Chapter 26: Underage

Heavy rain was pouring from the skies. At the Yao Union that had the sign ‘Nurturing and Relaxation Club for Elderly’ hanging from its door, it was a rare moment where no one had come over to play mahjong or cards. The only people inside was the plump elderly man and his few assistants. Just as Ning Xuan and Chao Yun entered, they heard the plump elderly man complaining to his assistants.

“I don’t know if it’s a matter of race, but it’s been thousands upon thousands of years, yet the dragon clan still hasn’t gotten rid of their damned habit of provoking people and picking fights. One moment it’s thundering and the next moment it’s raining. How can anyone go out like that?”

Ning Xuan and Chao Yun’s gazes met. It turned out the dragon clan was fighting. If that was the case, it was no wonder that the battle array was so large.

“Meow,” The cat’s vitality was a little on the low side. As the old man was registering the cat, he suddenly reached out a hand and tapped its forehead. “Fate binds all things. Since your fate with the human has been cut off, don’t continue to hold on to it. Cultivation is not easy. It is your good fortune that you were able to gain intelligence. If you cultivate well, you might be able to meet him in his next life.”

“Meow,” The cat shook its head.

This life and the next life were two different things. One might appear to have the same soul in both lives, yet the appearance, way of thinking, and personality had all changed. How could they be the same person?

Fate could only be cultivated in this life; one could not hope for it in the next life. Excessive attachment was a sin.

“It seems you understand,” The elderly man passed the moral yao identification to the cat. The cat extended its tongue and swallowed the identification into its stomach.

“Many thanks to these two for taking the trouble to bring him here. For the time being, this cat won’t be able to transform, so our Yao Union will arrange a place for him to stay at and cultivate,” The plump elderly man waved his worn-out fan, making a ‘please’ motion towards the door.

Chao Yun and Ning Xuan saluted, turned, and left the Yao Union. Ever since entering the management bureau, they were no longer just members of the Yao Union, but represented the interests of the entire cultivation world. Therefore, having too intimate a relationship with the Yao Union would very likely breed misunderstandings among the human cultivators.

“Benefactor, they’ve been fighting for almost two hours,” Chu Yu lay slumped on the windowsill as he gazed up at the sky. “The azure dragon clan is fighting four against one, I’m worried that Boss will be at a huge disadvantage.”

Fu Li looked at the entire roomful of people who only knew how to look up but didn’t dare to go forward and help. He couldn’t help asking, “You have so many people, why don’t you guys go help?”

Everyone stared blankly. They had long since grown accustomed to the Boss’ omnipotence these few years. This was the first time someone asked them to render help together.

“It’s a fight after all, it’s all about the numbers,” Fu Li felt that the cultivators in this age simply had too little knowledge and experience. “Even if all of you aren’t a match for the dragon clan, just standing there will create apprehension in their hearts. In the past when King Ganglie vied for the mountain with other yao, even our mountain’s little birds who haven’t transformed will go and cheer for him. The more people there are, the more imposing it’ll seem – this is the most basic rule of a group fight.”

Chu Yu could not imagine the kind of grand occasion where yaoguai covered the mountains and plains, nor could he understand the effort that yao cultivators back then had to put into snatching territory. He looked up at the sky and imagined the fierce battle taking place up there. Fear of the dragon clan’s imposing manner once again rose within him – this was the instinctual fear that was carved into his body.

“Th-then have you guys fought with dragons before?” Chu Yu licked the slightly dry corners of his lips. Both his hands were clenched into fists. His heart was on the edges of a tough struggle.

“Yes,” Fu Li looked up at the foggy layers of clouds, the tone of his voice wavering a little.

“Did you win?”

Fu Li turned and glanced at Chu Yu before continuing to look up at the sky. “Probably?”

Thunder boomed. The lightning that seemed to rip through the entire sky was shockingly bright, sending a stabbing pain through Fu Li’s eyes. He turned to look at Chu Yu, “Does your boss like to use thunderbolts and lightning while fighting?”

Chu Yu shook his head. “Our boss is a bit more lowkey, he never does such garish tricks.”

“Understood,” Fu Li nodded. With a flash, he streaked towards the sky like a gale.

“Wait!” Chu Yu yelled loudly. “Benefactor, don’t throw your life away!” He circled the spot twice before gritting his teeth and taking out his magic weapon. Standing on it, he flew towards the sky.

“Wait for me,” Zhang Ke took out a retractable sword from an office drawer, stood on it, and flew out.

“It’s a fight between the dragon race, going there is just asking to die,” Xu Yuan berated as she took off the silver bracelet on her hand. The silver bracelet morphed into a small boat. With a flip, she leapt onto the small boat and swiftly chased after them.

“F*ck, stop bullsh*tting, let’s teach those guys a lesson.”

Countless magic weapons were taken out – bamboo flutes, writing brushes, tortoise shells, and even bird feathers. For a moment, splendid rays of light filled the room.

As everyone knew, for every hundred meters above sea level, the temperature would drop 0.6 degrees Celsius. Xu Yuan’s first thought upon flying up was that she was wearing too few clothes on this day. In the distance, she could see the currently roiling smell of gunpowder among the five people enclosed by the barrier. They couldn’t even push past the barrier, much less enter and help.

Xu Yuan turned and spoke to her colleagues who had caught up to her. “Everyone, take care to hide yourself. Don’t be found by the radars, and even more importantly, don’t affect the flight path of the airplanes.”

“Benefactor, don’t go over, there’s a….” Chu Yu stared blankly as he watched Fu Li squeeze past the barrier. He muttered the last word, “Barrier.”

“Do you guys want to come in and play?” Fu Li propped up the opening in the barrier and turned to beckon towards Chu Yu and the rest.

Chu Yu and the rest of the living creatures looked at the glistening flickers of light inside and simultaneously shook their heads, taking a step back.

Fu Li glanced at the situation inside the barrier and decided to give up. “Forget it, you guys had better not come in.” With such low cultivation, it was enough to just stand outside and watch the show. He really hadn’t expected the cultivation world to have declined so rapidly. Great yao were everywhere during those years, yet now, even he was considered a great yao.

Upon entering the barrier, killing intent and Dragon Might shot towards him. The two younger azure dragons were already wounded and were seated at a corner nursing their wounds. Seeing Fu Li enter the barrier, their eyes widened, seemingly in disbelief that someone could actually tear apart the barrier that their dragon clan had erected.

“I know your dragon race has large eyes, stop staring,” Fu Li used a technique to fix the two dragons in place and then walked over and sat down between them. The soft clouds had a moist and ice-cold feel to them. “Who do you think will win?”

The two azure dragons who couldn’t speak, “…”

“Aiya. The way your dragon clan fights is to spit out dragon pellets the moment there’s a disagreement.”

“Does that something-elder of yours usually like to play assassin games, why is he so fond of making sneak attacks?”

“Look, that sneak-attacker received his retribution,” Fu Li watched Zhuang Qing send Qing Yuan flying with a swat of his tail. “Comparing anything else would be better, yet he insisted on fighting a golden dragon with power. How embarrassing now that he was sent flying with just one swipe of a tail.”

The two azure dragons yearned to shut the mouth of this prattling yaoguai who hugged Zhuang Qing’s thigh. However, their inability to move meant that they were forced to continue listening to him.

There were four people from the dragon clan, and three were wounded. Qing Yan and Zhuang Qing’s palms collided, the impact sending them flying back by more than ten meters. Dragon scales could already be seen on Zhuang Qing’s body. A pair of young forked dragon horns extended from his forehead, giving off a dazzling golden light.

Only then did Fu Li recall that in accordance with the dragon clan’s way of calculating age, one would only be considered an adult two thousand years after leaving their shells. Zhuang Qing was still an underaged dragon.

“Bullying even an underaged dragon, how shameful,” Fu Li stood up and patted his clothes that had gotten wet from the clouds and mist. “Help should be rendered in the face of injustice. Bullying minors is not right.”

“Dragon Lord Zhuang Qing, the dragon race has controlled the waters for innumerable years. Forming clouds, summoning rain, and calling down frost and ice are our natural abilities. Humans will encounter countless tribulations in their lives, why do you make things difficult for your race for the sake of another race?” Qing Yan halted his offense and stood opposite Zhuang Qing. “No matter the kind of creature one is, support from their race will always be needed. Even if you’ve joined with the national fate, it’s impossible for you to be unrivaled in all the lands under the heavens. Certain things will lose its beauty if you nitpick too much.”

“Human lives are short and their desire to live is strong, so they should bear greater torment?” Zhuang Qing laughed coldly. “I’m afraid Dragon Lord Qing Yan’s words are a little unreasonable.”

“Whether or not its reasonable, there is one thing that is a fact – in the past millions of years, humans have progressed in such a manner,” Qing Yan’s face wore a noble-like smile, yet the words he spoke were cold-hearted. “Moreover, the humans are numerous in number and have strong reproduction capabilities. So what if a few of them get injured or die?”

“There is no need for Dragon Lord Qing Yan to speak of such things to me. Before the end of the Northern Lake Dragon Lord’s prison sentence, I will not let him out,” Zhuang Qing would not waste spittle discussing this sort of issue with Qing Yan. One could never attempt to use speech to persuade someone with differing views.

“If that’s the case, don’t fault me for being rude,” Qing Yan saluted with a smile. “Please.”

“It’s my first time seeing someone bully a minor so politely.”

Qing Yan turned his gaze towards the direction of the voice and saw the little yaoguai who said that the azure dragons ranked at the bottom of the dragon clans. He was lying across the layers of clouds. Almost no yao qi could be sensed from this little yao – he seemed like a yaoguai who had low cultivation and was easy to bully.

If this was the past, Qing Yan wouldn’t care about him. But at this moment, all he felt was an incomparable sense of strangeness. How could an ordinary little yao dare to tear apart the barrier and watch their fight at such close proximity? The average yao cultivator couldn’t bear the dragon qi they emitted during combat at all.

“Hey,” Fu Li jumped off the cloud and walked over to stand beside Zhuang Qing. “A yao should be reasonable. Isn’t it a bit shameless for four adult dragons to be bullying an underaged dragon?”

Qing Yan stared blankly. Only after he looked at the not-yet-fully-formed dragon horns on Zhuang Qing’s head did he recall that Zhuang Qing really was a minor. It was just that Zhuang Qing’s rapid growth in cultivation the past few years and his position as the leader of the management bureau caused this fact to slip everyone’s minds.

“Although you guys look down on humans, the human world has a ,” Disapproval colored Fu Li’s solemn expression. “You guys aren’t even comparable to humans, where do you find the shame to look down on others?”

The smile on Qing Yan’s face stiffened. He had never thought that there would come a day when other yao would say that his dragon race couldn’t compare to the humans, and the reason was even that they didn’t have a .

But no matter how preposterous this saying was, Qing Yan understood very well in his heart that this day’s fight could no longer be continued. Turning, he looked at his three other injured clansmen with a bitter smile. If he carried on fighting and today’s matter were to get out, it would only lead others into believing that four azure dragons couldn’t beat the management bureau’s Zhuang Qing. Their azure dragon clan’s face would be lost if that happened.

If they carried on fighting, other yao clans would also only say that their group of four dragons were bullying a dragon who hadn’t come of age. This saying wasn’t much better than the previous one and was perhaps even more embarrassing. Most importantly, he couldn’t make out the limits of this yao cultivator who stood with Zhuang Qing. He didn’t want to provoke him rashly.

After a period of contemplation, Qing Yan cupped his hands and said, “There is sense in this daoyou’s words. Dragon Lord Zhuang Qing, we can discuss this matter again at a later date,” He prepared to leave, but Qing Yuan, who had been sent flying by Zhuang Qing’s tail, let out a roar and transformed into a dragon, shooting directly towards Zhuang Qing.

In a split second, the world changed color. Thunder rumbled and the clouds in the sky roiled violently in a dense mass, resembling a giant creature that engulfed everything.

“Crap!” Outside the barrier, Lin Gui’s expression changed drastically. “This can cause a tornado! Everyone, quickly set up a barrier, do your best to keep the surrounding airflow within the barrier!”