HDFFIL Chapter 4

Silence. Complete silence. Just as Fang Cangwu was about to die of embarrassment — on the verge of clawing an entire Dragon Palace out of the seafloor with his toes — Azure Dragon Meng Zhang, who had been trailing behind, finally arrived, and the awkwardness was at last relieved.

Fang Cangwu cleared his throat a few times, then said to Meng Zhang, “Please escort my Lady to her chambers to rest. I have some matters to discuss with the Elders.”

With that, Fang Cangwu swept his gaze over the Dragon Clan Elders standing before him — every one of them strikingly handsome, yet not a single one with any sense of occasion.

Upon hearing this, Meng Zhang naturally gave no thought to what had transpired moments earlier, and instead turned to Tongtian, who stood at Fang Cangwu’s side, and said, “This way, please, Young Lord’s Lady.”

The moment those words landed, Fang Cangwu was genuinely moved. Meng Zhang truly was one of the rare sharp-minded souls among the Dragon Clan — no wonder he would one day become the Divine Lord Meng Zhang.

Tongtian, upon hearing the four words “Young Lord’s Lady,” let the corners of his mouth curl ever so slightly upward. He raised an eyebrow and said, “Very well. Given my standing, even the title of Dragon Queen would suit me — why settle for mere ‘Lady’?”

As his words fell, Tongtian winked at Fang Cangwu, and the gathered Dragon Clan Elders swiftly bowed in unison. “We pay our respects to the Queen.”

In that moment, only one thought remained in Fang Cangwu’s mind: this person was utterly, irredeemably shameless!

Tongtian, pleased by the look of shock on Fang Cangwu’s face, departed in high spirits, following Meng Zhang away.

Once Tongtian had gone, the expressions of the several Dragon Clan Elders immediately turned solemn. The Grand Elder looked at Fang Cangwu before him and said, “We ask that the Crown Prince accompany us.”

As his words fell, the vast expanse of sea parted to either side, and a path leading down to the underwater Dragon Palace appeared before Fang Cangwu.

Returning to the Dragon Palace once more, Fang Cangwu was struck by a sense of familiarity unlike anything he had felt before — after all, he had spent a very, very long time here.

Yet before he could so much as take a proper look at his own home, the Grand Elder and the others dropped to their knees and pleaded their guilt. “Your servants failed to protect the Crown Prince. We ask that the Crown Prince mete out punishment!”

When the dragon egg was stolen back then, the entire Dragon Palace had been thrown into panic and disarray. After divining that the dragon egg was in the possession of Tongtian — one of the Three Pure Ones — the Elders had grown all the more fraught with worry, fearing that their Crown Prince might have been made to suffer under the Three Pure Ones, or that the Three Pure Ones might refuse to release him — and what could be done then?

Fortunately, Meng Zhang had brought the Dragon Clan’s Crown Prince back. Better still, their Crown Prince had become Dao companions with one of the Three Pure Ones — and with that, the revival of the Dragon Clan had a glimmer of hope.

Fang Cangwu looked at the old dragons kneeling all across the floor and couldn’t help but let out a sigh. He hurried to help them up one by one.

“Tongtian had every intention of stealing the dragon egg — how could any of you have stopped him? Get up, quickly.”

The Grand Elder looked at the young man of the Dragon Clan in white robes standing before him, a warmth of relief surfacing in his gaze. He said with feeling, “That the Crown Prince has become Dao companions with Tongtian on this occasion is also a fortunate thing. There is hope yet for the revival of our Dragon Clan.”

In the Grand Elder’s view, Tongtian was one of the Three Pure Ones, and the Three Pure Ones were the primordial spirit of Pangu — the Heavenly Dao, too, showed far greater favor toward the Three Pure Ones. If the Three Pure Ones were to shelter the Dragon Clan, then while the clan might not be able to return to what it once was before the Dragon-Phoenix Great Calamity, at the very least no one would dare to bully them.

The other Elders, too, felt that their Crown Prince becoming Dao companions with Tongtian was an excellent outcome.

Upon hearing this, Fang Cangwu let out a laugh. He fixed his gaze on the Grand Elder and said, “On what grounds do you assume the Three Pure Ones would shelter the Dragon Clan, rather than go out of their way to avoid us?”

Though a smile rested on Fang Cangwu’s face, it never reached his eyes, and his question left the Elders utterly without answer.

“W-well… I observe that Shangqing does not object to this union,” the Second Elder ventured, unable to hold back, his voice dropping low.

Fang Cangwu regarded him with cold eyes. Beneath his sleeve, his fingers lightly traced the dragon-bone spear, which had shrunk down in size, and he said: “Shangqing may be willing — but are Yuqing and Taiqing? If not for the Heavenly Dao covenant that cannot be easily altered, Yuanshi would long ago have helped Tongtian sever his emotional ties with the Wisdom Sword.”

(TL: In Daoist cosmology, 上清 (Shàngqīng), 玉清 (Yùqīng), 太清 (Tàiqīng) correspond to the Three Pure Ones (三清, Sānqīng), the highest deities of Daoism)

Every dragon present fell silent at those words. For a moment, none knew what to say. The Grand Elder’s expression, which had only just softened, once again took on a shade of worry.

Fang Cangwu turned and settled into the seat of honor, then continued to address the Elders. “You look now at the Heavenly Dao’s favor for the Three Pure Ones — but what of several cosmic cycles from now? Is it not possible that even the Heavenly Dao will one day move against the Three Pure Ones?”

The moment Fang Cangwu finished speaking, every face in the room drained of color. Someone couldn’t help but speak up. “But they are the Three Pure Ones.”

“Who can say what the future holds?”

Just as when the Dragon and Phoenix clans had stood as sovereigns of the primordial wilderness — how glorious they had been in those days. Who could ever have imagined they would one day be reduced to this?

Just as everyone was furrowing their brows in worry, the Grand Elder caught sight of hope for the Dragon Clan. He looked at Fang Cangwu and asked earnestly, “Then what should we do now?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Fang Cangwu spoke two words. “Withdraw from the world.”

They had to withdraw — to retreat into obscurity until the demon clan established their Heavenly Court, until the Wu and Yao clans rose as the new overlords of the primordial wilderness, and only when the human clan emerged into the world could the Dragon Clan begin to gradually make their move.

When Fang Cangwu’s words fell, no one raised an objection. The Dragon Clan had been all but forsaken by the Heavenly Dao, and the only reason any bloodline had survived was because of the merit accumulated by the Dragon Clan in their willingness to guard the Eastern Sea.

“What we must do now is bide our time and build our strength in silence.” With those words, Fang Cangwu set the tone for the Dragon Clan’s path forward.

The Elders all nodded in agreement. Keeping their heads down and quietly growing their wealth was the best path for the Dragon Clan.

Seeing this, Fang Cangwu let out a yawn. “I’m tired. Where is my room?”

Upon hearing this, the Grand Elder broke into a kind and gentle smile, then said softly, “It’s still in the same place as before. I have already had the attendants redecorate it.”

Fang Cangwu nodded, then made his way eagerly to the room where he had stayed during his time as a dragon egg.

What greeted his eyes was a curtain of pearls and gauze curtains made of shark silk. Parting the gauze, one could see brilliantly vivid coral ornaments and all manner of rare treasures arranged throughout the room — but why was there a Taoist in black robes sitting on his clam-shell bed?

Fang Cangwu’s expression instantly darkened. After a brief pause, he asked through gritted teeth. “Why are you here?”

“Meng Zhang brought me.” Tongtian reclined lazily on the clam-shell bed. “We are Dao companions — am I not allowed to stay in this room?”

Tongtian shot the question back at him, with a hint of amusement.

Fang Cangwu felt that Tongtian was an utterly shameless individual, thoroughly devoid of all decency.

“You know as well as I do — we are not true Dao companions.” Fang Cangwu walked up to Tongtian and said in a low voice.

Tongtian, in no particular hurry, regarded Fang Cangwu with leisure, a glint of teasing in his eyes. “Little Daoist friend — do you not even acknowledge your own Heavenly Dao contract?”

Fang Cangwu’s expression remained cold as he replied, “It is nothing more than a cooperative arrangement.”

With that, he moved to drive Tongtian out. But before Fang Cangwu could act, Tongtian pulled him down onto the bed and murmured, “My dear dragon, I came here in good faith to share the Dao with you, and yet you show not even a trace of gratitude. Even false couples in later generations would at least keep up appearances — you don’t even bother with that much.”

Fang Cangwu fell back onto the soft clam-shell bed, his hair — black as silk — spreading out across the sheets, and his already round eyes went even wider.

“You — you — you — get off me right now!”

Fang Cangwu was on the verge of collapse. He had a deep aversion to anyone being too close to him, and especially to Tongtian’s proximity.

The next moment, a pair of arms — luminously white and smooth as jade — emerged from Fang Cangwu’s sleeves and shoved the completely unprepared Tongtian aside.

Seeing Fang Cangwu’s reaction being so intense, Tongtian helplessly put some distance between them and got straight to the point.

“No more teasing.” Tongtian tucked away his languid air, and at the same time pulled the reclining Fang Cangwu upright, then said, “Today I will pass on an Visualization Diagram to you.”

Before Fang Cangwu could even react, Tongtian pressed a finger to the space between his brows. In that instant, a Diagram of Pangu Splitting Heaven and Earth from Chaos appeared within Fang Cangwu’s divine consciousness.

Fang Cangwu was taken aback. After all, in the primordial wilderness, the Diagram of Pangu Splitting Heaven and Earth from Chaos existed only among the direct descendants of Pangu — and the supreme Dao principles it contained were of extraordinary rarity and value.

Just as Fang Cangwu was at a loss for what to do, Tongtian barked in a low voice, “Calm your mind!”

At those words, Fang Cangwu immediately cast aside all stray and jumbled thoughts and began the visualization practice, striving to comprehend the supreme Dao principles within.

In only a short while, fine beads of sweat seeped across Fang Cangwu’s brow — yet at the same time, his cultivation began to climb steadily upward from the late-stage Golden Immortal realm.

At his side, Tongtian couldn’t help but let a look of warmth and satisfaction show on his face. With talent such as this, it was well worth bringing out the Diagram of Pangu Splitting Heaven and Earth from Chaos for him to visualize.

Before long, Fang Cangwu ascended from late-stage Golden Immortal, then broke through the Golden Immortal realm entirely to become a Taiyi Golden Immortal, and finally came to a halt only upon reaching the late-stage Taiyi Golden Immortal realm.

By that point, Fang Cangwu looked as though he had been hauled out of a body of water — his white robes soaked through, tracing the slender lines of his youthful waist.

When Fang Cangwu came back to himself, he nearly toppled straight into Tongtian’s arms. The exhaustion was real — yet his cultivation had made a qualitative leap forward.

“Move aside. I’m going to bathe.” With that, Fang Cangwu waved a hand at Tongtian. It was the sort of thing that could have been resolved with a single cleansing spell — and yet Fang Cangwu insisted on going to bathe all the same.

Tongtian, upon hearing this, quietly tucked away the medicinal pill he had been holding at his fingertips, then looked at the young man before him and said, “Do you even have the strength to make it to the bath pool?”

“Why don’t I take you there.”

With those words, Tongtian scooped Fang Cangwu up into his arms, and a delicate fragrance of ambergris drifted over.

“Let go of me!” Every inch of Fang Cangwu radiated protest.

Yet no matter how much Fang Cangwu struggled, Tongtian refused to release him — and when Tongtian caught sight of the corners of Fang Cangwu’s eyes flushing red with irritation, he secretly curved his lips upward.

In the end, Fang Cangwu had no strength left to struggle, and allowed Tongtian to carry him to the bath pool.

Mist rose from the bath pool, carrying with it a faint warmth, and many rare and precious natural treasures had been placed within it to fortify the body, strengthen the bones, and bring a more lustrous sheen to the scales.

“Put me down.”

Fang Cangwu thought he was finally about to be free — but at that very moment, the Dragon Palace suddenly shook, and Tongtian, with Fang Cangwu in his arms, tumbled straight into the bath pool.

Water splashed up around them. Skin pressed against skin, hair tangled with hair, and the distance between them was so close that Fang Cangwu nearly wished he could just pass out.

“You did that on purpose.” Fang Cangwu surfaced from the water and said through clenched teeth. He didn’t for a moment believe that Tongtian — a former Sage, now a Daluo Golden Immortal — could have simply lost his footing.

Tongtian blinked with an air of innocence, reached over, and smoothed the hair away from the side of Fang Cangwu’s face. “Not at all — it’s clear that someone has made a move against the Dragon Palace.”

“Who!”