Nine Astra Skies

"Elder Sister Little Tanuki, can he heal my wounds?" The Winged Serpent widened his eyes upon looking at Ye Chen.

What? Sister? Tanuki? Ye Chen was taken aback. He was about to act out of self-defense but stopped at that moment. He could not process what was happening at that point.

"Squeak, squeak!" Little Tanuki bobbed her head intently as if implying something.

The Winged Serpent looked at Ye Chen suspiciously again. "So, if I tag along with Mr. Ye Chen, I'd stand a chance at defeating the mean lady? I thought Mr. Ye Chen would never lay hands on a lady!"

Ye Chen grew even more surprised. What the heck was Little Tanuki saying to the Winged Serpent? Why did it sound like he and Little Tanuki were coaxing the Winged Serpent? He had forgotten one important thing - the snake's age. How long had the Winged Serpent lived already? A hundred years? A thousand years? Perhaps longer than that? Yet, why did he sound like a child when he hissed?

"Squeak, squeak." Little Tanuki spoke a couple more words.

As if the Winged Serpent had set its mind on something, its body shrunk and it transformed into a five to six years old child. The child was a little on the scrawny side, hair tied up in a style of Yanggakdo braid, and dressed in a light blue oversized robe-like cloth. He had a pair of rosy cheeks that looked like a pair of plump peaches waiting to be juiced. The child version of the Winged Serpent looked just like a typical kid-next-door.

This was the Winged Serpent? Ye Chen was dumbfounded as he watched the Winged Serpent morph into a child.

"Miss Tanuki said to call you Brother Chen. If I tag along with you, I'll never go hungry in my entire life!"

It carried a rather crisp, child-like voice that made Ye Chen curious about its age. How old was the Winged Serpent? Nonetheless, Ye Chen quickly nodded in response. "For sure!" He realized that Little Tanuki had somewhat coaxed it into joining them! In mystical beast age, the Winged Serpent was considered little, with the intellect mirroring that of a five or six years old child.

"What's your name?"

"Little Wingsy! Miss Tanuki said that you'd treat my wounds and that she'd teach me cultivation someday!"

Ye Chen looked to Little Tanuki, only to be greeted with a cheeky grin. Those eyes had curved into the shape of a half-moon. There was an unspoken charm to those eyes.

Now, it made sense why Little Tanuki had brought him here. She knew that the Winged Serpent was a little child who had never eaten a single human soul in its life and was likely kind-hearted by nature.

"Come over here, Little Wingsy," Ye Chen beckoned the child over, trying to suppress his fear of the Winged Serpent.

Little Wingsy walked to Ye Chen's side and looked at Ye Chen with curiosity in his huge eyes. Ye Chen thought the Winged Serpent looked friendly in human form. He reached out his right hand and held the child's wrist, slowly transfusing his Celestial Chi into the little boy's body. After morphing to a human, the meridian channels in its body mirrored a human's. A little snooping around showed that the Winged Serpent's meridian channels were somewhat severely damaged. If it were not for the fact that the Winged Serpent possessed a huge rejuvenation capability, it would have died long ago.

Even with its strong constitution, it could not possibly take that blow from the trident. If left untreated, the Winged Serpent would surely be dead in three days! Of course, Tantai Ling would not let the Winged Serpent slip!

Tantai Ling's trident was truly a powerful weapon!

Ye Chen channeled a portion of his Celestial Chi into Little Wingsy's body. Due to the healing properties of Ye Chen's Celestial Chi, it was able to clear off some of Tantai Ling's energy within it, soothing Little Wingsy's meridian channels in the process. In doing so, he had stopped the wound from worsening.

"Mr. Ye Chen did heal me!" Little Wingsy leaped in joy, looking at Ye Chen with full admiration. Following the battle with Tantai Ling in which it managed to escape, Little Wingsy had sensed his life force ebbing away and he was going to die sooner or later, which made him very sad. Now, he had renewed hope!

"This wound is too severe. We'll have to treat it slowly," Ye Chen said to the boy. They had to be careful. What if Little Wingsy was some thousand-year-old mystical beast who was attempting to fool them with his child-like appearance? That would make things worse. Plus, there were certain limitations to Ye Chen's powers for the time being. He could only prevent the wound from worsening but to heal Little Wingsy's wounds in a short period was not possible.

"Okay." Little Wingsy nodded. The moment Ye Chen managed to prevent his wound from festering further, it began to trust Ye Chen completely.

"How old are you?" Ye Chen inquired. Little Wingsy's mannerisms reminded him of a child.

"Five years old."

"Five? Since the day you were born?" Ye Chen looked at Little Wingsy in astonishment. He could not believe what he had heard. How could a five-year-old achieve such attainment? Could it be that mystical beasts aged differently compared to humans?

"I guess so. My grandpa said every year during Lunar New Year, the people in the small town would light up fireworks. That year, the people let off five fireworks, so that makes me five." Little Wingsy's mouth moved in such a way that faint traces of dimples showed on his face.

"What about your grandpa? Where'd he go?" Ye Chen probed. The little boy's grandpa must be an extraordinary human.

"Grandpa died," Little Wingsy replied somberly.

"And your parents?"

"Grandpa said I was an orphan and that I came from an egg. One day, after being placed in the caverns for a long time, the egg finally cracked and I was born. Thereafter, Grandpa brought me home. When Grandpa died, I came back here. His last words to me were not to hurt the people in the small town, so I didn't eat them. But I couldn't take it when I got hungry and so I decided to eat all the livestock in the small town." A look of regret showed on Little Wingsy's face.

The Winged Serpent had only been around for five to six years since birth. Given his upbringing with the humans, he had developed the mentality of a five to six years old child though it was still somewhat underdeveloped. Tantai Ling said snakes were considered rare among mystical beasts. Ye Chen wondered what other species of mystical beasts were considered rare too. To attain such a shockingly high cultivation base within six years was an incredibly rare feat.

Tantai Ling's attack had left a grave wound on both Little Wingsy's body and psyche, even when Little Wingsy's cultivation was on par with an Earthly Venerable One. However, it was still impressive, given that he was only five years old. Just imagine what level Little Wingsy would be if he had fully recovered? Mystique? Daemon King? Surely, it would be stronger than Heavenly Adept!

Little Tanuki leaped onto Ye Chen's shoulders with a cheeky glint in her eyes. He had to give it to Little Tanuki for her competence as she had managed to snag a powerful assistance with so little effort!

"Come with me from now on. Once we're at the capital, you'll get to feast to your heart's content. But you can't stay as a Winged Serpent when there are people around or you might freak them out." Ye Chen reminded Little Wingsy as he kneeled on one foot to pat his back.

"Okay, I got it. The people in the small town think I'm a monster." Little Wingsy looked a little sad as he nodded his head. "But I can turn into this and hide in your clothes!" Little Wingsy shrunk and turned into a two-inch blue baby snake. It was the miniature version of a Winged Serpent. The three pairs of wings behind his back made him look like a large dragonfly. With a beat of his wings, he took to the air and went into Ye Chen's clothes.

That caught Ye Chen by surprise as he marveled at Little Wingsy's ability to fit into his clothes.