The True Lord Qingyun and Lin Yu were shocked to learn that the Pearl had gone to the Demon Realm. Meanwhile, the Dragon King's gaze fell upon the little phoenix, and a speculation formed in his mind.
However, the most crucial thing now was to find Yan Mingli first.
The Dragon King secretly felt fortunate that he had recently decided the points were insufficient and thus cleaned up a number of demons and monsters. Otherwise, the Pearl, accompanied by the lame old man, might not have lasted until his arrival.
Finding Yan Mingli was a simple matter. The Dragon King spread his divine sense over a thousand - mile radius, conducting a thorough search, and discovered that Yan Mingli was trapped in the kitchen of the Black Dragon's mansion.
The Dragon King slightly raised his hand, and the black dragon in the city instantly revealed its true form and appeared in his hand.
The little black dragon shrank its body, not daring to move: "Your Majesty, the Dragon Emperor, this subordinate knows his mistake."
Yan Mingli, holding a spatula, also appeared in front of the Prince Rui.
Overjoyed to see Yan Mingli again, the Prince Rui was extremely excited. He pulled Yan Mingli down on his knees to thank the Dragon King.
In front of the little darling, the Dragon King wanted to appear kind - hearted. He threw the black dragon aside and personally helped the Prince Rui up: "You are the Pearl's friends. It's just a small thing for me. By the way, I am... I am the Pearl's godfather."
The Dragon King gave himself this identity without prior consultation.
Unlike the bewildered Prince Rui, Yan Mingli quickly reacted. He said excitedly: "Are you the Dragon King? I've often heard the Pearl mention you. It's really better to see than to hear about you!"
To be precise, Yan Mingli had a deep memory of the Dragon King's habit of giving out gold at the slightest provocation.
He recounted all the gold - related memories and praised the Dragon King one by one.
Both Shen Baozhu and the Dragon King, who were involved, were stunned. The Dragon King asked awkwardly: "Pearl, am I really that useful?"
It wasn't that the Dragon King was being modest. He knew how powerful the other two were.
Shen Baozhu still remembered these things: "The Dragon King is just that amazing. You saved my life and Brother Su Qian's!"
"However, godfather is..."
"Pearl, let's go back to the Dragon Palace first." The Dragon King intended to solidify this identity and didn't give Shen Baozhu a chance to refute. "The Prince Rui is old. He must have been exhausted these days. He needs to rest."
This was a reason that Shen Baozhu couldn't refuse.
...
The magnificent Dragon Palace.
Shen Baozhu sat on the dragon throne on the high platform, nibbling on the pastries made by Yan Mingli, while the Prince Rui dragged his leg, curiously looking around.
In the orchard not far away, the Dragon King and Yan Mingli were chatting cheerfully.
The Dragon King suddenly understood Lin Yu a bit. Yan Mingli was so interesting. No wonder Lin Yu talked about him all day.
A pale - pink fruit landed in the Dragon King's hand. This was the fruit he picked for the Prince Rui. He couldn't let the Prince Rui limp out of the Dragon Palace. That would be too embarrassing.
In a good mood, the Dragon King promised: "I can fulfill one reasonable wish of yours. Say it. What do you want?"
"I don't have any wishes..." Yan Mingli was very satisfied with his current life. If he really had something he wanted, "Can Miao Chun and I have a child as smart as Shen Heqing?"
The Dragon King looked at Yan Mingli in shock and silently sent a subtitle: [I really think the fool likes Shen Heqing.]
Lin Yu: [Mingli likes Miao Chun. He just admires Big Brother Baozhu.]
The Dragon King: [You don't understand.]
After sending the subtitle, the Dragon King felt a bit calmer. He waved his hand and picked a second pale - pink fruit: "The request is too high. This fruit is for you. If a mortal takes it, it can strengthen their body."
If the fruits in the orchard were directly consumed by mortals, they would explode. But this was a small matter for the Dragon King. After the Prince Rui and Yan Mingli ate the fruits, the black dragon dutifully helped them absorb the essence of the fruits.
The Dragon King sat on the dragon throne with Shen Baozhu. He said proudly: "Little darling, what do you think of my dragon throne? Isn't it much bigger than that of the emperor?"
"Did I become a bad person because I killed many people?" Shen Baozhu's slightly confused voice startled the Dragon King.
Shen Baozhu didn't belong to this world. If she got involved in too much karma, it wouldn't be a good thing.
The Dragon King's eyebrows showed a bit of annoyance, but he tried his best to comfort Shen Baozhu: "It's nothing. Just a mere tens of thousands of people. I can handle it."
Shen Baozhu was a bit confused: "Ah? What tens of thousands of people?"
The Dragon King's brows relaxed slightly: "Could it be a few thousand? I can still solve it. Don't worry, little darling."
Shen Baozhu faintly sensed something was wrong: "A few thousand?"
The Dragon King completely relaxed: "Could it be a few hundred? That's easy. I'll send the White Dragon to the Underworld to take care of it."
Shen Baozhu realized and stretched out her hand: "It's not even a few hundred..."
"Five. They wanted to rob the white congee, and I killed them with my silver bracelet."
Hearing that there were only five, and it was those people who provoked the little darling first, the Dragon King got angry: "How dare they rob the little darling's things! I'll make their souls scatter!"
Shen Baozhu became confused again. She pulled the Dragon King's sleeve and tried to bring the topic back: "I killed them."
The Dragon King also looked at Shen Baozhu blankly: "Yes, they deserved to be killed for robbing things."
The dragon and the girl stared at each other until the Dragon King remembered an important thing: "Little darling, now that you've seen my might with your own eyes, why don't you make a new clay figurine of me?"
Mainly because the previous three were too ugly!
Shen Baozhu also remembered the three clay figurines she gave to the Dragon King at first. They were indeed a bit ugly, so she nodded in agreement: "Okay, I'll make a new one."
The Dragon King: [The little darling is going to make a clay figurine for me alone.]
The Dragon King: [Oops, why did I send this message out?]
Lin Yu: [...]
Suddenly, the sky and the earth changed color. The Dragon King sensed a powerful aura approaching, and then the familiar subtitles appeared.
The True Lord Qingyun: [Dragon Emperor?]
The Dragon King: [You finally know you've come to my territory!]
The True Lord Qingyun: [I came to help you find Yan Mingli.]
Looking at this subtitle, the Dragon King laughed, out of anger. If it were Lin Yu who said this, it might be believable, but it was obvious that the True Lord Qingyun had other motives.
He had just met the little darling!
In an instant, a crack appeared in the mid - air. The black - haired immortal stepped through the air, looking aloof. But when he looked at Shen Baozhu, there was a bit more tenderness in his eyes: "Baozhu."
Shen Baozhu recognized the immortal's identity: "True Lord!"
The True Lord Qingyun nodded slightly, then bent down and took Shen Baozhu's hand. After confirming that she was safe and sound, his gaze fell on Yan Mingli: "Good. The Dragon King has found Yan Mingli."
This words annoyed the Dragon King. To be more precise, the True Lord Qingyun's uninvited arrival made the Dragon King very unhappy: "How did you find this place?"
"The Dragon King's clone has been with Baozhu day and night. The changeable clay figurine also has a bit of your aura on it." The True Lord Qingyun found the Demon Realm based on this aura.
Finding a small world among thousands of worlds was no easy task, and it couldn't be accomplished overnight. This meant that the True Lord Qingyun had been planning for a long time.
The Dragon King gritted his teeth: "Humans are really cunning!"
The True Lord Qingyun looked at Shen Baozhu: "Baozhu, you seem restless. Were you scared?"
Shen Baozhu lowered her head and said dejectedly: "Some people wanted to rob the white congee, and I killed them."
"I killed them with the silver bracelet Brother Lin Yu gave me. I'm a bad child, just like my father."
The True Lord Qingyun made a hand gesture, and a calming spell landed on Shen Baozhu. After Shen Baozhu calmed down a bit, he advised: "Baozhu, if it happened again, what would you choose?"
Shen Baozhu didn't hesitate: "Kill them. I can't let them hurt Grandpa Gu."
The True Lord Qingyun understood. Baozhu had taken action to protect the Prince Rui.
After knowing the reason, it was easier to comfort her.
While the True Lord Qingyun was dispelling Shen Baozhu's doubts, the Dragon King was enjoying a happy time.
Thanks to the black dragon as a helper, Yan Mingli showed off his cooking skills to the fullest. He not only made dried meat, stewed chicken soup, but also made a cup of sweet and refreshing herbal tea.
The Prince Rui was telling some gossips about the Great Yong Dynasty and praising the Dragon King by the way.
The Dragon King ate the dried meat, drank the herbal tea, and listened to the stories. The gloom in his heart was diluted a bit.
Suddenly, he thought of something and started sending subtitles: [Lin Yu, guess what Baozhu is doing?]
The Dragon King: [She's chatting with the True Lord!]
The Dragon King: [Can you come to the Demon Realm? I'll definitely treat you well!]
Lin Yu: [...]
The Dragon King took a sip of the herbal tea. He was in a great mood. Fortunately, there was Lin Yu, this unlucky guy.
...
The arrival of Shen Baozhu and the other two in the Demon Realm was an accident.
"Reborn from Nirvana?" Shen Baozhu looked at the little phoenix in her hand and gently stroked its head with her finger. "Wuwu is so great."
The Dragon King also looked at the little phoenix: "Wuwu is the crown prince of the phoenix clan. It's born with the ability of Nirvana rebirth. But it was refined while still in the egg and only knew it was a puppet. Even after it was rescued, this idea engraved in its bones made it unable to achieve Nirvana rebirth."
"But for some reason, Wuwu suddenly learned it. So the divine artifact sent it back to the Demon Realm. There were just some mistakes in the process, and you three were also brought here."
"Baozhu, how did you make Wuwu learn it?"
The old black dragon who used to take care of the little phoenix was approaching the end of his lifespan. He was worried about the little phoenix and was skeptical of the Dragon King's guarantee. But over the years, the little phoenix still couldn't achieve Nirvana rebirth. So the old black dragon took a desperate chance and handed the little phoenix to the Dragon King.
Unexpectedly, the Dragon King gave him a huge surprise. In just three years, the little phoenix could achieve Nirvana rebirth!
Shen Baozhu shook her head blankly. The Prince Rui guessed a bit: "Maybe it's the children in the orphanage?"
A year ago, the Princess Jingning submitted a memorial, wanting to establish an orphanage. The court would raise those orphans, and when they grew up, they needed to work to repay the kindness.
Previously, the treasury of the Great Yong Dynasty was not rich, so it was impossible to establish an orphanage. But two years ago, the emperor suddenly solved a bank and obtained a huge amount of money. Inspired by the incident of the Shen family, the emperor asked the royal craftsmen to find some useless garbage and sell it to small countries at a high price. Gradually, the treasury became abundant.
After six months of discussion among the civil and military officials, the Crown Prince Gu Chen personally wrote the decree. After a series of preparations, half a month ago, the first orphanage was finally established.
The orphanage not only had orphans but also children of widowers and widows who didn't want to raise them... After staying in the orphanage for a while, these children would be sent to various places in the Great Yong Dynasty to prevent their parents from recognizing them in the future.
Due to lack of experience, there was a shortage of manpower. Everyone in the Princess Mansion was pulled to help, and the little phoenix was no exception.
The Prince Rui guessed that the little phoenix was touched after seeing the children in the orphanage.
The Dragon King also knew about the orphanage and had seen Baozhu and Qiuqiu go to help there. He nodded in understanding.
The little phoenix lay in Shen Baozhu's palm, allowing its master to knead it as if it were really a cute little bird.
The Dragon King took a sip of the herbal tea. Thinking of the shock on the old black dragon's face when he saw the little phoenix and the scene where the old black dragon was willing to call him the Dragon Emperor, he felt even more pleased. Maybe he could fulfill Yan Mingli's wish.
A child like Shen Heqing? Shen Heqing was good at studying. He could ask the God of Literature for a blessing to ensure that Yan Mingli would have a little God of Literature!
Yan Mingli and Chen Miaochun were about to get married. It could be a wedding gift for them.
The little phoenix needed some time to complete its Nirvana rebirth. It had to soak in the bath for three hours every day for half a month.
During these half - months, the True Lord Qingyun took Shen Baozhu on a tour, helping her get out of the shadow. She said happily: "True Lord, I've found what I like. I like to help others."
On the day when the little phoenix completely completed its Nirvana rebirth, the True Lord Qingyun was taking Shen Baozhu to enjoy the flowers. Suddenly, a force of space appeared and sucked Shen Baozhu into it.
In the distorted space - time channel, the golden light of merit flashed, protecting Shen Baozhu.
In the golden light of merit, the True Lord Qingyun saw Shen Baozhu's previous nine lifetimes.
The First Lifetime.
In the abyss where demons and monsters roamed, a discarded little dragon curled up in a corner. Its golden dragon horns were dull.
An evil beast passed by and found the little dragon. It was an evil beast with no great combat ability but could hide its figure.
It put the little dragon in its mouth and took it out of the abyss: "Little darling is so good. This is not a place for cubs. You go quickly."
The newly - hatched little dragon had no ability to survive even if it left the abyss. The evil beast had no choice but to raise it.
It started to fight with other evil beasts and rob things to feed the little dragon. Watching the little dragon grow up gradually, the evil beast was very gratified.
The evil beast and the little dragon lived their lives day by day until one day, a powerful demon came to the abyss. All living beings died, and only the little dragon was sent out desperately.
After the little dragon achieved success in cultivation, it returned to the abyss and killed the demon. Therefore, the little dragon firmly believed that when eradicating weeds, one must remove the roots!
...
The Third Lifetime.
A three - or four - year - old child was sold by his parents. A kind - hearted widow bought him.
The widow was a widow before marriage. Her husband died before the wedding. Her in - laws wanted her to be buried alive with her husband, but her natal family used a large amount of money to let her stay at home and keep her widowhood.
The child and the widow got along very well. The widow taught him how to behave and to have kind and principled thoughts.
As time passed, when the child was six years old, the widow's elder brother committed a great crime, and her natal family lost power. Her in - laws forced the widow to be buried alive.
The widow used her last bit of money to ask a passing Taoist priest to take the child away, not knowing that the Taoist priest was a cultivator traveling in the mortal world.
The child became a freelance cultivator. He had extremely high talent. When he broke through to the Nascent Soul stage, he founded a sect with his Taoist name, the Qingyun Sect.
...
The Ninth Lifetime.
In the orphanage.
A gentle woman distributed the toys in her hand to the children, leaving only one.
The toys were purchased according to the number of children. The extra one meant that one child was missed.
The woman searched everywhere and finally found the missed child in the wardrobe.
It was a well - behaved boy, curled up with tears on his face, sound asleep.
The surrounding children whispered: "It's Xiao Yu! Yu means extra."
"He wants to participate in the competition."
"The competition is on another planet. Xiao Yu doesn't have the money to buy a ticket."
"Sister Yu, can you help Xiao Yu? He has very good grades!"
Sister Yu looked at the boy's grades and decided to adopt him. She also changed his name: "Your Yu is not good. How about calling you Xiao Yu?"
"I'm Da Yu, and you're Xiao Yu. It sounds like a family."
"As for the surname... Let's take the surname Lin, the same as your dean. Alright, from now on, you'll be called Lin Yu, Lin of Dean Lin and Yu of Da Yu."
Later, Sister Yu suffered from a genetic disease. After Lin Yu accompanied her through her last days, he accepted the invitation from the research institute.
...
The evil beast, the widow, Sister Yu... The nine figures gradually disappeared, leaving only Shen Baozhu in the tenth lifetime.