As Quan Juehua was pondering how to rid himself of Dui Tianji, a powerful suction abruptly manifested.
"Quick, take my hand!" Dui Tianji called out at once. Quan Juehua hurriedly grasped her hand.
The suction pulling from above was unbelievably immense, yet it seemed targeted at wholes rather than parts. Countless black and white specks were instantly sucked away. Quan Juehua felt as though he and Dui Tianji had merged into a single entity, remaining completely motionless amid the terrifying pull.
He had no idea how much time passed or what had actually happened, letting out a breath of relief only after the suction faded.
"What just happened?" Quan Juehua immediately released Dui Tianji's hand, asking at the same time.
Dui Tianji replied, "Whale swallows everything it encounters, but after some time, it also vents everything it doesn't need out through the blowhole on its back. Right now, however, the outside is Between Being and Non-Being. If you were blown out, you would die without a doubt."
"Doesn't that mean I'm stuck here for the rest of my life?" Quan Juehua frowned. If so, how could he ever return to the Tree Universe to seize the origin?
Dui Tianji comforted him, "Whale is very close to the Tree Universe right now. There will always be an opportunity—it's merely a matter of time. You should hurry and condense an Origin Seed."
"Mm."
Quan Juehua nodded in agreement, though the creeping unease in his heart only grew stronger.
Still, things having come to this, he had no choice but to cultivate first. After all, he had no idea when the chance would come; he needed to quickly condense the Origin Seed, lest an opportunity to return to the Tree Universe appear and he be unable to leave because he hadn't finished condensing it.
***
Matters on Quan Juehua's side came to a temporary pause.
Meanwhile, Yu Xian finally rendezvoused once more with the Hero Party. The Hero Party had just routed a skeleton squad under the Demonic Dragon's command, each member covered in wounds and looking like ragpickers.
Everyone sat on the ground around the campfire. Scarlett looked at the bruised and battered Luo Wei, finding it hard to believe this was her savior.
"Sir Newton, we meet again." Seeing Yu Xian, Luo Wei was quite pleased, though smiling pulled at the wounds on his cheek, causing him to suck in a sharp breath of cold air. His voice even warped a bit, sounding noticeably shriller.
Yu Xian smiled. "Mm, we meet again. You've grown stronger!"
"A modest breakthrough," Luo Wei said modestly.
He had indeed grown stronger, advancing from early Rank 5 to mid Rank 5, and the duration he could wield the Holy Sword had increased from one minute to a minute and a half.
Of course, this "one minute" and "minute and a half" referred to his full-power state. If he transformed the Holy Sword into a hoe, he could dig soil all day long without tiring.
"I came this time to recommend a talent to you. This is Scarlett. Don't look at how small she is and think she looks weak—well, all right, she is weak, but she's a rogue with great potential. She should be able to help you." Yu Xian didn't beat around the bush and directly stated the purpose of his visit.
The members of the Hero Party all looked at Scarlett. Scarlett froze in an instant, her tail sticking straight up.
"Sir Newton, it's not that we're unwilling to take in more teammates. It's just... our pockets are empty. Feeding just the few of us is already a struggle." In truth, Luo Wei was quite tempted. His party was all-female, and Scarlett was cute and pretty, fitting his aesthetic for selecting teammates.
Yet he was also genuinely poor.
Yu Xian chuckled upon hearing that. "That's simple. I'm quite well-off!"
As he spoke, he produced a pouch of gold coins and set it before Luo Wei. Luo Wei swallowed audibly; the clinking sound of those gold coins was truly music to the ears.
"Maybe... let's just forget it," Scarlett said hesitantly upon witnessing this.
Although she was willing to join the Hero Party, she didn't want to join like this. How was this any different from buying one's way onto the team?
"No way!"
"Out of the question!"
Yu Xian and Luo Wei said almost in unison.
The two looked at each other and nodded, reaching a consensus in an instant.
One genuinely wanted to dump the burden that was Scarlett, while the other genuinely wanted to accept Scarlett as a teammate. Pleasure doing business!
"All right, time for me to continue my journey. Farewell!"
Seeing that Luo Wei had agreed to take Scarlett into the party, Yu Xian stood up and said.
He felt rather like playing a video game and boarding a pet at an NPC's house. As for whether the pet would lay an egg after staying there for a while, who knew?
After bidding farewell to the Hero Party, Yu Xian decided to skip most of the 'plot' and take a look at the Calamity Demonic Dragon.
Mainly because this Calamity Demonic Dragon was rather strange: it spent the vast majority of its time asleep. According to the 'destiny' he understood, it wasn't until the Hero Party fought all the way to its face that the Calamity Demonic Dragon finally woke up, immediately roaring and launching an attack at them.
As a result, the Hero Party had already grown strong. Through tacit cooperation and the immense power of the Holy Sword, they slew the Calamity Demonic Dragon in one fell swoop.
Why did this thing sleep all the time?
Although Yu Xian knew dragons had dragon slumbers, for the Calamity Demonic Dragon to be so 'powerful' yet still so lethargic was bizarre.
Since he had time to kill anyway, Yu Xian decided to satisfy his curiosity and investigate.
As for whether this would disrupt the original destiny, it didn't matter.
***
The Calamity Demonic Dragon dwelt in an uninhabited, desolate land.
Its minions had built a magnificent palace for it, and it slept continuously inside, seemingly having no interest in anything outside.
Outside the palace, after a ripple in space, Yu Xian appeared at the entrance. He looked at the Calamity Demonic Dragon inside the palace, only then discovering that its size was actually not that large.
If pressed, it was only about a third larger than a Tyrannosaurus rex, just with wings.
Its scales were an iridescent black; beneath sunlight, many different hues could be discerned. Its tail was exceptionally long, tipped with a tuft of black flame.
That was the Flame of Calamity. As long as it burned, it steadily released the Black Smoke of Calamity.
Once the Black Smoke of Calamity dissolved into the air, it spread outward, carrying disasters across the world and inflicting suffering upon all living things.
Yu Xian stepped into the palace. Sure enough, the Calamity Demonic Dragon was still asleep. This was hardly surprising, as from its birth until now, it had spent basically all its time sleeping. The rare few times it had awakened were when its minions woke it with their noise.
For instance, before building the palace, minions had asked what style of palace it wanted, and it had picked one at random.
Another time was after the palace was finished, when the minions respectfully invited it to move in. It had indulged their good intentions, moving into the palace from then on and sleeping continuously ever since.
"Let's see what you're thinking," Yu Xian murmured to himself as he walked up to the Calamity Demonic Dragon's head.
Placing a hand on the dragon's head, he began reading its thoughts. A moment later, a look of astonishment crossed his face.
Chapter 678