In the Second Layer Serpent Pit Abyss
Su Qingqiu had just devoured an Evil Remains. Now he was hiding in a secluded cave, resting and recovering.
He wasn't hiding here because he feared the evil spirits. It was just that the Second Layer teemed with evil spirits and had very few Spiritual Serpents, so he could get mobbed at any moment.
So even Su Qingqiu, whose Spiritual Light had transformed into Spiritual Essence and who possessed nearly ten thousand years of Daoism Cultivation, didn't dare get caught in a sea of evil spirits.
He usually picked off a few Evil Remains that tasted good and weren't too saturated with demonic energy, then hid in a cave to slowly digest them.
While digesting them, his favorite thing to do was observe what was going on at the Dragon-Raising Temple.
Ten thousand strands of Spiritual Light and ten thousand years of Daoism Cultivation hadn't made him shed his skin again, but they had greatly enhanced his Spiritual Sense. Basically, the entire Dragon-Raising Temple was within its reach.
So spying on them... ahem, no, openly watching them, was addictive too.
As usual, he shifted his gaze away from the West Temple's bathhouse. Su Qingqiu sighed, a little disappointed.
—It was pouring, so the little nuns weren't even bathing.
"Honestly, this snake hates girls who don't like bathing. Looks like I'll have to make those Spiritual Serpents pass on the idea that any nuns who cultivate Spiritual Light must love bathing and keeping clean."
Su Qingqiu's eyes lit up. He silently gave himself a thumbs-up.
As for those bald monks at the East Temple, who cared if they lived or died? They could do whatever they wanted.
Su Qingqiu felt no shame about openly watching. On the contrary, he was proud of it.
After all, the True Dragon's nature was lecherous. It was an instinct passed down from his True Dragon ancestors, and had nothing to do with him, Su. He was, after all, a self-proclaimed gentlemanly snake.
Suppressing his restless heart, Su Qingqiu turned his gaze to Xuan Ye again.
By now, he had learned quite a bit about Xuan Ye. He even knew exactly what that "old" Old Emperor of Zhaoyang Country was scheming.
He had never expected the Major Rain Accumulation Technique to be mistaken for a True Dragon bringing rain. What was even more unexpected was that this made the dignified emperor of a country—and even all his civil and military officials—obsessed with something that had never happened.
Did Su really have the makings of a True Dragon, or was Zhaoyang Country on the verge of collapse, with fools popping up everywhere?
Su Qingqiu guessed it was the former.
He had been quite pleased with himself about it for a long time.
After all, the people had sharp eyes. He had to admit it, even if he didn't want to. He had the makings of a True Dragon; that was an established fact. There was no arguing with it.
"But I didn't expect them to think I caused this downpour too."
"What a wrongful accusation... Even with ten thousand years of Daoism Cultivation, the Major Rain Accumulation Technique couldn't produce this much Water Vapor out of thin air. Unless I advanced to the Summon Wind and Rain divine ability, that is."
Su Qingqiu curled his lip.
As it happened, as far as Su Qingqiu was concerned, his Major Rain Accumulation Technique had merely triggered this downpour. It was just like a Rain-inducing Bomb in his previous life.
Dahuangluo Land had suffered a drought for three years. All the water on the ground had evaporated into the void.
After three years, enough Water Vapor had accumulated in the void. Even without Su Qingqiu's Major Rain Accumulation Technique to guide it, it would have poured down in a deluge at some suitable time.
But now, by a twist of fate, Su Qingqiu's Major Rain Accumulation Technique had drawn it down. That was almost too much of a coincidence.
"But the Water Vapor in the void seems to be gathering around the Luo River. If I hadn't guided it this time, the northwest of Great Wasteland would still be trapped in a prolonged drought."
"And the Luo River region, already battered by floods, would have suffered even more. It might even have washed away Luojia Mountain once again."
"So... were this drought and the torrential rain at Luojia Mountain both secretly arranged by someone?"
Su Qingqiu's eyes flickered. He hadn't forgotten that there was an ancient ruin at Luojia Mountain, where the Hundred-Eyed Devil's true body was scheming.
Unfortunately, he was in the Snake Abyss and had no desire to venture outside. For now, he could only let the Hundred-Eyed Devil keep showing off there.
The main thing was that he didn't feel safe enough. He could go out once he became a dragon.
"Hmm... Xuan Ye has quite a few unofficial historical accounts of True Dragons. Some of the information in them could be useful to me... I should think of a way to get him to find more old books like those."
"Better yet, I should get him to bring the bones in the Imperial Court suspected to belong to True Dragons to the Dragon-Raising Temple..."
Su Qingqiu began to turn his attention to Xuan Ye. He just hadn't figured out exactly how to go about it.
When he saw Xuan Ye summon Yuanhui, Su Qingqiu withdrew his gaze.
He wasn't sure if it was because the middle-aged nun had a lot of Spiritual Serpent Spiritual Light within her, but Yuanhui seemed able to faintly sense Su Qingqiu's Spiritual Sense covering the Dragon-Raising Temple.
Yet this nun was quite a schemer. After noticing this, she hadn't said a word. Instead, she'd kept quiet, as if nothing had happened.
Su Qingqiu couldn't guess what she was thinking. But whatever Yuanhui thought, she would never imagine that the so-called True Dragon was merely a special Spiritual Python beneath the Serpent Pit Abyss.
So even if she'd sensed his Spiritual Sense, it didn't matter.
Naturally, while patrolling his territory, he couldn't forget his little servant, Lingfa. As the first person Su Qingqiu had anchored himself to, Lingfa had undergone a terrifying change ever since Su Qingqiu's Spiritual Light transformed into Spiritual Essence.
Su Qingqiu called it Lingyuan Transformation.
Unlike ordinary pollution by Evil Qi or erosion by Spiritual Light, Lingyuan Transformation was a terrifying process of assimilation. From mind to body, every inch of skin gradually changed to become more like Su Qingqiu.
If it wasn't stopped, one day Lingfa might become a part of Su Qingqiu entirely.
It brought to mind a saying from his previous life: Those who draw too close to a god will become a god.
It was said that the most powerful Devil Masters could completely corrupt and demonize other living beings, absorbing them into themselves. The Heart Devil Master among the Six Paths could even unknowingly replace the person they possessed within that person's heart.
And Su Qingqiu's Lingyuan Transformation was just like that.
Even though the Lingyuan Transformation had been stopped, Lingfa's thoughts were already firmly devoted to Su Qingqiu. He was like a fanatical believer who didn't even fear death.
So while Su Qingqiu watched him, the fellow was stubbornly keeping an eye on Yuanming's every move.
From what Yuanming had eaten that day to what underpants he wore at night—even the secret affair he'd had with a Top Courtesan from Yihong Courtyard in Chiyang City—Lingfa had investigated it all.
But today, Yuanming seemed to have caught on. He could no longer stand it, so he cornered Lingfa in a secluded loft and ground out through clenched teeth, "Damn it, Lingfa, what exactly are you trying to do? Why are you keeping an eye on me every single day? A teacher for a day is a father for life. Is this how you behave as a disciple?"
Lingfa didn't react. Instead, he took out a diary and started writing right in front of Yuanming. "Today, Yuanming met up with a little nun from the West Temple. He also told her, 'I have connections. If you want to improve your cultivation faster, you have to listen to me.'"
"Oh, and it seems he also wanted the little nun to call him Daddy! I don't really understand. Why go around claiming daughters? Is Yuanming afraid no one will see him off after he dies?"
Yuanming's face turned green when he saw this. He stopped caring about anything else, waved a hand, and gathered all the magic power in his body. A Water Dragon's Roar surged toward Lingfa.
"Wretch, how dare you!"
"Prepare to die!"
I'm so freaking mad!
Where had this wretch picked up the awful habit of writing in a diary right in front of someone?
What a lunatic!
Before you continue