…ing in pain, he had promptly used battle qi to protect his vital areas when he collided with the ice wall; otherwise, every bone in his body would undoubtedly have been shattered.
Seeing that the White Dragon appeared immensely interested in Ji Ziran, Ji Ziyu bounded forward in a few leaps, casting aside any concern over the fact that his divine seed had only established a minimal connection with his body. The violent turbulence of the magical elements surrounding him caused his garments to snap loudly in the wind.
Ji Ziran had almost been knocked off his feet by the gale whipped up when the White Dragon flew over. Managing with great difficulty to steady his posture, he was hit by a wave of warm air carrying an indescribable fragrance, causing him to momentarily space out.
Warm air, my foot! It was actually the White Dragon opening its mouth!
Just as Ji Ziyu was preparing to unleash a concentrated strike, and Ji Ziran felt a sense of impending danger prompting him to take a step back, the unexpected happened Ji Zilun reached out and shoved Ji Ziran forward with all his might!
[Mini Theater]
Nuan: Little Lun, you seem particularly unliked, don’t you?
Ji Zilun (slamming the table and standing up): Is it my fault that this Prince isn’t well-liked?!
Chapter 027: Entrusting the Orphan (Part 1)
To tell the truth, when Ji Ziyu witnessed this scene, his heart skipped a beat, and for a split second, his mind went blank.
By the time he recovered his wits, Ji Ziran was already just about to tumble right into the White Dragon’s maw. To rescue him now was clearly too late. If he acted rashly at this moment, the moment the giant dragon snapped its jaws shut, Ji Ziran would be bitten in two. It would be far better to wait until Ji Ziran had tumbled entirely inside before attempting a rescue.
However, prior to that Ji Ziyu narrowed his pale-golden eyes, within which an icy, frigid void masked any hint of murderous intent. With a single flick of his wrist, a wind blade materialized precisely where Ji Zilun was standing.
“…” Ji Zilun felt a sudden chill across his left shoulder, and turning his head in surprise, he cried out, “Yaaah~~~”
His arm had been severed! With a neat, even cut exposing the white bone underneath, the severed arm lying on the ground even gave a brief twitch.
Whether it was due to the bitterly low temperatures or some trick executed by Ji Ziyu, not a single drop of blood spurted from either the stump or the cut itself.
It wasn’t until Ji Zilun saw it with his own eyes that he seemed to register the pain, erupting into unceasing shrieks of agony.
Not far away, Ji Zixin covered her mouth with her hands, staring in utter disbelief at the events unfolding before her. Her sixteenth imperial brother had actually reached out and shoved her eighteenth imperial brother straight into the dragon’s jaws, while her seventeenth imperial brother, without so much as blinking an eye or changing his facial expression, stood far away and severed her sixteenth brother’s entire arm with a casual wave of his hand!
Just as Ji Zixin concluded that Ji Ziran was doomed to perish in the giant dragon’s jaws and instinctively closed her eyes in unbearable sympathy, the colossal dragon moved!
Contrary to what they had anticipated, the dragon halted its forward lunging motion, swiftly tilting its head sideways instead and snapping its jaws shut. Along the way, it used the side of its head to gently nudge Ji Ziran, saving him from stumbling and falling to the ground.
Left completely in the dark, Ji Ziran only knew he had been given a shove, and almost simultaneously, Ji Zilun’s screeching cries of agony rang out from behind him. Before he could sort out what on earth was going on, his entire person collided with something cool to the touch.
Ji Ziran instinctively took a step back, thinking to himself: If there’s an ice wall right in front of me, where on earth did that cozy, warm breeze come from just now?
While Ji Ziran hesitated over whether he should retreat a few more steps, a voice that resonated across the entire canyon floor abruptly boomed out. That voice carried a distinct, hoarse, and muffled quality that unmistakably lacked any trace of humanity: “Human…”
Ji Ziran blinked in puzzlement: Who is it talking to?
It wasn’t until something hooked onto his collar, dangling him back and forth in the wind like a ragdoll, that Ji Ziran finally dawned on the realization: “You’re calling me?”
“Human, I am willing to sacrifice my dragon soul in exchange for your care of my child, and for you to find his father.” The voice was deafening, rumbling back and forth through his ears and brain until his head spun.
Ji Ziran spent two full seconds processing the meaning of those words and grasping his current predicament. By the third second, the moment he parted his lips to utter a single syllable of refusal “No” a buzzing roar echoed inside his head, and he instantly lost consciousness.
The moment Ji Ziran passed out, the colossal white dragon’s body began to rapidly melt and dissipate, like snow encountering a blazing midday sun. The process was so swift that Ji Ziyu only managed to cast a single wind-type spell to ensure Ji Ziran wouldn’t suffer any injuries from his high-altitude fall before the dragon vanished entirely without a trace.
Not even the legendary, toughest dragon scales, dragon horns, or dragon bones were left behind. The canyon winds swept in from the gorge, remaining bitterly, mercilessly cold. The surroundings glowed brightly from the snow, and every direction one looked upon was a scene of utter, chaotic devastation.
Let alone the fact that Ji Zilun was still wailing with a shredded throat, while Ji Ziran lay unconscious on the ground both serving as undeniable reminders that everything that had just occurred was far from a dream.
Chapter 028: Entrusting the Orphan (Part 2)
“Your Majesty, Consort Xue is still kneeling outside,” Huaide said, unable to bear it any longer. That fresh, exquisite, and quiet Consort Xue was in frail health to begin with, and today she had suddenly lost two children in one fell swoop… By now, she had been kneeling outside for a very long time.
Ji Aotian peeled a prawn for King Yue, meticulously wiped his fingers clean in a leisurely manner, and only then replied, “If she wishes to kneel, let her kneel. The guards of my Chu Yun Empire will not throw away their lives in vain for princes who have no chance of survival.”
Huaide lowered his head and offered no further reply. He knew the Emperor’s mind was already made up.
“Didn’t you say you wanted Little Eighteenth to come stay with me for a few days?” King Yue’s tone was languid, yet his words were astonishingly direct. “What, are your words worthless?”
Ji Aotian looked at him with helpless indulgence, only to see King Yue propping his head up with one hand in an alluring, seductive posture, though his eyes carried unmistakable dissatisfaction. Chuckling wryly, Ji Aotian waved a hand. “Very well. Tell Consort Xue to stop kneeling. Send men immediately to search the bottom of the cliff.”
Huaide hastily nodded in assent and hurried out in a flurry.
Ji Aotian pinched King Yue’s chin and asked, “Satisfied?”
King Yue averted his gaze, maintaining his lazy, provocative demeanor.
Ji Aotian sneered, forcefully turning Qiyue’s head back and locking his fingers around his chin. “Qiyue, your daring is getting bolder by the day, isn’t it?”
King Yue smiled. “Then… how are you going to punish my boldness?”
Taking a deep breath, Ji Aotian leaned forward to press right against him: “You demon…”
Before long, ambiguous sounds echoed from within the room.
“Awake?” A cool-toned voice sounded by his ear as Ji Ziran stretched out a chubby hand to massage his forehead. “Where’s that dragon?”
“Gone.” Seeing that Ji Ziran was none the worse for wear, Ji Ziyu subconsciously let out a breath of relief without even realizing it.
Ji Ziran chuckled and grasped Ji Ziyu’s hand. “Since it’s entrusting an orphan to us, where’s the little dragon?”
Ji Zixin chimed in from the side, “You passed out for an entire day and night, you know. We haven’t moved an inch from this cave.”
“What’s wrong?” Ji Ziran caught the slight tremor in Ji Zixin’s voice and asked with bewilderment.
“N—nothing.” Ji Zixin swallowed hard, not daring to look toward Ji Ziyu and Ji Ziran, nor daring to glance toward Ji Zilun, who no longer looked quite human. Thus, her gaze involuntarily drifted toward the innermost depths of the cave.
“That white dragon came out from this very cave; could the little dragon be inside?” On one side stood the 17th Prince, whose natural chilliness surpassed even the weather itself; on the other side stood the 16th Prince, who had pressed himself against the snow-banked stone wall to staunch his bleeding, his face marred by an expression of intense, festering hatred. Ji Zixin had endured for an entire night, and seeing Ji Ziran wake up, she naturally wished to find some conversation to distract her own mind.
A look of troubled annoyance crossed Ji Ziran’s little face, his brows knitting into a tight knot. “What on earth is going on here?”
Ji Ziyu pulled him to his feet. “The white dragon’s soul sacrifice isn’t fake; we’d better find that little dragon.”
Ji Ziran smoothly stood up, looking rather disgruntled. “Talk about forced buying and selling!”
“Pretty much.” Ji Ziyu’s complexion was equally gloomy. A soul sacrifice from a White Dragon anyone on the Zeya Continent who understood what it entailed would dream of it! However, actively pursuing it versus passively accepting it were two entirely different experiences.
He also had no idea whether the promised tasks caring for the little dragon and finding its father could actually be fulfilled. Most importantly, it all had to be accomplished by Ji Ziran.
Ji Ziran rubbed his chubby chin and smiled. “Raising a little dragon might actually be nice. Who knows, once it grows up, I might even be able to hitch a ride and soar through the skies!”
Ji Ziyu narrowed his eyes as he looked at him, opting not to puncture his words. Perhaps it was because Ji Ziran never masked his expressions around him, coupled with the special telepathic bond between twins, but he could instantly guess that Ji Ziran had been more or less moved by the White Dragon’s actions, and was now adopting the mindset of a compassionate orphan-adopter to take the little dragon in.
Of course, had Ji Ziyu known that this little dragon would serve as an unmitigated “spoiler of romantic moods” for a remarkably long period of time after he and Ji Ziran finally reached a mutual understanding of hearts, he certainly would have been feeling a completely different emotion at that moment.
Chapter 029: Intuition
Ji Zixin kept turning her head back from time to time. Although everything was pitch black, she perpetually felt as though she were still being watched by those eyes of the sixteenth prince.
When they set off, Ji Ziyu maintained his usual expressionless and terrifying demeanor. Ji Ziran’s physical strength was failing him, so he allowed Xiaoyu to pull him along as they walked. Ji Zilun could not leave the ice wall, but his face had turned a pale, sickly cyan from the frost, while his eyes were brimming with such venomous malice that he looked precisely like an evil ghost.
After a moment of hesitation, Ji Zixin ultimately chose to follow behind Ji Ziyu and the others.
Yet as they walked, Ji Zixin still couldn’t help glancing backward repeatedly.
Ji Ziran, on the other hand, felt a growing sense of puzzlement after walking for a while: “Is it just me, or is the temperature getting higher and higher?”
Ji Ziyu squeezed out a single syllable from his throat in response: “Mm.”
Ji Ziran sighed, feeling rather perplexed as to why Xiaoyu was always so reluctant to speak? He hadn’t liked moving much when they were still in the womb, and ever since coming out into the world, he practically refused to make a sound.
Ji Ziran drew in a breath. “It smells so good.”
Ji Zixin wide-eyed her gaze as they trudged deeper into the pitch-black cave, noting how the temperature gradually climbed while a faint luminescence began to glow ahead. Unfolding before them was a cavern entrance veiled by a shimmering film of water. Through the rippling water membrane, they could catch glimpses of an ethereal, dreamlike landscape within… a world so breathtakingly beautiful it felt unreal.
Only Ji Ziyu reacted with cautious vigilance, scooping the little bun Ji Ziran up into…