The soul floating in front of He Qing was a bit dazed, “I’m sorry, the part of my consciousness I sent out didn’t explain things clearly.”

He Qing looked around; he was now inside a cave. “Where are the general and the others?” He was eager to find Duan Chenhui.

“This is a secret realm. After you entered, you all got separated, but you should be able to find them if you look around.” The soul pointed towards the door they had entered through, “Originally, you could leave here and go to the cultivation world through that door, but that’s no longer possible.”

He Qing turned to look. On the massive stone door, there was a formation, but it seemed to be slightly damaged. “This formation is broken, so it’s normal that we can’t go back.”

“But I’m not a formation expert…” The soul floated over, its faint body looking even more fragile, “Can you fix it?”

“I can give it a try,” He Qing nodded, “but first, I need to find the general and the others.” He turned and walked out of the cave, while the soul did not follow.

As He Qing looked out, he was stunned to find a sea of flowers. In the center of the flower field lay a massive dragon skeleton, both majestic and tragic.

He Qing’s eyes widened slightly, “Could this place be…”

At that moment, a black dragon suddenly appeared in the sky and wrapped around him, pulling him up.

“Look at what I’ve caught.”

He Qing looked at the black dragon in surprise, “General, you’ve regained your memories? Is this place the Dragon Tomb?”

“Yes.” Duan Chenhui placed him on top of the dragon’s head. “I came here originally to see if there was a way to break through and purify the demonic energy in my body, but somehow I ended up in the interstellar world.”

He Qing couldn’t resist touching the dragon horns in front of him, leaning closer to press against them. “Do you still have demonic energy in your body?”

“No.” Duan Chenhui wrapped his dragon whiskers around He Qing’s body. “What was inside that bottle you gave me?”

He Qing was silent for a moment before replying seriously, “It’s holy water.”

Duan Chenhui smiled but didn’t press further. It was fortunate that he had regained his memories. He took He Qing to the distant dragon skeleton and transformed back into his human form. “This dragon skeleton belongs to our ancestor.”

The dragon skeleton was covered with golden dragon lingzhi mushrooms, glowing all around.

He Qing put his hands together and respectfully bowed. “So now we can return to the cultivation world?”

“Not quite yet. We still need to repair the formation.” Duan Chenhui said, “Once we return, we should also visit the Ten Thousand Demon Valley.”

“I wonder how many years have passed over there?” He Qing suddenly missed the Nine-Tailed Fox and the others.

“…” Duan Chenhui thought of the Nine-Tailed Fox and the others as well. “Why are there so many demons in the Ten Thousand Demon Valley?”

He Qing blinked, “I picked up a lot of them and brought them back.”

Duan Chenhui fell silent. Of course, this was exactly the kind of thing He Qing would do. He took He Qing’s hand, “Let’s return to the interstellar world first.”

“Wait! Did you forget about me?!” Sun Tu, now a koi fish, flew down from the sky.

Duan Chenhui squinted and grabbed him, “I still haven’t settled with you for taking He Qing away.”

Sun Tu, formerly Sun Tu of the past, now Sun Tu of the present, was thick-skinned. “I’m a prince of the merfolk! Do you want our nations to go to war?”

“Amitabha.” He Qing thought for a moment and said, “Even bad karma is still a form of fate.”

“…” Sun Tu, please, if you can’t speak properly, just don’t say anything at all!

Duan Chenhui chuckled and released Sun Tu, “Then turn back into a human prince. What are you supposed to be in this form?”

“All dark and gloomy,” He Qing chimed in.

Sun Tu nearly spat out blood in anger. He turned back into human form and said, “I really don’t like this prince’s tail!”

He Qing glanced over, “Hmm, it’s rainbow-colored. It’s quite beautiful. I used to wish my flowers were rainbow-colored too.”

“What?! What kind of aesthetic is that?” Sun Tu gasped. Suddenly, he felt a bit better about his rainbow tail. If flowers were rainbow-colored… he sneaked a glance at Duan Chenhui.

“Stop talking,” Duan Chenhui’s temple twitched. He pulled He Qing away, thinking, rainbow-colored lotus flowers? He couldn’t even begin to imagine it…

He Qing silently followed behind them, still wanting to protest, but Sun Tu showed him a picture. He Qing immediately shut his mouth. Duan Chenhui glanced over and saw that it was a comic of some inappropriate scene.

“Look at something better,” Duan Chenhui warned Sun Tu.

“I’m already thousands of years old…” Sun Tu quietly put away his device, thinking Duan Chenhui was such a conservative old-timer!

The group returned to the cave. He Qing brought the dazed soul back to the spaceship. He stared at the soul for a long time. “General, who is he exactly?”

Duan Chenhui, sitting at the control panel, glanced back, “He’s a guardian spirit, but as the dragon race gradually faded, his power weakened, and he no longer remembers what he did.”

“I see.” He Qing placed the guardian spirit back into a set of armor. The armor immediately moved, glancing at Duan Chenhui, but only for a moment, before becoming dazed again.

He Qing drew a soul-binding formation on it, “It seems only the revival of the dragon race can restore him.”

“Yes,” Duan Chenhui nodded.

He Qing walked over, looking down at him, “Then, General, let’s have a child.”

“?!” Duan Chenhui was caught completely off guard. Did He Qing even know what he was saying? But it was clear that He Qing knew exactly what he was saying.

That night, He Qing wrapped a vine around him and suddenly asked, “When I was in the Demon Realm, General, you used to hold onto me every day. What were you trying to do?”

Duan Chenhui rubbed the back of He Qing’s head, “You really don’t know?”

“Now I do.” He Qing lowered his head. “Then, General, turn into a dragon.”

Duan Chenhui looked at the entire room filled with vines and chuckled. He grabbed He Qing’s chin and kissed him, “You’re scarier than a dragon in this form.”

“How so?”

“Like a tentacle monster.” Duan Chenhui replied and then his dragon tail emerged. He Qing immediately wrapped his vines around the dragon tail.

— 

The next morning, Duan Chenhui opened his eyes and tried to move, but realized he couldn’t. He looked down and found that He Qing still had him tightly wrapped up, like a cocoon.

“He Qing, time to get up.”

He Qing, still half-asleep, scooted closer, blushing. “General, do you want more? I can produce many more vines.”

“…No.” Duan Chenhui, who wasn’t usually shy, felt like he couldn’t handle He Qing’s shamelessness at times. He had no idea where he had picked up such bold phrases.

After a while, He Qing finally loosened his grip.

Duan Chenhui got up, went to the bathroom, and took a shower. When he put on his shirt, he noticed some dragon scales still visible on his neck and a few claw marks on his chest.

The bathroom door opened, and He Qing walked in. He glanced at Duan Chenhui’s body before quickly averting his eyes, “Good morning, General. I’ll take a shower now.”

Duan Chenhui walked over, amused, “It’s not like you haven’t seen it before.”

He Qing stole another glance, “Such a beautiful man, a disaster waiting to happen…”

“…” Duan Chenhui, “Are you talking about yourself?”

He Qing pushed Duan Chenhui out, “Show some restraint, General. Wait for me outside.”

After He Qing finished his shower, he came out to see Duan Chenhui watching the light screen. He sat beside him and took a quick glance. Zhang Lin and the others had finished their competition. Oh no…

He Qing hurriedly checked his terminal, which was flooded with messages.

Zhang Yi: [He Qing, you’re such an unreliable cheerleader!]

Shi Lei: [Where did you disappear to?]

He Qing quickly replied: [I’m at the border. I’ll celebrate with you all when I get back!]

Everyone: [?? Why are you at the border again?]

He Qing: [Carrying out a top-secret mission.]

Shi Lei: [Now that you mention it, it does sound like something serious, hahaha.]

Zhang Yi, Zhang Lin, and Chu Yan: [Stop talking.]

After chatting with them for a while, He Qing said, “Zhang Yi and the others won.”

“I know,” Duan Chenhui said. “They performed well this time. Qiao Yi mentioned that the spirit herbs you gave them were quite effective.”

He Qing looked at him. The two exchanged a glance. There were plenty of spirit herbs in the Dragon Tomb… this time, they wouldn’t have to worry about running out.

Duan Chenhui said, “Since we’ll be staying here until we reach a hundred years old, we might as well settle our ties in this life.”

“Then let’s promote those herbs,” He Qing added. “We can leave it to the mentor.”

Qiao Yi suddenly sneezed. Who was trying to make him work overtime?!