Chapter 43: The Wind And Moon Cross The Rivers And Seas (Part 5)
“….”
Who should be blamed?
Blame Yan Jingqiu.
What could be done?
There was nothing to be done.
Damn it.
Bai Chunsheng didn’t speak, shuddering as if shocked by electricity. He had learned to be smarter, realizing that saying anything to Yan Yi was useless. He began to repeat to himself the words he had prepared earlier that morning: … Just endure.
Bai Chunsheng looked at him with eyes as deep as autumn waters, and Yan Yi felt his heart tremble in response.
Quietly, he moved a little further away. Yan Yi had thought it over and decided that he and Bai Chunsheng were currently in the most wonderful phase of love: ambiguous and alluring. To preserve this beauty, someone with great self-control was needed to always be aware of their proximity, ensuring they didn’t cross the line too quickly.
Yan Yi glanced at Bai Chunsheng, knowing that he could no longer rely on this little greedy duck for anything. Indeed, it seemed that only he himself could keep things in check.
Bai Chunsheng: “….”
He sighed deeply, glancing at Yan Yi. He could only console himself by thinking: Let’s just assume I’ve got a very clingy and clueless human pet. With this thought, Bai Chunsheng felt much better. He even began to imagine that if Yan Yi pushed a little further, he might transform back into his original form and let him scratch his soft feathers on his back.
Some of the more obedient demon beasts in the Ten Thousand Demon Sect liked to have human pets to pamper, and Yan Yi was his human pet.
— Haha!
Bai Chunsheng cheered up again, feeling much more energized.
Yan Yi, completely unaware of this, thought that Bai Chunsheng was just a bit slow to react and had only now realized he should be happy.
The two, each with their own thoughts, continued down the unfinished path. The red glow that Bai Chunsheng had seen became more and more intense, and he snapped his fingers. The string of Vajra prayer beads he held in his hand began to emit a faint yellow light, one bead after another, casting a soft glow in the dim mine.
Although it was previously suspected that the dragon was nearing the end of its life or had already died, it was still best to proceed with caution.
Under the glow of the Vajra prayer beads, the scene at the end of the mine came into full view.
At the end of the mine was a massive cavern, about ten zhang wide and eight zhang high. The length of the cavern was difficult to gauge with the naked eye, as it was obstructed by the body of the giant dragon.
The soil was mostly soaked with the dragon’s blood, which had formed sparkling crystals on the ground. The state of these crystals was very close to that of bloodline crystals, indicating that the dragon’s aura was lingering and its life was clearly nearing its end.
The dragon’s might had a significant impact on humans. On the day Su Xiaojing had come here, he likely only wandered around the area, picking up a bloodline crystal before leaving.
Bai Chunsheng raised the Vajra prayer beads in his hand, inspecting the dragon’s form. The dragon appeared somewhat pitiable, with large patches of water-blue scales missing from its body. Its whiskers on its head were singed by fire, and its horns had been partially severed.
Its body was covered with small wounds, continuously bleeding and healing.
The most striking feature was the massive wound on the dragon’s abdomen, where its nearly shattered organs could be faintly seen.
Such a large wound would be difficult for even a dragon to heal, given their regenerative abilities. In front of the abdominal wound, a silver-white sword was stabbed into the ground. The space around the sword seemed to shimmer in and out of existence, making it appear as though it was both there and not there at the same time. It looked highly unusual.
There was also a magic array on the ground, with the dragon’s blood flowing from its abdomen being drawn into the array, forming a complicated and intricate pattern, almost as if it were carved into the sword itself.
Both the dragon’s blood and the magic array were nourishing the silver sword.
The bloodline crystal, which Bai Chunsheng had been thinking about, was merely an accessory to this silver sword.
Bai Chunsheng muttered to himself, “Could it be that this sword wounded the dragon?”
Yan Yi shook his head. “The wound on its abdomen wasn’t caused by a sword.”
The wound was jagged and irregular, more like…
His gaze fell on the dragon’s front claws, and he walked over. There was still its own blood and flesh there. “It looks like it did this to itself.”
“Ah?” Bai Chunsheng thought for a moment and then realized. The bloodline crystals on the ground were free of resentment, unlike what would happen if the dragon had been grievously wounded by someone. If it had been severely injured, the dragon’s blood would have transformed into a vengeful blood array. How could these bloodline crystals form so obediently, without any malice?
Perhaps hearing the sound of footsteps and voices, the blue dragon, which had been lying in a near-death sleep due to its severe injuries, lazily lifted its eyelids. As Yan Yi walked near its abdomen, the blue dragon could only see Bai Chunsheng, who was standing by its head.
The dragon’s once bright and sharp eyes were now clouded with a grayish mist, giving them a dull, almost blind appearance, as if it had been blind for a long time.
Its voice was hoarse and slow, a sound that made it seem as if all life had drained from it: “I smell the scent of a spirit demon. Is that you, Bai Jianghan?”
Bai Chunsheng was startled. The old dragon had only the cultivation of a Nascent Soul stage, and he hadn’t expected it to know Bai Jianghan’s name.
Bai Chunsheng exclaimed, “Who are you?!”
The old dragon slowly continued, speaking one word at a time: “Oh, I’m old, my eyesight is failing, I must have mistaken you for someone else.”
Bai Chunsheng, shocked to realize that this old dragon truly knew his grandmother, immediately made a decision. He took out the last bottle of Vitality-Stabilizing Pill, which he had been reluctant to use even when badly injured, and fed it to the dragon, using his spiritual energy to guide it into its mouth.
The dragon’s consciousness seemed to awaken a little. It looked at Bai Chunsheng as if recalling something for a moment, and then slowly said, “You resemble Bai Jianghan a little, I can’t blame myself for mistaking you.”
“She should be fine, right? Has the Everlasting Bamboo fallen into her hands? Yan Jianhang won’t let her go. That is… that is…”
“The Everlasting Bamboo is a Daoist temple, a… cough, a foundation for the Daoist temple.”
“That woman will never have a good end!”
It seemed that this was the old dragon’s limit. After these few words, it began muttering incoherently, spouting nonsense with no logical flow: “Send… send it back… send it back, it can’t fall into the hands of the human race… it’s the Crown Prince, it must be the Crown Prince…”
“What Crown Prince?” Bai Chunsheng asked. “No, who asked you about the Crown Prince? What is the Everlasting Bamboo? Do you know my grandmother Bai Jianghan?”
This dragon was extremely old, and since it even knew his grandmother, it was very likely to have wandered in from the grand world. The dragon’s voice gradually weakened. Bai Chunsheng realized something was wrong; it seemed that the dragon’s earlier attempt to open its eyes had merely been a brief return of vitality. The Vitality-Stabilizing Pill he had just fed it had no effect, and now it was about to die.
It was an unfortunate timing; if only it had been a day earlier.
Bai Chunsheng grew anxious. This dragon clearly knew something. Over the past few days, he had been preoccupied with waiting for Yan Yi in the Yunhai Small World, not even hearing the news of his grandmother’s death, let alone having a chance to personally see where she was buried. But according to what the old dragon had said, could there have been something hidden behind his grandmother’s death?
Bai Chunsheng increased the flow of spiritual energy he was sending: “Hey, don’t die yet! Don’t die! Please, tell me why you said my grandmother would not have a good end!”
With all the commotion Bai Chunsheng caused, Yan Yi naturally couldn’t have missed it. He walked over toward him: “The old dragon’s wound was self-inflicted. The silver sword, its material is unclear, definitely something beyond what ordinary worldly tools could be.”
Yan Yi stood by Bai Chunsheng’s side, carefully examining the old dragon. He made his judgment: “It’s remarkable that it’s still holding on with some semblance of consciousness after all this time.”
The old dragon, who had already one foot in the grave, suddenly widened its eyes forcefully like a dog whose tail had been stepped on. The grayish substance around its eyes faded, and it struggled violently on the ground, like a snake with its vital spot squeezed or an eel cut in half.
Its eyes locked intensely on Bai Chunsheng and Yan Yi. Then, with what seemed to be the last of its strength, it let out two unexpected words as tears, the size of a basin, rolled down its face: “Bo Yan…”
Huge shoutout to @_nyanmaru_ on Discord for commissioning this! The chapter will be posted regularly, show your support for Ciacia at Kofi.
