“No!” Yun Ruoyan hugged Li Yan as she stood by the shore. “Li Yan’s still small, so how can he have a spiritual beast of his own? Furthermore, Qingchen hatched and raised Whitey with her own hands! How could she just give it to Li Yan?” Yun Ruoyan was exasperated and very dissatisfied with the demonic dragon forefather’s overbearing nature. She knew how precious Whitey was to Lin Qingchen, and didn’t want to hurt her.

“You must think I’m being domineering, don’t you?” the demonic dragon forefather asked.

“Don’t you think so?” Yun Ruoyan countered.

The demonic dragon forefather looked at Yun Ruoyan and sighed in exasperation. “I have a reason for my actions.”

“What do you mean?” Yun Ruoyan and Lin Qingchen both asked.

“I’m curious what part of this arrangement benefits me,” Lin Qingchen muttered. She was furious about the demonic dragon forefather’s domineering request, but at the same time, she couldn’t be angry at her little nephew.

“In that case, I’ll explain myself.” The demonic dragon forefather pointed at Whitey. “This whelp’s just a youngling, and it hasn’t awakened any of its latent potential. That’s why it deigned to contract with you for protection. Once it grows into an adult and unlocks its true might, do you think you’d still be able to control it? The silver and demonic dragons are mythical creatures, and none would be willing to be the contracted beast of a mere mortal.”

Lin Qingchen could feel the truth in his words: after discovering Whitey’s metamorphosis, Lin Qingchen had had a harder time communicating with it, and it would even occasionally start to ignore her. However, she was unwilling to back down just yet. “But Whitey’s already contracted to me! It’ll be my spiritual beast for life, and it won’t be able to betray me!”

“Huhut.” The demonic dragon forefather began to laugh as though he had heard something particularly amusing. “Aren’t you a little too naive, lass? If your contracted beast advances too far ahead of you in cultivation, what do you think will happen?”

“What do you mean?” Lin Qingchen frowned.

“You cultivators from lower realms really don’t know much, so let me explain myself further.” According to the demonic dragon forefather, a contracted beast whose cultivation had advanced beyond that of its master would be able to break the contract of its own will. Such a one-sided dissolution of the contract would cause its master to suffer from recoil; if the contracted beast were as strong as a silver dragon, Lin Qingchen could easily die as a result.

“No, Whitey would never do that!” Lin Qingchen shook her head firmly.

“Are you certain?” The demonic dragon forefather glanced at her critically. “That’s a silver dragon, after all. They’re sly and strong, and even we demonic dragons are no match for them. Are you sure that, once it grows up, it’ll be willing to remain nothing more than your contracted beast, trapped with you in a place like this?”

“I—” Lin Qingchen hesitated. If Whitey were just a regular python, there wouldn’t be a problem at all, but it was a silver dragon…

In the end, Lin Qingchen deflated. “No, I can’t guarantee that it won’t try to leave me.”

“But he can.” The demonic dragon forefather pointed at Li Yan, still in Yun Ruoyan’s arms. Both the demonic and silver dragon bloodline runs through his veins, and his future cultivation and accomplishments will be immeasurable. Li Yan’s the only one on the entire Chenyuan continent who would be able to control this silver dragon.”

Lin Qingchen shut her eyes and slowly sat down. In the end, she acquiesced to the dissolution of the contract between her and Whitey—not because the demonic dragon forefather had forced her, but because she had seriously considered his words and found them faultless. “Li Yan, I’ll hand Whitey to you, alright?” Lin Qingchen walked up to Yun Ruoyan and rubbed Li Yan’s cheeks.

“Qingchen…” Yun Ruoyan was a little guilty at what had happened.

“Sister Ruoyan, the demonic dragon forefather’s quite right. It’s dangerous for Whitey to remain with me, now that we know what it truly is.” Although Lin Qingchen was still a little upset at having to give Whitey up, she had made up her mind—and Li Yan was her nephew, after all. “It can be a gift to my little nephew, at least.”

“Ah, I haven’t given Li Yan a present yet either!” Lin Qingxue exclaimed in embarrassment. “Now that you’ve given him such a magnanimous gift, Sister, I have to spend some time preparing my present.”

“You could make a hearty soup out of your catfish,” Lin Qingchen suggested with a smile.

“Ah, sister! You’d better not say that when it’s within earshot, or it’ll scream for the next three days and nights!” Lin Qingxue shouted, half-panicking. Lin Qingchen had given her her catfish, which possessed the unusual ability of being able to laugh and cry. Lin Qingxue had initially been scared to death of that catfish, but it was now her most precious pet.

With the demonic dragon forefather’s help, Lin Qingchen dissolved her contract with Whitey. Perhaps because of Li Yan’s silver dragon bloodline, the contract between Li Yan and Whitey was set up smoothly and rapidly.

In the end, Whitey became Li Yan’s spiritual beast.

“Sister Ruoyan, I think Li Yan had better have this, too.” Lin Qingchen removed her heirloom ring from her finger and passed it over to Yun Ruoyan. “Whitey’s rather massive, and it doesn’t look like any of the spiritual beasts native to the Chenyuan continent. If you want to travel with it, this ring will come in handy.”

Yun Ruoyan took the gift with gratitude. “Qingchen, let me thank you on behalf of Li Yan.” She dangled the ring in front of Li Yan. “Look, this is a gift from your aunt. Do you like it?”

Li Yan began playing with the ring with his chubby little hands, as though he was very interested in it.

“Ah, I know what I want to give Li Yan now!” Lin Qingxue suddenly cried out. “The catfish that Sister Qingchen gave me is female, so I need to find a male catfish to mate with her. Then, I’ll give Li Yan some of the baby catfish! I’m sure he’ll love them!”

One howling catfish was problematic enough, let alone a few of them. Yun Ruoyan immediately took a step back.

As they left the bamboo garden, Yun Ruoyan kept Whitey in the storage ring to bring him back to the Slaughtering King’s manor. Lin Qingchen told Yun Ruoyan all about Whitey’s primary diet, routine, and care. “Sister Ruoyan, you need to build a large pond for Whitey.” That was Lin Qingchen’s only request. “My place is a little cramped, and Whitey has been somewhat uncomfortable here.”

“Don’t worry, Qingchen. There’s a gigantic lotus pond in the Slaughtering King’s manor, and I think it’ll be the perfect fit for Whitey. Make sure you come visit us sometimes; Whitey belongs to us all,” Yun Ruoyan replied.

Yun Ruoyan, Li Mo, and Li Yan stayed at the Lin manor for dinner before leaving. On the way back to the Slaughtering King’s manor, she told Li Mo about what had happened with Whitey, but he didn’t seem too surprised.

“Yan’er, do you remember how Whitey suddenly went crazy and tried to attack you?” Li Mo asked.

“Yes, I do,” Yun Ruoyan recalled. “I didn’t understand why it had done that back then, but now I suspect it sensed the demonic dragon’s eye in my mind. As expected, the demonic and silver dragons are hostile to one another.”

Whitey had discovered that demonic eye in the demonic ring almost immediately after Yun Ruoyan had awakened it with her blood, a feat that Yun Ruoyan continued to find incredible. Suddenly, she thought of something. “Li Yan has the demonic dragon bloodline too, doesn’t he? Is Whitey going to be antagonistic toward him?”

“No,” Li Mo replied, after some thought. “The reason Whitey was able to discover the demonic eye in your ring wasn’t because of clan rivalry, but because the demonic eye harbored malicious intent toward it.”

Yun Ruoyan instantly understood what Li Mo meant. Whitey was a newborn silver dragon that had hatched with Lin Qingchen’s care, and it hadn’t ever encountered others of its kind before. What it had sensed wasn’t the fact that the demonic eye was present, but rather the fact that the demonic eye hated it with every fiber of its existence.

“Whitey and Li Yan are both newborns, and their thoughts are pure and unsullied,” Li Mo continued. “The demonic dragon forefather’s arrangement really was quite thoughtful.”

“Huhut! Li Mo’s the more calm, rational one after all. Ruoyan, you’d better learn from him,” the demonic dragon forefather replied proudly.

When Yun Ruoyan heard the demonic dragon forefather’s words, not only did she not get angry, she was even very proud. If Li Mo wasn’t sharp, how could he have picked her out of a gaggle of noble young ladies?

When they returned to the Li manor, Li Mo took Li Yan, who was sleeping soundly, from Yun Ruoyan’s arms while she transferred Whitey to the lotus pond.

Whitey had been badly injured in the morning, although his wounds were mostly superficial. Once it entered the water, it instantly submerged to the depths of the pond without peeking its head out of the water at all.

When Li Mo saw Yun Ruoyan’s worried expression, he consoled her. “Although the regenerative capabilities of the silver dragons aren’t at the level of the demonic dragons, they’re still far more sturdy than humans. Whitey will recover without any problem after some time to rest, and there’s no need to worry so much about it.”

Yun Ruoyan knew that this was true, but Lin Qingchen had handed Whitey to her as though she were handing over her own child, and Yun Ruoyan felt responsible for giving it the best possible care.

“Tomorrow, I’ll have to pick out two meticulous maids to take care of Whitey’s needs,” Yun Ruoyan replied.

After the long day, they both headed to rest. The next day, Yun Ruoyan received a letter from Yun Moxiao, who had finally quelled the last remnants of the rebellion and was rushing back to the capital with the Farsighted King and his fellow dissidents in tow. He was slated to arrive within ten days.

Yun Ruoyan checked the date the letter was sent—the letter had taken eight days to reach her, which meant she would be able to see her brother in at most two days.