Chapter 676: Big Sister

"Pain" was the only sensation Yang Xiaohai could feel. As the sharp bone spurs continued to pierce his skin, the agony reached deep into his bones, yet he couldn't even manage to lose consciousness.

Amidst this torment, which felt like an eternity, Yang Xiaohai's consciousness began to fade.

In his dazed state, Yang Xiaohai seemed to see the Dragon King in the painting slowly begin to move.

As the mural on the wall began to stir, Yang Xiaohai suddenly realized that the black serpent was not the Dragon King himself. The black serpent on the wall was merely the Dragon King's shadow; the true Dragon King was behind the shadow!

As the shadow danced faster and faster, dense dragon whiskers, resembling centipede legs, spread out from all around it.

Yang Xiaohai believed they were dragon whiskers, reasoning that since this was the Dragon King, any root-like growths on him should be whiskers. However, they actually resembled dark, slender tentacles growing densely, or perhaps immature filaments.

With the slight swaying of the dragon whiskers, the incense smoke floating in the air danced along with them.

As the whiskers swayed, Yang Xiaohai's eyes widened. He felt an intense suffocating pressure on his chest, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't catch his breath.

Between the gently swaying whiskers, Yang Xiaohai, still gasping for air, caught a glimpse of a corner of the Dragon King: a section covered in dazzling dragon scales.

These scales seemed to be in water, gently sliding backward to reveal the Dragon King's eyes—a murky gray within the scales, as if capable of obscuring everything.

When Yang Xiaohai saw his reflection in the Dragon King's eyes, his will instantly dissolved, swallowed by an unfathomably vast and dark abyss.

He didn't know how much time had passed before an old voice startled him back to reality. "Kowtow."

Yang Xiaohai, jolted, looked sharply at the painting before him. He saw that the black Dragon King on the wall was still as it had been, and he wasn't suffocating; nothing had changed.

Still disoriented, he looked around and saw his parents frantically gesturing, urging him to kowtow.

Noticing the bloody dragon scale tattoo on his body, Yang Xiaohai, as if waking from a long dream, finally realized that the experience had just been part of the "Entering the Dragon Household" ritual, and his relatives and elders were not trying to harm him.

With this understanding, Yang Xiaohai quickly followed their instructions, kowtowing once more to the mural of Aowuzhi.

After bustling around with the elders dressed in fish-scale robes for a while, and after the time it took for two incense sticks to burn, Yang Xiaohai finally emerged from the Dragon King Temple, which was thick with the scent of incense.

"Mom, why didn't you tell me this 'Entering the Dragon Household' ritual would involve this? It really hurt!" Yang Xiaohai said, drawing a sharp breath and touching his still-bleeding tattoo.

Recalling the recent experience, he wanted to tell his parents, but for a moment, he didn't know how to begin.

"How useless! You're a big boy now, what's a little pain?" Chi Baishui said, casting a disdainful glance at Yang Xiaohai before turning and walking away with his hands behind his back.

Seeing his father's reaction, Yang Xiaohai inexplicably felt a pang of grievance.

It wasn't that he was afraid of pain; rather, he felt that his father hadn't bothered to tell him about this part of the ritual.

Although this was his own father, he had seen how Scholar Lu treated his son on their journey, and Scholar Lu wouldn't have acted this way.

Just then, Yang Xiaohai felt a coolness on his arm. He looked down and saw his mother holding a bag of incense ash, carefully blowing it onto his body.

"Don't cry, Wuwazi. Rub some incense ash on it, and the bleeding will stop. When we get back, I'll boil two eggs for you to help you recover."

Hearing her words, Yang Xiaohai felt a warmth spread through him. Although his father wasn't ideal, his mother was just as he had imagined her to be since childhood.

"Mom, it doesn't hurt," Yang Xiaohai said, shaking his head gently and helping her walk outside.

Although the process had been somewhat arduous, the thought that he was now considered part of the family made it all seem worthwhile.

Upon returning to the Chi family boat, Yang Xiaohai saw his father, shirtless, in the water. Before he could react, Chi Baishui reached out, pulled his ankle, and plunged him directly into the water.

Yang Xiaohai struggled to climb back up, but Chi Baishui forcefully held him underwater.

He struggled in the water for a while, and even after he grew tired from struggling, he didn't feel short of breath.

Yang Xiaohai seemed to understand something. He wiggled his hands slightly in the water, glanced at his father, and then began to swim rapidly underwater.

In that moment, Yang Xiaohai finally understood what the scholar in Niuxin Village meant by "like a fish in water."

He felt as if he had truly transformed into a fish, swimming freely in the water without any awkwardness.

After playing in the water for a good while, he finally felt a little short of breath and surged to the surface, gasping for air.

Treading water, Yang Xiaohai looked down at his tattoo with a mix of surprise and delight. He was sure that his ability to swim so fast underwater was related to his newly inked tattoo.

"Hmph! Look at you! Do you think your own father would harm his son?" Chi Baishui said, a smug look on his face, as he pushed himself up onto the boat with his hands.

"Dad, so when we 'Enter the Dragon Household,' we can swim fast in the water?" Yang Xiaohai asked, swimming to the side of the boat and imitating his father.

"Of course! This blessing from Grandfather Dragon King can't be told to outsiders; it's only for our own family."

Yang Xiaohai touched his still-swollen tattoo. For a moment, he didn't know what to say, but he still felt that his father should have informed him beforehand about such things.

"Dad! Dad!" A shout made both Yang Xiaohai and Chi Baishui look over. Yang Xiaohai saw it was his younger sister, her face full of excitement and surprise. "Dad! Guess who's back!"

Just as she was about to eagerly blurt out the news, a woman with bound feet pushed her aside from behind. "Dad, I'm back! Still in good health?"

This cheerful woman with bound feet resembled Yang Xiaohai's mother somewhat, and judging by her age, she was likely his eldest sister.

However, at that moment, Yang Xiaohai felt no joy at meeting his eldest sister for the first time. Instead, he stared in horror at the black strip of cloth hanging from her sleeve!

The Dharma Sect! Yang Xiaohai remembered these people, the Dharma Sect who had once besieged Oxheart Mountain! These individuals were even worse than bandits and mountain thieves, and he couldn't believe his eldest sister had joined them!

While Yang Xiaohai was still reeling, he saw his father walk over and examine the black cloth on his eldest sister's shoulder.

There was no displeasure on his father's face; instead, he looked exceptionally surprised and pleased. "Oh?! Your letter really wasn't lying? You're actually working for the imperial court now? The court even takes women with bound feet these days?"

"Dad, I spent some money. Forget women with bound feet; even toothless old men and toddlers who haven't grown all their hair yet can get in and serve the imperial court if they want to!"

Father and daughter walked towards the boat canopy on the water, chatting and laughing.