Deep within the ruins, Yisela lay sprawled on a soft bed, sleeping with her limbs splayed in all directions.
Her silver hair spread across the velvet pillow, her little dragon tail unconsciously curling around the corner of the blanket. A strand of crystal-clear drool hung from the corner of her mouth.
In her dream, she was rolling around on a mountain of gold coins in the Dragon’s Nest, surrounded by sparkling gems and golden crispy chicken legs.
Suddenly—
An extremely faint, familiar magical fluctuation brushed against her divine sense like a thin thread.
Yisela’s eyes snapped open.
That fluctuation was far too familiar.
It was the unique bloodline resonance of the Silver Dragon Clan—a secret art only usable by Dragon Clan Elders: [Dragon Soul Whisper].
The Dragon Clan only used this cross-space communication method in the most urgent situations.
“Si Zhanglao?”
Yisela scrambled up from the bed, her ruby-like eyes instantly filling with tears.
“Boo hoo hoo!”
“Si Zhanglao!”
“Is that you?”
From deep within her divine sense came a familiar, somewhat helpless sigh.
“Your Highness the Princess, your old servant is here.”
“Si Zhanglao!!!”
Yisela nearly jumped off the bed, her voice choked with tears.
“Help!”
“There’s a woman with black wings, Diamond Peak! And a bunch of high-rank demon creatures!”
“This princess has been kidnapped by evil forces! They’re super vicious!”
“They said they’ll trample the Dragon Clan and rip off all your scales to make armor!”
The more she spoke, the more excited she got, her little fists waving in the air.
“Of course, this princess couldn’t take that lying down!”
“I immediately fought that fallen angel for three hundred rounds!”
“You should’ve seen it—the sky went dark, the sun lost its light!”
“If it weren’t for my Dragon God power not being fully recovered, letting her barely win…”
“Hmph!”
Si Zhanglao was silent for a moment.
“I could tear down this broken ruin all by myself! I don’t even need you guys to show up!”
“Your Highness, we sensed your battle with the Slime through bloodline resonance.”
Si Zhanglao’s calm voice came through.
Yisela’s waving fists froze mid-air.
“You were tied up in a big X shape by the Slime’s tentacles, and you made strange sounds.”
Yisela’s face instantly turned into a ripe tomato.
“Then you cried and said you wanted to stew it and eat it.”
“We also sensed that you were completely limp after being toyed with by the Slime…”
“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!!!”
Yisela covered her ears with both hands, curling into a ball, her face red enough to emit steam.
Through her divine sense, she vaguely heard Da Zhanglao’s suppressed roar of laughter that sounded like he was hurting himself, and Er Zhanglao’s unrestrained guffaw.
“What about my privacy!”
“You guys…”
“Can you turn off that stupid bloodline resonance?”
“How do you know everything!”
Si Zhanglao’s voice remained steady, but Yisela could sense a trace of schadenfreude in it.
“Your Highness, you were alone and had lost all your power, yet you dared to challenge a mighty Slime. Though you lost, you still earned honor.”
“That kind of courage is enough to be recorded in Dragon Clan history.”
“Recorded in history my foot!!!”
Yisela pounded the mattress in frustration.
“You knew I was captured, and you still didn’t come to save me!”
“This princess is going to throw a tantrum!”
“I really am going to throw a tantrum!”
She took a deep breath and put on a look of complete abandonment.
“Listen up!”
“There are tons of treasures hidden in this ruin!”
“The mastermind behind it all is filthy rich!”
“Golden crispy roasted whole lamb, thousand-year treant tears wine, and a huge pile of sparkling gems!”
“If you don’t come save me, I’ll report every hiding spot of the Dragon’s Nest treasures to these bad guys!”
“I mean what I say!”
Si Zhanglao’s voice finally showed a hint of fluctuation.
“Your Highness, please calm down.”
“Those treasures you mentioned… aren’t they your own secret stash?”
“Da Zhanglao’s false tooth gold coins, Er Zhanglao’s gem collection, San Zhanglao’s magic crystals…”
“How do you know that!”
Yisela blurted out, then immediately covered her mouth.
“Because every time you hide something, you leave a sign at the entrance that says ‘Lord Yisela’s Secret Base—Trespassers Die.’”
Si Zhanglao cleared his throat, his tone turning serious.
“Your Highness, the priority is to find out who the mastermind is.”
“This kidnapping of yours involves a lot of things behind the scenes.”
“Death knights, fallen angels, platinum-tier magical beasts—these forces are not to be underestimated.”
“Forget all that!”
Yisela stomped her foot anxiously.
“Just get me out of here first!”
“You don’t know how strong that fallen angel is!”
“She said she’s Diamond Peak, and Saint Sister couldn’t last three rounds against her!”
“If you don’t come, and she gets in a bad mood one day and decides to stew me, what then?”
Si Zhanglao’s voice was steady and powerful.
“Rest assured, Your Highness.”
“I have already used Dragon Soul Whisper to summon several Silver Dragon experts who were traveling nearby.”
“They are secretly moving toward your location and will rescue you at the most opportune moment.”
Yisela’s eyes lit up.
“Really?”
“How many are coming?”
“Are they strong?”
“Three.”
Yisela pouted.
“Three isn’t enough!”
“That fallen angel is Diamond Peak!”
“And she has a bunch of platinum-rank underlings!”
“Four high platinum rank, one early diamond rank.”
Si Zhanglao said helplessly:
“Your Highness, while the Silver Dragon Clan has many experts, most of them are sleeping or traveling in the Extreme North Land.”
“It was already the limit to gather three in such a short time.”
“Moreover…”
His voice lowered, carrying a note of gravity.
“We have discovered that the power of the Dragon God’s bloodline within you is steadily weakening.”
“That curse…”
“It is continuously devouring your bloodline.”
“At this rate, soon we will no longer be able to sense your location at all.”
Yisela was stunned.
She looked down at her hands.
Under the pale skin, black patterns could faintly be seen writhing slowly, like poisonous snakes parasitic inside her.
“That Ugly God’s curse…”
She murmured.
“We have more or less figured out the nature of this curse.”
Si Zhanglao’s voice became unprecedentedly serious.
“It has only one goal—to completely devour the power of the Dragon God’s bloodline within you and transform that power into some kind of nourishment.”
“But as for what the mastermind intends to do with that nourishment…”
He paused.
“We don’t know yet.”
A thunderous voice suddenly rang out.
Da Zhanglao said:
“No matter what he’s planning to do, anyone who dares to scheme against our Yisela must be eliminated!”
The moment Yisela heard Da Zhanglao’s voice, tears streamed down her face.
“Boo hoo hoo!”
“Da Zhanglao!”
“You’re the one who loves me the most!”
“If you don’t come, I really will get sucked dry by that ugly freak!”
“Listen!”
“My divine power is almost gone now!”
“It’s leaking out like a balloon—pfft pfft pfft!”
Da Zhanglao’s roar shook Yisela’s head until it buzzed.
“Bullshit!”
“Who does that brat think he is?”
“Old Fourth, listen up! Immediately mobilize people!”
“Wake up all those lazy bastards sleeping on the Northern Snowfield!”
“Anyone who doesn’t come, I’ll use their dragon fangs to make a dung shovel!”
San Zhanglao’s voice cut in.
“Da Zhanglao, please mind your image. The princess is listening.”
“Image my ass!”
“My granddaughter is about to be stewed by someone, and you want me to care about image?”
Yisela’s tears turned to laughter.
“Da Zhanglao, I’m not scared now that you’re here.”
“But you guys need to hurry up. I’m afraid I can’t hold out much longer…”
Si Zhanglao suddenly interrupted her, his tone turning heavy.
“Trouble.”
“That curse is accelerating all of a sudden!”
Yisela looked down.
The black patterns on her arm started spreading wildly like living things.
A sharp pain exploded from her heart.
She let out a stifled groan and collapsed onto the bed.
In the last moment before her consciousness faded, she heard Da Zhanglao’s furious roar and Si Zhanglao’s urgent voice.
“Hold on, Your Highness.”
“We’ll be there soon.”
***
Meanwhile, in the Secret Chamber of the ruins.
The fallen angel knelt on one knee. In the magical crystal before her, Victor’s phantom was staring coldly at her.
“Her mental fluctuation was a bit abnormal earlier.”
Victor’s voice was calm and dangerous.
“Did some outside force contact her?”
The fallen angel lowered her head.
“This subordinate sensed an extremely faint bloodline resonance from the Dragon Clan.”
“But the duration was too short to trace the source.”
A cold smile curled at the corner of Victor’s mouth.
“The Dragon Clan!”
“It seems those old geezers finally can’t sit still anymore.”
He turned to look at the pulsing black magic core at the center of the secret chamber, a mad gleam shining in his eyes.
“No matter.”
“Let them come.”
“Once I completely devour that little dragon’s Dragon God bloodline and concentrate a true Godhood—”
“The more that come, the richer the sacrificial nourishment.”
“By then, even if the entire Silver Dragon Clan comes out in force, they can only kneel before me and call me God.”
His laughter echoed through the secret chamber, cold and insane.
The fallen angel remained kneeling in place, her black wings folded behind her, like a lifeless statue.