Perhaps it was the commotion Ruan Wei caused that startled Shu Yang. Shu Yang paused mid-movement while dressing and slowly lowered his eyes, fixing a contemplative gaze upon Ruan Wei.
Ruan Wei: “…”
He quickly coiled himself up, tucking his head into the gap of his own curled body like an ostrich escaping reality, feigning death while shivering violently.
Shu Yang: “…”
He raised an eyebrow, his lips curving into a smile that was hard to tell whether it was mocking or amused. He walked over and picked Ruan Wei up with his fingers. Ruan Wei could no longer keep up the ruse; his body went limp, dangling like a piece of soft noodle, until Shu Yang set him down on the table.
Under the soft candlelight, Shu Yang’s clear, limpid face glowed with a jade-like luster. His upturned eyes flashed with a faint, captivating hint of amusement. “Why are you so scared?”
He said blandly, “Afraid I will dig out your dragon heart?”
Ruan Wei: “…”
His dragon body gave a start. He quickly curled back into a tiny ball, resting his head on his body, watching Shu Yang warily.
Shu Yang found Ruan Wei’s reaction far too amusing. Propping his chin in his palm, he reached out and pressed down on Ruan Wei’s head as if testing a spring, making Ruan Wei bob up and down. Finally, Ruan Wei angrily opened his mouth and bit down on Shu Yang’s fingertip.
Perhaps it was because his body had shrunk, but Ruan Wei’s mind had also regressed to that of a cub, easily teased and toyed with by Shu Yang. Shu Yang looked at Ruan Wei, who refused to let go of his finger, and picked him up, staring at the half-forearm-length dragon with an unreadable expression.
After a long while, he murmured, “I will stop teasing you.” He added, “Are you curious why I appeared here?”
Ruan Wei opened his mouth, intending to respond, but forgot he was still biting Shu Yang’s fingertip. Losing his anchor, he tumbled onto the floor and rolled a few times, stunned and seeing stars.
Shu Yang: “…”
He felt Ruan Wei was almost too funny. He sighed, picked Ruan Wei up from the floor, and grabbed a handkerchief, motioning for Ruan Wei to use his tail to wipe himself clean. “You silly dragon.”
Ruan Wei’s paws were too short to reach his face, so he had to coil his tail around the handkerchief to wipe himself. Hearing Shu Yang call him “silly dragon,” he flared with indignation and opened his mouth to snap back. But because his body had shrunk, he could not speak human words, only emitting tiny, juvenile dragon chirps.
Observing the angry chirps, Shu Yang was surprised. “You cannot speak human language anymore?”
Being unable to speak meant they could not communicate properly. Perhaps losing his dragon horns and magic, and regressing to a juvenile dragon form, had stripped him of that ability.
Shu Yang decided, “There is a herb in these mountains called the Yulin Cicada. Its wings can be ground into powder to treat wounds and restore spiritual energy.”
He continued, “It is too late today. Tomorrow at dawn, I will take you to search for the Yulin Cicada, how about that?”
Ruan Wei tilted his head, unsure if he understood, but then he nimbly crawled onto Shu Yang’s fingertip, coiled his body around it, and nodded in agreement. The moment his body wrapped around Shu Yang’s finger, the Ring of Seeking Affection on Shu Yang’s hand flared to life. This time, the light was dimmer than before, but it definitely shone. Shu Yang stared at it, stunned, unable to process the event for quite some time.
Ruan Wei, unaware of what had happened, pressed his head against Shu Yang’s fingertip and rubbed against it affectionately. Then, he bit down on the fingertip and began to suck on the blood.
Shu Yang: “…”
Shu Yang’s blood contained spiritual energy; Ruan Wei was treating him like a mobile blood bag. However, Ruan Wei did not drink much. Once he was full, he stopped, licked the bite mark, and used his dragon saliva to help Shu Yang’s skin heal.
Shu Yang let him be. He still had use for Ruan Wei and would not let him die. Seeing that Ruan Wei had recovered some vitality—though still unable to return to human form—Shu Yang told him to play outside while he went to boil water for a bath.
The water was a bit too hot, and Shu Yang was too lazy to wait for it to cool. He grabbed Ruan Wei and touched his tail to the hot water. As an Ice Dragon, Ruan Wei’s body was freezing; the moment his tail touched the water, it hissed and cooled rapidly. Ruan Wei, however, jerked in shock, turning bright red. He coiled his tail tightly around Shu Yang’s finger and refused to let go.
Shu Yang watched with satisfaction as the water cooled and stepped into the tub. He placed Ruan Wei on his shoulder while he closed his eyes to rest. Ruan Wei, fearing the hot water, remained frozen and motionless on Shu Yang’s shoulder. It was not until an hour later, when the water turned cool, that Ruan Wei tentatively tested the temperature with his tail and, being a creature of the water, dove straight into the tub.
The water was clear. Ruan Wei swam back and forth, letting the current wash the blood from his scales. The water quickly turned murky red, and unable to see the path ahead, Ruan Wei swam blindly until he slammed into Shu Yang’s abs.
Shu Yang opened his eyes instantly: “…”
Dazed by the hard touch of the muscles, Ruan Wei spun in a circle and began to sink. To prevent himself from hitting the bottom, he instinctively coiled his tail around the nearest thing he could find and held on tight.
Shu Yang, who felt every movement, remained silent. He reached into the water, fished Ruan Wei out, stared at him for a moment, poked his tail, and said in a low voice, “Why do you wrap your tail around everything?”
He added, “You should check what is in front of you before you start coiling.”
Shu Yang threw Ruan Wei onto the floor and stepped out of the tub. Fortunately, Shu Yang’s clothes were scattered on the ground, so Ruan Wei did not get hurt; he rolled through the garments. Wrapped in Shu Yang’s undershirt, he stood upright, staring blankly at Shu Yang’s back.
Is Shu Yang angry?
In the evening, Ruan Wei wanted to find Shu Yang to clear the air, but Shu Yang had set up a barrier in the inner chamber. Ruan Wei bumped his head until he was dizzy but could not get onto the bed. Feeling frustrated, disheartened, and confused, he finally curled his body up and hid outside the barrier.
In the middle of the night, a cold wind blew. Ruan Wei, suffering from blood loss, felt cold and woke up in a daze. He wandered around the outer room, searching for something to keep warm, but found nothing. The sound of his hissing movement disturbed Shu Yang. Shu Yang sat up and peered through the bed curtains, watching Ruan Wei crawl back and forth, bumping his head on table legs and rolling around in pain. After a moment of silence, he lowered the curtains.
Having found nothing to keep warm, Ruan Wei returned to the barrier near Shu Yang’s bed. He expected to hit the barrier again, but to his surprise, he crawled all the way to the bedside without resistance.
Ruan Wei blinked, straightened his dragon body, and shook his head as if thinking. But he found no conclusion, and the night chill urged him to make a decision. Finally, he tentatively crawled onto Shu Yang’s bed, stretched his head into the bed curtains, and peered inside.
Shu Yang was sleeping facing him. Ruan Wei’s heart leaped with joy. He placed his short claws on the edge, hopped onto the bed, crawled over Shu Yang’s pillow, and nimbly curled up on Shu Yang’s inner side. The quilt was thin, but for a shrunken Ruan Wei, it was stifling. He arched and twisted, unable to find a comfortable position, eventually waking Shu Yang up.
“…” Just as Shu Yang considered throwing this clumsy dragon out the door to fend for himself, Ruan Wei crawled to his ear, burrowed into Shu Yang’s thick hair, and used the hair as his blanket. Because he had shrunk, hiding in the hair was perfect; it was not stuffy and allowed him to breathe.
Shu Yang: “…”
He opened his eyes, watched Ruan Wei close his own, and observed the way the dragon clutched his hair to sleep. He was speechless. Is he not afraid I will roll over and crush him to death?
With this thought, Shu Yang himself spent the night sleepless, afraid to change his posture, and endured until dawn. Conversely, the oblivious Ruan Wei slept soundly in the hair. At dawn, the sleep-deprived Shu Yang got up. Ruan Wei was still asleep, but as Shu Yang secured his hair with a hairpin, Ruan Wei blinked awake and climbed onto the pin like an exquisite ornament.
Shu Yang glanced at the sickly Ruan Wei, who had lost his horns and spiritual power, but ultimately said nothing. He got up and headed toward the mountains. The Yulin Cicada was not easy to find; it required absolute focus to trace their tracks. Halfway there, Ruan Wei woke up.
Too embarrassed to ask for a free ride, he climbed down and followed Shu Yang’s footprints. When Shu Yang stopped, he would curl up in the footprint and wait quietly. Fortunately, while the Yulin Cicadas were hard to find, they were easy to catch. Shu Yang quickly used his Starfire to round up a few and returned to find Ruan Wei.
Ruan Wei was napping in a footprint. When he was poked awake by Shu Yang’s finger, he looked up warily, his eyes turning into needle-thin slits. But realizing it was Shu Yang, his eyes softened into round black pupils, and he climbed onto Shu Yang’s finger.
Shu Yang returned to the bamboo hut. He ground the cicada wings into powder, infused them with his spiritual energy, and asked, “Can you grow larger?”
Shu Yang said, “You are so small right now; it is hard for me to apply the medicine.”
Ruan Wei nodded and began to channel his energy, attempting to grow. But he strained until his face turned red and failed to grow; instead, due to a lapse in his energy flow and imbalanced spiritual circulation, the dragon let out a “poof” and shrank even further. He went from being the length of half an arm to the size of a little finger.
Shu Yang: “…”
He watched Ruan Wei, who was now chasing his own tail in a panic, and picked him up from the table, handling him carefully for fear of crushing the young palace master of the Dragon Clan to death. “Not enough spiritual energy?”
Ruan Wei nodded.
“Do you want my blood?” Shu Yang prepared to cut his finger to supply energy, but Ruan Wei shook his head vigorously, chirping frantically. Ruan Wei wanted to say that the spiritual energy in the blood was limited. Even if he drained Shu Yang dry, it would not quickly restore the power lost from his severed horns and stripped scales; it would only drain Shu Yang’s vitality. He did not need blood; he needed time.
Shu Yang clearly did not understand. He held Ruan Wei up, looked him in the eye, and said patiently, “Then how can you grow bigger?”
Ruan Wei shook his head, indicating he did not know. But Shu Yang suddenly leaned over and kissed his dragon horn.
The horn was the most sensitive part of a dragon’s body. Ruan Wei’s entire body stiffened at the kiss. Caught off guard, he widened his round eyes in shock, his tail twitching involuntarily. The kiss caused his blood to rush in reverse, and his spiritual energy instantly broke through the damaged meridians, repairing his wounds completely. His entire body let out a “bang” and grew until he was the length of an adult’s leg, falling onto the table.
“Chirp!”
Ruan Wei sprawled on the table, twisting laboriously, and looked up at Shu Yang, who was watching him with a smile.
“It is said that dragons are lustful creatures that mate with anything. If their desires are stirred, their spiritual energy surges immediately, and those who join in union with them through dual cultivation have a high chance of breaking through.”
Shu Yang flicked Ruan Wei’s body with his fingertip, looking at the bewildered dragon in deep thought: “It seems it is true.”
Ruan Wei coiled around Shu Yang’s arm and rubbed against him, but Shu Yang grabbed his body and held him in mid-air: “No wonder you said you wanted me to be your concubine the moment we met.”
Ruan Wei, overwhelmed by the kiss and acting purely on instinct, wanted to mate with Shu Yang. He impatiently swatted Shu Yang’s arm with his tail, trying to snuggle closer.
“What a lustful dragon.”
Shu Yang grabbed Ruan Wei, keeping him from moving, and said softly, “Do one thing for me. If you succeed, when we get out of here, I will be your concubine, how about that?”
Ruan Wei’s pupils turned from slits to round, indicating he was briefly lucid, and nodded. But fearing Ruan Wei would not keep his word once sober, Shu Yang rose to fetch a piece of paper, wrote down a few points, and asked Ruan Wei to sign.
The contract stipulated that Ruan Wei must do anything Shu Yang asked within the illusion. If he succeeded, Shu Yang would become Ruan Wei’s concubine upon exiting. Ruan Wei lay on the paper, staring at the black and white text. He used his tail to wrap around the brush, added a funnel-shaped supplementary symbol over “concubine,” and above the words “service twice a day,” he pressed his claw stained with red ink onto the paper.
Once Shu Yang pressed his own handprint, the contract would automatically take effect. Even within the illusion, it would be under the supervision of the Heavenly Dao; if the promise was not kept, they would be struck by lightning.
Shu Yang: “…”
He watched as Ruan Wei used his tail to grip his fingertip, trying to press it onto the ink pad and then onto the contract paper. Looking at Ruan Wei’s earnest efforts, Shu Yang nearly laughed out loud.
He picked Ruan Wei up and said in a low voice, “You are getting bolder.”
In response, Ruan Wei leaned over and rubbed against him affectionately. Now that he was a beast, he acted purely on instinct, knowing only to be close to Shu Yang, having long forgotten his human dignity and past memories.
Shu Yang lowered his head to look at Ruan Wei’s missing horns. For some reason, he remembered Ruan Wei’s horns in the real world, which had seemed to grow back. After a long silence, he sighed softly. “I am afraid of you.”
He said, “You silly dragon.”