Edited by RED

“Let’s not talk about him for now. Who exactly are you? Where’s Venerable Ziyan?” Vermilion Bird asked.

“Don’t talk about him for now? That horned fellow is coming this way. Let’s talk after you deal with him,” Xu Qi said, looking at the approaching Ice-Armored Horned Dragon.

“Ignore it. It’s beaten so badly, it can’t fight anymore even if it wanted to. Now, quickly answer this madame’s question!” Vermilion Bird’s gentle demeanor suddenly disappeared, and she even addressed herself as “this madame”!1 From the looks of it, she would have dragged Xu Qi right over if it wasn’t for the rainbow seal separating them.

Xu Qi, on the other hand, kept silent as he watched the Ice-Armored Horned Dragon slowly stop in front of the seal and sit down on the ground. At this moment, its dazzling ice armor had holes all over it, looking to be in a sorry state.

“You win again, gaudy bird,” the Ice-Armored Horned Dragon said unwillingly.

“Say, Blackie, this madame is a beautiful flower, after all. Are you looking for a fight, calling me a gaudy bird? Moreover, this little brother is around; aren’t you being a little improper?” Vermilion Bird quipped.

“Get lost; stop acting like you’re still young. You’re even calling this little fellow here little brother! It’s not even too much for him to address you as great-grandmother!” the Ice-Armored Horned Dragon retorted.

The Vermilion Bird immediately stood up at hearing this and closed the distance between her and the Ice-Armored Horned Dragon, step by step, as killing intent seeped out of her.

“Alright, stop! You win! You’re young, and youthful! I’m not fighting anymore! I was wrong!” the ferocious Ice-Armored Horned Dragon actually gave in, looking rather funny.

“That’s more like it. Remember now, I’ll show you hell if you call me gaudy again!” Vermilion Bird threatened.

“Erm, you two, are you done fighting? Shall we talk business now?” Xu Qi chuckled, looking at the pair of them.

“Right, right, I almost forgot about it after being interrupted by Blackie. You have yet to answer my question,” Vermilion Bird hurriedly replied.

Xu Qi was secretly delighted at the sight of this. If this situation continued playing out, perhaps he would subdue the Vermilion Bird easily, as it was with the Black Tortoise.

“Then I’ll just tell you. My name is Xu Qi, and the Four Divinities Coffer you’re currently in is, in fact, within my body. As for Venerable Ziyan, his life had come to an end, while Black Tortoise was subdued by me over a decade ago and became my familiar. My purpose for coming here was to subdue you. I wonder if you understand if I put it this way?” Xu Qi said straightforwardly.

“Venerable Ziyan is dead? The Four Divinities Coffer is within your body? And Brother Black Tortoise was subdued and became your familiar?” Vermilion Bird muttered, staring blankly into space.

Xu Qi nodded and said, “You must want to get out of here after being sealed for so many years. As long as you agree to being my familiar, I’ll get you out of here right away. You’ll be free, able to return to the mortal world.”

Xu Qi immediately threw out the ultimate bait as he did to sway the Black Tortoise back then. He understood very well that no matter human or monster, what they wanted the most was freedom after being trapped in here for so many years. Now that he’d made such a tempting offer, he was sure she’d accept.

“I find the energy on you really familiar, but Lady Nuxi doesn’t have a disciple like you. Could it be that you’re Venerable Ziyan’s disciple?” Vermilion Bird asked without showing any expression.

“Oh, I am indeed not Lady Nuxi’s disciple, nor am I Venerable Ziyan’s disciple. Truthfully speaking, I have only met Venerable Ziyan twice. It was him who asked me to free the Four Divinities, and-”

“Shut up! So you were really sent by that despicable Venerable Ziyan to subdue us! This madame here won’t take your bait! You want to subdue me? Sure, just come over to this side if you have the ability and fight me with your own strength! I’ll agree to it if you win against me!” the Vermilion Bird suddenly yelled, interrupting Xu Qi.

Xu Qi cursed inwardly at hearing this. The Vermilion Bird is indeed no virtuous monster; she was still fine a moment ago. Why would she suddenly become hostile?

“Wait a minute!” the Ice-Armored Horned Dragon suddenly shouted. Its huge frame slowly shrank, and turned into a human figure. That look of his left Xu Qi wanting to praise out loud. Could he get any more handsome?

The Ice-Armored Horned Dragon, now in his human form, came in front of the rainbow seal and glanced at Vermilion Bird before speaking to Xu Qi, “I’ll become your familiar if this gaudy bird doesn’t want to, as long as you bring me out. How about it?”

Xu Qi was dumbstruck. Why would this Ice-Armored Horned Dragon squeeze himself into the picture? Subduing him wasn’t in my plans. Also, the Vermilion Bird gave a brief introduction to his evil deeds in the past; it seems like he isn’t easy to tame, either.

“Scram aside, Blackie. He’s not here for you; why are you joining in for!? Do you believe this madame here will not incinerate you?!” the Vermilion Bird suddenly appeared behind the Ice-Armored Horned Dragon, pushing him aside.

After being pushed aside, the Ice-Armored Horned Dragon actually sat on the ground with his head lowered! From the looks of it, he seemed to be dispirited!

Xu Qi felt pitiful towards him after witnessing this. He actually sympathized with this guy who threatened to devour him earlier. Xu Qi looked toward Vermilion Bird and said, “Say, Deity Ling Guang, you’re quite pretty yourself, and you’re strong, too. But can you not address yourself as ‘this madame’? That’s very unrefined, alright? Also, I see that you’ve been bullying this Ice-Armored Horned Dragon all along; why don’t I see any resemblance of a Divine Beast in you? Just looking at you, Uncle Black Tortoise is much better!”

“Oh my, you little brat, how dare you lecture this madame! You, get in here! Come here!” the Vermilion Bird said, pointing her finger at Xu Qi. She was obviously angered by him.

Xu Qi felt his brain heating up and yelled out, “Damn, this foul temper of yours! I’ll go right in; who’s afraid of an old bitch like you!?” Rainbow energy shone on his body as he jumped across the rainbow seal.

“How dare you scold me!” Vermilion Bird was enraged at Xu Qi’s name-calling and prepared to strike him, seeing as he really crossed the rainbow seal.

Right at this moment, however, countless talismanic characters appeared around Xu Qi. A half-translucent daoist holding a horsetail whisk appeared behind him, giving off a creepy smile.

“Cursed Wraith Talisman!”

“Cursed Wraith Talisman!?”

Xu Qi and Vermilion Bird cried out at the same time. The latter realized that she couldn’t move a muscle, and Xu Qi quickly struck out at her, sweeping his hand across her face, slapping her several times in a row and hurriedly jumped back behind the rainbow seal before the binding effect wore off.

When Xu Qi executed the Cursed Wraith Talisman earlier, he held back on the strength of the technique. He was only looking to make use of the binding effect, not causing any damage to the Vermilion Bird.

After the Cursed Wraith Talisman’s binding effects wore off, the Vermilion Bird felt a burning sensation on her cheek and screamed, “How dare you hit this madame!” Her watery eyes were now seething with rage, and her nose exhaled two spurts of flames.

“Don’t think you’re all that just because you’re a Divine Beast! I hate bullies like you; the Ice-Armored Horned Dragon has already yielded, how could you continue bullying him!? I’m freaking done with you; I’m not going to subdue you anymore! Aren’t you very powerful? Have fun staying in here! I’ll go subdue the Azure Dragon and the White Tiger! This daddy here won’t ever come find you again!” Xu Qi yelled from the opposite side of the rainbow seal.

The Vermilion Bird was so angry that she was at a loss for words. Not to mention being slapped by Xu Qi, now she was even being lectured by him! She obviously couldn’t accept this.

“What are you looking at!? Your daddy won’t accompany you here anymore. Farewell!” Xu Qi said and turned to leave.

Even so, Xu Qi was praying inwardly for the Vermilion Bird to call for him.

Finally, the Vermilion Bird’s voice rang out from behind him, leaving Xu Qi feeling gratified, “Wait! I’ll agree to being your familiar!”

Xu Qi turned around and returned to the Vermilion Bird, saying, “So you thought it through. This proves that you’re intelligent. You definitely won’t lose out by being my familiar! Congratulations to you for making the correct choice.”

The Vermilion Bird retreated two paces in annoyance and sat in meditation on the ground. She slowly closed her eyes and said, “Come on, I don’t want to stay here any longer.”

Seeing this, Xu Qi immediately enveloped himself in rainbow energy and went through the rainbow seal. However, the moment he crossed over to the other side, Xu Qi realized that he couldn’t move!

The Vermilion Bird suddenly laughed out loud and opened her eyes. She stood up and walked in front of Xu Qi, saying, “Haha, damn brat! How dare you hit this madame!? Didn’t Brother Black Tortoise tell you? This madame hold grudges the most!”

Just as Xu Qi wanted to rebuke her, the Vermilion Bird interrupted him with a slap. Xu Qi tried to speak again, but received another slap! This process continued on for a while, and soon Xu Qi suffered a total of ten slaps to his face.

“You struck me five times earlier, now this madame will return the favor to you, doubled over!” the Vermilion Bird said, feeling pleased with herself.

Xu Qi’s back was drenched with cold sweat at this point. He was too complacent and fell for such a simple trap! Though, this Vermilion Bird was cunning on her part, too. She must have done something in secret and lured Xu Qi here to lock him in place. What a wretched woman!

“This madame here haven’t had enough fun! Watch me burn off all the hair on you!” Vermilion Bird said and toss a ball of crimson flames at Xu Qi.

Xu Qi hurriedly summoned the All-Tempering Flames at the sight of this, enveloping his entire body in it. The crimson flames came into contact with the All-Tempering Flames and faded into nothing.

“The All-Tempering Flame! As expected, you are someone close to Venerable Ziyan! I won’t let you off!” Vermilion Bird screamed at the sight of this, and struck out a palm strike at Xu Qi. Fortunately, Xu Qi managed to struggle free from the binding technique in time and dodged to the side.

“Blackie, use your ice to seal the entrance. Don’t let this damn brat escape! I won’t sneak-attack you ever again!” Vermilion Bird shouted at the curled up Ice-Armored Horned Dragon by the side.

Hearing this, the Ice-Armored Horned Dragon slowly stood up and cast a layer of thin ice right in front of the rainbow seal. After doing all this, he returned to the side and sat back down.

Xu Qi was jumping in anger at seeing this. He pointed his finger at Vermilion Bird and said, “You wretched woman! I came here with kind intentions to set you free from this place, and yet you are unable to tell what’s good for you!”

“Your kind intentions? This is the first time I’ve heard that becoming someone’s familiar is because of their kind intentions! This madame has been trapped in here, unable to see the light of day for uncountable years! And it was all thanks to that Venerable Ziyan! Since you’re someone close to him, there’s no way this madame will let you go!” Vermilion Bird said and sped at Xu Qi, sending three huge crimson flaming palms at Xu Qi.

“Hmph! Who’s afraid of you!?” Xu Qi humphed coldly. Rainbow energy immediately appeared on his fists, sending out three rainbow palms at the three flaming palms.

“Guard Break Talisman!”

“Dao Induced Flame!’

“Cursed Wrai-”

Before Xu Qi could finish executing the Cursed Wraith Talisman, he was struck by the Vermilion Bird with a palm strike, sending him flying.

“You want to become my master with this kind of strength!? You’re daydreaming!” Vermilion Bird ridiculed.

Hearing this, Xu Qi caught his balance and walked back to the Vermilion Bird.

“Deity Ling Guang, I reckon you must have expended a huge amount of energy while fighting the Ice-Armored Horned Dragon, and now you’re consuming your energy again. I’ll see if you’re inexhaustible!” Xu Qi said as a steel sword appeared in his hand. His speed suddenly erupted, flying at Vermilion Bird.

He closed in to the Vermilion Bird aggressively, but was met with the latter’s seemingly casual palm strike, sending him flying away.

Xu Qi fell to the ground a short distance away, and immediately rushed at the Vermilion Bird again, seemingly intent on fighting it out with her.

At this moment, the dispirited Ice-Armored Horned Dragon suddenly made his move. A spear of ice suddenly appeared in his hands, and was thrust aggressively at Vermilion Bird!

“Blackie, have you gone mad?! Why are you attacking me!?” the Vermilion Bird demanded as she defended against the flurry of attacks from both the Ice-Armored Horned Dragon and Xu Qi.

“Gaudy bird, I don’t care about your matters! Your daddy here has been trapped in here for so long, and finally someone with the ability to break the seal and bring me out has appeared! I can’t let this chance go no matter what! I’m willing to become his familiar even if you’re unwilling to! Don’t think that I’m unaware of those damned matters of yours! Today, I’m keeping this human safe no matter what!” the Ice-Armored Horned Dragon declared.

“Fine! This madame shall fight it out with the both of you! All of you can forget about leaving here!” Vermilion Bird rebuked.

“Not good! This gaudy bird is going all out!” the Ice-Armored Horned Dragon yelled out and pulled on Xu Qi, running away. They came to the thin layer of ice, and he smashed it into pieces with a punch. Then, Xu Qi took the opportunity and passed through the rainbow seal.

Xu Qi turned around to look, and saw that the Vermilion Bird had returned to her flaming bird form. She slowly gathered energy in her mouth and spat out the glowing sphere once more.

Rainbow energy poured out from Xu Qi’s hand as he drew the summoning talisman with haste. At the same time, he yelled to the Ice-Armored Horned Dragon, “If you’re willing to become my familiar, allow me to slip this talisman into your head! Come over, quickly! I can let you out immediately as long as you’re willing to!”

“Willing! I’m willing!” the Ice-Armored Horned Dragon hurriedly replied, nodding frantically.

After completing the summoning talisman, Xu Qi extended the hand that was holding onto it past the rainbow seal and slapped it onto the Ice-Armored Horned Dragon’s head.

1: Vermilion Bird was actually referring to herself in a rather unrefined way.