Chapter 26: The Little Dwarf Dragon

What struck Jiang Yan as even more bizarre was the utter silence around him. He couldn’t hear the voices of those noisy disciples from the sect, not a single sound. He tried sweeping his sword hilt around, but it was empty—he didn’t touch a soul.

Gulp.

Jiang Yan swallowed hard, thinking: I slaughtered my way through the game, so why am I so useless in the cultivation world?

“Little friend, little friend? Why aren’t you moving?” The voice of the middle-aged uncle echoed once more.

“Who are you, really? If you’ve got guts, show yourself! Stop pretending to be some mysterious spirit. I’m not afraid of you!” Jiang Yan summoned the bravado from the game—if it all went wrong, he could always start anew. Eight hundred years later, he’d still be a hero!

“Little friend, I’m Li Tian. Have you forgotten? Hehehehehe…”

Hearing this now, Jiang Yan found the voice incredibly irritating.

“I don’t know any Li Tian! Enough nonsense, show yourself now!”

“Come find me, then. If you find me, I’ll appear.”

“Hah, thanks for the tip.” Inspired, Jiang Yan devised a way to dispel the white mist. He channeled the water elemental energy within him, forming a ball of water in his palm.

The water orb grew larger. He rose onto his tiptoes and hurled it skyward, then swung his sword, unleashing the Wind Blade skill: “Explode.”

Suddenly, rain poured from the sky, wind and rain lashing together, dispersing the white mist in an instant. Jiang Yan could finally see his surroundings.

He looked about—still no one in sight.

Furious, he shouted, “Come out now! Hiding in your shell is no way for a hero to act!”

“What, are you blind? I’m right here! Look below!”

To his surprise, the voice sounded even angrier than his own.

Jiang Yan looked down and saw, raising its head to gaze at him, a small yellow dragon barely a meter tall.

Man and dragon exchanged an “affectionate” stare, sizing each other up.

“So it was you, this little dragon, pretending to be some supernatural entity?”

“You’re the one who’s small! I’ll grow taller, you’ll see. I’ll scare you to death and swallow you in one bite.”

“Oh, quite the attitude! But this isn’t your original voice, is it? What, afraid people will laugh at you, so you don’t dare use your real voice?”

Jiang Yan was probing, after all—a small dragon using the voice of a middle-aged uncle was simply incongruous.

“Hmph, my real voice is plenty pleasant. You’re the coward here, so don’t talk nonsense.”

Hearing the dragon’s voice, Jiang Yan thought: As expected, it’s just a brat’s voice. Calling me a coward—how infuriating!

“Come on, little dragon, tell me—who are you, and why did you pretend to be something you’re not? That mist was your doing, wasn’t it?”

“Don’t call me ‘little dragon’—I am Lord Dragon! Hmph, if I told you my identity, it would scare you! As for the mist, I’m not telling, nyah nyah nyah…”

Jiang Yan was exasperated, feeling his IQ drop just from talking with the little dragon.

“Look, what’s that over there?” Jiang Yan pointed behind the dragon, feigning mystery.

The little dragon believed him and turned around, “What is it? Where, where?”

Seizing the moment, Jiang Yan quickly slapped three speed talismans on himself and sprinted away.

By the time the little dragon turned back in confusion, Jiang Yan was long gone. Enraged, the dragon spewed fire, incinerating every tree within two hundred miles.

Of course, Jiang Yan didn’t witness this. When he finally stopped, he had no idea where he’d ended up.

He looked around, finding himself surrounded by strange, towering flowers and plants. Had he entered Wonderland, like Alice?

Yet this wonderland was a bit terrifying—he couldn’t even tell what these plants and trees were.

A fat-headed flower with serrated edges, sharper than knives and taller than a man; grass so sharp it looked lethal; ancient trees bearing blue and red fruits…

Those fruits were especially eerie, shaped like skulls.

Jiang Yan thought: Good thing I braked in time, or else I’d have been shredded by these plants in seconds!

He decisively took out his motorcycle and activated its protective shield. The shield, which he’d invented, was a portable barrier that could ward off physical harm.

Of course, if his opponent’s cultivation was high, it might not hold.

Riding his motorcycle, Jiang Yan scouted the area—since he was here, he might as well look for treasures and rare herbs.

“Hehehe, beauty, let me cherish you properly…”

Suddenly, Jiang Yan spotted a male disciple in yellow sect robes, about to kiss that serrated giant flower. The sight was truly disturbing.

To prevent a tragedy, Jiang Yan drew his sword and sent a Wind Blade, severing the flower’s head.

The male disciple appeared seriously ill, his eyes vacant. Even as the flower’s head fell, he crawled on the ground, still trying to kiss it.

Jiang Yan pressed his palm to his forehead, then hoisted the disciple up and slapped him several times.

His hand began to tingle before the disciple finally snapped out of it.

Why didn’t Jiang Yan give him an antidote pill? First, he wasn’t sure it would work; second, the fellow seemed far too sleazy.

Jiang Yan thought to himself: I saved him, so a few slaps shouldn’t be too much.

“Awake now? Do you remember who you are?” Jiang Yan waved his hand before the disciple’s eyes.

The disciple’s face was a bit swollen, “Ow… Fellow cultivator, what happened to me? Is this the secret realm? I don’t remember anything after entering.”

“Yes, this is the secret realm. As for where exactly, I don’t know. I suspect you were affected by a hallucinogenic mist. When I found you, you were about to kiss that flower…” Jiang Yan replied.

The disciple thanked him gratefully, “Thank you for saving my life! Once we’re out of the secret realm, I’ll repay you properly. Do you have a communication jade? Could we exchange contacts? My name is Hu Ming, a disciple of the Azure Sky Sect.”

To be fair, Hu Ming looked like a decent person once he’d recovered.

Jiang Yan welcomed the gratitude, taking out his communication jade, “Just call me Jiang Yan. Go ahead and add me.”

Actually, Jiang Yan didn’t know how to use the communication jade yet. He felt like a bumpkin, but as someone from the twenty-first century, he couldn’t admit defeat so easily.

He watched Hu Ming operate the jade, then copied his actions. Soon, they had exchanged contacts.

“I’m going to look for my senior brothers and sisters—Jiang Yan, would you like to come with me?” Hu Ming asked.

“No, I’ve got things to do, so I’ll head off first.”

After bidding Hu Ming farewell, Jiang Yan continued riding his motorcycle.

Along the way, he came across three corpses with their necks bitten off by giant flowers, and four more sliced apart by razor-sharp grass—a gruesome sight that would unsettle anyone.

Judging by their attire, they included disciples from the Mystic Spirit Sect, the Azure Sky Sect, and a few rogue cultivators.

None of them had Hu Ming’s luck to be discovered and saved by Jiang Yan.