Chapter 048: A Father Is Always a Father

Yan Shu lay on the ground for a long time, slowly regaining some of her spiritual power. Fuming with anger, she grabbed the flood dragon and forcibly shrank it to the size of a long whip, glaring at it. “You’re not allowed to behave like that ever again, understand? You can eat, but when I say stop, you must stop. Otherwise, I’ll turn you into a whip!”

The little flood dragon seemed to sense her anger for the first time. It glanced at her cautiously, then suddenly dove into her arms, rubbing affectionately against her neck and face.

Her temper, utterly exhausted, vanished in an instant. She restored it to its original form. “Alright, just this once. Watch over me while I recover my strength.”

The flood dragon nodded eagerly, happily circling around her. Yan Shu glanced at it, then ignored it, sitting cross-legged to meditate and cultivate.

That night was far from tranquil—not because of the forest, but because of the lightning flood dragon at her side. At first, it guarded Yan Shu quietly; then, growing bored, it started expanding its patrol. Soon, she saw it leaping into the treetops, diving into the underbrush. Wherever it went, chaos ensued—birds and beasts scattering in panic.

Yan Shu grew irritated, about to scold it, but her mood changed when she saw the magic cores it brought back.

Although they were all low-level cores, not especially valuable, they could still earn some points for the Xuantian Sect, or be sold for spirit stones.

She patted its head. “Go ahead, then.”

The dragon let out a joyful roar and darted into the forest, looking for all the world like the golden retriever she’d raised in her previous life.

So, when the dragon returned once again, Yan Shu said, “Let me give you a name.”

The dragon swam expectantly around her.

She blinked. “I’ll call you Goldie. How about that?”

The dragon stopped, tilting its head as if puzzled about the connection to gold.

Yan Shu coughed lightly, making up nonsense with a straight face. “Think about it: you’re a lightning flood dragon now, with the light of thunder and lightning upon your body. But as a half-dragon, we can’t just idle away our days. We need ambition! All the emperors in the mortal realm are five-clawed golden dragons—see? The golden dragon is the nobility among dragons. Your name must have the word ‘Gold’ in it!”

The flood dragon’s eyes brightened, and it nodded in agreement.

But after nodding, it looked at her again, tilting its head—clearly asking about the ‘ie’ part of the name.

Yan Shu faltered, unable to fabricate another reason. “Well… because I like it. I like furry creatures. You can’t grow fur, so I’ll put it in your name.”

The dragon hesitated, then happily swam up to her, nuzzling her face, clearly pleased.

Yan Shu was also satisfied. She patted its head. “Go on, Goldie! Bring back more magic cores.”

With a swoosh, Goldie disappeared into the dense woods.

Yes, it was even more like a golden retriever now.

As dawn broke, Yan Shu had recovered about half of her spiritual power. She glanced at the pile of magic cores before her and, as a reward, fed Goldie a bit of spiritual energy.

After the previous day’s scolding, Goldie had learned its lesson and no longer demanded endlessly; as soon as Yan Shu withdrew her hand, it stopped.

She turned it back into the lightning whip, content to remain a proper slacker.

As long as she didn’t want to leave, those formations and the like had nothing to do with her.

Yan Shu, the professional slacker, spent two peaceful days in the woods. By the second night, Goldie no longer brought back any magic cores—the surrounding magical beasts had clearly been cleared out.

Though it no longer fetched magic cores, it did bring back some spiritual plants.

On the third day, even the spiritual plants were gone; Goldie could only spit out a symbolic mouthful of spirit spring water.

Drenched to the bone, Yan Shu was left speechless.

How could a whip turn into a flood dragon, and now even bring back water? Wasn’t it forged from thundercrystal and heavenly iron? It shouldn’t even be able to leak!

Yan Shu finally gave up trying to reason with this world.

She lost herself in the delicious agony of cultivation every day. With the seal in place, she had no fear of ascending to the next level. Though her power was suppressed at the late Golden Core stage, her energy sea could still expand.

Normally, the expansion of the energy sea accompanies a breakthrough in cultivation level. So her late Golden Core stage was in no way comparable to anyone else’s.

Each day, she cultivated diligently, occasionally feeding Goldie with spiritual energy, which caused the dragon to grow rapidly as well.

Seeing Goldie’s progress, Yan Shu remembered the two little phoenixes in her storage pouch. Tentatively, she separated a thread of pure spiritual power and fed it to them.

Unexpectedly, just like Goldie, the two little ones greedily absorbed it. Fortunately, unlike Goldie, they were bonded to Yan Shu; sensing her discomfort, they stopped immediately.

Otherwise, Yan Shu would have once again experienced the dreadful emptiness of being drained.

Seeing her pale face, the two chicks drooped their little heads into their chest feathers, deeply remorseful. “Mother, we were wrong.”

Yan Shu’s heart softened, and she quickly comforted them. “It’s fine, it’s just a bit of spiritual power. I’ll recover it soon.”

Only when they realized she was truly unharmed did they relax.

Thus, Yan Shu completely transformed into a nursemaid, diligently cultivating each day, then feeding Goldie and the two little ones with her spiritual power.

Yan Shu thought she could lie low and wait out the month in peace, but on the seventh night, a wild wind suddenly arose. Familiar thunderclouds gathered overhead, accompanied by their all-too-familiar formula.

And this time, the thunderclouds seemed infused with rage. Without warning, they struck straight down at her.

Boom!

Sizzle—

Yan Shu was speechless.

She had some choice words for the heavens, but didn’t know if she should say them.

The thunderclouds seemed supercharged this time, striking her three times before finally relenting.

Though she was nearly used to being struck by lightning, three bolts in a row were more than she could handle.

When the thunder faded, she found herself enveloped in a layer of crackling electricity, even her energy sea buzzing with residual lightning.

Even Yan Shu, slow as she sometimes was, could sense the wrath of heaven. She didn’t dare act out, hurriedly explaining, “It’s not that I don’t want to find him—it’s just that there’s a formation here, and I’m hopeless at that stuff. I can’t get out!”

The response—

Boom!

Sizzle—

Yan Shu gave up all pretense of dignity, spitting out a mouthful of black smoke. When the pain faded, she spoke again. “Fine, I admit I’ve been lazy, but zapping me now won’t help. Instead of wasting time, why not take me straight to him?”

Boom!

Yan Shu flinched, but this time the lightning did not strike. Instead, a bolt split the sky, pointing the way forward.

She quickly cast a dust-removal spell and hurried in that direction.

A father is always a father; she was thoroughly cowed.