Chapter 23
“A divine bone contract, once bothsides agree, the contract won’t expire until one of them dies. Concluding thecontract is equivalent to opening a special channel between the divine bones. Boththe input value and output value of spiritual power can rise and fall with thewillingness and spiritual strength of both parties.”
“A basic contract allows each party tosense the other’s approximate position, life-state, and other information. A juniorcontract allows sensing of precise position and spiritual-power state, and the highest-levelcontract allows life and spiritual-power sharing.” Squatting on Bai Huo’shead, the fat bird pulled his head out of his feathers after reading thisparagraph in the “Dapeng Mark”, looking at Bai Huo in doubt.
If using the Wound Transferal spell couldbe called a unilateral investment of flesh, the divine bone contract wasundoubtedly the highest sacrifice of the spirit.
Especially since the little dragon cub didn’thave much spiritual power, Bai Huo was basically making himself a fuel tank.The little dragon cub could draw spiritual power from his body whenever he neededit.
“He’s my only son,” Bai Huo’sface was flushed from alcohol, slurring, “Won’t everything I own be his inthe future? What’s a little bit of spiritual power.”
The bold tone resembled an old rich manspoiling his son.
The little dragon cub nested in rich manOld Bai’s arms, glaring at the thin blanket by his feet, silently swiping histail out, trying to push it under the sofa.
Recently, the days were blazing hot, and thelittle dragon cub had tender skin, so a heat rash had risen on his back. After BaiHuo realized that his quilt was too thick, he took the cub to the departmentstore to buy a thin blanket. Who would’ve guessed that they were all out ofstock, the only thing left was a discounted pink blanket, with a pattern ofsmall, red, cartoon strawberries.
Bai Huo had glanced down at his son, then mischievouslybought it.
“Are you sleepy? Go to bed, you haveschool tomorrow.” Bai Huo patted his son’s back, grabbing the blanket andcovering him with it.
The little dragon cub awkwardly hid, but beforehe could escape, Bai Huo grabbed him and stuffed him into the pink blanket.With no choice, the little dragon cub grievously closed his eyes.
The fat bird flew to the tea table and peckedat the dragon cub’s half eaten watermelon, saying ambiguously, “Now that Ithink about it, don’t you dragons usually reserve the contract for spouses?”
“Some do,” Bai Huo was drunk, hissmile slightly intoxicated. “It’s similar to authorizing someone else touse your credit card, plenty of parents do it for their children today.”
Strictly speaking, the dragon contract was atype of ritual. During the peak of the war era, spouses would establish thecontract in order to improve coordination during combat. Later on, the dragonrace started fading away, so in order to protect the offspring, the elders contractedwith them. However, with society’s current development, the need for personalspace had gradually increased. In order to protect their privacy, less and lessdragons performed this ceremony.
“You aren’t afraid that you’ll regretthis?” The fat bird snorted.
“He clings to me, what else can I do…” Bai Huo laughed proudly. “Besides, although the contract can’tbe cancelled, the channels can be closed. When he grows up and falls for alittle beauty, I’ll cooperate with him when he wants privacy on his dates.”
The fat bird looked at Bai Huo like he had alearning disability, wondering if this guy had completely forgotten that thelittle dragon cub could also spy on his privacy? Has he given up on looking fora wife?
Early the next morning, the little dragoncub put up his stool and brushed his teeth with Bai Huo.
“Gurgle, gurgle–puh!” One big andone small dragon simultaneously spit out water.
Bai Huo wiped the little dragon’s face witha towel and waved, “Okay, time for breakfast.”
The little dragon cub wagged his tail as hepitter-pattered to the dining table, he was happiest whenever he was eating!
The kindergarten served breakfast, but theamount wasn’t enough to full the little dragon cub’s belly. The cub had recentlystarted growing like crazy, Bai Huo was afraid of starving him, so he gave himmorning and evening meals, and got up to make cups of warm milk in the middleof the night. Even with so much food, the nutrition still couldn’t keep up withhis growth rate. He even had occasional growing pains at night. Bai Huo had tohug the little dragon cub to sleep, so he could be there to calm him down wheneverhis legs started hurting.
After more than half a year’s grooming, thelittle dragon cub had now fully adapted to the daily life of humans, such asgoing out early and returning late, Bai Huo was very satisfied with this.
Today, the weather was bad and the sky wasdark. Who knew whether it was because of poor sleep, but when he left the housein the morning, Bai Huo’s right eyelid twitched incessantly.
Bai Huo calculated on his fingers, feeling abad premonition: “Fat chicken, what did the old yellow calendar say to abstainfrom today?”
The fat bird yawned, “Everything isinappropriate.”
“I knew it,” Bai Huo shook hishead and sighed. “We have to go to a different mahjong parlor today.”
“I say, Director Bai, aren’t you ever goingto reflect? The reason why you always lose money has nothing to do with the mahjongparlor’s Feng Shui.” The fat chicken said sincerely.
Bai Huo was indignant: “Nonsense! Ifit isn’t a problem with Feng Shui, then is it a problem with my skills?”
The little dragon cub and the fat chickenlooked at each other, then nodded simultaneously.
Bai Huo stared in shock at the traitorlittle dragon cub: “…You heartless little boy.”
The little dragon cub grabbed his horns andran away.
After sending his son off, Bai Huo left toplay mahjong as usual. Unexpectedly, his skills were amazing today, he even wonover a dozen games.
“Little Bai, your luck is pretty goodtoday.” The uncle at the next table said bitterly.
But Bai Huo didn’t laugh, rather, he frownedat the tiles in front of him, muttering to himself for a long time: “Youguys … no one cheated today?”
“Aiyo, what are you talking about? What,are you unhappy about winning money?”
“Yeah, would I cheat to help you win?I still have all my wits about me.”
Bai Huo didn’t speak, his expression tight,then he flipped his tiles and got up from the table: “I’m leaving.”
“Leaving? It ain’t kind to run away right after winning…”
Bai Huo pretended to be deaf, walkingstraight down the long hallway, rubbing his endlessly twitching right eye, afaint anxiety growing in his heart.
“What time is it?” Bai Huo pulleda passing waiter.
“It’s 4:30.”
The kindergarten lets out at five o’clock, BaiHuo bluntly sat on the bench facing the street, planning to pick up his son as soonas possible.
The number of times Bai Huo has won atmahjong could be counted on his fingers.
The first time he won at mahjong, thedragon clan’s holy relic was stolen, and he was framed by the thief. Afterthat, he’d resolutely left the dragon clan as an independent dragon.
The second time he won, he started his veryfirst estrus, and almost died.
The third time he won, he got caught up ina gang war involving several major gangs in Jiang City. While on thebattlefield, a bullet had torn through his leg, and he was almost forced toshow his true form.
…
So, over the years, he dedicated himself tolosing money at the mahjong table, and enjoyed it.
If he thought about it, he was now independent,so he wasn’t subject to the dragon clan, and he was already an adult, so hedidn’t need to worry about a sudden estrus. On the human side, this was an era ofpeace, the chances of him stumbling into a gang war was low. Thinking likethis, it really looked like he was anxious over nothing, unless …
The more Bai Huo thought, the more uncertainhe felt, he couldn’t help but take out his phone and call Ji Bei: “OfficerJi, is there anything abnormal on your side?”
On the other end, Ji Bei seemed to berunning, panting hard. Hearing this, he paused, “How did you know?”
Bai Huo’s nervousness shot up: “It’strue? Did you find those bastards trafficking children?”
“We’re tracking them now,” Ji Beisaid. “I’ve never met such a crafty criminal. After we found his tracksthis morning, we sent three experienced plainclothes to follow him, but he somehowslipped away.”
Ji Bei blamed himself: “This is myfault. Captain Luo originally wanted to directly arrest him and bring him in forquestioning this morning, but a downtown nursery lost a child two days ago, andhe hasn’t been located yet. I was worried that, if the child was still in theirhands, and his associates get panicked form the arrest, the child would be put indanger–Right, is something wrong with Lin Xi? I ​​arranged for someone to stayon duty at the school gate, if anyone but you try to pick him up, they’llimmediately send someone to follow. “
“It’s nothing,” Bai Huo stood up.“I’ll go pick him up now.”
The mahjong parlor nearby was open, as Bai Huo was preparing to leave, he suddenly sensed a familiaratmosphere and stiffened, turning his head slowly.
A low-key black car was parked by the curb,the window lowered, and the person in the back seat met Bai Huo’s eyes.
Bai Huo hung up the phone and asked insurprised: “Shige?”
Zhou Chong Wen nodded: “Yes, we meetagain.”
Ding Ping was driving. She wore a low-cutred dress, her short hair pinned behind her ears. The moment she turned herhead, almost all the men passing by rubbernecked.
“Come up, we can’t park here.”Ding Ping said impatiently.
Bai Huo didn’t move, looking directly atZhou Chong Wen: “Has Shige come to Xi City for work?”
“Just about.” Zhou Chong Wen glancedat the giant-pearl bracelet on his wrist and smiled, “Have you gotten used towearing the bracelet?”
Bai Huo’s skin was very white, so theblood-red bracelet on his wrist was very conspicuous, it was difficult to hideit. He smiled tightly: “Yeah.”
When Zhou Chong Wen first gave it to him,he didn’t take it seriously. It took a long time for him to feel the effects ofthis thing.
As the head of a clan, he called it a handytool, but in fact, it wasn’t ordinary. The ancient giant clam was already rare,the giant blood clam was a treasure among treasures. The dragon clan’s treasurehouse held many precious treasures, but even if you raided it, a second bloodpearl bracelet probably couldn’t be found.
Mate-less dragons were extremely prone to goingberserk during estrus. In order to prevent injury, Bai Huo had dived to thebottom of a volcano and dug up scorching iron, then he’d searched out acraftsman to forge a scorching iron chain to wind around his wrist. The scorchingiron wasn’t visible to the naked eye, and its high temperature could suppressthe manic episodes during estrus, highly convenient. The only drawback was thatits temperature was too high. As Zhou Chong Wen said, wearing it for too long woulddamage the body.
In comparison to Bai Huo’s ‘treat thesymptoms but not the root cause’ physical binding tool, the blood pearls wereobviously a better magical tool. It could soothe spiritual mania, and cultivatea calm heart and body, it really was a must-have tool for estrus. Even when notin estrus, wearing it every day brought a feeling of peace, perfect for thoserough mahjong sessions.
Seeing him not moving, Ding Ping pressedthe horn angrily: “Mr. Bai, you forget the rules as soon as you see thepatriarch?”
Zhou Chong Wen quietly opened the door and steppedout, turning to instruct, “Go wait for me over there.”
Bai Huo actually bowed his head, as if hewas admitting his mistakes: “Shige.”
Zhou Chong Wen smiled slightly, a hint ofhelplessness in his eyes: “You’re so unwilling to get close to me?”
He was taller than Bai Huo, wearing a lightblue striped shirt, and pair of crisp trousers. Standing on the curb, he lookedvery amicable.
“It’s not you, I just …”
“I know, you have a tense relationshipwith the dragon clan, so you don’t want to get too close to any of theirpeople, right?” Zhou Chong Wen smiled.
His thoughts exposed; Bai Huo scratched behindhis ear. He glanced around, inadvertently glimpsing the mark that flashed acrossthe space between Zhou Chong Wen’s eyebrows, staring blankly for a moment.
The Phoenix Mark, it seemed that thepatriarch handover ceremony had already been completed, and the one currently standingin front of him was the supreme leader of the fire dragon clan. Except for theretired old patriarch, whoever saw him had to salute.
“I forgot my manners,” Bai Huo saidawkwardly. “I should call you patriarch.”
“Others should call me patriarch, you cancontinue calling me Shige.” Zhou Chong Wen looked at him and raised hishand, seemingly wanting to pat his head, but he felt it was inappropriate, and changedhis motion to fixing his cuffs.
“Did Shige come here this time forsome important business?” Bai Huo didn’t hold back, since Zhou Chong Wensaid that he didn’t need to change his address, he wouldn’t protest.
“Oh, there is something,” Zhou ChongWen composed himself. “Have you heard of any dragons privately selling glamormushrooms recently?”
“Glamor mushrooms?” Bai Huo hadn’theard that word in many years, asking bewilderedly, “Isn’t that mushroomspecies extinct? I’ve only seen it in books.”
Glamor mushroom, a fluorescent mushroomthat only grew in moonlight, and died in sunlight. Because of its harsh growthconditions, it has been extinct among the dragon race for many years.
Bai Huo had a very deep impression of thisthing for two reasons. One, it had a very beautiful appearance. It was acompletely transparent small mushroom, not a single trace of impurities. It gloweda faint blue under moonlight, which was very charming. But what really made BaiHuo remember it was its ability. Strictly speaking, the glamor mushroom was indefiance of heaven. Dragons had only one human form in their lifetime, butafter eating a glamor mushroom, they could transform into someone else for ashort period of time. In popular terms, it was indistinguishable from the ‘facechange’ skill in human wuxia novels.
When Bai Huo saw this in the book, he’djoked with his fellow apprentices, saying that if he could eat this mushroom,he’d turn into an old lady and spy on the junior apprentice sisters bathing inthe hot spring. Then he was almost flattened by one of the teachers.
Due to its special use, it was very easyfor this mushroom to cause chaos. Later on, the three major dragon clans metcollectively and classified this mushroom as a forbidden object. Noorganization or individual was allowed to plant it, and if it was found in thewild, it must be promptly reported and destroyed. The glamor mushroom wasoriginally an endangered species, and after being treated so harshly, itdisappeared within a few years, and was never seen again.
Bai Huo didn’t expect that after such along time, he would suddenly hear this name again, he was quite amazed.
“It seems that you don’t know.”Zhou Chong Wen observed his change in expressions and smiled slightly, apparentlyrelieved, “I heard that it had appeared in Xi City, I was worried that youwould be involved.”
Bai Huo was slightly surprised.
“If it has nothing to do with you,then I can feel relieved to let them investigate.” Zhou Chong Wen explained.
“Shige … you traveled all this way,because you were worried I’d be involved?” Bai Huo was puzzled.
“It’s one reason,” Zhou Chong Wenheaved a sigh. “This kind of thing happened as soon as I took over, if Ididn’t come here in person, I wouldn’t be able to relax.”
Bai Huo was a birdbrain, so he didn’tnotice the hidden depth of Zhou Chong Wen’s tone when he said this. He wasalready absent-mindedly thinking about the snacks he should buy before pickingup his son.
“Do you have somewhere to be?”Zhou Chong Wen asked sensitively.
Bai Huo snapped out of it and scratched hishead, embarrassed: “My son leaves school at five o’clock, I have to pick himup.”
“That little dragon?” Zhou ChongWen glanced down at his watch. “I’ll send you, it’s already passed time.”
Bai Huo wanted to refuse, but glancing athis mobile phone, it was surprisingly already 5:15, so, he didn’t make a fuss, casuallysliding into Ding Ping’s car.
*
After school dismissal, the little dragoncub was holding his schoolbag and sitting obediently on the bench in theactivity room, waiting for his Dad to come pick him up.
“Little Lin Xi.” The childcareworker walked up to him with a smile, “Your Dad is here.”
The little dragon cub turned, stars in hiseyes, following behind the childcare worker, he trotted towards the door.
At the door, Bai Huo was leaning againstthe wall with his arms crossed, seeing him come out, he greeted him with asmile: “Let’s go home, little guy.”
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T/N:
The mahjong parlor nearby was open- 这家麻将馆临街开设, that’s what it says, Ithink. Idk why that sentence is there either.
scorching iron- literal translation. It doesn’t actually exist, it’s just somethingthe author made up. If it keeps coming back, I’ll just make up a cooler word forit. Maybe something like, molten cores?