328 A Home for Dave

I'm Da Wei, the real deal. After enough nagging, haggling, and outright arguing with doggy, he finally agreed to let me project into this soul. What was his condition? That I fetch him a ball every once in a while. A ball! Hah~ sucker. As if the mighty Da Wei would stoop to such—

…alright, fine, I might've already fetched one. Once. Maybe twice. Doesn't matter.

Anyway, I was still in the form of a golden retriever, tail wagging and ears perked. The irony of it burned worse than any heavenly flame.

Oh, also, the golden dome was gone!

Around me, the battlefield stank of blood and qi residue. Cultivator corpses littered the dais, their limbs twisted, their masks cracked, their insides no longer inside. Yi Qiu and Tao Long had been thorough. Zai Ai looked pale, still recovering, while Dave stood protectively beside Joan, who, inconveniently, was suffering from amnesia.

The Animal Soul stirred within me, wagging his metaphorical tail. He was happy. Joyful even, after helping slaughter the Heavenly Temple goons. "That thing really is a dog through and through," I thought. The smell of gore didn't faze him at all. Me? My stomach churned. I thought I'd be numb to this after all I'd endured, but watching the aftermath of carnage always made me feel like puking.

Yi Qiu wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, his battle mania slowly dimming. "We are done." His grin split wide, almost satisfied. "Now, give me back my prisoner."

He reached into his pocket dimension and pulled out a corpse. A man, limbless, head detached, his qi utterly extinguished.

Dave, standing over Joan, glanced at me with exhaustion shadowing his face. "Lord, I'm a bit spent… can you bring this man back to life?"

I nodded... or, well, my floppy ears twitched in agreement. Joan leaned against him, still looking lost, still radiating transcendent power she no longer remembered how to use. That Aixin's interference ran deep. I'd even tried Divine Possession earlier to scan her, but the girl's memories were locked in fog.

I padded forward, nose twitching at the corpse. I raised my paw, and with a voice that carried like scripture, I cast:

"Divine Word: Raise."

The air rippled, golden threads of quintessence pouring into the broken husk of a man. His chest convulsed, and flesh re-knit just enough to allow breath back into him.

I was about to follow with Blessed Regeneration, but Yi Qiu's voice cut sharply.

"No need to regrow his limbs."

I blinked. "…Really?"

"Really."

The man screamed as awareness returned. His stumps writhed uselessly. His cries tore across the air like the wails of the damned. He tried to struggle, but Yi Qiu simply bent down, pressed a finger against the man's dantian, and with a crack that echoed through the air, shattered it.

The cultivator howled, his face twisting in agony.

Yi Qiu didn't flinch. He hoisted the man like a sack of potatoes, slinging him over his shoulder as if he weighed nothing. Without so much as a word of thanks, he turned on his heel and walked away.

I tilted my head, tail flicking. "Rude."

Zai Ai stepped forward, her saber now sheathed, her aura cold as an ice storm. "Give me my disciple back," she said, voice trembling between command and plea.

Tao Long raised his objection. "Wait… what about my stake? I was promised the Adventurer's Guild's connections to aid me in looking for my brothers and sisters—"

Zai Ai cut him off with a sharp wave of her hand. "I don't care about the Adventurer's Guild. You can have it. I want my disciple, Mao Xian, back. That's the only reason I am here. Don't break your word, Da Wei."

All eyes turned to me. Even in this body, in this ridiculous golden retriever form, I felt the weight of their stares. My tail twitched, but my gaze stayed on Dave.

Without a word, Dave reached into his pocket dimension and drew out a parchment and a quill.

"Turn around," he said flatly to Joan.

She blinked, hugging herself. "Huh? Y-You won't do something strange, do you?"

"No," Dave answered with a frown, as if the thought insulted him.

Reluctantly, Joan turned, her back becoming an impromptu desk. Dave pricked his own finger with the quill, dipping it into his blood before writing with precise, measured strokes. His expression didn't change as the crimson words bled onto the parchment.

When Dave finished, he slipped the parchment off Joan's back and handed it to Tao Long. "Congratulations," he said, voice low, "You are now the leader of the Adventurer's Guild."

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The dragon's eyes widened as he took the blood-stained parchment, hands trembling slightly before curling around it like a relic. Zai Ai stared at him, then back at Dave, but said nothing.

Dave finally turned to me, exhaustion written across his face. "Lord…" he said quietly, almost like a prayer, "I'm ready to give up this body."

This was a monumental occasion with Dave choosing to give up this body and return it to its rightful owner. That meant Dave returning it to me.

I looked at him, and though I already knew his resolve, I asked anyway. "Are you sure you want this?"

Before he could answer, Zai Ai snapped. "Da Wei!" Her tone was sharp, impatient, accusing me already of wavering. "That's not the deal!

I ignored her, eyes only on Dave. "I don't want to renege on this deal, but Dave, you are your own person. I just want you to know that you don't have to do this."

Zai Ai's teeth clenched. "Such blatant dishonor in the face of a promise—"

Dave cut her off, calm as ever, though his hands shook faintly. "I have no desire to turn back on my word. Please, my Lord… do it."

…Hah. Stubborn fool.

I hesitated because I knew what this meant. Expelling Dave's spirit body from Mao Xian wasn't as harmless as it sounded. A spirit body wasn't like slipping into an astral state. Astral projection was at least buffered by the supernatural, detached, and veiled. A spirit body, however, was your soul walking outside your flesh, raw and exposed. Like a nerve stripped bare. I could do it, of course, since I was a True Perfect Immortal. My spirit body could roam freely, mistaken for a ghost at times, but more powerful.

Dave? He was only at the Tenth Realm. His spirit body would be vulnerable, susceptible to every whisper, every influence.

Still, he had asked. And he had chosen.

I breathed out and cast Exorcise. Divine light burned around Dave, peeling him away from Mao Xian's frame. He staggered back, holding his head, his form solid yet faintly flickering, as if the world itself questioned his place. Joan rushed to him, steadying him with trembling hands.

And then Zai Ai moved, catching her disciple as he slumped forward. Mao Xian looked peaceful, almost childlike in that instant.

"He still sleeps," she hissed, panic in her tone. "What did you do!?"

"Patience, Zai Ai."

Mao Xian's body was strong, well-tempered at the Tenth Realm. I remembered the brat vividly and the mess he caused at the summit, nearly wrecking the life out of me with his reckless hunger for vengeance. Dangerous, yes. But when I looked at him now, sleeping and broken, I couldn't raise my hand to slaughter him. He wasn't my enemy, for his war was against the genocidal monsters who ruined his world. That was a pain I understood all too well.

So I relented. I lifted my hand and canceled the Divine Word: Rest that lay buried in his soul. His eyelids twitched, fluttered, and then opened.

"…M-Mother?" His voice was fragile, cracked by guilt.

Zai Ai pulled him close, her composure shattering into tears. "Oh, my disciple… my son… you've suffered so much. Why? Why didn't you just talk to me? We could've made something work out… not this madness…"

"I…" Mao Xian's lips trembled. "I failed you."

She brushed the blood from his cheek with tenderness that seemed foreign on her face. "And I believe you will do better. Let's go."

With a motion, she summoned a skiff into being, a floating, rickety craft that looked as if a strong breeze might splinter it apart. She helped him aboard, cradling him like a mother would a wounded child.

I frowned, fingers twitching. Better safe than sorry. Silently, I cast Bless on the vessel, just in case it decided to explode mid-flight. The glow was faint, discreet.

The skiff lifted, bobbing as if held by invisible tides. It rose slowly, carrying master and disciple higher and higher, until the air shimmered. With a crack of warped space, the craft vanished from sight, leaving only stillness in its wake.

As for the Hollow Star? Zai Ai had left me its location through a consciousness technique, a whisper carved into the back of my mind. A beacon. All I needed to do was go there, and everything would unfold as it should. But that wasn't my immediate concern.

Dave was.

He wasn't doing so good. His body flickered faintly, like a candle guttering against the wind.

Joan's voice cracked with alarm. "What's happening to him!?"

Tao Long loomed, his voice carrying that calm, ancient authority only dragons managed to have. "He has lingered outside his vessel too long. A spirit without its rightful shell begins to wither. Deprivation gnaws at him."

Dave gave me a strained smile, his face pale and trembling. "It's time I return to you, my Lord."

I frowned. He meant it. He wanted to merge back into me.

But the truth was, I didn't think it would be safe. Not anymore. I had changed far too much since the last time we'd been together. The Supreme Void had touched me. I'd endured strange episodes, warped instincts, and cracks in my own being, but I still didn't understand. I was no longer the man I once was. I didn't want Dave, of all people, to be hurt by me.

So I did something selfishly kind. Yep, I'm kind. Deal with it, universe. Gosh, that was making me blush… ahem…

"Joan," I said softly, "can you please take care of Dave for me?"

She blinked, stunned. "W-What? Would… would he be in less pain if I did?"

Dave turned his gaze toward me, uncertain. "My lord… is this wise?"

I nodded. "Definitely." I couldn't bring myself to voice the rest, but Dave understood anyway. His eyes softened with a sorrow I hadn't expected, a silent recognition of my fear.

He turned to Joan, his form trembling. "Please… accept me."

Joan's lips trembled, but she nodded, placing her hands over her heart. "I accept you."

A soft light enveloped him as Dave cast Divine Possession, his spirit slipping into her being. Joan gasped sharply, her knees nearly buckling as their essences intertwined. And then… she began to cry.

Her tears glittered down her cheeks as she whispered, "He… he has such beautiful memories of me. I feel ashamed… ashamed of myself, for not remembering anything."

Her hands pressed to her chest, trembling with a mixture of grief and devotion. And then, quietly, she prayed, not aloud, but I felt it in the air, as though her heart itself pleaded. She prayed she would strive to be herself again, that she would walk the path Dave remembered.

The prayer ignited something. Light radiated from her hands, forming a sigil that burned against the air. "Summon: Holy Spirit."

From the brilliance stepped Dave, not spectral, not fragile, but whole. He wore plain armor, his figure solid, his face calm. He stood at her side, no longer fading.

They faced one another, their breaths catching, and then they closed the distance. Their lips met, tender and unshaken, sealing a vow neither of them could yet put into words.

Their lips lingered, and even I, standing there awkwardly in my radiant golden retriever form, couldn't help but roll my eyes.

"Great," I muttered under my breath. "Now I'm the third wheel in a romance drama. Someone throw me a stick already."

"Uuuh… So I'm the fourth wheel then?" asked Tao Long. "Wait, do you really want me to throw a stick at you? Er… It's you, Da Wei, in there, right?

"No, don't throw a stick at me… It might hurt…"

Still, I couldn't deny the truth of it. Joan's tears, Dave's resolve, and that quiet spark between them. It was more than sentiment. It was survival. Maybe even salvation. Whatever else came of it, they had carved out something precious in the middle of this bloodied chaos: a home for Dave.

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