The people beside him were even more stunned, at a loss for what to do. If this didn't count as having treasures on them, then the few of them might as well start crying.
"I'm truly sorry. I didn't pay attention to what was happening over here earlier. I don't know if you could keep helping me search."
"Of course. You're too kind."
Seeing how courteous they were being toward him made Xie Fang somewhat displeased. Before, he'd been willing to put up with them to some extent, but ever since that incident, his intolerance had only grown.
They were all people the Dragon Clan had taken in. At first, a few of the younger ones had dared to pick a fight with him here, but at some point, everyone had fallen silent, as though he were the local tyrant.
He rubbed his forehead, at a bit of a loss. Then, suddenly, a small animal came stumbling toward him. Seeing how tiny and babyish it seemed, Xie Fang couldn't help feeling a little softhearted.
He wanted to keep the little thing here, but just then, one of the people who had found a way out came running over. The moment he saw the animal in Xie Fang's arms,
his face turned deathly pale, as if he'd been frightened, and then he turned and vanished right before Xie Fang's eyes. Xie Fang had no idea what was going on and could only stare strangely at his retreating figure.
The little animal in his hands looked extremely cute. The instant Xie Fang reached out to touch it,
it bared its teeth and bit his finger, breaking the skin.
But Xie Fang wasn't so rough as to fling it to the ground. Instead, he pulled a handkerchief from his side and gently wiped its mouth.
The little fellow babbled for a while, but the people nearby couldn't make out what it was saying.
Still, from its gestures, Xie Fang could tell what it was trying to convey.
Following the direction it indicated, Xie Fang took a couple of steps forward and unexpectedly came upon something surprising.
It was a special cave, and the group had happened to block the way through it. A pile of rubble lay before him.
Xie Fang furrowed his brows and raised a hand. With a light motion, he turned the rubble into powder. The little beast seemed to have spotted something and was so delighted that it clapped its hands.
When Xie Fang ventured farther inside, he saw a pitch-black area. At first, he didn't understand why the little beast had brought him here,
until he saw a shadow with several large characters written on it. Xie Fang's hands trembled slightly. This had to be something left behind by someone skilled in lightning spells. He hadn't expected to stumble upon it.
"Lightning Array..."
Xie Fang was so excited that he even pulled out some snacks to feed the little animal beside him. But the little thing only pursed its lips.
It still looked somewhat unhappy, and Xie Fang didn't understand what it wanted.
He handed over everything he had on him, but the little animal tilted its head. Then Xie Fang suddenly saw it swallow a drop of his blood.
Before he could stop it, a golden light flashed around them both. The next moment, they were forcibly pulled into a magic array.
Only after he came to his senses did he realize that this was the same array used to form a contract.
He hadn't even figured out what the little animal was, yet somehow he'd ended up having this kind of contract signed with it.
Still, during the signing, he chose an equal contract. Who knew when disaster might strike? If something happened, he didn't want it to drag the little beast down with him. After it signed a contract with him, he could understand what it was saying.
He hadn't expected it to have brought him here just to give him a hint.
Thanks to it, he had at least learned a set of techniques again with the help of the Lightning Compass. But the process and the results had both differed somewhat from what he'd expected.
He wasn't sure he could deal with the situation at hand, but he'd made thorough preparations. Now that he knew there was nothing valuable in the cave, he planned to head back.
When he gathered everyone, he found them covered in dust. Feeling a trace of guilt, he thanked them and left behind some magical treasures for them to use in their cultivation. After all, wiping out the Ancestral Dragon meant wiping out all hope for the Dragon Clan.
Still, he could tell that a few of them had the potential to be trained. He just didn't know if the clan's elders would make good use of this opportunity.
Yuanfeng had taken over the Dragon Clan's territory and would occasionally patrol it. But the scenes she encountered seemed to grow worse each time.
Ever since the Ancestral Dragon had fallen, his followers had been like a pile of useless mud. They caused trouble and picked fights everywhere.
She had no choice but to keep going to the Dragon Clan's territory to deal with their problems. Eventually, she sent a few elders to guard the place.
This included the person who had previously barred Xie Fang from entering. It turned out he and Xie Fang had a personal grudge, and after that, there were no further complaints.
Xie Fang returned to the place where he had previously secluded himself, carrying the treasures he'd gathered, and prepared to take a good look at his true strength this time.
He hadn't expected to leave Mo Wu behind. Yuanfeng didn't think much of it, but after hearing her subordinates repeatedly report things related to him, she found it a little surprising.
"He didn't take him along before he left?"
The attendant below nodded.
"Then take good care of him. Xie Fang probably went off somewhere to cultivate in seclusion."
Mo Wu soon learned this awkward and humiliating truth: his master had actually forgotten him here.
But during his cultivation, Xie Fang noticed something else. Shi Qilin had helped him quite a lot before, so why couldn't the Ancestral Dragon's Dragon Mark fully merge into the Heaven-Measuring Ruler?
Could it be that the method he'd given him was wrong?
One day, while clearing fallen leaves outside his door, Xie Fang suddenly saw a golden light shine from the Heaven-Measuring Ruler. The dragon soared into the air.
Then, the next moment, it began roaming about wherever Xie Fang directed it with his finger. At that point, Xie Fang understood: the two were incompatible. He could use the dragon, but it couldn't coexist with the Heaven-Measuring Ruler.
The next moment, the dragon landed on his shoulder and coiled there, then merged into his blood. This surprised him somewhat.
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