Come Here, Little Loach

Qinghe realized that her usual tactic of playing the victim, which had always worked before, was ineffective this time—Xie Lingyu was dead serious.

Damn it!

So what if it's an old flame? Does that mean she’ll never bring them back to visit?

Grandma Bai had already made countless trips there.

Would a few extra words from Qinghe really make a difference now?

Thinking of this, Qinghe quietly glanced back at Xie Lingyu, whose expression was frosty.

Could it be… she doesn’t know about this?

Qinghe quickly racked her brain—it seemed Xie Lingyu truly had no idea.

Xie Lingyu never asked where Grandma Bai had gone. Ever since returning to the Tianyan Sect, aside from handling necessary affairs, she had been solely focused on cultivation.

Even Grandma Bai had remarked that Xie Lingyu seemed like a completely different person.

A brilliant idea suddenly struck Qinghe—what if she used this information to bargain for Xie Lingyu turning a blind eye to her slacking?

Then her carefree, lazy days could continue.

Maybe she could still get her hands on those meat buns, and who knows, there might be even tastier treats here.

Convinced of her plan, Qinghe spoke in a negotiating tone:

"Elder Xie, if I tell you a secret, could you…?"

She didn’t finish her sentence but flashed a knowing smile.

Xie Lingyu’s voice was indifferent. "I have no interest in other people’s secrets."

Qinghe hurriedly clarified, "Not just anyone! It’s about your old flame!"

"I don’t have an old flame."

"It’s about your old flame and Grandma Bai!"

Xie Lingyu scoffed. "Are you trying to say my master went to Yuzhou City to find him? I already knew that."

Qinghe’s eyes widened in shock. "How did you know?"

Xie Lingyu glanced at the bewildered Qinghe but didn’t answer.

How did she know?

The sight of the sect leader looking rejuvenated after taking a Tenfold Elixir was proof enough of who had crafted it.

She hadn’t confronted her master simply to avoid unnecessary trouble.

If her master thought she was still in the dark, she might at least restrain herself instead of constantly pestering Xie Lingyu with questions.

Seeing Xie Lingyu’s unreadable expression, Qinghe knew her scheme had failed.

With no other choice, she reluctantly prepared to get to work—sleeping at the foot of the mountain would be too humiliating.

Qinghe grumbled, "Fine… I’ll go look for the opportunity."

An hour later, at the bottom of Cangzhou River.

Qinghe floated comfortably in the water.

As a flood dragon, being underwater wasn’t much different from being on land—if anything, it was even more comfortable.

Xie Lingyu, predictably, had no interest in joining her in the water.

As long as she didn’t have to work, slacking off was pure bliss.

Still, completely avoiding her duties wouldn’t fly, so she lazily drifted with the current, half-heartedly probing the water veins.

As long as she could produce something passable, it would suffice—Xie Lingyu didn’t understand water veins anyway. She could just claim they were difficult to detect.

Slacking off? Qinghe was a master at it.

As for the so-called "opportunity," Qinghe didn’t care much. In a barren, spirit-energy-deprived place like this, what kind of opportunity could there possibly be? Could it turn her into a true dragon?

Her cultivation would naturally rise with age. Even without effort, she’d reach the Soul Unity Stage beyond the Nascent Soul Stage.

With minimal training, she could ascend to the next realm—the Mahayana Stage.

After that, reaching Grandma Bai’s Tribulation Transcendence Stage wasn’t something mere cultivation could achieve.

This "opportunity" would only offer a marginal boost, and what use was that?

Who would dare lay a hand on the Tianyan Sect’s flood dragon anyway?

The Tianyan Sect was vast enough to support her until her dying day.

As long as the sect stood, she was invincible!

Just as Qinghe reveled in her laziness, she sensed an odd ripple of spiritual energy.

Frowning, she opened her eyes and extended her divine sense toward the source.

A moment later.

Finding nothing, Qinghe hesitated.

Then she decided: run first, ask questions later!

When something felt off, the smart move was to flee as fast as possible—not stupidly investigate why it was off.

But the moment she tensed to escape, the once-friendly water around her suddenly constricted.

The faint spiritual energy lurking within the water solidified into chains, wrapping around her layer by layer.

The glowing water chains coiled tightly around her body.

Qinghe, at the mid-stage Nascent Soul realm, instantly recognized the overwhelming quality of the spiritual energy binding her—this was at least peak Nascent Soul cultivation!

Even more shocking was how seamlessly the attacker had concealed their energy in the water. As a flood dragon, she had only barely sensed something amiss!

Dammit! What is this?!

An ambush?!

Without hesitation, Qinghe unleashed her full power. She didn’t need to win—just break free and alert Xie Lingyu.

Once Grandma Bai arrived, whoever was behind this would die here!

"HAH!"

With a roar, her flood dragon strength erupted. The water chains trembled violently, on the verge of shattering.

"Still struggling? Just surrender quietly."

A man’s teasing voice came from behind her.

The moment he spoke, the spiritual energy in the chains surged exponentially!

Qinghe knew she couldn’t afford to delay.

She instantly shifted into her true form!

A furious dragon’s cry echoed as her body expanded into a massive flood dragon. The chains strained as she twisted violently, her claws slashing at the bindings.

Her human form was her weakest. A flood dragon’s brute strength and scales naturally resisted spells—and using water against a water-aligned creature? That was pure arrogance!

Qinghe channeled her energy into the chains, disrupting them, then spun with all her might—

She broke free!

Whirling around, she saw three figures standing in the water.

Two men and a woman, all wearing masks.

The leader wore a monkey mask, the second man a pig mask, and the woman a fox mask.

The fox-masked woman exclaimed excitedly, "Master, I told you! Cangzhou has something special! We’ve already found our target!"

The monkey-masked man nodded. "When have I ever doubted you? But stay back—this is a Nascent Soul flood dragon."

Qinghe’s draconic eyes locked onto the monkey-masked man.

How dare he act so arrogantly, as if capturing her was effortless!

But if he was this confident, he must be strong.

No way she could win—time to run!

She twisted her body, darting toward Xie Lingyu’s location—

But someone moved faster.

A Nascent Soul giant hand abruptly seized Qinghe by the tail, and in the next moment, he felt an overwhelming force yanking at it. Despite his dragon-serpent form, he faintly realized he was no match for this power. Simultaneously, a surge of violent spiritual energy erupted from the Nascent Soul hand, piercing through his scales as it began ruthlessly assailing his draconic body.

"Come here, you little mud-dragon!"

With a fierce jerk, Qinghe was violently dragged toward the riverbed.