Tavern of the Spear: Desire for Pleasure

Seeing this amusing scene, Bai Yu casually put his arm around Cheng Yu's shoulder and said teasingly, "Although you have another look now, it seems your partner listens to you a lot. You're really henpecked! I thought that someone as big as him might bully you, but it seems I was overthinking it."

Hakan, standing to the side, didn't feel uncomfortable with Bai Yu's words. On the contrary, he felt that the other party was praising him. After all, in the dragon race, which husband would treat his partner so well? Probably only him. He puffed out his chest and looked at Cheng Yu with considerable pride.

Cheng Yu, on the other hand, felt this wasn't good. He wanted Hakant to treat him badly; after all, a dragon is always soft and cuddly, and how many people would like such a dragon? Especially during intimate moments, Hakant was always cautious, as if afraid Cheng Yu would die, which frustrated him greatly.

"Can you stop being so cautious all the time?" Cheng Yu couldn't help but complain. "I'm not a porcelain doll that will break if you touch me."

Hearing this, Hakant lowered his head, looking somewhat aggrieved. "But I'm afraid I'll hurt you..."

"How many times have you hurt me?" Cheng Yu said irritably.

Hakant paused for a moment, then a blush crept onto his face. He stole a glance at Slime Cheng Yu, who was looking at him with disdain, making him even more hesitant to act rashly.

"Ahem..." Bai Yu coughed lightly twice, breaking the awkward atmosphere. "Um, Cheng Yu, now that you've changed like this, can you change back?"

"It should be okay..." Cheng Yu said somewhat uncertainly, "However, I'm fine the way I am now, at least I don't have to worry about turning back into a soul state."

"By the way," Bai Yu suddenly remembered something, "how are your preparations for the Void Realm coming along?"

What are you saying? I don't understand.

"Haha, it's that name, the Forgotten Land. It's a name I gave it. What do you think of it?"

"..."

"It sounds nice, but it's a bit cringey," Cheng Yu nodded. "Why are you suddenly asking me about this? Didn't we just talk about it?"

“I have a way to get in. Take a look at this!” Bai Yu said, taking out his left arm and gesturing for a good look at the bracelet on his wrist. “My master said he can help. As long as we find the place where you first entered, he will open a passage for us.”

Cheng Yu thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. "Alright, then please thank your master for me! More people mean more strength, and perhaps with your help, I can really help Aolian."

“Then let’s meet at the tavern entrance tomorrow morning,” Bai Yu said. “The sooner we go, the sooner we’ll be back.”

“Okay,” Cheng Yu replied.

After they reached an agreement, Bai Yu turned and left. Cheng Yu watched his retreating figure, a sudden unease rising in his heart. He had a feeling that this trip to the Void Realm wouldn't go so smoothly.

As night fell, Snow sat alone in the tavern's basement, holding a yellowed photograph. In the photograph, a young werewolf was holding a werewolf baby, his face beaming with happiness.

“This isn’t Cheng Yu’s stuff. And who is the child on this…” Snow murmured to himself, his eyes filled with worry. He seemed to recognize it as himself and Evand, but how could that be? He didn’t remember having a son. Although Evand looked like him, he definitely wasn’t his son!

Is that really the case? Snow wondered uncertainly.

Meanwhile, at the altar of the lizardman tribe, Nexus was also praying to the moon. "Evind, we will be happy together forever and ever..." he whispered, his eyes filled with love. Ever since Evind entered his life, he had been restless, always feeling that something bad was about to happen.

The next morning, Cheng Yu in his slime and gargoyle forms emerged from the second room in the basement, their faces still radiating the passion that hadn't quite faded. If you peeked through the crack in the door, you could see Hakan lying on the bed, his exhausted body unable to even sit up, slumped helplessly on the floor. However, his face was full of happiness; it seemed his experience the night before had been quite eventful, otherwise, this red dragon wouldn't have been so exhausted.

The two Cheng Yus went upstairs together. Just as they reached the staircase leading from the basement to the first floor of the tavern, they saw Victor coming down to fetch another barrel of wine from the cellar. After exchanging greetings, they went their separate ways. On the first floor, the tavern was still very quiet, as there were very few customers in the morning. However, the tavern had a tradition of taking in homeless orcs. At this moment, a drunkard was fast asleep at one of the tables. He practically slept there every day; perhaps he no longer had a home, Cheng Yu thought.

Upon reaching the first floor of the tavern, Snow found Cheng Yu and handed him a yellowed photograph—the very same one he had looked at the previous night. Cheng Yu looked at the photo with some surprise; he didn't recall having such a picture and asked Snow where he had gotten it. Snow was puzzled; wasn't this Cheng Yu's? It seemed only Cheng Yu possessed such a photograph. Snow told Cheng Yu not to pretend it was unrelated; this thing originally belonged to Cheng Yu, and in the tavern, or rather, in this misty place, only Cheng Yu had such a photograph.

Seeing Snow looking at him with disbelief, Cheng Yu quickly took out all his photos and placed them in front of Snow, comparing them to the yellowed one. Compared to the yellowed photo, his photos were basically brand new, and Cheng Yu pointed out that the information on the photos didn't match him. The werewolf in the photo was clearly a young Snow, but how could Cheng Yu have met a young Snow? Cheng Yu only met Snow after arriving at this tavern; how could he possibly have photos of him from before?

Snow was still somewhat skeptical. Comparing the photos of both sides and reflecting on the incident, it seemed it definitely didn't belong to Cheng Yu. So whose could it be? Just as he was pondering where this thing came from, a series of clanging and banging sounds came from the rooftop, as if a major battle was taking place. But they knew it was definitely Chet researching something again; Chet always did this when he was researching—he kept encountering this and that.

After a while, there was finally no more noise upstairs. Then, the sound of footsteps landing on the floor came from the bottom of the stairs. Then, surprisingly, Chet jumped down the stairs from the middle of the stairwell, confident that his friends in the tavern wouldn't let him fall. Sure enough, as he expected, Slime Chengyu's arm quickly extended, then rolled him up and pulled him in front of everyone.

The two Cheng Yus looked at Chet in front of them, wondering if this guy had gone mad. What did he mean by jumping off a building? Chet didn't seem embarrassed at all; instead, he excitedly hugged Cheng Yu's neck with his little paws, indicating that he had already figured out the special spice. Hearing this, Cheng Yu immediately became interested.

"Really? So fast?" Cheng Yu asked in surprise.

“Of course!” Chet said proudly. “I’m Chet, the genius inventor! How could such a small thing stump me?”

"So... how was the effect?" Cheng Yu asked impatiently.

"Hehe, well..." Chet deliberately kept everyone in suspense, "Why don't you try it and you'll see?"

"How to try?"

“Simple!” Chet pulled a small bottle from his pocket containing some powder. “Sprinkle this on yourself, and then… hehe, you know what I mean!”

Cheng Yu looked at the small bottle, hesitant. "Is...this really safe?"

"Don't worry, don't worry!" Chet patted his chest and assured him, "Absolutely safe! I've already tested it on myself!"

"You've tried it?" Cheng Yu looked at him with some suspicion. "I don't see any change in you."

"That's because..." Chet stammered for a long time, unable to get a clear answer. "Well, just try it and you'll see! Trust me, you'll be pleasantly surprised!"

Cheng Yu glanced at Chet, then at Snow, and finally decided to give it a try. "Alright, let's give it a try." Cheng Yu, the slime, took the small bottle, carefully opened it, and sprinkled the powder inside onto himself.

The powder disappeared immediately upon contact with his skin. Cheng Yu felt a slight itch, but otherwise, he felt nothing else. "This...that's it?" he asked, puzzled.

"Wait, wait a little longer..." Chet said mysteriously, "The real show is yet to come!"

Cheng Yu waited for a while, but there was still no response. "Chet, are you playing me?" he said angrily.

"No, no!" Chet quickly waved his hand. "Really, no! Just wait a little longer, it'll be ready soon!"

A few more minutes passed, and Cheng Yu finally couldn't wait any longer. "I can't wait any longer! I have important things to do!" He turned to leave.

Just then, he suddenly felt a strange heat surging through his body, and then his body began to change...

In his slime form, Cheng Yu has become something indescribable; in short, certain special groups might like it.

"What weird stuff have you been researching again? I don't want this kind of incense!"

"Haha! I was just joking about that last one, this is the real thing!" Chet took out the spices he had actually researched, but he had already made them into an incense stick, which would work as soon as it was lit.

After seeing what he wanted, Cheng Yu stopped being angry and took the incense stick. He didn't doubt it; he was just trying to fool himself. After all, in his previous life, when playing games, things that helped him sleep and could reset points looked like this.

Cheng Yu glared at Chet somewhat angrily, meaning, "This guy's finally doing something serious." Then, keeping his promise, he collected a large portion of the slime from his body into a bucket and handed it to Chet. Chet jumped up excitedly; he finally had new research material! He struggled to lift the bucket full of slime. Seeing this, Cheng Yu sighed and helped him lift it, then they went together into the room where Chet usually sold his goods.

After finishing, Cheng Yu the Slime emerged from the room. The group didn't dwell on the yellowed photograph. A quarter of an hour later, a tiger-beastman pushed open the tavern door. Bai Yu stood in the doorway, warmly greeting his friends on the first floor, then quickly approached the two Cheng Yus. He looked around at Cheng Yu with some confusion, noticing a red figure was missing, and asked, "Where's Hakan?"

Both Cheng Yu coughed awkwardly at the same time, indicating that Hakan was too exhausted from yesterday's events to get out of bed. Bai Yu looked at the two Cheng Yu in disbelief, then at their two forms, and instantly understood. If that was the case, it seemed acceptable, but to exhaust a dragon like that was truly an amazing thing.

The conversation among the young people was none of Snow's business, so he tactfully left. Besides, as the owner, he needed to prepare the drinks and barbecue for the day. Cheng Yu and Bai Yu found a table and sat down, then began discussing their conversation from the previous day—the Void Realm. Bai Yu asked Cheng Yu if they were ready. They were setting off today, and asked if they needed to bring more friends. Cheng Yu shook his head, indicating that the three of them were sufficient; this was a matter ordinary people couldn't handle and would only bring them danger. Bai Yu nodded in agreement, and after confirming, they decided to depart at noon, with Cheng Yu leading the way to the closest point to the Void Realm.