Yu Gong Province.
“According to what you said, Miss, does that mean there are no other young members left in the flood dragon clan besides you?”
An elderly woman followed behind a girl of about sixteen, asking softly.
“I’ve said it several times already—just call me Xiao Jiu. We’re not in a master–servant relationship.”
Ling Yao first corrected Shizi’s mistake, then rested her index finger against her chin and pondered. “That’s not entirely accurate. I still have half a sister in the dragon race.”
Awakening a stone spirit had little to do with cultivation level. It mainly relied on demon race secret arts.
But much like alchemy, Ling Yao had not used this technique for a very long time, so it still took her one full day and one full night.
Fortunately, there was nothing urgent. Ling Yao was in no hurry, and simply chatted with Shizi about her past while traveling together toward the imperial capital of the Kingdom of Zhao.
“Half a sister?”
Shizi looked confused.
She had only recently been awakened into human form and did not yet have a deep grasp of many terms, but even so, this sounded like a strange sentence.
Ling Yao suddenly stopped, turned around, and stared straight into Shizi’s eyes. “Because my real sister has been dead for a long time. The one still alive is a disgusting ‘monster’ fused from her flesh and blood and other living beings.”
Shizi was startled and instinctively held her breath.
She realized she might have asked a very serious question.
Although Ling Yao had repeatedly reminded her not to call her “Miss” or “My Lady,” Shizi had been awakened by Ling Yao herself. It was impossible to completely abandon that master–servant mindset so quickly.
But soon, Shizi noticed that Ling Yao suddenly smiled again.
“It’s fine,” Ling Yao said lightly. “Because very soon, just like in the past, I will once again…”
The girl clasped her hands behind her back, smiling with utter ease. Bathed in the morning sun, she looked dazzlingly bright. “Kill her with my own hands.”
***
Yunmeng Prefecture, Liuli Valley.
“So… what exactly is going on right now? O.o”
Jiang Keke stood about twenty steps away from Yun Heng, staring cross-eyed at the bizarre scene in front of her.
Yan Qingli gazed into the distance with four parts sorrow, four parts melancholy, and two parts confusion, as if exercising her eyesight.
Meanwhile, Yun Heng held his left arm out flat, like he was midway through a stretching exercise, with a “living accessory” dangling from it.
The girl who had earlier resembled a hedgehog was now fully exposing her belly, clinging to Yun Heng’s arm with all four limbs like a koala.
The moment Jiang Keke tried to move closer, the girl would bare her teeth at her viciously, as if, in her eyes, Jiang Keke and Yun Heng were entirely different kinds of beings.
For some reason, this made Jiang Keke angry.
Even though she herself did not understand exactly why she was angry.
All she knew was that she was very angry.
“If I had to use a metaphor, it’s like a fledgling recognizing its mother, a stray dog recognizing its owner, or a drowning person grabbing onto a piece of driftwood.”
Yun Heng spoke with a headache.
Thankfully, this was not a physical headache, but a mental one.
‘How did I end up becoming a father figure again?’
Yun Heng remembered that in his previous life, his relationship with Ling Yao had also started out as something like foster father and foster daughter.
A few years later, she had forced herself on him with tyrannical determination.
Yun Heng sighed.
He truly did not want to recall anything related to Ling Yao, but he could already foresee that for at least some time, there would be many moments of ‘history repeating itself.’
“Can you come down first? We don’t have much time. You need to successfully shapeshift before Xuan Sun arrives.”
Yun Heng patiently repeated this line to the girl for the twelfth time.
Unfortunately, the situation remained unchanged. She did not listen at all, just shook her head vigorously and hugged him even tighter, even rubbing her face against him.
The result was a sleeve full of mud.
Ignoring the clanking sounds coming from Jiang Keke fiddling with the “teeth” on her wolf-tooth club, Yun Heng thought for a moment and changed his tone. “If you don’t behave, I won’t take you with me.”
The good news was that although the girl did not understand social norms, she at least understood human speech.
Upon hearing this, she immediately and reluctantly climbed down from Yun Heng’s arm. After hesitating for a bit, she instead grabbed onto the corner of his robe.
Then she looked up, eyes reddened and brimming with tears. “Take… take me with you, okay? I… I’ll listen to you. Okay?”
Yun Heng crouched down so that he was at eye level with her. “I don’t need you to listen to everything I say.”
“But when you don’t know what to do, I want you to think about my intentions. If you understand, nod. If you don’t, shake your head.”
The girl blinked, then shook her head furiously.
“It’s fine. I’ll teach you slowly in the future.”
Yun Heng reached out and rubbed her messy hair, only for his hand to be immediately grabbed by both of hers. Two seconds later, she let go again.
She was very strong, most likely due to her demon race physique. It was also possible that Yun Heng’s body was simply too weak. In just that short moment, red marks had already appeared on the back of his hand.
“You… don’t like… hugs?”
The girl tilted her head and asked carefully.
Her way of speaking was strange, as if she could never manage more than three syllables at a time.
“My health isn’t very good. Being clung to affects my movement, so I don’t really like being tangled up.”
Yun Heng explained. Then he held the shapeshifting pill back out in front of her, coaxing her like a child. “Now let’s eat this first, okay?”
The girl lowered her gaze and stared at the pill for a long while. She reached out cautiously, lightly poked it, then immediately withdrew her hand.
She frowned, puffed out her cheeks, looked up at Yun Heng, then looked down again, as if thinking.
Yun Heng was not in a hurry. He simply maintained the same posture, holding up the pill and waiting for her to finish weighing her options.
“Is your Young Master the type who responds to gentleness rather than force?”
Yan Qingli, who had somehow come to Jiang Keke’s side, asked curiously.
“Otherwise, how do you think your friend managed to get Young Master to agree?”
Jiang Keke snorted.
“Then is he usually popular with children as well?”
Yan Qingli ignored Jiang Keke’s sarcasm and continued asking.
“You could say that. He’s naturally born with a kind of charm that makes people feel close to him.”
Jiang Keke pursed her lips. “Forget kids—even middle-aged women and elderly ladies love chatting with Young Master.”
“Oh?”
Yan Qingli lifted her teacup and took a light sip, then glanced at Jiang Keke and then at Yun Heng, understanding dawning on her.
There were certain private matters between men and women that she could not conveniently ask about. But seeing how careful and patient Yun Heng was, Yan Qingli felt much more at ease.
If she really had to nitpick, the only concern was whether Jiang Keke might do something bad to this girl. But Yan Qingli felt that only an idiot would even consider such a possibility.
After all, Jiang Keke was nothing like Yun Heng. She was the type who wore all her thoughts on her face. Yan Qingli could easily see through her.
But with that comparison in mind, the Yun family’s boy… his depth of scheming was truly frightening.
Yan Qingli shook her head and took another sip of strong tea.
“I’ll eat it. Sister… won’t… scold me, right?”
Mm. Good tea.
Yan Qingli felt quite satisfied with her increasingly refined tea-brewing skills.
“Don’t worry. I won’t.”
Finally, after Yun Heng had explained who knew how many times that the pill was not poisonous and would be beneficial, the girl steeled herself, shut her eyes, and opened her mouth—swallowing Yun Heng’s entire hand in one go.
Jiang Keke could not hold back. She lifted her wolf-tooth club and was about to charge over.
If Yan Qingli had not stopped her, that club would have already come crashing down.
Fortunately, the girl did not do it on purpose. After swallowing the pill, she spat Yun Heng’s hand back out.
Yun Heng took a handkerchief from his storage bag and wiped his hand. Just as he was about to stand up and discuss with Yan Qingli how to deal with Xuan Sun later, the girl tugged on the corner of his robe.
Her face was flushed as she stammered, “Hot… so hot.”
Jiang Keke: ?
Yan Qingli: ?
Yun Heng: ?
The three of them wore different expressions, but they were all thinking roughly the same thing.
‘Doesn’t it take at least half an incense stick for the medicinal effects to spread through the body? How did you finish in a single second?’