Lu Qiuchen first went to Galef’s residence in the valley near the Elders’ Council and recounted everything she had seen and heard in the Wyvern Gathering Grounds.
Lu Qiuchen thought she had been rather prudent. Since the mastermind behind the half-dragon conspiracy, who was using Odyn’s name, was still unknown, she should confirm with Galef first before approaching Odyn directly.
If Galef truly was the mastermind, then her safety wouldn’t be a concern—after all, this was Dragon Isle, and Odyn was only a few dozen kilometers away. Even if Galef wanted to harm her, he wouldn’t dare make a move here.
Besides, Galef had always treated her well, so by coming here first, she was also showing some loyalty.
After understanding Lu Qiuchen’s purpose, Galef saw through her thoughts and slowly said, “I already know how things unfolded. You guessed right—this was indeed my doing. You don’t have to worry that I acted without Odyn’s knowledge; this matter has his full approval.”
He sighed and continued, “The root cause is that the half-dragons became overly arrogant after gaining power far beyond their limits, which led to fierce clashes with the wyverns. Although I wanted to stop it, my identity makes it inconvenient for me to appear publicly, so I borrowed Odyn’s name to handle the situation.”
Lu Qiuchen felt a bit awkward at being exposed, then quickly changed the subject, “So you’ve been keeping an eye on the half-dragon clan all along?”
Galef nodded, “Of course. Silver dragons are different from other pureblooded great dragons… ahem As for that matter later on, that was just the wyverns overthinking things. There was no grand scheme involved. The restrictions on those holding the Celestial Shard were only to prevent the half-dragons from becoming too powerful and triggering another conflict.”
‘Silver dragons are different from other great dragons? What differences?’ Lu Qiuchen wasn’t sure if Galef was deliberately revealing some information or if he had accidentally slipped up. But thinking it over, it was probably the former.
Still, now was not the time to ponder this—her mana was still steadily draining!
“Then for the curse on me, do I still need Lord Odyn to intervene?” Lu Qiuchen, having grasped the cause and effect of this matter, no longer dwelled on it and shifted her focus to the abnormal state within herself.
Galef rose slowly and drew the outline of a long-range teleportation magic circle on the ground. He said to Lu Qiuchen, “There’s no need to trouble Odyn anymore. Besides, he doesn’t have time right now. I will take care of this. The Dark Demon Dragon’s curse grows troublesome the longer it remains. It needs to be dealt with quickly. Those wyverns who dared to cast such a vicious curse on a pureblooded great dragon sure have some nerve. Looks like it’s time to teach these wyverns a lesson.”
Relieved she didn’t have to see Odyn, Lu Qiuchen breathed out, but when she heard Galef say dealing with the curse might be difficult, a flicker of worry crept in.
Following Galef’s guidance, she stepped into the magic circle, and when the two silver dragons appeared again, they were already on the Northern Continent.
What happened next required no elaboration. Galef once more disguised his aura as Odyn’s and personally descended upon the Wyvern Gathering Grounds, proving Lu Qiuchen’s words true.
The wyvern lords were terrified, and Galef ordered the Dark Demon Dragon to lift Lu Qiuchen’s curse.
But just when things seemed to be going smoothly, an unexpected complication arose.
Under Galef’s immense pressure, the Dark Demon Dragon attempted to remove the curse from Lu Qiuchen, but despite multiple tries, the curse seemed to have mutated. After much effort, only a small part of it was lifted; the majority remained deeply entrenched in Lu Qiuchen’s body.
After numerous failed attempts to control it, the curse acted as if it were alive—it outright defied his commands and then traveled deeper into Lu Qiuchen’s body. The Dark Demon Dragon was stunned.
For the Lord himself to come personally, the silver dragon’s previous claims were true—her identity was definitely extraordinary! But now, the situation was dire; this was a huge disaster. I’m probably beyond saving!
Panicked and frantic, the Dark Demon Dragon was at a loss. This was unprecedented, and he could do nothing but tremblingly confess the truth to ‘Odyn’ and Lu Qiuchen, awaiting the death sentence from the two dragons.
Lu Qiuchen, who had initially thought her mana loss was slowing and that the treatment had succeeded, was now told the curse had mutated and slipped out of the curse caster’s control, hiding inside her body.
Feeling the mana still leaking, she was frantic and angry, eyes blazing with killing intent as she stared at the dejected Dark Demon Dragon.
Her main offensive method was magic, and now she couldn’t store mana within herself. How was she supposed to fight if this wasn’t resolved?
Galef frowned deeply upon hearing this. His already wrinkled old dragon face appeared even more rugged as he stopped Lu Qiuchen from attacking the Dark Demon Dragon.
He approached and placed his forepaw on her back, urging her to relax her mind and input spiritual energy to examine her internal condition.
But the more Galef looked, the more alarmed he became.
The curse cast by the Dark Demon Dragon had gathered and condensed into a mass inside Lu Qiuchen, and its intent was crystal clear—it was moving through her bloodstream toward her heart!
Though Galef was a star-level powerhouse, the rules he mastered were unrelated to this matter.
While he could send spiritual energy into her body to investigate, he was powerless to help her stop the curse and could only advise Lu Qiuchen to enter her spiritual realm and maintain her mental state to prepare for any danger.
Seeing Lu Qiuchen enter her spiritual realm and fall into a sleeping state, Galef coldly swept his gaze over the trembling wyvern lords.
In fact, among the extreme conservative faction of pureblooded great dragons, creatures like wyverns, dragonborn, and half-dragons—those with dragon bloodlines—should not even exist in this world.
They believed the emergence of such species was a stain on the dragon lineage.
But most pureblooded dragons were indifferent to this, so such views didn’t spread widely, and the conservatives’ plans to exterminate these dragon subspecies naturally failed.
After internal discussions, the pureblooded dragons drove the wyverns out of Dragon Isle, and the matter was considered closed.
Perhaps because dragons had seldom appeared on the Northern Continent for so long, the wyverns now dared to plot against dragons—that was a direct challenge to the dignity of pureblooded dragons and was absolutely unforgivable!
That Galef would think this way was exceedingly rare.
Galef’s care for half-dragons stemmed not only from the fact that he himself was the creator of the half-dragon clan, but also because he belonged to the moderate faction among dragons.
Yet now, he was very dissatisfied with the Dark Demon Dragon’s actions.
He knew the Dark Demon Dragon targeted Lu Qiuchen to retrieve the Celestial Shard, but Lu Qiuchen was far more important to the dragons.
If anything happened to her, the dragons’ current plans would be seriously undermined, and their prior investments would be wasted.
She was a once-in-ten-thousand-years eligible candidate for the dragon race, and the pureblooded dragons had been carefully protecting her, only gradually easing up once she reached legendary-level strength.
Who would have thought she would be betrayed by a few wyverns?
Originally, Galef thought this was a minor issue—just come here and give the wyverns a warning.
But who could have expected the curse on Lu Qiuchen to mutate, and that she might now be in mortal danger?
The Dark Demon Dragon’s luck was truly abysmal.
Adopting an icy demeanor, Galef said to the wyvern lords, “Let’s settle our matters here and now.”
*****
Following Galef’s instructions, Lu Qiuchen entered her spiritual realm to guard against impending threats.
She was puzzled by the situation—so many seemingly ordinary things happening to her were suddenly abnormal.
Now, even the curse on her could mutate.
“It’s coming!” Lu Qiuchen’s spirit jolted.
She sensed an evil yet somewhat familiar force laboriously invading her spiritual world.
On high alert, she watched a thin gray mist appear in her spiritual space, but before she could attack, the mist vanished without a trace.
Lu Qiuchen searched carefully but found nothing—the curse truly seemed to have disappeared.
“All these strange things happening today…” Lu Qiuchen muttered in confusion.
“Eh? My mana is no longer leaking!” She noticed her aura returning to normal and brightened at the news.
But just as she grew excited, the massive dragon heart in her spiritual space began violently trembling.
Damn it, that curse never vanished—it’s targeted at the dragon lineage itself!
Startled, Lu Qiuchen realized she was no longer the naive little silver dragon she once was.
She understood the dragon lineage was resisting the curse’s invasion, materializing her spiritual-form body as a blur within the lineage, helping it fend off the mutating curse.
Entering the dragon lineage, she finally understood why the lineage was trembling violently.
That mutated curse, which had struggled to breach the spiritual realm, suddenly became agitated once it touched the dragon heart.
It repeatedly launched furious attacks.
After close contact with the curse, Lu Qiuchen suddenly realized where the familiar feeling came from—this curse contained her own thoughts!
It was the unwillingness to be controlled by the dragon lineage, a rebellious will against it!
Stunned, Lu Qiuchen knew these thoughts in the mutating curse were indeed hers, but they must have originated long, long ago.
She had long since adapted to life as a pureblooded great dragon, and no longer harbored any resistance in her heart.