But this dragon wasn’t even human, why not eat it?
Maybe the dragon had once been human?
Possible, but very unlikely. Its godsoul was just a scrap—like dead skin on a person—hardly even alive.
Hua Jian hesitated, but the dragon wouldn’t wait.
After being ridden, its hatred locked firmly onto her. Its blood-red eyes fixed on her, determined to crush her to dust.
Unable to match its attacks, Hua Jian could only run around to avoid them, frustrated beyond words.
Even a clay figure has some temper! Clearly she had the means to destroy this thing, but was forced to run like a headless chicken—it was driving her mad!
Why?! Did it think she couldn’t kill it?
The dragon didn’t care about her thoughts—it was like a bot, brainless and mechanical.
Once it targeted Hua Jian, it kept firing black fireballs at her, their speed so fast that even with Feihua Dun she couldn’t dodge them all.
Each hit fueled her anger until she wished she could tear the dragon to pieces.
Her heartbeat quickened, and the vine connecting her chest to her wrist came alive with emotion.
Boom!
Another fireball struck her—but this time, the fire was immediately sucked into the flower bracelet on her wrist.
Barely keeping her feet, Hua Jian took two deep breaths, then shouted at the dragon: “You really think I’m easy to bully?! I’m going to eat you, you bastard!”
She didn’t care about rules anymore. Even a rabbit bites when desperate—she was far scarier than a rabbit!
The whole Godsoul Space shook with Hua Jian’s anger—sky, ground, everything in sight began to crack and crumble.
Hua Jian vanished into rainbow light. Then, colorful roots burst from the shattered space, reaching toward the still-unaware black dragon.
Black fire sprayed, but touching the roots, it was instantly absorbed. The dragon thrashed, but a net of roots wove through the sky, trapping it with nowhere to go.
The black dragon was like a loach caught in a net, struggling desperately but unable to escape. As the space it could move shrank, finally, a root touched its body.
Creak, creak… The grating noise echoed through the broken space as the roots chomped down on the unyielding dragon.
Rainbow light flowed from the roots, bathing the dragon’s body and charring it with streaks of black smoke.
Crushed by the roots, the dragon’s struggles weakened, and its form shrank with each wisp of smoke.
Crack, crunch!
At last, under peak pressure, the dragon’s body shattered into countless fragments and was wholly absorbed by the enclosing roots.
This was the true feeding of the Illusory Dream Flower. No need for mortals to kill each other in a secret realm, nor for Dream Butterflies to chop the food.
It could grind anything to pieces by itself—that was its innate power.
Once the dragon vanished, the roots that had devoured it shrank back, and the shattered Godsoul Space restored itself.
A sprout poked its head from the soil, rapidly growing and transforming back into Hua Jian.
She was still a bit dazed, staring at her hands, lost in the remnants of her anger.
She didn’t really know what had happened—just that, in that moment, she was furious, desperate to devour the dragon.
Then her body acted on its own. She entered a wondrous, indescribable state, and in that state, she effortlessly crushed the dragon, squeezing it into fragments.
But once it was over, she tried to recapture that feeling and found it vague and out of reach.
“Was it like this?” She closed her eyes, attempting to repeat the ability.
But all she summoned were a few slender vines, nothing like the power she’d just wielded.
What could she do with these little things? Hua Jian looked at the tiny sprouts at her feet, feeling a bit disappointed.
‘Spectacular!’ A Meng had witnessed the entire outburst and, as a loyal admirer of the Illusory Dream Flower, was not afraid at all—in fact, she was thrilled.
Hua Jian was finally starting to master the flower’s power—a wonderful thing!
And after devouring the black dragon, Hua Jian hadn’t kept the energy for herself but channeled it all to A Meng, helping her recover greatly.
The dragon’s godsoul was tiny, but its quality was superb—even a bit of it was worth more than an ordinary Ling King’s.
‘You’re amazing, Hua Jian!’
“Am I? I’m probably about to get a tongue-lashing from Linglong, sigh.” Hua Jian withdrew her vines, her mood dim.
Like a puppy caught making trouble, she didn’t dare meet her master’s eyes.
Forget it. She turned her attention to the other figure in the Godsoul Space. “He’s not dead yet?”
When she’d first entered, the Protector was almost beaten to death by the black dragon. After her battle, his godsoul was even more shattered.
Hua Jian walked over and glanced down—it looked like a jigsaw puzzle now.
Even half the head was missing. He couldn’t possibly survive, right?
Just as she thought that, a voice in her mind objected.
Instinct told her she could reassemble the shattered godsoul.
Everything has two sides—since the Illusory Dream Flower could devour godsouls, it could also repair them… or even more.
Perhaps because she’d completed her first ever meal as an Illusory Dream Flower, new abilities surfaced in her mind—things she’d never known how to do before.
One of them was piecing together shattered godsouls.
“So it really is like a puzzle.” Hua Jian quipped, gently cupping her hand. Several fine vines sprouted to help reassemble the Protector’s godsoul.
At first, she was clumsy, afraid of putting pieces in the wrong place. But as time passed, she grew more skilled.
And some questions she’d puzzled over began to make sense.
Just by its habits, the Illusory Dream Flower didn’t seem like a benevolent plant—so why did it have this ability?
The answer: the power existed to help it hunt better.
There’s an old saying—“to serve the tiger for a share of the prey.” Godsouls repaired by the Illusory Dream Flower became its minions, its most loyal servants.
That was its most terrifying power!
And until now, no one had known about it.
For good reason, too—the flower was incredibly rare. Throughout the world of cultivation, barely any had ever been seen.
Its environment and very existence were a mystery—even the Lingcaifeng Master, the foremost expert on spirit plants, could only rely on legends to rank the Hundred Flowers List.
Those flowers were too mysterious. Dragons hidden and never seen, their powers unknown.
And a normal flower wouldn’t need to make minions anyway. Whether a growing Illusory Dream Flower had intelligence was debatable, and a fully matured one… well, no one had seen one yet.
Someone like Hua Jian, a “spirit flower” with intelligence even before full maturity, was almost unheard of.
Fine vines smeared rainbow light on each fragment and pieced them into the Protector’s broken soul. The light both glued the pieces together and ensured obedience.
Without it, no one could restore a broken godsoul except the most specialized DaoistSaints, and only if the damage wasn’t too severe.
Patiently finishing the repairs, Hua Jian watched the rainbow light fade into the Protector’s body and nodded in satisfaction.
That should do it, right?
She flicked his head with a vine. The Protector opened his eyes, and as a rainbow glint flashed across them, his demeanor turned utterly respectful.
“Miss!”
Looks like it worked? Hua Jian nodded to herself.
“Now then, tell me: what secrets does the Hei Long Gang hide?”
“Yes, Miss!”
……
“Why hasn’t she opened her eyes yet?”
Propping her chin, Shiqi squatted beside Hua Jian and turned to Linglong.
Above them, the sun was already high, spreading its heat over the land.
Linglong sat cross-legged in the shade, a faint worry on her face. “Maybe she’s run into trouble.”
She’d said she’d be back quickly, but it was already noon—definitely longer than “quick.”
Not long ago, the Protector lying on the ground reverted from his dragon form—a good sign, since even if he lost control again, Linglong could easily subdue him.
But when it came to Hua Jian, Linglong was powerless. To enter her Godsoul Space, Hua Jian would have to come out and pull her in.
But Hua Jian hadn’t come out, so she couldn’t go in to help.
And if she didn’t go in, maybe Hua Jian couldn’t get out either.
A perfect deadlock.
“She was so confident. There shouldn’t be a problem, right? Still, the Hei Long Gang’s cultivators must have noticed something by now. What if…”
Shiqi’s worries were understandable. Linglong and Hua Jian had blitzed the Hei Long Gang’s core and taken out their main force, but that didn’t mean the gang couldn’t counterattack.
Some of the gang’s outer cultivators were still alive.
“No need to worry. They wouldn’t dare make a move.”
The area was still shrouded by Hua Jian’s maze array. Even Shiqi had needed Linglong’s guidance to get in.
The Hei Long Gang’s ordinary cultivators were probably just pacing around outside, too afraid to enter.
As they spoke, Hua Jian finally stirred—opening her eyes and stretching.
Seeing Shiqi and the bright midday sun, she realized she must have spent a long time inside the Godsoul Space.
“You’re awake!” Shiqi’s eyes lit up.
Linglong also looked at Hua Jian. Though she said nothing, her gaze matched Shiqi’s anticipation.
With Hua Jian awake, even the motionless Protector opened his eyes.
“Hmm?” Linglong was instantly on guard. Her Ling Sword flew from her hand, stopping at the Protector’s throat.
No matter how he woke, best to kill him first—just in case.
“Wait, wait!” Hua Jian quickly shot out a vine to entangle Linglong’s sword, using all her strength to halt it. “He’s on our side now!”
The Protector obediently bowed low to Linglong, proving Hua Jian’s claim with his actions.
Linglong was taken aback, glancing at Hua Jian for an explanation.
She knew something was off with the Protector, and that Hua Jian was the cause.
Otherwise, why would a former enemy suddenly bow and apologize?
Linglong knew Hua Jian was cautious—she wouldn’t trust an enemy lightly.
And the determination Hua Jian showed in stopping her attack proved she now fully trusted the Protector.
It didn’t add up.
“It’s a long story. Here’s what happened…” Hua Jian trotted over and quietly explained what happened in the Godsoul Space.
From the black dragon, to her own outburst, to the jigsaw puzzle game.
By the end, Linglong understood why Hua Jian trusted the Protector so much—but her mood worsened.
She felt she really needed to keep a closer eye on Hua Jian. Half a day without supervision, and Hua Jian had mastered a shocking new ability.
What was this? Brainwashing?
It was also a clear-cut forbidden technique according to the Hudaosi!
Even if Hua Jian had only used it on a nearly dead godsoul, the Hudaosi wouldn’t care about the distinction.
“Hua Jian, please tell me the next time you gain a new ability, okay? Don’t experiment on your own, or it’ll cause big problems!” Linglong grabbed her shoulders and shook her.
“I couldn’t help it—I promise I won’t do it again!” Hua Jian admitted her mistake, and seeing that Linglong wasn’t pressing too hard, quickly agreed.
“Worst case, after getting information, I’ll just crush his godsoul!”
If brainwashing was forbidden, she could always destroy the Protector’s godsoul after the interrogation.
If anyone asked, Hua Jian could claim it was her original ‘Hua Memory Restoration Technique.’ That should fool them, right?
“By the way, Linglong, the Protector told me the Hei Long Gang sealed off a large area here to cultivate something called Longxueteng…”
Longxueteng? Linglong was stunned, then sucked in a breath.
“Longxueteng? Are you sure?”
“Absolutely certain!”
“Quick, take me there!”