If this crazy idea had come to her before, Shu Tiantian probably would not even have dared think about it—because she had been poor. But after eighteen years of struggling to get paid, and then suddenly becoming rich overnight!

Coincidentally, these were the very spirit stones that Dao Xuzi—who was currently working tirelessly setting up Spirit-Gathering Formations—had personally agreed to give her. He probably could never have imagined that all the spiritual energy he spent an entire day sweeping away might not even compare to the purity of the spirit stone mountain Shu the Tycoon could summon with a casual wave of her hand.

Shu Tiantian did a simple calculation. With the amount of spirit stones she had, she could fully support her dragon in growing big, shrinking small, becoming beautiful… a full nine hundred times!

At the moment she thought of this brilliant idea—so long as you have enough spirit stones, you can even steal a dragon—this thought engraved itself deeply into the little rich woman’s mind, influencing her gradually forming worldview.

Making money would completely become, beyond her dao heart, her second guiding principle in life. A money-obsessed light of medical cultivation was slowly rising.

When the little rich woman watched helplessly as that small mountain of spirit stones was drained until transparent, eagerly waiting for a dramatic transformation into a living dragon—who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, the giant dragon opposite her simply vanished.

Shu Tiantian panicked—

Where was the dragon? Her enormous dragon—where did it go?

The next second, atop the pile of spirit stones, a little black dragon slowly crawled up.

When he had been a colossal creature, he had looked extremely fierce and terrifying.

But now… the little black dragon had exquisite, compact yet imposing dragon horns, flowing whiskers, smooth black scales shimmering with light, faint scars still visible upon them. The gigantic ferocious beast had shrunk hundreds of times over. Only those crimson-gold dragon pupils still carried a savage imprint like an ancient totem.

But in Shu Tiantian’s eyes, the little black dragon was just that pitiful little thing who once tangled himself up hanging from a tree.

The pitiful little thing rubbed her with his damaged dragon horn, flicked his tail, and pushed the remaining spirit stones toward Shu Tiantian, sensibly indicating that he had enough.

Shu Tiantian’s heart shattered. She only wanted to keep pulling spirit stones out of her storage pouch and give them all to the pitiful little thing! As many as he wanted! She had plenty of money!

The Dragon-Bone Sword was not only greedy for spirit stones, it was also greedy for pill mist. It wanted to come rub against the little medical cultivator too—but the moment it drew close, a sharp gust of force from the Dragon God slammed it straight into the ground.

The Dragon-Bone Sword spat dirt outward: “Poor little thing…”

Ah, bah!

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

Facts proved that not every diviner was as outrageously lazy as Elder Bu Nanxing. There were still those who upheld the truth with persistence—for example, the Sect Master of the Divination Sect, who spent three hundred days a year steadfastly getting beaten.

When night fell and a crescent moon rose, after finishing the Spirit-Gathering Formations, the Eight Great Sects finally completed their final preparations.

At this time, precisely because of the Divination Sect Master’s persistence, the envoy from the upper realm brought the Heaven-Observing Mirror. The elders of the Eight Great Sects gathered once more, intending to collectively mock that bunch of charlatans from the Divination Sect.

Sect Master Dao Xuzi dismissed the Divination Sect Master’s groundless worries with disdain. However, thinking that the Sword Saint would arrive tomorrow, and that he could use the Heaven-Observing Mirror to inform the Sword Saint of the dragon’s condition as a gesture of goodwill, he was naturally willing to do so.

When the envoy from the upper realm opened the Heaven-Observing Mirror, breaking through the dragon’s barrier to peer into the Scarlet Flame Flower Fields, everyone’s mood was still very relaxed. They were even chatting and joking with one another.

Dao Xuzi’s prestige was now extremely high, and he could not help but boast about Lord Sword Saint to the elders of the Tianji Sect beside him.

“The Sword Saint Martial Grand-Uncle is the junior brother of our Tianji Sect’s founding ancestor. Back then, although the ancestor died, it was with honor. Martial Grand-Uncle then swore to avenge his senior brother.”

As the Heaven-Observing Mirror opened, Dao Xuzi’s voice resounded through the council hall.

“Martial Grand-Uncle devoted himself to revenge and abandoned all other sword techniques, focusing solely on cultivating the God-Slaying Sword. He has now trained the God-Slaying Sword to perfection, surpassing our ancestor by two entire realms.”

“It is only a pity that a formation like the God-Slaying Formation, which gathers the power of heaven and earth, has already been lost…”

Dao Xuzi suddenly felt that it was somewhat quiet around him. Slightly puzzled, he heard an elder beside him ask in a trembling voice, “The God-Slaying Formation has already been lost, so the one in the flower fields is the last one, right?”

Wasn’t that obvious?

“The God-Slaying Sword can only exert its greatest power within the God-Slaying Formation, correct?”

That was another sect master, his voice wavering.

“Of course. Do you think slaying a god is so easy? Only wounds inflicted by the power of heaven and earth can cause a god to fall.” Dao Xuzi sneered at their ignorance.

“Then… if that calamitous dragon is not inside the formation, wouldn’t the God-Slaying Sword also be unable to do anything to him?”

Someone swallowed nervously.

Dao Xuzi let out a cold laugh.

“That calamitous dragon was pierced clean through back then. With injuries this severe, how could it possibly leave? Do you think Nüwa has returned to the world and could patch up that great hole in the dragon?”

His cold laughter had just faded when he finally turned his head to see who was being so tactless. His gaze accidentally fell upon the Heaven-Observing Mirror, and in an instant his pupils trembled violently.

His earlier remark about Nüwa repairing the dragon still echoed in his ears, and then he discovered in horror—

Nüwa had truly patched up the dragon.

Otherwise, why was the Scarlet Flame Flower Field within a hundred-li radius in the Heaven-Observing Mirror, stretching endlessly, completely empty?

If it was not that Nüwa had returned to mend the dragon, what else could explain the dragon’s disappearance?

Where was the dragon? That enormous dragon—where had it gone?

Dao Xuzi shuddered, his scalp tingling. The others present were not much different.

Everyone in the council hall looked toward the envoy from the upper realm who had brought the Heaven-Observing Mirror. Though no one spoke, the meaning was clear: the mirror must be fake, right?

The envoy from the upper realm silently shook his head.

In an instant, the council hall fell so silent a falling needle could be heard. They still felt as if they were dreaming.

Clearly, once the thousand-year calamity arrived, they could kill that dragon and eliminate all future trouble forever—but… where was the dragon?

Leaving aside the enormous manpower and resources they had invested—

Under their watch, the calamitous dragon had vanished right before everyone’s eyes. How were they supposed to explain this to the people of the upper realm?

The Sword Saint was already on the way. His sword had been sharpened, his cultivation honed for a thousand years. He was coming in high spirits to slay the dragon—only for them to awkwardly inform him that the dragon had been lost, and ask him to come another day?

Of course, none of that was even the most terrifying part. That dragon held grudges, was petty, bloodthirsty, and utterly mad. Once the thousand-year calamity passed…

Hiss.

No—perhaps they would not even need to wait.

Because without the burden of a physical body, even just a divine soul alone was already terrifyingly powerful.

Everyone was doubting their very existence. After a brief silence, the council hall instantly descended into chaos.

They paced back and forth anxiously and fearfully, searching for countermeasures. Their complaints and blame grew louder and louder. Led by the Divination Sect Master, people began loudly accusing Dao Xuzi. For a time, the Tianji Sect once again became the target of public criticism, and Dao Xuzi was glared at angrily from all sides.

If he had not ignored the Divination Sect elders’ warnings, would that Nüwa who came from who-knows-where to mend the heavens have been able to help the calamitous dragon escape?!

And even more baffling—if there truly existed someone in this world capable of healing wounds inflicted by the power of heaven and earth, would that not be another god? If not for divine assistance, how could the calamitous dragon possibly have left with such severe injuries?

Dao Xuzi collapsed into his seat. Listening to the overlapping accusations, a familiar small face suddenly surfaced in his mind, and his heart jolted.

Impossible. No matter how extraordinarily gifted she was, she was still only a mere medical cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage.

Wait. Dao Xuzi suddenly remembered those golden core tribulation clouds. 

Dao Xuzi: …..

Fine—even if she was at the golden core stage, so what? Hadn’t the people of the Pill Sect already said it—only a god could heal severe injuries inflicted by the power of heaven and earth.

Dao Xuzi suddenly thought of another person once called a god—the Medicine God. If it were the Medicine God, he would indeed have that ability. But he had been missing for twenty years…

Right—he did have an eighteen-year-old daughter. But the Medicine God’s daughter was clearly Ling Ruoshui, after all she looked just like…

Dao Xuzi suddenly gripped the table, his fingers trembling violently.

He realized things were starting to go terribly wrong.

No, no, no—even if the calamitous dragon wanted to leave that flower field, it would need to mobilize spiritual energy. They had clearly drained all the spiritual energy from Void Abyss! Where could the dragon possibly get any spiritual energy to use?!

Suddenly struck by inspiration, Dao Xuzi remembered the twelve million spirit stones his Tianji Sect had scraped together—selling off everything of value, living frugally, even nearly emptying his own burial savings to make up the amount!

That twelve million had been gathered by selling countless secondhand goods throughout the sect, bringing shame upon the Tianji Sect, forcing them to humble themselves and swallow their pride. If converted into spiritual energy supply… forget making the dragon shrink—this much energy, even if it sprouted legs, could carry the dragon running a thousand li.

Dao Xuzi’s heart stopped.

Darkness filled Dao Xuzi’s vision.

Grabbing the table, Dao Xuzi wanted to roar in agony, “Shu Tiantian”!

But his throat only produced a series of choking sounds. No matter how many times he tried, he could not force those words out. His eyes bulged, and only then did he remember why he could not say her name—

Of course it was because of Ji Wushu’s divine sense!

As long as he wished it, Dao Xuzi could not even utter the syllable “Shu”!

Blood surged upward in Dao Xuzi’s chest. He spat out a mouthful of old blood, barely supporting himself from fainting. Roaring in fury, he issued his final command, “Seal—seal off Void Abyss, find them for me!! Even if you have to dig three chi¹Chi (尺) — A traditional Chinese unit of length. In cultivation or historical settings, it is usually used loosely to mean a short distance. Historically, one chi was roughly 30–33 centimeters (about 1 foot), though the exact length varied by dynasty. into the ground, you must find, find, find, find…!”

He searched for a long while, yet still failed to say what exactly they were to find.

Before losing consciousness, Dao Xuzi instinctively tried to appoint someone to take his place. The other elders either lacked sufficient cultivation or were unfamiliar with Martial Grand-Uncle Sword Saint. Subconsciously, he thought of Chixiao…

But he quickly realized that Chixiao had gone into seclusion under the pretext of emotional injury. And who could have wounded him emotionally? Naturally, it was still—

The new-era Little Nüwa, Shu Tiantian.

Dao Xuzi’s eyes rolled back, his legs kicked once, black blood spilling from his mouth, and he fainted.

Because he had ultimately failed to make clear what exactly they were to search for, everyone defaulted to searching for the calamitous dragon’s true body. Indeed, that was already the only possible way to salvage the situation.

Thus, the three city gates of Void Abyss, long since under control, were tightly shut. Countless cultivators poured out in full force, launching a carpet-style search!

Footnotes

• 1
  Chi (尺) — A traditional Chinese unit of length. In cultivation or historical settings, it is usually used loosely to mean a short distance. Historically, one chi was roughly 30–33 centimeters (about 1 foot), though the exact length varied by dynasty.