Upon hearing this, Qiao Mei recounted how she had tricked the maid Yu Tong.

After listening, Xu Hui frowned and looked at her daughter, who usually only caused her trouble, again. She found that Qiao Mei seemed to have changed in some way compared to before.

After looking for a while, she realized what was wrong—it was her eyes!

No longer as naive and foolish as before, but instead more mature and shrewd?

Qiao Mei knew that her difference from the original owner's naive and stupid self might have made Xu Hui see something, so she directly said the excuse she had prepared in advance.

“You don’t need to look at me like that. People always change after experiencing some major events. If my daughter doesn’t change, she may not even get the chance to wait for you to come.”

That's true. Qiao Mei used to be very impulsive. If she had done anything too extreme, she might have been sent to the garbage planet. So Xu Hui didn't think too much about it and told Qiao Mei about the origin of the stone.

"I only saw this thing once by chance. It was when the staff of the Sacred Beast Hall were taking away the corpse of the Sacred Abandoned Beast. At that time, I clearly saw many similar black stones piled up next to the corpse. I asked about it and learned that it was called Gang Stone, which contains the death energy produced after the death of the Sacred Abandoned Beast."

"Death energy? What does that have to do with the disappearance of the familiar power in my familiar stone?" Qiao Mei was puzzled. The book did not record in detail how the female protagonist tampered with the original familiar stone.

Xu Hui said with a serious expression: "I heard that this thing can be transferred to other places with the help of some medium. The Familiar Stone itself is also made of cosmic star stone, which contains a certain energy fluctuation. When death energy gets on it, the energy fluctuation will naturally disappear."

Qiao Mei's face darkened, and she raised her red eyes to ask, "You mean, the Familiar Stone in my hand is now useless?"

"If I'm not mistaken, then it should be."

This is a difficult situation. The head of tomorrow's Awakening Retest clearly stated that she can only use this Familiar Stone and cannot change it, which means that even if she goes, she will still fail...

Xu Hui had also thought of this. She opened her personal terminal, intending to see what connections she had that could help, when she suddenly heard Qiao Mei ask, "Since this thing was created by the Forsaken Beast, can it also be taken back by the Forsaken Beast?"

If so, she might still have a chance to survive, provided he is willing to help her.

“Theoretically, yes, but whether it will actually succeed is hard to say. No one has ever tried it before.” Xu Hui said, looking at Qiao Mei with confusion. “You mean, you want the Holy Abandoned Beast to help you? But Xiao Mei, the Awakening Domain has clear rules that you can only choose one Holy Beast, and the chances of the Holy Abandoned Beast being willing to help you are very small.”

Qiao Mei thought of the one she had longed for for so long, and there was no fear of death in her eyes. Instead, a glimmer of expectation appeared in her blood-red pupils. She looked out the window at the Holy Beast Hall not far away and replied, "I understand, but how will I know if it will work if I don't try?"

What she didn't tell Xu Hui was that from the very beginning, her attempt to gain another chance to enter the Sacred Beast Hall was for this Sacred Abandoned Beast she spoke of.

......

The next morning, Xu Hui looked at Qiao Mei, who had been tidying her clothes for who knows how many times, and assumed that she was just too nervous. Before sending her into the Holy Beast Hall, she said worriedly, "If the Holy Abandoned Beast does not agree, remember to contact your mother as soon as you come out, and see if there is any other way."

Looking at Xu Hui's worried eyes, Qiao Mei, who had never experienced maternal love before, felt a pang in her heart. She nodded and joined the queue.

She had all the memories of the original owner's first time participating in the Awakening. Compared to some newcomers, she seemed much more skilled. After the staff scanned her ID, she stepped straight into the white vortex-shaped light gate.

After entering the gate of light, Qiao Mei looked at the many awakening domains belonging to different sacred beasts before her. She then turned her feet and, following the original plot in her mind, headed in a completely different direction from the others.

She finally stopped at a place where gold and dark edges intertwined, took a deep breath, looked at the icy blue transparent barrier in front of her, and resolutely stepped across it.

Behind this barrier, the scene that came into view was completely different from what she had just seen. The beasts inside were not surrounded by holy light, but were enveloped by large swaths of dark blue smoke, exuding a sense of death and decay.

The abandoned beasts inside barely reacted to Qiao Mei's entry, because they did not sense any faith or willpower from her.

Except for... Dragon God Ao Cang.

As always, he lay in the corner without any expectations, waiting for the ordeal to end.

Hearing footsteps approaching the Awakening Domain, he was a little surprised, but his emotions didn't fluctuate much.

Because in similar situations in the past, as soon as they could see what was inside, the footsteps would invariably fade into the distance.

Without exception, in the millions of times in the past, this has happened.

But this time, things seem a little different.

He clearly heard the footsteps getting closer and closer to him, carrying with them an immense and astonishing force of will, stopping precisely in front of him.

He looked up in surprise, his golden dragon eyes reflecting the image of the person before him.

This was a girl who looked to be around eighteen years old. She had long, naturally curly black hair that reached her waist, and wore a pomegranate red spring dress. Her ruby-like eyes were staring intently at him, making him feel a little inferior. He secretly wrapped his dragon body with his huge dragon wings.

But he was too slow, and Qiao Mei still managed to see what it looked like.

The giant dragon before them had black, shiny scales that resembled black jade, but they were missing pieces, making it look rather pathetic when placed next to its broken, ice-blue horn.

However, she didn't find it unsightly. Instead, she moved closer and used her burning gaze to caress his body inch by inch, her red eyes filled with a terrifying obsession and desire.

Ao Cang felt a little uncomfortable under her gaze, and after avoiding her eyes, he spoke:

"I am the Forsaken Beast, you have come to the wrong place."

The Dragon God's voice seemed to come from a very ancient and distant place, somewhat deep, which made Qiao Mei's already unsettled heart flutter, and her fingers involuntarily curled up.

She shook her head, suppressing the turbulent emotions in her eyes. Curling up the corners of her eyes, which were slightly red from excessive joy, she handed the familiar stone in her hand to him. In her jewel-red eyes, there was only his reflection as a dragon: "I haven't come to the wrong place, Lord Dragon God. I have come for you."

She had rehearsed this day countless times in her mind, so how could she possibly make a mistake?

Ao Cang could see that the familiar stone presented to him was filled with death energy. His dragon eyes, which had been shining brightly, dimmed again. Before she could speak again, he raised his dragon claw to help her extract the death energy.

"If you didn't come to the wrong place, then you came here for this, right? I've already cleared away the death aura for you, you can leave now."

Ao Cang lowered his dragon eyes, the ashen gray of death once again enveloping him, and a self-mocking look appeared in his golden eyes.

He said, "How could anyone possibly choose him?"