59. Dragon Vein
The following scene was quite peculiar.
“Da Hei” gently picked up Gong Yiling with two claws and placed her on its back.
“What are you doing?” she instinctively asked, then rubbed her forehead.
Forget it.
This guy didn’t understand human language anyway. There was no point in asking.
Da Hei, seeing no objections, flew out of the cave with her on its back.
Outside, the landscape was still a barren wasteland of red earth and scattered rocks.
However, they were now at least ten miles away from their starting point.
She couldn’t recognize any of the surrounding scenery.
And…
Before her was a long, glowing canyon.
“What… is this?”
Gong Yiling stared at the canyon stretching into the distance, her heart filled with confusion.
She had thought this secret realm was only a few times the size of the palace, but clearly, that wasn’t the case.
This place was at least ten times larger than Yanlie City, and it contained an adult dragon and a mysterious canyon.
Was this really just a secret realm?
This was practically an underground world!
After setting Gong Yiling down, Da Hei wanted to say something, but then it remembered… they couldn’t communicate.
So, it pointed at Gong Yiling, mimed an explosion of spiritual energy, then pointed at itself.
“You helped me? No, I helped you?”
Although the dragon didn’t understand her words, seeing her seemingly understanding expression, it continued its mime.
It pointed at the canyon, then at itself, miming looking at the sky, then miming walking sideways like a crab, then pointing at Gong Yiling.
“I’m showing you the scenery as a thank you?”
Miss Gong perfectly understood its meaning.
It seemed…
Actions spoke louder than words, literally.
And so, they began communicating through a peculiar combination of gestures and mime.
“Do you know what this canyon is?”
“Dragon Vein.” Da Hei didn’t need to translate this. It pointed at itself, and Miss Gong immediately understood.
Now she just needed to ask the system about dragon veins…
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Gong Yiling was surprised. She had never heard the system say that before.
Usually, it would just refuse to answer, saying she wasn’t ready to know, but this time, it simply said “I don’t know.”
Were there things even the system didn’t know?
“Isn’t this even AI-generated?” Gong Yiling asked curiously.
“Haven’t you read those online game novels?” The system retorted. “Even systems have blind spots.”
“A system bug?”
“Not that absurd. It’s a developer’s Easter egg. Even the system isn’t privy to such information.”
“A developer’s Easter egg?” Miss Gong felt it was just making excuses. “Something created by Shangguan Long, a developer’s Easter egg?”
“He simply discovered and utilized it. And you’re the one who enabled him to do so.”
Hey.
Gong Yiling felt wronged.
How could she have known Shangguan Long was so cunning? It would have been better not to save him, just the Grand Elder. That would have changed the fate of the Heartflame Empire.
“So that Easter egg… is this dragon vein?”
She looked at the dragon, now completely focused on the canyon, and coughed lightly.
“What exactly is a dragon vein?”
Just as the dragon was about to mime the explanation, another voice suddenly spoke.
“If it were to tell you through actions, it wouldn’t finish in a day and a night.”
Whose voice was that?
Gong Yiling turned around in surprise and saw the demonic spirit standing nearby, looking at her calmly.
“Well, well.” Gong Yiling crossed her arms, chuckling. “You’re quite fast. But your friend doesn’t seem to want to kill me. Are you planning to do it yourself?”
However, the demonic spirit no longer seemed hostile. It scrutinized her for a moment, then shook its head. “You want to know what this dragon vein is, and what Shangguan Long is planning, right?”
“Can you tell me?”
“Simply put, this dragon vein is the core of the Heartflame Empire’s earth meridians. Its fate is tied to the empire’s. If it’s damaged, the empire will suffer.”
Gong Yiling raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
Then, the demonic spirit told her a story.
Long ago, after the ancient war, only one dragon couple remained.
Long Chenzi and Bai Huatong.
By the end of their lives, they had revived the dragon race.
And the dragons changed their stance towards humans, willing to coexist and protect them.
The Heartflame Empire was initially such a protected region.
The ancient dragon and the ancestor of the Shangguan family formed a deep friendship, and the dragon willingly sacrificed its power to transform the earth meridians beneath the capital into a dragon vein, imbued with dragon energy.
And the Heart of Blazing Flame wasn’t a secret realm of inheritance, but simply the dragon’s home.
However…
Transforming its power into a dragon vein, although a selfless act of friendship, had unforeseen consequences for the dragon.
It brought prosperity to the Heartflame Empire, but its memories and spirit were separated from its body, returning to the dragon vein.
Later, it simply hid in a cave, guarding the dragon vein, no longer remembering who it was protecting or why.
Initially, the descendants of the Shangguan ancestor would worship the Dragon God, grateful for its blessings.
But as the Dragon God never appeared again, after millennia, the legends and rituals faded, and the royal family assumed it was dead.
Only the Heart of Blazing Flame, the dragon’s home, was preserved, mistaken for the ancestral grounds of the Shangguan family, and people were sent there every year.
Despite the dragon’s cave being only a short distance from the path taken by those seeking inheritance, no one ever visited.
Until…
Shangguan Long arrived.
