Chongming picked up the little Taotie none too gently and said to Zhaozhao, "Cut open your palm."
"Huh?" Zhaozhao didn't understand. Weren't they supposed to teach the Taotie not to steal? Why did she have to cut her hand?
Zhaozhao stole a glance at her master. She was afraid of pain, really, really afraid. So she wasn't very keen on doing what her master said.
Chongming shook the Taotie in his hand and asked her, "Don't you want to teach it to be a good spirit?"
Zhaozhao was quite protective of herself. She shrank her hand back and murmured, "Well... Otherwise, if it steals again, just let it get beaten up."
"..." Chongming was both angry and amused. He just now realized that his little disciple had such a side.
Chongming coaxed her patiently, "What if it gets beaten up so badly that it accidentally gets killed? Zhaozhao, it's just a bit gluttonous. It's not a heinous spirit."
Zhaozhao looked at the Taotie in Chongming's hand. She felt so sorry for it that she gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and cut open her palm cleanly. "Okay!"
Chongming picked up one of the Taotie's paws and made a cut on the sleeping Taotie too.
"Zhaozhao, draw this hand seal."
Zhaozhao obediently did as she was told. The next second, Chongming handed the Taotie to her.
Zhaozhao's and the Taotie's blood dropped into the formation and instantly merged. A red mark appeared on the Taotie's forehead and gradually disappeared into its fur.
Chongming tricked Zhaozhao into making a blood pact with the Taotie.
Chongming had thought it through. Zhaozhao was in danger down the mountain. Now that she had joined the Monster Management Bureau, she would inevitably be restricted without revealing her identity. Taking in the Taotie as a spiritual pet would reduce some of the future dangers.
The Taotie was one of the four ancient fierce beasts. Now it was just injured and recuperating in the Wuhuang Valley. Once it recovered, it would be a different story.
"Okay, Master has to go. I'll come to see you some other time."
"Okay!" Zhaozhao nodded obediently and waved goodbye to her master.
After Chongming left, Zhaozhao ran back to Suyuan's side and guarded him. The Taotie was still sound asleep. It seemed that it wouldn't wake up for a while.
Those little elves didn't know what was going on. They were lying all over the place in a circle, each snoring in their sleep.
In this area, Zhaozhao was the only one awake.
"Is this some kind of sleeping day? Why is everyone sleeping?" Zhaozhao propped her chin up and counted Suyuan's eyelashes out of boredom.
Suyuan's eyelashes were so long. He was really good-looking. Zhaozhao sighed while counting.
For a moment, her love for Suyuan was overflowing. Suyuan was so good. He even got injured to save her.
Wait! As she was thinking, Zhaozhao suddenly felt that something was wrong. How did Suyuan know that she had entered the illusion? And how did he save her?!
Also, she seemed to have forgotten something... What was it?
Oh right! Zhaozhao slapped her thigh but missed... She slapped Suyuan's head that was lying on her lap...
Where was her dragon? Her Yuanyuan was gone!
Connecting all the clues, Zhaozhao looked at Suyuan suspiciously. Could it be that he was the little dragon? But why did Suyuan pretend to be the little dragon and deceive her?
She couldn't figure it out.
Suyuan woke up at a very opportune moment. Just as he opened his eyes and his mind hadn't fully regained consciousness, he saw Zhaozhao looking at him with a troubled expression and heard her say two words: "Yuanyuan?"
Suyuan: "..." Oh no, his cover was blown.
"Cough, is Zhaozhao calling me?" Suyuan was determined to play dumb. As long as he didn't admit it, everything would be fine.
However, once Zhaozhao had a bright idea, she wasn't so easy to fool. She squinted her eyes and sized up Suyuan, asking him, "Why did you pretend to be the little dragon and follow me?"
Suyuan calmly denied it, "What little dragon? I don't know what you're talking about."
Zhaozhao moved her face closer to Suyuan's and asked him again, "Then why are you here?"
Suyuan remembered that Zhaozhao had entered the illusion. Although he couldn't remember the specific situation clearly, he still vaguely remembered Zhaozhao crying and saying not to leave her, as well as his anger and heartache at that time.
Suyuan's eyes softened. Looking at Zhaozhao, he said softly, "The dragon scale sensed that you were in danger, so I rushed over."
"Really?"
"Really."
Humph, liar! He still wouldn't admit it. Zhaozhao didn't believe a single word Suyuan said in her heart. But since the other party didn't admit it, what should she do?
She tilted her head and thought for a while. Suddenly, she thought of something. She threw herself into Suyuan's arms, hugged him tightly, and couldn't help but look at Suyuan's head.
Still not showing up? Is it not working?
Suyuan was suddenly hugged. He thought Zhaozhao was scared in the illusion just now. He hugged her back lovingly and gently patted her to comfort her.
Zhaozhao didn't see what she wanted to see. Gritting her teeth, she backed away a little, held Suyuan's face in her hands, and kissed those slightly cool lips directly.
"!!!"
The soft touch on his lips, the fragrance of the young girl, and that warmth made Suyuan freeze on the spot instantly.
Zhaozhao let go of Suyuan and stared at his head. Her eyes gradually lit up.
"Look! Your dragon horns are exactly the same as Yuanyuan's. You're still lying to me!" She seemed to have discovered something extraordinary, and her tone was filled with uncontrollable joy.
"Ah! And the tail!" Zhaozhao pointed at the dragon tail protruding from behind Suyuan and exclaimed.
Suyuan finally came to his senses. He couldn't bear it anymore. He wrapped his dragon tail around Zhaozhao's waist, dragged her into his arms, pinched Zhaozhao's chin, and asked her as calmly as possible, "Who taught you to do that?"
"What?" Zhaozhao blinked innocently.
He was really going crazy.
Suyuan took a deep breath. "Just now, who taught you to do that?"
"No one taught me. I learned it myself."
"Where did you learn it from?"
Zhaozhao looked at Suyuan and said in a weak voice, "I noticed that you would do this when you were very excited and happy. It was like this before. I knew you were Yuanyuan, but you just wouldn't admit it. So I thought... I'd make you show your true colors."
Show one's true colors. She learned it from a certain TV drama.
Suyuan closed his eyes. Fine, he had brought this on himself.
At this point, what could Suyuan do? He could only admit it. Then he patiently gave Zhaozhao a good lecture, telling her that she couldn't do this.
Zhaozhao's stubbornness was brought out by Suyuan's scolding. She looked a bit unhappy.
"I won't do this with others. They don't need to show their dragon horns."
Suyuan's heart skipped a beat. He awkwardly let go of Zhaozhao. "Let me calm down for a while."
Zhaozhao pouted. She thought Suyuan was really strange! He was the one who lied, but he still scolded her. She didn't want to talk to him anymore.
She turned around and poked the Taotie's soft belly. The Taotie grunted and turned over when it was poked. It seemed to be about to wake up.
The Taotie sat up, rubbing its eyes with its paws. After seeing Zhaozhao clearly in front of it, it remembered that it, a majestic ancient fierce beast, had been tricked by this little girl in front of it. It bared its teeth at Zhaozhao and got up to run away.
Zhaozhao thought that she hadn't sorted things out with it yet. She couldn't let it go like this. Without thinking, she blurted out, "Stop! Don't go!"
The Taotie jumped up in mid-air. When it heard this, it uncontrollably stopped and fell to the ground with a thud.
"Damn it! You despicable little girl! You actually made a blood pact with me?!"
Zhaozhao looked confused. "What blood pact?"
In the distance, Suyuan, who was looking at the sky, twitched the corner of his forehead. He thought she was a soft and cute sweetheart, but it turned out she had a hidden naughty side...