The Rise of a Family: Starting from Daily Intelligence - Chapter 402 (Patreon)
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Chapter 402: Another Son, Seizing the Dragon, Myriad Phoenix Mountain
Fu Changsheng saw Yao Yao off. When he returned, the door of the pill room to his left opened as well, and a strange, heady fragrance of pills rushed out to meet him.
He saw Liu Meizhen, her face slightly pale.
Joy rose in Fu Changsheng’s heart. “Meizhen, did the Drunken Dragon Pills succeed?”
“I did not fail you.”
With a flick of her sleeve, a white pill bottle with leaf veining floated toward Fu Changsheng.
He swept it with his spiritual sense.
Inside sat five spirit pills, each haloed by faint, broken traces of flood-dragon lines. Coupled with the fragrance lingering in the room, there was no doubt these were Drunken Dragon Pills. “Meizhen, thank you for your hard work.”
With these in hand,
the hidden danger inside the Azure Flood Dragon could finally be removed.
After this, he would no longer need to worry about that figure in the Ten Thousand Dragons Abyss of the Eastern Wilds; and when he entered the Kunlun Minor World later, having the Azure Flood Dragon’s aid would let him proceed with far greater ease.
Fu Changsheng suppressed the urge to step straight into the Five Elements Space. He and his wife entered a secret chamber, sealed the array, and only then said, “Meizhen, what about that spirit stone vein near the Misty Ghost Forest—any progress?”
Busy with alchemy, Liu Meizhen hadn’t gone herself. Fu Changlei had just emerged from seclusion on Turtle Immortal Island, so she had him link up with Yu Qingru and Fu Yongyi, who happened to be repairing the Mist-Veil Barrier in the forest; the three of them were sent to investigate.
Fu Changsheng nodded. “Mm. That works.”
According to the intelligence,
the couple Ren Ziming and his wife, who had discovered the Heavenly Sound Stone vein, did not wish to inform the Xuanxiao Sect. If they wished to keep this from the sect, the best approach would be to quietly take the couple down.
However,
the report provided no precise location.
Everything would depend on Fu Changlei and the other two.
Liu Meizhen brought up another matter. “Husband, a message came from the other families. They propose a Wuzhou seventh-rank clans’ council in ten days. The Lei and Cao clans have already signed an alliance with us—on this council our three families will take the same stance.”
“Good.”
This council would almost certainly be to divide slots for the Kunlun Minor World.
The two spoke a while longer.
After years apart,
Fu Changsheng found his wife even more alluring. He rolled over, and the clouds and rain soon turned a page.
When the seed was sown,
he suddenly remembered:
he had already cultivated the first layer of the Imperial Court Dao Body. In other words, Meizhen now carried their third child. But the Kunlun Minor World was about to open—if she were in early pregnancy, she certainly could not follow him into danger. He grimaced inwardly. Careless.
After their tender interlude,
Fu Changsheng returned to his own secret room and sealed the array.
With a thought,
in the next instant he appeared inside the Five Elements Space.
“Hisss—”
Seeing Fu Changsheng appear, the Azure Flood Dragon dove from the clouds. It was sick to death of staying cooped up in this space, and for once it wagged its tail at Fu Changsheng in a rare show of flattery.
Fu Changsheng smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll be setting you free very soon.”
At this time, Qiu Niang had also emerged from seclusion.
Fu Changsheng pondered. “Qiu Niang, can you set up a Soul-Locking Array?”
Once the Yellow Dragon Essence Soul was extracted from the Azure Flood Dragon, they still needed a means to imprison it, lest it stir up trouble.
Qiu Niang nodded. “Arranging a Soul-Locking Array isn’t hard, Master. Give me a moment to see if the materials are complete.”
As she spoke,
Qiu Niang took out the inventory of her private stores and skimmed it quickly, then inclined her head. “Master, shall I arrange it now, or…?”
“The sooner the better.”
“Yes, Master.”
Qiu Niang responded crisply.
She chose a cold pool in Beichuan as the array site.
Barefoot, she stepped across the pool. Wherever her soles fell, a ghostly blue ice-lotus unfolded on the frozen surface. In each lotus heart she embedded a “Soul-Devouring Talisman” refined by Fu Changsheng, the talisman lines coiling like vipers. A pat to her storage pouch, a flash of radiance—seven profound-ice crystal pillars howled forth and speared into the lakebed at the seven stars of the Dipper. The pillars were carved all over with the White Tiger Tribe’s “Howling-at-the-Moon Incantation”; under moonlight, dark red beads of blood seeped from the script.
Qiu Niang’s face grew solemn as she pinched a seal. “Yin fiends take your places—open the gates of the Nine Netherworlds!”
With the spell cast,
she flicked her sleeve and hurled up shards of the Nether Bell-Lily Lamp. The fragments hovered over the pool’s center, bowl mouth inverted, pouring down a tar-like stream of Nether River weakwater. The weakwater froze on contact with ice, shaping into seventy-two phantom chains, each chain ending in a translucent skull whose jaw clacked in a silent shriek.
Qiu Niang formed the “Mysterious Yin Ninefold Seal,”
then suddenly roared,
a polar-cold demon chant rumbling from her throat.
As the sound waves shook the air,
ice-lotuses across the pool shattered in layers; the lotuses’ soul-devouring talismans shot out, plastering themselves onto the brows of the chain-bound skulls. With each talisman affixed, blue ghostfire kindled in a skull’s eye sockets, and the chain grew three parts more solid.
“Crack!”
Qiu Niang abruptly bit her tongue; essence blood mixed with the demon chant and turned to blades of sound that cleaved toward the lamp shards. A spiderweb of cracks raced across the fragments; from the fissures burst nine “Soul-Devouring Ice Vines.” The vines wrapped the chains and grew madly, and in a blink they knit a crystalline, thorned dome of ice spanning a hundred zhang. “Master, you can now place the one whose soul must be bound upon the array dais!”
Qiu Niang arranged the array with crisp efficiency.
Since the Five Elements Space had leveled up, her gift for formations seemed to have risen as well.
Fu Changsheng didn’t waste words.
He said to the Azure Flood Dragon coiled around his arm, “Xiao Qing, open up.”
Thinking it was about to be fed a treat, the flood dragon cheered and opened its mouth obediently.
Fu Changsheng tapped the pill bottle, and four Drunken Dragon Pills turned into streaks of light and sank into the dragon’s body.
At first, nothing seemed amiss. The Azure Flood Dragon still twined around his arm. But moments later, its body gave a slight shudder; its pupils abruptly constricted, as if some invisible power was rampaging inside it. Its scales quivered, its once-supple body stiffened, its tail drooped powerless, and a low hiss spilled from its jaws—tinged with pain and bewilderment.
Fu Changsheng watched closely.
Seeing that the pills were doing it no harm, he relaxed.
Even so, he was more alert than ever, for the medicine power of the Drunken Dragon Pills inside the Azure Flood Dragon had fully erupted. If the Yellow Dragon Essence Soul sensed the anomaly and woke, a hard battle would follow.
Though he was master of the Five Elements Space,
the Yellow Dragon Essence Soul was the remnant of a true dragon. Its means were not his to guess.
“Hiss…”
The Azure Flood Dragon’s voice weakened, as if crushed by some force. Its body swayed out of its control; at last its eyes drifted shut, and the whole form went slack, sliding from Fu Changsheng’s arm like a rope whose prop had been kicked away. It struck the ground with a thud and fell into a coma.
“Roar!”
In the instant the flood dragon fainted,
the Yellow Dragon Essence Soul long hidden within finally sensed something wrong.
That Drunken Dragon medicine, strong enough to keep it slumbering for years, had severed its link to the Azure Flood Dragon’s flesh.
The Yellow Dragon Essence Soul snapped awake and loosed an ear-splitting dragon’s roar, fury surging to the heavens.
Fu Changsheng’s heart tightened.
Four pills, and still the Yellow Dragon Essence Soul could not be stupefied.
Its strength exceeded his expectations.
But if he could subdue this essence soul, it would be a tremendous boon.
Meanwhile,
“Roar!”
The Yellow Dragon Essence Soul turned into a lance of golden light and shot skyward from within the Azure Flood Dragon. Its form was vast, its scales blazing with radiance, its eyes brimming with majesty and savagery—like some ancient fiend loosed from a prison.
Its gaze locked on the hovering Fu Changsheng.
Contempt clearly flickered in those golden eyes, and it spoke human tongue: “A mere Purple Mansion dares scheme against me?”
Though the Drunken Dragon medicine had seeped into it and sapped much of its power,
to crush a Purple Mansion cultivator was nothing but the raising of a claw.
It opened its maw at once. “Roar!”
A gout of dragon breath blasted forth.
In a blink it reached the void above Fu Changsheng’s head. Wherever that breath passed, there came a sibilant sizzling, as if the very space would burn to ash.
That dragon breath—
if even a trace touched him, Fu Changsheng would surely die.
The Yellow Dragon snorted coldly, already looking at Fu Changsheng like a dead man. Yet the hovering Fu Changsheng made no move to dodge. The Yellow Dragon paused, wrong-footed.
In the next instant,
Fu Changsheng waved his hand.
A hum echoed.
The dragon breath vanished into thin air.
Boom! In the next instant,
it reappeared in Beichuan.
A swath of snow and ice melted to nothing in a flash.
“What—”
The Yellow Dragon blinked, stunned by the abrupt turn. Suspecting it had misread Fu Changsheng’s cultivation, it swept him again with spiritual sense—only to find that he truly exuded Purple Mansion aura. Yet he had just used spatial shift—something only a Nascent Soul True Lord could command. “Unless…”
A possibility struck the Yellow Dragon.
Its spiritual sense scanned the surroundings,
and its pupils shrank. “This is…”
Though the laws of Heaven here were far from complete, they were clearly different from the outside world. That meant this was an unfinished, independent world in the midst of forming—and the youth before it was obviously the master of this space. “How is that possible!!!”
A mere Purple Mansion, with a world evolving within his body?
Even an immortal could not do this.
A gleam of excitement flared in the Yellow Dragon’s eyes.
The Azure Flood Dragon it had parasitized carried a bloodline far too mixed; that was why it had never chosen to seize the creature.
Looking now,
that had been the wise choice. “Jie jie… Young man, I’ll be taking this body of yours!”
Its whole form shivered,
and it streaked toward Fu Changsheng as a bolt of yellow light.
Fu Changsheng once more roused the power of space, but to his shock, that force struck the Yellow Dragon and bounced off some kind of barrier. “Not good.”
The Yellow Dragon had clearly set its sights on his flesh.
As the yellow light was about to reach him, he hastily moved his mind, and in the next heartbeat vanished from where he floated—reappearing within the hidden Soul-Locking Array in Beichuan.
“Jie jie… You think you can hide? Be good and let me take your body, and I’ll at least let you die quickly.”
The Yellow Dragon’s mutter of incantation rose.
A subtle power fell over Fu Changsheng.
The next instant,
to his horror he found he couldn’t move.
“Jie jie, here I come!”
The Yellow Dragon let out an excited bellow. Its body blurred, and with a flash of instant movement it appeared by Fu Changsheng’s side.
Fu Changsheng’s pupils tightened. “Qiu Niang, activate the array!”
If the Yellow Dragon seized his body, what followed would be possession.
At his words, Qiu Niang’s hands flew, and she chanted: “Yin fiends take your places—open the gates of the Nine Netherworlds!”
As her voice fell, the seventy-two phantom chains in the cold pool abruptly solidified and shot out like living things, coiling toward the Yellow Dragon Essence Soul. The skulls at their tips gave soundless screams as blue ghostfire blazed in their eye sockets.
“A Soul-Locking Array?!”
For the first time, panic flashed in the Yellow Dragon’s eyes.
Just now, vying with Fu Changsheng, it had burned through the power restored by decades of slumber. It was already a spent arrow.
How could it withstand an ancient soul-locking array?
It had been outplayed!
“Despicable little thief!”
Fear took it.
It hurriedly said, “Once this array activates, every living thing inside will have its soul drawn out. Do you have a death wish? I was indeed a bit rash—but we needn’t fight to mutual destruction. Let’s call it off here. I promise I won’t come after you later.”
Even as it spoke,
the Yellow Dragon spat a breath of dragonfire at Fu Changsheng.
Clearly,
it had never intended to spare him. That speech was only to buy time to unleash a final breath. Yet just as the dragonfire fell, it caught the faint curl at Fu Changsheng’s lips.
Perplexed,
it watched the dragonfire descend—
and Fu Changsheng evaporated from the array like steam, vanishing from sight. “H-how is that possible!”
Once the Soul-Locking Array was triggered,
the target soul was locked; the flesh couldn’t escape. How had the boy done this?
All this took but a flicker of time.
The hiss of chains whipping through the air filled the cold pool; they had already reached the Yellow Dragon. It hastily wrenched its dragonfire aside to meet them, trying to burn the chains to ash. But the array’s power was far beyond what it had imagined. The dragonfire fell upon the chains and was devoured by the blue ghostflames; it didn’t leave the faintest mark.
“Roar!”
The Yellow Dragon Essence Soul bellowed. Its tail lashed the chains—but they only seized the chance to bind it tighter, like maggots gnawing bone. One by one, chains wrapped around its body; each chain carried extreme cold that sealed away its strength bit by bit. “No, no, no!”
It had clawed free of a seal with such difficulty—
it would not be bound again.
Unwilling to the core, the Yellow Dragon thrashed with all it had.
But
it was useless. “Crack! Crack! Crack!”
The chains tightened and tightened. The Yellow Dragon’s struggle weakened. The luster left its scales; savagery in its eyes yielded inch by inch to fear. It clawed and tore, tail sweeping, even burning its essence soul to break the array’s bonds.
However,
the array’s power surged without end,
and it was already a spent arrow.
One rose as the other fell.
At last, its struggling slowed.
Meanwhile,
Fu Changsheng’s figure emerged once more in the air. “Little beast!”
Never had it expected to fall into the schemes of a mere Purple Mansion.
Afraid of any mishap, Fu Changsheng barked, “Qiu Niang, drive the array at full power!”
“Yes, Master!”
Qiu Niang answered and dropped beside the cold pool, hands ceaselessly forming seals, mouth chanting, urging the array to its utmost.
Rumble…
The crystalline, thorned dome slowly sealed shut, completely imprisoning the Yellow Dragon Essence Soul.
“Roar!” The Yellow Dragon let loose a desolate dragon-cry, billowing with fury and hate. Its form was gradually swallowed by the crystalline thorns, until only a faint thread of light flickered beneath the ice—sealed utterly at the pool’s heart.
Fu Changsheng exhaled, gaze settling on the pool’s center. The Yellow Dragon Essence Soul’s shape was fully shrouded by the crystalline thorns; only that faint glimmer pulsed beneath the ice. Only then did he let himself breathe:
“The hidden danger inside the Azure Flood Dragon is finally removed. The Yellow Dragon Essence Soul can no longer make mischief.”
Qiu Niang stepped to his side and asked softly, “Master, how should we handle the Yellow Dragon Essence Soul now?”
Fu Changsheng thought a moment. “Though sealed, it is still the essence soul of an ancient true dragon. Refining it would be best. But this must be planned carefully. Before that, Qiu Niang, keep a close watch—don’t let it pull any tricks.”
Qiu Niang nodded. “Rest assured, Master. I’ll continue strengthening the array to ensure it cannot escape.”
Ten days flashed by.
Hum!
The long-quiet Family Jade Seal trembled.
Seated in meditation, Fu Changsheng’s eyes snapped open. “At last?”
This council would be his first proper meeting with the other nine great clans of Wuzhou.
He struck a spell into the jade seal.
Boom!
Brilliant light surged from the seal, fell upon him, and his figure blurred. In the next instant, his projection appeared in the Void Hall.
Within the hall, jade pillars soared and spiritual light flowed.
The Huang Clan’s patriarch, Huang Tianba, sat at the left, his presence like a mountain; behind him stood representatives of the Qin and Ye clans. The Wu Clan’s patriarch, Wu Tieya, stood to the right, an array plate in his hand; the Chen and Zhang representatives flanked him. Fu Changsheng stood in the center with the Lei and Cao representatives.
The nine looked at one another,
noting that no one from the Ouyang Clan had arrived.
They waited a moment.
Huang Tianba snorted. “The Ouyang Clan does put on airs. Since he is absent without cause, there’s no need to wait. This time—”
He acted every inch the head among clans.
But
before he could finish,
Wu Tieya cut in: “Patriarch Huang, the Kunlun Minor World slots must be decided by the ten families’ joint accord. Is your face bigger than an imperial edict?”
At that,
Huang Tianba’s eyes narrowed. He snorted. “Wu Tieya, don’t think your little schemes are invisible. I fear you’re batting your eyes at the wrong patron.”
As they spoke,
a wash of yellow light poured into the hall.
A figure wearing a white deer mask appeared—the Ouyang patriarch.
He cupped hands to the crowd. “My apologies, everyone. Affairs detained me. I’m a touch late.”
Huang Tianba snorted. He had little fondness for the Ouyang Clan’s mysterious ways, but since he could not gauge their depths, he dared not overreach. His voice boomed:
“Since all are present, let us begin.”
“Our Huang, Qin, and Ye clans are of one mind: these slots for the Kunlun Minor World concern Wuzhou’s future; force should decide victory. I propose a ring tournament. Each clan sends its elite disciples. Winners take the slots, losers step aside!”
For this day,
the Refining Qi and Foundation Establishment disciples of those three clans had suppressed their breakthroughs in unison.
They meant to monopolize the field by sheer clan might.
Wu Tieya sneered, light glinting across his array plate.
“A ring tournament is crude. The Kunlun Minor World is perilous—how can mere force suffice? I propose a Heavenly Formation Chessboard to simulate the secret realm environment and test comprehensive ability.”
He barely finished before Huang Tianba snapped back: “Wu Tieya, everyone knows your Wu Clan stands on formations. If we use your chessboard, wouldn’t that be handing the slots to you on a platter? Hmph. The Huang Clan will never agree!”
Wu Tieya looked expectantly to the rest.
Aside from the two clans in his camp, no one nodded.
Fu Changsheng, after a brief exchange of transmitted words with the Lei and Cao representatives, spoke: “The Xuanxiao Sect entrenches itself on Xuanyin Mountain, threatening Wuzhou’s peace. I propose we exterminate them first and, by actual combat, decide the slots. It removes a scourge and selects true talent.”
The Xuanxiao Sect neighbored their commandery.
If this could be done,
it would remove a major threat to the Fu Clan.
Moreover,
developing the Heavenly Sound Stone vein later would be safer.
Huang Tianba’s eyes bulged. “Exterminate the Xuanxiao Sect? Fu Changsheng, you only want to strike rivals under cover of this! A ring tournament is the proper way!”
Wu Tieya sneered. “A ring tournament is your Huang Clan’s selfish wish. The Heavenly Formation Chessboard is the fair choice!”
Fu Changsheng’s expression didn’t change. “The Xuanxiao Sect harms the people. If left alone, Wuzhou will never know peace. Selection by real battle is the true test.”
The three sides argued without cease, the tension in the hall winding tighter.
Ouyang Qianyu stepped forward, voice cool: “Why wrangle so? For the Kunlun Minor World’s slots, fairness must come first. I propose taking the Myriad Phoenix Mountain Range as a hunting ground. Each clan’s disciples will enter and hunt; the slots will be set by points. This tests comprehensive ability and avoids direct clan-on-clan clashes.”
The Myriad Phoenix Mountain Range lay in Wuzhou’s southwest: peaks steep, fiends rampant, divided into outer, middle, and core regions. It bordered the Extreme West, essentially a no-man’s land. Not only did clan disciples venture there; sect members were also seen in those mountains from time to time.
All looked around at one another.
By comparison,
the Ouyang Clan’s suggestion seemed fairer.
At least on the surface, it showed no private bias.
Though apparently excluded by the other nine, the Ouyang Clan had ended up the final arbiter—without doing anything but speaking last.
After another bout of debate,
they finally decided that, matching the Kunlun Minor World’s quotas, each clan would send two Purple Mansion, three Foundation Establishment, and five Qi Refining cultivators into the Myriad Phoenix Mountain Range to hunt. Points would be tallied with Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment each counting for thirty percent, and Purple Mansion for forty.
Which meant
Purple Mansion combat power mattered most of all.
To prevent anyone from laying preparations in the mountains, they agreed that once the council ended, each clan had one day to reach the range, and the hunt would begin at once.
Hum!
Light rippled through the hall.
One by one, the projections faded.
When his mind snapped back to his body, Fu Changsheng immediately summoned Liu Meizhen, relayed the council’s result, and asked, “Meizhen, who should we send?”
They had just held a clan competition.
For the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment slots, they could simply take the top five and top three respectively.
As for Purple Mansion—
as the clan’s strongest, Fu Changsheng definitely had to go, leaving one Purple Mansion slot.
Having been in seclusion for years, he was less clear than Meizhen on the others’ combat strength.
Liu Meizhen considered. “We must leave within a day for the Myriad Phoenix Range. Changlei and the others are still at the Misty Ghost Forest—they won’t make it back. For Purple Mansion, that leaves me, Yao Yao, and Fourth Sister Changli. But Fourth Sister must sit town over Yunshan Commandery, and our Huainan fief also needs a formation master on guard. Yao Yao can’t get away.”
Which meant
the only candidate was Liu Meizhen herself.
But she had only just conceived. Fu Changsheng shook his head. “Meizhen, you’ll remain in the fief. Yao Yao will go with me. Her Four-Winged Red Python has reached late third rank; she can protect herself.”
Besides,
he needed a formation master to assist.
Meizhen’s real-combat experience was lacking—better to keep her in Demon-Subduing City.
Liu Meizhen hesitated, then nodded. “That works. With the city’s mountain-guarding array, unless several Golden Cores attack together, I can hold.”
Neither of them was one to dither.
Once they’d decided,
Fu Changsheng said at once, “At the Azure Flood Dragon’s speed, we can reach it in half a day. Meizhen, notify the participants to prepare immediately. Also—do we have a topographical map of the Myriad Phoenix Range?”
Liu Meizhen shook her head.
The clan had been occupied with building Demon-Subduing City and the three forbidden-ground barriers.
They’d only just finished.
They hadn’t fully surveyed even their own fief, much less had time to gather materials on the Myriad Phoenix Range.
Fu Changsheng said, “All right. Go see to it.”
He planned to redeem one with Shadow Gate merit.
After she left,
he focused his mind on the Shadow Gate mask and came before the spirit mirror. He struck a spell into it; with a hum, light rippled across its surface, and words quickly formed:
[Exchange for a topographical map of the Myriad Phoenix Mountain Range—preferably marked with lairs of various fiends.]
Hum!
The mirror trembled.
A line of text appeared:
[One map of the Myriad Phoenix Range, one hundred points.]
One hundred points? Fu Changsheng paused. If so, the map likely wouldn’t be comprehensive. Still, better than going in blind. He said at once, “Redeem it.”
Hum!
The mirror shook.
A scroll flew out of the spiraling light.
Fu Changsheng pushed a spell into it; the scroll unfurled. With one glance, he froze. “The Myriad Phoenix Range runs for several thousand li!”
Its vastness
exceeded his expectations.
However,
what he couldn’t understand was this: the map indicated that the densest spiritual energy in the range sat atop a top-grade fourth-rank spiritual vein. With resources so rich, why had no sect or the Great Zhou claimed it? “Could there be a great fiend within?”
The thought flickered and passed.
Time was tight.
He had to copy the map into multiple sets so the clan members could familiarize themselves—at least have the general outline in mind.
He flicked his sleeve.
Ten blank jade slips rose before him. His brush flew like a god’s hand.
After half a day,
nine slips lay at hand, eight maps already copied over.
Only someone with spiritual sense as strong as his could do this. A map of such size would exhaust most people even to copy once, never mind in so short a time. Even he felt a trace of fatigue now. “Enough. Eight will do.”
Upon entering the Myriad Phoenix Range,
there would be blood and battle. He had to keep himself at peak condition.
Besides,
it was nearly time to depart.
Fu Changsheng drew on his private stores in the Five Elements Space, bringing out the spirit pills and talismans he’d accumulated over time. At last, his stockpiles would see true use.
By then,
Liu Meizhen had gathered the participants at the Patriarch’s Residence.
For Foundation Establishment, the leader would be Fairy Tianyin, with Gan Muwan second, and Fu Yongshou as the third. The Qi Refining team would be led by Fu Yongjing and Fu Qingyun—both already at Foundation Establishment. In the outer ring, he felt no concern for them.
Thanks for reading—what a ride: a dragon sealed, a new child on the way, and the Myriad Phoenix hunt ahead! If you’re enjoying the series, please consider supporting me on Patreon; even a small pledge keeps the translations flowing and lets me tackle more chapters for you. Also, if you have a moment, dropping a rating or short review on NovelUpdates really helps new readers find this story. Your encouragement means the world!