The Inverted Dragon's Scale

Qiandu circled around Li Muyang two times, before she said: “Li Muyang, have you ever thought that you’re special?”

“Me?” Li Muyang smiled. “Except for a little talent in martial arts, there isn’t anything else special about me.”

“You were enrolled into Starry Sky Academy based on the best results of West Wind Kingdom, that is very special itself. I have read your information. Before that exam, you never had any good grades nor any outstanding performance——”

“It seems your words are full of hidden meaning.” Li Muyang smiled and said. “Before achieving the best results in West Wind Kingdom’s imperial exam, not only did I not have good grades or other outstanding performance, I was simply a useless trash. All the students in my school called me ‘pig’, yes, I also have another nickname ‘Black Charcoal’——you can’t tell, right? I used to be very dark; my little sister always used my face as a mirror. I don’t know what happened but now I’m getting whiter.”

“On your way to Starry Sky, you killed Cui Zhaoren who is from one of Tiandu’s noble family——You were ambushed and attacked countless times, many are well-known vicious people but you still arrived safe and sound at the foot of Starry Sky.”

“Maybe my luck is good.”

“You were the first freshman to pass the four trials, wine, women, avarice and temper, and arrive at the peak of Broken Mountain.”

“My luck this year has been pretty good.”

“You’ve never learnt dragon language before but you could understand Teacher Yang’s pronunciation of the dragon language——”

“I also did not know that I’m so gifted in Dragon Language.”

“So many miracles have happened on the same person, isn’t that suspicious? Moreover, your changes happened so suddenly. If nothing strange happened—— then it’s hard to explain everything.” Qiandu walked right in front of Li Muyang, staring into his eyes. Qiandu’s eyes were flashing while Li Muyang’s eyes were as calm as Sunset Lake in autumn. “Li Muyang, are we friends?”

“I’ve always treated you two as my friend.” Li Muyang’s line of sight hovered between Qiandu and Lin Canghai as he exclaimed earnestly.

“Shouldn’t friends be honest with each other?” Qiandu said, a smile pulling up the corners of her mouth. “You’re too mysterious, I feel that countless secrets are hidden within your body, you’re difficult to predict and get close to.”

Li Muyang’s smile gradually faded into a serious look as he stared at Qiandu: “You say you’re called Qiandu, then what about your surname?” Qiandu is your name but it does not include your surname, right?”

Qiandu smiled and replied: “If you ask, I will tell you.”

“You didn’t tell us your surname but everyone accepted your self-introduction. Including Teacher Yang. Is he not a little curious?”

“Perhaps, teacher Yang is only concerned about students’ talent in martial arts and does not care about their background?”

“Teacher Yang shows a certain degree of care and concern towards you, although he does not say exactly what’s on his mind—–but, believe me, as a trash who has been bullied and discriminated against for tens of years, I can sharply sense even a slight change in emotion.”

Qiandu’s long, beautiful eyelashes fluttered as she blinked and said with a smile: “It seems you’re an attentive boy.”

“Also Canghai, you two don’t seem to have any obvious relationship on the surface but I can see that he’s very respectful to you and dependent on you——Do you two know each other already?”

Lin Canghai’s smiling face still looked cute but there was a light flashing in his eyes.

“Qiandu, you also have a lot of secrets. Canghai also have many secrets. Which student in Starry Sky Academy does not have secrets? If you don’t tell us, then we should not ask. There isn’t a lot of things that I have learnt before but there is one thing that’s called ‘respect the privacy of others’.”

Qiandu stayed silent for a moment, before her lips curved into a sweet smile. “Okay. You’ve manage to persuade me. Whether or not you’re possessed by a demon or is hiding a demon in your body——no matter how curious I am, I won’t ask anymore.”

“Friends should trust each other, right?” Li Muyang said with a smile.

“Of course. I believe you’re a good person and will never do anything to hurt your friends. Although we only spent little time together but this is my initial opinion of you——”

“Thanks.” Li Muyang said earnestly. He had always been a sincere and straightforward person. There are many things that he wants to tell but there is no way he could say it out loud.

Because he endured loneliness for so long, he longed for friends. Since Qiandu was willing to put aside her doubts and still treat him as a friend, he suddenly felt a very warm feeling filling his heart.

“Thank you for what?” Qiandu quietly chuckled. “Then I should also thank you for not asking?”

Li Muyang also chuckled before he asked: “I see you two are dressed up, are you two going out?”

“That’s right.” Qiandu replied with a smile. “In front of Starry Sky Academy is the endless Flower Language Plains and behind is towering red Nujiang. It is said that the Starry Sky Academy is a land of mysteries. There are many mysterious places that need us to explore it. We have came to Starry Sky Academy for some time now but we have not yet went out to explore. Since we have nothing to do today, we were just thinking about walking around. Do you want to come with us?”

Li Muyang was tempted.

As the saying goes: ‘Traveling thousands of miles is better than reading thousands of books’. Starry Sky Academy is a mysterious place; Broken Mountain is high and surrounded by clouds so it’s difficult to get a glimpse of its true face. No matter whether for the landscape alone or for the secret caverns, it was always worth an exploration.

Besides, Li Muyang always felt that he and this Broken Mountain have an inexplicable connection, just like when tears dropped from his eyes the first time he saw Nujiang.

Li Muyang stayed silent in thought, before he replied: “Okay. Wait a little bit, I’ll go and change into more suitable clothing for walking.”

Seeing Li Muyang went back in to change his clothes, Lin Canghai walked over to Qiandu and whispered: “Why is Sister Wang especially kind to him?”

“Because, he is a man with a story.” Qiandu chuckled silently, gazing intently and smiling at the bunch of bamboo in the courtyard.

“Do you really believe him?”

“Your perception is the best, do you think he can be trusted?”

“It depends on the situation.” Lin Canghai said, smiling. “If he’s a friend then that’s obviously a good thing, right? But I’m really curious. A guy who killed Cui Zhaoren, someone at the Free Clouds realm, and made his body disappear into dust, what kind of secrets are hiding in his body?”

Under the red plum tree, above a giant boulder.

Lu Qiji sat cross-legged, practicing an unknown martial technique.

A white crystal ball hovered low over her head at a rapid pace, dragging a long tail behind it. It looked like a small white animal scuttling in mid-air.

As though the white crystal ball is a powerful magnetic pole, it absorbed the essence of the sun scattered all around.

In the entire small courtyard, all the visible light that the naked eye could see darted towards the direction of Lu Qiji and then was instantly swallowed by the white crystal ball.

The sun was fierce and the air was hot, providing an endless source of light for the white crystal ball to absorb.

Just now sunlight was being absorbed into the white crystal ball and then instantly, additional new light flashed over. There were only fleeting moments of darkness, which were instantly expelled into daylight again.

The area around Lu Qiji was surrounded by light and was the brightest place in the entire small yard.

Like a box full of jewels opened in a lamp-lit room, the jewels in the box were the brightest source of light in the entire house.

Lu Qiji’s beautiful face was illuminated into a transparent colour, the white dress on her appeared more pure and holy like she’s a fairy that descended to this world.

As though she sensed something, her closed eyes suddenly sprung open.

Her purple eyes were flashing like two burning red suns.

She opened her mouth, and with a swoosh, the white crystal ball darted in.

“Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet; violet is the peak state of the Phoenix Heart, it can destroy the sky, rise and rebirth. Now my Phoenix heart is still white and there’s still some time before it reaches red. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to absorb sunlight on a large scale, since it will arouse the suspicion of the old monsters in the academy. The absorption range can only confined to this small courtyard. The progress is too slow, Li Muyang might surpass me——”

Knock, knock, knock——

Somebody knocked at the door.

Lu Qiji’s body moved without wind, soaring up into the air in a graceful posture.

By the time she landed, she already stood up fully.

She walked over to pull open the door, where handsome youngster Chu Xun, dressed in a black outfit, was standing at the doorway.

The youngster’s face was as pretty as jade and at his waist was a sword strapped tightly. He stood upright at the door, tall, thin and smiling: “Qiji, do you want to go for a walk?”

“Go for a walk?” Qiji asked in a slightly hesitant voice: “We’re at the peak of Broken Mountain, where can we go for a walk?”

“When we’re at Tiandu, we always went horse-riding around the beautiful plains. Since we’re at Broken Mountain now, we can’t go horse riding. But we can take a walk around; after all, the scenery around Broken Mountain is still pretty good, it’s quite impressive. If you don’t like the mountainous areas, we could go explore Flower Language Plains. It’s one of the top ten dangerous places in the divine continent, we might encounter some strange beast or treasure——”

Lu Qiji thought for a moment before she replied: “Okay.”

“Then let’s go now?”

Lu Qiji nodded: “However, the date of your battle with Li Muyang is near, are you ready?”

Chu Xun sneered: “A one-sided battle.”