Shu Tiantian did not recognize what this pearl was, and after confirming with the black dragon that it was for her, she thought about how people always said “dragon plays with pearl,” and assumed that a divine beast like a dragon should naturally like pearls.

She only thought it was something the black dragon had brought back from somewhere to give her. It was just that at first glance she noticed that on the Soul-Stabilizing Pearl… there were bloodstains, but before she could look closely, the moment she touched it, the pearl turned into a streak of white light and merged into her body.

The somewhat detached hun instantly returned to its place. The lingering muddled daze that had haunted Shu Tiantian since she woke up instantly vanished, and her mind became clear.

Standing in the great hall and observing all this with divine sense, the long-haired youth wore a cloak. Although it was still difficult to discern any expression from that exceedingly beautiful face, his golden pupils revealed a trace of softness that flickered like a passing shadow.

Steal him away?

Only, that trace of softness, after seeing the phantom image of the Nine Yin Profound Baleful Energy Formation fading in the sky, also quickly faded.

The Dragon Bone Sword also remained at a distance beside its master, and in this thousand-year empty great hall, together they fell into deathly silence.

The more powerful the exotic beast, the more enormous its true form, and the more spiritual power it required to move—let alone in this state of lingering on with its last breath.

Ji Wushu’s original dragon core was gone, his meridians severed, and the most serious injury was the piercing wound through his abdomen—formed by a blade condensed from the qi of heaven and earth that had penetrated the dragon’s body. As a result, that broken body was like a sack leaking wind. Not to mention gathering spiritual qi—after a thousand years had passed, even moving slightly was heart-rending pain.

His true body could not even walk out of this field of Scarlet Flame Flowers, so how could he speak of leaving ahead of the thousand-year calamity?

Even knowing that countless would come for the Ten Thousand Sects Assembly, even knowing that this thousand-year calamity would once again be a desperate battle… in truth, this dragon and this sword had never had much room to choose.

But the Dragon Bone Sword knew that even so, just like the last thousand years, and the thousand years before that, its master would still kill gods if gods came, kill Buddhas if Buddhas came. No matter how many of them arrived, this place would become their burial ground.

Even if an extremely heavy price had to be paid, and even the Dragon Bone Sword was not certain—whether that price would be life itself.

But what was different from the last thousand years was…

Both it and Ji Wushu’s gaze turned toward the figure below.

She of course could not steal away the sinful dragon. But the Dragon Bone Sword thought that its master, having heard her plan, was actually very happy, wasn’t he? Only, when something is so close before one’s eyes yet like flowers in a mirror and the moon in water, utterly untouchable, that feeling itself is more painful than being in the Infernal Hell.

From afar it watched its master’s back, and on the always willful and unruly sinful dragon, it actually saw a trace of boundless loneliness and desolation.

It drifted closer, wanting very sorrowfully to comfort its master, and then heard that boundlessly desolate back, gazing at the waning moon on the horizon, murmur, “Am I really that old?”

The long-haired youth drew his cloak closer.

Sigh, three thousand years old, still a very young dragon.

Dragon Bone Sword: …?

No, facing a life-and-death great calamity, this is your realization?

Its dog-like master casually glanced at it, signaling it to stay farther away. It had just dug up the grave of the Tianji Sect’s Ancestor and hadn’t even washed—inauspicious.

The Dragon Bone Sword that had come to comfort him: …..

With a wail it was angered to tears.

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

With the protection of the Soul-Stabilizing Pearl, Shu Tiantian’s spiritual platform became clear at once. Only then did she belatedly realize how wrong her previous state had been, and that this pearl was no ordinary item.

The first thing she noticed was the new wound on the dragon claw—it must have been to find that pearl for her, right?

Shu Tiantian was moved. She hugged the dragon horn and rubbed against it with soft whimpers, rubbing until the dragon narrowed its golden eyes.

She kept muttering at it to follow the doctor’s orders, and next time not to run around and injure itself again.

The black dragon narrowed his eyes and listened absentmindedly. In fact, her concern was very pleasing to him. Clearly a ferocious, extremely vicious beast, at this moment he lazily leaned closer to her, and, taking advantage inch by inch, loosely circled her waist with his tail.

Shu Tiantian was somewhat worried about his condition. She rummaged through her little medicine box, and briskly bandaged his new wound, and then changed his Jingsha Pill once again.

Her Jingsha Pill had already greatly dispelled the lingering baleful qi on the wound that had refused to dissipate for a long time. The wound also no longer worsened, and gradually showed a tendency to heal, but the healing speed was still extremely slow.

She had long expected this, and was not anxious. She just remembered that it seemed the black dragon had never shown her the abdomen beneath the dragon claws, where hard dragon scales could not cover.

Shu Tiantian then wanted to coax this dragon to turn over so she could examine him, but this time the giant dragon ignored her. He also refused to let her see his abdomen. No matter how Shu Tiantian praised him with rainbow farts about how handsome he was, he did not move at all. The whole dragon covered himself tightly, and even began to close his eyes and feign sleep.

Since he would not let her see, Shu Tiantian tried to secretly reach her hand over, wanting to touch and see, but almost at the moment she touched the edge of the scales, the giant dragon’s body stiffened, and almost reflexively shrank back.

Shu Tiantian was afraid he would hurt, so she immediately stopped.

The dragon that had been feigning sleep opened his eyes, loosened the tail circling her, and his dragon tail covered the wound tightly. He even narrowed those dragon pupils, becoming extremely dangerous vertical pupils.

If it were someone else, under the threat of these vertical pupils of the Dragon God, they would certainly be so frightened their soul would fly away.

But Shu Tiantian did not notice his reaction. Almost in a flash of lightning, she recalled the first time she stood high above and looked down at this dragon—there had been a penetrating wound that spanned the dragon’s abdomen, like an invisible giant sword, nailing the dragon dead in the center of the great formation.

After that time, she had never seen that penetrating wound again. Of course it could not have disappeared, but had been hidden.

She had thought the dragon’s internal injuries were already severe enough, but had not expected there to be such a serious external wound as well. This penetrating wound had not healed for many years. Compared with it, those wounds on the dragon’s body that had been torn open by baleful qi could only be considered child’s play.

Because this wound had never healed for a thousand years, he could only use sleep to resist the pain, and use this state to maintain life. Just like many living creatures, who will choose to sleep when in a critical state.

The dragon followed her line of sight toward that bit of ferocious trace that was exposed, and the vertical pupils paused. The pain of being nailed down by the power of heaven and earth had not dissipated for a thousand years, and still retained the memory of the limbs. When her gaze touched it, it would again burningly ache.

Even if, as time flowed, the power of heaven and earth had already dissipated, his body had already lost the ability to heal itself.

So she should have guessed it—so-called leaving this place… he would have to exhaust that tiny bit of spiritual qi accumulated for a thousand years in this body, just to walk to the edge of the flower field.

The seemingly ferocious ancient Dragon God was now nothing more than a dying trapped beast nailed to this place, that could only use sleep to cover it up.

Even if Shu Tiantian had never come into contact with exotic beasts, she also knew that in such a situation, not to mention moving—touching it would probably be heart-rending pain.

In such a situation, if she wanted to secretly take the giant dragon away, it could only be that the dragon shrank, to avoid moving, and then she tucked him away. But if his body was pierced through, and his meridians were shattered, it was completely impossible to gather enough spiritual power to shrink himself too small.

His smallest state right now was still two stories tall. If he could not leave this place without a trace, then once outside without the protection of the Scarlet Flame Flower Field, it might be even worse.

But, then was she to leave him here to face the extermination of the cultivation world? Shu Tiantian knew very clearly the scale of this Ten Thousand Sects Assembly. It was countless cultivators. If he stayed here, it would be watching him go to his death with her own eyes.

No, she still had to steal. Otherwise she swore she would regret it for the rest of her life. In the future, day and night, she would think of it—there had once been such a huge dragon before her, and she had not stolen him successfully…

It was not until she was nudged by the dragon horn that Shu Tiantian came back to her senses.

In order to respond to the thousand-year calamity, the giant dragon had to fall into sleep to accumulate a bit of strength. So after Shu Tiantian came back to her senses, she touched his incomplete horn, and the ferocious beast slowly closed his golden eyes.

Actually he should change to another place, but he circled the little medical cultivator, and did not want to move.

The little medical cultivator was in the middle of a brainstorm about her dragon-stealing grand plan. Only being able to quickly patch up the gap of this penetrating wound in a short time was the foundation of this plan.

She currently did not have this ability, then what about the Medicine God?

Shu Tiantian was the owner of the Medicine God Bell. She could clearly feel that the advancement of the Medicine God Bell was tied together with Withered Wood Meets Spring, and these two probably had some hidden connection.

When Shu Tiantian entered again, there was an extra little wooden house in the Medicine God Bell. As usual there were two big bookshelves, only there was an additional beautiful pool, and above the pool there was properly placed a pale-yellow little fluffball in shape, floating in midair.

Looking carefully, there were patterns of a medicine cauldron on the little fluffball. Shu Tiantian subconsciously thought of that pot she used to stew soup…

The name Medicine God Cauldron sounded imposing, yet it was only an ordinary medicine cauldron that could somewhat speed up alchemy. Its entire appearance was plain and unadorned, and its shape especially resembled a pot. Not only were its patterns unattractive, it was also especially dark and sooty-looking.

So at the time, Shu Tiantian had thought it was the kind of buy-one-get-one-free bonus that came with the Medicine God Bell. Using it to stew medicinal soup was very convenient. But since it actually had a vessel spirit, it was bound to be a treasure of at least the Earth rank.

Shu Tiantian recalled how poor she had once been, barely able to move, borrowing the Earth-rank medicine cauldron of Elder Bu Nanzhang. It was bright red, dazzlingly shiny, and huge. Comparing it with her own black pot, she could not help but feel envious.

Shu Tiantian poked the little fluffball. The little fluffball had no reaction at all. The surface of the sphere even seemed to have some cracks, and the fluff was sparse. It really looked shabby.

She remembered once hearing the teachings of Immortal Lord Chixiao: a damaged vessel spirit, as long as it stayed close to its master, would instinctively absorb the spiritual qi around the master to slowly nurture itself.

Even if the Medicine God Cauldron was black and broken, it was still her own pot. Shu Tiantian took down the little fluffball and pinned it onto her head.

After this small episode, Shu Tiantian forgot food and sleep, frantically flipping through books inside. Finally, the next morning, dizzy and seeing stars, she found a matching pill formula, called the Great Creation Pill.

The function of the Great Creation Pill was also very simple and direct—if the Withered Wood Meets Spring technique healed the dead, then the Great Creation Pill grew flesh over white bones.

It just so happened that the dragon’s greatest fatal problem was the penetrating wound in his abdomen. This wound that had not healed for a thousand years prevented him from accumulating even a trace of spiritual qi in his body. In fact, as long as there was just a thin layer of tissue covering it, he would be able to accumulate spiritual qi within his body. At that time, he could then compress his body…

And Shu Tiantian could tuck the dragon into her arms and take him away.

But the problem came—it was a Heaven-rank pill formula.