Hatching the True Dragon

Chapter 36: Hatching the True Dragon

"It's all right. I have my own plans."

As she spoke, Willow Deity gazed into a patch of Void. "Little Sparrow."

"Chirp, chirp, chirp!"

A crisp birdsong rang out as a Five-Colored Sparrow with brilliant feathers swept gracefully in from the outside and into the True Dragon Nest.

"So it really was her."

Shi Hao kept his expression still, but inside, doubts began to stir.

At some point, an ordinary-looking Five-Colored Sparrow had appeared in Stone Village.

When Little Shi was young, he had chased her around the village, but had never once caught her.

When Little Shi fell after battling seven gods, the Five-Colored Sparrow had brought him the Divine Seed of the Undying Grass, helping him come back to life.

When Little Shi married Yun Xi, the Five-Colored Sparrow had brought the White Bone Tripod—a part of the Transcendence Chapter of the Original True Interpretation—as a wedding gift.

When Little Shi's child was born, it was once again this Five-Colored Sparrow who carried the White Bone Tripod from the Lower Realm to the Upper Realm, allowing Little Shi to use it to baptize Little Little Shi's body and shield him from heaven's punishment.

At every crucial juncture, this Little Sparrow had appeared.

That was right. This Five-Colored Sparrow was a hidden hand Willow Deity had left behind.

Willow Deity had traveled far to the Boundary Sea and seemed to have severed all ties with Little Shi, but in truth, she had always watched over him in silence, helping him time and again through the Five-Colored Sparrow.

Moreover, this Five-Colored Sparrow was no common house sparrow from the Great Wilderness. Her true form was a rare Primordial divine bird, fond of treasures and given to hoarding them.

During the Immortal Ancient Era, the Five-Colored Sparrow had received Willow Deity's permission to nest upon the body of this Supreme Giant, listen to the Dao, and cultivate all the way to the True Immortal realm.

Later, when Willow Deity descended to the Lower Realm to face her tribulation, Little Sparrow had gladly followed.

In short, Willow Deity was to the Five-Colored Sparrow what Immortal King Wuzhong was to the Black Emperor. The Five-Colored Sparrow played the role of her attendant, following her with unshakable devotion.

The Five-Colored Sparrow came hopping up the mountain, and as she passed Little Shi, she even shot him a disdainful look, her eyes brimming with spirit.

"My lord."

The Five-Colored Sparrow prostrated herself at the feet of the White-Clad God-Man Willow Deity had become. She spoke in a crisp, melodious voice, like the distant strains of silk and bamboo.

"You silly bird, you can talk?"

A glint flashed in Shi Hao's eyes as he spoke.

"Foolish human, of course this divine bird can talk! I am the most powerful being under my lord. You were all fooled by me, weren't you?!"

The Five-Colored Sparrow immediately turned her head and looked at Little Shi smugly.

"That's probably because you're the only foolish bird under Willow Deity."

Shi Hao gave a cold laugh, exposing the silly bird without mercy.

"Caw, caw, caw..."

The Five-Colored Sparrow stiffened at his words, then turned around with a blank expression, as though nothing had happened. "My lord, please instruct me."

"I have no instructions for you. I only need a Nine-Turn Resurrection Grass to replenish the foundation of a True Dragon Egg. I remember you love searching far and wide for all kinds of spiritual plants and divine medicines. Do you happen to have one?"

The White-Clad God-Man smiled, apparently in a good mood.

"Since my lord needs it, then of course I have one."

A look of deep pain crossed the Five-Colored Sparrow's face as she gritted her teeth and replied.

A golden divine herb was spat from her beak. It stood upright like a war spear, resembling a golden sun and radiating an incomparably sacred light. Its life force surged beyond all description.

A supreme divine medicine, the Nine-Turn Resurrection Grass!

The instant the Five-Colored Sparrow closed her beak, a faint gleam of treasure-light could be seen shining from within her pitch-black belly. Red, orange, blue—each color more wondrous than the last.

"So you love searching everywhere for divine treasures, huh?"

Shi Hao had keenly caught that fleeting gleam, and his eyes lit up at once.

"Human, what are you trying to do? This divine bird warns you: apart from my lord, no one can take a single divine medicine from me. No one!"

Who knew this Little Sparrow was especially sensitive to such greedy looks? She immediately stared warily at Shi Hao and warned him sternly.

By the Ancestral Sacrificial Spirit, if she still had her True Immortal strength, she would have slapped this obviously disreputable thief to death long ago.

"Oh, so you have other divine medicines, too."

Shi Hao gave an exceedingly meaningful "oh."

"Drop dead, you damned human!"

The Five-Colored Sparrow immediately bristled. After hastily bidding Willow Deity farewell, she fled the True Dragon Nest, escaping this dangerous place as fast as she could.

"This Little Sparrow has followed me all the way from the Primordial Era. Don't bully her."

A soft laugh sounded as Shi Hao watched the Five-Colored Sparrow leave with obvious reluctance.

"Ahem, Willow Deity, you've misunderstood me. I'm not that kind of person."

Shi Hao turned around and gave an awkward smile.

"All right, we've found the Nine-Turn Resurrection Grass. Let's begin."

Willow Deity shook her head with amusement.

Knowing Shi Hao as she did, she could naturally guess what the little rascal was thinking: nothing but his old trick of throwing a sack over someone's head and knocking them out. That silly bird wouldn't stand a chance.

Willow Deity first ground the Broken True Dragon Horn into powder and blended it into the True Dragon Egg. Then she refined the Dragon Scale Grass, the Nine-Turn Resurrection Grass, and several other divine medicines into Divine Radiance and infused it into the egg.

After that, the two waited patiently.

Two days later, the True Dragon Egg's trembling finally reached its limit.

"Boom!!!"

In an instant, dragon qi soared into the heavens, and ten thousand rays of rosy light blazed. A blood-red True Dragon burst from its shell, broke out of the True Dragon Nest, and soared above Stone Village, roaring skyward without pause.

Boundless, ocean-like dragon qi surged out in return, enveloping all of Stone Village.

The old men's hair quickly turned black, and their backs straightened. The children's foundations grew stronger once more, and the clanspeople's cultivation rose one after another. Some even crossed an entire major realm on the spot.

Even the precious herbs growing in the village advanced wildly, bathed in the True Dragon's qi.

A sacred being had been born, and the heavens bestowed their blessing.

Stone Village was the birthplace of a sacred being, so it naturally received the heavens' favor and love, transformed into a divine land and blessed cave-heaven no less wondrous than a Primordial Divine Mountain.

The vast dragon qi split in two. One part transformed Stone Village's clanspeople, while the other sank underground and evolved into a dragon vein, silently nourishing the generations to come.

"Ang! Ang! Ang!"

Clear dragon roars rang out. The newly hatched True Dragon hatchling happily swam through the clouds, occasionally showing off its powerful body, and only then did the people get a clear look at it.

Its body was only about a zhang long, yet it was sturdy and powerful. Its entire body looked as if it had been cast from red Immortal Gold. Its five claws were sharp, and it had a pair of tiny dragon horns, upon which Great Dao Runes flowed.

Set against the red mists and chaotic qi, it looked even more wondrous.

It was a Crimson True Dragon, the child of one of the Ten Fiends' strongest!

"Dragon! Mother, look! It's a True Dragon!"

"Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!"

"Dragon claws, dragon heart, dragon liver, dragon... They're all supreme delicacies and great medicines!"

Some of the children had already brought out their bowls and chopsticks from home. They stared blankly at the sky, waiting for the True Dragon to come down so they could catch it and toss it in a pot.

"Awooo~"

The True Dragon hatchling had a deep-seated psychological scar from this. At their words, it let out a mournful wail, hurriedly tore through the Void, and fled into the True Dragon Nest deep within the village, never to emerge again.

"Aw, we'll have to wait until it grows a little before eating it. One zhang is still too small—not even enough for everyone in the village to have a bite. True Dragon, hurry up and grow!"

With the True Dragon hatchling nowhere to be seen, the children could only bang their bowls and chopsticks and gaze wistfully at the nest.