To evolve into the legendary True Dragon, relying solely on the Si Snake bloodline or shutting oneself away to cultivate would never be enough.
Only by learning from the strengths of others, integrating them, and continually breaking through one's limits could a fish one day leap through the Dragon Gate and a True Dragon descend upon the world.
"I wonder if Xuan Ye found me a rare book with information about True Dragons. And that Dragon Bone... Perhaps if I devour it, I can discover another way to shed my skin and evolve?"
Su Qingqiu mused to himself.
The Ancient Si Snake was powerful, but it was certainly not the only divine creature from antiquity. There had to be plenty of other things like the Dragon Bone unearthed at Floating Mountain.
Every spiritual treasure—and even every Spiritual Serpent—had its own unique path of transformation and evolution. By studying the remains of such beings, Su Qingqiu might be able to find a whole new way to evolve.
"And there's Lingfa..."
Lingfa's situation was important too.
Su Qingqiu had ordered him to find every evil creature lurking in the Dragon-Raising Temple, investigate the monks who had fallen to corruption, and look into what had happened at the temple three hundred years ago.
He was to check whether the Scripture Library held any records.
This involved the Snake Abyss and even the lives of a Bodhisattva and three Arhats—all Land Immortals of the upper three ranks. Su Qingqiu had to prepare in advance and proceed with caution.
Besides, he regarded everything in the Snake Abyss, from the evil creatures within to the bones of the Si Snake, as his own private snake property.
He would never allow any unknown threat to remain there and endanger his territory, his home.
If he hadn't feared that his strength was insufficient, he would have ventured deeper into the Snake Abyss long ago, after taking the Blood Spirit Ruins.
One way to enter its deeper reaches was to occupy a Spirit Ruins and then follow the Eight Extraordinary Meridians where it lay, all the way down.
He had more or less met that condition already.
"Let's see... It's been over two months now. Those two should have made some progress, right?"
"I wonder if Xuan Ye has finished dealing with matters in the imperial city and returned to Chiyang City."
"Oh, and what has that mysterious Hundred-Eyed Devil been plotting lately?"
Su Qingqiu pondered with interest.
The Hundred-Eyed Devil had said that Su Qingqiu would soon see what he could do. He'd been preparing for months, so he ought to arrive soon.
"I'll know if I go take a look."
As he spoke, Su Qingqiu released his spiritual essence. Equal to eighteen thousand years of Daoism Cultivation, it instantly spread across the sky above the Dragon-Raising Temple.
"Wait... What's this?"
A strange feeling welled up inside him.
He noticed that his Spiritual Light had changed. In its perception, one blossom of Spiritual Light after another rose throughout the Dragon-Raising Temple, and each one filled him with an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
Some belonged to Spiritual Serpents, others to cultivators who practiced Spirit Snake Spiritual Light. Even every inch of the temple's grounds, every building, every plant—all answered his call from afar, shining brightly with joyous vitality.
His Spiritual Light had become completely connected to the Dragon-Raising Temple.
What a wondrous feeling.
Su Qingqiu thought it over and immediately understood what had happened.
His two innate divine abilities, Protecting the Residence and Shelter, had improved.
At a thought, wind rose, clouds gathered, and the qi of heaven and earth coalesced.
At another thought, the wind died, the clouds dispersed, and the qi of heaven and earth vanished.
With the Dragon-Raising Temple at its center, he felt invincible, beyond all harm, and supreme under heaven and earth, so long as a place had been turned into his home by Protecting the Residence and Shelter.
Only now did he truly understand what this innate divine ability was for.
It wasn't merely a way to exercise his body without restrictions or bottlenecks.
It was to protect his home. To shelter it.
The Dragon-Raising Temple was his residence. He had both the right and the duty to influence, command, and protect every inch of its grounds and every living creature there.
Exercising the authority of Protecting the Residence and Shelter in his home suited his identity as a Guardian Python, and would in turn bring him feedback and strengthen him.
The countless monks of the Dragon-Raising Temple, through their unseen activities, thoughts, and consciousness, could actually help restore Su Qingqiu's spiritual essence and even increase it little by little. The growth was slow, but the recovery rate was decent.
Combined with the Eyes of the Spiritual Snake, he even spotted demonic qi concealed within many of the Spiritual Lights.
They belonged to those who had fallen and been corrupted.
"Not bad."
Su Qingqiu nodded in satisfaction.
On a whim, he wondered where to go take a look.
The bathhouse at the West Temple, then.
As a True Dragon, he naturally had to pay special attention to the water temperature when his subordinates were bathing.
Ever since Blood Rain had fallen from the heavens two months ago, the Dragon-Raising Temple had remained closed, with everyone in seclusion until now. Apart from the monks managing supplies, who occasionally ventured out to purchase necessities, even those who had been out slaying demons and devils had been summoned back.
Blood Rain from the heavens was a great ill omen.
The impact of this Blood Rain on every monk and nun in the Dragon-Raising Temple had been far more severe than Su Qingqiu had imagined.
Not only were senior monks of the previous generation, such as Muqiao, worried all day long, but Yuanhui and Yuanming were too.
As monks of the Yuan Generation and the current abbots of the East and West Temples, they naturally knew the truth about the bloody storm of three hundred years ago.
So when Blood Rain appeared, even Yuanming—who had already fallen and become a demon—had been troubled day after day.
On top of that, the Hundred-Eyed Devil had been driven off by the mysterious Red-Fire Dragon Lord, and the Great Asura Lord had died a miserable death on the spot. Yuanming couldn't help but worry. Who knew whether the legendary True Dragon had already discovered his true nature?
Even if it hadn't, plotting inside a temple where a True Dragon was rumored to lurk seemed a bit like an old man hanging himself—wasn't he just asking to die?
"What a shame... Sigh!"
Sitting on his meditation cushion, Yuanming sighed again and again.
He did want to run away, or simply find an excuse to leave on a wandering pilgrimage. Even though the temple was closed, Yuanhui wouldn't stop him, given his personality.
But the reality was...
Yuanming glanced at the cushion to his left. Lingfa was watching him intently, brush in hand, writing away in a notebook without even looking at the page.
That guy watched him constantly. He practically kept an eye on him even when he went to the latrine.
--Today, Yuanming sat on his meditation cushion for four hours, but didn't recite a single Buddhist scripture. Instead, he let out seventeen stinking farts: five foul, two utterly vile, and ten ordinary ones. He said "what a shame" twenty-three times and sneaked a glance at me every single time.
--Conclusion one: I seriously suspect Yuanming's sexual orientation. However, my heart belongs to the Devil Lord through and through, so I'll never fall for his tricks.
--Conclusion two: Yuanming probably went to meet that young nun at the West Temple again yesterday. My reasoning: that nun loves fried soybeans. I gave her a batch of croton seeds yesterday, and sure enough, some of them ended up in Yuanming's stomach.
Yuanming: "..."
If a human face could twist with anger, his would have become unrecognizable!
"Damn you, Lingfa! What are you trying to do, you wicked disciple? Are you determined to anger your master to death?"
Yuanming's face turned green with rage.
He'd spent the night at the young nun's place, and wondered why she'd been farting all night. She'd almost stunk him to death.
When he left today, he'd even snatched some snacks from her, only to discover they were croton seeds, infamous as a purgative!
It was infuriating. The brat had clearly wanted to make a fool of him.
Yuanming's anger churned in his gut. He strained, and his bowels immediately stirred. His face turned deathly pale.
Lingfa froze, then took a deep breath and hurriedly wrote: When you have diarrhea, never trust a fart. Yuanming with the runs is living proof.
Yuanming: "..."
"Damn it, I'll fight you!"
That day, the East Temple once again put on a display of fatherly love and filial piety. Most of the monks had grown used to it.
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