The moonlight on this jungle night was exceedingly faint. Metal magic orbs hovered low in the air, casting light over the lakeside.
Xuzhi helped Ming Shuang settle comfortably and fell silent for the moment.
Ming Shuang was about to press further. He lifted his head and looked at Xuzhi again. “Isn’t it?”
Xuzhi’s lips twitched. He sighed helplessly. “Yes.”
Only then did Ming Shuang relax. He wrapped his arms tightly around Xuzhi’s waist, nestled into his embrace, and closed his eyes once more.
Right now, he couldn’t think too much, nor could he unravel everything.
In any case, Xuzhi was his master, and they were the closest of companions—that much was undeniably true.
Moreover, no matter what had happened, the way he used to get along with his five card beasts was real.
The magic power within his body had yet to fully settle. As Ming Shuang regulated his breathing, he recalled a distant memory: his first meeting with Coal Ball.
Back then, he had truly been small, in his genuine juvenile phase. Coal Ball had also been a size smaller than it was now, with stubby limbs and the appearance of a fluffy black ball.
It had just entered the card pool and hid in the back mountains for a full two days, refusing to come out.
Xuzhi had taken Ming Shuang to search for it. They found it curled up in some bushes in a corner. At the sound of movement, it cautiously cracked open its eyes, then quickly shut them again, pretending to be dead.
The Little Dragon Hatchling was curious. He circled the bushes, letting out an “awooo,” and wanted to burrow in for a look, but Xuzhi stopped him.
Xuzhi said the bushes’ leaves were too tough and would cut him.
So, Ming Shuang left some of his snack jerky outside the bushes, hoping Coal Ball inside would eat it.
He couldn’t quite remember if Coal Ball had eaten it in the end. What he did recall was that for quite a long time afterward, he kept leaving food outside those bushes.
Snacks, a small portion of his lunch, fruits… He would even bring over little toys and place them there.
Coal Ball was very timid. It took a long while before it gradually warmed up to Ming Shuang and began following happily at his heels everywhere.
And then there was Tomato…
Back then, Tomato hadn’t been much bigger than the Little Dragon Hatchling, but its temper was explosive. At first, it had been confined in a magic formation. Xuzhi said it wasn’t very obedient and forbade Ming Shuang from getting close.
The Little Dragon Hatchling would nod obediently one moment, then sneak over the next to peek.
Inside the magic formation by the stream, the Little Red Bird flitted about chaotically, crashing into the barrier. It would pause now and then to catch its breath before resuming its collisions.
Ming Shuang poked his head in to watch and couldn’t resist approaching the formation.
The Little Red Bird had just worn itself out and collapsed in the grass, panting. When it noticed Ming Shuang, it ignored him.
Ming Shuang saw the bump swelling on its head from the impacts. From outside the formation, he blew a puff of frost toward it, hoping to ease the pain.
The ice magic did have a slight numbing effect. The Little Red Bird froze for a moment, then awkwardly rolled over to face away from him.
…
Ming Shuang snapped back to the present, pulling himself from the memory.
Not far away, under a tree, two magical beasts—one black, one red—were conversing. Tomato chirped away to itself, while Coal Ball occasionally responded.
Ming Shuang suddenly remembered something else. He tilted his face up toward Xuzhi.
Xuzhi looked down at him. “Feeling better?”
Ming Shuang mumbled an affirmative and asked, “Master… do you have a mental link with Coal Ball and the others too?”
“A mental link?”
“Like the one between you and me,” Ming Shuang explained. “Where we can talk in dreams.”
Xuzhi paused for a moment. “No.”
When Ming Shuang entered his dreams, Xuzhi had once seen a functioning magic array there, sustaining the dreamscape—perhaps that was the mental link Ming Shuang mentioned.
However, it seemed more like a contract than anything.
Xuzhi wasn’t a beast tamer. Apart from the labor contracts in the mining district long ago, he had never dealt with any others, so he couldn’t confirm his guess.
And indeed, this “mental link” existed only between him and Ming Shuang.
Ming Shuang nodded with an “oh,” inexplicably cheered by this. He nuzzled against Xuzhi again.
What Tomato had said earlier—that the Little Dragon must have been snatched away—still nagged at him a bit.
But since only he shared a mental link with Xuzhi, that proved he was the most special. So… he probably hadn’t been snatched, and he definitely hadn’t been captured.
Ming Shuang let his thoughts wander for a bit, trying to push aside the jumble in his mind.
Xuzhi stayed quiet, glancing at the two magical beasts under the tree.
Ever since Ming Shuang had first shapeshifted in front of him, many things had arisen that Xuzhi needed to figure out.
Ming Shuang called him master and spoke of their shared past, which Xuzhi had doubted at first.
Now, with a second magical beast appearing, Xuzhi was finally more certain.
But why had he forgotten everything and become an ordinary human without any innate talent?
Ming Shuang had said that he had raised him. Nurturing a naturally frail dragon hatchling to adulthood surely hadn’t been easy.
However, he had now gained innate talent.
Perhaps as long as he grew stronger and regained his former power, he could remember it all.
Xuzhi raised his hand and gently stroked Ming Shuang’s silver hair.
He suddenly asked, “Did I used to hold you like this often in the past?”
Ming Shuang was very clingy. He had been that way as the Little Dragon Hatchling and no different after shapeshifting.
In their dreams, he always habitually threw himself into Xuzhi’s arms.
At that, Ming Shuang looked up. “Yeah.”
He thought for a moment, then added, “On my sixteenth birthday, you said I couldn’t just let you hold me anymore…”
“But I refused,” Ming Shuang declared righteously. “So you still held me anyway.”
Xuzhi’s lips curved in a faint smile. He gazed quietly at Ming Shuang without speaking.
Ming Shuang’s condition had improved by now. The chaotic magic power had mostly calmed, and his spirits were lifting.
“Chirp!” Tomato saw him chatting so much with Xuzhi and couldn’t resist calling out, beckoning him over.
Ming Shuang turned to look, then back at Xuzhi.
Xuzhi fastened the outer robe around him. “Go on.”
Ming Shuang nodded and rose, heading to the tree. Tomato promptly wrapped him in its unfurled wings.
~~~
Meanwhile, in Central City.
Night had deepened, but a few lights still burned in the instructors’ preparation area of Lobe Magic Academy.
On the top floor’s attic, Herl locked the door tight and raised his hand to set a barrier magic array.
Once that was done, he turned around, his tone full of emotion. “I never imagined I’d live to see you again.”
Yan Si removed his face-concealing cloak and eyed Herl. “How did you get so old?”
“…” Herl was speechless for a moment. “…It’s been nearly a century. I’m just an elf-race half-blood. Of course I’ve aged.”
Humans who cultivated to Saint Domain 10th Tier could extend their lifespan beyond three hundred years, but Herl was getting on in years and too lazy to use those youth-preserving methods. He had let his appearance age naturally.
Compared to Herl, with his wrinkled face and graying hair, Yan Si looked only in his thirties.
“Yeah, it’s been so long,” Yan Si said casually as he picked a chair and sat. “And you’ve become dean.”
Herl approached and poured him a cup of tea. “You didn’t come here out of the blue just to reminisce, did you?”
The Dragon Clan had vanished from Cangyuan Continent. Yan Si wouldn’t appear without something critically important.
“I do have some business,” Yan Si replied. “Don’t worry—unless it’s necessary, we won’t show ourselves lightly.”
We? More than just Yan Si had come?
Herl kept a calm face, but his hand trembled as he lifted his teacup.
Then Yan Si took a magic stone from his storage ring and tossed it to Herl. “Is the alchemy inside this something you made before?”
Herl caught it and examined it closely. He nodded. “Yes.”
As he recalled, he said, “If I remember right… Ming Xue asked me to develop it back then? But I got stuck midway and don’t think I finished…”
“She came to me later and asked for my help,” Yan Si said, glancing at the magic stone in Herl’s hand. “I only recently found this among my things… So I want to know, why did she need this alchemy? And why come to you first?”
Yan Si and Herl both cultivated metal magic. Herl had been highly talented back then, though not quite on Yan Si’s level.
As a dragon of the Dragon Clan, if Ming Xue wanted something, seeking it from her own kin would have been easiest.
Moreover, Yan Si now noticed that the alchemy Ming Xue had asked Herl to make was rather special.
It seemed like something that could sustain natural operations, filtering vital energy…
“No idea—I probably didn’t ask,” Herl said with a shrug. “But I do remember she also approached Dean Xiang.”
“The previous academy dean, Xiang Lun?”
Herl nodded. “Yes.”
In Yan Si’s memory, Xiang Lun had already reached Saint Domain 10th Tier, with highly unique space magic. His son, Xiang Yuan, was an ordinary human who had gotten along well with Ming Xue.
Herl added, “That’s all I know. Dean Xiang has since retired to vice dean and doesn’t handle academy affairs much anymore. If you want to find him…”
Yan Si was a bit surprised and raised a brow. “He’s still around?”
By his rough calculations, Dean Xiang had to be over three hundred fifty years old.
“He’s in great spirits,” Herl sighed. “We tried to get him to stay at the academy and rest more, but he won’t…”
Yan Si asked again, “What about Xiang Yuan?”
“He had no magic talent and passed away from old age long ago.”
Yan Si was momentarily at a loss for words, struck by the subtle differences in human lifespans.
Herl sighed again. “If you need it, I can try summoning Dean Xiang back. But he’s always been capricious, and these past few years, even more reclusive…”
Especially after Xiang Yuan’s death, he was left all alone, and his mindset had probably frayed a bit.
Photos of successive deans hung on the attic walls. Yan Si’s gaze swept over them and settled on Xiang Lun’s.
It matched his memory: icy blue eyes, unsmiling, an eccentric old codger.
Yan Si raised his hand. “I’m in no rush. Where is he?”
Herl took out his communication device and flipped through it. Moments later, he said, “The message that came back yesterday said they’re near White Cloud City.”
~~~
In the jungle, Ming Shuang kept Tomato company as it spoke of its years guarding Netherworld Mountain and all the high-rank beast tamers it had driven off.
Ming Shuang listened with rapt attention until sleepiness finally overtook him. Then Xuzhi called him over.
Xuzhi fed Ming Shuang some medicine. Coal Ball fetched water, heated it up, and handed over a towel.
But Ming Shuang didn’t stir. Drowsy and bleary-eyed, he let out a yawn, instinctively waiting for Xuzhi to tend to him, just like in the days before shapeshifting.
Xuzhi hesitated for a moment before taking the towel and soaking it in the warm water.
He wiped Ming Shuang’s face and then his hands. Ming Shuang sat there obediently. All of a sudden, he asked, “Master, I want to go to the mountaintop and find some treasure!”
Xuzhi took his hand. “Alright.”
Ming Shuang’s eyes sparkled, his drowsiness vanishing in an instant. “So when are we going?”
Xuzhi pondered for a moment. “Not right away. We still need to head back to the city tomorrow.”
“Oh.” Ming Shuang asked again, “Can we bring Tomato? It can fly!”
Xuzhi replied, “It isn’t registered, so it can’t enter the city.”
Tomato, perched under a nearby tree, snorted in dissatisfaction at those words.
Ming Shuang nodded and yawned once more, his sleepy gaze fixed on Xuzhi.
“Master,” he murmured, inching closer bit by bit. In a soft whisper, he added, “I can fly too. Once I regain my adult form, you can ride me…”
Xuzhi’s movements stilled, and he fell quiet.
The youth lowered his eyes, seemingly oblivious to his own words, the tips of his ears turning red under the cover of night.
