LAVW – Chapter 78 Grilled Meat Snack

The black dragon soared through clouds and mist, joining the battle.

Long Ye was in his true form—also a giant dragon—and in terms of sheer size, he was even larger than the Earth Dragon’s manifested spirit.

In an instant, the black and red dragons tangled together.

The protective talismans Shi Qian had attached to Long Ye worked—blocking the Earth Dragon’s first strike and allowing Long Ye to snatch a Tribulation Transcender out from its jaws. However, several of the talismans also shattered immediately, revealing just how fearsome the Earth Dragon was.

“Careful! The demonic dragon is extremely strong!”

Yuheng called out a warning. She was injured too—one arm hung limply at her side, and the white blindfold over her eyes was splattered with red.

“Roar—”

The black dragon responded with a hurried roar, too busy to properly reply.

But Long Ye had seen the demonic dragon’s terrifying strength the moment he arrived.

If it weren’t absurdly strong, how could it force so many Tribulation Transcenders into such dire straits—so badly that it could even devour one mid-battle?

It was clear: even with this many Tribulation Transcenders, none could protect themselves from the Earth Dragon.

Long Ye had just advanced to early-stage Tribulation Transcendence, but his dragon bloodline was exceedingly powerful. His combat ability was on par with—or even exceeded—mid-stage Tribulation cultivators among humans. The dragon race truly was favored by the heavens.

But when facing another dragon, and one even stronger than yourself, that was misfortune.

When the Earth Dragon spotted the black dragon, its blood-red eyes lit up.

“Roar—”

It stared at the black dragon with greedy desire, its full attention shifting to it.

With that, Yuheng and the others finally got a chance to breathe.

But they didn’t dare relax—they had to use this opportunity to strike the Earth Dragon and try to injure it.

The newly arrived Tribulation Transcenders still had some talismans—items the Earth Dragon hadn’t encountered before. They managed to leave a few wounds on the demonic dragon.

In the exchange of blows, Long Ye’s own injuries quickly mounted.

Demonic energy seeped into his wounds, but thankfully, since Long Ye had undergone tribulation on the Ascension Path, his internal energy had already transformed into purified celestial energy, allowing him to resist the invasion.

“Roar roar—”

Long Ye activated a divine ability and unleashed a “Spirit-Stabilizing Roar” at the Earth Dragon.

This roar specifically targeted the soul, causing the Earth Dragon to momentarily freeze.

Long Ye seized the chance to disengage and stop entangling with the Earth Dragon. Once he was clear of its vicinity, celestial energy surged around him, flowing into his body.

As Long Ye withdrew, the remaining Tribulation Transcenders launched a concentrated attack at one spot, dealing a heavy blow to the Earth Dragon’s spirit while it was dazed.

“Roar roar—”

The Earth Dragon roared in rage, its massive body twisting violently.

But then, the aura around it surged once again. Yuheng and the others felt a chill in their hearts. When they saw the black dragon shake its head, they knew—it was time to flee.

They simply couldn’t win. Besides, Long Ye’s Spirit-Stabilizing Roar could only be used once within a short period. There was no choice but to flee in defeat.

The black dragon flew the fastest, swirling clouds and mist around him as he carried the two injured Tribulation Transcenders.

Though they escaped successfully, the cost was heavy.

Before Long Ye arrived, two Tribulation Transcenders had already perished. Five more were severely injured, and the rest had at least minor wounds.

Even Long Ye wasn’t unscathed—several deep, bloody gashes marked his body, left by the Earth Dragon’s claws and fangs.

Before reaching the Bone Forest, Long Ye turned back into human form. Once clothed, the wounds were mostly hidden.

Meanwhile, back in the lower cultivation world…

The Lord of the Celestial Star Pavilion was also leading people in a bitter search underground, looking for where the Earth Dragon had once been.

But a Tribulation Transcending expert had only managed to strike once before the dragon’s body vanished again in an instant, seemingly merging into the earth veins and disappearing without a trace—leaving people too afraid to act rashly.

Because if the earth veins in one place were damaged, the result would be devastating: landslides and ground collapses.

The Celestial Star Pavilion Lord looked at the divination and sighed, “It’s not the right time yet. Even though we found it, the Demon Dragon still escaped.”

“Then when will it be the right time?”

“Tragedy is everywhere now. Rivers of blood flow. How can we bear to listen any longer?”

“The world is already in upheaval. That demon dragon going against the heavens—it’s truly gone mad.”

“It only seeks to seize the fortunes of all races, not realizing that this is truly a path to death.”

As the crowd voiced their anger, only the Celestial Star Lord looked worried and dared not speak the fear in his heart.

The Demon Dragon was originally an Earth Dragon. How could it possibly ambush the Heaven’s Chosen, unless—unless it knew the will of Heaven?

If the Demon Dragon knew Heaven’s will, then going “against Heaven” might not be going against it at all—it might just be riding the trend and scheming according to the so-called destiny.

“Keep searching. The Demon Dragon fled too smoothly—it doesn’t match the style described in the legends.” With that, the Celestial Star Lord continued to lead the way forward.

In the Ascension Path.

A group of people returned in utter disarray, truly shocking the others.

Tribulation Transcending cultivators were already the strongest in the cultivation world. Yet so many of them had been defeated by the Demon Dragon and could only flee in a hurry.

The great monk Chan Hua took the dimmed Supreme Joy Bowl and asked in disbelief, “That Demon Dragon—could it already be at the Half-Immortal stage?”

“More likely a Half-Immortal blessed with immense fortune.”

They weren’t even on the same cultivation level to begin with—and now that the Demon Dragon had stolen the fortune of the human race, there was nothing they could do.

Yuheng spoke bluntly: “There must have been turmoil below that empowered the Demon Dragon. Otherwise, it would’ve been too weakened and we would’ve killed it in that siege.”

Long Ye calmly exposed his arm, letting the big furball manipulate spiritual power to smear Dan Sect’s secret medicine paste over his wounds.

Upon hearing Yuheng’s words, Shi Qian chirped: “Squeak Squeaki!”

Brother Ye, have you thought of a solution?

Long Ye shook his head, as he hadn’t thought of one either, but he still comforted him aloud, “There are so many of us—surely someone will think of a way.”

Just then, the great monk Chan Hua spoke: “Everyone, in fact, our Zen Sect has a secret technique. The reason we Zen disciples were able to stand against the Demon Dragon and escape was because of this technique. It allows many cultivators to channel their power into one or a few people, greatly enhancing that person’s strength for a short period.”

As soon as he said this, everyone recalled the scene when the Zen Sect disciples had come running in such a pitiful state.

At the time, the warrior monks were all extremely weak, as if injured. Yuheng and the others hadn’t fought the Demon Dragon directly then, so they didn’t understand how difficult it had been for the Zen Sect to escape. Thinking back now, it was impressive that those monks managed to withstand even one blow from the Demon Dragon.

“Thank you, Master, for not keeping it to yourself.”

“Such noble generosity—please, tell us more about this secret art.”

Chan Hua said, “Our Zen Sect has a technique called Empowerment. I believe you’ve all heard of it.”

“The one performing the Empowerment can infuse their cultivation into the recipient. That person will then gain seventy to eighty percent of the performer’s power.”

“This secret art is a derivative of Empowerment—far more convenient. It doesn’t deplete the performer’s cultivation entirely. However, to achieve a significant effect, it still requires sacrificing hundreds of years of painstaking cultivation under the Zen Sect’s method.”

“Moreover, the recipient must meet a high standard: their vital energy and blood must be ten times stronger than that of ordinary people. Someone like me would never qualify.”

“Once the effect wears off, the recipient will also suffer damage, which may affect future cultivation. The extent of the harm is unpredictable.”

Shi Qian listened very seriously and roughly summed it up: this was an emergency method for desperate situations.

The person giving their cultivation would be weakened; the one receiving it would also be harmed afterward—no one came out unscathed.

But that requirement about strong blood and energy…

Shi Qian looked at Long Ye, thinking: This must be some cheat the Heavenly Dao dad gave out. If it’s not Long Ye, no other Tribulation cultivator would be able to use it.

Still, Shi Qian was worried—would even this secret art allow Long Ye to defeat the old dragon?

Long Ye looked at Qian-ge’s drooping eyes and constantly worried expression and felt like someone had swapped out his spiritual beast.

So Long Ye’s hand slid down to the tip of the fluffy tail and tried to roll it up.

Shi Qian pulled his tail away and lightly slapped Long Ye’s hand: “Squeak Squeaki.”

What are you doing?

“What’s with your tail?” Long Ye suddenly remembered and deliberately brought it up.

Shi Qian flicked his tail and innocently shook his head—pretending not to know anything.

Long Ye began mimicking his earlier words: “Look at his tail, so flashy.”

Back then, Shi Qian had pointed at Long Ye’s tail and said that to Hei Mao.

Shi Qian: “Squeak Squeaki.”

They’re calling you now.

When it came to having abundant vital energy and blood, the only one among the Tribulation Transcenders who could be relied on was this “only sprout”—so naturally it had to be Long Ye.

It was Yuheng who spoke up: “Long Ye, you heard that, didn’t you? What do you think?”

Long Ye looked up and said, “It’s good that we have a method. If the seniors are willing, I’m willing to give it a try too.”

Rather than sitting around waiting to be taken down one by one and devoured by the Demon Dragon, they might as well risk everything in one final stand.

Seeing that the discussion was turning serious, Shi Qian climbed onto Long Ye’s head and pretended to be a big fluffy hat.

After hearing Long Ye’s determined answer, someone else suggested, “After that, should we try breaking through the Ascension Path and leaving this place?”

If they could get out of here, then the post-Tribulation powerhouses of the outside world—those old monsters who had cultivated for centuries—would surely have ways to deal with the Demon Dragon.

The heavily injured Wu Chunshu’s face was as pale as gold paper: “But the Demon Dragon’s soul and body are currently separated—its soul is in the Ascension Path, and its body is down below. We have to consider what happens when those two merge again.”

Keeping the Demon Dragon’s soul and body apart meant spreading out the danger.

If they broke the Ascension Path, wouldn’t that risk combining the two threats again—making it even more terrifying?

Long Ye was still playing with his tail, but the words he spoke proved he was listening attentively—he could multitask.

“If the demon dragon’s soul can’t escape, then I don’t think we can either.”

So don’t even think about it—that possibility simply doesn’t exist.

In that case, there was only one path forward, all the way to the end. Whatever the outcome, it would depend on fate.

Long Ye placed Brother Qian on the head of the black-gold giant rat. “I’m off to study the Zen sect’s secret techniques.”

Shi Qian nodded. “Squeak Squeaki.”

Go ahead.

Shi Qian had to tidy up the clam shell, because the others would soon finish transferring cultivation to Long Ye and would enter the clam shell to recuperate.

In the end, everyone—including Shi Qian—would hide inside the clam shell.

And to prevent the clam shell from being discovered or destroyed, as a symbol of their shared resolve to live or die together, Long Ye would transform into a black dragon and swallow the clam shell.

Of course, not into his stomach.

In the dragon’s mouth was a hidden space—used by dragonkind to store things. Once a dragon matured, they would gain this innate ability, though it consumed energy to construct such a “space.”

Previously, Long Ye hadn’t fully expended his internal energy or taken the time to build one. But this time, after reaching the Tribulation stage, he created a space as a side task.

Once the crowd began transferring cultivation techniques, a sudden disturbance rippled through Ascension Path.

The immortal spiritual energy inside began to grow chaotic, and the space itself showed signs of distortion.

One of the Tribulation cultivators, whose turn to transfer cultivation had not yet come, discovered a nearly sealed-off small chamber. With a bit of setup, it became a perfect hiding spot, and the group relocated again.

In truth—

It was because the demon path’s ancestor had awakened. Realizing she had already missed the best opportunity to kill the old dragon, she nearly vomited blood in rage.

Left with only a sliver of breath, she still refused to accept fate. She abandoned her dying body and merged her damaged soul into the artifact that controlled Ascension Path.

This merging process caused the internal changes in the Ascension Path.

Once her body was discarded, the demonic ancestor felt an unprecedented lightness. She was no longer human, but finally experienced what it meant to feel human emotions.

However, that feeling vanished in a flash. The moment she thought of the old dragon, only hatred surged in her heart.

Soon, the demonic ancestor was able to perceive every inch of Ascension Path, as if she were its master.

Detecting the hidden righteous cultivators, she casually erased their traces and scents.

The earth dragon, farther away, could only barely manage to merge into the earth veins to hide.

Once it freed up attention again, it attempted to track the humans—only to find not a single trace.

“ROAR—!”

The earth dragon bellowed in fury, nearly charging straight into Mo Sanchi’s tribulation cloud.

But the moment the demon dragon approached, heavenly lightning came crashing down—aggressively and with deadly intent—forcing the demon dragon to retreat with another roar.

This, in turn, disturbed Mo Sanchi.

From afar, she saw demonic energy surge to the skies, but the heavenly tribulation only struck once and then stopped, leaving her both worried and puzzled.

She was worried because she saw no one else—why wasn’t her master helping her?

And puzzled—why was the tribulation “so gentle” to a demon cultivator? Normally, whenever demon cultivators appeared, heavenly punishment could descend at any moment, which was why demon cultivators had to stay hidden and suppress their energy.

But the demonic energy she saw just now had nearly pierced the heavens.

Mo Sanchi knew something was wrong and deliberately slowed her tribulation process.

Qingfeng Sword, detecting the demonic aura, let out a series of high-pitched sword cries in mid-air.

The earth dragon continued searching for traces of the humans, and after the lightning tribulation had faded, the tremors in the ground below grew even more intense.

The human race’s fate, their artifacts—such treasures.

“ROAR—!”

The earth dragon roared and continued seeking the hiding human cultivators and the black dragon.

It wanted to eat the black dragon—surely that would improve its fate further. And if it could find the woman who betrayed it, it would devour her too.

The taste of the child of destiny had to be better than any other.

The earth dragon searched through the Ascension Path.

Just as it approached the small hidden space where Shi Qian and the others were hiding, the demonic ancestor had just finished merging with the artifact.

And so, the farther the earth dragon moved forward, the richer the immortal spiritual energy became.

What it didn’t know was that behind it, the spiritual energy was also thickening, and from even farther away, it had already been drained dry. A hidden encirclement was forming, gradually closing in on the earth dragon.

The earth dragon thought it had found the right path, a “perfect hiding place” chosen by the righteous cultivators.

Moving through the sea of rich spiritual energy, it greedily absorbed all the essence around it, growing stronger.

Inside the small space—

Long Ye, whose dragon body was already uncomfortable due to the overwhelming energy, opened his mouth and swallowed the clam shell.

But midway, a furry ball suddenly appeared in his mouth. The black dragon froze with its jaws open.

Shi Qian had snuck out of the clam shell.

He climbed out from Long Ye’s mouth, possibly still stained with the legendary dragon saliva.

“Squeak Squeaki.”

Brother Ye, you could actually try running.

Long Ye: “Roar roar——?”

Brother Qian, why are you suddenly saying this?

They had clearly analyzed that escape was impossible.

But Shi Qian guessed—if Long Ye lost, the Heavenly Dao wouldn’t allow another child of destiny to die here on the Ascension Path. The Heavenly Dao had no second millennium to spare.

Escape might be shameful—but as long as he lived, there would always be a green mountain, plenty of firewood, and time to kill the old dragon!

But by the rules, Shi Qian couldn’t tell Long Ye this directly. So he bluffed: “Squeak Squeaki.”

I smelled it.

“Roar roar——”

I won’t die.

After saying this, the black dragon opened his mouth again, urging Shi Qian to go back in. Just before being swallowed into the clam shell, Shi Qian caught a whiff of intensifying fragrance—proof the demon dragon was drawing near.

“Squeak Squeaki!”

Promise me—you have to remember to escape!

Shi Qian shouted that final line, then leapt into the dragon’s mouth and crawled back into the clam shell.

His brief exit and return had drawn the attention of many.

Shi Qian let out a few random “squeaks” and curled up on Hei Mao’s head.

He couldn’t exactly say he had gone to persuade Long Ye to run away.

If the others found out, they’d probably think he was sowing discord and undermining morale.

But given Long Ye’s temperament, he was rational to the core—he always knew what needed to be done and when. If he could be swayed by just a few words, then he wouldn’t be Long Ye.

Shi Qian only wanted Long Ye to know—he supported him if he chose to flee.

Thinking back over their shared past, there had been plenty of times when they’d run away together. In the beginning, even when the two of them joined forces, they still couldn’t win against others.

As memories of their past flooded Shi Qian’s mind, he suddenly realized—it had already been over ten years since he came to the cultivation world.

Meanwhile, the black dragon only departed once he had confirmed that there was nothing left in his mouth.

Long Ye let out a low growl, thinking that he hadn’t truly deceived Brother Qian.

After all, even in death, dragons would leave behind a soul remnant.

His own remnant soul would enter the space inside the clam shell—completely undetectable, and safe from any harm. That space was independent from the Void Realm, not part of the current world at all. That was also why no one could ever find the soul remnants of dragons after death.

A soul remnant, well, could barely be considered “alive”—and living for hundreds or even thousands of years wouldn’t be a problem.

Once he exited the small space, the black dragon pushed aside those stray thoughts and focused on observing his surroundings.

The surrounding celestial spiritual energy was unusually dense—so dense that the difference from before he entered was impossible to ignore.

But Long Ye also caught the arrogant scent of the demon dragon.

After a moment’s thought, Long Ye decided to set aside the strange spiritual energy and try a probe first.

He still had the mirror Brother Qian gave him, which could conceal his presence—so he crept forward quietly, hoping to pull off a sneak attack.

But unexpectedly, the space around him suddenly flipped and pushed his entire dragon body far away—putting even more distance between him and the demon dragon.

The black dragon was slightly surprised.

Still, he didn’t feel it was a bad thing, so Long Ye chose to follow his instincts and let his body retreat further.

Meanwhile, the demonic ancestor, sensing the strange and powerful aura on the Child of Destiny, thought to herself that the heavens hadn’t forsaken her—and prepared to open the final act.

Massive amounts of celestial spiritual energy surged toward the earth dragon, drowning it completely.

Only then did the earth dragon sense that something was wrong—but to its horror, it realized it was already surrounded by an overwhelmingly dense spiritual aura.

Then came a BOOM—

A deafening explosion erupted around the earth dragon.

All the spiritual energy and power available within Ascension Path converged on that single point and detonated.

To those down below in the cultivation realm, it sounded like a sudden “boom-thud” from the Ascension Path—louder and more jarring than thunder.

For a moment, even the earth tremors ceased—as if startled.

Inside Ascension Path, the dragon involved—Long Ye—realized it was the perfect opportunity and charged in.

Although he didn’t know who was secretly attacking the demon dragon, he wasn’t about to let a good deal slip by—he was frugal, after all.

While the youthful and vigorous black dragon fought the old one, the demonic ancestor—whose soul had fused into the Ascension Path—also suffered backlash from the “self-detonation.”

She used what little consciousness remained to keep Ascension Path intact.

Once she died, Ascension Path would crumble too.

She couldn’t let the old dragon escape. No matter what, she had to survive.

She had always managed to survive, and now would be no different.

A relentless hatred surged up in her heart—but this time, the accompanying memories made her hatred… complicated.

She could no longer recall her parents’ faces, but she remembered that stunned, confused expression that had chilled her heart.

So, back then… they really had forgotten who she was.

But that wasn’t what they truly wanted.

The warmth of her sealed childhood memories slowly resurfaced—her parents gently calling her “good girl.”

When she killed that man with her own hands, the look of relief on his face… was it because he felt he didn’t have to hurt her himself?

At that moment, he had belonged to her.

So why… why wouldn’t he just tell her one more word, say one more thing?

Did the child she carried to near-term also fight desperately to survive, just to be seen by their mother even once?

But it was too hard—her child hadn’t made it.

She had misjudged so many people and made countless mistakes—but how could she have known what true hearts looked like at the beginning?

A seed of hatred had been planted in her heart, soaking in bitterness—what it finally grew into was all sour.

Taste that bitterness, damn old dragon.

As she sensed the Child of Destiny slowly gaining the upper hand, the demonic ancestor—for the first time—found those righteous idiots utterly endearing.

Unafraid of pain, of bleeding, or of death—as if they couldn’t be killed, enduring everything by sheer will alone.

Once more, she channeled the gathered spiritual energy into the black dragon’s body.

The demonic ancestor was doing everything she could to ensure that old dragon would die. She was determined to outlive that ancient thing by just one breath.

So that old thing—go die early.

The earth dragon had always believed that the heavenly way was unfair to it. So what if it had eaten a few demon beasts and cultivators? They ate each other all the time. Why shouldn’t it be allowed to ascend?

Even so, the earth dragon had never experienced a situation where there wasn’t even a wisp of spiritual energy around it.

Even the most ordinary mortal nations would still have some aura in the air.

But the black dragon was enjoying a very different treatment—spiritual energy being pumped into his body.

Driven mad with jealousy, the earth dragon didn’t realize that its protective fate aura had long since vanished—and transferred to the black dragon.

When Long Ye tore apart the demon dragon’s soul, his own fortune surged, propelling his aura to its peak—and once again, thunderclouds began to gather.

The first bolt of tribulation lightning didn’t strike the black dragon—it directly hit the shattered soul, knocking out a glowing eight-trigram disk.

As it touched the dust, the disk shattered into smoke and scattered divine light, which was absorbed back into the heavenly way.

Coiling his dragon body, the black dragon was left slightly dazed.

So… does this mean he passed the first tribulation strike?

Anyway, according to Brother Qian’s calculations, it would definitely count.

Thinking of Brother Qian, Long Ye immediately remembered the Tribulation Transcenders in his mouth and gave a sudden “pfft” as he spat the shell out.

But unexpectedly, the Ascension Path also cracked at that moment, breaking into large pieces of jade-like stone of various shapes, falling from the sky.

Inside the shell, everyone felt a tremor. This hadn’t happened before.

Shi Qian also noticed that his cultivation level had begun to rise.

So he cautiously loosened his sense of smell, little by little.

Even after fully opening it, he didn’t smell any fragrance.

Shi Qian then ran to the edge of the shell and sniffed carefully. But not daring to open it rashly, he looked to the others.

The others, being cautious, remained inside. A bunch of crippled Tribulation Transcenders and Soul Formation cultivators really couldn’t do anything out there except hold others back.

There were so many of them—they couldn’t possibly expect just three spirit beasts to protect them all, right?

That’s right. Only Shi Qian, Brother Rat, and Long Hu still had their cultivation intact—still able to run, jump, and fly. Because they weren’t human, Zen Flower the monk didn’t find them reliable.

So they waited until Shi Qian’s cultivation surged again, nearing the threshold of Tribulation Transcendence.

Only then, knowing it was safe, did Shi Qian insist on opening the shell against the others’ objections.

After opening it, Shi Qian realized that the now-small shell had landed right in the field of bone forest flowers he had planted.

But now the gourds had already matured, and the place was full of beasts munching on spirit seeds. A giant squirrel demon beast was even hauling away his sunflower disk, preparing to take it home.

Shi Qian politely asked, “Squeak Squeak?”

Bro, where is this?

All the beasts instantly lay flat on the ground, purely suppressed by the unconscious pressure Shi Qian emitted.

Shi Qian, still not realizing it, asked again: “Squeak Squeak?”

No need to be that polite, right?

Hei Mao: “Squeak Squeak.”

Bro, let me.

Hei Mao squeezed out of the shell, hit the ground, and immediately transformed into a giant beast. Striding dominantly, he approached a Golden Core beast among the crowd: “Squeak, Squeak Squeak?”

Where are we? If you don’t say, I’ll eat you!

Shi Qian simply leaped out too. He looked up at the sky and saw a black dragon being struck by the final lightning bolt. But it was too far away—the giant dragon looked like a long little worm.

Was Long Ye ascending?

Just then, 1958’s voice rang in his ears:

[Congratulations, Brother Qian, you’ve successfully completed your first mission!]

[Thanks.]

Besides that polite “thanks,” Shi Qian didn’t know what else to say.

He thought he was about to see Long Ye fly off like a kite—one of those kites whose string had snapped and could never come back.

The only difference was, he had held on to this “kite” for so many years—far longer than just a summer, or a few days, or even one.

Shi Qian didn’t even notice that after Hei Mao got the location, the others had also exited the shell.

Then, in a blink, a black dragon—scorched and even carrying a faint scent of roast meat—fell down from the clouds.

Shi Qian also didn’t notice that the descending black dragon carried only a faint layer of fortune and immortal light.

He curled himself up into a ball.

Thinking: Damn it! Don’t you dare say goodbye to me.

The black dragon picked up the white fluff ball and flew away. After some thought, it shot up into the sky and nestled into a white cloud.

“Roar roar—”

Brother Qian, look up.

Shi Qian: “Squeak Squeak.”

No.

Then he was forcibly flattened by Long Ye using spiritual power.

The black dragon looked at the little spirit beast with eyes tightly shut and glowing red, and sighed inwardly.

“Roar roar—”

Brother Qian, Chinchilla, are you going to stay curled up for half a year?

Shi Qian: ?

Half a year?

Shi Qian opened his eyes. “Squeak Squeak?”

What half a year?

“Roar roar—”

That’s something I forgot to tell you.

“Roar roar roar—”

After passing the Immortal Ascension Tribulation, if immortals are willing, they can stay in the cultivation world for a while. I can stay another half a year.

That was also why Long Ye’s injuries still hadn’t healed.

Shi Qian: Got sad too early.

But then a new problem arose.

[Ahhhh! 1958, how much longer can I stay here?]

[No more than a year. Any longer and the department will start docking your points.] 1958 replied promptly.

Long Ye saw Brother Qian frozen in place and explained: “Roar—”

It’s not that I didn’t want to tell you. Who could’ve guessed I’d need to explain that?

Before ascending, he was still just a Soul Formation cultivator.

Shi Qian blinked and pretended nothing had happened, changing the subject: “Squeak Squeak.”

Wanna go get some barbecue first?

Long Ye: ?

“Roar roar—”

You still want to eat me?

The black dragon curled his tail over, and with a tail black and shimmering with rainbow hues, slapped the white fluff ball into the air.

Shi Qian: “Squeak Squeak—”

No tossing things from high altitudes! Especially not me!

Spotting a flash of green light approaching from the sky, the black dragon quickly swept the white fluff ball back into his cloud.