Ancestral Dragon Bloodline, Linglong

"Nine-clawed... Azure Dragon?!" Yun Xiao drew in a sharp breath, her beautiful eyes filled with shock.

Among the dragon race, five claws meant a True Dragon, seven claws a Divine Dragon, and nine claws... belonged to Ancestral Dragon alone.

"She has Ancestral Dragon's bloodline."

Lei Xiao came to his senses as well. No wonder this little girl wore the expression that her father was invincible beneath the heavens—her father was Ancestral Dragon.

Three breaths later, the phantom of the nine-clawed Azure Dragon behind the little girl suddenly shattered, turning into countless motes of light that drifted down like fireflies before fading between heaven and earth.

The terrifying pressure that had made heaven and earth change color also receded, like the tide rolling back into the sea, vanishing without a trace in an instant.

The little girl returned to her original innocent appearance.

Floating in midair, she rubbed her sleepy eyes, wholly unaware of what had just happened. Those sapphire-blue vertical pupils remained dark and bright, carrying a hint of bewilderment, as though everything just now had been a dream that had nothing to do with her.

"Eh, why are you all looking at me like that?"

Little Nine tilted her head and looked at Lei Xiao and Yun Xiao in confusion.

"It's nothing."

Lei Xiao shook his head slightly and asked, "What is your name?"

"Linglong."

Linglong swung her slender little legs, and the pearl dangling from her silver-white ribbon swayed gently, sending out scattered glimmers of light.

"Linglong?" Lei Xiao repeated softly.

Linglong—exquisitely clear, with a heart as limpid as crystal.

The name suited this delicately carved little girl before him perfectly.

"Why are you inside this cauldron?" Lei Xiao asked.

At his words, Linglong twisted the hem of her dress in her little hands and said softly, "Father said it was dangerous outside, and that many bad people wanted to capture me. He told me to sleep obediently here and wait for him to come back for me."

At this point, she raised her head, and a mist of tears welled up in those sapphire-blue vertical pupils.

"But Father hasn't come back for a very, very long time. I waited for so, so long—so long that I've nearly forgotten what Father looks like."

After saying that, she suddenly looked at Lei Xiao with a face full of hope. "Can you take me to find Father?"

Lei Xiao fell silent.

He truly could not bear to tell Linglong that her father was already dead.

Seeing Lei Xiao's silence, Linglong raised a hand, and a blue-white jade seal appeared in her palm. "This is the Wind-Repelling Seal. As long as you take me to find Father, I can give it to you."

With that, Linglong held the Wind-Repelling Seal out before Lei Xiao.

At such close range, Lei Xiao was already certain that this Wind-Repelling Seal was a Connate Spirit Treasure, and one of no low grade at that.

However, he did not reach out to take it.

"My name is Lei Xiao. You saved me earlier, so I can take you away without asking for anything in return," Lei Xiao said.

Linglong froze. A trace of confusion flashed through her sapphire-blue vertical pupils. She seemed unable to understand why someone could remain unmoved in the face of a Connate Spirit Treasure.

"Lei Xiao, I'm afraid taking her away will not be easy."

Just then, Yun Xiao's voice transmission sounded beside Lei Xiao's ear. "There should be some kind of formation arranged here, linking Linglong's aura to this small world. If you want to take her away, you will have to take the black great cauldron outside with you as well."

"Then we'll take the black great cauldron with us."

"It won't be that easy." Yun Xiao shook her head slightly. "Linglong is the master of the black great cauldron. She wants to leave this place so badly—have you considered why she has not controlled the black great cauldron and left Wind Abyss herself?"

At that, Lei Xiao's brows furrowed.

If it was not that she was unwilling, then it was that she could not.

Linglong could not control the black great cauldron to leave Wind Abyss, and Lei Xiao likewise did not possess that strength at present.

"Linglong."

Lei Xiao chose his words carefully. "Can you... control this cauldron yourself and leave Wind Abyss?"

Linglong's expression stiffened instantly.

She slowly lowered her head. "No. When Father left, he placed a seal on the cauldron. I can only move around within this small world, but I can't control the cauldron to leave Wind Abyss."

Yun Xiao had really guessed correctly.

"Y-you... can't take me away, can you?"

Linglong's voice trembled slightly. In her sapphire-blue vertical pupils, the light that had once shone so brightly dimmed bit by bit.

"Not yet."

Lei Xiao ultimately chose honesty. "But once my cultivation is high enough in the future, I'll definitely come back to take you away first thing, all right?"

"Then can you stay here with me for a while before you leave?" Linglong asked hopefully.

"All right..."

"That's wonderful. This is for you."

Before Lei Xiao could refuse, Linglong placed the Wind-Repelling Seal in his hand.

Lei Xiao lowered his head to look at the warm blue-white jade seal in his palm. Feeling the innate Dao rhythm flowing within it, he could not help but smile helplessly to himself.

A Connate Spirit Treasure that could make countless Zenith Heaven Golden Immortals fight until their heads bled had just been stuffed into his hands.

This little girl was far too generous.

Lei Xiao did not know that he was actually the first living being Linglong had seen since she was born.

Back then, as the calamity grew ever more intense, Ancestral Dragon began preparing a way out for Linglong. He sent Linglong, who was still a "dragon egg," into the Fortune Dragon Cauldron, then sent the Fortune Dragon Cauldron into Wind Abyss.

The Fortune Dragon Cauldron was connected to the dragon race's fortune. According to Ancestral Dragon's plan, even if he were to perish, Linglong would still be able to rely on the dragon race's fortune to grow rapidly.

But Ancestral Dragon had not expected the final battle of the three races to cause the deaths of countless living beings across the Primordial World. The dragon race, in particular, bore monstrous karmic sin as a result, and even the golden Fortune Dragon Cauldron that had originally suppressed the dragon race's fortune turned black.

Within the Fortune Dragon Cauldron, even with the heaven-defying bloodline of a nine-clawed Azure Dragon, Linglong still grew at an exceedingly slow pace. She was never able to reach the standard Ancestral Dragon had set for her to leave Wind Abyss.

Wind Abyss was incomparably dangerous and extremely remote; almost no one ever set foot there.

Linglong incubated inside the cauldron for an unknown number of tens of thousands of years before breaking out of her dragon egg, after which she grew up alone in this small world.

Until Lei Xiao appeared.

Of course, there was also Yun Xiao, but Lei Xiao was the only one from whom she sensed an aura that made her want to draw close.

After agreeing to stay, Lei Xiao restored his mana while telling Linglong about the outside world and teaching her cultivation.

Throughout this process, the relationship among Lei Xiao, Yun Xiao, and Linglong steadily grew closer.

In the blink of an eye, a thousand years passed.

On this day, Linglong had entered seclusion to break through to the middle stage of the Primordial Unity Golden Immortal realm. Lei Xiao stood atop a mountain peak, looking into the distance.

"You plan to leave."

A voice suddenly sounded behind him.

Lei Xiao did not turn around. He merely nodded slightly. "This Fortune Dragon Cauldron is transmitting karmic sin into Linglong every moment. If we don't find a way to resolve it, she will die. My current strength is insufficient, so I must leave to seek opportunities and raise my cultivation quickly."

Linglong did not exist in the mythological legends at all. As Ancestral Dragon's bloodline—and a nine-clawed Azure Dragon at that—if she had appeared in the Primordial World, she would surely have left behind legends.

Yet Linglong had not left behind the slightest trace in mythological legends. The only explanation was that she had died, silently and without a sound.