Unexpected Discovery: God of Love Fragment

Liu Erlong did not immediately lash out.

She simply stood there, arms crossed over her chest, a smile playing on her lips that sent a chill down Deng Tianxin's spine.

Deng Tianxin was busy burying his head in the One-Eyed Violent Bear's furry ears, completely oblivious to the killing intent gradually coalescing behind him.

Deng Tianxin continued to ramble on, mapping out a grand blueprint for the future: "Once the old witch returns, I'll ride Big Dragon to the city gates to pick her up. By then, she'll be on that pathetic little horse of hers, and I'll be on a seven-thousand-year-old Violent Bear. Let's see if she dares to spank me again..."

A hand rested on his shoulder.

"Little Tianxin." Liu Erlong's voice was impossibly gentle, identical in tone to the way Bibi Dong sounded right before she exploded.

Deng Tianxin's rambling came to an abrupt halt. He slowly turned his head, tilted his chin up, and met Liu Erlong's face, which was twisted into a meaningful smile. A familiar sense of crisis surged up his spine, and his buttocks instinctively clenched. He knew this feeling all too well—over the past year, every time Bibi Dong wore this expression, the events that followed left an indelible mark on his memory.

"You just said, why did you name it Big Dragon?" Liu Erlong leaned down, bringing her face so close that her eyelashes nearly brushed his.

"Because... because it's mighty and imposing?" Deng Tianxin's voice grew thin of its own accord, his short legs already beginning to shuffle backward.

"Mighty and imposing," Liu Erlong nodded, repeating the words, then shifted her tone. "My name is Erlong, and its name is Big Dragon. Should I take that to mean that in your heart, I am its substitute? A secondary mount?"

When the last four words were squeezed through her teeth, Deng Tianxin finally realized what a massive disaster he had caused.

He hadn't thought much of it when he picked the name; he just felt that the One-Eyed Violent Bear had a certain affinity with the name Big Dragon.

"No, no, no!" Deng Tianxin waved his short arms so fast they became a blur. "Sister Erlong, listen to me! I just picked the name Big Dragon at random. It really has nothing to do with your name, I swear!"

"Swear?" Liu Erlong raised an eyebrow. "What kind of oath?"

"If I'm lying about even half a word, then let me... let me..." Deng Tianxin's eyes darted around frantically. "Let me never taste the braised pork ribs made by the cook for the rest of my life!"

Liu Erlong stared at Deng Tianxin for several seconds, then suddenly reached out, pinched his cheek, and gave it a tug.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch—"

"I'll remember this grudge for now," Liu Erlong released him and patted his reddened cheek twice. Her tone was nonchalant, yet it sent a bone-chilling cold through Deng Tianxin. "When you grow up, I'll settle this with you, with interest."

Deng Tianxin rubbed his cheek, muttering aggrievedly, "Can't I just rename it now? How about Little Stool? Or Stinky Fur-ball?"

"Too late." Liu Erlong walked toward the Violent Bear without looking back, vaulting onto its back with a clean, graceful motion.

Settled on the bear's back, Liu Erlong looked down at Deng Tianxin. "Are you not coming up? Do you want your Big Dragon to carry you, or do you want me to carry you?"

Deng Tianxin shivered, scrambled onto the bear's back with all fours, and sat cautiously in front of Liu Erlong, shrinking his body into a ball to minimize his presence.

Feeling the extra weight, the Violent Bear let out a low rumble in its throat and shook its head, seemingly having no objections to being demoted from King of the Jungle to public transportation.

"Big Dragon, forward!"

Deng Tianxin slapped the bear's back, and the One-Eyed Violent Bear immediately stretched out its limbs and bolted forward.

The mountain wind whistled past their ears, and the trees on both sides blurred as they retreated.

Deng Tianxin gripped the thick fur on the bear's neck tightly, his mind still dwelling on Liu Erlong's remark about when he grew up.

Why did that sound so familiar?

It seemed like Bibi Dong had said something similar.

He counted on his fingers: Bibi Dong said she would settle the score with interest when he grew up, and Liu Erlong had said the exact same thing.

These two women were equally vindictive, and their hearts were equally petty.

By the time he actually grew up, if these two debts were added together, his backside would likely be beyond saving.

"Giddy-up!" Deng Tianxin slapped the bear's back hard, venting all his inner grief and indignation into urging his mount on.

"ROAR—" The Violent Bear let out a deafening roar, its speed increasing even further, startling several wild rabbits by the roadside into scattering in terror.

Sitting behind him, Liu Erlong watched the little brat struggling to stay upright as he was jostled about, and the curve of her lips deepened. She reached out to steady his waist, keeping him stable on the bear's back.

She would remember this debt for today, but she suddenly felt that raising this little rascal and settling the score slowly later might actually be quite interesting.

The One-Eyed Violent Bear ran for the entire morning, and it was nearing midday.

Deng Tianxin suddenly slapped the bear's back hard, his voice filled with irrepressible excitement: "Big Dragon, stop! Take that fork in the road to the right!"

The One-Eyed Violent Bear slammed on the brakes, its four paws carving deep furrows into the dirt road, before turning without hesitation into the overgrown path on the right.

Liu Erlong was thrown forward by the sudden sharp turn, her chin nearly knocking into the back of Deng Tianxin's head.

Liu Erlong steadied herself and asked with a frown, "What's wrong? This isn't the direction to Heaven Dou City."

"I've found what I need," Deng Tianxin explained to Liu Erlong after a moment's thought.

Liu Erlong nodded and did not press him for further details.

The Violent Bear ran along the path for about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense before the terrain suddenly opened up, revealing an abandoned village.

"Here?" Liu Erlong looked around.

Aside from dilapidated houses and overgrown weeds, there was nothing to be seen.

"Right here." Deng Tianxin slid off the bear's back, his short legs treading over gravel and withered leaves as he walked straight toward the center of the village.

Guided as if by an invisible thread, he turned left and right, finally stopping in front of an old wall covered in wisteria.

Deng Tianxin extended his short hand, and a pink-gold light ignited in his palm.

Closing his eyes, Deng Tianxin channeled the power of the God of Love within him.

The ball of light rotated slowly in his palm, spinning faster and brighter until it bathed his entire small face in a warm, rosy glow.

The air began to change.

Countless tiny specks of light drifted in from all directions, drawn toward Deng Tianxin's palm as if pulled by an invisible gravitational force.

These specks were also a pinkish-gold, each no larger than a firefly and nearly invisible in the sunlight, yet when gathered together, they resembled a slender river of light winding through the dilapidated ruins.

The specks grew more numerous and densely packed, gradually coalescing into a fragment above Deng Tianxin's palm.

It was a tiny fragment, no larger than a fingernail, crystal clear and pulsing with pinkish-gold light from within.

It hovered above Deng Tianxin's palm, rotating slowly and radiating an aura that made one's heart feel warm.