LAVW – Chapter 64 Brother Ye Turns into a Dragon

The woman’s chest stiffened slightly, and the smile vanished from her face. “What a boring Sword Sect brat.”

“If you’re not here for beauty, then what are you doing here?”

Though her smile faded, she continued leaning in closer.

Long Ye stomped the ground, pushed off with force in his legs, and slid backward, lifting his sword sheath. “Stay back. Show some respect.”

“Pfft—” the woman laughed again, amused. “Still a virgin? A pure and chaste man?”

In truth, Long Ye was merely weighing the strength of this bizarre woman.

He quickly searched his memories, pulling up a long-buried, indirectly described scene.

About—a wine flask.

Back in the secret realm exhibit, Brother Qian and Little Ancestral Master Mo Sanchi had once seen a powerful Tribulation-Transcending cultivator’s projection holding a wine flask. The liquid inside had been red.

But he couldn’t hastily assume a connection. The woman before him was likely in the late Nascent Soul stage, not at the Tribulation level.

Then he remembered the group who had previously tried to capture Brother Qian, the ones who kept calling out “Heavenly Lady.”

Long Ye replied, “The Heavenly Lady jests.”

The woman’s figure flickered again. This time, she appeared standing right before him, towering over the tall Long Ye.

“I’m not joking. I truly… want to devour you.”

A fragrant scent wafted toward him, but Long Ye remained tense. Before she could act, he drew his sword and struck decisively.

The Dragon-Slaying Sword radiated spiritual energy and flashed with a cold gleam as it thrust toward her, carrying the might of a dragon within its light.

This strike combined Long Ye’s recent breakthroughs in swordsmanship, carrying the full power of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

The fierce wind blew through, scattering her hair to reveal a face as luminous as the moon.

In the next instant, that beautiful face twisted grotesquely, morphing into the gray-white head of a flood dragon, its mouth full of sharp teeth clamping down on the Dragon-Slaying Sword.

Her once-seductive figure trembled strangely and then transformed into a long beastly body and tail, covered in sharp scales.

The poor Ding Tower couldn’t withstand the battle—it collapsed within moments.

The entire second floor caved in, crashing directly onto the first floor.

All around, screams echoed.

Yet in the blink of an eye, the cries vanished, and joyful smiles returned to the faces of the tower’s revelers.

Long Ye fell into the crowd below. A man placed a hand on his shoulder and called out, “Hey, beauty…”

A full head taller than the man, Long Ye kicked him into the mouth of the flood dragon-woman before dashing away.

The flood dragon spat the man back out and transformed once more into her female form.

She looked at the fleeing man, her red lips parting. “Catch him.”

Her voice spread through the entire city. Instantly, the ice-blue city built from ice seemed to boil over. People flooded from their homes; streets emptied. Cultivators soared into the sky on their magical tools, all chasing after Long Ye.

“Catch him! The Heavenly Lady wants him!”

“Together now, don’t let him escape!”

The mob included men and women, even low-level Qi Refining cultivators, piling up under Long Ye’s feet, swarming from all directions like a tide.

Long Ye landed atop a tree and waved his hand downward, unleashing righteous energy—but it was useless. No one could be awakened from their madness.

As he hesitated for just a second, even children climbed the tree like monkeys.

Frowning deeply, Long Ye stepped on two people and leapt backward once more.

But as he neared the city gates, he discovered a nearly solid layer of glowing light blocking the exit, sealing off the space.

Even with all his strength, the Dragon-Slaying Sword could only ripple the barrier like water—it couldn’t be cut through.

The woman stepped atop the wave of humans, approaching him unhurriedly, her tongue flicking like a snake’s red forked tongue.

Long Ye asked, “You want to become a true dragon?”

Indeed, devouring Long Ye would allow her to absorb the dragon blood in his body, aiding her transformation from a flood dragon into a true dragon.

As soon as he spoke, without waiting for her answer, Long Ye had to flee again.

Because the crowd surged toward him once more.

Amid the sea of people, Long Ye felt like a single drop in the vast ocean. Even if only a few were at the Nascent Soul level, the sheer madness of the masses was overwhelming.

Unless he resorted to a killing spree, he had no better solution.

After a brief thought, Long Ye charged toward the woman.

Her gaze turned icy. “The snack comes right to my lips—of course I’ll eat it.”

Long Ye didn’t think of himself as a snack. He slashed toward her throat with his sword, while his other hand turned into a dragon’s claw, aiming for her abdomen.

The Dragon-Slaying Sword was forcibly grabbed, but Long Ye managed to seize the flood dragon’s beastly form.

Then, using the weight of a thousand catties, he dragged the dragon-woman down with him, crashing into the icy lake within the city.

There are jade slips that record: beneath this lake lies the Cold Sea. The lake’s water is unimaginably frigid—anything it touches instantly freezes, the cold seeping straight into the bones.

Splash—

The massive flood dragon crashed through the frozen lake surface, plunging into the icy water. A huge splash erupted, and the droplets that flew into the air froze instantly into crystalline ice flowers.

People crowding the lakeshore who were touched by the water were instantly frozen into ice statues, forming a thick human wall.

The crowd behind climbed over the wall of frozen bodies and continued surging forward.

Before long, the entire lake surface was completely sealed by bodies.

At least the tide of people had been blocked—for now.

Underwater, the flood dragon’s body stiffened from the cold, needing a moment before it could move again. Then, its long tail lashed out violently toward Long Ye.

Long Ye swung his sword in response. The spiritual energy from the blade clashed against the dragon’s scales with a sound like clashing metal.

The residual energy from the dragon blood spirit stone within Long Ye surged through his body, keeping his movements fluid.

But at the same time, a familiar searing heat erupted from his organs, colliding with the extreme cold on his skin—making the sensation almost unbearable.

The intense clash of elements caused black dragon scales to appear on his limbs, quickly spreading over his chest, lower body, and even half his face.

The flood dragon’s tail coiled around him, its sharp teeth gnashing—like two wild beasts locked in a brutal struggle.

Inside the clam shell—

Shi Qian first sensed a rising unease, realizing Long Ye might be in a fight.

Next came a faint, sweet fragrance.

Danger. The word popped into his mind.

It didn’t feel like an overwhelming danger, so Shi Qian figured Long Ye could handle it.

He hesitated for a bit. Then, the scent in the air thickened, and despite his faith in Long Ye’s abilities, Shi Qian still nervously crept toward the edge of the shell and cracked it open.

If Long Ye scolded him for peeking without permission—well, he’d just endure the nagging.

The moment the shell opened, a wave of damp, bone-piercing cold rushed in, nearly freezing Shi Qian solid.

Clack! He slammed the shell shut again.

But in that brief opening and closing, the thick scent of danger filled his nose.

This danger was targeted specifically at Long Ye. It smelled like a fifty-fifty chance of survival.

Shi Qian touched his tiny arms. His fur was dense, but his small body didn’t produce much heat—not helpful at all.

Even if he transformed to a larger size, it would only be an illusion—not actually useful.

Gritting his teeth, Shi Qian hyped himself up, wrapped himself in several layers of spiritual energy shields, and bravely opened the clam shell again.

He shot out, stepping onto the black sword—now shrunk to the size of a tile—barely noticeable, but incredibly fast.

But damn, it was cold.

Shi Qian shivered violently as he got a clear view of the battlefield below the water.

In the deep, dark blue lake, streaks of red blood spread, muddling the once-clear water.

Vaguely, he could make out two massive beastly forms intertwined, viciously tearing into each other.

A grey-white flood dragon, with razor-sharp fangs and bloodied claws, radiated fierce and brutal energy.

The other dragon was pitch black, difficult to see clearly under the flickering light, but just the dragon head alone exuded imposing, tyrannical might. Its crimson eyes gleamed with murderous intent.

What’s more, the black dragon could unleash sword light—it must be Long Ye.

In just a short while apart, Long Ye had actually transformed into a dragon!

As for the grey flood dragon… Shi Qian couldn’t recall any such powerful figure appearing in the original plot.

If he had seen its human form, maybe he could have identified it by the identical wine gourd—but this time, by sheer mischance, he’d come out too late.

Just one moment out here, and Shi Qian already felt like his dragon horns were going to freeze off.

He quickly grabbed the black sword, hoping to sneak behind the grey-white dragon while the black dragon had just struck it.

But being actually on the battlefield now, he realized: holding this brick-like sword in hand truly gave a sense of security.

Too bad his first strike missed.

Worse, he was immediately met with furious roars from both dragons, their gaping maws lunging at him.

Shi Qian hurriedly used his trump card—manipulating the black sword to slice through space, instantly fleeing far away.

A furious squeak tore through the water:

“Squeak—”

Brother Ye! Why the hell are you biting your own teammate?!

But no response came.

The black dragon and the powerful flood dragon were again locked in a vicious coil, tearing and biting at each other in a frenzied blur.

The cold in the water surged violently, light and shadow dancing wildly. Of the three, only poor Shi Qian ended up injured—shivering, trembling.

A tuft of fur from the tip of his tail had been bitten off—it was definitely bald now.

And it was almost certainly Long Ye’s doing.

Because earlier, Shi Qian hadn’t even tried to avoid the black dragon’s direction.

Luckily, the black sword’s emergency spatial shift had narrowly saved him from being swallowed whole by his own dragon.

Black sword: Zheng—

Beastification, ever heard of it?

Shi Qian didn’t dare get too close to the two colossal combatants again. He crouched on the black sword and curled up into a tight little ball.

“Squeak Squeak.”

Is this a beastified state from human-beast hybrid bloodlines?

The months spent at Sword Sect hadn’t been wasted—if even the black sword knew what this was, Shi Qian obviously did too.

Beastification referred to a human-beast hybrid degenerating into a full beast, losing all reason, and reverting to wild instincts.

But Long Ye’s dragon bloodline shouldn’t have been fully awakened yet—he shouldn’t even be capable of fully turning into a dragon.

In the original plot, Long Aotian only reached full dragon form during his Tribulation Stage—still more than a hundred years away.

Wait a minute—originally, Long Aotian only began growing dragon horns and covering himself in dragon scales during the Nascent Soul Stage.

Push all of that forward a bit, and combine it with what Shi Qian remembered—Long Ye had said the dragon blood spirit stone within him still held over half its energy.

So in theory, he really could “grow into a dragon” early.

But judging by Long Ye’s current berserk state, he had likely encountered some danger and forcefully “matured” himself, leading to the side effects of beastification.

Black sword: Zheng—

Another beastified one shows up, and you might just get eaten.

Shi Qian: “Squeak Squeak.”

Not happening.

Shi Qian defended Long Ye with his words, but his poor little tail—missing a chunk of fur—served as a painful reminder:

He really had to be careful.

Things were getting complicated.

If the grey-white flood dragon took down Long Ye, he was in serious danger.

The beastly black dragon had dried up the pale gray flood dragon, but Shi Qian was still in danger. The berserk black dragon didn’t recognize who he was.

Of course, he had to help his own people.

Even if the black dragon couldn’t recognize him now, Shi Qian couldn’t just pretend he didn’t know Long Ye.

“Squeak Squeak Squeak.”

Look up.

Shi Qian lifted his head and saw a group of floating ice block figures covering the entire lake surface, blocking out the light. A chill crept up his spine.

What kind of scene was this? So terrifying.

“Zheng—”

And you’re still reminding me—

The black brick’s figure flickered, and a bubbling sound emerged from the water next to Shi Qian.

Then Shi Qian saw an even more terrifying scene—both the flood dragon and the black dragon he had accidentally struck were now locking their beastly eyes onto him, as if he were a delicious snack they absolutely had to bite into.

Shi Qian was collapsing inside: It’s just one bite, right?

You both want me? There’s not even enough to go around.

“Squeak Squeak—”

How about… you two keep fighting?

Unfortunately, both of the big guys were already enraged.

Shi Qian dragged his useless spirit sword and acted out a tragic scene of fleeing with his sword.

Under the pressure of life and death, Shi Qian pushed himself to the limit, performing with the skill of a snake-devouring master, successfully causing the two “dragons” to crash into each other and allowing him to escape with his life.

But after the burst of effort, he was left weak. Shi Qian called out to the black sword: “Squeak Squeak Squeak.”

Big bro, could you hold it together a little longer?

“Zheng—”

Alright, get on.

The black sword did a somersault in the water, picked up its little master, and dived beneath the surface, letting the two dragons continue their internal fight.

Hiding in the depths inevitably meant it was colder.

Thankfully, the bloodline power had been stirred up by the stimulation, sending a wave of warmth and faint pain from his bones, preventing Shi Qian from truly freezing into stupidity.

Above the water, it was actually even more terrifying than what Shi Qian had seen.

After Long Ye transformed into a dragon, the battle between the two massive beasts repeatedly broke the ice, causing the lake water to surge back in. By now, layers upon layers of people had piled up at the lake’s mouth—it was a gruesome sight.

Even more bizarre, however, was that the other people had returned to their “happy” lives, as if they couldn’t see the mound of bodies atop the lake.

Back under the water, after waiting a while, Shi Qian noticed the aroma growing stronger, a sign that Long Ye was in greater danger.

He had no choice but to pat the black sword, urging it forward once again.

With the two dragons fighting and the black sword protecting him, as long as he was careful, safety was still manageable.

That bite to the tail earlier had been a sneak attack by Long Ye.

The black sword once again carried its young master back to watch the dragons battle.

Returning to the scene, the situation was clear: the black dragon was being suppressed by the gray-white flood dragon.

On the gray-white body of the flood dragon, some red streaks began to appear, and its aura grew stronger.

But strangely, although the flood dragon had wounds, not a drop of vital blood was flowing—only spiritual energy kept leaking out.

Meanwhile, Shi Qian saw many wounds on the black dragon—some from bites, some from claw slashes—bleeding continuously, tinting the surface of the water a pale red.

Compared to the seasoned flood dragon, the black dragon was still a young one—lacking experience and relying solely on instinct and sword light to fight.

Worse yet, its cultivation level was a whole major stage lower, nullifying any bloodline advantage it might have had.

As the flood dragon also began to unleash its full power, Long Ye—who had already transformed early—was now at a disadvantage.

Shi Qian Squeaked twice, but the red-eyed black dragon was already fully engaged in the fight, furiously charging and colliding with the gray-white flood dragon, showing no response.

When the two dragons clashed, the ice layer on the lake shattered. Ice block people fell down, and even more blood dyed the lake water red.

There was no time to worry about whether the transformed Long Ye would turn around and try to bite him again.

Shi Qian quietly slipped into the battlefield, grabbed Da Hei (the black sword), and delivered a heavy blow to the back of the flood dragon’s head.

The black sword’s true form was extremely heavy—even compressed through spatial means, it still weighed as much as a thousand tons.

The sudden strike stunned the gray-white flood dragon, its mind going blank for a moment.

The crazed black dragon seized the chance and bit hard into the flood dragon’s neck, sinking its sharp teeth deep into its arteries. Its huge eyes were practically pressed against Shi Qian’s face.

Up close, those red eyes were actually quite beautiful—like glass beads, fierce yet adorably round.

Even the dragon’s teeth were sharp and white, enough to make both Shi Qian and the black sword feel a bit dizzy.

Shi Qian gave the flood dragon another smack to make sure the black dragon could bite down harder—then took off running with the black sword again.

Halfway through their escape, a small problem arose.

The black sword wanted to dive down, while Shi Qian wanted to go up.

Based on Shi Qian’s judgment, the surface was safer.

Hiding up top would allow him to blend in with the chaos, which would be helpful for any future escape.

Below was too cold, and it was hard to fully conceal his energy—it would be easier to get trapped.

The black sword had no choice but to shut off its senses and let Shi Qian drag it beneath the ice, trusting its young master to call when it was time to flee again.

Once he reached the edge of the lake, Shi Qian burrowed into the soil near the shore, digging deep and hiding himself well.

He used every stealth technique Long Ye had taught him—formation disks, flags, treasures to conceal his presence—he deployed them all.

After setting everything up, Shi Qian shoved both himself and the black sword into a giant shell.

He wouldn’t come out until Long Ye called for him.

In the cultivation world, dragons eating dragons? That scared the poor dragon-cat.

Once Shi Qian crawled into the shell, the black sword chimed: “Zheng—”

Didn’t they say dragons were extinct?

Shi Qian sighed. He used to think so too.

But ever since he met You Fang, this “dragon wholesaler,” dragons kept popping up—one after another, like they were free.

Shi Qian pulled out two spirit fruits. “Squeak Squeak Squeak.”

Here, have a fruit to calm your nerves.

Lying down and nibbling on a spirit fruit, Shi Qian began thinking about the flood dragon.

Even if it was only a fake dragon, odds were it had something to do with You Fang, which meant it was likely a demon cultivator.

But there were hardly any demon cultivators with actual storylines.

The one with the most development was a female demon lord of the Demon Sect—a fox spirit at the tribulation stage.

In the secret realm, she flirted with the “Long Aotian” (typical OP protagonist), helped him level up, and then disappeared from the plot, seemingly having died amid internal strife among the demon cultivators themselves.

Later on, Long Aotian had a child with the Sword Sect’s young ancestor. With a kid to raise, levels to grind, and a final boss to prepare for, he was incredibly busy.

But it was only when Shi Qian recalled the detail about the flood dragon not bleeding that a new guess popped into his mind:

An external incarnation.

That flood dragon might not be a real person—it could just be an incarnation of some demon cultivator.

To cultivate an incarnation to the Nascent Soul stage and even have it take the form of a flood dragon—it had to be the financial backer behind You Fang! Most likely the same Tribulation-transcending cultivator who saved Shi Qian last time—probably the Patriarch of the Demon Sect.

Shi Qian was quite pleased with his own cleverness, but then he remembered Long Aotian’s perspective: that patriarch barely had any screen time.

So aside from confirming that the demon cultivators were up to something shady, Shi Qian couldn’t deduce anything else.

Oh well—might as well just lay low and do nothing.

Let Long Ye Gan figure it out when he wakes up.

Sword Sect, Tenth Peak.

Wang Xingzhi received a message from his master and flew his sword toward the Elders’ Hall.

“Brother Qian’s older brother? I think I’ve heard about him.”

Wang Xingzhi vaguely recalled hearing in passing that Brother Qian had a biological older brother.

He just never thought someone would actually show up. Are spirit beasts really this powerful now?

But since he was Brother Qian’s brother, he was probably smart too. So Wang Xingzhi wasn’t too surprised—in fact, he was a little excited.

If Brother Qian had a bunch of siblings, he wouldn’t mind raising one himself. He bet Xiao Yin (Little Silver) would like it too.

Only Silver Sword was a little confused—his not-fully-matured buddy had a brother?

Was this one also not fully grown?

Their thoughts were completely different, but when they saw the mighty, black-and-gold giant rat, Wang Xingzhi and Silver Sword had the exact same reaction:

—Are you serious?

Chang Youcai introduced them: “Xingzhi, this is the Saintess of Shenhua Valley and her spirit beast, the giant rat—General. They heard news about Brother Qian and came to reconnect. Your master said you have a sword practice recording of him.”

“Squeak!”

Where’s my little brother?!

The black-furred rat took two big steps and came right up to Wang Xingzhi. It was already waist-high to him, and insisted on raising its head to sniff carefully, as if trying to sniff out its little brother from him.

Wang Xingzhi stood still and pulled out a memory stone—it was a recording of Shi Qian practicing swordsmanship.

In the image, a small white spirit beast held a tiny sword, moving fluidly. Every sword strike carried a natural rhythm—it was clearly at a decent level.

The black-furred rat’s eyes lit up, and it lunged toward the memory image: “Squeak—!”

Little bro!

Of course, it was just a projection, so it pounced on nothing.

But that didn’t dampen his big-brother excitement.

His little brother was alive—and had grown quite a bit! Hei Mao was very pleased.

And so the Elders’ Hall of the Sword Sect became engulfed by the giant rat’s excited squeals.

They were loud, bright, and echoing like a song stuck in your head.

Disciples outside Elder Peak heard it and nearly thought something major had happened with the elders, pricking up their ears to monitor the situation.

“Stop it. I know you’re excited.”

The silver-haired saintess, Hua Qing, sat calmly like an immortal, and flicked her fingers to send a stream of spiritual power that sealed the mouth of her spirit beast.

She quietly tried to pull the beast back to her side, but it didn’t budge, so she had no choice but to keep trying to persuade it with words.

“General, that’s just a recording. Calm down.”

“Sob sob squeak—!”

Hei Mao tried for a moment and realized this little human cultivator girl it had picked up really didn’t get it—she wouldn’t even let it make a sound!

So it lifted a paw and began slamming it on the floor of the Elders’ Hall.

Like the sound of war drums beating, heavy impacts shook the ground.

Thump, thump, thump—

Where—is—my—brother?!

Elders like Chang Youcai: …

Chang Youcai quickly formed a hand seal and cast a silencing technique over the floor. Only then did the deafening thumps gradually fade. The Grand Elder gave Wang Xingzhi a look.

Wang Xingzhi asked awkwardly, “Um, Saintess, could there be a mistake?”

“Brother Qian is a little white mouse. Your General is a black-and-gold giant rat. They’re clearly not the same species.”

Hua Qing barely maintained the poised demeanor of a saintess.

Luckily, she had been playing the part for years, and her gentle smile was already second nature.

“How could brothers possibly be mistaken?”

She firmly tried to convince the Sword Sect elders, “General has been searching for his little brother for over ten years. He’s gone from the Foundation Establishment stage to Nascent Soul—it’s natural he’s changed a lot. And didn’t that little spirit beast in the recording also grow dragon horns?”

While Hua Qing was talking, Hei Mao bit through the spiritual seal over its mouth and reached out with a paw for the recording stone in Wang Xingzhi’s hand.

Thinking his little brother might recognize this human, Hei Mao even politely gave him a moment to think.

Being stared at by a battle-hardened, naturally imposing giant rat made Wang Xingzhi break into a cold sweat—it felt like a deadly beast had locked onto him.

But the beast’s aura was calm, which meant it wasn’t harboring killing intent. In fact, it seemed… pretty friendly?

It just happened to carry an innate air of menace.

Wang Xingzhi kept smiling and obediently handed the recording stone over to the ferocious-looking beast.

Hei Mao took the memory stone, then reached into the storage necklace his little sister had given him and pulled out a similarly black piece of ore, handing it to Wang Xingzhi.

A clear gesture: one for one.

“Squeak—”

Let’s trade.

Hei Mao couldn’t tell the quality of ore—he just knew it was something he liked to eat.

But Hua Qing, seeing it was a rare mineral, felt not only uncheated, but quite pleased.

It wasn’t robbery—wasn’t that good enough?

She considered it a sign that this month’s training had paid off.

Her cultivation method had periods of decline: every time she made a breakthrough, her power would drop sharply before surging upward again. A month ago, during such a breakthrough, she was ambushed by fellow disciples and ended up being found by Hei Mao.

By the time she woke up, the master-servant contract was already formed.

That’s right—this spirit beast had forcibly recruited her into becoming its “servant.”

However, in the spirit beast’s mind, it didn’t truly treat her as a servant—it had somehow decided she was its “younger sister.”

It said it was because of her long, silver-white hair and pale complexion, which reminded it of its little brother.

A substitute for its beastly brother — Hua Qing. For a long time, she just couldn’t understand—why would being fair-skinned mean she’d be mistaken for… this ferocious beast’s younger brother?

Did she look like a beast?

Now that she’d seen the adorable little spirit beast in the memory stone, she felt much better.

At least Hei Mao’s little brother was quite good-looking—unlike Hei Mao itself, which was a giant, fearsome beast.

At the time, the spirit beast had insisted on taking this “little sister” along to go find its brother.

Hua Qing had to work hard to convince it to follow her back to the Sacred Flower Valley, using the excuse that it would be “easier to find your brother from there.”

Over the course of a month, she had dealt with her scheming sectmates and gradually coaxed the spirit beast into behaving a little more properly. It no longer acted like a total bandit, and she even humored it by calling it “General,” as it wished.

She never imagined they’d actually hear news of Hei Mao’s brother, leading to today’s visit.

Seeing she was about to lose control of Hei Mao, Hua Qing decisively cut to the chase.

“General is certain—that is his brother. So I must ask: where is Brother Qian currently? So General may fulfill his ten-year longing to reunite with him.”

Chang Youcai stroked his beard. “Long Ye took Brother Qian out with him. I don’t know exactly where they went. Why not wait for the Heroes’ Gathering?”

“The Heroes’ Gathering is still a month away. I fear General may not be able to wait that long.”

Hua Qing lowered her tone and said gently, “Great Elder, please be kind enough to tell me. Sacred Flower Valley is led by me this time, and when the Gathering comes, we will certainly present Sword Sect with a great gift.”

When it came to gift-giving, once you raised the stakes, you couldn’t lower them later.

Chang Youcai, pleased, smoothed his beard again. “It’s no trouble. Brother Qian is also a disciple of our Sword Sect—we’re all family here. No need to be so formal.”

Hua Qing knew full well what the Sword Sect meant by that: they wanted spirit stones.

“If we’re family, then it’s not formality—it’s harmony.”

With that line, Chang Youcai pressed his temples, thinking for a moment before suddenly recalling, “I remember now. Yesterday, Brother Qian sent word from the Extreme Cold Wastelands, near Icebound City.”

Hua Qing: Yesterday…

Fine. Yesterday it is.

“Thank you very much, Great Elder.”

Having finally obtained information about his brother, Hei Mao couldn’t hold back. He bit the hem of Hua Qing’s dress and tried to drag her outside.

The people from Sacred Flower Valley with her pretended not to see it. They wanted to help, but they were still recovering from injuries.

“Apologies for the rudeness—General is simply overwhelmed by longing for his brother.”

Hua Qing wanted to leave with some dignity, so she cast a “Thousand-Pound Weight” spell on Hei Mao. But Hei Mao just gave his shoulder a little shake and easily shrugged off the immense pressure, dragging his little sister out effortlessly.

“Squeak—”

Brother, I’m coming!

As Hua Qing was forcibly hauled out of Sword Sect, she felt that her centuries of acting like a composed saintess had all gone to waste.

Once they exited the sect, Hua Qing couldn’t help but say, “Brother Hei Mao, could you give me some face? With so many outsiders watching, I’ve lost all my dignity from the past few centuries.”

Hei Mao thought he’d already given plenty of face.

It turned around, eyes gleaming, and squeaked excitedly, “Squeak—”

Let’s go find my brother!

Hua Qing had no choice but to oblige. Hoping to quickly satisfy this ancestor of a spirit beast, she traveled through teleportation arrays to the closest point to the Extreme Cold Wastelands, then flew in.

But when they reached the outskirts of Icebound City, they discovered they couldn’t get in at all.

The entire city was covered by a Buddhist Bliss Bowl, one that had been lost by the Buddhist sect and now corrupted by blood and resentment—it had clearly turned into a demonic artifact.

Inside Icebound City.

In the clam shell, Shi Qian was biding his time. During this period, he suddenly felt his cultivation surge—he had advanced to mid-Nascent Soul stage.

Which could only mean one thing: Long Ye had successfully broken through again.

To cause such a strong ripple, it had to be at least a Soul Formation breakthrough.

Shi Qian’s cultivation continued to climb a bit afterward, so he spent some extra time meditating.

Once he finished cultivating, Shi Qian eagerly awaited Brother Ye’s return.

But days passed—he read several jade slips—and there was still no sign of Long Ye waking up.

Then finally, one day, something happened.

Inside the clam shell, Shi Qian heard a “crack crack” sound, like something chewing.

Even from inside the shell, he could feel himself being tossed around.

Shi Qian: ?

This brother… he’s seriously becoming a lost cause.