I have the best bloodline

It's not that Hong Ling doesn't have fellow Daoists, but rather that her family hosts banquets far too frequently, several times a year, and these are all family-style banquets. Since Hong Ling herself isn't the main character at these banquets, most of her fellow Daoists choose to respond to the invitations by sending gifts but not actually attending.

The banquets were held far too frequently. A year was but a fleeting moment for an Earth Immortal, and some cultivators lived far away, taking more than a month to arrive.

Unless you're so close that you'd share the same pants, no fellow cultivator would be willing to go through all this trouble.

It's only because my aunt doesn't live too far away that she always comes over to stand by whenever Hongling hosts a banquet, so that Hongling's family can still maintain a respectable image and not be unable to invite even a single fellow Daoist of the same level.

To the Huang family, the aunt and nephew were more than just guests; they were practically benefactors.

The rich are all alike, while the poor are all absurdly diverse. For the declining Huang family, the more Earth Immortal Daoist friends the Red Silk Ancestor has, the more stable the Huang family's position in Blackwater City will be.

This would also prevent other cultivators from gossiping behind his back.

"Hmm, it feels a little good."

Led by Huang Yin, Su Yan walked from the teahouse onto the street. The people he encountered along the way were all direct descendants of the Huang family. After Huang Yin's introduction, the Huang family members greeted Su Yan with respectful clasped hands and a bow, calling him "Senior Su".

Su Yan had never seen such a scene before. His cultivation level was at the bottom in his family. Even the demonic cultivators that his mother caught with a net at the door were at least Golden Core cultivators, with some reaching the Nascent Soul stage.

At home, it's even more outrageous, with seniors at the Nascent Soul stage or high-ranking officials and royalty appearing at every turn, to the point that one can see the inner body of Emperor Wusheng running around everywhere.

Su Yan always asked people to call her Little Fox, or Fox Baby, or other cute nicknames.

Now that everyone is calling him "senior," Su Yan feels like he's lost his way.

The fox's tail was practically sticking up to the sky; its vanity was inflating even faster than its weight.

"Senior Su, may I ask what level your cultivation is at now?"

Huang Yin looked at Su Yan with a hint of curiosity, quite interested in Su Yan's cultivation level despite being the same age as her.

"I'm almost sixteen, and I just recently reached the Golden Core stage." Su Yan said, a slight embarrassment showing on his face as he snapped out of his daze.

Having seen too much of the world, Su Yan subconsciously believed that Golden Core cultivators were truly insignificant, like children who had just graduated from literacy class, barely able to leave home alone and squat a few hundred meters from their doorstep playing in the mud.

If you walk another two hundred meters, the neighbor's vicious dog might chase you home, forcing you to hide under your mother's skirt.

Therefore, Su Yan never felt that there was anything to brag about regarding his Golden Core stage cultivation.

Do you really have the nerve to show off your cultivation level if you haven't been struck by lightning during the Nascent Soul stage?

"A Golden Core stage expert!"

Huang Yin muttered with envy, "As a direct descendant of the Huang family of Blackwater City, I am currently seventeen years old. Due to my limited talent, I am only at the Body Refining stage. The highest achievement I can reach in this life is only the Golden Core stage."

Because of her low cultivation level, Huang Yin couldn't tell the extent of Su Yan's cultivation at all. If it weren't for the conversation between the elders, Huang Yin wouldn't even have been able to tell that Su Yan was actually a demon.

"I'm so envious."

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 222 The Path of the Sleeping Dragon

Nighttime in the night market of Heishui City.

"Croak? Croak croak—"

The horned toad sat perched in a pure white porcelain bowl, its body gleaming with a golden sheen. It stared blankly at the two customers who had just entered the pet shop, blinking its big eyes and tilting its head as it croaked.

"Senior Su, the little guy in front of you is the most famous spirit pet in our Blackwater City: the Horned Flower Toad, and the golden Horned Flower Toad is even known as the Wealth-Bringing Toad."

Huang Yin, who was leading Su Yan through the night market, was introducing the Blackwater City's specialty spirit pets to Su Yan with a big smile.

Although the Blackwater River appears pitch black, its water quality is excellent, rich in various nutrients, and even safe to drink directly.

Because of the high quality of the water, some monsters that have high requirements for water quality will choose to come to the mountains of the capital to breed during the breeding season.

The horned toad, freshwater jellyfish, six-horned giant salamander, and leaf-stemmed sea dragon can all be found in the mountains of the capital.

"It is quite cute."

Su Yan looked at the horned toad in front of him, its mouth wide open, revealing its two white front teeth, trying to jump up and nibble on his fingers, but unable to jump up no matter how hard it tried because of its excessive obesity. After pondering for a while, Su Yan praised it with a slightly strange expression.

Compared to the adorable nature of the horned toad, Su Yan was more curious about how such a toad, which could barely hop two inches, could survive in the wild and continue its bloodline to this day.

"Shopkeeper!"

Seeing that Su Yan was interested in the Horned Flower Toad, Huang Yin quickly called out to the shopkeeper of the Spirit Pet Shop, preparing to buy the golden Horned Flower Toad in front of him and give it to Senior Su.

However, Huang Yin called out three times in a row, but the shopkeeper and waiter of the spirit pet shop did not come out.

The horned toad inside the ceramic plate blinked.

"Strange, there's no one in the shop." Huang Yin lifted the curtain and glanced at the backyard, but still couldn't find the shopkeeper or the waiter of the spirit pet shop.

"Croak?"

Su Yan didn't care much about this. He squatted in front of the ceramic plate and teased the horned toad with great interest, which made the horned toad in the plate let out a series of angry and strange cries.

After waiting in the pet shop for a while without seeing the shopkeeper return, Huang Yin thought for a moment and finally took Senior Su away from the pet shop, asking Senior Su to move to a nearby inn to have something to eat first.

Senior Su has come all the way from Xia Yuzhou, and he probably hasn't had dinner yet. I can't let some trivial matter delay my planned itinerary.

It's not too late to choose a gift for Senior Su after we've had dinner and tea.

"quack"

The horned toad looked at the two figures, blinked, and called out in a slightly dazed manner.

However, due to the language barrier, neither Su Yan nor Huang Yin knew what the horned toad was saying.

The horned toad tried to jump out of the ceramic plate, but due to its overly rounded shape, it hopped around for a long time but still couldn't leave the ceramic plate used to display the horned toad's body color.

"quack"

The horned toad spoke again.

………………

"I never expected to find a storyteller here."

Sitting down in the inn recommended by Huang Yin, Su Yan looked at the middle-aged man sitting in the center of the lobby, who was talking non-stop about strange and supernatural stories, and said with a smile.

Upon seeing the storyteller again after so long, Su Yan couldn't help but recall the time when he lived in the Southern Prefecture.

When Su Yan was still sucking on a bottle, her mother would often take her to brothels to listen to storytellers tell ghost stories.

Storytellers are common in the southern states. Some recount their past glories, while others tell stories fabricated from rumors. They are all people who make a living by their eloquence.

Although storytellers were common in the southern states, there were no storytellers in the Xia Yu Dynasty. Therefore, Su Yan showed a nostalgic expression on his face after seeing a storyteller for the first time in a long time.

"Storytellers? They shouldn't be considered storytellers."

Huang Yin set out the tableware for Su Yan, glanced at the middle-aged man who was telling a story, and shook her head, saying, "They are cultivators from a sect near the Imperial Capital Mountain, a small sect centered on dragon worship."

Upon seeing the storyteller's clothes, Huang Yin recognized the cultivator's true identity.

"Their sect calls itself the Sleeping Dragon Path. They have been pursuing the traces of the True Dragon Clan and firmly believe that as long as they find the True Dragon Clan, they can improve their talents and thus truly embark on the path of immortality."

Huang Yin sighed as she spoke, saying, "They are all pitiful people who are struggling because of life's hardships."

The Sleeping Dragon Path is not a true cultivation sect; rather, it is a group of pitiful people who have lost hope in life and place their hopes on something illusory.

In their minds, the true dragon is omnipotent, and as long as they sincerely believe in the true dragon, they can change the unsatisfactory aspects of their lives or the obstacles in their fortunes.

The "storyteller" in the lobby is telling the dragon stories imagined by the Sleeping Dragon Path.

"Believe in the true dragon."

Su Yan's forehead creased with three black lines, and he thought to himself, "It's a good thing you haven't seen the dragons without the filters, otherwise I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to handle such a strong shock."

If they were to meet Little Dragon Girl or Grand Tutor Jin, they probably wouldn't be able to worship her even if they wanted to. The former seems like a reincarnated pig demon, eating and sleeping all the time.

The latter, Grand Tutor Jin, was even more wicked, always finding fault with things even when there was none. Su Yan still owed Grand Tutor Jin tens of thousands of words of 'County Magistrate's Work Log'.

Can you give an oral report? I won't listen. Please submit a written record of your outing experience to the school's teaching office. It must be detailed and clear, otherwise I will not accept it!

Grand Tutor Jin was utterly disrespectful to his elders, taking pleasure in tormenting the students of Yongle Academy.

"That's right! Believing in the true dragon can grant immortality, and even lead to the path of becoming an immortal. We are all cultivators favored by Lord Sleeping Dragon!"

The storyteller downstairs seemed to have overheard Su Yan and Huang Yin discussing the Sleeping Dragon Path. He grinned, revealing a set of bright white teeth, and gave Su Yan and Huang Yin a thumbs-up, enthusiastically recommending the Sleeping Dragon Path to them.

Inside the inn, some of the drinking customers laughed at the storyteller, while others shouted:

"Butcher Kong, how come you're drunk if you haven't drunk anything?"

"Hey, you guys don't believe me!"

Seeing that no one around him believed him, the storyteller became displeased. He immediately stood up from the chair on the dining table, performed a somersault, landed on the ground, grabbed a pair of bamboo chopsticks, clenched them tightly in his palm, and shouted:

"Hey—it's going up, up, up!"

The storyteller's palm emitted a fluctuation of spiritual energy, and the yellowed and old bamboo chopsticks he held in his hand, as if stimulated by something, gradually turned green and grew branches at a visible speed. In the blink of an eye, those old, yellowed and blackened bamboo chopsticks turned into a bunch of green bamboo sections with branches in the storyteller's hand.

"Look, all of you, I've been telling you all that Lord Sleeping Dragon is real, but you just wouldn't believe me. Now you see!"

"Lord Mianlong is a deity among immortals. Even a tiny bit of his wisdom leaking from between his fingers is enough to transform us mortals into immortals on the spot!"

The storyteller held up a blooming bamboo section in his hand, his face full of pride as he told the diners about the power of the Dragon God.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 223 "The Dragon Slayer"

"Is it related to the Wood element?"

The storyteller proudly boasted about the bamboo joints he had created using his spiritual power, attributing it all to the Sleeping Dragon Lord he spoke of.

But Su Yan could tell at a glance that the storyteller in front of him already possessed the strength of the Qi Refining stage. He used his own blood energy to transform into a small amount of spiritual power, and then transferred it into the bamboo chopsticks, thus creating such a magical performance.

The storyteller must have just been promoted and hasn't truly awakened to his wood element nature yet; otherwise, the bamboo chopsticks should have transformed directly into a rootless bamboo instead of symbolically sprouting a few branches and green leaves.

The storyteller in the main hall, with a smug look on his face, held up the emerald green bamboo he had cultivated and shoved it directly into the faces of the diners who were mocking his belief in the Sleeping Dragon.

"I'm really envious!"

Huang Yin looked at the storyteller with envy, then looked at Su Yan sitting opposite her.

The Huang family members lacked talent for cultivation. Even with the ancestor Hong Ling overseeing the family and using every method, the Huang family members' limit was only the Golden Core stage, and that was only with the Foundation Establishment stage adding three hundred years to their lifespan.

In terms of normal lifespan, it's questionable whether the Huang family members can even reach the Foundation Establishment stage.

Therefore, Huang Yin particularly envied those cultivators with cultivation talent. The storyteller was just a rough man, yet he was able to advance to the Qi Refining stage through intentional or unintentional breathing exercises.