Chapter 391: The Ancient and Mysterious Ritual
Long Huan had never experienced something so entertaining.
In her short 112 years of dragon life, a whopping 111.5 years were spent in the Myriad Thunder Abyss Ancestor Dragon’s palace, studying and cultivating without seeing the sun.
Sure, she had splendid clothing and food. Sure, demons worshipped her.
But the one and only problem? Boredom.
It was painfully boring.
Her father, the demon clan leader, was either busy mediating disputes among various demon factions or plotting the future of the demon race.
And her mother? An absolutely strict matriarch, with a fierce grip on the heart, not only forbidding her from stepping a foot outside the Myriad Thunder Abyss, but even the friends she was allowed to mingle with were painstakingly selected by her mother.
Truth be told, Long Huan didn’t dislike her parents.
She merely hated this exceedingly dull way of life.
Hated studying the culture of the demon race every day, hated spending hours in the Thunder Pool refining her dragon body.
All of that combined didn’t even compare to the joy of playing hide and seek for half an hour with her best friend, Arin, from the fox demon clan.
At first, it was just the occasional rebellious retort.
But gradually, Long Huan discovered that her mother had a tough exterior and a soft heart.
Though stern on the surface, she found it hard to actually punish or scold her. No matter the severity of her mischief, her mother would ultimately sigh, lamenting, “This child, don’t cause trouble next time.”
But that was absolutely impossible.
Not only would Long Huan cause trouble again, she’d make sure it was an even bigger ruckus.
Slowly but surely, from one or two episodes of rebellion and mischief, she grew to experience an excitement and thrill that starkly contrasted her previously monotonous days.
It was the most addictive poison imaginable.
Having tried it once, Long Huan found herself unable to extricate herself.
So, time passed with one or two escapades, ten or eight more. Gradually, the little princess of the Ancestor Dragon clan running away from home became commonplace, with all the demons in the Myriad Thunder Abyss doing their best to steer clear of her.
Because many times, it wasn’t that you offended the little princess; she simply found it amusing to stir up trouble for you.
And today, Long Huan suddenly realized that there was something even more fun than running away from home.
…This little gadget called the Communication Device—small, exquisite, about the size of a palm—was hiding an unbelievable amount of scrolls and illustrations.
Each story was utterly captivating, pulling the reader in; the images in the illustrated volumes were so beautifully exciting they brought an indescribable thrill.
Long Huan didn’t know what a sensational novel or comic book was.
All she knew was that this thing was ridiculously entertaining. She couldn’t stop even after reading all night long.
Through the novels in the Communication Device, Long Huan gradually learned about a world far to the east of the Unusable Mountain, where the human race lived.
In this world, there were countless interesting and fun things.
Humans built cities, living closely together. The cities offered not only gourmet dishes but also entertainers, performances, brothels singing, and festive iron flowers…
In contrast, the demon race’s various clans were closed off, locked away without communication, breeding no such amusing things.
In an instant, captivated by the novels, Long Huan found herself filled with endless fantasies and longings for the distant human world.
What’s more, what she was currently experiencing was merely a fraction of human pleasures.
Just in the novels, there were many novel delights she had never witnessed.
Like the “Awei Eighteen Styles,” “Ais’ Affection,” “South Tong Girl Tong,” “Minotaur Green Hat Syndrome,” “Help Him Little Boy Slut”…
Never heard of them, yet she was extraordinarily curious.
After finishing yet another novel, Long Huan set aside the Communication Device and let out a long sigh.
She needed to digest it for a bit.
Originally, Long Huan just intended to pretend she was kidnapped for a short while to tease her parents.
But after reading those novels and comics, an idea popped into her head for the first time: “Should I really just escape to have some fun in the human realm?”
“I’ll discuss it with Arin in three days. Let her bring those two fellows along to take me to play in the human world!”
Long Huan thought happily, just about to open the Communication Device to continue reading.
Suddenly, she was drawn by a faint sound.
…It was coming from the room above the pit.
Long Huan knew she was tied up on the outskirts of the Myriad Thunder Abyss, in a guest room prepared for the demon clans attending the conference.
To make her act more convincingly when her parents discovered her, Long Huan followed Young Master Sang’s advice and obediently stayed in the underground cave, while Sang Zhe and Shi Qingyan were upstairs in the house.
At that moment, however, through the wooden beams, Long Huan vaguely heard some subtle sounds coming from the room above.
Curiosity tinged with concern, she pressed her ear to the cave cover, straining to listen to the commotion outside.
“Hmm…”
Inside the room, it seemed like there were faint sounds of a man and a woman.
The man’s voice was deep, the woman’s voice was high-pitched; the specifics of their words were hard to make out, as if they were merely shouting something.
“Are they… fighting?” Long Huan blinked.
It must be that man and woman from earlier.
What could have caused them to start fighting? Did they have a falling out?
Listening to the noise outside, the man appeared to have the upper hand, while the woman cried out in pain, her voice half-hearted yet tinged with unwillingness.
But soon, she regained control, repeatedly shouting things like “Get down, let me come up” or “I don’t believe I can’t handle you.”
The battle was quite intense, with both sides going back and forth, screams echoing, and the sound of wood being smashed, shaking the cover of the cave with every thump.
“What a lively fight…”
Long Huan had no idea what the dispute was about.
She just suddenly felt a bit worried; if they really started fighting among themselves, wouldn’t they end up sending her back halfway through her ‘kidnapping’?
“No way.”
“I’ve got to stop them.”
Suddenly, Long Huan remembered a spell she learned from Arin that allowed her to see through walls.
She focused on recalling the spell’s usage, gathering her spiritual energy on her dragon’s eyes, and then widened her eyes to look outside.
Then, she saw a scene that seemed somewhat familiar.
Because just after finishing the comic, there had been a similar bizarre scenario, where a man and a woman were tussling naked on a bed and fighting fiercely.
It felt like some ancient and mysterious ritual.
Although Long Huan didn’t know what this ritual was.
Some instinctive force made her unable to look away, deeply fixated on the scene of the two fighting.
Without her even noticing, her body inexplicably began to heat up.
The visuals seemed enchanted; although she wanted to divert her gaze, her body somehow didn’t obey, continuing to be entranced by the unfolding drama.
“What… what exactly…”
“What are they doing?”
——
——
That night, Sang Zhe and Shi Qingyan slept soundly.
Meanwhile, in the gloomy and cramped underground cave, a little dragon girl was wide awake, her mind filled with deep confusion as she pondered the entire night.
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