By then, even Long Zhan had a very shocked look on his face,

his mouth agape in absolute wonder as he felt the leftover power vibrating in the air. He hadn’t realized just how powerful the item in his purse truly was until that exact second.

Mikal stared at the bottle for three more seconds, his breathing heavy, and then he quickly threw the bottle back to Long Zhan as if it were a piece of burning, hot lava that was about to melt his skin.

His expression was incredibly strange, filled with a deep, complicated mix of awe and a dark, somewhat greedy hunger that he was forcing down with all his might.

"If I had been any other person in this world..." Mikal said, his voice raspy as he wiped a line of sweat from his forehead, "I would kill you right now without a single second of hesitation, and I would take this pill for myself."

"What?!" Long Zhan gasped, catching the bottle safely against his chest. He looked up at Mikal and saw the absolute, deadly seriousness written across the older man’s face.

The true weight of the situation finally dawned on him. This pill must be important, no, saying it was important was a massive understatement. It was a holy relic of the cosmos.

If the powerful elders of the Divine Leopard Tribe or the high clans of the upper realm had seen this tiny bottle in the hands of a young, mutated dragon, they would definitely want to strangle Long Zhan to death with their bare hands just to possess it.

To put it in perspective, even the grandest clans in the higher worlds had to spend thousands of years collecting millions of rare, precious herbs and ancient drops of dew just to activate their ancestral bloodline pools.

And even then, it was only possible for that pool to work if they were lucky enough to have a supreme ancestor who had fully awakened their bloodline in the past and left a few drops of their true source blood behind for future generations to use.

For Long Zhan to have a neat, perfectly formed pill bottle handed directly to him by a casual black cat was something that shouldn’t happen.

It was a miracle. It meant that all the luck he was supposed to have for the rest of his entire life must have been completely used up for this single, golden moment.

"You lucky bastard," Mikal cursed under his breath, shaking his head in disbelief as he looked at the young man.

Long Zhan didn’t say a word back. He quickly slid the porcelain bottle back into his deepest pocket, but this time around, his large hand never left his pocket. He kept his fingers tightly wrapped around the cloth, protecting it with his life.

Mikal stood there for a minute, calming his racing heart. Then, he slowly put his own hand into his deep silk pocket and brought out a completely different, dusty gray stone bottle. "A few decades ago, I entered a highly dangerous, forgotten secret realm in the deep north and managed to get this. I originally wanted to keep it and use it for myself when I reached my next bottleneck, but... looking at your situation now, it will be much more beneficial for you."

Long Zhan looked at the gray bottle curiously. "What is that?"

"This is a Core Foundation Setting Pill," Mikal explained, tapping the stone surface. "It is an ancient medicine designed to strengthen a cultivator’s internal pathways and harden their bones to the maximum level before they undergo a major breakthrough."

"What?!" Long Zhan asked, his eyes widening.

"Yes," Mikal nodded, his face serious again. "If you take this foundation pill right before you swallow that Bloodline Awakening Pill, it should theoretically protect your body from exploding from the sudden rush of divine energy. Well... to be completely honest, I don’t actually know what will happen because nobody has ever been crazy or rich enough to combine these two things together. Let’s test it out. But don’t worry, it also won’t kill you. Probably."

"You!" Long Zhan barked, his face twisting in annoyance.

"What?" Mikal asked, tilting his head.

"Why am I always the one that has to do the dangerous testing around here?" Long Zhan complained, stepping forward. He reached out and snatched the gray bottle to look inside. "Look, there are three whole pills inside this stone bottle, and my bloodline pill bottle is completely filled up with smaller pills too. You are going to take one of these foundation pills first, and then I will take mine."

Mikal froze completely, his entire body going stiff as he stared at the young master. He was utterly shocked by the suggestion. "Are you... are you really letting me take one of your pills? This is a priceless treasure that could save your life."

"Of course I am," Long Zhan said, rolling his eyes as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He looked at the older man with a soft, genuine look in his violet eyes. "When this map and these things were given to me, I already knew I couldn’t do this alone. I already wanted to find a way to share the benefits with you and my most loyal men so we can all grow strong together. I am not a selfish lizard."

This time, it was completely Mikal’s turn to be utterly shocked at Long Zhan’s actions. His throat moved as he swallowed, his dark eyes softening completely as he looked at the boy he had raised from a starving, angry scrap in the dirt. "You... you foolish boy..."

"Stop talking nonsense," Long Zhan interrupted, a rough, happy grin breaking across his handsome noble face. "You take it. Let’s go straight to the hidden training cave down the mountain and take them right now. We don’t have much time to waste here. I want to see the true effects of these pills as fast as possible so I can quickly go back to the house to see my Wanwan before the day ends."

Mikal stared at him, still feeling a bit dazed by the boy’s immense generosity. "Are you truly serious about this, Long Zhan?"

"Come, let’s go!" Long Zhan shouted.

Without waiting for another second, two massive, blood-red leather wings suddenly sprouted out from his back with a loud, sharp snap.

He flexed the powerful muscles in his legs and leaped straight off the high cliff edge, diving down like a falcon into the deep valley toward the direction Mikal had originally come from.

Mikal watched the young dragon fly off into the sky, his red wings cutting through the wind like a bright streak of fire.

He stood on the empty hill for a brief moment, the shock in his chest finally melting away into a deep, immense pride.

A loud, happy laugh escaped his throat a sound that was completely free and full of joy.

He moved his arm, the white horsehair whisk cutting a clean line through the air, and then his body blurred as he flew off into the sky too, following directly behind Long Zhan’s trail.

"Brat! Wait up for me!" Mikal called out, his voice echoing across the mountain peaks.

"Why should I wait for you?" Long Zhan’s deep voice boomed back through the wind, full of playful defiance. "Since you always insist to everyone that you are not an old man, you should easily be able to catch up or even pass me with those tough bones of yours!"

"You stinky brat!" Mikal laughed loudly, his speed increasing as he chased the red wings through the clouds. "Wait right there! I promise I won’t beat you too hard when I catch you!"

"Touch your conscience and say that lie again!" Long Zhan roared back.

Their thunderous, happy laughter was so loud and warm that it completely filled the cold mountain air, drowning out the howling wind as the two figures disappeared into the distant ridges to face their new destiny.

The very moment they left the area, leaving the peak completely deserted, a slight rustle occurred in the branches of a tall pine tree overlooking the cliff.

A small black cat was sitting perfectly still on a thick branch, her sleek fur completely hidden in the deep green shadows. Her long, elegant tail was swishing back and forth in a slow, rhythmic motion as she watched the empty sky where the two men had flown.

Weiwei paused for a moment, her golden eyes gleaming with a quiet, satisfied light. She slowly raised a front leg and began to lick her plump paws with total calmness, before elegantly stretching her entire spine.

With a graceful, weightless leap, she landed softly on the grassy ground below without making a single sound.

She took exactly five steps across the dirt, her small nose twitching in the cool air, before her body completely vanished on the spot, leaving the lonely hill entirely quiet under the fading sun.