Playing with Pearls

Yaozhu is the most inconspicuous little clam spirit in the South Sea.

Her shell is thin and her flesh soft. She is no good at fighting.

She spends all day huddled in her shell, cultivating, but still hasn't managed to form a life pearl.

A clam that can't form a life pearl won't live past three hundred, and she is already two hundred and ninety-nine.

Yaozhu is a little disheartened and doesn't want to cultivate anymore.

She takes human form and sneaks out of the sea, only to find an injured dragon stranded on the shore.

A dragon.

A dragon whose whole body is treasure.

An old saying comes to mind: Dragon essence entering a clam can also form a pearl.

After hesitating for a long while, Yaozhu carries off the unconscious dragon.

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Yaozhu politely asks if she can have his essence, but he refuses.

With no other choice, she cries as she forces herself on the helpless dragon.

A little over a month later, Yaozhu successfully forms a pearl and abandons the dragon, fleeing back to the South Sea.

She thinks she's gotten away clean, but the dragon still catches her.

Terrified, she clamps her shell shut in his hand.

A moment later, she opens a small crack and tremblingly pushes out the life pearl formed from his essence.

Yaozhu only wants him to spare her life. She gives the pearl back, so they'll be even, and she can at least live for a few more months.

But he clutches the pearl, his expression dark, and gives no answer.

-

Yaozhu is lucky enough to keep her life, and lucky enough to keep her pearl.

But the price is this: she has to nurture a brand-new life pearl for the dragon.

Reading notes:

Dragon x clam

Both virgins, happy ending

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Theme: Take responsibility instead of shirking it.