders a portion of his flesh.”
His voice was filled with disdain towards Mr. Dragon.
“The three elders of the Golden Dragon Clan are extremely powerful. They will certainly capture that useless dragon and bring him back.”
“Lord Ao Qin is truly farsighted.”
“That useless ruler is definitely doomed this time!”
Several voices began flattering him one after another.
Mu Wanwan frowned.
She felt the dragon beneath her accelerate once more and saw the enormous broken horn beside his ear radiating an intense light.
It seemed partly like a demonstration of power and partly an expression of his fury.
Brilliant light erupted.
She heard Mr. Dragon release a low, pained growl.
Several scales fell from his body and shot into the black mist like sharp swords.
Would losing those scales hurt?
Mu Wanwan hugged his furry ear in distress.
With a medicinal pill held in her mouth and the communication token clutched tightly in her hand, she prayed that this escape would end quickly.
The clouds were torn apart.
Several streams of golden fire burst through, converging into a sea of flames that swept towards the human and dragon.
Mr. Dragon reacted rapidly.
He was also even more ruthless.
Mu Wanwan did not feel the heat from the flames. Instead, she saw the blurred figures of the three Golden Dragons struggling desperately within the entangling black mist.
A moment later, they seemed to release miserable cries before disappearing among the clouds.
Mu Wanwan froze briefly.
The dragon beneath her accelerated once again.
Through the communication token, she vaguely heard an enraged voice.
“Ao Qin, didn’t you tell us that the ruler had recovered only seventy percent of his strength?”
The Golden Dragon Clan’s Third Elder remained tangled within the black mist.
His enormous true form was covered in wounds. He could not fly within the mist at all and had therefore been forced to transform into a human.
Furious, he vented his anger through the communication token he had previously left with the Golden Dragon Clan.
The Second Elder had also been left in a sorry state by the black mist and showed Ao Qin no respect whatsoever.
The three brothers were extremely powerful and had long behaved however they pleased within the dragon clan.
They had already disliked Ao Qin—a mediocre junior from the Azure Dragon Clan—for some time.
Now that it seemed he had deliberately toyed with them, their fury naturally intensified.
Ao Qin, who had only flown halfway back from the border of the witch territory, immediately turned ashen.
He did not know whether he should answer or remain silent.
It felt as though someone had slapped him directly across the face.
His expression darkened, and he nearly crushed the communication token in his hand.
How had that dragon recovered so quickly?
How was it possible?
His face twisted as he gritted his teeth.
“Please remain calm, Elders. Once I return to the clan, you will certainly receive ample compensation for your efforts today.”
“Hmph.”
The Golden Dragon Clan’s First Elder snorted coldly, reluctantly accepting the offer.
The three Golden Dragon brothers exchanged glances and saw how dishevelled each of them looked.
The Third Elder was in particularly bad condition.
Mr. Dragon’s scales had struck his arm and back directly, piercing deeply into the flesh of his true form.
For some reason, the wounds were even more painful than ordinary injuries.
He bared his teeth in agony.
Before he could react further, another Golden Dragon stared at the black-and-red markings that had abruptly appeared across his face.
“Third Brother, you… Why have you been cursed?”
The Third Elder instinctively raised his hand.
A faint black light could be seen winding from his arm.
“Quickly!” the First Elder shouted urgently. “Pull out all his scales!”
A chill spread through the First Elder’s heart.
He seemed to recall the battle that had first established the ruler’s reputation.
He had been far too careless.
Why had he believed that a cursed ruler with only seventy percent of his strength remaining could be dealt with so easily?
They were in serious trouble now.
The First Elder gritted his teeth.
Since he had already acted, he could only stand on Ao Qin’s side.
If they failed to kill this dragon, the ruler would surely become an inner demon obstructing his cultivation forever.
…
While the three Golden Dragon elders discovered that Mr. Dragon’s scales carried his curse and furiously prepared to settle accounts with Ao Qin—turning on one another like dogs fighting over scraps—Mu Wanwan and Mr. Dragon finally shook off their pursuers and flew higher and farther away.
Meanwhile, Jiu Qing carried the Spatial pouches Mu Wanwan had left with her and arrived at Huayun Apothecary.
The sudden disturbance had caused many members of the dragon clan to assume their true forms.
The original dark clouds had already thickened into heavy rain clouds, while violent winds swept through the market.
Most people had tightly shut the doors of their shops.
Jiu Qing knocked, but no one answered.
Instead, the door opposite the apothecary slowly opened.
A strangely dressed dwarf stepped outside without an umbrella.
He had a pair of mechanical legs, and his upper body was covered in black wounds. A wooden mechanical dog followed beside him.
His eyes were cloudy, and the large iron hammer in his hand tapped against the ground.
He looked extremely old.
The life force surrounding him had already grown terribly faint.
“Are you looking for Leizi?”
Jiu Qing moved one finger.
Instead of turning around and leaving as she ordinarily might have done, she created a small spiritual barrier above Uncle Tie’s head.
She looked strangely at the old dwarf who had suddenly appeared.
“Who is Leizi?”
“He’s…”
Uncle Tie coughed twice.
“The owner of Huayun Apothecary.”
Jiu Qing frowned.
“You know him?”
“They just left.”
Uncle Tie smiled.
“They went to chase after… that dragon from earlier.”
“A dragon?”
Jiu Qing brushed aside the hair scattered by the wind and looked at the dwarf who had suddenly begun smiling.
“You mean the ruler of the dragon clan?”
Uncle Tie did not answer her question.
He did not even continue acknowledging her. Like a genuinely bad-tempered old man, he puffed out his cheeks and muttered:
“Oh, just wait a moment.”
With difficulty, he extended an arm whose muscles had atrophied considerably since Mu Wanwan last saw him.
He rummaged around on the back of the mechanical dog for a long time before finally taking out a jade token.
“Leizi’s jade token.”
As though the movement had exhausted him, Uncle Tie tossed the token towards Jiu Qing and began panting heavily.
“You’ll find it useful.”
Jiu Qing caught the jade token.
“Thank you.”
She turned to leave, but then noticed the small, dusty grey bag still clutched in Uncle Tie’s hand.
Frowning, she sensed his life force growing increasingly dim.
In the end, she did not immediately depart.
Instead, she walked over to him and asked softly:
“Is there anything I can help you with?”
This dwarf could no longer be saved through medicinal pills or spiritual energy.
He had reached the natural end of his life, and his soul had long since become thoroughly exhausted.
He had helped her once.
She wanted to repay that karmic debt.
Uncle Tie’s cloudy eyes moved.
After coughing violently for some time, he slowly asked:
“That girl…”
“The one… who gave you those Spatial pouchs…”
His words came in broken fragments.
“Has she left?”
Jiu Qing realised that he was speaking about Mu Wanwan.
She looked puzzled.
“What?”
Uncle Tie’s slightly protruding eyes shifted.
His voice carried an emotion that might have been expectation.
“She… and that dragon…”
“Did they leave together?”
After asking, his body seemed to reach its limit.
He collapsed onto the ground, his mechanical legs falling into the mud and rainwater.
The instant Mu Wanwan had shattered the crystal sphere, he had sensed it.
His life was already nearing its end, yet he had continued holding on.
He wanted to know whether Mu Wanwan, after witnessing those memories, would despise that dragon because of his past.
Jiu Qing became irritated at the mere mention of the matter.
As soon as Mu Wanwan left, she had opened the two Spatial pouches Mu Wanwan had given her.
The one intended for Jiu Qing contained enough medicinal pills to restore her appearance completely.
The bag intended for Huayun Apothecary’s owner contained large quantities of low-rank medicinal pills and many spirit plants that had clearly been cultivated with great care.
There were also numerous gifts.
They had probably been selected by that useless dragon, because his taste was atrocious beyond description.
The elegant and beautiful handwriting was clearly Mu Wanwan’s.
However, the signature consisted of an extraordinarily ugly single character:
“Dragon.”
Jiu Qing had absolutely no desire to accept a dressing mirror made entirely of pure gold and embedded with colourful gemstones!
“She left with that dragon.”
Jiu Qing’s red lips curved upwards as she looked at the dwarf, who appeared somewhat relieved.
Then, as though struck by sudden inspiration, she remembered something.
Under Uncle Tie’s gradually dimming gaze, she reached into the Spatial pouch intended for Uncle Zong and removed a large luminous pearl.
It glowed faintly beneath the gloomy, rain-filled sky.
Holding it before him, she asked tentatively:
“A-Tie?”
The dwarf’s eyes widened slightly.
Some of his energy seemed to return as he stared at the luminous pearl and the note attached to it.
A faint light passed through his eyes.
Jiu Qing seemed to understand something.
She placed the pearl in his hand.
Uncle Tie struggled to make out the writing.
His eyesight was already fading.
He tried for a long time.
The brows that had always remained tightly furrowed, making him appear particularly fierce, slowly relaxed as his gaze moved across the words.
Long ago, inside that cage, his younger self had taken advantage of the dragon’s injuries and inability to move to curse and kick him without restraint.
The guilt and shadow of those actions had haunted Uncle Tie for his entire life.
Jiu Qing watched as the old dwarf looked towards her with gratitude.
His smile was truly unattractive, yet his cloudy eyes had become clear, as though the knot within his heart had finally unravelled.
He held out the grey bag in his hand.
Jiu Qing saw his lips move, every wrinkle on his face carrying contentment.
“Please…”
However, Jiu Qing never heard the remainder of his sentence.
He was simply too old.
So old that he had fallen asleep.
And would never awaken again.
The grey bag fell alongside his arm and landed on the ground, splashing rainwater into the air.
A palm-sized scale rolled out.
It was golden.
As it landed in the mud, countless densely carved words appeared across its surface, like the regret of innumerable sleepless nights.
“I’m sorry.”
Jiu Qing suddenly felt terribly sad.
She picked up the scale and gently closed Uncle Tie’s eyes.
Then she finally read the note attached to the luminous pearl.
Like the notes accompanying the other gifts, it contained no forgiveness and no other special words.
There were only two short lines, followed by an ugly signature:
“Thank you for taking care of my wife.
–Dragon.”
Leave a Reply