A Guide to Raising the Straight Long Aotian - Chapter 4

Was it a dream or an illusion?

In a daze, Wen Zui felt as if something massive had coiled around his neck. The rough texture chafed his skin until it was flushed red, as if intent on strangling him.

“Ah! Ha!”

Startled, he snapped his eyes open and locked gazes with the small eyes of Yun Qi.

He looked down and realized that Yun Qi was using his own body to wrap around his neck, causing the sensation of suffocation in his dream.

“Disciple, if you wish to cultivate, should you not wake up a bit earlier?”

Yun Qi’s teasing voice echoed in his mind. Wen Zui widened his eyes as the events of the previous day rushed back to him.

With a quick thought, he scooped Yun Qi into his palm and stared into his eyes with a smile. The small snake flicked its tongue lazily, naturally understanding what his cheap wife wanted.

“I cannot teach you spells for the time being.”

“Why?!”

Yun Qi ignored him, slithering back into the sleeve of Wen Zui. His languid voice eventually drifted into the mind of Wen Zui.

“The spiritual energy in this era is too thin. Never mind you, even I might need eight or ten years to truly step onto the path of cultivation again.”

“Tsk.”

Wen Zui curled his lip, feeling like he had lost both his investment and his partner. His chest still hurt. If he put on clothes now, the friction would surely make him bleed.

“However,” Yun Qi began.

“However what?”

Yun Qi circled the wrist of Wen Zui twice, unable to resist letting out his fangs to graze the nearby blood vessels before speaking.

“If we can find some heavenly treasures, the process will be much faster.”

“Is that not simple? I have nearly a million in savings. What can I not buy!”

As it turned out, he could not buy much.

Staring at the medicinal ingredients Yun Qi pointed out in the traditional Chinese pharmacy, Wen Zui realized his million was nothing. It was barely enough to buy one batch of the simplest herbs.

Sighing, he reached under his heavy coat to pin down the restless Yun Qi and painfully swiped his card. If he let this snake demon keep slithering all over him under the excuse of being cold, he would go insane.

With the money he had barely touched already flowing into someone else’s pocket, Wen Zui wore a mournful expression all the way home until he saw his landlady standing by his door.

The woman looked to be about twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old with a fiery figure. She wore a thin, brown leather jacket, her wavy hair pinned back with a chopstick. Her beautiful face was clouded with anger as she glared at Wen Zui.

“Host! It is Pei Jingqiao, the beautiful landlady from the original book! The plot has moved forward! Go and break them up!”

In the original story, Wen Zui was supposed to receive the inheritance of the Dragon Pattern Jade Pendant during a life-or-death crisis, beating the yellow-haired thug and his gang out of a bun shop. The thugs, however, did not give up and found the residence of Wen Zui, smashing it to pieces. This created the opportunity for Wen Zui and Pei Jingqiao to live under the same roof.

Later, Pei Jingqiao slipped in the shower, and Wen Zui, who happened to be passing by, took her to the hospital. The two developed feelings for each other, eventually ending up together. In the grand finale, Wen Zui even took her to the immortal realm, where they had twenty children.

“Wen Zui! Look at what you have done! I rented this place to you out of kindness. Who exactly did you offend?”

“I, I do not know what happened.”

Wen Zui lowered his head and took the scolding submissively, walking past Pei Jingqiao into his rental unit.

The sparse furniture in the small room had been smashed to bits. Even the expensive incubator he had bought for Yun Qi yesterday was now just a pile of glass shards on the floor.

He thought to himself that if only he knew for sure who did this, he would make them pay.

“It was the yellow-haired man from yesterday,” Yun Qi stated calmly. He added, “Go find a room. Once I absorb the spiritual energy from the herbs, I will have a way to get revenge for you.”

At that moment, Pei Jingqiao spoke from the doorway.

“Fine, fine. Just count it as my bad luck. You have nowhere to stay, right? Do you want to come back and stay with me?”

She bit her lip, a slight flush appearing on her mature, beautiful face as if she were embarrassed. For a single woman to invite a man to her home, even out of sympathy, was a move that would surely cause gossip.

“Really?!”

“You are not allowed to go,” Yun Qi commanded.

Wen Zui’s voice and the voice of Yun Qi rang out simultaneously. The money-obsessed Wen Zui completely ignored Yun Qi, delighted by the prospect of not paying for damages and saving on rent.

“Sister Jingqiao! You are simply the best, most beautiful sister in the world!”

Watching Wen Zui practically wagging his tail, Yun Qi snorted and began to crawl deeper from his wrist. He wondered who Wen Zui was putting on that act for.

“Uh,” Pei Jingqiao gasped.

She was caught off guard by a strange sound. Her eyes blinked as she saw the face of Wen Zui suddenly turn red.

“What is wrong? Do you have a fever from wearing too little?”

It was a reasonable guess. The economic level of Wen Zui was so poor that she only rented him the place for three hundred yuan a month out of pity for his orphan status. She was even willing to overlook the destroyed room and offer him a new place to stay.

Of course, she would never admit that one of the primary reasons was simply that Wen Zui was very handsome.

“No, no fever.”

Every word Wen Zui spoke sounded forced, making Pei Jingqiao even more confused.

“Refuse her,” Yun Qi commanded. He was not about to let extra feelings develop between them.

“Why? I do not have much money left. Why would I not go if there is a place to stay?”

Despite Yun Qi rubbing against the red and swollen area from yesterday that had not yet healed, Wen Zui gritted his teeth and defied him, refusing to be cowed by his intimidation.

He was quite the backbone, that one.

Yun Qi narrowed his eyes, and his venomous fangs instantly sank into the chest of Wen Zui. “Behave.”

The body of Wen Zui trembled. Despite the winter cold, thin beads of sweat appeared on his face. With a loud smack, he leaned his weight against the wall and spoke while facing away from Pei Jingqiao.

“Sister, I have a place to go. Do not worry about me. Please go back.”

Pei Jingqiao froze. She instinctively took two steps forward to support him, but he interrupted her with sudden, sharp words.

“I said I am fine!”

Before she could react, Wen Zui spun around. His narrow eyes seemed filled with mist and a faint, shimmering moisture. That one glance pinned her to the spot.

“I will repay you for the damages as soon as possible. I am leaving now! Do not be angry, Sister. If you are angry, you will not be beautiful!”

Wen Zui ran off at high speed and disappeared in an instant, leaving a bewildered Pei Jingqiao staring at the spot where he had been.

She wondered what was wrong with that man.

The Hotel Room

Wen Zui, frustrated yet helpless, pulled Yun Qi out from his clothes and placed him in the sink.

As he turned on the hot water, he complained, “Master! Yun Qi! You cannot keep biting me in that spot!”

Yun Qi tilted his head, a flash of teasing laughter in his golden vertical pupils. “Why can I not bite it? I clearly felt that you found it comfortable.”

“Nonsense! I, I did not!” Wen Zui glared at him through gritted teeth. “No more biting! I do not have milk!”

“I understand. Come closer. I will heal the wound for you.”

After teasing him, Yun Qi began to coax him.

“Really?”

Wen Zui was suspicious, shocked by the sudden cooperativeness of Yun Qi. However, his body still trusted him. He stepped forward, pulled down his collar, and brought his chest close to the small snake in the basin.

Looking at the red, swollen area with tiny beads of blood, Yun Qi flicked his tongue. A faint trace of spiritual energy flowed from his mouth and covered the spot.

In an instant, the area that had been streaked with blood and bruised purple-red returned to its original fair state. Not a single mark remained.

Seeing the forehead of Wen Zui finally relax, Yun Qi began to soak in his bath in a good mood.

“Boil the medicine I asked you to buy, then put me in it.”

Wen Zui pouted, pulled his clothes back together impatiently, and slammed the door as he left.

Yun Qi wondered what he was angry about now.

The small silver ball hopped into the hot water with a splash, circling Yun Qi. Seeing him frown, it spoke: “The protagonist is probably just heartbroken over the money spent.”

Yun Qi replied, “I have never seen someone who loves money this much.”

“It is fine! You can compensate him more later, Great Host!”

“After all, the future female leads are all wealthy and powerful. Your current net worth will definitely be overshadowed!”

Yun Qi did not respond to the System. His drifting body paused almost imperceptibly, and he chose to let himself float along with the current of the hot water. He would not drown, after all.

After a long time, even the System got bored of circling in the water. Finally, Wen Zui returned.

He fished out the snake, which looked a bit dazed from the soak. Wen Zui turned off the tap, drained the water, and carefully lined the sink with a disposable bathtub cover to ensure it would not leak. Then, he poured the medicinal soup inside.

Without needing further help, a flash of blue light appeared, and Yun Qi was lying comfortably inside the liquid.

The medicinal soup, which had been simmered for eight hours, was brimming with spiritual energy. Yun Qi used a small spell to keep the soup warm and lock the energy within the area.

Within half an hour, he had grown significantly. He was now roughly as thick as two fingers and half an arm in length. The scales on his body had lost their initial softness, taking on a metallic glint. The blue hue now had hints of purple, making him look even more noble.

Combined with the energy from the Dragon Pattern Jade Pendant, he had barely reached the third level of Qi Refining. It was far too weak. He needed to speed up the process.

“Fine. Pour it out.”

Yun Qi spoke calmly, instantly drying the remaining medicinal juice from his body and issuing a command to Wen Zui.

Wen Zui frowned deeply at first, but quickly put on a smiling, flattering face.

“Master is mighty! Now that you have absorbed the energy, when can I start cultivating? I want to beat that yellow-haired guy until he is begging for mercy!”

“Do you want a house?”

“Of course, I do! Wait, Yun Qi, do not change the subject!”

Seeing his eyes light up at the word house, Yun Qi curled his lips into a smile. “I will give you one tomorrow. Just wait for it.”

To trick the Long Aotian out of his resources, he had to coax him first. Of course, he intended to eat the treasures himself.

Hearing this, Wen Zui was skeptical. However, under the intimidation of Yun Qi, he could only watch as the small snake teleported to the bed. He then turned his attention to the leftover medicinal soup and the shed snake scales, forming a new plan.

Wen Zui filled the bathtub with hot water and soaked himself in the diluted medicinal soup. The snake skin, shimmering with multicolored light, was neatly folded on the sink.

“Good things should not be wasted.”