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The phoenix chick hopped onto Wen Qiao's shoulder and squawked loudly at Ning Yuzhou, as if demanding why its father wouldn’t raise it—was it not cute enough, or did it eat too much, putting too much pressure on him? If the pressure was really too great... it could totally skip meals...

At this point, tears pooled in the phoenix chick's beady eyes.

It truly was a pitiful little phoenix—its parents actually didn’t want it...

Watching the phoenix chick’s tears fall plinking down, Wen Qiao, the Fallen Dragon, and the young qilin all panicked.

"What are you crying for?!"

"Sister Wen, comfort it."

"Stop crying, here’s some celestial nectar for you."

Wen Qiao took out the celestial nectar, and the phoenix chick—its body no bigger than an adult’s fist—jumped from her shoulder onto her wrist, swiftly gobbling down the honey while still shedding tears.

The tears instantly soaked Wen Qiao’s hand.

The Fallen Dragon snapped, "You’re a fire-attribute phoenix, not a water-ruling Xuanwu—how do you have so many tears?"

The phoenix chick screeched defiantly at it.

The Fallen Dragon was so angry it didn’t want to deal with it, but after a while, it still came slinking back.

"Fine, I’ll send you all up!" the Fallen Dragon groused, then said to Ning Yuzhou, "Since you’ve decided to raise it, treat it well. When you ascend to the Upper Realm in the future, return it to the phoenix ancestral lands."

Ning Yuzhou replied, "Naturally. If we hadn’t fished it out of the lake, we wouldn’t have considered raising a phoenix in the first place."

The Fallen Dragon snorted a puff of dragon breath through its nostrils, not believing a word he said. It found this Human Cultivator utterly cunning—just a few words from him had led to so many complications. Indeed, those with the Divine Emperor lineage were all detestable. That ancestor was insufferable, and this one was just as bad.

When the phoenix chick heard its father say he would raise it, it finally stopped crying. Its beady black eyes stared at the Fallen Dragon, deciding the dragon wasn't completely terrible—just too ugly.

Overjoyed, the phoenix chick trilled triumphantly at the Fallen Dragon.

After understanding its words, the Fallen Dragon was so furious it nearly refused to send them up.

This phoenix chick actually said that the dragon was covered in death energy, had no feathers, and was entirely gray-white—far too ugly to be its father.

So this phoenix chick had only recognized those two Human Cultivators as parents because they were good-looking?

For such a ridiculous reason, it had claimed a pair of Human Cultivators as parents. The Fallen Dragon was so angry it wanted to rub its face in the dirt. Truly, phoenixes were a bunch of vain creatures who judge by looks—it shouldn’t have softened its heart.

The young qilin said, "Little phoenix, as a qilin, my form is quite magnificent as well."

The phoenix chick chirped—no matter how beautiful, does it hold a candle to the allure of the Divine Emperor Clan to phoenixes?

The young qilin realized it was right and suddenly understood why the phoenix chick had latched onto Wen Qiao and Ning Yuzhou as parents the moment it hatched—it had been drawn to their bloodline.

It concluded that this phoenix chick wasn’t stupid at all—in fact, it was quite clever.

The more the Fallen Dragon watched, the more it felt this phoenix chick was foolish beyond saving. It no longer wanted to look at it and decided to send them away as quickly as possible.

Unexpectedly, Ning Yuzhou wasn’t in a hurry to leave and asked it to wait—he had something to inquire about.

The Fallen Dragon was at the end of its patience. "Ask whatever you want quickly—I don’t have time to waste with you!"

Faced with the short-tempered Fallen Dragon, Ning Yuzhou remained as unflappable as ever, showing not the slightest fear. His calm confidence made it seem as though he couldn't care less about the mighty dragon.

The Fallen Dragon’s glacial eyes pinned him, its tail lifting.

"Brother Long Yi!" The baby kirin instantly leaped up, biting its tail. "What are you doing?"

The baby phoenix also fluffed up its feathers, abandoning the spirit honey as it tumbled from Wen Qiao's grasp into Ning Yuzhou's arms. Its tiny claws tightly gripped his collar, screeching defiantly at the Fallen Dragon.

Don’t hit my father!

Though Ning Yuzhou couldn’t understand the baby phoenix’s chirps, he could interpret its actions and fell silent for a moment.

Seeing the reactions of the two divine beasts, the Fallen Dragon was convinced that Ning Yuzhou had cunningly won over the two young beasts, making them so protective of him. It could only angrily slam its tail against the nearby black rock wall again.

Where the dragon’s tail struck, another gaping crater formed, scattering black rocks everywhere.

Only after the Fallen Dragon’s rage had subsided did Ning Yuzhou finally speak. "Senior Long, I wish to know—what is the origin of the red rain in the Redwood Continent?"

The Fallen Dragon’s icy eyes fixed on him. "Haven’t you already guessed?"

"I have my theories, but I still wish to hear it from you," Ning Yuzhou replied calmly.

Wen Qiao approached, feeding the baby phoenix—who had bravely defended its father—some spirit honey. She patted its proudly raised head and said, "Good job, baby phoenix. You must protect your father from now on, understand?"

"Chirp chirp~~"

Wen Qiao beamed with pride, suddenly feeling that being a mother to a phoenix was quite rewarding. Her husband now had another powerful bodyguard, and she wouldn’t have to worry about him being too weak and getting hurt.

Hearing Wen Qiao and the baby phoenix’s conversation, the Fallen Dragon reeled in disbelief.

Had it died too early and only recently regained its senses, making it unable to comprehend the current state of the cultivation world? Since when do the young shield their elders? And how could an elder shamelessly accept such protection?

Wen Qiao retorted, "What’s wrong with that? My husband and I also protect our father together."

Her father-in-law’s cultivation was low, so she and her husband had always stood as his protectors. Protecting family, whether elders or juniors, was their tradition—Wen Qiao saw nothing strange about it.

Ning Yuzhou smiled warmly. "A'chuo is right."

"Chirp chirp~~" the baby phoenix agreed.

Watching this family of three, the Fallen Dragon felt nothing but exasperation and just wanted to send them away as soon as possible. It snapped impatiently, "The red rain in the Redwood Continent is a legacy of the Three Realms War."

"During that war, myriad beings suffered, leaving behind incalculable devastation."

"At the time, I was ordered to descend to the human realm to guard the spatial passage between the Netherworld and the human world within the Redwood Continent. Unexpectedly, the war allowed Baleful Energy from the Netherworld to invade the human cultivation world through the passage... In my attempt to stop it, I was tainted and consumed by the corruption, leaving me with little time left. Before my fall, I erected the Dragon’s Prison in the Red Rock Forest and fought with my very body to trap the lurking Baleful Energy there..."