READ WEBNOVEL Chapter 50: Growth
Yue accidentally blew out the candles in the room as he exhaled when he stopped cultivating. He was a bit confused and then he remembered he was in his dragon form. He stretched out his long body for a second and then started using magic to transform back into his human form. The spell was difficult and long but the room was full of mana and as was Yue so he didn’t really feel its effects as much as he usually would.
Yue looked at his hair as it covered his chest. His hair had grown a bit and the white streak in his hair was still there. He had checked on his spiritual roots and his body as a whole while cultivating but he had found that there was no reason for his hair to have turned white yet there the streak was. He thought his hair would be the only change but he was wrong. He stared at his hands and blinked a bit.
“Did I do it wrong?” Yue murmured, his throat felt weird as he spoke but he ignored it and walked over to the mirror.
‘...Did I grow? Or did I wishfully make myself taller…?’ Yue thought as he stared at himself. He was a few centimeters taller.
He couldn’t help but grin a little after staring at himself for a while.
“No one will notice.” He giggled.
“Oh…” Yue mumbled. He had turned to go get his clothes from his bed and noticed blue-green scales near his ribs on the side he had been injured.
“...Is it rebuilding the bone…?” He murmured and slid his hands over the scales. He couldn’t see his ribs anymore but he could still feel them as he pressed lightly on them. His change in form had given him some more meat on his bones since his dragon form’s hunger was satisfied by the mana around him. He did feel very hungry now that he was in his human form but he ignored it as he counted his ribs. One of the two he had been missing had returned almost halfway.
“...Well...I’ll never run out of swords,” Yue murmured and put on his clothes. He went over to his desk after loosely tying his hanfu, he was looking for a hairpin but he noticed two letters on his desk. One was from Viktor and one was from Frida. Yue opened Frida’s first, he was confused about why Frida wrote to him.
The letter was Frida thanking him profusely for the Christmas present Yue had sent. Yue cursed silently. He had cultivated for far too long if Christmas had already passed. While in London he had worked with Mai and Marianne to make a necklace out of the green gems he had gotten from Mr. Anderson and he had given it to Viktor to send it to Frida’s letter portal on Christmas.
Yue read Viktor’s letter next, he couldn’t immediately think of how to respond so he left the letter on the table as he decided to go find Jinghua. He went to the doors to his room and found that there was a follower waiting outside.
“My Lord!” The follower said and bowed.
“What day is it?” Yue asked and tightened his clothes a little discreetly.
“December 27th…” The follower answered.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to cultivate for so long…” Yue mumbled and the follower immediately panicked and got onto his knees.
“My lord, you need not apologize to a lowly human like me!”
Yue looked down at the follower strangely and pulled him up so he would stand.
“Can you bring Jinghua to me?” Yue asked, and looked down the empty halls.
“Ah… She is currently outside with the students from the western temple...They have come every day to learn about the main temple and wait for you to come out of seclusion.” The follower explained.
“...Then I will go to her,” Yue said and went back into his bedroom to grab a fan before heading off.
As he walked through the halls, the followers greeted him with glee and he simply nodded. He looked over through a window and saw the students and Jinghua near the pavilion. Jinghua seemed to be explaining something about either the structure of the temple or about the plants that covered it so all of the students, kids that looked to be around 9-12 years old were looking at the temple.
Yue smiled a bit and released some of his mana. The flowers outside the temple all changed color and he could hear the gasps of the students as they watched. He locked eyes with Jinghua who looked overjoyed as she noticed him and he quickly covered his smile with his fan and went on his way outside.
The students were still focused on the flowers even as he walked toward them but Jinghua coughed and bowed her head to Yue to get their attention.
“My lord. You seem to be in good health, I’m glad.” Jinghua said and smiled.
“Yes. I cultivated for a bit longer than I intended.” Yue murmured, he avoided apologizing because of what the other follower did when he apologized.
“Students. This is Lod Qinglong.” Jinghua said and motioned for them to bow. The students all bowed and looked starstruck.
“My Lord, did you change the flowers?” One of the younger students asked innocently.
“Of course it was the lord!” Another student whispered. Yue held back a giggle as he watched them talk.
“You must be famished my Lord, I will send the students off and have someone make you something to eat,” Jinghua said and motioned for the kids to start walking.
“Oh you don’t have to send them off, they can stay for longer if they wish,” Yue said and watched as the kids who were looking a bit down as they heard they had to leave suddenly smiled brightly.
“Alright,” Jinghua said and walked behind Yue who started walking back toward the temple.
“My Lord, Do you have the legs of a dragon? How do you fit them into shoes?” One of the students asked, suddenly feeling very confident since Yue didn’t seem angry when the other student asked him a question.
“Hm? You must be thinking of a previous incarnation…” Yue responded.
“Then what is your special ability?” The same student asked and tilted her head. Jinghua was going to say something about not asking such questions but she was also a bit curious.
“My eyes,” Yue said and stopped walking and turned to look at the curious students.
One of the students gasped, “Can you see the future?!”
Yue nodded and chuckled.
“Can you tell—“
“Now now, don’t push it, Lord QingLong is tired.” Jinghua scolded.
Yue didn’t say anything in response and simply continued walking. He was actually not very tired at all, just hungry.
The kids quietly whispered questions, and Yue answered them quietly. Jinghua felt helpless but she just let Yue do as he pleased.
—
“My lord please try on your clothes for the meeting of the 4 symbols is coming up soon so we need to make any changes immediately.” A follower insisted later that day and Yue agreed reluctantly.
“Will you be bringing your sword, My lord?” Jinghua asked as she put Yue’s hair up in a half up half down style. She had pulled back half of his fringe and the white streak of his hair into the part that was up and held it in place with pomade and a golden hair accessory with a turquoise ribbon.
“Hmmm...Yes.” Yue murmured and inspected his hair in the mirror as Jinghua styled it, it was just one of the options she was giving him to choose from since he was trying on his clothes.
“The other 3 are your comrades though? They’d never try to fight you unless it’s playful?”
“...I have plenty of enemies as Azure Dragon, If I’m not hiding who I am I should at least have a sword. ” Yue murmured and looked over the accessories on his clothes.
Jinghua frowned but quickly hid it with a slight small as Yue glanced over at her in the mirror.
--
“How did you even do it? Aren’t you sick?” Natasha asked as she had her hair cut by some maids and some of Black Tortoise’s followers. The bloody knife used to cut her hair into a short bob stained her hair but only for a few seconds, it disappeared almost immediately.
“I picked up a few things in the Academy.” Viktor chuckled, “Also, I’m not even sick! I had a nosebleed over a month ago and Father acts like I’m dying of the plague. Mom had to haggle with him to allow me to fight Lunara. He probably had a stroke when he heard I had to be handicapped because of a bet Mom made.”
Natasha didn’t comment on the last half of Viktor’s complaints, at this point, even she and Alexei knew more about Viktor’s health than he did. She smirked and had a teasing look on her face.
“You learn things in the academy? I figured you just stared at your lady friend all day.” Natasha laughed. Viktor didn’t even refute Natasha’s teasing.
“Wait didn’t Mark go to London to scout the area? Did he meet Miss Yue?”
“They saw each other, they certainly didn’t talk, that would’ve been a disaster.” Viktor groaned, he could feel a headache building just as he thought of Mark.
“The obsessive ex and the new flame...Perhaps it wouldn’t be bad if they talked, Miss Yue feels like the kind of person to get jealous and not realize it.” Natasha giggled.
“Ex? Mark and I were NEVER together.”
“Somehow I don’t believe that.”
“Certainly not as a couple, and certainly not with my approval.” Viktor scowled.
“...If you’re serious bring it up to me in Belarus later...You should tell Dad that you aren’t on good terms with him, I’m certain he’s already been invited to your Birthday and Christmas though.” Natasha murmured and looked at Viktor with a conflicted look.
“The invitations for your birthday have already been sent out, young master,” Anya informed Viktor and caused him to groan.
“You could invite Miss Xia...And give her the earrings that the Mistress sent while you were in Paris.” Anya suggested after a moment of just Viktor groaning.
Viktor stopped groaning and then pointed to Anya while looking at Natasha with a growing smile, “This is why she’s my head maid.”
“Because she can deal with your tantrums? Yeah. I know.” Natasha laughed and rolled her eyes. Viktor glared in response.
Viktor quickly told Anya to set up an invitation and a dress to match the earring and Natasha asked everyone else to leave them alone for a while. Natasha gave Viktor an odd look, silently asking if he wanted to elaborate on a certain topic he had mentioned but Viktor just shook his head and sighed.
“Is Yue strong?” Natasha asked, standing up to go change seats, her now short hair moving loosely as she plopped down beside him.
“We have the same core type,” Viktor smirked.
“Oh wow… Father really won’t be able to refuse.” Natasha laughed.
“It’s not like I’d listen even if he did refuse.” Viktor laughed.
“I’m aware.” Natasha laughed and pinched Viktor’s cheek a little.
—
Yue was practicing martial arts in his bedroom when he paused and remembered how difficult it would be to transform his body into a more feminine form if he built up too much muscle.
“Ah...but I want my body back…” Yue murmured, he had been trying to build his body back to its fit shape from before his injury in March.
“Maybe there’s some sort of magic artifact for that…” Yue sighed, he immediately went back to practicing though. Being in his dragon form had improved his body’s physical health a lot so he was determined to get back to his old level of flexibility, speed, and strength as soon as possible.
‘Would Viktor actually like this male body…?’
Yue tried to shake the thought away from his head. He didn’t want to doubt himself or suddenly decide that he’d never tell Viktor.
‘He eventually would at least…’ Yue thought and sighed, thinking of the prophecy he had back way back near the time he entered the academy. He blushed as he thought of the lewd prophecy.
His mind stayed in a lewd place even as he tried to properly cultivate but he was snapped out of it when Jinghua entered the room.
“My lord, the bath is set up.”
“O-Okay,” Yue responded and quickly went to cool off. His cheeks were bright red. Jinghua seemed confused and a bit surprised by Yue’s stutter but she pretended like it didn’t faze her as Yue went into the bathroom.