It seemed she hadn’t actually found them, but was just releasing sounds to intimidate.
Fucang slowly moved slightly, looking up at the dark sky. Time passed much faster in the mortal realm than in the divine realm. With one night nearly over, Gu Ting had probably only just flown to the South Heaven Gate. They would likely have to endure here for another day and night before rescue could arrive.
Fucang placed his palm on the soft, damp mud ground, and his entire body slowly sank into it. He dove nearly a hundred zhang deep before stopping.
Xuan Yi, whom he was holding down, wriggled violently. He lifted her up and immediately smelled a faint fragrance of divine blood. Fucang’s heart jumped slightly in alarm. He gripped her calf and found it was entirely wet to the touch—her wound had actually burst open.
He tore off his sleeve and wrapped it forcefully around the wound. In the darkness, he could only hear Xuan Yi’s faint gasping breaths, so close at hand. Her body was trembling slightly.
He hadn’t expected this trip to make her suffer such hardships. Fucang used his fingers to slowly feel for her face—her ice-cold, soft skin was covered in cold sweat. He had thought that even if the princess of the Zhuyin Clan wasn’t brave and skilled in battle, she should at least have some combat ability. Who knew she truly had not the slightest ability to fight.
A trace of regret suddenly arose in his heart.
“Bear with it.”
He hooked her knee bend, letting her curl up a bit more comfortably. Suddenly she opened her mouth and fiercely bit down on his finger—truly showing no mercy. If she applied a bit more force, his thumb would probably break.
She was injured, so he shouldn’t expect to feel good either! Xuan Yi viciously ground her molars against his finger.
He truly was stubborn, enduring her bite without a sound, only wrapping the coat around her a bit tighter and pressing down on her head with his other hand. After a long while, he said in a low voice: “Feeling better now?”
After waiting a long time with her still forcefully gnawing on his poor thumb, Fucang finally grew impatient. He flicked his finger lightly against her front teeth, forcing her to open her mouth and spit out his thumb.
Detestable barbarian! Xuan Yi forcibly suppressed her anger, turned her head to the side, and continued maintaining her silence.
The catfish demon’s voice came from near and far. With her abilities, she should be able to discover their hiding place in less than a moment. Fucang activated his earth-traveling technique and fled several thousand li in one breath, finally unable to hear her cries anymore.
Occasionally scattered small demon clans and underground swimming dragons passed by in the earth. Upon encountering these two divine beings, they were all frightened and fled in all directions. Fucang didn’t wish to linger and traveled another several thousand li. Suddenly he felt clear energy flowing horizontally above. He leaped out from underground and looked around, seeing this place seemed to be a mortal capital city with a square and orderly layout. Because it was still early, there were few pedestrians on the streets. When the wind passed, it brought the smell of incense from the east, and the flowing, coiling clear energy also faintly came from the east.
Where there was incense, there must be some earthly immortal temple or shrine. The dragon princess’s divine power was leaking from her injuries. If there was clear energy to mask it, that would be perfect, saving them from having to flee everywhere while injured.
Fucang rushed swiftly eastward and saw that a Green Emperor Temple had been built there—resplendent and magnificent with incense burning continuously. Even before dawn broke, countless mortals entered the temple to burn incense, praying and making offerings in an endless stream. Who would have thought that after fleeing for so long, they still ended up on his own family’s territory… He felt a sense of not knowing whether to laugh or cry. He hurriedly passed through the dense crowds and landed in the place behind the Green Emperor Temple where the clear energy was most abundant.
Here grew an old peach tree thick enough to require ten people joining hands to encircle it. Clear energy overflowed and emanated from it. Given time, it could achieve earthly immortal status. The mortals seemed to have also sensed this peach tree’s divine nature. They had encircled it with white jade railings, tied red silk on it, and assigned four people to stand upright at the four corners to guard it.
It appeared that rather than saying this Green Emperor Temple venerated his father, it would be more accurate to say all the prayer power was borrowed by this divinely unusual peach tree. No wonder the incense was so abundant.
Fucang held Xuan Yi and gracefully landed beneath the tree. She had been as quiet as a block of wood since earlier—not making a sound, not moving at all. He was somewhat worried. Peeling open the outer garment wrapped around her, he saw her eyes were tightly closed, her face buried in the clothes—she actually seemed to have fallen asleep.
Being hunted by a fish demon and suffering such a heavy injury, yet she could fall asleep?
A bad premonition suddenly arose in Fucang’s heart. He slowly lifted the hem of her clothing and indeed found that her skirt hem and his outer coat had already been soaked through with divine blood. Did that catfish demon’s pulling force have such power?
He released divine power to probe the wound, but unexpectedly, the moment the technique touched her skin, it dissolved into nothingness—not good. The Zhuyin Clan was immune to all methods. Techniques couldn’t harm them, so naturally they also couldn’t heal them.
White frost began condensing on the grass. When the Zhuyin Clan was injured, they couldn’t control their divine power from leaking. His outer garment could no longer contain the divine power pouring out from her. Moved by the yin-cold power, peach leaves fell from the tree one after another, and the four mortals guarding outside the white jade railings couldn’t help but shiver.
As if to bolster his courage, one of the guards shouted sternly: “What thing is there?!”
This shout was quite loud. Xuan Yi, who was sleeping, couldn’t help but furrow her brows. Fucang blew out a breath that knocked over the four men’s long halberds. In panic, they cried out repeatedly and all ran far away.
What should he do now? Fucang sat quietly holding her beneath the peach tree, hearing her fine gasping breaths, watching the peach leaves and frost falling in mid-air, his heart filled with an indescribable feeling.
The dragon princess in his arms grew heavier and heavier, and colder and colder, simply like holding a block of ten-thousand-year-old ice. He lifted her upward slightly when he heard a “poof” sound. His outer garment suddenly rose up, and immediately after, his hands sank down again with weight. A pitch-black, enormous dragon several zhang long fell onto him.
Fucang was startled. Before he had time to look carefully, he felt the dragon in his arms struggle forcefully several times, then deflated as if losing energy, growing smaller and smaller. Finally, it transformed into a pitch-black little loach about half a chi long, curling into a ball in his palm.
This was… the Zhuyin Dragon God?! Fucang was utterly astonished—she had actually revealed her dragon form!
Legend said that the Zhuyin Dragon Gods could each swallow moons and drive away suns, unparalleled in divine valor. Who knew she was actually born so tiny and weak? The scales on her body hadn’t even fully grown yet. The scales on her back were densely packed and neatly arranged, but on her belly they were patchy here and there. Her four feet were even more bare, not having grown a single scale. Her right hind leg was dripping with fresh blood—the wound was quite deep.
No wonder she was so heavily injured—it turned out the scales hadn’t grown on her legs yet. Fucang tore off his other sleeve, ripped it into pieces, and tightly wrapped her right leg.
The little loach in his palm suddenly listlessly raised her head and glanced at him. Her small eyes flashed with a trace of proud disdain and anger. She suddenly opened her mouth and bit down on his middle finger, placing it between her fine teeth and viciously gnawing for quite a while.
Fucang gently pressed one finger on her little head, saying in a low voice: “Don’t make trouble. The injury is very serious.”
She continued gnawing unwillingly for a long time, then gradually softened and fell into a deep sleep, her fine teeth still hooked on his finger, having bitten several small bloody holes.
Fucang pinched her head and helped her close her mouth. His fingertip touched her smooth little skull and felt two tiny protrusions the size of rice grains. He couldn’t help but support her with his palm to examine her carefully. It turned out her head had grown two dragon horns the size of rice grains. They couldn’t be seen at all without looking very carefully.
He couldn’t resist gently rubbing those two delicate little dragon horns with his thumb. They felt very nice.
In her sleep, she made a light “squeak”—the Zhuyin Dragon God’s cry actually sounded like a mouse.
For a moment Fucang felt at a loss, and for another moment he felt somewhat amused.
The divine power that had been leaking due to her injuries stopped. A dragon’s body was much stronger than a human body. The frost on the ground gradually melted, and the peach leaves no longer fell. The faint light of dawn fell on her pitch-black scales, reflecting a warm, ice-cold luster. He slowly stroked them—indeed ice-cold, yet also soft and yielding.
This dragon princess was actually much more endearing as a loach than when she was a goddess.