Chapter 332

Chapter 332: The Ran of Burning, Bai Ran
As soon as the news was announced, it caused an uproar in the Five Elements Dao Sect.

The disciples all talked at once.

Some suspected that Master Qing Yan had done it on purpose to protect Su Ming and Quan Ye, pushing all the blame onto Ye Cong Xin.

Others believed with firm faith that the sect would never shelter an evildoer, and would never give false testimony for a disciple with poor character.

But whether they believed it or not, one thing was certain.

Master Qing Yan was not as perfect and flawless as everyone had imagined.

If Ye Cong Xin’s identity really was different, then as a Master he had not noticed anything at all.

And if the matter was false, then he had failed his duty as a Master. He had not disciplined his disciples well, and had allowed disciples of his own peak to slaughter each other.

In short, no matter how things had turned out like this, he could not wash his hands of it.

From that day on, Master Qing Yan fell off his pedestal.

When the disciples of the Five Elements Dao Sect mentioned him, they no longer felt only worship and respect. Along with that, they also started to keep a respectful distance from the disciples of Lone Moon Peak.

After all, who knew if those people would suddenly go crazy and hurt others? It was better to stay far away.

Fang Cheng Lang and Cui Jue almost never left Lone Moon Peak, so they did not feel the change in attitude from their fellow disciples.

But Su Ming could not sit still.

After he was avoided by his fellow disciples once again, he felt very wronged. Yet when he returned to Lone Moon Peak, he did not even know who he could complain to.

First Senior Brother and Fourth Brother kept their doors shut and saw no one. Second Senior Brother still hated him for killing Ye Cong Xin and would not even look him in the eye.

As for Fifth Brother, Su Ming did not even think about going to him.

Quan Ye’s stubborn brain would never understand him. He might even turn around and mock him instead.

In such a large sect, Su Ming could not find a single person he could talk to from the heart.

His eyes grew hot, and without knowing it he walked to the place where Yu Zhao used to live.

He looked at the empty cave dwelling and could not help whispering: “Yu Xiao Zhao, where are you? I miss you…”

…

“Senior Sister Yu, why did you stop?”

Ji Han Zhou caught up to Yu Zhao, who had suddenly stopped walking, and asked curiously.

Yu Zhao’s expression looked strange.

She reached out her left hand and felt inside her right sleeve.

Then, under the curious gazes of Ji Han Zhou and Bu Yan, she pulled out a palm-sized little snake from her sleeve.

White scales covered its thin body tightly. Its small, blood-red eyes shone with a strange light.

It hung upside down in the air, flicked out a bright red tongue, then curled its body and wrapped around Yu Zhao’s wrist. The cold scales brought a chill to her skin.

“Eh, where did this little snake come from?”

Ji Han Zhou looked at the jade-like white little snake. His hands itched. As he asked the question, he reached out a hand toward it.

The little snake was very alert. It instantly dodged, slipping down to hide under Yu Zhao’s forearm.

Ji Han Zhou had to pull his hand back and kept staring at it with curiosity.

Yu Zhao also felt it was strange.

When she first noticed it, the snake was already curled up inside her sleeve.

She did not even know when it had come in, or how long it had stayed there.

But she could sense that the little snake had no ill will toward her. In fact, it held a strange closeness to her.

So she did not reject its approach. She was only curious about where it came from.

Bu Yan rolled a prayer bead between his fingers and smiled: “It is fated with you.”

Bu Yan’s Vow of Silence Meditation had already reached a new stage.

The prayer beads in his hand totaled eighteen beads. That meant he could say at most eighteen sentences a day. If he said even one sentence more, his Vow of Silence Meditation would be broken and he would have to start over from the beginning.

Only after holding on for three years would the second stage of the Vow of Silence Meditation be considered complete.

On the very first day they met, Bu Yan had already broken it once, so now he almost never spoke. When he did speak, his words were always short and to the point.

Seeing the little snake, Yu Zhao also felt happy. She asked softly: “Will you come with me?”

“Hiss hiss.”

The little snake flicked its tongue twice, then even nodded its small, triangular head.

Yu Zhao could actually see a childlike fondness on its scaly little face.

She could not help laughing.

“Then from today on you will follow me. Hmm, I should give you a name.”

“It is so small and white. Why not call it Little Bai?”

Yu Zhao and Bu Yan both turned to look at Ji Han Zhou with the same disgusted look.

Ji Han Zhou frowned: “That name sounds bad? Then Big Bai? Little Snow? Big Snow?”

Bu Yan rolled another prayer bead and said: “Junior Brother Ji, has no one ever told you that you are very bad at naming things?”

Ji Han Zhou flushed with anger and shame. In his heart he thought that eighteen prayer beads were still too many.

As Yu Zhao thought, she suddenly remembered the White Peacock Clan on Spirit Mountain and got an idea: “You will be called Bai Ran.”

“Which ran?”

Yu Zhao first wanted to say it was the ran from ‘boa constrictor’ in Chinese, but felt it was not right. She looked again at the snake’s eyes, bright like flames, and changed her answer: “The ran from burning, Bai Ran.”

“Bai Ran? It sounds pretty good.”

Ji Han Zhou nodded again and again to show his agreement.

The little snake did not reject its new name either. It officially accepted the name Bai Ran.

Since she had given Bai Ran a name, Yu Zhao felt she now had the duty to take care of it. She took out some meat from her storage pouch to feed it.

But Bai Ran did not look interested at all.

Yu Zhao did not know what it liked, so she simply took out a pile of things and let it choose for itself.

Bai Ran let out a hiss. In the next moment, it suddenly appeared beside a mid-grade spirit stone and took a bite.

A small pit showed at once on the hard surface of the spirit stone.

Crack, crack, crack…

With quick, crunching sounds, Bai Ran ate the entire mid-grade spirit stone.

It still was not satisfied and flicked its tongue again.

Yu Zhao tried feeding it a few more spirit stones.

It accepted everything and did not refuse any of them.

It ate until its little belly bulged slightly. Only then did it sway and slither back to Yu Zhao’s side. Looking very pleased, it licked Yu Zhao once, then curled around her wrist and fell into a deep sleep.

Bu Yan gave Yu Zhao a meaningful look.

This was not a little snake at all. It was clearly a Gold Devouring Beast.

Yu Zhao completely agreed.

But when she thought of her own wealth, she felt confident again.

The more Bai Ran ate, the stronger it would become.

Once it grew up in the future, it would surely be a powerful helper.

She no longer worried, and called the two of them to keep moving.

Far away on Spirit Mountain, things were in chaos.

“You still have not found it? How were you even watching it? A Bixi Dragon-Tortoise that big and you still managed to lose it! What use are you people!”

Bai Ling’s furious roar almost tore the roof off.

The grand celebration Spirit Mountain had held for the Bixi Dragon-Tortoise had only just ended, and now the Bixi Dragon-Tortoise had gone missing.

If word spread, the White Peacock Clan of Spirit Mountain would become the laughingstock of all the Demon Race.

Even more important, the Bixi Dragon-Tortoise carried the hope for the rise of the Demon Race on its back.

If it met with an accident, the future of the Demon Race would turn bleak.

This was the hope Bai Ling had waited for most of his life. Now that it had finally appeared, it vanished in a single day. How could he accept that?

Bai Mei’s eyes were red. She lowered her head. Her self-blame almost drowned her.

Because the Bixi Dragon-Tortoise had disappeared under her watch.

The chieftain had given her the duty of taking care of the Bixi Dragon-Tortoise because he valued her. Yet she had ruined the task.

Bai Mei could not forgive herself. She could not even face the chieftain and their clansmen.

“Chieftain, I will definitely bring the Bixi Dragon-Tortoise back. If I cannot find it, I will pay with my life!”

“What do I want with your life? I want the Bixi Dragon-Tortoise! The Bixi Dragon-Tortoise!”