Chapter 66
The ring was meant to remember the user's essence through blood.
But when he left...
The moment he saw that girl's face, he forgot all about it!
...
That night.
Smoke rose from the kitchens in Ni Jiao Alley.
The small, disabled beggars busied themselves, tidying up the dilapidated courtyard.
This place had once been their temporary refuge, but now it was different. Li Dage said that from now on, this would be their home.
Home... naturally, it needed to be cleaned up, right?
"Stuttering Sister has been dazed all day."
"Hehe, is she thinking about Li Dage?"
"Now that you mention it, I miss him too. His cooking is the best."
"I want to go to Qingyuan Sect too, then I can see him every day."
"Abba abba!"
"Stuttering Sister, if you clean the ring any more, Li Dage still won't see it."
"This doesn't seem to be a ring Li Dage gave me."
...
Jiang Chulong sat with her knees hugged to her chest, carefully polishing the exquisite ring on her finger, afraid of getting it dirty.
Hearing this, she paused.
Oh right.
Although this ring was sent by Li Dage, it was prepared by Aunt Mei.
Why did Aunt Mei give her such a ring?
It wasn't a Xumi item she knew of, nor did it have any other special features.
"Aunt Mei wouldn't do anything meaningless."
"This ring must be very important."
Jiang Chulong bit her increasingly pale lips, anxiety creeping in:
"Could it be that something's wrong with me?"
In the past, the world had been vibrant in her eyes.
The world she saw held more things and aura than others, as if she could perceive an extra color.
But after her sword bone was taken, that hue vanished.
"Am I going to disappoint Aunt Mei?"
"It's all my fault... I'm sorry..."
Jiang Chulong gripped the ring tightly, her knuckles turning white; the sharp pain was the only thing that made her feel a bit better inside.
Tick-tock—
Crimson blood trickled down between her fingers.
It also gave the ancient ring a hint of enchanting luster.
Buzz...
At that moment.
She suddenly felt dizzy, the world before her began to swirl like a vortex.
What was happening?
This thought emerged in her hazy consciousness.
The voices of the little ones echoed in her ears:
"Stuttering Sister, what's wrong with you?"
"She fainted!"
Suddenly.
All sounds vanished, leaving an eerie silence.
She opened her eyes in a daze, shielding herself from the sudden light, and then finally saw where she was.
Endless white mist surrounded her, as if she had stepped beyond the realms of heaven and earth.
This place wasn't large, only about five hundred meters in diameter.
Yet, the pavilions and towers were arranged in a way that was both intricate and natural, unlike anything she had seen in Zhongzhou.
It was like a fairyland from a dream.
"Where am I?"
Jiang Chulong rubbed her eyes, her face filled with bewilderment.
"Heh..."
Suddenly, a deep, resonant laughter echoed through the air.
"Young friend, you’ve come from afar. Please, step inside."
"Me...? Really?"
Jiang Chulong cautiously stepped over the threshold.
In the courtyard, beneath an ancient tree, a figure sat leisurely on a bluestone.
He wore white robes that shone like snow, his face obscured by an ancient bronze mask.
Around him, countless phenomena and Dao rhythms ebbed and flowed, as if he had been there since the dawn of time, watching over the world.
He was the very source of existence in this realm, capable of changing the winds and clouds with a mere wave of his hand.
"Senior, where is this place?"
Jiang Chulong asked carefully.
"This place? It is merely a cave I opened beyond the realms of heaven and earth, out of boredom."
The man spoke calmly.
Jiang Chulong: "!"
Her little mind was momentarily overwhelmed.
Beyond the realms of heaven and earth?
She had crossed an unknown distance to arrive here?
"Hehe, just a little trick, no need to panic."
"I can bring you here, and I can certainly send you back."
The man's ethereal voice echoed again.
With a wave of his hand, a stool appeared out of thin air, and a tea set materialized on a stone table.
"Please, sit."
Dazed, Jiang Chulong walked over and sat down, taking a long time to regain her composure:
"Who are you... really?"
"You brought me here... but why?"
As she drew closer, she felt an even deeper mystery surrounding this senior.
Even her indifferent father, the Emperor Jingtai, who bore the weight of heaven and earth, didn't give her the same sense of enigma.
In the realms of heaven and earth, beings like him were rare.
For her, they should be quite familiar.
"My name..."
The mysterious man opposite her fell into thought.
It seemed he hadn’t been called by anyone for so long that he had almost forgotten his own name.
After a long pause, he finally spoke slowly:
"I am known as Yuan Shi Tian Zun..."
Crack—
As his words fell, thunder suddenly rumbled from the sky.
Boom—
The winds and clouds changed, and in an instant, the world turned a stark white.
Jiang Chulong was stunned, her heart racing as she looked up.
In the black-and-white world, the outline of the man became increasingly clear.
What a sense of age and transcendence!
---
**Chapter 62: Young Girl, Do You Want to Grow Strong?**
Yuan Shi Tian Zun!
Jiang Chulong had never heard of him.
But in her understanding, the strongest beings in the realms of heaven and earth would add the character "Tian" to their titles.
For example, the great Emperor Wu of the Yu Dynasty was known as "Hong Tian."
Tian Zun?
Did that mean he was one of the supreme beings of the heavens, above all?
Just this title alone was enough to indicate the man's unfathomable strength.
After all, anyone who dared to call themselves Tian Zun would likely only be able to step out at noon, as trouble would surely find them at dawn or dusk.
Moreover, just a name could cause the heavens to change.
Could it be that he was even stronger than the heavens themselves?
If that were true, it would be terrifying!
"Have some tea."
The ethereal voice returned, and the strange phenomena in the world suddenly vanished, as if everything that had just happened was an illusion.
Jiang Chulong's mind was blank as she nodded dazedly.
As soon as the tea touched her lips, a pure vitality spread through her abdomen.
She had seen this before; it was a tribute from a major sect to Zhongzhou, given by her father to many of her siblings, but not to her.
Her older brother, the Crown Prince, had seen her plight and shared a bit with her.
Jiang Chulong glanced sideways and noticed a spring nearby; this mysterious man must have used that water to brew the tea...
"The reason you are here is that many years ago, I lost an ancient ring."
"Only those with great fortune and exceptional talent can resonate with it."
The Yuan Shi Tian Zun raised his teacup.
His hand paused, but he didn't drink; he merely toyed with it in his palm.
"So it was... because of the ring..."
Jiang Chulong realized.
Great fortune?
Exceptional talent?
"Um... Tian... Tian Zun senior."
"I... might not be... the person you are looking for."
Jiang Chulong lowered her head, nearly burying it in her chest.
Her birth had caused her mother’s death, leading to her being disliked by Emperor Jingtai, almost to the point of hatred.
She had grown up unaware, thinking that all of her father's children lived without new clothes and resided in the cold palace.
Even on her father's birthday, a day of universal celebration, sneaking in to catch a glimpse of him would turn the banquet into a scene of punishment.
When a palace maid inadvertently revealed information to her, she was executed in a gruesome manner, her eyes filled with blood as they locked onto Jiang Chulong.
As for talent...
Talent?
She had never practiced martial arts, and no one dared to teach her.
Yet she knew that without the bone in her chest, she was far from being a genius.
Her older brother, the Crown Prince, who possessed the true dragon body and the bone, was the real genius...
"Hehe, little girl, do you doubt my judgment?"
"N-no... how could I dare..."
"Jiang Chulong, the youngest daughter of Emperor Jingtai."
The calm, soothing voice continued, resonating in her heart.
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