Phoenix's Requiem

Whitey wasn’t a python or serpent—it was a young dragon! Given the luster of its scales, it was even a silver dragon!

Suddenly, the Feilai Blade flew out of her body. The demonic dragon forefather sat atop the blade, his eyes gleaming. As though sensing the danger, Whitey also opened its eyes, raised its head, and began looking at the silver dragon elder.

“Huhut, to think that I’d be able to find a silver dragon on the Chenyuan continent! I failed to kill the silver dragon elder, but killing this little thing will certainly raise my spirits!” The demonic dragon forefather bore a blood grudge against the silver dragon clan, and it seemed as though Whitey would soon become a sacrifice for his anger.

Lin Qingchen and Lin Qingxue knew of the existence of the demonic dragon forefather, but they hadn’t ever before seen a dragon, and were unaware of what Whitey’s metamorphosis signified. Indeed, even Yun Ruoyan was shocked to find out that Whitey was actually a silver dragon.

“Sister Ruoyan, what’s a silver dragon?” Lin Qingchen hurriedly asked Yun Ruoyan.

“There are two dragon clans on the Jiyuan continent, the silver dragon clan and the demonic dragon clan. The two clans are bitter rivals; the demonic dragon forefather is naturally a member of the demonic dragon clan, whereas Whitey belongs to the silver dragon clan,” Yun Ruoyan explained, then turned to the demonic dragon forefather. “Why would Whitey appear on the Chenyuan continent? When we discovered it, it was still an egg. Perhaps Whitey isn’t a silver dragon?”

Whitey and Lin Qingchen were bound by a pact, and Yun Ruoyan knew how important Whitey was to her cousin. She tried to protect Whitey, but the demonic dragon forefather snorted. “This is a silver dragon whelp. I’m sure of it.”

The demonic dragon forefather explained how, during the fight a millennium ago, a member of the elite forces of the silver dragon clan had been badly wounded and had been forced to flee to the Chenyuan continent. The demonic dragon forefather suspected that Whitey was a descendant of that dragon. It had remained as an egg because the conditions for it to hatch had never been met until Yun Ruoyan and the others had discovered and retrieved it. Under Lin Qingchen’s wholehearted care, it had finally hatched.

“That silver dragon slaughtered quite a number of my kin. Today, I’ll kill its whelp in revenge, to placate the souls of my fallen brethren!”

Whitey could clearly sense the demonic dragon forefather’s hostility. Before the demonic dragon forefather could attack, Whitey flicked its tail toward the elder, but its attack was ineffectual. His tail splashed against the surface of the pond and produced a spray of water that sprinkled over Yun Ruoyan, the Lin sisters, and little Li Yan.

Since the weather was turning warm, Li Yan wasn’t discomfited by the sudden spray. Instead, his attention was completely drawn to the magnificent, gigantic creature that had just appeared from the pond, and he stared unblinkingly at Whitey with wide, wide eyes.

“You whelp, you dare attack me? Take this!” The demonic dragon forefather shot a spark of flame at the pond, which Whitey immediately swatted into the water. It expected that the spark would rapidly be extinguished upon landing in the pond, but unexpectedly, it flared as though it had landed in oil instead.

With a sudden whoosh, the entire pond caught on fire.

Yun Ruoyan knew precisely how strong the demonic dragon forefather’s fire-attuned spiritual techniques were. On the Mingyuan continent, just one spark of his had burned Pi Batian to cinders, and the flame bullet technique that he had imparted to her was able to desiccate a human within moments, and it was so powerful that no ordinary sword saint would be able to match it.

Yun Ruoyan looked despairingly at Whitey. The fire that burned on the lake’s surface had to be unimaginably hot, and Whitey was quickly unable to bear the heat. It tried to leap out of the surface of the pond, but the demonic dragon forefather corralled the flame to trap Whitey within.

Whitey began to cry, almost like a baby did. Yun Ruoyan, who had just become a mother, clutched her heart in pain, but she was powerless to stop the demonic dragon forefather.

“Whitey!” Lin Qingchen only seemed to react then. “Sister Ruoyan, tell the demonic dragon forefather to stop! He’s going to burn Whitey to death!”

Yun Ruoyan couldn’t bear to tell Lin Qingchen that that was exactly the demonic dragon forefather’s intention.

“Whitey hatched not more than four years ago, and it didn’t participate in this war between the two dragon clans. It shouldn’t have to be accountable for what the silver dragon clan did,” Yun Ruoyan spoke to the demonic dragon forefather.

“The silver dragons are sly and deceitful, and I’ll kill any of them that cross my path!” the demonic dragon forefather yelled back.

Whitey continued to howl, its massive body flip-flopping in the pond. Amidst the flames’ relentless burning, its silvery-white scales turned a scorched red-brown. Where the flames drew closest to its body, some of its scales fell off, revealing bloody flesh.

If this were to continue, Whitey would soon be completely cooked. While Yun Ruoyan was arguing with the demonic dragon forefather, Lin Qingchen had approached the pond and was trying to douse the flames. When Yun Ruoyan saw what she was doing, she hurriedly stuffed Li Yan into Lin Qingxue’s lap and ran forward to stop Lin Qingchen.

As the situation devolved into chaos, Li Yan suddenly started to struggle and howl. Yun Ruoyan and the demonic dragon forefather both looked toward him immediately, because this was the first time he had howled ever since his birth.

They saw Li Yan’s chubby fingers pointing at Whitey, still surrounded by flames, mumbling something that nobody could make out. His cheeks were stained with tears. When the demonic dragon forefather looked at Li Yan, and then at Whitey, he frowned. Then, as if he had discovered some secret, he sighed and extinguished the flames surrounding Whitey.

“Whitey, are you alright?!” Lin Qingchen immediately dove into the water to check on Whitey’s injuries.

Yun Ruoyan took Li Yan from Lin Qingxue’s lap and began inspecting his body to see if he had been scorched by some errant flame, but she didn’t notice anything amiss.

“I don’t know what happened—Li Yan just began to cry all of a sudden,” Lin Qingxue whispered. She had been very shocked when it happened.

The Feilai Blade floated to Yun Ruoyan’s side, bringing the demonic dragon forefather with it. He stroked his beard and murmured, “It seems like little Li Yan’s quite taken with that silver dragon whelp.”

“What do you mean?” Yun Ruoyan turned to the demonic dragon forefather.

“Didn’t you see that whelp asking Li Yan for help?” Strangely enough, the demonic dragon forefather smiled as he looked at Whitey. “It’ll be Li Yan’s spiritual beast in the future.”

“Whitey belongs to Qingchen! They’ve made a blood pact!” Yun Ruoyan cried out.

“As long as Lin Qingchen voluntarily discards the pact, Whitey won’t be her spiritual beast any longer,” the demonic dragon forefather replied carelessly.

“What? You tried to kill her spiritual beast, and now you want her to give it up? Aren’t you being too overbearing?”

“Overbearing?” The demonic dragon forefather raised his eyebrows, clearly seeing nothing wrong with his actions. Ignoring Yun Ruoyan, he flew toward Lin Qingchen, who immediately shielded Whitey with her body.

“If you want to burn him to death, you’ll have to burn me first!” Lin Qingchen yelled.

“Lass, you should know that I have a right to his life. The silver dragons slaughtered my clan, and I wouldn’t have attacked this whelp for no reason. However, I no longer want to kill it.” freℯ𝓌e𝚋𝐧𝘰vℯl.𝐜𝚘𝗺

“In that case, I suppose I’ll have to thank you on Whitey’s behalf,” Lin Qingchen replied, her voice still cold.

“No need for thanks,” the demonic dragon forefather replied. “I have a condition.”

“What condition?” Lin Qingchen’s voice was again wary.

“I want you to dissolve your pact with this whelp and let it be Li Yan’s spiritual beast.”

Lin Qingchen frowned. “Li Yan? He’s just a baby. What do you mean?”

“Your little whelp has some affinity with the future elder of my clan, little Li Yan, so I’m taking the initiative to have him take the whelp as his spiritual beast. Of course, you have the right to refuse, but in that case, I won’t go easy on the child of the enemy of my people.”

To him, Yun Ruoyan was already at least at the position of an elder of the silver dragon clan, and her child, Li Yan, would naturally also assume that position as he grew older. The demonic dragon forefather then peered at Whitey. “I think it can still bear my flames for another fifteen minutes.”

“Stop! I’ll take the deal,” Lin Qingchen cried out, unwilling to see Whitey suffer any longer. “However, you have to promise me that, as long as I agree to your request, you won’t ever hurt Whitey in the future.” ƒ𝔯𝗲𝗲𝙬𝒆𝚋𝐧oѵℯl.𝒄𝑜m

“Whitey?” The demonic dragon forefather raised his eyebrows. For a silver dragon to have such a puerile name... wasn’t so bad? “I have no intention of hurting Li Yan’s spiritual beast, don’t you worry, huhut.” When the demonic dragon forefather thought about how a silver dragon would become the contracted beast of an elder of the demonic dragon clan, he couldn’t help cackling with glee.