With a heart brimming with excitement and anticipation, Yang Kai began his careful inspection.
But before long, his brows furrowed, and a peculiar expression crept across his face. As time wore on, that peculiar look only deepened. The veins on his forehead twitched uncontrollably, and he finally couldn't hold it in any longer. He looked up at Zhu Qing and said, "What the hell are all these?!"
"What's wrong? Nothing you like?" Zhu Qing stared at him in surprise.
That couldn't be right. Everything in this ring had been collected through painstaking effort, each item a precious treasure in her eyes. How could he not want a single one of them?
"I'd like your uncle!" Yang Kai blurted, having reached his limit. He casually pulled a jade hairpin from the space ring. The hairpin was resplendent, radiating brilliant light in a dazzling array of colors — visually stunning to be sure. The problem was that it was nothing more than a low-grade Dao Source Artifact, and the fluctuations of power it emitted were negligible. It seemed to contain only a single defensive secret technique of modest capability. He thrust it toward Zhu Qing and growled, "This is what you consider a good treasure?"
Yang Kai felt utterly deceived. His feelings were hurt.
Zhu Qing watched him nervously and said, "Be careful — don't crush it."
As though that jade hairpin were some priceless relic.
Yang Kai nearly coughed up blood from sheer exasperation.
Zhu Qing hurried on, "If you don't like this one, look at the others — there are plenty more."
Yang Kai reached into the space ring and pulled out a dozen or so bizarre items. Some were Artifacts, some were things so obscure even he couldn't name them, and a few were peculiar gemstones. Every single one of them glittered and gleamed, resplendent with light. On their own, they looked impressive enough. Gathered together, they were blindingly radiant.
The problem was that to someone at the Emperor Realm like Yang Kai, these things were utterly worthless. Anything that couldn't be used for Cultivation or to enhance one's strength held no value whatsoever. Yet Zhu Qing kept them in her space ring as though they were treasures.
Yang Kai could scarcely believe this was a dragon's hoard. He wished he could gouge out his own eyes.
"See anything you like or want? I'll trade you for any of them," Zhu Qing said, completely oblivious to the situation, her beautiful eyes shining as she gazed at him with an expression that clearly said, You're getting the deal of a lifetime.
"Are you genuinely this clueless, or just pretending?" Yang Kai sneered repeatedly.
"What do you mean by that?!" Zhu Qing's temper flared, catching the mockery in his tone.
Yang Kai paused. Then he came to a realization. "I've heard that the dragon race has three great hobbies. Looks like it's true?"
"Three great hobbies?" Zhu Qing asked curiously. She had grown up on Dragon Island, and this was her very first time venturing out into the Star Realm. She had genuinely never heard of any "three great hobbies."
Yang Kai sighed. "Sleeping, shiny things… and, uh, that thing."
"What thing?" Zhu Qing glared at him, refusing to let it go. "Explain yourself."
Yang Kai glared back at her irritably. "Kids shouldn't ask so many questions."
"You're the kid! Your whole family are kids!" Zhu Qing's nose was practically twisted sideways with fury.
Yang Kai couldn't be bothered to argue with her. He let out a dismissive laugh. "Either way, in my eyes all of your stuff is trash. I don't think we need to trade." With that, he tossed the space ring back to her.
The most aggravating part was that there wasn't a single Source Crystal in her space ring. He had no idea what she normally used for Cultivation. Perhaps dragons didn't need Source Crystals for their Cultivation — after all, the dragon race was part of the demon beast lineage, and Yang Kai had never seen any demon beast that relied on Source Crystals. Demon beasts had always devoured the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, the essence of the sun and moon, or consumed various heavenly treasures and the inner cores of other demon beasts.
"How is that possible?!" Zhu Qing huffed indignantly, wearing an expression that said, You may insult me, but you will not insult my treasures.
However, remembering that she still needed his help, her bravado deflated a good deal. She hesitated for a moment, then said, "If you don't care for these, then what about these two?"
As she spoke, she suddenly flipped her hand open. On her snow-white palm immediately appeared a scale the size of a basket, and on top of the scale sat a jade vial.
"A dragon scale!" Yang Kai sensed the dragon aura emanating from the scale, and his eyes lit up instantly.
He reached out and took both the dragon scale and the jade vial, gently running his fingers over the hard surface of the scale.
Years ago, back in the Hengluo Star Domain, he had obtained a dragon scale. He had later refined it into the vital area on his chest, so that now whenever he activated his Dragon Transformation Technique, the dragon scale would amplify its power.
If he could refine another one, the power of the Dragon Transformation Technique would surely grow even stronger.
As he stroked the scale, Yang Kai detected a familiar aura within it and immediately realized it must be Zhu Qing's own dragon scale — perhaps one she had shed previously. He glanced at her thoughtfully.
To his surprise, Zhu Qing's delicate face had turned crimson, and she looked extremely uncomfortable. Yang Kai found this puzzlement. He had no idea what was wrong with her.
The truth, as it happened, was exactly as Yang Kai had guessed — this was indeed Zhu Qing's own dragon scale, shed at some point. Though it had been shed, it had nonetheless once been a part of her body. Now, with Yang Kai's fingers running gently over it, to Zhu Qing it felt as though his hands were caressing her own skin.
Involuntarily, her mind conjured scene after scene of Yang Kai's brazen, intimate tasting of her lips, and naturally she felt extremely awkward.
Fortunately, Yang Kai didn't linger for long. After a moment he set the scale aside and opened the jade vial.
A faint dragon cry resonated from within the vial. A cloud of swirling red light suddenly burst forth, searingly hot.
Yang Kai looked closely and saw that inside the vial, a single drop of crimson blood had taken the shape of a dragon, like a burning flame, straining to rush out of the vial's mouth.
"True Dragon Blood!" Yang Kai exclaimed. Quick as lightning, he snapped the vial shut.