Chapter One Hundred and Two: Farewell, Little Gold

As soon as the white-jade flood-dragon whip entered the pool, it began swimming joyfully through the golden liquid, looking for all the world like a fish returned to water, or a wanderer back home. Because Ji Mo’s consciousness was linked with it, she could instinctively feel the delight in its heart.

Unable to help herself, she asked, “Senior Ao Feng, what is the liquid in this pool? Why is Little White so excited?”

“Dragon blood,” Ao Feng said.

“What? This golden liquid is dragon blood?” Ji Mo cried in shock.

Ao Feng gave no further reply. Time trickled by, and the golden liquid in the pool gradually diminished drop by drop. Three days later, when the white-jade flood-dragon whip had drained the very last drop from the pool, a dazzling light burst from its body, and before Ji Mo appeared a dragon soul entirely silver-white in color.

The dragon soul was about three meters long and about two feet thick. Its body was covered in silver scales, and upon its dragon head gleamed a pair of golden eyes. Though it was only a dragon soul, it looked vividly alive, like a true silver dragon.

“You... are you Little White?” Ji Mo asked, instinctively reaching out to touch its body. She had assumed it would be nothing more than a phantom, but her hand met solid flesh.

“That’s right. Thank you for saving me,” the dragon soul said in a human voice.

“No, it wasn’t me who saved you. It should be Senior Ao Feng, the divine beast of this Crystal Palace, who saved you,” Ji Mo said with a smile.

“Heh. If you had not won its approval, how could it have used such precious dragon blood to save me?” Little White replied with a chuckle, clearly unwilling to accept Ji Mo’s words.

“Little girl, you may leave now.”

Ji Mo was just about to say something else when Ao Feng’s voice rang beside her ears.

Overjoyed, Ji Mo quickly leaped onto the dragon soul’s back. With a flick of its body, the dragon soul darted out with remarkable agility, passing effortlessly through the palace gate that had once seemed utterly impenetrable to Ji Mo. It plunged into the waves.

The water that could dissolve and consume all things was unable to obstruct the dragon’s body. Riding on Little White’s back, Ji Mo felt none of the discomfort she had experienced when she had fallen into the water before.

All things in heaven and earth have their own counter. Truly marvelous.

Little White traveled through the water for more than an hour before finally reaching the surface. The moment it broke through, it hurled Ji Mo out of the dense mist with a sharp motion, tossing her onto the shore of Blue Moon Lake with a thud. It then transformed once more into a silver-flashing whip, shot like a streak of light, and vanished into Ji Mo’s sea of consciousness.

Fortunately, there was no one at the lakeshore at that moment. Otherwise, if someone had suddenly seen a person leap up from the lake, who knew how frightened they might have been.

Ji Mo landed on the shore with a thump, then immediately sprang to her feet in a single agile motion, completely unharmed. Her body-refining art of Heavenly Demon Tempering had already reached the mid-stage, equivalent to the ninth level of the Free and Unfettered realm; her bones were sturdy, her skin tough, and she was not afraid of a little falling and knocking about.

Time passed so quickly. In the blink of an eye, eleven years had gone by. She wondered whether her master, senior brothers, and senior sisters still remembered her. Blue Moon Lake had always been a forbidden ground to the Moonwatch Sect; perhaps in everyone’s mind, she had long since died.

Ji Mo looked around the scenery by Blue Moon Lake. Everything before her eyes was unchanged, but the feelings in her heart were no longer the same as they had been in the past.

“Ji Mo?”

Just as she stood on the lakeshore, overwhelmed with emotion, a slightly astonished voice suddenly sounded behind her.

Ji Mo turned around and saw a golden little beast, no larger than a squirrel, standing on a tree branch not far away. In its round golden eyes burned a look of utter disbelief and delight.

“Little Gold!” Ji Mo cried with joy. She opened her arms and rushed toward it.

Before she had fallen into Blue Moon Lake, she had not spent much time with Little Gold. The two of them had always been in something of a half-enemy state, so by rights their feelings should not have been deep. Yet after falling into the lake, Ji Mo often found herself thinking of that cunning, sharp-tongued little fellow. Seeing it again now filled her with an indescribable happiness, as though she had met an old friend after a long separation.

“It really is you? Not only are you still alive, but you’ve even broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage? Tsk, tsk!”

With a twist and a spring of its small body, Little Gold dodged Ji Mo’s bear hug. It circled around her once, clicking its tongue in wonder.

“Dead little Gold, do you really want me to die that badly?” Ji Mo missed her pounce and was already unhappy. Hearing it mutter such nonsense, she immediately swung a palm at it. Little Gold curled its whiskers disdainfully and did not even bother to dodge. It simply did not believe Ji Mo could lay a hand on it.

But the next moment, thud!

Its body was sent flying by Ji Mo’s slap.

“You... you’re only at the Foundation Establishment stage. How could you possibly have such strength?” Little Gold, knocked away like a tiny rubber ball, bounced right back at once. This time, before Ji Mo could reach out to seize it, it leaped onto her shoulder of its own accord and tilted its head to study her.

“Pfft. There are plenty of things you never expected,” Ji Mo said with a laugh. “Why are you here? Don’t tell me you’ve been guarding the lakeshore, waiting for me this whole time?”

She reached out to rub its little head teasingly.

“I wasn’t waiting for you. Who’d wait here for you?” Little Gold slapped her roaming hand away with a paw, muttering indistinctly. Its expression was rather awkward and bashful.

“You really were waiting for me?” Ji Mo froze for a moment, and then a wave of emotion welled up in her heart. She pulled Little Gold down from her shoulder and held it in her arms.

“Hey, you foolish woman, there is a difference between men and women. What kind of decency is it to hold me like this?” Little Gold stared blankly for a moment, then struggled desperately, shrieking in a high, piercing voice. If an uninformed outsider had heard that mournful cry, who knew what sort of wild ideas they might have imagined. One had to admit that this troublemaker, Little Gold, was sometimes so oddly absurd as to leave people speechless.

“A difference between men and women? Are you a male beast?” Ji Mo laughed despite herself. Releasing one wrist, she seized it by the neck and lifted it up. From the look of things, she seemed ready to part its hind legs and inspect it.

“You, you shameless, unrestrained idiot...” The lightning beast was horrified. With all its strength, it gave a fierce struggle and finally escaped Ji Mo’s clutches. In a flash, it darted several meters away and stopped there, staring at her with a pair of large golden eyes, both shy and indignant.

“Hahaha, Little Gold, you’re a beast companion, after all. Do you really have to be so bashful in front of your master? Come here quickly and tell me—over all these years, has anything interesting happened in our Moonwatch Sect?”

Ji Mo was laughing so hard she nearly doubled over. Still laughing, she beckoned to it.

“You—first promise not to tease me anymore, and then I’ll come over,” Little Gold said. Hearing her words, it did not move closer at all. Instead, it retreated several more meters, glaring at her with deep wariness.

“Hahahaha! Fine, I won’t tease you. I never would have guessed that, as a spirit beast, you’d actually be this shy. Come over here!”

Ji Mo laughed until she could hardly stand. Just as Little Gold seemed on the verge of losing its temper at her laughter, she finally stopped, composed her face, and said with solemnity...