"Let's do it!"
Steeling his resolve, Yu Xian decided to head back and covertly plant some spatial bubbles.
He had an excellent memory and clearly remembered the route from the crater to the Extreme Dragon's forbidden zone.
This had nothing to do with being a vampire; he had simply possessed a good memory since childhood. Even without studying hard, his grades had always stayed comfortably above average.
He flew back to the crater first, then set off toward the Extreme Dragon's forbidden zone.
Of course, he certainly wouldn't dare enter the forbidden zone itself this time. His plan was to place several bubbles around the perimeter and slowly maneuver them closer to the Extreme Dragon.
Half an hour later, Yu Xian was back at the edge of the forbidden zone.
The absolute edge.
From where he stood, he couldn't even see the lake where the Extreme Dragon made its home—only layer upon layer of overlapping mountain peaks. He estimated he would have to venture several thousand meters deeper just to catch sight of the water.
Still, this was enough. He genuinely did not dare get any closer.
"Time to begin!"
Yu Xian held out his hand. Tiny bubbles rapidly coalesced in his palm, and he steered them swiftly toward the Extreme Dragon's position.
Skimming right along the ground!
At first, he could still keep his eyes on them, but as they drew further away, they slipped out of sight. Left with no other choice, he condensed an Equinox Flower seed and placed it inside one of the bubbles.
Once the Equinox Flower bloomed and its petals drifted forward, he relied on his limited sensory link to steer the spatial bubble at a snail's pace.
He was extraordinarily cautious the entire time, terrified of alerting the Extreme Dragon in the water.
Fortunately, it went smoothly without any mishaps. The bubble eventually made it extremely close to the lake. The second an Equinox Flower petal touched the water, he immediately made all the petals disperse.
For the final stretch, he operated entirely blind.
Calculating that the bubble should have submerged, he finally stopped manipulating it.
Next, he rode a spatial bubble high into the sky and released a swarm of tiny bubbles into the air. This part was much easier to control, and soon all of them were hovering over the lake.
From now on, whenever he encountered an enemy he couldn't beat, he would teleport flying ones straight into the water and non-flying ones into the sky.
That way, even if an enemy could fly, the moment they were teleported, they would find themselves face-to-face with the Extreme Dragon—leaving them virtually no chance of escape. And non-fliers would be even more amusing: they would plummet from the sky straight into the lake, and such a huge splash would certainly be enough to rouse the beast.
Yu Xian was already looking forward to the look on his future enemies' faces when they were suddenly teleported into the Extreme Dragon's domain.
Hopefully, they wouldn't despair too much!
After a moment's thought, he produced a batch of additional bubbles and stationed them around the perimeter of the forbidden zone. Some blended seamlessly into the earth, while others drifted among the clouds in the sky.
With his preparations complete, he turned and took his leave.
...
...
He didn't sleep a wink that night.
Without any trouble along the way, Yu Xian covered another third of the journey.
Passing through Lücheng, Guocheng, and Cuicheng, he left spatial bubbles in each.
In the future, traveling to and from these cities would take no more than a single thought.
Just past six in the morning.
He teleported back home, took a shower, and changed into his school uniform. Just as he finished, Nora came skipping up to his front door.
"Good morning!" Yu Xian teleported to the entryway and opened the door with a smile.
Nora seemed in exceptionally high spirits today. Beaming, she replied, "Morning!"
The two walked to school together. Nora wore an irrepressible smile the whole way, prompting Yu Xian to glance over at her repeatedly. Nora didn't keep him in suspense, saying brightly, "My dad reassigned Luo Qi. The new guardian is a really nice big sister. She only took up her post last night, and we stayed up chatting all night."
"Then congratulations. You're a lot freer now," Yu Xian said with a chuckle.
He wasn't surprised in the slightest that Marcus had transferred Luo Qi. After all, Luo Qi's behavior when he came looking for Yu Xian that night had been thoroughly unhinged; there was no way Marcus wouldn't grow suspicious.
For instance, Marcus might suspect Luo Qi of harboring improper intentions toward his daughter...
Yu Xian secretly looked down on Luo Qi. Watching Nora's joyful demeanor, he found himself smiling internally. Once he flew to Ice City tonight, Nora was bound to be even happier tomorrow.
"Oh, and another thing—when my mom heard Luo Qi had been transferred, she booked a flight for tonight. I'll get to see her tomorrow! There's finally no obnoxious jerk in the way," Nora added cheerfully.
The smile on Yu Xian's face instantly froze. Then he gave a dry laugh. "You're saying... your mom is coming here?"
"Yeah! A flight tonight, so she should arrive tomorrow." Nora nodded, her eyes overflowing with anticipation, her whole being radiating delight.
Yu Xian could only offer a strained smile. "Well, congratulations. Tomorrow's Saturday anyway, so you can spend plenty of time with her."
This was getting a bit awkward.
He had planned to give Nora a surprise tomorrow, only for her mother to beat him to the punch by coming straight to Silver City.
His original plan was to set up spatial bubbles in Ice City tonight, pick Nora up tomorrow, teleport her straight to Ice City with a spatial bubble, and go see her mother together.
Just imagining the scene had felt wonderful.
Who would have thought plans could never keep up with changes? Luo Qi's transfer had triggered a domino effect, and now the entire scheme had gone down the drain.
"What's wrong?" Nora asked, noticing his crestfallen look.
Yu Xian forced a smile. "Nothing, just a bit tired from last night. I'll catch some sleep once we get to school."
They arrived at school, and the moment they stepped into the classroom, Nora happily shared her joy with Chen Ling. The two girls huddled close, whispering in hushed tones.
Yu Xian didn't eavesdrop. Resting his chin in one hand, he pondered whether he still needed to go to Ice City.
Though missing out on surprising Nora felt like a letdown and left him disappointed, over the past two nights of traveling, he had fallen in love with the unbridled freedom of adventuring through the wilderness.
Once, roaming the world with a sword had been nothing more than a fantasy. Now that the dream had become reality, what reason did he have to turn it away?
Once the frog at the bottom of the well has seen the vastness of the sky, who would willingly crawl back down to stare at a patch of blue no wider than the well's mouth?
Besides, if he hadn't ventured out, he would never have met the Dragon King Golden Toad, never witnessed the terrifying might of the Extreme Dragon, and never known how marvelous and magnificent this world truly was.
"Yeah... Ice City, I'm definitely going!"
Taking a deep breath, Yu Xian had found his answer.
In fact, not just Ice City, but Focheng, Shicheng, Lion City, Longcheng, Xiangcheng...
In the future, he would visit so many more places, experiencing varied customs, savoring local delicacies, and meeting all kinds of fascinating people and things.
Besides, since there was no rush to reach Ice City now, he could take his time and linger in other cities along the way.
For instance, the route to Ice City happened to pass through Yanjing. He could drop by to visit Jin Sheng, broaden his horizons at headquarters, and hand Zhong Wuliang's corpse over to Bat while he was at it.
Without the rush to pull off a surprise for Nora, his schedule had suddenly opened right up.
Yu Xian realized the outcome wasn't bad at all—if anything, he was freer than before.
Chapter 89