The Dragon

Gu Fuyou, still unconvinced, crossed her arms and asked skeptically, “Alright, let me ask you. Years ago, you used your own body to seal Zhuyan, preventing its escape. Now, with you no longer reinforcing the seal and Zhuyan’s strength growing, the formation, even if repaired, is vulnerable without your body to strengthen it. Zhuyan could easily break it again. So, we fix it and it breaks – how many times can we repeat this? Or are you expecting me to return to Ruizhu Palace and use my body as the seal once more?”

“There’s no need to worry about that,” Qing Jun reassured her with a smile.

Gu Fuyou sensed Qingcan was up to no good. Sure enough, Qing Jun suggested softly, “You have Yinhen, don’t you?”

Gu Fuyou’s face paled. Qing Jun pressed her palms together and held them beside her face, teasingly saying, “Oh dear, that truly is a treasure. My dear disciple. Even I, as your master, am impressed by your ingenious idea.”

Qing Jun continued calmly, “If we use it as the core of the formation, every time the formation suffers damage, it can heal itself. If Zhuyan breaks the formation, it can reset and redeploy, each time becoming more perfect and more potent.”

Qing Jun added, “This treasure is practically tailor-made for suppressing Zhuyan.”

Gu Fuyou pursed her lips and remained silent. Qing Jun glanced at her, and in that moment, there seemed to be an unspoken understanding between the two. Even without words, their thoughts resonated. Qing Jun said, “Trade a sword for the body of a Immortalization stage Azure Phoenix.”

Touching her face with a playful smile, Qing Jun remarked, “And a rather beautiful one at that.”

Gu Fuyou remained speechless.

Qing Jun mused, “This is a trade others would envy.”

Qing Jun concluded, “Objectively, using Yinhen as the focal point is an excellent choice. There’s nothing more suitable for suppressing Zhuyan. But you’ve imbued Yinhen with unique sentiments, making its value incalculable. It won’t be easy to part with it.”

Indeed, as Qing Jun had said, using Yinhen as the formation’s core would be an excellent choice. Objectively, it’s a beneficial trade. But Gu Fuyou has an emotional attachment to Yinhen, making it hard to determine its true worth.

Now that Yinhen had finally become sentient, it wasn’t easy for her to part with it.

Qing Jun tried to persuade her, “You can always forge another spiritual sword.”

Gu Fuyou gave her a cold look and finally spoke, “Let’s not talk about Yinhen for now. Is there any danger inside the mountain?”

“Of course, there’s danger,” Qing Jun replied with a smile, “but I believe you two can overcome it.”

“Heh…” Gu Fuyou said, “What if I say I won’t go?”

The previously raised corners of Qing Jun’s lips slowly fell. She looked at Gu Fuyou with an air of authority and dignity, fitting of the leader of the Azure Phoenix Clan, and said with utmost seriousness and sternness, “You wouldn’t want to wake up one day unprepared, only to find yourself in the middle of Zhuyan’s seal.”

Gu Fuyou sighed heavily with annoyance. If Qing Jun wished, she could still regain control of the body. There’s a possibility that she might take advantage of Gu Fuyou’s vulnerability, and head to Black Mountain. This put Gu Fuyou in a passive position.

And…

Qing Jun softly said, “Moreover, Little White Dragon is already aware of this matter. Do you think she’d just stand by and watch?”

“Uh…” Gu Fuyou’s mood flared at the mention of Zhong Michu, feeling a burning rage inside her.

“I thought you cared about her, but it turns out you’re using her too!” Gu Fuyou accused Qing Jun of manipulating Zhong Michu.

Qing Jun remained silent for a while, then replied with a soft smile, “The situation you both are in now is much better than what we had.”

“You!” Gu Fuyou suddenly sat up, ready to argue with Qing Jun that her relationship with Zhong Michu was different, but was blinded by a sudden light. When she opened her eyes, she was no longer in the dream realm, but in her own chamber.

After she had passed out, Zhong Michu had held her, letting Gu Fuyou rest in her embrace. As Gu Fuyou suddenly sat up, she found herself face to face with Zhong Michu, her hand gripping Zhong Michu’s robe.

Gu Fuyou gritted her teeth in frustration. Zhong Michu remained silent, understanding that Gu Fuyou had heard and seen Qing Jun in her dream. “Earlier, Qing Jun emerged, which is why you fainted.” Since Gu Fuyou already knew of Qing Jun’s existence, Zhong Michu no longer hid it from her. But judging by Gu Fuyou’s expression, she figured she had learned even more.

“I know. I heard the conversation you both had, and I’ve also seen her, in my dreams,” Gu Fuyou said, her voice filled with lingering anger. “That Qing Emperor, always scheming right from the start!”

Zhong Michu wasn’t aware of what Gu Fuyou and Qing Jun had discussed in the dream. “What happened, Ah Man? Something about Zhuyan?”

Gu Fuyou, still seething, got off the bed and poured herself a cup of tea, which she drank in one gulp. As she paced back and forth, too agitated to speak coherently, she gradually calmed down.

Then she shared, “When I left Black Mountain and went to the Misty Forest, Qing Man initially didn’t like me. She nearly killed me. But later, she changed completely. She not only handed me half of the Qimen but also offered me guidance and took good care of me. At the time, I thought her change in attitude was unexplained, but now I see it was all Qing Jun’s manipulation.”

“Ever since I took over her body, she could peek into my life and know my every thought. Giving me Qimen and having Qing Man help me get accustomed to this body, she had it all planned.”

Zhong Michu listened, sensing there was much more to the story than what Gu Fuyou was sharing. She asked, “What was her plan?”

Gu Fuyou sighed, “Her plan was to go into the belly of the mountain that seals Zhuyan. I have to admit, her meticulous planning is admirable.”

There was so much to tell about these matters, intertwined with past events, and not something that could be explained in just a few words. Every time Gu Fuyou thought about her connection with Qing Jun and the things she had seen, she couldn’t help but look directly at Zhong Michu.

Zhong Michu, noticing her gaze, asked, “Is there something on my face?”

Gu Fuyou drew her legs onto the couch and lunged forward into Zhong Michu’s arms, embracing her.

Zhong Michu gently laughed, her fingers playing with Gu Fuyou’s long hair. “What’s the matter?”

Gu Fuyou responded, “When Zhuyan was suppressed, the person leading the Dragon Clan was Di Yi, and he was Qing Jun’s beloved.”

Zhong Michu paused at this; she knew about Di Yi, as Qing Jun had mentioned him before.

“I saw it in her memories,” Gu Fuyou said, her tone somber. “The Divine Dragons used their bodies as chains to bind Zhuyan, and she led the Azure Phoenix Clan to set up the formation. She originally wanted to stay inside the mountain, but she couldn’t, as the other two formations outside needed her to be set up. Her clan members wouldn’t allow her to stay inside and took her out.”

Gu Fuyou spoke in a somber tone, “All the Divine Dragons were trapped in the seal, and this separation would last for ten thousand years.”

Just listening to Gu Fuyou’s description, Zhong Michu could imagine the severity of the battle back then. She sighed softly, “So close, yet so far.”

Once Gu Fuyou thought about how Qing Jun even included Zhong Michu in her calculations, she could not speak well of her.

She said, “Exactly. With Zhuyan’s power at the time, there was no need for Qing Jun to use her physical body to suppress the formation. She must have been filled with regret, so she set up her tomb on the mountain top, hoping to be closer to Di Yi. What’s the use? They were destined never to meet again in their lifetimes.”

Gu Fuyou bit her teeth, “So she turned her attention to me.”

Zhong Michu understood that since Qing Jun could know Gu Fuyou’s thoughts, she must have known about her plan for revenge.

The war in Nanzhou fueled Zhuyan’s power. Without Qing Jun’s physical body on top of the mountain to suppress the formation, Zhuyan was very likely to break the seal. But Qing Jun had anticipated this and never warned or advised against it.

Her hope was to let Zhuyan break a gap in the formation, allowing people to come and go.

Gu Fuyou continued, “She just waited for me to battle the Zuo Family, letting Zhuyan gain enough power to damage the formation, enabling passage in and out. Yet, she didn’t want me to fight the three sects, to prevent Zhuyan from gaining too much power and escaping entirely, which would be disastrous. And then, she just wanted me to go into the belly of the mountain, let her consciousness disperse where Di Yi rests, allowing their souls to reunite.”

“The remaining troublesome matters, this ‘disciple’ who received her inheritance will resolve them!” Gu Fuyou said, the sarcasm dripping from the word ‘disciple’.

“With the special technique I learned from her, I now possess the knowledge not only of how to repair her formation but also of refining a supreme divine weapon to suppress Zhuyan for her. This completes her love story, allowing her to rest with her beloved while ensuring that Zhuyan doesn’t wreak havoc in the mortal world. She sure planned it all out!”

Zhong Michu thoughtfully recalled the way Qing Jun had spoken of Di Yi. She couldn’t help but feel sympathetic. “Ah Man, Qing Jun is simply taking advantage of the circumstances. She never forced you to do any of this. In fact, She’s actually helped you a lot along the way. Even if she hadn’t brought it up, we’d still be looking for ways to strengthen the seal on Zhuyan.”

“I know, of course, I know…” Gu Fuyou knew very well that Qing Jun owed her nothing. Her frustration stemmed from the feeling of being manipulated, with every move she made seemingly under Qing Jun’s control.

But what was even more infuriating was, “But she calculated you into it too. The place sealing Zhuyan is extremely dangerous, yet she told you, knowing that once you found out, you’d definitely go.”

Zhong Michu’s eyebrows twitched, and her tone became dangerous. “From what you’re implying, if Qing Jun hadn’t informed me, and if you had decided to go, you wouldn’t have told me? You wouldn’t have wanted me to go with you.”

Gu Fuyou shivered and stuttered, “That’s not what I meant…I mean—”

Trying to recover, she hurriedly continued, “What I meant was… she even considered the weaknesses of the inner sealing formation. If you were to reinforce the seal, I could still summon you back. No one would have to sacrifice themselves to accompany Zhuyan in the formation…”

Realizing she had let slip more than intended, Gu Fuyou abruptly stopped talking, nervously glancing at Zhong Michu. Unfortunately, Zhong Michu had caught every word. Gu Fuyou inwardly cursed herself. Zhong Michu was already planning to go, and now, she would be even more determined.

Zhong Michu said with a playful smile, “It seems I must go after all.”

Gu Fuyou buried her face in her hands, resenting Qing Jun, “She really thought everything through for us.”

Zhong Michu replied, “She considers our position as juniors, and tries to plan everything meticulously. She wants everything to be perfect and leaves no detail unchecked. She has put a lot of thought into it.”

Suddenly, Gu Fuyou looked up and exclaimed, “I was being sarcastic! And you’re still defending her. The seal is extremely dangerous, and it’s not without risks, and she involved you in it, which is unacceptable!”

Zhong Michu’s smile deepened and grew richer, “I understand her feelings for Di Yi, so I can sympathize with her actions.”

“Time changes, but some affections remain constant.”

“You!”

With gritted teeth, Gu Fuyou glared at Zhong Michu for a long time. Then, in a sudden motion, she reached out, and in a swift movement, grabbed Zhong Michu’s cheeks.

In Zhong Michu’s surprised gaze, Gu Fuyou roughly rubbed the spot where Qing Jun had touched earlier, messing up Zhong Michu’s neatly arranged hair until it stood on end, only stopping when she felt satisfied.