Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The son that Long Zhen had been pining for hundreds of thousands of years was finally back, and he was a legendary golden dragon. Long Zhen’s heart would feel extremely full if her son had not been cooking at that time.
She watched her golden dragon son busying himself all afternoon. Long Zhen attempted to stop him – he just became a dragon afterall and needed time to recover. But she saw that he was filial toward his own master and decided to let him be.
That was how… she found herself seated at the table, eating together with Shen Ying.
-_-|||
“Master, have some tea!” Yi Qing was still a golden dragon. He poured tea for the woman who had just finished eating.
“Oh.” Out of habit, Shen Ying received the tea cup. She turned to study the dragon chef seated next to her, which reminded her of cartoons. Finally, she recalled the serious business she had to tend to.
“Chef!”
“Master?”
“Can you not turn back into a human?”
Yi Qing shook his dragon head. “Not yet.”
The black dragon already taught him how to turn back into a human, but he was not familiar with his own body and each adjustment to his God Power that he made resulted in a strange tiredness..
“He just hatched and his body is weak – it’s normal that he can’t turn back into a human just yet,” Long Zhen explained.
“Are dragons all so weak?” Shen Ying asked.
“Not exactly.” Long Zhen frowned. “Maybe he’s different.”
“… Oh.”
“Chef.” Yi Qing suddenly recalled something and said, “I remember ever since I entered the dragon egg, I felt a strange suppressive aura. There was no way I could break out of it. And…” He frowned. “The more I fought, the weaker my body felt.” Maybe that resulted in him becoming a weak child.
“There was such a thing!” Long Zhen jumped to her feet. She scanned him from head to toe for the umpteenth time. “What aura?”
Yi Qing shook his head. “I’m not sure either.”
“I know,” Shen Ying suddenly said.
The three dragons paused, turning to look at her.
What do you mean?
Shen Ying pulled out something white and flowery from her robes. “Is it this?”
The few of them hesitated. Even Long Zhen looked curiously at the thing Shen Ying was clutching. It was the shell that was pressing down on the egg a few days ago.
“Exalted Goddess, is there an aura on that thing?” The black dragon tried to look closer at it, but it did not seem like there was much to the shell
“It’s inside.” She reached out and peeled the layer of skin on the shell. Just as she finished peeling off half of the layer, a strange black Qi flashed and attempted to speed out of the egg. Shen Ying reached out and grabbed it.
The next moment, a black foggy body appeared in her hand. It looked alive, struggling to escape her grip. A chilling aura let out a frightening cry intermittently. It sounded like ghostly cries. The aura seemed to lose its strength in Shen Ying’s grip. Seconds later, it vanished.
“That’s… the ghost immortal’s Yin Qi!” Long Zhen exclaimed, eyes widened. She jumped to her feet. “How could that be… my child’s dragon egg has always been under my watchful eye. How could there be ghost immortal’s Yin Qi hidden inside!”
“Ghost immortal’s what?” Shen Ying tilted her head.
Long Zhen frowned, her expression darkening. “Ghost immortals are deviant ghosts that train to become immortals in the Divine Underworld. Their cultivation techniques are very special and their skills are very strange. Many divine beings do not know how to handle them. The thing about them is that they’re very hard to locate, and it’s not easy for them to get to the divine territories.”
Deviant ghosts that become immortals?!
Not just Yi Qing, even the black dragon was shocked. Ghosts were ordinarily souls that were filled with grievances. They roamed the world and usually only appeared in the mortal world. Summarily, they’re souls without bodies. Souls were weak – nobody ever heard of ghosts that managed to become immortals. Now, they were hearing that these ghosts could even fight divine beings!
“These ghost immortals – where are they usually found?”
“Ghost immortals need the Yin Qi from the Divine Underworld to train themselves,” Long Zhen replied. “That’s why they usually appear near the Yin River.”
“Supreme Divinity, have you offended any ghost immortal before?” Yi Qing asked.
Long Zhen glanced at Yi Qing and momentarily thought of correcting the way he addressed her. She sighed and answered, “I don’t think so. These hundreds of thousands of years, I haven’t left the Dragon Abyss and I haven’t met a ghost immortal.”
That’s strange. Why would a ghost immortal leave Yin Qi in a dragon egg for no reason? What’s more, the Yin Qi managed to suppress Yi Qing so that he could not hatch. If not for Shen Ying breaking the egg by force, he would probably still be stuck inside.
“My Dragon Abyss has never interacted much with people on the outside. We don’t even interact much with people of the Dragon Valley. If you’re talking about whether I’ve offended anyone, I don’t…” She paused mid-sentence, as if recalling something. Suddenly, she became pale. She clenched her fists. “I just remembered something important. I’m going back to the main hall. My chi… Yi Qing, you’re still weak. You should rest more.”
She nodded at them and rushed out.
She left behind a confused group of people.
Shen Ying tilted her head. It looked like… Chef’s home in the past life had a story.
——————
Long Zhen suddenly rushed back and they had no news of her for the next few days. It was obvious that she was looking into the ghost immortal matter.
Chef used the time to try getting used to his dragon body. Every day, he focused on two main tasks – familiarising himself with the God Power and cooking for Shen Ying. It was a good thing that he was a fast-learner. After attempting it a couple of times, he finally managed to change back into a little human. Perhaps he absorbed too much dragon Qi in the beginning – his scrawny body was now meatier. His face was so smooth that he looked a bit like a doll. His hair remained cropped short.
Dragons always depended on their blood to hand down techniques. Nobody needed to teach him any techniques – Yi Qing knew them by heart. The God Power that he possessed was frightening and he was growing at a maddening pace. In just a couple of days, he surpassed the black dragon.
The black dragon evidently did not feel good about this. Initially, it wanted to make his presence known in front of Long Zhen. It was a pity that Long Zhen had been missing in action for the past few days. That was the only reason the black dragon remained with Shen Ying – it needed her comfort. Now, Yi Qing was extremely wary of the black dragon. Almost as if he thought the black dragon was trying to rob them Each time he got too close to Shen Ying, Yi Qing looked like he wanted to smack him with a pot.
The black dragon felt almost as if the entire world despised him
Ten days later.
“Master, my cultivation level has stabilised.” Yi Qing poured Shen Ying a cup of tea and climbed atop a chair. He had to lean fully over the table to hand the cup over to Shen Ying, who was seated across from him.
Shen Ying received it instinctively, took a sip and said, “Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, where’s the food?”
“I’ve prepared half a month’s worth.”
“Pastries?”
“Twenty over kinds.”
“Fruits?”
“Two storage bags full.”
“Alright!” Shen Ying supported herself on the table and stood up lazily. “Let’s go!”
Yi Qing jumped down from the chair. The two of them walked out of the gates before the black dragon reacted.
“Wait!” He immediately stopped them and asked, “Where are you going?”
