Chapter 61 - 59: Lord Dragon Monarch

Zhang Deming’s brow furrowed at the words. ’So strange. An area cordoned off where it doesn’t rain... why does that sound like an Array?’

’But I haven’t found any trace of an Array on my way here.’

’The area of a town isn’t that large. It shouldn’t be a One-Star Array, the kind a Tai Chi Cultivator would encounter.’

’And if it were Apprentice Tier, there’s no way I wouldn’t have sensed a single trace of it, right?’

"Are you crazy?"

As Zhang Deming was lost in thought, a voice interrupted him.

Zhang Deming turned his head in surprise. He saw that the bride, who had just been set down by a few guards, had ripped off her own red veil and was walking straight toward him.

Evidently, she was the one who had just called him crazy.

’Oh, for fu—’

’I freaking saved you! Forget a thank you—I was only doing it for the mission, not for you anyway.’

’But turning around and cussing me out is crossing the line! Besides, for crying out loud, I’m supposed to be the "Dragon Monarch" right now!’

"Hey, I’m talking to you! What are you spacing out for? I asked if you were crazy."

The girl had a small, round face caked in rouge and blush, which looked a little strange now that her veil was off.

"You..."

"’You’ what? Before you save someone, can’t you first see if I even need saving?" the bride said, her tone softening slightly, tinged with a bit of frustration.

’This... where have I heard that before?’

Zhang Deming paused for a moment, and a Spiritual Light flickered in his eyes.

’This is?’

’A Cultivator?’

’An Intermediate Apprentice?’

’Uh, what the hell?’

An Intermediate Apprentice being tied up and sacrificed by a group of mortals... Zhang Deming felt like his brain couldn’t keep up.

"You think I wanted to save you? If it weren’t for keeping my mission rating from tanking, would I have bothered with this mess?

And don’t even get me started on this whole ’Dragon Monarch’ thing!" Zhang Deming said, looking completely fed up.

"Did I issue those missions? You’re supposed to be performing the Rain Prayer, so what are you doing meddling in other people’s business!" the bride shot back.

Hearing this, Zhang Deming looked stunned. "You’re the one who posted the Outer Sect mission? Are you... a descendant of Senior Brother Pei Qingfeng?"

"Who else do you think could post a mission to the Sect?" the bride replied.

"Then what’s all this?" Zhang Deming asked, confused.

An Intermediate Apprentice, even one who doesn’t know any Techniques, should at least have enough brute force and basic speed from their Spiritual Power to avoid being strung up for a sacrifice by a bunch of villagers, right?

At the very least, running away should have been no problem.

If she’d learned even a few moves, she could have passed for a Martial Arts Master, or even an Innate Grandmaster.

"Wait, let’s talk after we leave." Zhang Deming glanced at the bride and gestured around them. The surrounding villagers were still staring.

With that, Zhang Deming tapped his heel lightly and drifted away.

He looked back and saw the girl rolling her eyes at him before gritting her teeth, jumping off the altar, and running after him.

’Uh, this little missy doesn’t even know the Agility Technique?’

Zhang Deming was taken aback for a second, then threw out a green Vine. The bride instantly grabbed hold of it, and the two of them began to travel swiftly through the treetops.

"Dragon Monarch!!!"

"Master Dragon King!!!"

"Lord Dragon Monarch!!!"

"..."

As the villagers watched Zhang Deming make off with the bride, a wave of astonished cries rose up from behind them.

Zhang Deming called out helplessly, "In three days at the latest, I shall personally cast a spell to bring rain."

"We respectfully send off the Dragon Monarch!"

"We respectfully send off the Master Dragon King!"

"..."

The voices from behind nearly made Zhang Deming stumble.

"Senior Brother, you’ve got quite a Talent for playing god!" the bride, being dragged along behind him, said playfully.

Zhang Deming didn’t reply, simply focusing on weaving through the treetops.

The Agility Technique was fundamentally a Technique for running on the ground. Now that he was carrying another person, not only were the treetops bending in dramatic arcs under his feet, but the accelerated consumption of Spiritual Power was also becoming too much for him to handle.

As soon as they were out of sight, Zhang Deming flung his arm and tossed the dead weight down.

"Aiyah... You trying to kill me?! Hey, couldn’t you have given a girl some warning?!" the young woman cried out.

"Are you blind?" She hadn’t been nice to him since they’d met, and now Zhang Deming wasn’t feeling very charitable either.

"You... How could you be like this? Are you even a man?!" The young woman, intimidated by Zhang Deming’s fierce tone, sounded wronged.

"That’s right, I’m not *a* man, I’m *your* man. Aren’t you still in your wedding dress? How about it? This Dragon Monarch can make do. We can use the earth as our bed and the sky as our blanket.

With the stars of All Heavens as our witness, we can journey to the clouds and rain of Mount Wu?" Zhang Deming said coldly. ’If it weren’t for the mission, with an attitude like that, I wouldn’t even want to deal with her.’

"You... you... How could you say something so shameless?! Besides, it’s daytime!" the young woman said.

"Oh, then we’ll let the sun be our witness. There are stars during the day, you know. You just can’t see them," Zhang Deming replied nonchalantly.

"That’s not what I meant! You—I—You’re a hooligan!" the young woman stammered, flustered.

Then, she played her trump card. "Believe it or not, I’ll give you a bad review on your mission evaluation."

Zhang Deming’s head snapped around. A cold glint flashed in his eyes as he said icily, "You can try."

The bride, who had been acting so belligerent, suddenly seemed frightened by Zhang Deming’s cold expression. She took a few steps back, her movements exactly like those of a little girl.

Her tone instantly softened, her voice dropped, and her posture became submissive. She even sounded a bit wronged as she said:

"I... I didn’t mean it like that... You... you... Are all the Senior Brothers from the Celestial Spirit Sect as fierce as you?"

The cold look on Zhang Deming’s face softened slightly. He glanced at the bride and said, "It’s because you have a bad temper, okay?"

The atmosphere turned a bit cold. Still, he was someone who had been educated in a past life, and she had clearly lowered her stance.

Besides, he felt she was just the type to speak her mind without thinking. Since she had already made such a concession...

Seeing that she looked like she was about to cry from fright, Zhang Deming shook his head, his tone softening considerably. "Alright, talk. What’s the real story here?

A perfectly good Intermediate Apprentice, getting tied up for a sacrifice by a Village Witch Level crone and a few strong men?

Also, what about the Cultivation Family that Senior Brother Pei Qingfeng established?

What’s your relationship to Senior Brother Pei Qingfeng, and what’s your name?"

"Great-grandfather passed away many years ago. Because he left in a hurry, he didn’t really leave a family behind.

My name is Pei Xiaoxiao. I’m sixteen this year. I’m the last Cultivator in the Pei Family, and the only Cultivator since Great-grandfather."

Pei Xiaoxiao’s wronged, tearful expression vanished as she spoke.

As she spoke, Zhang Deming realized she was actually an underage loli.

The two big circles of blush on her face, combined with the bridal sacrifice outfit, had seriously thrown off his judgment of her age.

’No wonder she reacted that way earlier. I must have scared her a little.’

Zhang Deming’s expression softened completely. He looked at her, his brow slightly furrowed, and said:

"Are you saying Senior Brother Pei Qingfeng chose to pass down his line to a single heir? Or was it a single line of heirs who had no Talent?

Why?

And how many years is ’many years’?

Ten? Twenty?

With Senior Brother Pei’s Cultivation, he couldn’t have been dead for more than twenty years at most!"