With a sensation of being pulled towards the ground by gravity, the white mechanical construct unfolded its wings like a bird and ascended into the sky. Of course, its wings were always extended; it would be quite a feat if its arms ever folded.

The cities and buildings on the ground became smaller and smaller, eventually turning into insignificant specks of dust.

Obscured by the clouds.

This was a flight from Yingzhou Island to the capital city of Shenzhou.

Originally, Shanjun had opted for private aviation.

Shanjun was the fastest of all the demons when it came to modernization.

While Huang Daxian in the Chu-ma Xian (spirit medium) tradition was still contemplating roasting a chicken in a stove.

Shanjun could skillfully go out to the convenience store, buy semi-finished products, microwave them, and then eat them while contemplating the overthrow of the human world. In addition, his favorite books included *Mein Kampf* and *The Complete Works of Marx and Lenin*.

He most revered the saying, "The fundamental cause of the development of a thing is not external but internal; it lies in the contradictoriness within the thing."

On the flight.

The heroic young woman, dressed in modern attire, pursed her lips and looked down from the airplane window.

Back then, when she left Shenzhou for Sakura Island, no, Yingzhou, it seemed to have been along this same route. As the capital city reappeared in the girl's eyes, a look of bewilderment flickered in Qing Snake's eyes—the day she led that gray-robed Taoist directly into the Forbidden City, the events of that day were still vivid in her mind.

But what she saw now was already a world of change.

The former prosperity of the Forbidden City and the capital had long been replaced by a constantly changing landscape.

Even though she had been somewhat prepared, Qing Snake still felt a sense of unease.

That unease was like returning home after being away for a long time, only to find that everything familiar was gone. That feeling of melancholy and loss. Shanjun thought that his homeland was Shenzhou, and Shenzhou was his homeland. But A Qing suddenly realized,

What she missed wasn't just Shenzhou.

But certain people and certain things in Shenzhou, the Shenzhou of her memories.

The Shenzhou of her memories could never be वापस लौट आए.

Just like the capital city, viewed from above, she couldn't find any resemblance to what she remembered.

The flight landed, and the girl was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, red and white sneakers, and earphones. As for Qing Snake, what era was it? Who said that a demon's clothes had to match their original form? She had been looking at the color of the bamboo pit viper for a thousand years and was tired of it.

But even after changing into modern clothes.

Her hair was only shoulder-length.

She still tied it into a small bun, secured with a wooden hairpin.

The combination of sporty energy and simple elegance, along with her large, clear, yet cold eyes, intimidated anyone who wanted to flirt with her.

"So pretty..."

"Is she a celebrity?"

"Wow, sporty style, I'm into it."

A Qing turned up the music in her earphones even louder. She didn't like this atmosphere.

What's wrong with modern humans?

If it were the old her...

She thought of her past.

There was nothing she could do about it in the past either.

She had finally cultivated her intelligence with great difficulty, only to encounter her sister, who took her by her side and disciplined her. Her sister was suppressed in Leifeng Pagoda, and that monk Fahai had placed her under another mountain, with who knows what he put there, chanting scriptures to her every day. She was so bored that she could only sleep and hibernate.

She escaped her confinement in the Ming Dynasty, only to encounter that stinky Taoist.

It could be said that her life was one of being controlled.

Humans?

Sorry, strict upbringing.

Never eaten them.

Her experience in Jiangnan made her like eating Jiangnan pastries. Because she had been trapped, her bedroom had to be large and bright, not humid, and especially free of cockroaches and mice. And because of her experience in the Ming Dynasty, she especially hated Japanese pirates (wokou).

After the modern revival, she had killed many Japanese pirate cultivators, using their qi and blood for cultivation.

But these people didn't seem to be Japanese pirates, and they hadn't provoked her.

She had no choice but to lower her head and walk quickly.

Her hands were in her pockets, which contained hand warmers. After all, she was a cold-blooded animal. If it weren't for the hand warmers to keep her alive in the winter, Qing Snake felt she would rather shrink into that kotatsu thing, or just lie on the kang (heated brick bed).

But looking at this extremely prosperous city, Qing Snake was momentarily dazed, unsure where to go. After walking for a while, she heard people talking about a painting exhibition at the Forbidden City today. She thought of her dragon transformation into the palace that year.

She pursed her lips, and without knowing why, she turned and followed the two people.

Then, using magic, she easily mingled into the art exhibition.

Qing Snake, who already had a millennium of cultivation, had the experience of transforming into a dragon, and finally obtained the divinity of Yingzhou, abandoning those inferior powers and instead squeezing all of her divinity to transform it into the purest divine power for her to absorb and cultivate.

Relatively speaking, she had wasted many things, but it also made the power cultivated in this way purer.

It was a Chinese painting exhibition. Qing Snake dispelled her illusion, put on her earphones, and quietly looked at the paintings.

She didn't like them.

But when she saw a painting titled *The Immortal Teaching the Emperor*, she stopped and stared blankly.

She heard people talking beside her.

It seemed to tell the story of how the Jiajing Emperor encountered an immortal who taught him the true method of ascension hundreds of years ago. This painting had not been very famous before, but now that the world of cultivation had opened, the value of such a painting, which was widely circulated and spoken of with certainty, had also soared.

Many people sighed with regret.

Why was it that Jiajing ascended?

Why couldn't they encounter an immortal?

Of course.

They didn't know that the Jiajing Emperor was forced to ascend physically.

And the young woman in modern clothes, with a face as heroic as a martial arts woman, stared blankly at the painting. In the picture, emperors, kings, and generals bowed down. The immortal was wearing a gray robe, his hair tied with a wooden hairpin, with a blue dragon hidden in the clouds beside him. The immortal's eyes were calm, as if he were real.

…………

"Hahaha, I really have to thank you for gracing us with your presence and bringing out your painting."

"Heh... you've been asking me seven or eight times. My ears are about to go deaf. I had no choice."

"Wuhu, that proves our... friendship, right?!"

Two women with ordinary clothes but excellent temperament walked back from outside.

One was intellectually elegant, and the other was quiet and gentle.

The latter's tone was somewhat complaining, while the other was very outgoing. She was the organizer of this exhibition. As for the former, she was the owner of the painting *The Immortal Teaching the Emperor*, a family heirloom. According to legend, her ancestor was a court painter during the Jiajing Emperor's reign.

After Jiajing's ascension, the new emperor dismissed the original court painters and Taoists.

Eventually, her ancestor wandered outside, but he had extensive social connections. After his death, he left the painting behind. The latter only learned about this treasure in her friend's possession by chance. She begged and pleaded. According to rumors, if her friend hadn't been so straight, she would have used seduction to get the painting.

Of course, this move was suspected by her subordinates to have ulterior motives.

There was a 98% chance that her boss's real intention was not the painting but to get into bed with the painter.

Anyway, the painting was obtained, and the exhibition opened as usual.

At this time, she quietly sneaked back to see everyone's evaluation of the exhibition.

The pleasure of eavesdropping on others' praise of oneself.

That's all there was to it.

But when the descendant of that painter walked to her own collection, she happened to see the heroic and handsome young woman. Her expression froze slightly, and her pupils contracted. The young woman was clearly not looking this way, but seemed to sense her gaze, and frowned and turned around.

Her facial features were completely revealed, and the painter's heart accelerated.

The girl adjusted her earphones, turned and left.

Only the painter stood there in a daze.

"Mm-hmm, it seems everyone has a good evaluation of our exhibition, huh? What's wrong?"

The painter's friend, the woman in beige clothes with a very intellectual temperament, was satisfied. She turned around and found her friend in a daze. She glanced at the handsome young woman at the end of her line of sight and said, "Look, keep looking."

"Hey, hey, wake up! Did she steal your soul?!"

It was hard to bring her friend back to her senses.

The intellectual woman puffed out her chest and said sadly:

"So you like them flat..."

"Damn it, why are these two lumps of meat so big?"

The painter's mouth twitched.

Helplessly, she delivered a chop to her friend's head.

She said, "I was just, just thinking about some things..."

The intellectual woman's eyes turned, wanting to pester her friend to ask, but this time, the latter didn't say a word. The intellectual woman had no choice but to give up the idea, but she looked at the painting *The Immortal Teaching the Emperor* with啧啧啧啧 in amazement. Suddenly, she was stunned and poked her friend with her elbow.

"...The wooden hairpin of the immortal in this painting and that little girl's from just now."

"Seem the same..."

The painter remained silent, staring at the painting in a daze, her heart in turmoil. Her ancestor had indeed escaped from the palace, but he was not a so-called painter, but just an ordinary person who took advantage of the chaos to sweep up paintings and treasures and run away.

He was frightened and trembling. He ran all the way south, pretending to be a merchant selling paintings. He had also acquired many paintings. He ran to the mouth of the East Sea, far enough away from the capital. But who knew that his luck was so bad, he actually encountered that huge blue dragon.

Of course, he was scared half to death. When he thought he was going to die, the luggage spilled all over the ground. Inside were the things he had bought along the way. The real treasures were hidden inside, and outside were some of the paintings he had acquired along the way. Since it was a disguise, they were naturally cheap goods, some of which could even be called scribbles.

But the blue dragon only took one of the paintings after seeing them.

She even left gold and silver treasures as a gift.

The palace man, who had escaped death, was very grateful and lived on these treasures. Because of this money, those palace paintings were not touched and were safely passed down in the family. He had also mentioned his past experiences many times, but he always kept silent about the details and that painting. Until his death, he took out that painting from the box and, as a relic, warned his descendants to value it more than those palace treasures.

But later generations did not understand why it was such a crude painting.

They made a living by painting and were already a real family of painters. They could see that the painting was crude and without any artistic conception, but no one violated the ancestors' orders. The painting was nothing more than a gray-robed man smiling and asking a blue-clothed girl under the starry night.

It was said that when the blue dragon received this painting, someone saw her sitting quietly on a reef on the shore of the East Sea, holding the painting in her arms, sitting silently all night.

………………

The young woman with a wooden hairpin and heroic face put on her hood. The capital was noisy and bustling, filled with human fireworks. But she thought of the last time she saw the Taoist.

'This is all the money I have. You've been following me and thinking about it all the way, right?'

'I don't know why there's so much. Maybe the guy who buried me was rich. I'll give it all to you.'

'Take these gold and silver treasures and live a peaceful life away from Shenzhou.'

'Not enough!'

'Then what do you want?'

'I want you..., that hairpin!'

'And, and silver!'

'……Okay.'

In the end, I used the money you gave me to exchange for a portrait of you. I wonder if it was worth it.

She seemed to see the Taoist smiling and turning white because of the dragon qi backlash.

She heard that familiar voice.

Unfortunately...

That unrestrained and free Taoist was already a thing of almost five hundred years ago.

ps: Today's first update... 3,600 words.

The first update was an hour later than yesterday. This is not a good sign (solemn). Today's second update must be controlled and moved forward. Signpost - Chapter 491 *Let's Go*, there is a person who witnessed Wei Yuan and Xiao Qing transforming into dragons.

Thanks to Alliance Master Qing Ningzi, thank you~