Dragon Tamer

With a thunderous boom, a rainstorm descended without warning, and a huge thundercloud that seemed to drift in from the distant sea of Neon Sea enveloped the entirety of Man City, followed quickly by a torrential downpour.

The waves churned, with the gray tides merging into the misty firmament, and the drifting rain mist made the sunny and bright coastal city, akin to a water-damaged painting, fade away into blurriness, obscuring the view.

In the rain, Little Wild Jiao was delighted, sucking up the raindrops filled with the scent of thunder as if it were a little crop.

Zhu Minglang was utterly bored.

At this seaside, the weather changes were indeed unpredictable.

He had originally planned to take Little Qingzhuo, who had just woken up, a bit farther to challenge some stronger Demon Spirits, but the sudden ocean thunderstorm had drowned everything, and most creatures had hidden in their nests, leaving no trace to be found.

“Zhu Minglang, Zhu Minglang, don’t sleep anymore!!” Came an urgent knock at the door.

Zhu Minglang yawned. With such heavy rain, listening to the raindrops falling like piano keys, what else could he do if not sleep?

“What’s up?” Zhu Minglang asked.

“A big swarm of White Moths, seems like they were startled by this sudden marine thunderstorm. Their wings got wet and they cannot fly, blown about by the strong wind and scattered over the sea, they fell like silver notes around the bay near our High Court. Everyone is already catching them, hurry up, or you’ll miss out on a big opportunity!” Hong Hao said excitedly.

“What are White Moths?” Zhu Minglang asked with confusion on his face.

“I just heard about them too, these White Moths are very special nocturnal creatures from Neon Sea. Their wings absorb the glow of the moonlight when it’s full and grow something like pistils at the end of their tails. So one White Moth is equivalent to one Moonlight Pistil; you surely know what price moonlight materials fetch on the market, right?” Hong Hao explained.

“I know that, but with so many people from the Dragon Taming High Court and Man City, all trying to catch these White Moths, how many can we actually get?” Zhu Minglang didn’t like blindly following others.

“Big brother, I think you should just come and take a look. When you see it, you’ll definitely not say that. The thunderstorm must have decimated the forest haven of these White Moths. There’s so many, you can’t even begin to describe!” Hong Hao urged.

Zhu Minglang took up an umbrella and followed Hong Hao to see the so-called spectacle of White Moths.

“You’re going, fine, but why bring along a blue pillow? You planning on sleeping at the rain pavilion or what?” Hong Hao said irritably.

“Eh, this is my newly adopted Little Glow Spirit,” Zhu Minglang explained.

“…” Hong Hao took a closer look and finally noticed a pair of large, sprite-like eyes appearing on the beautifully made blue plush pillow!

It really was a sprite!

When its eyes were closed, it indeed looked just like a fine, round pillow.

“It gets clingy. I had to bring it along,” Zhu Minglang said helplessly.

While Little Wild Jiao, too, was recently born, it was mentally more mature, more self-reliant. After Zhu Minglang fed it some beef, it busied itself rinsing its scales in the thunderstorm.

Rainwater infused with thunder and lightning could nourish Jiao dragons and also toughen their young scales. In any case, Little Wild Jiao seemed very diligent and independent.

Little Glow Spirit was completely different.

It needed to be hugged.

Upon hearing the thunder, it would burrow into Zhu Minglang’s arms, too scared to even open its eyes, let alone its pointed ears, which drooped completely, turning into a small fluff ball.

“`

Zhu Minglang could only carry it around.

Fortunately, after a few days of careful nurturing, both Little Glow Spirit and Little Wild Jiao were growing up healthily. Once they grew a bit more, Zhu Minglang would be able to strengthen their spiritual resources, allowing them to enter the next stage of growth sooner and take a step towards transforming into a dragon.

“White Moth, you and this Glow Spirit should be the same type of sprite,” Mr. Jinli floated out, not swimming around in the air as usual.

“Mr. Jinli knows about the White Moth?” Zhu Minglang asked.

“Little creatures that absorb the essence of heaven and earth are all quite special and rare. White Moths usually live in the breath of wetland forests and islands. If there are only one or two of them, it’s actually not necessary for you to waste time capturing them, given your current cultivation level. But if there are swarms of them, it’s a different story. Little Bai Qi needs the energy from moonlight…” Mr. Jinli said.

“Right, although I don’t know when they will emerge from their cocoons, it’s good to prepare some of this hard-to-collect spiritual resource for them in advance,” Zhu Minglang said.

“Zhu Minglang, could you move the umbrella over here a bit? Is it proper for you to let me get drenched in the cold rain like this?” Mr. Jinli said irritably.

Zhu Minglang looked at the gleaming golden Jinli fish hiding under his umbrella…

Well, are fish afraid of getting rained on?

He ultimately didn’t voice this thought and simply shifted his position slightly to shelter Mr. Jinli from the rain as well.

Hong Hao, walking ahead, looked back at Zhu Minglang with a puzzled expression on his face.

The Juvenile Spirits raised by Zhu Minglang were weirder than the next.

A pillow, a flying fish…

“Aside from extracting spiritual energy, does the round and plump one have any other abilities?” Mr. Jinli asked.

“I’ve been trying these past few days but haven’t discovered anything,” Zhu Minglang said.

*Pop*—Little Glow Spirit suddenly snuggled up in Zhu Minglang’s arms, and with an ear perked up like an arrow, it pointed towards a small peninsula of the High Court.

“It seems to have found something it’s interested in,” Mr. Jinli said.

Even the erudite Mr. Jinli didn’t know much about this Glow Spirit, but his thoughts aligned with Zhu Minglang’s; the value of the Little Glow Spirit undoubtedly exceeded that of the Thunder Young Dragon Egg. Its abilities were so special—well nurtured, it truly was a portable Spiritual Energy Well!

“Let’s check it out,” Zhu Minglang said.

Zhu Minglang stopped following Hong Hao and walked towards the High Court peninsula, as suggested by Little Glow Spirit.

Getting there, Zhu Minglang could see the grey sea surface was unexpectedly covered with a layer of wet, cotton-like white, creating a spectacular sight.

Under the fierce downpour, one could occasionally see these cotton-like White Moths attempt to fly up, but they would be ruthlessly knocked down, their bodies light as paper, not sinking into the ocean, so they all floated on the rain-pounded sea.

*Pop pop pop!*

Little Glow Spirit became even more excited; it actually jumped out of Zhu Minglang’s arms and hopped toward an island pool in the middle of the peninsula.

At the same time, Zhu Minglang saw its blue fluff light up, glowing with a brilliance that flowed like water.

Zhu Minglang quickly followed, secretly wondering.

How was the little fellow jumping so merrily without any visible legs? Could it be relying on the round and plump flesh on its belly??