I was worrying helplessly here when I heard Ugly raise its head and roar loudly. The whole massive body leaned upwards, and with a swipe of its claw, it dashed away in the opposite direction from us, as fast as lightning. Countless dark clusters of heavy clouds emerged from nowhere, faithfully concealing all traces for it.
"Oh no, it... it's escaping!" I jumped on my feet, pointing towards the direction the ugly monster was fleeing.
"Stubborn evil beast! You think you can deceive me with a mere smokescreen?!"
The enemy he solemnly vowed to catch escaped right under his nose, but he seemed unconcerned, showing no intention of pursuit.
"Not chasing?" I looked at him in astonishment.
"Of course we will." He gave me a confident look that said, "It'll never get away."
As soon as he finished speaking, he extended his left hand, palm facing upward. Before I could fully understand what was happening, I saw a light blue halo rising from his palm, and a sparkling and translucent little thing emerged from it, growing larger and constantly changing shape.
In just the blink of an eye, the radiance dissipated, and a transparent curved bow with flowing waves of light was firmly in his grasp.
With a flick of his right hand, he produced a sharp arrow of the same material as the bow from somewhere, placing it on the string.
Glancing, drawing the bow, aiming - all in one fluid motion.
With a swoosh, the arrow flew out, flying straight towards the direction where the evil dragon had disappeared, leaving behind a slender and long streak of light in the horrifying night sky, lingering for a long time, a beautiful sight. Accompanying it was an invisible airflow, carrying a sharp momentum that cleaved through all obstacles.
During our previous conversations, he had once explained to me about the things called weapons like knives, halberds, swords, and spears. I still remember him saying that he always kept his distance from weapons. After all, the evil tendencies those things bore were too heavy, which didn't suit him or me.
However, today he used one, and with such proficiency.
"You..." I stared at the radiant bow in his hand, at a loss for words.
"No other choice," he said, twirling his finger, and the sizable bow unexpectedly turned into a droplet of water, evaporating into nothingness in his palm in an instant.
At the same time, a deafening roar suddenly echoed through the empty and boundless sky, speaking accurately, it was a blood-curdling screech.
A few feeble lightning bolts streaked across the sky, and the dense black clouds that had been gathering ahead scattered like tissue caught in a strong wind, dispersing in all directions, and revealing a massive dark purple figure tumbling out from within.
It was undoubtedly that ugly evil dragon who wanted to escape.
Upon closer inspection, I saw the iridescent arrow sticking out of its back.
Around the arrowhead, several dragon scales were gouged out, and dark red blood gushed out from the wound as big as the mouth of a bowl, staining a large part of its body red.
His arrow indeed possessed extraordinary lethality.
I saw the ugly monster writhing and rolling in the air, accompanied by low moans. Eventually, it lay weakly on a remnant of black cloud, gasping for breath without moving, its bulging eyes bloodshot, feebly glaring at us.
"Humph! Serves it right." Seeing its suffering, the anger in my heart dissipated instantly.
"Let's go take a look," he sighed, pulling me and flying closer to the ugly monster.
Standing before this once arrogant and aggressive but now almost feeble enemy, he said coldly, "Do you think I don't know you've been exhausted dealing with the water dragon early on? Yet you still dare to risk your life and use your last bit of strength to conjure an illusion using the Cloud Concealment Technique, pretending to have escaped. Truly, you are a stubborn and arrogant evil dragon who also has some petty tricks."
It gasped heavily, and it was obviously in too much pain to speak, so it could only retaliate with a wrathful gaze.
"The matter has come to this point, why won't you surrender?!" He looked into its eyes, continuing, "If you promise to cease resistance and peacefully return with me to the heavenly realm, I will immediately heal your arrow wound, sparing you from the excruciating pain."
"No way!" The evil dragon didn't speak, but I couldn't help but shout anxiously, "If you heal its wound, what if it reneges on its promise and doesn't return with you? It's a bad monster. You can't trust it. Once healed, it will surely attack us again. You..."
"It won't happen. You're overthinking it," he reassured, patting my shoulder to silence my outburst.
Just as we were speaking, we suddenly heard the evil dragon say bitterly, "Humph... Even if I die, I won't let you capture me and claim credit..."
What?!
Both of us were startled at the same time.
We saw that the dying evil dragon somehow found strength from somewhere. It opened its mouth wide and spat out a round purple-red bead, shining with a blinding light that shifted between purple and red. It flew towards our heads, circling around faster and faster, dizzying to watch.
"Not good!" he muttered, grabbing me, who was completely unaware of the danger, and flying backward.
Less than two seconds after we flew away from the spot, we heard a loud noise behind us, like a sudden thunderclap or a mountain collapsing.
"Don't look back, close your eyes," he warned loudly, then enveloped me entirely in his embrace, shielding me with his body from the overwhelming shockwave rushing towards us.
He commanded, and naturally, I dared not disobey. I tightly shut my eyes, huddling in his embrace, feeling flustered.
I lost track of how much time had passed. My eyes ached from being shut so tightly, yet I dared not open them, only sensing the whooshing sound of the airflow in my ears getting weaker and weaker.
"It's okay, you can open your eyes now. Everything's fine," he said, releasing me with a relieved sigh.
Its safe?
I hurriedly opened my eyes, holding onto my pounding chest, and looked around, gasping in shock—
In front, behind, above, below — all around us was a dense, dark purple mist, mingled with a faint scent of blood. The sky, lake, trees, and mountains — all had vanished without a trace. All that remained was the eerie purple that made my hair stand on end.
"What...is this place?! How did we get here?" I asked fearfully, clutching onto his sleeve tightly.
He stroked my head and smiled, "Don't be afraid. We're still in the sky, and below us is still Duan Lake. Nothing has changed. It's just that we can't see it right now."
"Really?" I looked at the purple mist gently flowing all around us and felt slightly relieved, but then I jumped up in panic again, "What about that ugly monster? Is it hiding here too?"
"No, no, it's gone. It managed to escape," he put his arms around me and motioned for me to calm down, "It slipped away smoothly just now."
"What?" My eyes widened, "But... but didn't you hit it with an arrow?! It couldn't possibly have escaped, right? How can..."
"Indeed, it couldn't have escaped, but..." he shrugged, somewhat helplessly, "I didn't expect that this guy would willingly sacrifice hundreds of years of his own cultivation in exchange for temporary freedom."
"Hundreds of years of cultivation?" I was utterly baffled.
"The bead it spat out just now is its inner core. It used hundreds of years of cultivation to create this boundless purple mist forest, all just to trap us inside so that it can escape smoothly," he explained. Then, he chuckled self-deprecatingly, "Evil dragon, oh, evil dragon. It's a dragon after all, how can it be an ordinary character! It would rather die than admit defeat, hehe."
"You mean this purple mist is the prison it set up for us?" I roughly understood his implication and felt a new worry arising, "Does that mean we can't get out?"
"We won't be trapped forever," he remained composed, sitting down cross-legged, "Although this move is powerful, it cannot last long. The purple mist will dissipate within six hours. We just need to be patient."
"Oh, I see. That's reassuring," I finally felt completely relieved after hearing his explanation.
"Come, sit down. You must be tired after all this trouble." He closed his eyes and said to me without lifting his head.
"Oh," I responded, then sat down next to him, imitating his posture of sitting cross-legged to meditate and closing my eyes to rest.
After what he said, I indeed felt utterly exhausted. After those consecutive hair-rising events just now, even the strongest person would feel drained.
Time passed, and with each passing second, my tense nerves gradually relaxed, and finally unstoppable drowsiness crept over me.
So sleepy.
It was so quiet around.
I couldn't sit up straight anymore. My head bobbed and my body swayed, and eventually I simply slumped down, comfortably laying on the "ground" and falling asleep.
I was sleeping in the sky for the first time in my life.
"Shaluo, wake up, wake up!"
The familiar voice echoed in my ears repeatedly.
I stirred but lazily didn't want to open my eyes.
"Get up, we need to go!"
Two strong hands directly pulled me up.
I reluctantly opened my eyes.
Eh?!
The scene before me instantly dispelled all drowsiness.
The purple mist had indeed dissipated, and even the pitch-black sky had returned to the clear brightness it should have during daytime. The earth welcomed the beams of the beautiful and warm sunlight shining through the glowing clouds. Gentle ripples danced on the bluish-green surface of Duan Lake in front of us, and not a single tree on the lakeshore had fallen. They still stood proudly, swaying in the wind, their branches and leaves rustling softly, reflecting prettily in the lake water.
When I looked down again, I realized that the place I was sitting on was just the muddy ground by the lakeshore. No wonder it felt so soft and comfortable.
Everything is back to normal?
Are all the disasters over?
I couldn't help but doubt my own eyes.
I turned around and found he was watching me with a smile. "It's really not safe to sleep in the sky, so I carried you down. It's rare for you to sleep so deeply."
I sheepishly stuck out my tongue. "I just suddenly felt so tired, so..."
"Alright, alright, what a sleepyhead," he chuckled, pulling me up to stand. "Get up, we should get going."
"Where to?" I dusted off my butt and asked in puzzlement.
"Naturally, to find that evil dragon. Given its revolting behavior, I'm afraid it might cause another disaster." He was looking ahead with a worried look on his face. "It has been seriously hurt and cannot run too far."
"Oh, we're still looking for that ugly monster," I muttered unhappily.
"Of course! We can't let it have the opportunity to turn other places into another Daizhou City. Let's go!" My grumbling did not escape his keen ears. As he said this, he dragged me forward by hand.
What he said certainly made sense.
Although I truly didn't want to see that monster again, I also didn't want to see any more living beings die in vain due to its wanton insolence. Because he often told me that from the immortals above to the mortals below, from animals to insects, all life is precious and should not be trampled upon easily.
Proximity to cinnabar makes one red[1]. Being around him, I, who never cared about other people's "lives" before, gradually assimilated his values.
"Hmm, I understand." I pursed my lips, following closely behind him. "But is everything fine here? The weather seems to have returned to normal."
"Yes, the main culprit has fled, and I doubt it will come back. This Daizhou City disaster is finally over."
"Great! Then our efforts weren't in vain."
"Haha..."
The sunshine grew warmer and warmer, making the whole world feel so safe.
On the mountain path outside Daizhou City, the two of us flew on the winds as usual, heading straight for Dongting Lake[2], a hundred miles away.
He said that the guy must have fled there, as the dragon blood dripping from its wound accurately reported its whereabouts.
I had no clue how he could see the "dragon blood" left by it in the complex terrain of mountains and rocks of the vast forests. All I knew was that following him would surely lead us to our destination.
Dongting[3] Lake, what a nice name. I wonder what kind of story it will bring us?!
I sat down beside him and leaned against his side, admiring the beautiful scenery of the lake and watching the sun gradually set. I felt peaceful. Even though we didn't say a word from start to finish, I didn't feel bored at all.
Footnotes:
[1] Part of the saying “Proximity to cinnabar makes one red, to pitch makes one black.” Different environments provide different influences. Red indicates becoming a good person.
[2] Dongting Lake is a famous lake in northeast Hunan province.
[3] 洞庭 means "spacious courtyard" in classical Chinese.
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