Chapter219 – You can stay

Gerald let out a short laugh. “Enough. Stop provoking him. Light is close to ascension anyway. We’ll keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t cause trouble.”

He had suffered heavy losses already. He hadn’t even dared suggest settling scores with Light. These people…

If they were so brave, they could go fight him themselves. Privately, Gerald almost hoped Light would ascend soon and go make a mess of the upper realm instead.

In the end, the grandly named Exorcism Assembly fizzled out awkwardly.

.......

Lauren’s cultivation had already reached the Great Perfection of Spirit Severing. She planned to enter seclusion soon.

For years, she had been shoved forward by circumstance—first to kill Indiana, then to break the barrier of Heaven.

Now, she had a single goal. Ascend.

The upper realm was already in turmoil. If Drake and Edmund were up there, the struggle must be brutal.

She couldn’t afford to lag behind. Once preparations were complete, she would immediately enter closed-door cultivation.

Just then, Kareem hurried in. “Summit Master, someone is looking for you.”

“Who?”

“The little white bird that used to follow Dante around.”

Lauren blinked. Oh. Her. Silent Fang had ascended as a dragon. White had been left behind.

Lauren felt a flicker of guilt. She should have checked on her sooner. “Take me to her.”

White was waiting outside the mountain gate. Her hair was a mess. Her face was smudged with dirt. Around her neck hung a ridiculous string of storage bags, clanking together whenever she moved.

She looked pitiful. And mildly ridiculous.

The Thunder Sect had strict rules—no one entered without proper credentials. So she had been stuck outside.

The moment she saw Lauren, she ran over like a child spotting family. “Sister! Sister!”

“White… what happened to you?” Lauren frowned. “Did someone rob you?”

With that many storage bags hanging off her like a walking treasure rack, it would’ve been shocking if no one tried.

White nodded. Then shook her head. “They tried. But they couldn’t rob me.”

White might be a bit simple, but she wasn’t weak. Most cultivators couldn’t actually overpower her.

“Then why do you look like this?”

White’s lips trembled. “My brother’s gone,” she said in a small voice. “I don’t know where to go.”

Oh. That hit differently.

“Wait,” Lauren said, glancing at the string of storage bags. “Don’t you monsters have your own storage method?”

White nodded miserably. “I swallow things. But my stomach is only so big. Not even as big as one of these bags. It’s full already.”

Her brother had ascended. She was alone now. The more she thought about it, the more wronged she felt. Her eyes reddened.

Lauren’s heart softened immediately. “Don’t cry,” she said gently. “Come with me.”

White sniffed and nodded. “Okay.”

Lauren brought her to Cloud Peak and found Gerald. She explained the situation plainly.

“She was adopted by that scaly dragon in the South Sea,” Lauren explained patiently. “She stayed with him even before she gained intelligence. She’s never really interacted with people. Now that Silent Fang has ascended, she has nowhere to go. Sect Leader, shouldn’t we at least help settle her somewhere? If it weren’t for Silent Fang, we wouldn’t have survived that Sword Cultivator.”

Gerald looked at her like she’d just suggested adopting a wild tiger into the sect kitchen.

“Take a good look at her,” he said dryly. “She’s a fully transformed Great Monster, not some helpless child. Why are you worrying about this?”

“That’s true,” Lauren admitted. “But Silent Fang raised her too innocently. If we just let her loose, something bad will definitely happen.”

“There are countless innocent monsters out there,” Gerald replied. “Plenty of them get hunted every year. Am I supposed to save them all?”

Lauren shot back instantly, “Briar is a tree spirit. Why don’t you mind Briar staying?”

Gerald snorted. “Can something as big as her be as cute as Briar?”

Lauren: “…” Hypocrite.

White stood behind Lauren, listening to them argue about her like she was an inconvenient spirit beast at an auction.

Gerald’s refusal made her eyes redden. Her lips trembled. Then the tears started falling. Big, fat, humiliating tears.

“…Hey,” Gerald said awkwardly, rubbing his temples. “I didn’t do anything to you. You’re a powerful monster now. Be a little sensible.”

White cried harder.

Gerald’s headache intensified. “Alright, alright!” he barked. “Stop crying. You can stay. Fine?”

White instantly stopped. Her tears vanished as if someone had flipped a switch. “Thank you, Grandpa! Thank you, Grandpa!”

Gerald froze. “…Grandpa?” Do I look that fucking old?

Lauren smiled sweetly. “Thank you, Sect Leader.”

Gerald grumbled, “This is the last one. Absolutely the last. You are not bringing back any more random monsters. If the disciples start copying you, this place will turn into a damn demon den. We’re a righteous sect.”

“Understood,” Lauren said quickly. “Definitely the last one.”

Just as she was about to take White away, Dante entered. “Greetings, Master.”

Gerald narrowed his eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“I heard White came looking for me,” Dante said calmly. “I didn’t expect her to actually show up.”

White brightened immediately. “Brother!” she called sweetly.

Gerald’s face darkened even more. Brother? You just called me Grandpa five breaths ago. \

Are we just scrambling the generations now? A monster is still a monster. No sense of hierarchy at all.

“What does it have to do with you?” Gerald snapped.

Dante: “…”

Sensing the atmosphere turning ugly again, Lauren quickly grabbed White and fled.

......

Since she was about to enter seclusion, Lauren took White and Briar to find Tarot.

Tarot looked at the three of them and sighed deeply.

“I need to heal my injuries, teach my disciples, and now babysit your two little spirits. This isn’t senior brother treatment. This is wet nurse treatment.”

“Senior Brother, don’t talk nonsense,” Lauren said solemnly. “You’re not effeminate at all.”

Tarot: “…” He glared at her. “You’re always dumping trouble on me. Fine. Go into seclusion. Have you prepared everything?”

“Prepared. The cultivation resources Master left me are enough to last until I ascend.”

Tarot nodded slowly. It really was strange. It was one thing for their master to prepare his own future necessities. He’d lived with him for centuries.

But he had also prepared everything Lauren would need. Ice-element robes tailored to her constitution. Resources precisely matching her cultivation stage. Materials she would need for breakthroughs.

It was almost as if— He’d foreseen it. Did Master also know divination?

Lauren shook the thought away. She was just about to return to her peak and formally begin seclusion when Dante caught up to her.

“Greetings, Miss Lauren.”

“No need for formalities. What’s wrong?”

Dante smiled faintly. “Nothing serious. I heard that after White’s brother ascended, she had no one to rely on. So she came to you. Is that correct?”

Lauren nodded. “Yes. She’s pitiful. Silent Fang only taught her how to cultivate. He never taught her how to navigate the world. Without his protection, she’s vulnerable.”

Monster territories were far harsher than human ones. They had to guard against human cultivators—and against their own kind.

The South Sea had been relatively peaceful while Silent Fang ruled it. Now that he was gone?

Anything could crawl out of the depths. Like that group of mermaids before.

Dante nodded thoughtfully.

“But it’s fine now,” Lauren added. “Sect Leader agreed to let her stay. I’ll be entering seclusion soon. Tarot promised he’ll look after her.”

“Oh,” Dante replied softly.

“By the way,” he said after a pause, “what happened to that Sword Cultivator?”

Lauren blinked. Wasn’t he killed by Silent Fang?