Of the three present, Du Chuan, momentarily carried away by his pride, failed to notice the strangeness emerging from Han Qianling's clothes. Han Qianling's eyes were vacant, almost dazed, as if he had lost all consciousness. Therefore, only Luo Jiujiang could see the complete transformation of his close friend, a blood relative, a brother, a part of his life.

He saw Han Qianling's skin cracking, blood-red flesh bulging from the cracks as if alive, even the thin joints revealing the white bones. Blood soaked every inch of Han Qianling's skin, his beautiful face twisted and submerged in crimson, becoming more terrifying than ever.

And amidst the wriggling flesh and bones, pieces of shimmering blue things silently emerged. In the blink of an eye, they covered Han Qianling's entire body.

Everything changed in the blink of an eye. In the blink of an eye, Du Chuan let out a laugh and Luo Jiujiang was stunned, and Han Qianling had transformed into a monster no one could recognize. Meanwhile, his bones continued to crackle, but his cries had become hoarse and strange, as if he had lost all human qualities.

Du Chuan's laughter suddenly stopped, and his expression instantly changed from ecstasy to fear. That was the normal reaction of a normal person facing the unknown. Luo Jiujiang, however, rushed forward without hesitation the moment he regained his composure.

"Qianling!"

Luo Jiujiang never knew that he could actually let out such a shrill roar.

Almost in the blink of an eye, Han Qianling's appearance changed again. His body grew taller, seemingly beyond the limits of a human; his limbs shortened and thickened, so short that they almost looked like the claws of a hawk.

There was a snapping sound, the sound of the Buddhist beads on Han Qianling's wrist being torn apart as the string could no longer withstand the pressure. The round, woody-scented beads bounced and rolled to the ground without a sound.

Just before Luo Jiujiang was about to hit Han Qianling, Han Qianling's joints crackled for the last time.

Han Qianling turned his head to the side, and his lips, which had begun to change strangely, moved slightly, and the shape of his lips vaguely formed the number "nine".

He reached out, attempting to touch Luo Jiujiang's fingertips. In the past, they would have held hands, interlocking their fingers. They had done this countless times, so familiar with each other that they didn't even need to look. But today was an exception within an exception... Han Qianling's slender, white fingers had transformed into sharp claws.

When the tip of the claw was about to cut through Luo Jiujiang's palm, Han Qianling still retained the last bit of consciousness. He curled up his knuckles and hid the terrifying sharp claw in his bony claws.

"Jiujiang, I..." Han Qianling's voice at this time was like the roar of a beast and the chant of a bird. The only part that sounded like human language was unclear and sounded like thunder.

In that final moment of clarity, countless words surged from his throat. He wanted to say, "Jiujiang, don't be afraid. I'm not hurt." He wanted to say, "After I transform into a dragon, I'm afraid something strange will happen. You must take good care of yourself." He wanted to say, "I foresaw the separation that was about to happen, but no matter where we end up, I'll always find you."

He wanted to say, Jiujiang, I like you.

The dragon transformation had reached its most critical moment. The growth forced by the overflowing powder, which could cause even Jindan demons to explode and die, was so painful that it could almost wipe out the entire will of a living being. Han Qianling was ultimately unable to utter the most important words.

He raised his head, surrounded by a white mist that quickly became stained red with blood. His eyelids were half-closed, covering his lifeless eyes, while his mouth was open, revealing sharp, white teeth that gleamed with an ominous cold light.

Luo Jiujiang's fingertips narrowly missed Han Qianling's distorted and twisted form. He watched Han Qianling soar into the air, and when he opened his eyes again, they were filled with bestial brutality and bloodlust. He watched the cold gleam of Han Qianling's scales, each one covered in blood at its base, yet still revealing a pure, dark blue hue.

He watched helplessly as the most important friend in his life turned into a bloody dragon in the blink of an eye.

The dragon's eyes were filled with chaotic malice, devoid of the clarity that had always belonged to Han Qianling. The sanity that had once been suppressed by Han Qianling, even at the cost of his cultivation, was now completely overwhelmed by evil thoughts. The dragon looked at Luo Jiujiang, so close at hand, as if he were looking at an ant. The next moment, the blue dragon's claws, sharp as knives, descended without hesitation upon Luo Jiujiang's chest.

If this grab was firm, it would only take a moment to rip open Luo Jiujiang's heart and abdomen. In less than half a beat of a person's heart, the sharp claws had already torn open Luo Jiujiang's front, and the claws had also touched Luo Jiujiang's chest!

A trace of bright red slowly overflowed from Luo Jiujiang's chest.

The author has something to say: I hope no little angel finds this chapter too abrupt.

This chapter as a whole is a foreshadowing that was laid long ago, from Du Chuan's "poisonous" character, Du Chuan's successive changes in mentality (not to increase the word count, nor to use a villain as a pick), to Ying Yifen's characteristic of "exploding when touched by the Jindan demon clan", Han Qianling's fear of suppressing the promoted strong men and not daring to improve his own cultivation, and Luo Cang's original statement that "any casual foundation-building cultivator can deal with you as easily as slaughtering a chicken, and a foundation-building cultivator can only bow his head when he sees the Jindan.", and Dong Shuangyu's prophecy in the previous chapter are all foreshadowing.

This was a plot that had been decided long ago in the outline. Qidao was a paradise on earth, and Jiujiang's master was a hermit. His master, his father, his brother, his childhood sweetheart, the people he loved and the people who loved him, no one would want Jiujiang to be hurt.

Jiujiang will eventually break out of his cocoon and become a butterfly, from a boy as bright as the sun, into a man as upright as described in the introduction.

Today's suffering is for tomorrow's growth, and the short separation between the two is for the sweet and fragrant sugar in the future.

Really, all the old readers who read my articles know that the author is a professional sweet cookie writer, an authentic sweet writer, I am not lying to you =w=

I promise that even if he has seen thousands of things, Jiujiang will only grow from a little cutie to a big cutie. When I replied to the little angel, I said something to the effect of: No matter how cruel and fierce the world is, Luo Jiujiang will be an eternal young man.

There are two more chapters to go~