Chapter 19

1

Moana and I sat outside a dockside restaurant while Coyalu laid the two frozen girls out under the sun. The sun could melt Magic ice, but it was going to take a while.

“Before she left, Feather Abyss Qing actually gave you the first step of the ‘Dragon Spirit Contract.’ I didn’t think she’d ever learn that. But it only works on dragons—no effect on other races.”

In my eyes, Moana looked genuinely happy, relaxed. She leaned slightly against my arm. It felt like she only ever loosened up when she was beside me. On stage she was always wound tight; that kind of tension had its limits.

“I didn’t know what that big sister was giving me,” she said softly. “She just said it was something I needed.”

“Big sister? You could call her auntie. Maybe even grandma.”

“Can you tell me her story?”

Feather Abyss Qing’s story… that was complicated. Starting from Spirit Serpent Princess would make it way too long. But without Spirit Serpent Princess, Feather Abyss Qing’s story wasn’t complete.

In the end I chose to give her a brief outline. From that, Moana understood why she’d seen a shooting star that day—because Feather Abyss Qing had been thrown away. Her body had long since burned to ash, and the Magic she’d taken was a permanent injury. Her body could never be used again.

“So, in the end… that person abandoned her just to survive?”

“That’s right. Between me and that person, all the girls have always been weaknesses. Now you are too. But he’s never actually wanted me dead. Even when he threatened the girls’ lives over and over, he never truly killed them. You probably already know why he does that after what you heard just now.”

Moana had listened to my conversation with Feather Abyss Qing. It sounded mystical, sure, but no matter how mystical it got, it was dragon business. With dragons, anything unreasonable could be considered reasonable.

“The biggest question now,” I said, “isn’t how long the war between humans, gods, and demons can go on. It’s who wins between him and me. Whoever wins gets to decide whether this world stays the way it is—or not.”

“Do you think the world right now is good?”

“It’s not bad. But the best outcome is still for the Three Realms to become one. Otherwise, with how the god race is right now, they can’t keep The Divine Realm stable. Getting the gods back on the side of justice won’t be easy either.”

“That sounds really complicated.”

Back on Mang Island, Moana had just been a normal girl. My appearance had pushed her off the tracks of the life she was supposed to have. But either way, everyone’s life was changing now.

“Complicated? You have no idea. It’s still not as complicated as how I felt when I learned about the whole ‘sacrifice’ thing. The only good part is that from now on I can focus on honoring Qin Yang’s parents properly.”

“For you, that kind of thing should’ve happened, what, hundreds of millions of years ago? Why even care?”

“I get it. The more memories you have, the more they weigh you down. It really is time to let go of a few shackles. Otherwise I’m worried they’ll become obstacles in the final fight with him.”

For us dragons, with our endlessly long lifespans, learning to release what gnaws at you was required coursework.

“Your brows are squeezed together like chopsticks,” Moana murmured, brushing her fingers lightly over my forehead. “Looks like letting go isn’t easy for you.”

I was still trying to adjust to the whole “sacrifice” revelation and the discomfort it brought.

“The sun’s setting. You should go back to your stage. Comforting the wounded is sacred work.”

“Qin Yang,” she said, looking at me with steady eyes, “I’ll believe you can beat that person.”

Watching Moana leave, I knew she didn’t really understand the fight between me and Marutian. Even so, she still believed in me. Only by believing in me could any of them have a future.

In the distance, I spotted Situ Liyao, who’d been hiding for a long time. I called out, “If I win in the end, you have to marry me too!”

“You’re awful! Who’s that greedy?!”

“I have to be greedy. Feather Abyss Qing taught me that. When it comes to your last wishes, you should shout them out and let them run wild. Who can guarantee I won’t die at Marutian’s hands? If you want to turn me down, you can tell me to my face when I come back in triumph.”

Situ Liyao looked like her heart was in a mess. I didn’t give her a chance to say anything else before I left.

2

Coyalu was eating a shaved ice at the door. The two ice sculptures beside him hadn’t melted enough yet. Golden flames flicked from my fingertips, and in an instant, all that Magic ice turned to water. The two girls shivered violently, droplets running down their bodies.

“Big brother, don’t put the fire away, let me warm up!”

The Flame of Punishment burned away the chill clinging to them, letting warmth slowly seep back into their limbs.

“You’re the Ice Demon King. You’re supposed to control ice. Why are you giving people colds?”

“Sorry about that. Aren’t stepkids supposed to be naughty?”

“Drop dead! You’re a centuries‑old monster and you’re still ‘naughty’?” Zi Sirou stared at this Forst Lord who only seemed to get more childish with age. She’d just been frozen for no reason for several hours.

“You two can take revenge however you want. Coyalu, you’re not allowed to fight back.”

Coyalu hurriedly wolfed down all the shaved ice in his hand. “Revenge can wait. Let’s talk about what Feather Abyss Qing said before she disappeared into smoke.”

Zi Sirou and Lin Wenxin both froze for a second. Wenxin couldn’t help asking, “Wasn’t senpai already dead a long time ago?”

“He means the lingering soul of Spirit Serpent Princess that just possessed Moana. Once a Demon King, always a Demon King. Of course he noticed.”

“Father, tell me, in that situation, which Demon King wouldn’t notice? Demon Kings are sensitive to souls. One more is one more—we feel it clearly. She must’ve said something to you.”

“She told me Marutian’s goal. But I can’t be sure it’s true. Feather Abyss Qing herself couldn’t be sure whether Marutian lied to her. I’m still thinking it over. For now, let’s assume she told the truth. After one day of rest, we set off for the Gate. We need to understand the connection between the dragon relic and the Gate. I have a feeling we’ll find a breakthrough, maybe even a way to defeat or suppress Marutian.”

I squeezed the relic in my hand. The thing that had once been embedded in the Gate had to be important. I still couldn’t remember exactly how I’d put it there the first time, but I did remember that it was my own hand that placed it.

I summarized what Feather Abyss Qing had told me and shared it with Coyalu. None of this felt like something I needed to hide.

“Sacrificing your own body? A new dragon soul being born from that body?” Coyalu frowned. “Doesn’t sound impossible. Given enough time, anything can emerge. And Marutian wanting your body might not be so he can take it back for himself. He might be planning to sacrifice it again.”

Coyalu was inclined to trust what was proven by the past—but Marutian’s final goal might still be a lie.

“All I can do is keep suppressing the dragonization. And find some other solution as soon as possible.”

“If you don’t dragonize, Father, I really don’t think you can win. Just go all in.”

“Bullshit. If I go all in once, there’s no turning back. You’ve lived since the world was born and even you don’t have that kind of courage.”

“This time, don’t use that infinite lifetime of yours to overthink things,” he shot back. “Switch back to your seventeen‑year‑old self. That ‘save the world’ recklessness might be exactly what you need. One flash of impulse and boom—you win.”

That night, I watched the moon hang in the sky while battles raged on the front lines.

Back home, the Empire’s first main‑cannon carrier had just finished its refit. It had been renamed Azure Sea, to match the Azure Carrier. The sky‑sailing hull was now a fresh ocean‑blue, gliding across the clouds overhead. What changes they’d made would only show on the battlefield. On paper, Azure Sea was designed to be the Azure Carrier’s support ship.

While I was still thinking about how to use the relic, a sudden wrongness jolted through me—a spontaneous black hole formed by the world itself. Reports said these black holes had first appeared in The Divine Realm. In other words, this was another round of the world’s self‑initiated cleansing.

I jumped straight to a black hole tearing up a small island. Humans had almost no way to fight something like that. A lot of wounded were already sliding toward it, unable to struggle, crying out in helpless terror.

For a dragon, stopping a black hole wasn’t impossible. My sword burst into blinding light. Under the cover of that radiance, I force‑closed the black hole.

There were simply too many wounded. Some had already fallen in and were gone for good.

“Get the recovery unit over here! Evacuate all injured from this area!”

Othrie’s follow‑up troops rushed into the disaster zone. There was no way to predict where the next unlucky region would be.

“Big brother, what just happened?”

The two girls, who hadn’t bathed in days, had just stepped out of a hot bath, wrapped in warmth and the faint scent of soap.

“Something really bad. Hisa still hasn’t seized control of The Divine Realm. The gods are still sinking deeper. They refuse to wake up to what their mission really is.”

“I heard the gods are pushing a forced relocation law,” Zi Sirou said. “Any god whose body holds too little light energy will be moved down to The Human Realm. Maybe that’s one way to fix things?” She’d picked it up through back‑channel news—her press connections were always sharp.

“It’s just for show. If they don’t change things from top to bottom, it’s useless. No matter how many gods they send down, it won’t help. The leaders are already rotten.”

“Should we help Lord Hisa?” she asked. “Humans don’t have much fighting strength left.”

“The ones helping them right now are the demons. After this war, the relationship between gods and demons won’t be what it used to be.”

“Something that deep‑rooted doesn’t change that easily…” Zi Sirou clearly didn’t buy it. Honestly, I didn’t either. But at least it would be a start.

“Right. Tomorrow, you and Wenxin are going back home. Don’t worry. No matter where you go, I’ll be your strongest backing.”

Zi Sirou nodded. She pouted in protest, but she understood my situation. When she’d gone back to the desert with me last time, she’d seen a battle she couldn’t even have imagined—terrifying power clashing head‑on. She probably wouldn’t forget it for the rest of her life.

I took the relic out again. It looked like a piece of emerald‑green jade shaped like a bamboo rod. If it could hold the Four Divine Flame as a fireseed, its powers clearly couldn’t be ignored.

Right now, all my hopes were pinned on this dragon relic that had followed me for so many years. If my guess was right, this might be part of the seal itself.

Marutian’s awakening—and the fact that he could resonate with the dragon bones from outside the seal—most likely came from the seal missing this relic.

If I put the relic back, it should at least slow him down. Maybe… it might even erase Marutian completely.