If it had been before, Ming Shuang would definitely have thought Xuzhi wasn’t asleep.
Now, he wasn’t so sure…
Ever since they returned from the medical clinic, Xuzhi hadn’t brought up the events of that afternoon.
Was it because he had frozen up back then, then suddenly reverted to his juvenile form, and it had been taken as a refusal?
So now his master was starting to distance himself from him…
But even if they weren’t mates, his master was still his master. Why would anything change?
Ming Shuang was still thinking about the half-pill from dinner. Xuzhi hadn’t eaten it—instead, he had given it to Tomato.
He recalled how Xuzhi had told him the night before to change the way he addressed him.
And most importantly, Xuzhi had lost his memories.
He didn’t remember anything from before. Perhaps the feelings between them had faded as a result.
The more Ming Shuang thought about it, the more confused he became. Yet he also worried he was overthinking things.
After all, it hadn’t even been a full day since Xuzhi had kissed him.
The Little Dragon Hatchling paced back and forth on the pillow. He was sleepy but couldn’t quite drift off, so he finally couldn’t resist flying over to the window.
Ming Shuang pushed open the window and craned his neck to peer toward the neighboring room.
The hallway and the surroundings were pitch-black and silent. There was no light in the next room—Xuzhi had probably gone to bed.
Ming Shuang hesitated for a long moment. He was truly exhausted, though, so he turned back toward the bed.
Coal Ball and a few Fluffy Balls were sleeping in the room. They woke up at the noise.
Coal Ball hopped up to the edge of the bed and nuzzled close to Ming Shuang. “Wu?”
Ming Shuang yawned, unable to hold out any longer. He buried his head in Coal Ball’s body and fell asleep just like that.
The night deepened, and the courtyard outside lay perfectly still. In the distance, a few beast tamers stood watch in rotating shifts.
Meanwhile, atop the Alchemy Tower.
Dean Herl asked, “What did Yan Si talk to you about?”
“He wanted to know what Ming Xue had made back then using alchemy and space magic—and what it was for,” Xiang Lun replied softly, his eyes closed. “But after I told him, he seemed rather disappointed.”
Xiang Lun held nothing back in his explanation. He even mentioned the arrays that had been added to the storage space and vaguely noted that Ming Xue had taken it with her in the end, as if she hadn’t wanted anyone to discover its purpose.
Yan Si truly had no idea that Ming Xue had a child. He only asked one additional question.
Could the storage space withstand an invasion of miasma fog?
Xiang Lun had answered rigorously: “No.”
Back then, the miasma fog hadn’t been much of a threat yet, so he hadn’t implemented any such countermeasures.
But he hadn’t told Yan Si that the storage space had been placed inside Xuzhi’s body. As long as the miasma fog didn’t possess Xuzhi, there wouldn’t be any problems.
“Why would he ask that if he doesn’t know Ming Shuang exists?” Dean Herl wondered. “Has something happened within the Dragon Clan?”
Xiang Lun shook his head. “I probed him about the Dragon Clan’s recent situation, but he insisted everything was normal.”
He hoped it truly was normal. This mattered a great deal—it could determine whether Ming Shuang would ever reunite with his kin.
“What do you plan to do, then?” Dean Herl asked again. “Ming Shuang is right here in the academy. There’s always a risk of him being discovered.”
Moreover, since Yan Si had specifically sought out Xiang Lun, he would likely keep a close eye on his every move.
To this day, they still weren’t sure how many members of the Dragon Clan had returned to the continent.
Xiang Lun murmured softly, “I know…”
~~~
The next day, Xiang Lun arrived at the courtyard early, carrying a chest full of books.
He first kept Ming Shuang company during breakfast. As they ate, he said, “These are books about the Dragon Clan, along with some records from back then. There are also a few on ice magic, though not many.”
Ming Shuang was focused on slurping down his sweet porridge. When he heard this, he hurriedly licked up the rest and darted over to take a look.
Xuzhi sat nearby and was just about to wipe Ming Shuang’s face when Xiang Lun, who was closer, picked up a cloth instead.
Once Ming Shuang’s face was clean, he sneaked a glance at Xuzhi before flying over to Ivan’s side to watch him sort through the books in the chest.
There were introductions to Dragon Clan branches, the origins of dragons, the disappearance of the Dragon Clan…
Ming Shuang pawed out two magic stones and ate them. After a moment to gather himself, he successfully shapeshifted.
Xiang Lun, following behind, asked with concern, “Little Shuang, you can shapeshift freely now?”
Ming Shuang mumbled in response, “Sort of… And it doesn’t hurt anymore.”
Xiang Lun nodded, relieved. “That’s good. In a couple of days, a top-tier light beast tamer will arrive in Central City. We’ll have him examine you then…”
Xuzhi, standing behind them, overheard the conversation.
So Ming Shuang had reverted to his juvenile form yesterday and hadn’t shapeshifted since—most likely because he simply hadn’t wanted to.
Ming Shuang didn’t notice the gaze from behind him. His attention was fully on the books. He selected a few and settled down on the sofa by the front hall entrance to read.
He first flipped through the ones on Dragon Clan branches and origins but didn’t find anything useful. Then he opened the book about the Dragon Clan’s disappearance.
On the title page was a line of text: As of now, the Dragon Clan has been missing for fifty years.
The book had been published over forty years ago, which meant it had now been nearly a century.
Ming Shuang’s fingertip brushed over the embossed gold lettering on the page. He pursed his lips.
For a long-lived race like the dragons, that probably wasn’t very long at all.
He kept reading, skipping past the useless chatter and information he already knew, searching for what he wanted.
There were all sorts of speculations about the Dragon Clan’s disappearance, listed out one by one—everything under the sun. But the most likely explanation was only one.
Miasma fog.
With the arrival of the heavenly disaster, miasma fog had erupted across the lands. It first devoured naturally occurring magic elements before beginning to erode magical beasts.
No matter how powerful the Dragon Clan was, they were still magical beasts and thus vulnerable to erosion.
No one had ever witnessed a dragon eroded by miasma fog. If it ever happened, though, the vast magic elements within a giant dragon’s body being absorbed and converted into miasma would spell an unprecedented catastrophe.
That said, dragons had always been proud by nature and never concerned themselves with the survival of other races. The greatest possibility was that they had left of their own accord to preserve themselves.
As a result, many people had tried to locate the Dragon Clan’s new territory, hoping it would be a place free of miasma fog.
But all these years later, not a single one had succeeded. “New Dragon Island” had gradually become little more than legend.
Some even believed the Dragon Clan had holed up somewhere and quietly died out.
Ming Shuang’s heart clenched as he read this.
He didn’t know much about miasma fog—only that he’d encountered it twice. He hadn’t realized it was so formidable.
Without the emergence of beast taming contracts, the human race would likely have gone extinct long ago. Magical beasts would have been next.
The book briefly mentioned miasma fog as well, stating that the heavenly disaster had originated from the God Clan.
It didn’t specify the exact reason, only that they had long since been wiped out, leaving scant traces behind.
There was one other piece of information: two types of magic elements that miasma fog couldn’t directly devour.
The first was light magic. This magic possessed powerful healing abilities and was exceedingly rare to begin with. It was difficult to cultivate and advance. Back in the days before the Cangyuan Continent’s upheavals, only three top-tier light magic users had ever appeared.
The other was ice magic.
Ice magic might seem similar to specialized elements like wind or thunder, but it was distinctly different. Not only was its offensive power formidable, it also had the ability to alter natural seasons. It was equally rare.
Yet ever since the miasma fog outbreaks began, ice-type magical beasts had grown fewer and fewer. Even if someone awakened ice innate talent, it wouldn’t make much difference.
Some suspected that ice-type magical beasts had been deliberately hunted. After all, the miasma fog hadn’t only brought disaster—it had also created new opportunities. When the fog receded, it would condense into special ores with many uses.
Ming Shuang frowned as he read. So that day atop Netherworld Mountain, he had been able to repel the miasma fog because of ice magic’s unique properties?
What about his mother, then…
Xiang Lun had never mentioned what happened to Ming Shuang’s parents. Whenever the topic arose, he always deftly changed the subject.
The house on the mountaintop had been abandoned for a long time, too.
Even without Xiang Lun saying it outright, Ming Shuang had already guessed the truth.
He sat there hugging the book, lost in a daze for a while. He agonized over whether to ask directly when Xiang Lun spoke first.
“Your mother passed away from illness back then,” Xiang Lun said with a sigh. “Among the Dragon Clan, her constitution wasn’t considered strong. She overused astrology and suffered severe backlash, leaving her extremely frail…”
There might have been another reason as well—she had been pregnant with Ming Shuang, who was a mixed-blood dragon.
Xiang Lun didn’t mention that, for fear it would make Ming Shuang blame himself and feel sorrow. Instead, he brought up Xiang Yuan.
“Xiang Yuan was my child, but he never awakened any innate talent. He lived to ninety-three before he passed.”
There was a hint of self-mockery in Xiang Lun’s tone. “I’ve lived over three hundred years, myself.”
If Dean Herl hadn’t stubbornly kept him at the academy, giving him tasks now and then to stay occupied, he probably would have lost the will to live long ago.
Fortunately, now he had found Ming Shuang—his one and only great-grandson.
Ming Shuang felt a heaviness in his chest, unsure how to comfort him. “Grandpa…”
He had never met his own parents. Compared to him, it was Xiang Lun who had endured far greater grief.
Xiang Lun didn’t want to show too much negativity in front of Ming Shuang. He quickly composed himself and asked, “Little Shuang, do you want to meet your kin?”
Ming Shuang nodded. “Yes.”
Xiang Lun thought it over for a long time before finally being upfront. “A member of the Dragon Clan arrived at the academy a few days ago.”
Ming Shuang’s eyes widened slightly. He listened as Xiang Lun continued, “He’s an old acquaintance of Dean Herl’s. He returned to the continent in secret this time and hasn’t revealed much else… But he has no idea you exist. If you’re willing, I can take you to meet him.”
At these words, Ming Shuang grew a little nervous.
Since he didn’t know of Ming Shuang’s existence, that meant he also didn’t know Ming Shuang was a mixed-blood dragon…
Would his kin reject him?
All of Ming Shuang’s apprehension showed on his face. Xiang Lun reassured him, “Don’t be afraid. I’ll find a way to keep him at the academy first. We can observe him for a while.”
Ming Shuang had used this very method himself. Back when he had first met Xiang Lun, he had hidden in Xuzhi’s arms for a long time before coming out.
“Mm!” Ming Shuang’s eyes brightened. He couldn’t help asking, “Where is he? What… what kind of dragon is he?”
“It should be a Crimson Flame Dragon, still living in Herl’s attic,” Xiang Lun replied. “No rush. I’ll go arrange it right away.”
Ming Shuang held himself in check. The Dragon Clan had vanished for so long that he truly had no idea of their current situation.
He nodded obediently and, at Xiang Lun’s instructions, took out that bottle of Disguise Potion.
Xuzhi stood quietly by the windowsill at the back of the room, leaning against the wall as he listened to their conversation.
First Xiang Lun, and now, in such a short time, one of Ming Shuang’s own kin had appeared.
But as long as the Dragon Clan still lived, it was only a matter of time before he encountered his own kind.
The Dragon Clan member who had come to the Academy might very well be searching for Ming Shuang.
Xuzhi lowered his gaze. At that moment, Ming Shuang took a sip of the potion. His silver hair and heterochromatic eyes both shifted to black, making him look no different from an ordinary member of the Human Race.
He checked his reflection in the glass of the door, then hurried over to Xuzhi.
“Master!” Ming Shuang called out. Realizing his slip, he hesitated and changed it to, “Brother…”
Xuzhi responded with a simple, “Mm.”
Xiang Lun had other matters to attend to and had just been seen off from the courtyard by Ivan. Now, only the two of them remained in the front hall.
“My hair and eyes have turned black,” Ming Shuang said a little nervously, asking in a quiet voice, “Does it look good?”
Xuzhi looked at him and answered softly, “It looks good.”
Compared to before, Ming Shuang with his black hair and black eyes seemed even more endearing, and his features were still strikingly handsome.
Ming Shuang was secretly delighted. He added, “I want to go out today, too—to buy some things in the city…”
He had just successfully completed his Shapeshifting, and he planned to take a stroll around town.
With two whole chests full of Gold Coins, he could buy anything he wanted. He still hadn’t given Xuzhi the Storage Ring from yesterday, either…
Xuzhi hesitated, though. “I have to meet with a few mentors this morning…”
The Scripture Pavilion had restrictions. Only after officially enrolling could he borrow books on other schools of magic to study on his own.
He had already scheduled his time: he would confirm his mentors in the morning, leaving the afternoon free to accompany Ming Shuang out.
However, before Xuzhi could voice the second half of his thought, disappointment flickered across Ming Shuang’s face. He pursed his lips in an aggrieved pout. “You really are ignoring me…”
“What?” Xuzhi lightly furrowed his brow. “I’m not.”
Yet Ming Shuang was convinced that Xuzhi simply didn’t want to go out with him.
There had been that half-pill at last night’s dinner, and the failed Mental Link…
Even at breakfast this morning, Xuzhi hadn’t paid him much attention.
In less than a day, Ming Shuang had keenly picked up on all these little details.
“Is it… because of yesterday?”
He spoke with his head lowered, then suddenly stepped forward and hugged Xuzhi tightly.
“You’re not allowed to ignore me…” Ming Shuang was still aggrieved, mumbling haltingly, “If—if Master wants me to be his mate, that’s fine, too…”
What did “fine, too” even mean?
Xuzhi scooped Ming Shuang up into his arms, leaning in close as he asked in a low voice, “What are you thinking?”
~~~
