Breaking the Precept

Nightwanderer waited for a while but didn't hear Haiyazi's usual taunts. Something seemed off.

He looked up from his book. "What's wrong with my fate?"

"Nothing," Haiyazi muttered, a rare hint of doubt crossing his mind as he wondered if this had anything to do with him. He decided to hold his tongue. After all, they'd been neighbors for over a thousand years. While he hadn't particularly liked Nightwanderer in the past, he didn't dislike him either. These days, with Nightwanderer showing newfound diligence and a thirst for knowledge, Haiyazi had started to enjoy his role as a teacher.

"Master," a maidservant bowed as she entered the hall. "A'Ni is here to see you."

"A'Ni?" Nightwanderer frowned. A'Ni was terrified of Haiyazi. If he'd come here, it must be something urgent.

"Let him in," Haiyazi instructed.

A'Ni shuffled in timidly, head down and avoiding Haiyazi's gaze. He darted to Nightwanderer's side, pulling a gilded card from his robe. His face was full of unease. "Master, Master! Lord Ao Qing has sent this!"

"It's just an invitation; no need to panic," Nightwanderer said, tossing the card aside without looking at it.

Ao Qing, the Azure Dragon, was the ruler of Xuanxin Realm, overseeing both Nightwanderer's Tianhai Cave and Haiyazi's Autumnwater Pool. Known for his arrogance, Ao Qing loved hosting banquets to flaunt his power and bask in the flattery of his subordinates, often extending invitations to Nightwanderer.

Likely because having a six-clawed Heavenly Dragon under his rule brought him great prestige.

Nightwanderer, however, had never attended.

"Master, this time it's not an invitation; it's a challenge!"

"A challenge?"

Nightwanderer blinked in surprise and picked up the overly ostentatious gilded card again. Opening it, he found it was indeed a battle challenge. "Huh? I don't even know him. Why is he challenging me?"

A fourteenth-level realm lord challenging a ninth-level cave master—what was Ao Qing thinking?

"I have no idea! The messenger threw down the card and left in a fury!" A'Ni was still shaken.

As they discussed the matter, a metallic box on the bookshelf clicked open. Haiyazi pulled out a jade slip, read it, and raised an eyebrow. "Little Nightwanderer, I don't know whether to congratulate you or commiserate with you."

Nightwanderer glanced at him. "What now?"

Haiyazi held up the jade slip. "I just got word. The Sea King has decreed that Liru, of the Golden Dragon Clan, be married to you."

"Liru? Who's that?" Nightwanderer asked, perplexed.

"Liru, like you, is a six-clawed Heavenly Dragon. But she's also a first-tier Golden Dragon, the most revered among dragon clans. At 5,300 years old, she's a fourteenth-level realm lord. Congratulations, you've hit the jackpot. No more living hand-to-mouth." Haiyazi chuckled.

"However," he added, "Liru is infamous for her high standards. The Purple Dragon King courted her for years and got rejected. Recently, he made the mistake of drunkenly offending her, and she demolished his palace in retaliation. When he reported her to the Sea King, the Sea King decided she should settle down to curb her temper. He allowed her to choose a husband, but her refusal and defiance angered him. So, he picked you as her husband to spite her."

"Why me?"

"To humiliate her, obviously. Everyone in the Sea Clan knows you as a lazy, good-for-nothing bum. But since you're a six-clawed Heavenly Dragon, it looks like the Sea King is acting in the dragons' best interest. Win-win."

Haiyazi chuckled at the thought. The Sea King must have outdated intelligence. These days, Nightwanderer and Liru seemed like a perfect match—he'd have to berate himself for being blind before.

"Then what's with this challenge?"

"Ao Qing has admired Liru for years. What do you think? Your dragon clan forbids internal fighting, but challenges aren't off-limits."

"How tedious," Nightwanderer muttered, tossing the challenge card aside and returning to his book. He had no intention of attending.

Meanwhile, back in Chixiao, Jian Xiaolou sat within the mobile palace. The atmosphere was calm, with no signs of disturbance—a testament to how reliable it was to stay by her master's side.

Taking out a blank jade slip, she used her divine sense to inscribe a cultivation technique she had committed to memory. Once done, she stepped outside and called, "Li!"

A gust of wind knocked her back, her form reverting to normal as she landed steadily. Then, a powerful divine sense fell upon her, nearly forcing her to her knees under its immense pressure.

Zenlingzi flicked his fingers, shielding Jian Xiaolou with a wave of energy.

"Master..." she murmured awkwardly.

"I heard the venerable one has taken a female disciple—chosen by the Red Lotus Relic, no less. Is it her?" The speaker was a white-haired, white-bearded old Daoist. Clad in a simple robe, he wore straw sandals and carried a two-foot-long gourd on his back.

It must be the Great Gourd himself.

Zenlingzi nodded. "Elder Yiku of the Heavenly Dao Sect."

Jian Xiaolou quickly bowed. "This junior greets Daoist Elder Yiku."

Though she was largely ignorant, even she knew of Yiku. Of the known Nascent Soul stage cultivators in the Central Domain, three stood out: Bai Shifei, leader of the Heaven's Will Alliance; Yiku, elder of the Heavenly Dao Sect; and Yiwén, his fellow Daoist.

Yiku gave her a small nod. "Not bad."

It was unclear what exactly he meant by "not bad."

The two senior cultivators then began speaking in hushed tones, leaving Jian Xiaolou to her own thoughts. She retreated behind Zenlingzi, stepping out of their sound barrier.

Back at the coast, the masters discussed matters with a solemn air, their conversation steering toward the impending danger posed by the ominous flow of corruption in the South Spirit Continent...