354: Chapter 354 Sealing

Yet even so, Bai Suzhen still gritted her teeth tightly.

As long as she had a single breath left, she would never retreat a single step.

She was waiting.

Waiting for the hour of the rat on the day of Su Chen's tenth birthday.

Finally. The next day, the hour of the rat arrived.

Bai Suzhen, who had been struggling to hold on, could finally lay down her burden completely.

"Xiaoqing, everything from here on depends on you."

She let out a weak murmur.

That massive, tattered white snake body suddenly ceased all movement and struggling in mid-air.

It was as if she had truly reached her limit and could no longer maintain her existence in this mortal world.

Her figure began to fade away, much like an actor taking their final bow.

Seeing that Bai Suzhen, who had blocked his path all day like a maggot in the bone, had finally stopped struggling and was fading away.

It seemed she had truly died in battle, her soul scattered and path erased.

The Black Dragon let out a hysterical, ecstatic laugh.

"Hahahaha, you overestimating, lowly wench!"

"You could have tasted the Great Medicine with me, but in the end, you have only turned to ash beneath my claws."

The Black Dragon panted heavily, his eyes filled with the greed of someone about to taste the fruits of victory.

With this damned obstacle gone, the next step was to go and capture that fleeing "Great Medicine."

The Black Dragon closed his eyes, his vast divine sense spreading out.

He began to circulate the origin unique to a True Dragon within his body, preparing to use the indelible bloodline bond to pinpoint Su Chen's exact location after his escape.

However. One breath... Two breaths... Three breaths...

The confident expression on the Black Dragon's face was replaced by fear. He opened his eyes abruptly.

It was severed!

Just at that moment, the very instant the hour of the rat arrived, the bloodline connection between him and that little bastard had been completely severed by something unknown.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

The Black Dragon roared in impotent rage.

This was the second time he had experienced the feeling of watching a cooked duck fly away, having the connection to his Great Medicine severed right before his eyes.

(The first time was when Fairy Qingyun deceived him with her primordial spirit.)

This time, this dignified True Dragon demon sovereign of the Mahayana Realm was truly driven to a total breakdown by his fury.

His reason collapsed in that instant. His rage made his dragon body tremble violently.

"Damn you, wench! What kind of trick did you pull?"

The flustered and exasperated Black Dragon roared, extending his dragon claw, ready to grab the figure in mid-air—Bai Suzhen, who had transformed from a giant python back into the shape of a gentle woman.

The Black Dragon wanted to reduce the woman before him to dust, to vent the hatred in his heart.

And then, just like when he was tricked by Fairy Qingyun, he was played for a second time.

His dragon claw swiped at empty air.

Bai Suzhen had ignited her own demon body. It was already nothing more than a lifeless, intangible phantom of spiritual energy.

Bai Suzhen's true primordial spirit had already transformed into a streak of light invisible to the naked eye during those few short breaths he spent in ecstatic, closed-eyed sensing of the bloodline, and had completely vanished!

Even more ironically, the phantom of the gentle woman in the air, upon seeing the Black Dragon being toyed with again and having a total breakdown, curled her lips slightly, revealing a sneer full of mockery.

"ROAR AHHHHHH—!!!"

Above the source of the Spirit River, only the Black Dragon's impotent, desperate, and violent roar remained, like that of a stray dog after being repeatedly toyed with. It echoed for a long time.

Meanwhile, ten thousand li away from the source of the Spirit River, in the Cangmang Sacred Land, inside the palace where the Sacred Lord resided.

The environment here was tranquil, and the spiritual energy was like mist. On a soft and luxurious couch.

Nine-and-a-half-year-old Su Chen was sleeping quietly on Xiaoqing's long, voluptuous lap pillow.

Dried tear stains still remained at the corners of his eyes. Even in his deep sleep, his brows were tightly furrowed, and his small hands were clenched into fists.

From time to time, he muttered Bai Suzhen's name.

Xiaoqing, dressed in green, had eyes full of haggardness and sorrow. She lowered her head, her soft palms gently stroking Su Chen's hair. Her eye sockets were red and swollen like peaches.

Large tears fell, landing on Su Chen's cheeks.

The hour of the rat had passed. She had successfully cast the first secret technique of the "Eightfold Heavenly Phoenix Dragon-Concealing Array," perfectly binding her own destiny with Su Chen's and completely concealing that heaven-soaring Dragon Qi.

But the price of this success was her sister's life.

She knew that facing a Black Dragon of the Mahayana Realm, her sister, who had blocked him for an entire day, had absolutely no chance of survival.

Just as Xiaoqing was feeling hopeless and immersed in grief, suddenly, a white phantom, already almost completely transparent and seemingly able to be blown away by a breeze, slowly drifted into this hidden cave dwelling.

Xiaoqing's divine sense instantly detected the anomaly. She abruptly raised her head. When she saw the white phantom floating in mid-air, Xiaoqing's beautiful eyes widened, and she froze completely in place.

It was Bai Suzhen's primordial spirit. But at this moment, where was any trace of the peerless, elegant appearance of the Cangmang Sacred Lord that Bai Suzhen once had?

Her primordial spirit phantom had faded to the point of being almost invisible. At this moment, she had no physical body, and her cultivation and primordial spirit were heavily depleted.

Although she had not truly fallen, she was likely not far from it.

She had cultivated this level of power for over ten thousand years. As it stood now, Bai Suzhen would likely not wake up within a thousand years.

Seeing her sister reduced to such a wretched state—neither human nor ghost, ready to vanish completely at any moment—Xiaoqing's heart felt as if it were being fiercely gripped by a large hand.

She opened her mouth, just about to scream her sister's name.

"Shh..."

In mid-air, Bai Suzhen struggled to extend a finger, pressing it gently against her lips to make a gesture for silence.

Her gentle eyes glanced at Xiaoqing, then pointed with deep attachment to Su Chen, who was still sleeping on Xiaoqing's lap.

The meaning in her eyes could not have been clearer. Don't shout. Don't wake him up. Don't let him see me like this.

Xiaoqing covered her mouth tightly, preventing herself from crying out, her body trembling violently.

Following that, Bai Suzhen's primordial spirit phantom transformed into a faint streak of white light. This streak of light flew straight toward Su Chen's chest, silently merging into the bead hanging around his neck, which had already turned grayish-white.

"Hum."

Accompanied by the infusion of Bai Suzhen's primordial spirit, Xiaoqing looked down. Faintly visible inside the bead, which had begun to glow with a green light.

Besides the original phantom of Su Chen's mother, Fairy Qingyun, who was sleeping with her hands folded, there was now a tiny, white figure with eyes closed, sleeping peacefully, whose appearance was identical to Bai Suzhen.

A mother, a master. Two women who loved him deeply were sealed together within this tiny bead, becoming his most solid protective talisman.