Suspected Dragon-Blooded Being

On the other side, in the darkness.

A handsome young man clutched his chest, looking utterly shocked as he hid behind a tree. Even though some time had passed, his face still brimmed with disbelief—and woven into that shock was an unmistakable, barely concealed ecstasy.

What had he seen?

A mighty creature that the Great Zhou Royal Family had sought for a thousand years without ever finding!

And today, he, Zhou Zhen, had actually found it!

"Just as I thought—I knew something felt off. Good thing I followed Snake Granny tonight. A treasure my Zhou Clan couldn't find in a millennium, and I've stumbled upon it!"

"This is fate—the Great Zhou shall rise again for another thousand years! No—perhaps for eternity!"

A dragon! What a beautiful and powerful being!

A creature that might carry dragon blood was about to appear before him alive.

With that thought, he hurried away.

Early morning, the thick fog slowly dissipated.

An old woman, her clothes damp with dew, stood before a large tree, gently tracing the scratches on its bark.

This was none other than Snake Granny, who had spent the whole night following the trail left by the insect.

Now, stroking the marks, she murmured to herself:

"That's it. Even if the creature that left these traces isn't the legendary one, it must be inextricably linked. Fate favors my... rise. There's hope!"

She took out a small whistle-like object and blew it. Before long, an incredibly fast and agile bird flew down.

She fed the bird, then tied a small prepared paper scroll to its leg.

"Go, go! Seek the place you're meant to find."

Setting aside the commotion elsewhere, let's turn to Bai Chuan.

After a day of fleeing, he had finally reached the riverbank.

He let out a soft breath and glanced behind him—fortunately, no one was chasing him yet.

But he knew it wouldn't be long before someone showed up.

He looked at the river, its ice just recently melted, then at the small wooden box and the little mouse in his claws, feeling a bit troubled.

Though he had intermittently scanned the Ice Silkworm during his escape, perhaps due to its unique nature or the vast size difference between them, the scan progress had only just reached 20%. It seemed he couldn't abandon the mouse for now.

But given the situation, Bai Chuan eyed the small wooden box uncertainly. If he entered the water and had to keep it in his claws, the box would be submerged—would that cause problems?

And how was he supposed to carry the mouse? The two couldn't be too far apart.

Bai Chuan lowered his head and thought, then finally looked at the mouse. With a sigh at its bewildered expression, he resigned himself.

Though reluctant, there was no other way.

Damn it, this mouse was getting lucky.

It was probably the first mouse in history to ride on a snake's back.

That's right—since Bai Chuan was now a decent size, and worried about the box getting soaked, he decided not to dive underwater. Instead, he would keep his head and part of his neck above the surface, where they wouldn't get wet.

Then he would hold the box in his mouth, and the little mouse would sit on his broad neck.

That way, they wouldn't be too far apart, and he could keep scanning from time to time.

Having made up his mind, Bai Chuan decided to catch a few fish first to fill his stomach. After a day of running, floating on the surface would leave little time to eat later.

He gently set the small wooden box and the mouse back on the ground, then mimicked Zhang Daring's gestures with his fingers, trying to signal the mouse to stay put, though he had no idea if it understood.

After making sure the mouse didn't run off, Bai Chuan slowly backed away, then slithered into the water.

Once submerged, he didn't hunt immediately. Instead, he stayed underwater, coldly watching the mouse's silhouette on the surface. If it showed any sign of fleeing, he would burst out and seize it.

Though he couldn't kill the mouse for now, that didn't mean he couldn't break its limbs to prevent escape.

After watching for a while and confirming the mouse had no intention of running, Bai Chuan swam off to find a big fish.

Why did he do this? Simple—he trusted nothing but himself.

How many times had he met that mouse? It was just a mindless animal—how could he be completely at ease? Being cautious was only natural.

After all, the Ice Silkworm model was at stake. He couldn't afford to slack off. He had taken such a huge risk, stolen what those humans were fighting over, and could be tracked down at any moment. If he ended up with nothing and did all the work for someone else, wouldn't he be the biggest fool?

Soon, the water began to churn violently, as if some massive creature was rampaging beneath the surface.

But before long, the water calmed. With a loud splash, a dragon-like, snake-like monster emerged from below.

Carrying a torrent of water, it slowly crawled ashore. Its sharp claws were firmly pinned into a grass carp nearly seventy centimeters long, with a tea-yellow body, gray-white belly, gray-black scale edges on its flanks, and gray-yellow pectoral and pelvic fins.

Once on land, Bai Chuan first checked the mouse's direction. Seeing both the box and the mouse still there, he relaxed and began dragging the heavy fish ashore.

He extended his claws and began to stab into the fish's body repeatedly, tearing off strips of flesh amidst the grating sound of scales being scraped that made one's skin crawl.

Then he tossed a piece of fish meat toward the rat's direction, paid it no further heed, and started gulping down the food in large mouthfuls.

For some reason, he realized his eating efficiency was still far too low.

Without sharp teeth to tear directly, he had to rely on his claws to slowly rip the flesh apart. This would be nothing under normal circumstances, but when time was of the essence, it became painfully slow.

It seemed that evolving his teeth would have to be moved up the agenda.

Bai Chuan silently thought this as he ate the fish meat.

Before long, he felt he had eaten enough, yet the large fish still had a third of its body left.

To this, Bai Chuan could only reluctantly abandon it.

If it were usual, he would have finished it all.

But now he was on the run, so he had to maintain his best condition—and to stay in top form, he couldn't afford to eat too much.

After all, snakes, once fully fed, would struggle to move. He had never completely shed the physical limitations of a serpent's form.

After eating his fill and replenishing his water, Bai Chuan followed the plan he had set earlier, bit onto the small wooden box, and took the little rat into the water.

He slithered away along the current's direction.

An hour later, the bald, burly man Zhang Daring, having returned to his normal size, appeared holding an object shaped like a compass in his hand.

He carefully surveyed the surroundings and finally arrived at the riverbank—the very spot where the little rat had lingered earlier.

He looked at the fish carcass floating on the water, pecked at by countless tiny fish and shrimp, and at the compass pointing downstream along the river.

After pondering for a while, he pulled out a crude cowhide map and compared it carefully several times.

He discovered that ahead lay two enormous tributaries: one leading to a vast marsh, the other to the sea.

Without a doubt, the thief could not have entered the sea—that was no place for any person to survive.

So, there was only one answer.

His face darkened as he raised his head toward that direction, clenched his fists, and slowly spat out:

"Damn it! Their target is actually the Great Marsh—that's the territory of the Flying Heaven Sect and the Earth Dragon Gang. Could this matter be tied to them?"