Chapter 66: Changing Forms

Taken aback, the white dragon leaped to his feet. He looked back but saw nothing, not even a shadow of a ghost. His hand gripped the jade plaque tightly as he took a few steps back, reaching out to a coral display piece on a cabinet.

But the next second, the coral piece shattered into fragments. Shaken, a quiver ran through his entire body. His hand drew back.

“Who is it sneaking around, come out!”

However, the person concealed in the darkness didn’t seem to want to reveal themselves, and displayed no reaction towards his fear and fury.

“Daoyou, my white dragon clan might not be an illustrious or influential clan, but it’s still given a meager amount of face. If you want riches, this junior has a few good things. As long as Senior likes them, this junior will offer them up with both hands.” Although he was arrogant and rude, he wasn’t without brains. This person of unidentified origin had soundlessly broken through the dragon palace’s barrier and arrived at his bedroom, indicating that this person had extremely profound cultivation. If he were to enrage such a cultivator, he might not even manage to keep his life.

But this person mentioned Zhuang Qing, did they know each other?

“What good things can your dragon race have? You only have so much. I heard you’re in possession of Zhuang Qing’s weakness?”

The white dragon turned joyful upon hearing this. Did this person have a grudge with Fu Li, and thus came looking for him? With a scheme in his heart, the white dragon was no longer as nervous. “Senior may not be aware, but Zhuang Qing has a particularly antisocial personality. Not a single dragon in the dragon race is on good terms with him.”

The expert of unknown name was silent, so he continued, “Also, that person is cold-hearted and merciless. He caused someone of the same race to go to jail tens of years ago and sent someone from the azure dragon clan into prison a while back.”

“Give me that jade plaque,” The person he couldn’t see suddenly spoke.

The white dragon glanced down at the jade plaque in his hands with some hesitation. “Senior, this thing is…”

He had just spoken when the jade plaque in his hands flew out on its own and then vanished midair, nowhere to be seen. He didn’t even know how the other party managed it. He cautiously let out a cooperative laugh. “This thing isn’t of much use. The Zhuang Qing of today has already won recognition and success, he wouldn’t regard such a thing as important.”

“I don’t need you to educate me,” The mysterious person snorted coldly. All of a sudden, the palace doors swung wide open, and the night breeze surged into the hall. Cold wind blew against the white dragon’s head, sending a tremble through his whole body.

But the white dragon turned cheerful again upon thinking about how Zhuang Qing had provoked such a dangerous person.

A snow-white rabbit with pointed ears swam out of the sea and jumped ashore at a fantastical speed. With a shake of its plump body, its wet fur became fluffy. The rabbit’s hind legs stood upright, and it held its front claws together, bowing towards the sky.

He was already so old, but it was his first time stealing something. Grandpa heavenly law shouldn’t argue with someone of lesser knowledge. He had actually intended to directly fight his way into the white dragon clan’s Crystal Palace and snatch the jade plaque back. But out of concern that it would harm the management bureau’s reputation if it got out, he could only come up with such a scheme.

When this matter was no longer under the public eye, he would secretly give those bear children a beating.

He transformed into his human form inside a barrier. Taking out the jade plaque, he wiped the accumulated dust on its surface, revealing the words on it. Compared to Simplified Chinese, he was actually more familiar with seal script since he had had more contact with it.

Shang Countyk2026; Wasn’t that somewhere not too far from Reflecting Mist Mountain? If Reflecting Mist Mountain hadn’t been destroyed that year, and Zhuang Qing had gone to this fiefdom, then they might have been on the same plot of land? Fu Li didn’t understand the humans’ hierarchical system at that time, so he couldn’t make anything out of this jade plaque. But whatever the case, this was an item Zhuang Qing’s mother had left for him. It was probably of great importance to him.

If he genuinely didn’t care about it, he wouldn’t have hit the white dragon in front of the other yao cultivators. Given Zhuang Qing’s cultivation, there was no way he didn’t know of the yao cultivators hiding around them and watching the show. Even then, he still hadn’t been able to hold himself back.

On the surface, he might seem like he didn’t care at all. But in his heart, the extent to which he cared might be immeasurable. It was very normal for young yao to have a sharp tongue but soft heart.

But how should he give the jade plaque to Zhuang Qing? He couldn’t possibly swagger to him and say, “Zhuang little dragon, I stole your jade plaque back.”

Wouldn’t that be a conscious violation of the rules?

He sighed and turned into his rabbit form. With a jump, he flew back to the capital. After placing the jade plaque into a brocade pouch, he got a tiny bird to help him send it over. Worried that Zhuang Qing wouldn’t open the door for the bird, he changed into a large bird and led the tiny bird to Zhuang Qing’s villa, through the barrier, and then went knocking on the window of Zhuang Qing’s room.

Knock knock knock.

Zhuang Qing happened to be in a bad mood. Hearing the sound coming from the window, he glanced out the window with creased brows and was met with a tiny bird cocking its head at him, a brocade pouch around its neck. The bird’s mung bean eyes were innocent and blank.

He grabbed a fistful of millet from the cabinet with a straight face and cautiously opened the window. After scattering the millet on the windowsill, he took the brocade pouch from the bird’s neck. He undid the knot around the pouch and the jade plaque fell into his palm. Zhuang Qing stared blankly at the five words ‘Wen An Marquis, Shang County’.

Chirp chirp chirp. The bird finished the millet and flapped its wings a few times on the windowsill before flying off with satisfaction.

Only at this time did Zhuang Qing come to his senses. Stroking the decorative words on the jade plaque, he stretched his head out the window and peered around without seeing anyone. His hands repeatedly turned the brocade pouch around before discovering a strand of white hair on it.

Twirling the thin strand of hair in his hands, Zhuang Qing suddenly laughed.

Would he not know who found the jade plaque just because a bird sent it over? How many people knew about the incident today? How many could run to the dragon palace and retrieve something silently? How many cultivators would be able to lead a bird past the barrier outside his villa?

Those who would do such a stupid thing for him… how many were there?

“Thank you,” He spoke out the window. There was no movement outside.

“Remember to come to work on time tomorrow morning.”

There was still no movement.

A very long time later, so long that Zhuang Qing had shut the windows and switched off the lights in the room, the ‘bird’ hanging upside down underneath the windowsill fell onto the ground with a plop. Flapping its wings, it flew off in a haste. High-difficulty movements like hanging upside down were still more suitable for bats, it was a bit beyond him.

The ‘bird’ changed into a white rabbit after flying out the villa’s barrier. With a kick of its legs, the tiny white rabbit morphed into a stream of light, vanishing into the night.

At the villa, Zhuang Qing opened the windows and cast a glance beneath the window, saying softly, “Who knows how his head grew for him to be this stupid.”

Despite the resentful words coming out of his mouth, there was a smiling expression in his eyes.

The white dragon waited happily for a good few days in the dragon palace, but didn’t hear of Zhuang Qing getting injured or dying. He wondered with some disappointment if Zhuang Qing’s cultivation was too high and the mysterious senior was also unable to deal with him.

His mood turned bad again the moment he thought of this. They were clearly all dragons, so why was the difference so big?

But soon after, he no longer had the energy to care about Zhuang Qing. An envoy from the azure dragon clan had brought an extremely shocking piece of news.

In the last one thousand years, the azure dragons had prospered without limits, so much so that the humans were misled into recording them down in their books. They had lumped them together with the Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise, and named them the Four Divine Beasts.

In human entertainment industry lingo, this was called bundling. By relying on the fact that the other three divine beasts had already vanished in the human world and were unable to clear up these rumors, the azure dragon clan very vigorously gave themselves airs.

Yes, the Vermilion Bird, Azure Dragon, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise were indeed the Four Divine Beasts. However, this Azure Dragon referred to the ancient divine dragon, who had no link to the current azure dragons. Because of this, the white dragon had always found the azure dragon clan rather displeasing to the eyes. But because the other party had more influence due to their numbers, the most he had done was utter a few complaints in private. In the presence of the azure dragon clan, he didn’t have the guts to say such things.

The azure dragon clan, the shameless braggart that relied on false fame and stuck gold onto their own face, had actually decided to seal off the azure dragon clan’s Crystal Palace. If nothing major occurred in the cultivation world, they would not rashly leave the sea territory under their jurisdiction. The reason why they had sent an envoy over was also to indirectly tell the white dragon clan that they would not concern themselves over trivial matters as they needed to cultivate their moral character.

If these words were spoken by envoys from the black or blue dragons, then the white dragon wouldn’t think much of it. Those two clans never had much care for anything anyway. But this was the azure dragon clan, the azure dragon clan that itched to have the management rights to all sea territories. Believing them capable of cultivating their moral character was akin to believing that the azure dragon clan would birth a hundred dragon babies the next day.

The azure dragon clan’s envoy knew that the white dragon clan didn’t believe them and thus smiled bitterly, “We’re not afraid of being mocked even if we say it out loud. Our azure dragon clan has done many foolish things over the past few years. That Weishui incident caused our clan to lose twenty-eight lives, yet we were not aware that this was a warning from heavenly law and continued to act in an imposing manner. If things were to continue like this, heavenly law might one day no longer tolerate us and eliminate our entire clan.”

Just like the golden dragon clan of those years. They had received the worship of countless humans and possessed divine power at birth, but what was their eventual outcome?

“Everyone, please think carefully. How many children have our dragon race had for the last one thousand years?”

Death by heavenly law’s lightning was a quick death. But wasn’t it just a slow and torturous death if they had no children?

“That’s all this humble one has to say. I implore everyone to reconsider, goodbye.”

The azure dragon clan’s envoy left. Some in the white dragon clan felt that the azure dragon clan’s words made sense, while others felt that the azure dragon clan’s fears were groundless and that they must have been scared stiff by some recent incident.

But given the azure dragon clan’s current status, what could scare them to this extent?

The white dragon suddenly thought of the mysterious senior that appeared in his bedroom a few nights ago. Could it be… him?

“Fu ge, Fu ge. How can I let you do something like pouring water? Let me, let me.”

“Fu ge, something like printing information can just be handed to me.”

“Fu ge, do you want to eat the snacks that have been very popular on the internet recently? I have a lot here.”

Fu Li sat at his desk and stared at the fresh flowers, drinks, and snacks on the desk. He raised the tip of his brows. “If you have something to say, just say it.”

“Actually, it’s not anything major,” Chu Yu thickened his skin and went up to him. “We’re just a bit curious about the fruit of the Langgan Tree downstairs. Fu ge, you’re so powerful, can you pluck a few Zhuyu fruits for us to try?”

“And I was wondering what it was,” Fu Li stood up. “Wait for me.”

Everyone was overjoyed at this turn of events. When it came to being generous, Fu ge had to be included.

When Zhuang Qing walked into the management bureau, he saw Fu Li carrying a bag of fruits. “Why did you pluck so many?” It wasn’t like he would be able to eat so many at one go.

“Chu Yu, Zhang Ke, and the rest want to have a taste of it, so I plucked a few more.”

“The Zhuyu fruits contain an abundance of spiritual qi, I’m worried their bodies won’t be able to stand it,” Zhuang Qing took more than half of the fruits from Fu Li. “Shortcuts cannot be taken when cultivating. Absorbing the spiritual qi in these fruits will be enough for them. When they’ve fully absorbed the spiritual qi in the fruits, you can pluck two more for them. This would be considered making a steady improvement.”

Fu Li suddenly understood. “You’re right.”

All the people standing along the corridor waiting for fruits: …

Sure enough, the boss was stingy all year round.

“I was joking with you,” Zhuang Qing suddenly returned the fruits to Fu Li. “Since they’re curious, let them try it. One fruit isn’t anything major.”

Everyone: …

Was he possessed?

How was it possible that the boss had said such words?