Chapter 105: Transformation

Feng Ruizhong’s behavior made Zhuang Qing think of Fu Li’s elder – the Vermilion Bird Zhu Yue.

A Qiankun pouch was capable of holding too many things; Zhuang Qing had no way of envisaging what it could contain, nor could he accept it.

“Apologies, the management bureau has a rule that we can’t accept presents from other cultivators,” Zhuang Qing bowed. “Many thanks senior for the generous gift.”

“There is a saying in the human world – ‘an elder’s gift cannot be declined’. If you’re unwilling to accept it, you will be looking down on this senior,” Feng Ruizhong had beautiful looks. When he wasn’t smiling and raised the corners of his brows slightly, he would give off a subtle feeling of power.

“Many thanks Uncle Feng,” Fu Li accepted the Qiankun pouch on Zhuang Qing’s behalf.

“Little Li is still well-behaved,” Feng Ruizhong put on a smile once again. Patting the hat on Fu Li’s head, he asked with some heartache, “Have you been well the past few years?”

Fu Li nodded dazedly.

Looking at the hat on Fu Li’s head that had been manifested with magic, there seemed to be a flash of emotion in Feng Ruizhong’s eyes. But in the end, all he did was help him to arrange the hat. “Take good care of yourself, let me know if you lack anything.”

He fished out a few jade pendants and stuffed them into Fu Li’s hands. “Break a jade pendant if you run into any issue, I’ll rush over immediately.”

Fu Li looked at Feng Ruizhong in a daze as he clutched the jade pendants. Feng Ruizhong’s behavior was overly intimate. Fu Li ought to suspect the other party’s intentions, but whenever the other party smiled at him, there was only a feeling of closeness in his heart, nothing else.

“Uncle Feng…” Fu Li couldn’t help asking, “Did we meet in the past?”

Feng Ruizhong smiled gently. “The snow’s heavy, go back early.” His gaze landed on Zhuang Qing, and he gave him a friendly smile. “Goodbye.”

Zhuang Qing looked at the identical clothes Feng Ruizhong and Fu Li were wearing, and said with a straight face, “Please take care, senior.”

Feng Ruizhong pulled open the car door, smiling at Fu Li. “Quick, get on.”

He had very strong learning capabilities. With only one car ride, he already knew how to open a car door and let himself integrate into the crowd seamlessly.

Fu Li sat in the front passenger seat. The corners of his lips moved without saying anything. Feng Ruizhong had not denied meeting him before, but neither had he admitted to it. Was the other party unwilling to say it, or had he chosen to cover it up because he had misgivings about something?

While he was in the midst of contemplation, Feng Ruizhong placed another Qiankun pouch in his arms. “Treat yourself a bit better, don’t wrong yourself when it concerns food, clothes, accommodation, and travel.” He took another glance at the hat Fu Li had manifested using magic with a forced smile. “Having prettier clothes is also okay.”

Fu Li had a strange feeling. Why was Uncle Feng looking at him as if he had experienced immense suffering and grievances?

“Take good care of yourself,” Feng Ruizhong cast a deep glance at Fu Li before turning and walking in another direction.

Fu Li looked at his back view, an unspeakable distress in his heart. He pulled open the car door and caught up to him. “Uncle Feng.”

“What’s wrong?” Feng Ruizhong came to a halt. When he turned to look at Fu Li, the happiness in his eyes nearly couldn’t be suppressed.

“This is my workplace. Come find me when you’re free, I’ll take you to eat delicious food in the human world,” Fu Li placed a name card in Feng Ruizhong’s hand, his eyes fixed tightly on Feng Ruizhong. “Make sure to come.”

Feng Ruizhong gazed at the name card in his palm and then carefully placed it in his storage ring. “Okay.”

Fu Li’s eyes curved. Smiling, he ran back to Zhuang Qing’s car. When he next looked back, there was only heavy snow fluttering behind the car. Feng Ruizhong’s silhouette could no longer be seen. Head drooping, he passed the Qiankun pouch given by Feng Ruizhong to Zhuang Qing.

Zhuang Qing took the Qiankun pouch that was as small as a brocade sack. There was a sour feeling in his heart, but he also felt that there were no grounds for such a feeling. When Feng Ruizhong was arranging Fu Li’s hat, he nearly couldn’t resist swatting the other party’s hand.

It was fortunate that he had managed to hold himself back, otherwise Fu Li would definitely think him temperamental. He threw the Qiankun pouch into the storage box and made a great effort to let his expression appear a bit more normal. “Could this senior Feng be… a senior from Reflecting Mist Mountain?”

Fu Li shook his head lightly. “Impossible. Although the elders were rarely in their human forms on the mountain, they’ve transformed in front of me before. He’s not one of them.”

“You’ve seen all of your elders’ human forms?” Zhuang Qing felt that Feng Ruizhong’s attitude towards Fu Li had long exceeded the normal attitude a great yao would have towards a little yao. No matter how kind an ancient great yao was, they would still have some arrogance. It was impossible for them to be so easy to get along with.

“I’ve seen them all,” Fu Li said. “When I first changed into my human form, I wasn’t used to the human body. The elders on the mountain were afraid that I would develop an aversion to the human form, so they all turned into their human forms and kept me company for a period of time. I remember every single one of their appearances clearly, there’s no way I forgot.”

“That human pet of yours…”

“I-It’s true that I don’t remember him very well,” Fu Li felt like he had spoken too confidently, resulting in his face being slapped by Zhuang Qing the next instant. “Anyway, I’ve definitely never seen this senior Feng before.”

Using his phone, Zhuang Qing went into the work system and checked Feng Ruzihong’s personal information that had just been registered at the Yao Union.

Ten thousand years was likely to be a random number. His birthplace was Jiao Province’s Nanshan?

Jiao Province’s Nanshan covered a very large area. The other party’s true form could not be gleaned just based on such a vague address. In addition, no one could confirm the authenticity of this so-called birthplace.

If the other party was not Fu Li’s elder, then why would he behave so intimately? Or, towards Fu Li, did he have…

Zhuang Qing tried very hard to suppress this idea. With a heavy look, he asked, “You mentioned before that your mountain has a sparrow who can’t transform…”

“That’s impossible. Little Sparrow is a narcissistic and noisy female bird,” The sparrow in Fu Li’s memories had never transformed into its human form for thousands of years, and had a voice as young and tender as a human girl. Because of this, he couldn’t regard her as an elder. Little Sparrow didn’t seem to mind either and constantly played with him on a regular basis.

The suspicion in Zhuang Qing’s heart deepened upon seeing how certain Fu Li was. In this world, good treatment did not exist for no rhyme or reason. But Fu Li seemed to have a very good opinion of Feng Ruizhong, so in the end, he didn’t voice the suspicion and jealousy in his heart.

Fu Li went back to Zhuang Qing’s villa after work, ate dinner, and then sat cross-legged on the couch to watch television. After watching for a while, he suddenly thought of the two Qiankun pouches Feng Ruizhong had given him.

He opened one of the pouches and casually turned it upside down. A heap of pearls, gold, and cloth instantly filled the house, drowning even the furniture.

Hearing the sound from the kitchen, Zhuang Qing came out for a look. A mountain of gold and pearls lay piled up in his living room like a heap of discarded garbage. What was Fu Li doing?

Fu Li was shocked by the mountain of treasures. With a hasty chant, he put the things back in again. He had only poured out a small bit of the things in the Qiankun pouch and it already formed such a pile. If he had poured out all of it…

“What are you doing?” Zhuang Qing wiped his hands. Noticing the Qiankun pouch in Fu Li’s hands, he furrowed his brows. “This is the one the great yao gave you today?”

Fu Li nodded blankly. He might have understood why Uncle Feng threw him another Qiankun pouch before leaving. He might have discerned that his hat was manifested from tree leaves and thought that he led a difficult life, so he gave him this much gold, silver, pearls, cloth, jade decorations, and whatnot?

This misunderstanding might be a bit big.

Fu Li didn’t dare to directly turn the other Qiankun pouch upside down. He opened the pouch and combed through the inside with his spiritual consciousness. There were all sorts of medicinal pills, spiritual fruits, medicinal ingredients, and even magic weapons placed inside, along with a number of toys scattered all over.

Fu Li was in possession of quite a few good things. Although he was shocked by Feng Ruizhong’s generosity, it wasn’t to the point where he would forget himself. On the other hand, Zhuang Qing felt that there was something exceedingly strange about this matter. Any one of these medicinal ingredients or magic weapons would make countless cultivators water at the mouth. Feng Ruizhong’s good treatment of Fu Li was over-the-top.

He searched for the Qiankun pouch Feng Ruizhong had given him, opened it up, and combed through it with his spiritual consciousness. There weren’t as many things inside as those given to Fu Li, but they were all very hard to come by as well. Most importantly, Zhuang Qing sensed a dragon’s aura in the Qiankun pouch.

He took out a black wooden box emanating dragon qi from the Qiankun pouch. Without even removing the cover, Zhuang Qing could already feel the formidable Dragon Might and spiritual qi, so much so that his hand couldn’t grip it properly.

“Dragon qi?” Fu Li also felt this wave of particularly strong qi. He looked down at the box in Zhuang Qing’s hand. “What’s inside?”

Zhuang Qing removed the cover. The dark-green dragon horn placed inside was suffused with majestic spiritual qi, as if a dragon would take to the skies the next instant and roar at the Heavens and Earth. In a flash, the phantom image of an azure dragon appeared above the black wooden box. His enormous dragon head looked upon Zhuang Qing with eyes completely bereft of emotion.

“My race’s junior, you actually opened this box?” The phantom image suddenly let out a long hiss. Morphing into a green light, he entered the center of Zhuang Qing’s forehead. Zhuang Qing’s hand trembled, and the box fell to the ground. The moment the dragon horn landed on the ground, it broke into smithereens, leaving only fine, dull white powder.

“Zhuang Qing,” Seeing that the dragon qi on Zhuang Qing was surging outwards continuously, Fu Li hurriedly erected a barrier around the villa. He reached out a hand to unblock Zhuang Qing’s meridians, but the moment he touched Zhuang Qing’s back, powerful dragon pressure barreled towards him.

This gust of dragon qi seemed to be guarding against him, preventing him from approaching. Yet, it was extremely friendly towards Zhuang Qing, seemingly protecting him.

Sensing this, Fu Li no longer dared to rashly approach. He sat down cross-legged at the side. If anything strange were to happen to Zhuang Qing, he would be in time to respond.

Zhuang Qing was no longer cognizant of the outside world’s affairs. At this moment, an unfamiliar dragon qi had sucked his mind into his sea of consciousness. Although Zhuang Qing was not a pure golden dragon, he was a genius at cultivation with a particularly strong sea of consciousness.

Looking at the azure dragon that had appeared in his sea of consciousness, Zhuang Qing subconsciously guessed his identity.

“You are the Holy Beast, Azure Dragon daren?”

The azure dragon’s gaze was no longer as cold as before. His voice was deep, low, and brimming with the vicissitudes of life, as if he had experienced the transformations of the world and would remain unshaken even by death and destruction. “I didn’t expect my fated dragon to be a half-human and half-dragon hybrid golden dragon. Forget it, forget it, forget it, this is all Heaven’s Will. Humans are the inventors of script and have become the chief of all living creatures. If you were to inherit the dragon race, perhaps you would be able to seize a small chance for the world to survive under the workings of heavenly law.”

Zhuang Qing recalled the dragon horn in the black wooden box. He stepped forward and bowed deeply to the Azure Dragon. “This junior is called Zhuang Qing, I greet Holy Beast daren.”

“The Holy Beast Azure Dragon has long perished five thousand years ago, I am nothing more than a wisp of his destroyed soul attached to his dragon horn,” The Azure Dragon sighed. “Since you have broken the seal on the box containing his destroyed soul, then this is our affinity.”

Zhuang Qing looked guardedly at the Azure Dragon’s destroyed soul, though he dared not act blindly without careful consideration. This was his sea of consciousness, so any action could cause him irreversible damage.

The destroyed soul seemed to have made out his thoughts. He didn’t mind though, and simply said, “I will give you the dragon race’s inheritance today. I hope you will carefully synthesize and examine it, and safeguard the peace of our land.” After uttering these words, the destroyed soul vanished gradually, turning into small specks of starlight that floated gracefully in Zhuang Qing’s sea of consciousness. They mixed into his sea of consciousness bit by bit.

A boom resounded in Zhuang Qing’s head. Boundless spiritual qi surged through all the meridians throughout his body and his bones grew impatiently.

“The dragon race’s final transformation?” Fu Li grew aware of the intermittent appearance of Zhuang Qing’s dragon scales and the growth of his dragon horns out of his head. The golden halo of virtue was rotating around him, seemingly wanting to help Zhuang Qing shed his body and exchange his bones.

The dragon race would undergo their final transformation between the age of 1500 and 2000. If they successfully endured this transformation, their cultivation would advance greatly, and moving mountains and propelling the sea could be done in a mere blink of an eye. But Fu Li had not expected for there to be an item related to the dragon race in the Qiankun pouch Uncle Feng gave to Zhuang Qing, and for this item to have stimulated Zhuang Qing into suddenly entering his transformation.

There wasn’t enough time for careful consideration. Fu Li took out a cloth from his Qiankun pouch and wrapped Zhuang Qing in it. Shrinking it, he then went to the seaside by a coastal city, turned into his original form, and entered the depths of the sea with Zhuang Qing.

He had been unconscious when Zhuang Qing last brought him to the golden dragon palace, but he had specially noted down the route on their way back.

“Mommy, a white Samoyed with a cloth in its mouth jumped into the sea and committed suicide.”

There were a few humans playing at the beach. None of them were aware that a dragon had passed by them. A little girl with a toy figurine in her hands and hair draped over her shoulders pointed at the sea. “Daddy, quickly rescue the doggy.”

The little girl’s father swept his gaze across the quiet sea many times before smiling helplessly, “Darling, daddy doesn’t see any dog.”

“It must have drowned,” The four or five year old child believed in the things she saw with absolute certainty. Thinking about how that snow-white doggy had drowned to death in the sea, the little child instantly grew so upset that she burst into tears.

Tears plopped onto the sand, very quickly wetting a small area of sand.

The girl’s parents couldn’t bear for their child to be sad, so the girl’s father went one round around the coast in search of it. In the end, he could only go back and say, “Darling didn’t see wrongly, I saw a white dog climbing out of the sea just now and running off into the distance.”

“Really?” The little girl looked at her father with red eyes. In her heart, daddy was omnipotent and definitely wouldn’t lie to her.

“Really, that dog climbed out and ran off,” The girl’s father pointed in a random direction. “Unfortunately, it ran too fast. Daddy couldn’t catch up to it.”

“It’s fine as long as it managed to climb out,” The little girl was jubilant. Hugging her daddy, she gave him a big kiss.

The girl’s mother looked at the pitch-black sea. Suppressing the strange feeling in her heart, she heaved a sigh of relief inwardly. Her daughter had definitely seen wrong.

Fu Li lifted the restriction on the golden dragon palace and brought Zhuang Qing into the palace’s back hall. Zhuang Qing couldn’t keep up his human form immediately after they stepped through the back hall’s doors, turning into a gigantic golden dragon.

The transformation process was excruciating. Zhuang Qing let out dragon roars one after the other, banging his head and tail against the wall unceasingly. Very soon, blood seeped out of his body.

A feeling of suffocation gripped Fu Li’s heart increasingly as he watched the blood gradually stain Zhuang Qing’s golden dragon body. His breathing turned rough, as if he had contracted what the humans called ‘heart disease’. Seeing that Zhuang Qing was about to ram into the wall again, he flashed in front of the wall without even thinking. His body was softer, so even if Zhuang Qing banged into him, his dragon horns probably wouldn’t break.

To dragons, their horns represented their dignity and honor. He worried that Zhuang Qing would become a hornless dragon if he continued banging them.

The golden dragon whose eyes had turned a bloody red from the pain had long lost his sense of reason and could care less about what he was banging against. Just as he was about to knock into Fu Li, he forcibly held himself back. His weak voice came out intermittently, “F-Fu Li…quickly leave.”

“Don’t be scared,” Fu Li circulated the spiritual qi around his body and placed a hand on top of the golden dragon’s head. “Good brothers share in life’s joys and sorrows. I believe you will get through it and become the dragon race’s most handsome dragon.”

Zhuang Qing’s entire body was writhing in pain. Every bone and scale on his body felt like it was being shattered and recombined, gradually growing anew. He remembered his first transformation at five hundred years old. Back then, he had broken countless trees from banging against them in pain, and the blood he had shed had dyed the entire mountain top red. At that time, he had thought he wouldn’t be able to hold on, but he still got through it. He had no spiritual pond, no spiritual medicine, and no clanmates to help channel spiritual qi into his body, yet he had survived.

His second transformation was even more painful than his first. He had been 1200 years old then, and the blood that flowed out of him had turned an entire river red.

But so what if he survived? No one looked forward to his survival, nor did anyone care whether he survived or not…

Zhuang Qing’s consciousness was already blurring. He had even forgotten what date it was. There was only pain in his mind, endless pain.

A voice in his heart questioned what he was persevering for. Even if he just barely survived, he would merely continue his days of being hunted by evil yao. All of them wanted to devour his meat, drink his blood, and pluck out his bones. Who would look forward to his success?

“Zhuang little dragon?” Realizing that Zhuang Qing’s howls were gradually weakening, he inwardly exclaimed ‘no good’. Since young, Zhuang Qing had never been nourished in the dragon race’s orthodox ways. Although his cultivation base was higher than the other dragons, hidden scars had long been left on his body from being bullied by other dragons during his childhood and constantly suffering injuries in the human world. Now that he had suddenly entered his transformation, his body might not be able to hold on.

This dragon…

Fu Li hated smooth, slippery creatures. Regardless of whether or not they were dragon or snake, he hated them all. But this golden dragon was different. He might be smooth and slippery, but he wasn’t hateful whatsoever.

He didn’t want him to die. He wanted his transformation to succeed, and for him to grow sparkling golden dragon scales and majestic dragon horns. Then, those dragons who bullied him would feel inferior in his presence, never raising their heads all their lives.

Fu Li opened his golden pupils. Lowering his head, he pressed his forehead against the center of the golden dragon’s forehead.

Red and golden light instantly melded together.