Chapter 36

The next day, while the three of them were having breakfast together, Yu Tianyun hesitated for a moment, looked at Duguyan, and said gently:

"Yanyan, I've been away from the sect for over two months; it's time to go back to the sect. Also, my elder brother, seeing that I haven't returned for so many days, must be worried. I plan to first return to the Tiandou Royal Academy tomorrow, then go home. Will you come with me?"

Duguyan's heart tightened; she looked reluctantly at Yu Tianyun and said: "I feel this place is very suitable for cultivation; I don't plan to return to the academy yet. When will you come back? And what about that reward—are you not taking it?"

Duguyan's voice grew softer and softer toward the end, and she lowered her head bashfully.

Yu Tianyun knew this was Duguyan being reluctant to part with him; although he also didn't want to leave his wife, he had been away from home for so long without any news, so it was time to let his family know he was safe, and besides, his family still had three concubines waiting for him. Yu Tianyun pondered for a moment and said:

"Yanyan, I'm not not coming back; after I let my family know I'm safe, I'll come back. This place is just as suitable for my cultivation, and I really want that reward!"

"Or I could give you the reward tonight, so you won't be distracted on the road and possibly have an accident if you're absent-minded."

Duguyan bashfully leaned close to Yu Tianyun's ear and whispered.

Yu Tianyun blinked, thinking, "How could this possibly cause an accident?"

He then understood Duguyan's little thought, but he didn't expose it, lest his straight-man behavior cost him a happy moment—nowhere to cry—so he readily agreed, saying: "All right, then thank you, Duguyan."

Beside them, Dugubo listened to the two, completely baffled; although they spoke softly, with his cultivation he heard every word clearly.

"What reward? What tonight? What accident?"

Suddenly Dugubo felt he had stumbled upon some blind spot. He frowned, thinking hard, but just as the answer was about to surface, Yu Tianyun timely interrupted his train of thought.

"Grandfather, I'll be leaving for a while tomorrow. Next time I come, may I bring my family along? The environment here is very suitable for my family's cultivation. Grandfather, rest assured—I won't bring too many people, at most just my grandfather, father, and mother, the three of them."

Yu Tianyun looked hopefully at Dugubo.

Being disturbed by Yu Tianyun, Dugubo could no longer regain his earlier train of thought; slightly annoyed, he said:

"Do as you please, as long as you don't wreck this place. Besides, you brat need to leave some blood; otherwise, how am I, this old man, going to detoxify myself these days?"

Yu Tianyun flicked his Storage Soul Conduit, and a jade bottle appeared in his hand, which he handed to Dugubo, saying: "Grandfather, I've prepared this long ago; this large bottle is enough for you to completely cleanse the poison from your body."

Seeing such a large bottle of blood, Duguyan instantly felt a pang of pity for Yu Tianyun; upon closer inspection, she indeed noticed his face slightly pale, and she felt heartbroken.

Yu Tianyun replied that he was fine; although the bottle held about a liter of blood, given his current physique, he would recover fully within a day or two.

While time flies quickly for some, for Yu Tianyun and Duguyan today it felt extraordinarily long, as if each second were a year; they stared longingly at the sun until it finally set, then hastily finished dinner and made an excuse to go out for a stroll, telling Dugubo not to worry about them.

Poor Dugubo, from this moment on became an empty-nest elder, alone guarding the cave, with no one knowing his comfort or hardship.

The two didn't go far; they were exactly at the poison array set up by Dugubo's subordinates, where no Soul Beast would disturb them.

One of them is immune to all poisons, the other possesses a poison-attribute Dragon martial soul, so neither is affected in the slightest by the poison array.

At that moment, the two in the poison array quickly set up a tent, laid down the soft, comfortable fur of a ten-thousand-year snow fox, and eagerly extinguished the lights to go to sleep.

Yu Tianyun quickly fell asleep; in his dream, he was holding a large cudgel and confronting a seductive green snake spirit.

Opposite, the green snake spirit saw Yu Tianyun pull out such a huge cudgel, her eyes darting, looking frightened, yet facing such a strong opponent she couldn't help but be eager to try. She swallowed a mouthful of saliva, no longer hesitating, launched the first attack, swooped forward, grabbed Yu Tianyun's large cudgel, intending to first seize his magical treasure.

Yu Tianyun's body trembled; he hadn't expected this little demon to dare be so brazen, but his magical treasure was already under her control and couldn't be drawn. He instantly flared with anger and shame, engaging the demon in close-quarters combat.

This green snake spirit had lived hidden in the deep mountains all year, uncontentious with the world, unaware of human treachery, and severely lacking combat experience; in less than a hundred rounds, Yu Tianyun subdued her.

Seeing the snake demon lying on the ground begging for mercy, Yu Tianyun felt a twinge of pity and said: "Demon, in keeping with heaven's virtue of cherishing life, I spare you today—scram!"

The green snake spirit immediately fled into the lake, meanwhile restoring her magic power while recalling the previous battle.

She, the Green Snake Queen, was not lacking in magic power; it was merely her first encounter with spell combat and she had no experience. She therefore took the lesson to heart, continually studying combat techniques. Eventually, the green snake spirit's magic power fully recovered, while at that moment Yu Tianyun was resting and failed to notice the strange, gleaming eyes lurking in the lake.

At that very moment, following the principle of striking first, the green snake spirit launched a sneak attack, again rushing to seize Yu Tianyun's large cudgel.

This cudgel was in tune with Yu Tianyun's mind; he instantly jolted awake, seeing it was that defeated underling, curled his lip in a sneer, and said: "Bold demon, overestimating yourself, Daoist I pity your cultivation struggles and gave you a chance to live, yet you dare cause trouble again—behold my Majestic Heavenly Dragon!"

Having said that, the man and the demon grappled again, trading punches and kicks, fighting with great enjoyment.

As time dragged on, Yu Tianyun grew increasingly alarmed; the man and the demon had already fought two hundred rounds, and both were beginning to feel overwhelmed.

Yu Tianyun had suffered a minor injury yesterday, causing excessive blood loss, which clearly affected his condition today; moreover, the green snake spirit's vital spot that Yu Tianyun had pierced in their previous battle had also lost a considerable amount of essence blood.

At this point, after a prolonged stalemate, both prepared to unleash their ultimate moves; only see the green snake spirit's body suffused with brilliant green light, two protrusions appearing on her forehead, and four on her abdomen.

Yu Tianyun was startled to see that the green snake spirit was actually preparing to transform into a dragon; without hesitation, thunder crackled across his body, bursting forth a brilliant blue light as scales erupted from beneath his skin.

Yu Tianyun could also transform into a true dragon! In the blink of an eye, the solitary man and demon confronting each other in this secret realm became two dragons facing off; the azure dragon formed by Yu Tianyun roared loudly: "Hey, bold demon, hurry up and show your true form!"

Having said that, Yu Tianyun's dragon form instantly straightened, resembling his straight cudgel; his body became thick and powerful, thick veins bulging all over, he unleashed his full strength and immediately lunged forward.

"Ah!" The green dragon formed by the snake spirit, despite giving its all to defend, was still struck by this heavy blow, left dazed and disoriented, involuntarily rolling its eyes upward; because the force is mutual, Yu Tianyun, who struck with his head, felt it more acutely, instantly feeling a bit dizzy and nauseous, but still tolerable.

Seeing that this attack worked well, Yu Tianyun prepared to 'eat fresh all under heaven'—a phrase likely meaning to continue with the same strike—and launched the same attack again.

The green dragon of the snake spirit had not yet recovered from the previous strike when Yu Tianyun's attack came again, and the snake spirit couldn't help but emit a mellow dragon's roar.

Yu Tianyun, seeing how effective the attack was, suppressed his urge to vomit and kept striking; accompanied by the snake spirit's continual dragon cries, he couldn't help but be overjoyed and shouted loudly:

"Bold demon, quickly reveal your true form!"

For a moment, the battle of the two giant dragons caused the secret realm to shake heaven and earth, sun and moon darkened. Time slowly passed; after two hours, the dragon formed by Yu Tianyun could no longer endure, flopped onto the green dragon and vomited profusely.

Meanwhile, that green dragon had already been knocked unconscious by the impact and reverted to its original green snake form.

After vomiting, Yu Tianyun also had no strength left; his dragon transformation dissipated automatically, and lying on the green snake he couldn't muster the strength to move a hand or foot.

Thus, man and monster perished together. (End of chapter)