DADH Chapter 10

In the depths of the abyss, there is a place that is completely different from ordinary dragon lairs – the Dragon Palace.

The construction of typical nests was rough and straightforward, done through the use of elemental power and powerful physical strength. This approach was chosen for a simple reason: the destructive force of dragons was incredibly potent. Sometimes a moment of excitement could accidentally lead to a nest collapsing, not to mention the frequent fights.

This also meant that every dragon was an excellent digger.

However, due to the dragons’ universally irritable and impatient nature, their caves were often destroyed even before they were fully constructed. Over time, dragons developed a habit of perfunctorily digging their caves, with the exception of some essential places like the young dragon nests. As a result, almost all dragon nests were nothing more than ordinary caves carved into the mountainside.

In contrast, the Dragon Palace beneath the abyss stood out as an extraordinary work of art. It was meticulously crafted, exuding a grand atmosphere.

Built through generations of painstaking effort by the entire dragon clan, the palace had been further refined a little over a hundred years ago when the young master dragon egg hatched. If outsiders had a chance to see the Dragon Palace, it would surely transform their perception of dragon aesthetics.

Though it still featured a lavish display of gold and gemstones, it lacked any hint of gaudiness or chaos. Instead, it emitted a unique beauty that impacted one’s soul. It combined the distinctive characteristics and regal aura of the dragon race with an ancient and elegant charm that had been refined over time.

What was carefully handled in the eyes of dragons, appeared to Jing Nian as a powerful yet unrefined drag into the Dragon Palace. The breathtaking grandeur of the palace left Jing Nian utterly speechless at first sight.

As a veteran player of holographic online games, he had witnessed countless excellent scene designs, so it was rare for him to be moved like this.

Beyond its grandeur and beauty, what truly stirred Jing Nian’s heart was the atmosphere carried by this structure. He had never thought that he would experience the term “a sight that spans millennia” through a building. He seemed to envision the first dragon roar echoing through the abyss countless eons ago, the ancient dragons migrating, nesting, and constructing this palace step by step.

At this moment, Jing Nian found himself so close to the present, yet his mind was immersed in the distant past, as the gigantic claws of the dragons clumsily held and embedded gemstones into the palace, meticulously carving away…

As he snapped back to the present from his moment of trance, he realized he was now surrounded by a group of massive dragons.

Trembling.

No, he couldn’t even muster up the shivers. He could only sense, within the little dragon cub’s consciousness, the loneliness of being stared at by these immense creatures.

And for some reason, perhaps because he was viewing everything from the perspective of the little dragon cub, he had a peculiar sensation that the dragons’ eyes bore through the little dragon cub’s body, directly locking onto him.

Jing Nian was startled by his own whimsical thought, and he swallowed hard, holding onto himself tightly.

“Don’t move!” A dragon soul consciousness reverberated in the minds of all the adult dragons. It was Hesse’s voice.

In fact, even without Hesse’s words, all the dragons observing the little dragon cub remained silent on their own accord. They barely dared to breathe, not even allowing their eyes to twitch, for fear of disturbing their prematurely born young masters.

Yes, young masters.

Unbeknownst to Jing Nian, now that the barrier of the dragon eggshell was gone, all the dragons could see through the soft, tender body of the baby dragon. They were able to see the second young master – the one who was trembling within the young master’s dragon soul, and that was him.

And while Jing Nian was trembling with self-pity, the dragons outside had already engaged in a heated and furious discussion due to his actions.

“Damn humans! How dare they lay a hand on our young master! Who will join me in wiping out those two temples?” A purple lightning dragon roared within the dragon soul consciousness link.

“I’m going!”

“Me too!”

“Let’s go together!”

“Everyone should go!”

The proposal of the lightning dragon received unanimous support from all the dragons. Various intense affirmations echoed one after another within the connected consciousness.

Suddenly, a young dragon’s voice abruptly interjected, “But…”

“Why does the second young master look like this?”

The infuriated dragons paused for a moment, then glanced at the other young master dragon soul within the body of the young dragon form.

Soft, light golden hair; bright, blue eyes; fair and pretty cheeks – it was undeniably a “human-shaped” dragon soul, one that could even be considered attractive among humans. Furthermore, the dragon soul bore a hint of human traits, mixed with the absolute essence of a dragon.

Appearance didn’t matter – this was, of course, their young master!

Inside the young dragon’s body, Jing Nian felt the dragons’ gazes turning inexplicably more intense, leaving him somewhat unsettled.

That sensation of being directly scrutinized by the dragons was growing stronger.

Jing Nian cautiously adjusted his position, moving to a squatting posture. He hugged his knees with his arms, burying his face into his knees, revealing only a pair of beautiful blue eyes as he cautiously observed the dragons outside.

When the dragons met Jing Nian’s pair of uneasy yet beautiful blue eyes, they trembled simultaneously.

So, so adorable!

Truly worthy of being the second young master!

The intensity of desire in the dragons’ eyes soared once again.

Feeling Jing Nian’s tension and being drawn by his cute posture, the little dragon cub followed suit and squatted down beside him. With its little chubby paws, it attempted to imitate Jing Nian, hugging its knees with its hands. But it struggled to do so because it had realized it had too much flesh…

It couldn’t hold itself properly at all…

After a disheartening attempt, the little dragon cub tilted its head and looked at the dragons around, focusing its attention on their thick and short legs, large bellies, and massive tails that appeared stubby due to their girth.

After visually assessing that even the adult dragons couldn’t manage to do it, the dragon cub regained a bit of confidence. It calmed down a little and its round, innocent eyes rotated, allowing the dragons to scrutinize it.

Two little, soft, and equally adorable young masters, their cuteness shaking the hearts of the dragons, made all the dragons itch to let out unrestrained dragon roars.

Ah, ah, these were their young masters!

Why were they so cute!

The rapid breathing of the dragons, brought on by their excitement, was interrupted and suppressed by a light cough within the dragon soul consciousness link.

That’s right!

Stay calm. Don’t scare the young masters!

Especially the second young master who was frail and pitiable. Not only had he been forced to an early birth, but he had also been calculated by the humans!

So they needed to be even more careful in protecting him!

With this thought in mind, the dragons one after another found ways to avert their gaze, suppressing their excited emotions. They slowly moved their large heads and looked toward the young water dragon in the corner who was uttering foolish remarks with a vacant expression. Countless pairs of massive dragon eyes all conveyed the same expression – “Are you an idiot?”

Among the front row of dragons, the old water dragon, Lan Hai, noticed that the young water dragon being considered foolish was his grandson, Lan Xi. He suddenly felt that his pride as a dragon was somewhat persecuted by his wayward descendant.

Lan Hai widened his eyes and turned to his grandson, saying, “Of course, those despicable humans did it! For thousands of years, there have been humans in our midst who want to tame dragons and become Dragon Knights. There’s a foolish rumor that it’s easiest to deceive young dragons while they’re still in their eggs. So, it’s not the first time humans have tried to steal dragon eggs.”

With a touch of relief in its voice, it continued, “Luckily, our young masters can’t be bonded by mere humans.”

“I guess those two human mages found out they couldn’t bond with the young master, so they wanted to transform the second young master into a human!”

Lan Hai’s voice resonated directly within the consciousness link. By the end of its words, its excitement was hard to conceal.

Even the surrounding middle-aged and elderly dragons nodded in agreement, their fervor echoed collectively.

Suddenly, the younger group of dragons was dumbfounded. They were all hatched from the same batch of dragon eggs, and the young masters’ eggs were the only ones they had seen younger than their own. Moreover, after experiencing the dragons’ emphasis on the importance of the young master’s eggs over a hundred years ago, they dared not harbor any ill intentions toward them. Thus, these young dragons had never heard of humans attempting to steal dragon eggs.

Now hearing that humans had acted so shamelessly, coming to covet their young masters and then trying to turn them into humans when bonding failed, what was going on?

Did they want to snatch their young masters away?

This group of young dragons suddenly looked as if they had been injected with chicken blood, their eyes almost spewing fire. Their gazes turned fierce, as if they wanted to trample those despicable humans right away, at this very second!

One young dragon couldn’t contain its excitement and stomped its foot hard, creating a hole in the palace floor beneath it.

Normally, dragons wouldn’t care about such an incident at all, as it was quite common. Except for the young dragon who broke the floor, which gave it a headache because repairing the delicate palace was troublesome. It was as if a burly man accustomed to wielding a heavy hammer had to use a delicate needle for embroidery.

But the situation was a bit different now.

For the first time, the dragons exchanged shocked glances.

Two pairs of soft eyes stared directly at the young dragon’s feet and the hole in the ground below.

One pair of eyes belonged to the little dragon cub. With its mouth agape, its naive eyes were more filled with curiosity than shock. It seemed to be saying: Can I do this too in the future?

The other pair belonged to the consciousness within the young dragon, which was none other than the human, Jing Nian. He hugged himself even tighter and thought desperately:

Absolutely! Absolutely mustn’t let these dragons discover his existence!

Too terrifying, QAQ.

Immediately, all the dragons “swooshed” and turned their gaze to the young dragon that had startled the young master.

Their eyes carried an unusually dangerous expression.

After stomping the floor, the young dragon, who had moments ago seemed untroubled, felt a sudden tightness in its scalp. It also noticed the gazes of the two young masters and, with wings slightly drooping in shame, lowered its head.

Now that the topic was raised, the front row of dragons decided to discuss the matter further.

“The situation with those humans can wait. What’s important now is the young masters’ condition.”

“Yes, the hatching of the young masters was an accident. Fortunately, the dragon egg fell into the Holy Dragon Blood Pool, so after the eggshell cracked, the underdeveloped second young master inside received enough dragon blood replenishment and was born safely.”

“But the spell those cunning humans cast on the eggshell still worked.”

“The second young master’s body was originally underdeveloped, possibly due to premature birth or perhaps because of the humans’ spell. Now the second young master’s dragon soul is only half intact, the other half has become human. Even if we find a way to reforge his body, what about this half-human appearance?”

Only the most frontward dragon, Hesse, quietly observed the half-dragon soul within the little dragon cub for a moment. A slight concern emerged in its heart. However, as it looked at the endearing golden hair and gem-like blue eyes of the second young master, even Hesse had trouble controlling its fondness.

It coughed lightly and said, “In any case, our young masters can only be dragons! We must find a way to retrieve the other half of the second young master’s bloodline and then create a dragon body for the young master!”

As it spoke, Hesse looked at the beautiful golden hair on Jing Nian’s head with a hint of regret. Its pride as a dragon wouldn’t allow it to admit it, but the attraction of the human form was even stronger than that of the dragon form!

It must be because it was the young master!

Yes, that’s right!

 

The author has something to say:

Jing Nian: While I thought I was in grave danger, I had actually quietly become the group’s favorite. What’s most annoying is—I still don’t know about it. 🙂