Chapter 426 - Senior Apprentice-Brother, You Cannot Head Out
Shen Lian spoke softly, "Since you have agreed to it, you must not go back on your word. Otherwise…"
"Otherwise?" The flood dragon felt the pressure being lifted and it was able to open its mouth. He replied in human language and queried urgently.
Shen Lian caressed its half-gone horns as he replied, "I heard dragon meat tastes good, if you were to go back on your words, I will get to find out how dragon meat tastes like. Even though you are not truly a dragon in the strictest sense, but I guess you should taste just fine."
The flood dragon noticed that even though it had regained freedom, but Shen Lian only had to exert a little pressure on it to render it powerless. It was capable of generating tens and thousands tonne of giant force. However, it was no different from a tiny snake in front of Shen Lian.
Indeed, it was of dragon breed, but it did not have the pride that came with a divine dragon. It understood the law of the jungle. After hearing what Shen Lian said and seeing his overwhelming power, it did not think of resisting. Hurriedly, it smiled and replied, "Master, this tiny dragon here will not break its promise."
"Ah, so that's all you have. To think that you have the guts to come up to Mount Zhong." Shen Lian knocked on its head.
The flood dragon thought to itself, "If I knew that abnormals like you actually exists in this world, I wouldn't have come here." It was cursing Xuantong Demon King who sent it here, completely forgetting that how it admired Xuantong Demon King for her beauty and was determined to procure the spirit tablet of the boundless water of Ruoshui. As a God of Rain, it would be a matching partner for Xuantong Demon King.
"You look too ugly now and you are lucky to run into me. Otherwise, if you were struck by Chen Beidou's sword aura, you can forget about having dragon horns in this life." Shen Lian leisurely pointed his finger and the starlight around him started to focus and ended up falling on top of the flood dragon's head. The once-broken horn took shape again and was returning to its original shape at an unimaginable speed. Its inner injuries too had started to heal by themselves. It was washed over with a sense of wellbeing.
"Thank you Master." The flood dragon bowed lowly, and it was doing it with sincerity this time.
After seeing how Shen Lian could heal its injuries with minimal effort, it thought that it would be nice to be connected to someone capable. Moreover, it heard that Shen Lian was the Chief of Qing Xuan, one of the four main Daoist sects. The celestial sect had ten thousand years history and had produced a lot of great individuals who were stronger than even the true divine dragons.
"Bring me somewhere now." Shen Lian sat on the dragon head, both of its horns were akin to branches and was as tall as a person. He sat in between of the horns calmly, giving off the same vibe as Buddha did when he sat under the Budi tree, albeit in a much simpler form now.
Before Shen Lian had incarnated into a deity, Chen Jinchan was thrown off into the wild by the vibrating Qi strength. When he was half dead, he was carried by a stream of sword aura to the opposite shore. Because of that, he remained in safety.
The owner of the sword aura was the women who wanted to kill him the other day. The woman did not interact with him, but she was watching the intense battle at Mount Zhong. When the world was covered in white light, Chen Beidou walked into the void and disappeared into a blood-red light dot.
From that moment onwards, the women seemed relieved and her mood lightened up.
Mount Zhong had been standing sturdily for over ten thousand years, and yet it seemed tattered now. Its mountain range was dwindling, and Chen Jinchan was not sure if the villagers in Chen Village were safe. Although, with the protection of the noble witch, their current predicament could not be that bad.
He barely interacted with his savior. Even though she saved him, but it was obvious that she was not fond of him.
He was sharp, and he knew that there must be a reason behind her demeanor. However, he did not ask about it. After all, if a person hated you that much, it was better to minimize the amount of interaction. This was especially true if the other party was a woman. Most of the time, women were unreasonable.
He learned about this in the noble witch's crystal ball. Though, Chen Jinchan did not think that the noble witch who was a woman would have had this sort of knowledge in her crystal ball.
He was a learned man now, and his knowledge would be unrivaled by most people in the world. In spite of that, there were certain fields that he did not know much about. Such was true, as some things were better understood with one's personal experience.
Chen Jinchan thought the process was all over the place, and time passed quickly. The sudden splash of water shocked him.
On top of the calm Ruo Shui, a line appeared. This was followed by the emergence of a giant monster. This was the flood dragon who was trying to take advantage of the situation earlier and ended up having its horn cut in half by Chen Beidou's sword aura.
However, Chen Jinchan's attention was not focused on the flood dragon. He was looking at Shen Lian who was sitting steadily on the dragon head. Shen Lian was shrouded by starlight and was emitting intangible and illusory vital force. Looking at Shen Lian, Chen Jinchan felt that it was both an awe-inspiring and melancholic sight. It was a very complicated feeling.
The woman spoke excitedly, "Uncle-Master."
Shen Lian's gaze fell on both of them. He spoke, "Yanying, follow me back to Qing Xuan and attain the state of Huandan. Fight for the nine transformations of Huandan, so you will be better than what your Honored master achieved back then. Then, I will hold the Great Ceremony of Golden Elixir for you."
"I dutifully obey. However, the number of transformations that I can attain depends on my fate. Both Honored Master and Uncle-Master are rare geniuses. I do not think that I can surpass both of you," Fang Yanying replied.
Shen Lian dismissed her remark with a smile, and he spoke to Chen Jinchan, "Are you willing to be my disciple now, Chen Jinchan?"
Chen Jinchan pondered upon it and replied, "Teacher-elder, it is my blessing that you think so highly of me. However, I have something that I would like to ask you. May I know what happened to the Great River Deity?"
Shen Lian asked, "What do you think of my current condition?"
"When I look at you now, I feel like I am looking at the sky. If you ask me how does the sky look like, I don't think I can answer that. Hence, it is difficult for me to describe your current state now," Chen Jinchan bowed as he replied.
"Even though it is difficult to say, but you should try telling me about it. You may speak to your heart's content, I will not blame you for it," Shen Lian stared hard at Chen Jinchan and spoke.
Chen Jinchan had no choice but to say, "To put it crudely, teacher-master, you are like the sky that is getting darker, you look dim."
Shen Lian clapped and replied, "Besides your remarkable physical qualities, you are more observant than the average person. You deserve to be in my sect. To be honest with you, I am indeed like the setting sun. However, Chen Beidou is not in a better position either. To say that he is a dying man would be quite apt."
He thought, if it was not for the Celestial Trapping Sword, Chen Beidou would have turned into dust and ash. Though, Shen Lian was not angry at him. However, seeing how Chen Beidou was the reason behind his current predicament, it was impossible for him to maintain any friendliness towards him.
"Jinchan is willing to join the teacher-elder's sect." Chen Jinchan took a step back. He bowed thrice and kowtowed nine times - it was a solemn and respectful gesture.
However, when Fang Yanying heard about how Chen Beidou was a dying man, she could not help but to be worried.
Shen Lian received his gesture and waved his sleeve. Both of them were invited onto the dragon head, standing on the left and right side respectively. They leaned against the dragon horn, and was akin to two Daoist children, with one being a male and the other being a female.
The flood dragon spoke, "Take your seat."
It shook its tail and created foams of breaking waves. In just a moment, it was high up in the sky.
At the same time, on top of Mount Taicang, in the Lingxiao Hall, Yuming the Honored Celestial who was seated on the throne opened his eyes. Dressed neatly in his imperial robes, he walked out of the palace.
When he was at the door, a Daoist clothed with a yellow Daoist robe and straw sandals appeared. The Daoist stopped him and exclaimed, "Senior Apprentice-Brother, you cannot go out."