DADH Chapter 19

⌈Weekend update: 0/2⌋

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After bidding farewell to Ga’erfu, just as Jing Nian was about to urge the sand vulture to return to the Dragon Abyss, he suddenly felt a gentle squeeze in his soul. He sat on the back of the sand vulture, feeling momentarily dizzy. He quickly tightened his grip around the sand vulture’s neck, causing its wings to tilt, and it let out a strange cry.

Fortunately, the dizziness lasted only for a brief moment.

After bidding farewell to Ga’erfu, just as Jingnian was about to urge the giant eagle to return to the Dragon Abyss, he suddenly felt a gentle squeeze in his soul. He sat on the back of the giant eagle, feeling momentarily dizzy. He quickly tightened his grip around the giant eagle’s neck, causing its wings to tilt, and it let out a strange cry.

Fortunately, the dizziness lasted only for a brief moment.

Jing Nian then realized that the little dragon cub had woken up.

When the little dragon cub opened its eyes, it realized that Jing Nian was in control of the body. Slowly awakening, it relaxed its subconscious body control struggle. Instead, it playfully rubbed Jing Nian’s “dragon soul” in its dragon soul form, affectionately nuzzling him for a while. Then, with wide and innocent eyes, it looked around, marveling at the world within Jing Nian’s view.

Realizing that the scenery in Jing Nian’s eyes was what one would see while flying, the little dragon cub’s eyes widened even further, and a trace of longing shimmered in its clear eyes.

In its gaze towards Jing Nian, there was a subtle hint of admiration.

Wuu wuu wuu…

It had merely taken a nap! And its little brother had already learned to fly!

Suddenly, the sense of urgency within the little dragon cub, which had been peacefully sitting in the Dragon Soul Space, intensified. It gradually squeezed closer to Jing Nian’s dragon soul, wrapping its tail affectionately around his wrist. Then, it looked longingly in the direction of Jing Nian’s gaze, and back at Jing Nian’s dragon soul.

In its cuteness, a longing desire was apparent.

The entire little dragon cub seemed to be radiating an “I want to come out and try, but I won’t say it” anticipation.

Especially the pair of small, bare meaty wings on the back of its dragon soul, flapping madly as if simulating the motion of flight.

This whole set of actions was just too hard to ignore.

Originally, he had borrowed the little dragon cub’s body. Now that the little dragon cub had woken up, returning the body to it was only natural.

However, they were no longer in the Dragon Abyss but were flying on the back of the sand vulture. So, he first communicated with the little dragon cub through consciousness.

“We’re flying really high right now, so when you come out later, remember not to move around, okay?”

The little dragon cub’s eyes were full of anticipation. Even before Jing Nian finished speaking, it nodded rapidly and used its tail to encircle Jing Nian’s wrist, shaking and acting affectionately.

With two scorching and clear eyes, it conveyed the message “understood” with one look and “wholeheartedly” with the other. Its little feet couldn’t help but start taking small, excited steps.

“Alright! Alright!”

Jing Nian was completely won over by the little dragon’s adorable voice. He advised the sand vulture to be ready to catch the little dragon cub since it might not sit still. After receiving an eye roll of agreement from the sand vulture, he subtly gave it a nod and handed the control of the body back to the little dragon cub.

The moment it gained control of the body, the little dragon cub eagerly started flapping its small wings frantically. However, everything it saw in front of it left it completely baffled.

What on earth was this?

The lingering anticipation in the little dragon cub’s dark eyes gave way to a hint of confusion. It faced the wind, traversing through the layers of clouds. Then, it lowered its head and looked at the feathers tightly grasped by its claws, curiously tugging at a few.

“Gaa—”

Its neck feathers were tugged, causing the sand vulture to tilt its head and emit a painful screech. Its wings now wavered more vigorously, causing the entire sand vulture to shift slightly. Startled by the cry of pain, the little dragon cub released its grip, and it slid directly off the sand vulture’s back.

Among the group of dragons far above the clouds, who were observing from behind, this scene disrupted their formation. A few of the swiftest dragons didn’t think twice and dashed down through the clouds.

They were ready to catch the falling young masters.

As soon as the little dragon cub gained control of the body and began madly flapping its wings, Jing Nian already had a suspicion. It seemed that the little cub had misunderstood; it thought it was flying by itself!

Amused yet worried at the same time, Jing Nian watched as the little cub pinched the sand vulture’s feathers too hard, causing it to release and drop the cub.

Fortunately, after the brief moment of pain in its neck had passed, the sand vulture remembered Jing Nian’s warning and quickly went into a dive.

First, it raised its claws.

The charging dragons saw this action and their eyes immediately blazed with fire. Various elemental attacks were launched toward the sand vulture.

Suddenly, the sand vulture felt a prickling sensation on its back, still reminiscent of the many sharp rays it had encountered earlier. But in the urgency of the moment, there was no time for overthinking or turning around.

A sense of inexplicable survival instinct made it realize that in this critical moment, its large claw could accidentally crush its troublesome little owner!

The giant eagle swiftly retracted its foot, narrowly avoiding the falling little dragon cub. It then made a 180-degree turn, using its beak to catch hold of the cub’s hood.

Thanks to the improvements made after Jing Nian suffered, the current hood, even when lifted from behind its neck, didn’t restrict the little dragon cub’s body at all. On the contrary, it was as comfortable as sitting in a suspended chair.

The charging dragons from the cloud layers swiftly applied the brakes. The fastest of them, a wind dragon, immediately executed a sharp turn, using its body to shield against the various elemental attacks aimed at the Sand vulture.

The second and third fastest dragons flapped their wings in a flustered manner, clumsily using spatial magic to mask the commotion above the clouds.

The whole process happened very quickly.

In the blink of an eye, just two blinks.

However, within those two short blinks, the little dragon cub experienced the shattering of its—flying dream in its entirety!

As it hung in the suspended chair-like hood, accelerating through flight, its confused little wings continued to flutter with a small amplitude, as if it was still flapping away in a daze.

Who am I?

Where am I?

Wasn’t I flying just now?

The little dragon cub sat dumbfounded and silly inside the hood, its small head filled with question marks.

As it gazed at the slowly descending clouds in front of it, it finally began to slowly realize what had happened!

It tilted its head and looked at the sand vulture that was carrying it in its beak, flying with its wings flapping and eyes rolling. Finally, it recognized the reality.

The reality was that its younger sibling wasn’t flying just now; it was sitting on the back of this giant bird!

And it had eagerly taken back control of its body, not for flying, but it ended up falling instead!

Now, it could only hang there in this humiliating manner.

The little dragon cub’s head drooped in disappointment.

Wuu wuu wuu!

Its, its dignity, suffered a tiny bit of blow!

Jing Nian could already sense the little dragon cub’s emotions and could read its expression through the dragon soul’s reactions. So, for Jing Nian, the cub’s thoughts were quite easy to guess.

Originally transitioning from anxious concern to relief, when Jing Nian saw the funny scene of the cub hanging by itself, he couldn’t help but burst into laughter: “Hahaha!”

The little dragon cub was just too amusing.

Hearing Jing Nian’s laughter, the cub, pretending to be dead, moved its eyes a bit while tilting its head. A blush tinged the milky white dragon soul in the dragon soul space as it shyly curled up.

Feeling even more downcast, it cast an “I’m truly too embarrassed. To be laughed at like this, my self-esteem is shattered” glance at Jing Nian. Then, it quickly turned around, presenting its rear end to Jing Nian.

Even its usually affectionate little tail, which loved to brush against Jing Nian, had tucked itself away, pitifully encircling its vulnerable self.

The whole little dragon soul huddled in the corner of its supposed space, but now it was just a lonely, small, and helpless little creature.

Jing Nian: “…” Filled with guilt, an overwhelming sense of guilt.

Why was he so mean? Making the cub look so “miserable”!

He regretted it, regretted making the cub misunderstand that it was using their bodies to fly, and regretted laughing out loud uncontrollably!

Jing Nian cleared his throat and gently leaned closer to the curled-up little dragon soul behind the small dragon cub, reaching his hand around it and bringing out the affectionate tip of the tail that rested on his belly. He playfully gave its small head a little rub.

After a moment’s thought, facing the pair of eyes that, due to the cub’s vigorous flapping, made him still feel the soreness and exhaustion of its tiny, bald meat wings through their shared senses, Jing Nian struggled to find words. He couldn’t quite say, “Don’t worry, you’ll be able to fly soon,” the kind of comforting words parents use to paint a rosy future for their children.

His mouth half-opened, and when he was about to speak, he got stuck. He immediately sensed the moistening of the dragon cub’s eyes, reflecting its thoughts.

The complete annihilation of its self-esteem!!!

Reduced to nothingness, it couldn’t be put back together!

Recalling the terrifying sight of the cub wailing before, Jing Nian turned pale, quickly trying to figure something out: “Ah ah ah! That! Big brother, big brother!”

“Brother Dragon! Little brother is in big trouble!!! It’s a very urgent and dangerous situation that requires your help!”

The heartbroken little dragon cub, on the brink of tears, was immediately drawn by Jing Nian’s words. The tears that were about to fall back due to his words were once again attracted by his words. Subconsciously, it turned its head and looked at Jing Nian.

“Trouble?”

Seems like changing the topic was the right approach. Under the dragon cub’s gaze, Jing Nian nodded quickly.

“Yes.” He frowned slightly, looking very distressed.

Seeing Jing Nian like this, the cub’s full attention was captured. Its body, previously curled up, unconsciously opened up and slowly returned to Jing Nian’s side. Its little tail, which had already spontaneously recircled around Jing Nian’s wrist, and its small paws, holding onto Jing Nian’s arm, began imitating Jing Nian’s manner of comforting it by patting his back.

Sensing what “Brother Dragon” meant, Jing Nian quickly embraced the little cub, offering his back.

As expected, after strenuously patting Jing Nian’s back, completing “the necessary comfort step one (learned from Jing Nian),” the dragon cub let out a relieved sigh, as if relieved of a heavy burden. It left Jing Nian’s embrace and stood in front of him again.

Its little paw patted its chest (also learned from Jing Nian).

“Younger brother, don’t be afraid~”

“Big brother, help~”

Saying so, the dragon cub nodded forcefully, its eyes radiating confidence, a far cry from the distressed, nearly teary-eyed appearance it had just two minutes ago.

With his success, Jing Nian’s lips finally revealed an unrestrained smile, though it was still a smile at the adorableness of the dragon cub.

However, Jing Nian slightly reduced their shared perceptual connection, keeping a little more guard between him and the dragon cub. Consequently, the cub mistakenly believed that after Jing Nian received its promise of protection, it was quickly soothed and relieved of its worries, resulting in laughter.

Instantly, Jing Nian also joined in the satisfied laughter.

After happily rubbing against Jing Nian for a while.

From the inside out, the little dragon cub fully recovered its energy. Sitting in the cloak, it began to enjoy itself, swinging its feet like a swing.

Even when it felt the rapid wind blowing against its cheeks, it cheerfully howled.

“Roar~!”

“Roar~~~~!”

“Roar roar roar~~~~!”

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Above the cloud layer, the dragons who had been agonizing over protecting the two young lords, due to the earlier “emergency brake” that led to a frantic collision, were now all tangled up together.

Before they could recover, they realized that the tear-inducing assault from the first young lord was about to start again!

All the tightly clustered dragons were instantly on high alert: Alert Level One!

The dragons didn’t have time to worry about their crowded bodies. They all extended their necks towards the layer of clouds below, stretching them out long.

Seeing the young lord smiling and happy again,

The dragons collectively sighed in relief: “Phew~”

However, the next second, the dragons who had just let out a sigh of relief suddenly felt that something was amiss.

“Duang! Duang! Duang! Duang!…”

Several loud crashes echoed through the central part of the Lost Forest, accompanied by billowing smoke. The small area where the sound originated was left in complete disarray as trees were shattered into pieces. Lightning and ice-fire spread in all directions, leaving behind enormous craters wherever they struck.

 

Author’s Note:

I’m about to become a verified author (V), please don’t spoil me with too much support QAQ

Here’s the little dragon cub’s tail for you to pat~

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