Chapter 38
Chapter 38: What Did You Put in the Water
Shao Heng couldn’t help the awe that rose in her chest.
Heaven and earth’s masterpiece.
Then her awe turned to ice.
That beam of clear light condensed with terrifying speed, sharpening into a hazy green sword-light that chopped down at the True Dragon.
Dragon roars shook the world—anger and shock crashing together, hammering at the ears like blows against the soul.
Moonlight surged within Shao Heng’s Niwan, barely letting her endure. Li Chao Ge, beside her, couldn’t take it. Her body went slack.
Shao Heng forced herself to move.
She dragged Li Chao Ge into the densest cover she could find, tucked her into the shadows, then cast a protective spell over her before lifting her gaze back to the sky.
This wasn’t the back-and-forth Shao Heng had imagined.
The white True Dragon fought with everything it had. Countless streams of radiant light erupted from its body, twisting into dragon-shaped strikes that tore through the clouds—manifestations of Dragon Clan demon arts, each one fierce enough to pulverize a low-realm cultivator.
But the green sword-light didn’t slow at all.
It shredded every dragon-shaped glow in its path like paper.
In the end, the white True Dragon took the blow head-on.
Scales exploded outward. Blood fell like rain. The wound tore deep enough to show bone, and the dragon’s aura visibly weakened, its brilliance dimming.
Shao Heng’s blood surged hot and fast.
Even a heaven-blessed True Dragon—an ancient heavenly demon—could be cut down like this?
She flicked one look at Li Chao Ge. Still unconscious. Still breathing.
Good.
Shao Heng swallowed the fear that threatened to lock her limbs and made a decision so quickly it felt like instinct.
She headed toward the battlefield.
Her Yellow Sprout trembled. Mana surged through her body, lightening her steps. She used a movement technique and slipped across the forest, fast as a shadow, until she reached a place where the rain of blood was thickest.
Excitement lit her face despite herself.
She formed a spell and cast Wind-Blowing Technique. Air currents gathered the crimson drops falling from the sky, drawing them toward her as if the wind itself obeyed her command.
True Dragon pressure was terrifying. Without moonlight suppressing it in her Niwan, she would have been knocked out long ago. Even a Second Realm Mystic Passage Realm cultivator might not have been able to endure that roar unscathed.
And the True Dragon’s realm was deep. The cultivator wielding that sword-light was deeper still.
In a battle like this, anyone capable of staying awake under the dragon-roar pressure probably wouldn’t dare approach. Anyone too close would be treated as a lurking scavenger and removed first.
But she was different.
She was only First Realm, Qi Induction Realm—tiny, insignificant.
To the True Dragon and to the sword wielder, she was an ant. No threat worth noticing.
So as she gathered dragon blood with her spell, no one spared her a glance.
When the red rain finally thinned, she had collected seven and a half porcelain bottles.
It wasn’t refined blood essence—only ordinary blood. But coming from a True Dragon of that level, it was still priceless, worth hundreds or thousands of times more than Companion Dragon Grass.
Shao Heng sealed each bottle with a spell and stored them carefully.
In the sky, the white True Dragon still tangled with a streak of blue-green shadow, the battlefield slowly shifting farther away.
If she followed, she might find other rare materials shed from the wounded body—scales, fragments, traces of divine marrow—
But the risk was too high.
Shao Heng wasn’t the only one with greedy eyes. As the battle moved, other cultivators would inevitably rush in to sweep the earlier battlefield clean. Even if she drove Three-Thousand-Li Moon to its limit, she couldn’t match their speed. If she ran into another cultivator while scavenging, she’d die for it.
So she withdrew.
Using moonlight to steady her spirit, she slipped back through the forest to where she’d hidden Li Chao Ge.
The girl still hadn’t woken.
If Li Chao Ge died, Qinghe Madam Li would not let it go. And if Shao Heng abandoned her and Li Chao Ge survived, then once they returned to the sect, Shao Heng’s name would rot in everyone’s mouth.
Shao Heng didn’t care what others thought—but there was no reason to trade today’s trouble for a bigger one later.
She exhaled once.
She really couldn’t leave her.
To keep Li Chao Ge from waking at the worst possible moment, Shao Heng cast a sleep spell and slung her over her shoulder.
Then she hesitated.
Now that a True Dragon had appeared, any cultivator strong enough to remain conscious under its roar would have their eyes fixed on the main target—the white True Dragon itself.
The third marked location was a place where the True Dragon had left traces. Going there now might actually be safer, not more dangerous.
Low-realm cultivators would be unconscious, scattered like fallen leaves. And anyone capable of staying awake would be chasing the dragon, not digging through bushes for Second Grade herbs.
Shao Heng pried open Li Chao Ge’s tightly clenched hand, took the parchment map, confirmed the direction, and moved.
Carrying a person slowed her. It made it harder to use evasive techniques. But after pushing through the forest for what felt like far too long, she finally reached the marked location.
She scanned the area carefully. No one.
Only then did she begin searching in earnest.
She found it quickly: a patch thick with lingering demonic aura. Five stalks of Companion Dragon Grass grew there, swaying like small flames in the wind.
Shao Heng collected them all in one clean sweep, then lifted the sleep spell from Li Chao Ge.
With a flick of her hand, she condensed a ball of water and splashed it onto the girl’s face.
Li Chao Ge jerked, choking. “Cough—cough!”
She coughed twice, sputtering awake.
The dragon roar had rattled her spirit. Even with a Nourishing Spirit Pill, her face remained pale, her movements sluggish.
She shifted into a more comfortable position on the ground and, in a weak, strained voice, asked, “Y-you… what did you put in the water?”
She still had the energy to joke.
Shao Heng’s mouth curved, mischief flashing sharp and quick. She leaned down slightly.
“Phlegm.”
“Ah!”
Li Chao Ge squeezed her eyes shut as if she’d been truly terrified. After a beat, she cracked them open and glared resentfully.
“That damn True Dragon. It didn’t roar early or late—it had to roar right when I was looking for Companion Dragon Grass, and it knocked me out.”
Her gaze flicked to the five empty holes in the ground. She didn’t need Shao Heng to explain what had happened.
As the medicine continued to work, Li Chao Ge regained some color. She sat up cross-legged and looked solemnly at Shao Heng.
“Thank you for not abandoning me, Junior Sister Shao Heng.”
Shao Heng waved it off with words instead of softness. “I dragged you here and searched around. I didn’t see any hatch site, only Companion Dragon Grass. Spirit Dragon Liquid is probably a lost cause.”
“Not necessarily.”
Li Chao Ge’s eyes flashed. She reached into her storage bangle and pulled out a bronze compass, lifting it with obvious pride.
“No matter how strong a True Dragon is, a hatchling is fragile when it breaks the shell. That’s why the Dragon Clan has concealment techniques to hide traces.”
She tapped the compass lightly. “It didn’t react at the first location, so I didn’t mention it. But here—my Dharma-Seeking Compass detected fluctuations from that concealment technique.”
On the compass face, a needle that looked forged from black iron flashed white and snapped toward a direction.
Li Chao Ge flicked her sleeve and threw a black spike into the air.
A sharp crack rang out, like a mirror shattering.
Shao Heng’s eyes narrowed.
The cultivation world really did have endless strange methods.
She had searched this area herself and found nothing.
Now, in the place the compass indicated, shattered blue eggshells lay scattered across the ground—huge pieces, both sides covered in ancient patterns.
Li Chao Ge stood, delight breaking through her fatigue. “Junior Sister Shao Heng, our luck really is good. We finally turned the corner.”
She stepped forward—
And a burst of wild wind slammed into her.
Li Chao Ge’s body lifted off the ground and flew sideways, ripped away like a leaf in a storm.