Star Trace Gate

In the illusion of the rural mountain village, two and a half hours have passed since the snake and dog set out.

The warm wind blew across my face, gently lifting my hair and making it fly messily along my cheeks.

Under the scorching sun, a skinny old man was sitting cross-legged on the ground, squinting his eyes and looking at the green mountains.

He had white hair and his dry cheeks were covered with wrinkles; his exposed skin was dark yellow and covered with age spots.

He was so skinny that he seemed to be nothing but a pile of bones. His back was hunched and his limbs were curled up. It seemed that if a strong wind blew, he would not even be able to sit steadily.

Seen from a distance, the old man looked like he was at the end of his rope and might die at any time.

The old man was none other than the fat dragon who was waiting for the return of the snake and dog.

The witch ghost boy had said before that every hour after the snake and dog left, the fat dragon would age twenty years.

Now, two and a half hours later, he had aged a full fifty years.

Time is like a warm breeze blowing across the earth. It only flashes by and scatters youth like sand.

However, for Big Fat Dragon, what was blown away might not be his youth, but his old age.

Because the "Aging Curse" of Wu Ling Gui Tong was not aimed at his identity in the secret realm of Bu Lao Mountain, but at his true body.

Outside this secret realm, the fat dragon has lived for a very long time and has long entered old age.

Now, if this witch ghost boy asks for fifty years of his life, it would be tantamount to asking for his life.

He sat cross-legged on the ground, looking at the green mountains with his cloudy eyes, his mind unconsciously recalling his life, his heart filled with resentment.

How can I bear to die before my great cause is accomplished?

The costs of the past are still fresh in my mind, so how can I be willing to give up?

For Big Fat Dragon, every minute and every second of his old age is precious, and he dares not slack off for even a moment.

But for some reason, the punishment of this secret realm was to deprive him of this, making him feel aging and death little by little.

This is more like revenge.

The fat dragon sat there with no expression on his old face, looking like a wise man who had seen through everything in the world. But in fact, his heart had already gone through several turbulent struggles.

He looked towards the green hills, praying in his heart, searching with his eyes, trying to catch the silhouette of the snake and dog.

But as time passed, his hair started to fall out, his teeth became loose, and even breathing became more and more difficult.

not far away.

The Wuling ghost boy sat on the edge of the well, swinging his legs and said, "Hey, old man, you seem very unwilling."

The big fat dragon is much more cunning than what he showed in this secret realm. He is not disturbed by the witch ghost boy at all and just looks ahead quietly.

"I don't know...if anyone has ever been so unwilling in front of you." Although Wu Ling Ghost Child looks young and cute, he speaks in an old-fashioned way: "I don't know if there is anyone who has placed all his hopes on you."

The fat dragon remained silent and ignored it.

"Hey, interesting, interesting." Wu Ling Ghost Child looked at his old appearance and seemed very happy and pleased.

Another quarter of an hour passed.

Another half hour passed...

Three hours had passed since Snake and Dog set out.

Sixty years passed in the blink of an eye and disappeared without a trace.

It hasn't come back yet, and the entrance to the village is as quiet as death...

The fat dragon could no longer sit still. Not only could he not bear it mentally, but his body as well.

He felt that every bone in his body was aching, as if it would break at any time; and every breath was like the last struggle of his life.

“Hoo…Hoo…!”

He stood up slowly, instinctively covering his chest with his right hand and squeezing it gently, as if trying to make his breathing smoother.

"Tap."

After standing there for a long while, he finally hugged his waist and took a step forward with difficulty, wanting to walk out of the yard and to the village entrance to take a look.

"Tap, tap!"

One step, two steps... heavy and trembling steps, moving forward very slowly.

It took the fat dragon nearly half a quarter of an hour to take more than ten steps forward.

"Ugh...!"

At this moment, a warm breeze blew towards me from the green mountains.

There was a look of courage on the fat dragon's old face. He wanted to move forward against the wind unwillingly, but he only took half a step forward and was blown to the ground with a thud.

"Crack!"

When the body fell to the ground, there was a crisp sound from the old leg bones.

The right calf could not bear the gravity of the fall and was broken.

“Uh…uh…!”

An intense and piercing pain came over him, and the fat dragon took a few deep breaths in pain, but his throat couldn't even make a howl to vent his anger.

Not far away, Wu Ling Gui Tong spoke again: "Despair?!"

On the ground, the fat dragon lay there like a dog. After panting for a few times, he gritted his teeth and replied, "The despair I have experienced in my life is not comparable to the suffering I am experiencing right now! Haha... I can get to wherever I want to go... even if I have to crawl."

After he replied with difficulty, he slowly moved his arms, endured the pain in his legs and the difficulty in breathing, and crawled towards the village entrance very stubbornly.

The Wuling ghost boy looked at him with a playful look in his eyes, but said nothing more.

Time passed quickly, and every movement of the fat dragon seemed to be the last movement of his life.

But his face never showed an expression of collapse or giving up.

Even though he was lying on the ground like a lost dog, his face still showed a calm expression.

Finally, he slowly crawled out of the yard and came to the village entrance not far away.

"You can't go any further. Leaving this place will be against the rules." Wu Ling Gui Tong reminded.

The fat dragon no longer had the strength to lift his limbs. He just poked his chin on the ground, trying to keep his head still, and stared ahead.

For some reason, when he looked at the green mountains, he always felt that the scene was somewhat familiar, but he could not remember whether it was the same as the picture in his memory.

Perhaps, he has been waiting for half his life and has already gotten used to it.

It became increasingly difficult to breathe out, and my eyelids became heavier.

He was a little tired and wanted to sleep.

"I... I'm going to die...!" The fat dragon was fuzzy and muttered to himself, "But... What a pity... I still have so many things I haven't done yet...!"

“I don’t know when the wind from southern Xinjiang will blow across China.”

"Forget it, forget it, there will be a later time..."

"Tap!"

Just as he was about to close his eyes, there was a sudden sound of violent footsteps on the path outside the village.

He forced his cloudy eyes open again and looked up, only to see a black pig rushing towards him with thick smoke billowing.

It's not the snake or the dog, it's that stupid pig.

It held a dragon-shaped military talisman in its mouth and rushed towards the courtyard happily, as if telling the witch ghost child - we won.

When the fat dragon saw it, it was like a drop of oil was dropped into an exhausted copper lamp, which made him feel like he had a last burst of light.

"There is still... there is still hope. I am counting on you. I am counting on you."

The fat dragon was muttering frantically in his heart, and he opened his eyes as wide as possible, trying to see the road at the entrance of the village clearly.

The black pig ran very fast, and in the blink of an eye it was less than 200 meters away from the yard.

“Come...come out, right...right now...!” The fat dragon clenched his fists unconsciously.

"Whoosh!"

At this moment, a shadow jumped out from the dense forest on the right side of the road and pounced on the black pig at an extremely fast speed.

"Um?!"

The Wuling ghost boy stood up instantly and looked at the road at the entrance of the village with some surprise.

"Ow!!"

The shadow that emerged from the woods gradually became clearer under the sunlight.

It was exactly the snake-dog that the fat dragon had been waiting for.

Before setting off, the fat dragon discovered that the black pig did not sniff the wooden box at all, which meant that it might be familiar with the smell of the dragon-shaped military talisman, so there was no need to prepare at all.

At the same time, the snake dog is old and not good at long-distance raids, and most importantly, it has difficulty recognizing the smell of the dragon-shaped military talisman.

In this case, wanting to win this game through conventional methods is simply a pipe dream.

Therefore, the fat dragon gave the snake dog the final order: "Don't go looking for the military token, you can't find it. Just squat at the entrance of the village, keep your strength, let it go to find it, and when it returns, you can attack it by surprise... Its strength will be weakened, and you can reap the benefits, and perhaps you can still win."

The snake and dog could not distinguish the scent of the dragon-shaped military talisman, but they could understand the instructions.

Cutting meat to feed the dogs is a great favor.

Although it is old, it will fight for a full meal!

"puff!!"

The snake-dog jumped down from the hillside, and the dog was ruthless and didn't say much. It bit the black pig on the neck.

But the black pig had thick skin and flesh. It only made two strange howling sounds and then twisted its body wildly.

"brush!"

The snake dog was thrown away by the black pig and fell to the ground, with blood coming out of the corners of its mouth and looking in a miserable state.

However, a stubborn look also appeared in its eyes.

"Tap!"

The black pig was bitten and bleeding from the back of its neck. It immediately became furious and, relying on its big body, it charged directly at the snake dog.

In this way, a pig and a dog started a bloody fight two hundred meters away from the yard.

The snake-dog was knocked flying several times, its right leg was broken, its ribs collapsed, and it was limping when it ran; blood was gushing out of its nostrils and mouth.

The black pig wasn't having a good time either, with two snake fangs stuck in the back of its neck and green, smelly blood flowing out.

It's poisoned!

"Pfft!"

Even as the snake-dog limped back, it continued to fight the black pig to the death. If it couldn't bite the pig's neck, it would bite its legs and abdomen.

Soon, the ground was covered with blood and the black pig's movements became slow.

"Tear!"

The snake-dog suddenly shook its head and tore off a large piece of meat from the black pig's belly. It stared at the other party with bloodshot eyes, ready to die.

When the fat dragon saw this scene, he was extremely grateful and shouted wildly: "Good general, good general! This dog brother is capable of great tasks!"

After fighting for a while, the black pig fell to the ground due to the poison, no longer able to fight.

The snake-dog limped forward and snatched away the dragon-shaped military talisman in front of the black pig. Then it rushed back into the courtyard covered in blood and in a mess.

The moment it came back, it spit the dragon-shaped military talisman next to the fat dragon, then lowered its head and licked his cheek with its tongue.

Its movements were affectionate, with excitement flashing in its eyes, as if it was a domestic dog that had done something great and was trying to show its kindness to its owner.

"brush!"

The moment the snake and dog were admitted to the hospital, the old curse on the fat dragon disappeared without a trace.

He sat up suddenly, put his arms around the snake dog's neck, and kissed its cheek fiercely as if he was welcoming a victorious general: "Thank you, thank you!! You saved my life. From now on, you and I are brothers. What's mine is yours...!"

The snake-dog was also very happy, and kept offering its head to the body of the fat dragon.

"Congratulations, you won the first game." Wu Ling Ghost Child said.

"Heh." The fat dragon didn't bother to pay attention to him, and just said to the snake dog: "...I am fat and have a lot of meat. I will give you a snack tonight."

There was still blood on the snake dog's mouth, but when he heard this, he wagged his tail excitedly.

"Aren't you going to ask me what the second round is about?" Wu Ling Ghost Child spoke again.

The fat dragon looked at him impatiently: "What?"

"In the second round, you will also need the help of a spirit beast." Wu Ling Gui Tong said with a smile, "But it is not a snake or dog."

The fat dragon was stunned.

"The second round's spirit beast will only appear after the first round's spirit beast is sacrificed." Wu Ling Ghost Child smiled playfully, pointed at the snake dog and said, "In other words, you have to kill it... to get a second useful spirit beast."

As soon as he finished speaking, the Fat Dragon and the Snake Dog were both stunned, still hugging each other.

Wu Ling Ghost Child was very satisfied with this expression and said with a smile: "This is not difficult for you at all, right? When the cunning rabbit dies, the running dog is cooked... Useless people should be abandoned."