Ye Que chose not to immediately attack Ye Yunhai after the latter humiliated him. Similarly, he also chose not to stop Ye Yunhai when the latter fled. It wasn"t a question of his ability; he just didn"t know if he should.
Had he suffered such disgrace in the past, he would have definitely pummeled Ye Yunhai without hesitation if he could.
But he had gone through too much now. He wouldn"t let a few words affect him. More importantly, Ye Yunhai"s ident.i.ty was his younger brother from another mother. With Ye Zhengru gone, what other family did he have in this world?
If his mother was alive, she would surely not wish to see him attack Ye Yunhai. She wouldn"t want him to do the killing, at least. That was the kind of woman she was. That was the reason that Ye Que hesitated earlier. Even if Ye Yunhai had taken up the Devil"s Practice and became a wicked devil cultivator, he wasn"t willing to attack the former at this moment.
Thus, relief washed him when Red Bean stepped forward.
"I won"t kill you, but I won"t interfere if someone tries to kill you."
The two of them were finally able to interact like normal after Red Bean pummeled Ye Que. However, it was obvious from Ye Que"s expression that he was livid. Only perverts would feel happy after getting punched by a girl over and over in front of outsiders.
Ye Que was a very normal guy, so he was very mad.
He rolled his eyes at Red Bean. "Why do you know how to form the black dragon totem and a semi-spirit black dragon at that?"
Red Bean lifted her head to look at Ye Que. "I was born with that skill."
"How is it strange?"
Her answer astonished Ye Que. "You were born with that skill?"
He gave her an once-over. "What do you mean? Unless you"re a dragon, that doesn"t make sense at all."
He looked at her again but to his surprise, she didn"t react at all. She neither admitted nor denied it, looking like she was fine with him making his own a.s.sumptions. Then, an idea struck him. "Could it be?"
"Could she have the blood of the Dragon Race running through her?"
"If that"s true, that can explain everything. When we were in the cave, she was able to absorb the bones of the Immortal Dragon. Her hatred of calling herself a human, her ability to form a dragon totem, her hatred for hunters!"
"Is she from the Southland?"
Ye Que recalled how Red Bean first introduced herself to him. "I"m Red Bean. Naturally, I"m from the Southland."
When he was in the Celestial World, he once read a written record of secret folklores. One of the stories told of traces of dragons in the Human World. In the depths of the South Sea that sat at the extreme south of the Nine Provinces was a palace where the dragons live. Red Bean said she was from the Southland. Could it be the Dragon Palace in the South Sea, the dragon nation in the depths of the seabed?
He remembered that something strange once occurred in Red Bean"s body when they came out of the Luo River that filled the ley lines of sovereignty of the Imperial Mausoleum. It was odd how an unconscious girl without True Energy for protection was able to float on the water unscathed. Even her skin seemed like it was breathing. It was as if she was closer to water than a fish itself.
What could she be then?
"Are you really a dragon?" His voice was colored with rare amazement.
"To think I"m with a dragon girl!"
"Dragon girl Red Bean!"
Ye Que kept his voice low. He didn"t want others to hear because this information was simply unbelievable. Moreover, most people would find this hard to accept. This included cultivators.
"What do you mean?"
"You want to chase me away?"
"Or are you going to be the hero who slaughters a dragon?"
Red Bean"s voice was dull. She approached Ye Que as she spoke and stared fixedly at him as if she was trying to decipher his true feelings from his eyes. The old men in her clan had told her a long time ago that no human could be trusted. Even if she looked like one of them, they would do everything to kill her once if they find out about her ident.i.ty.
It was impossible for humans and dragons to coexist, the same way it was for dragons and devils.
There was no shortage of Divine Tools in the Three Realms that were imbued with dragon power. How were they created? Which among of those tools weren"t soaked in the blood of Dragon Race disciples? Which weren"t a sign of the downfall of a dragon?
Cultivators needed to enhance their strength. Immortals needed to polish their military strength. Those powerful enough would pick dragons that were filled with treasures from head to tail as their top choice. Otherwise, devils wouldn"t have gone all out in wiping out dragon nations a long time ago. Even they wanted to obtain the dragon carca.s.ses.
Would Ye Que be like them?
Naturally, he was different. He had become nonchalant about many things after experiencing the great war between humans and demons. Moreover, he had no idea for dragon carca.s.ses when he had a page of Divine Book lying in the depths of his Spiritual Sea. The Divine Book came to life at the same time as heaven and earth. It was the most valuable treasure of the living recorded in the legends.
Shaking his head, he lifted his hand and caressed Red Bean"s hair.
"It doesn"t matter who or what you are."
"To me, you"re Red Bean."
"I don"t have the hobby of slaughtering dragons."
Ye Que paused momentarily before adding, "I remember you asking me if I was lying when I said every human is born equal. Back then, I told you that it"s every living creature that is born equal. Dragons are also creatures living in this world. Naturally, they"re also equal to us."
"I didn"t lie to you. That"s what I think."
"Moreover, both of us detest devils. They"re an existence that will ruin living creatures."
Red Bean stared at Ye Que long and hard. He allowed her to stare all she wanted until she finally believed him. But she pouted and said, "If you detest devils, why didn"t you attack earlier? Isn"t that man a devil?"
Ye Que smiled helplessly. He felt awkward as if she had abruptly slapped him. "It"s not that I"m unwilling to attack. I just didn"t want to. Besides, I didn"t stop you when you attacked, did I?"
"Do you not dare to hit him?" Red Bean continued to question him.
"I"m unwilling to," Ye Que mumbled to himself.
"I think you"re just afraid." Red Bean rolled her eyes at him.
"Think whatever you want. I just wasn"t willing to. I couldn"t bring myself to act against my principles." He sighed.
Following the conversation between Ye Que and Red Bean, the young disciples of the Pavilion of Wind and Thunder also partic.i.p.ated in a quick discussion. However, no result came from it. Then, the disciples saw the two of them walk over with somewhat awkward expressions, looking like they had something to say but didn"t know how to say it.
"Cough, cough..."
Suddenly, a barely audible fit of coughing came from the person lying in Guan Shuheng"s embrace. The unconscious Lei Tianyou slowly opened one of his eyes, though his pupil were devoid of any strength.
Guan Shuheng nearly burst into tears. "Eldest Senior Brother!"
"Eldest Senior Brother is awake!"
The female disciples of Pavilion of Wind and Thunder rapidly gathered around and noisily reiterated the events that happened after Lei Tianyou fainted. They didn"t stop to consider if Lei Tianyou understood them.
Lei Tianyou, who lay in Guan Shuheng"s embrace, frowned. With semi-closed eyes, he looked in Ye Que"s direction as if he wanted to get up and thank him.
Ye Que waved his hand, indicating for him to save his thanks and lie down. He saw Lei Tianyou whispering into Guan Shuheng"s ear and taking out a jade note from his sleeve. Having sustained himself long enough to do all these, he fainted again.
"Mr. Ye, Eldest Senior Brother suggested that we head to the nearby Boiled Snow Temple. His family is connected to the temple"s Grandmaster Yunxia. We should be able to get some shelter there," Gu Shuheng said, "It"s about 150 kilometers away from here. I hope you"ll come with us. We"ll all be safer during the journey too."