Chapter 248: Loopy Toad’s Dream

　　Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

　　After thoroughly accepting its fate as a dog, it could be said that Loopy Toad had assimilated further into modern cultivation life, and since No. 60 High School, had gradually integrated into the Wang family. The old man only knew that Loopy Toad used to be a demon king, and had never brought up its original identity.

　　Anyone would be curious, but the old man was keenly aware that as a former demon king, Loopy Toad also had its pride.

　　The past was the past; now, he just treated Loopy Toad as a member of the Wang family. It was enough for him to know that it was a loyal dog.

　　Therefore, the person Loopy Toad was the closest to in the Wang family after Little Master Ling was Grandfather Wang.

　　Teacher Pan had borrowed Loopy Toad for a few days for the military training. It appeared to have lost a lot of weight, which made the old man’s heart ache just looking at it. Actually, it wasn’t that Loopy Toad had gotten thinner, but that it now had a far more refined-looking body after advancing in its cultivation, creating the mistaken impression that it looked “thin.”

　　But the old man didn’t understand any of this. Seeing that Loopy Toad was thinner, he began to rack his brains for nutritious meals to feed it so that it could become “Toad Zhuangshi 1 .”

　　That evening, while Wang Ling had dinner, the old man prepared an additional meal for Loopy Toad. Wang Ling saw the old man spin a ladle familiarly in the kitchen as he smiled at Loopy Toad at his feet. “At my age, how much longer do you think I can live for?”

　　Loopy Toad suddenly raised its head and looked suspiciously at the old man; it didn’t know why he would suddenly bring up this sad topic.

　　It didn’t know any techniques for measuring fate, but it knew how to read faces a little, and it was very certain in its heart that for the old man to live to a ripe old age was definitely not a problem.

　　“Even if I can live to be ninety, that’s less than thirty years away. You are a demon king, and you know how to cultivate. Shouldn’t you live longer than me?”

　　The old man smiled inanely and squatted down to rub Loopy Toad’s head. “No matter how long I’ll be able to stay with you or who you’ll guard the house for in the future, right now, you are my family’s dog.”

　　Wang Ling looked at this scene through the doorway.

　　He saw that Loopy Toad actually had tears in its eyes.

　　…

　　After dinner was when the old man would watch TV.

　　Based on Mother Wang’s recommendation, he had finished watching the entire series of The Story of the True Ring 2 . Then, under Father Wang’s careful guidance, he had finally learned how to use the TV’s search function, and was able to browse for dramas he was interested in.

　　The old man had recently been watching a large-scale inspirational youth drama production about cooking called The Verdant and Spicy Years 3 . It told the story of a young chef from a family of chefs who, in his struggles to become a kitchen god, went on a search for the legendary godly onion 4 which was said to be able to bring out the fullest umami flavor of a dish, and he was accompanied by his little sister childhood sweetheart as well as his warmhearted gay friend.

　　In the quest for this legendary godly onion, these three people experienced countless dangers. In the end, the protagonist’s sweetheart sacrificed her own ancestral white water lily to attract the godly onion. It was when the godly onion was sucking the white water lily dry, almost turning it into black fungus, that the protagonist and his gay friend decisively made a move and grabbed the godly onion with an R Flash 5 . In the end, the trio joined forces to become master chefs!

　　The old man hugged Loopy Toad, one hand stroking its dog fur while he used the other to wipe away his tears.

　　He had never cried like this before he had watched The Story of the True Ring . Now, he was wholly moved by the protagonist as he struggled on his path toward becoming a kitchen god; it was a story which resonated significantly with the old man.

　　He couldn’t help sighing emotionally in his heart: this, was true damn youth!

　　Conversely, Loopy Toad was clearly taken aback by the plot of this drama as it stared at the TV blankly.

　　Loopy Toad gave up on thinking…

　　…

　　When Loopy Toad returned to the room at eight o’clock that evening, it found Little Master Ling cleaning Jingke’s sword body.

　　Cleaning Jingke was very different to cleaning other swords. It couldn’t touch water, and it couldn’t be rubbed with spirit sand as that would destroy the grain pattern on the sword.

　　In essence, it was still a peach wood sword, so more care had to be taken with its maintenance.

　　Wang Ling hadn’t cleaned Jingke with such care for a very long time. He had to infuse the spirit earth specially used for cleaning wooden swords with his spirit energy and then cover every inch of Jingke’s body with it as if he was applying a facial mask. After the spirit soil was completely dry, he would peel it off little by little.

　　It seemed very simple, but it was delicate work, so each time Wang Ling cleaned Jingke’s body, he looked particularly serious. This was probably the most serious that Loopy Toad had seen him except for when he was studying.

　　As Loopy Toad stared at Wang Ling in the silence of their surroundings, it somehow started to feel a little sleepy…

　　Soon, it could no longer keep its eyes open.

　　…

　　Loopy Toad was dreaming from a god’s perspective.

　　It dreamed of a fat stranger with a bloody mouth who was tied to an iron post. In front of him stood a Taoist in red.

　　The Taoist in red sneered, and instantly, the spirit energy behind him transformed into a hundred magic swords which pierced the fat man’s chest…

　　The scene changed.

　　Loopy Toad saw the Taoist in red throw those bloody, magic swords into a furnace…

　　What on earth was the meaning of this dream? Loopy Toad watched blankly from a god’s perspective, and heard the Taoist in red laugh wildly as he cast all the magic swords into the furnace.

　　At this laugh, Loopy Toad abruptly woke up.

　　It leapt to its feet as if it had had a nightmare. In front of him, Little Master Ling was still cleaning Jingke’s sword body.

　　It looked at the clock on the wall — it was five minutes past eight o’clock.

　　This seemingly long and fragmented dream had actually only lasted five minutes.

　　What the hell was going on?

　　A few drops of cold sweat ran down Loopy Toad’s face — ordinarily, it seldom dreamed while it slept.

　　…Was this a foreshadowing dream of the toad clan?

　　Loopy Toad abruptly widened its eyes.

　　It recalled a legend of the toad clan. Toads were lazy by nature and liked to sleep. They seldom dreamed, so if they did, it was an omen. Though Loopy Toad was a dog now, in essence, it still had the soul of a toad!

　　But this dream was really too strange.

　　From beginning to end, it had jumped from scene to scene, and it had featured people Loopy Toad had never seen before… Damn foreshadowing dream, tell me the story clearly! We’re not acting out Conan 6 , do you have to be so cryptic?

　　Loopy Toad lay flat on the ground as it pulled at its ears, suddenly feeling its brain hurt. For the time being, in the current situation, its IQ wasn’t high enough to solve the riddle of this dream.