Bao Bei and Huang Quan were both stunned for a moment, but soon they understood the reason.
As expected.
Jing Chen continued, “My father has the dragon bloodline, and he is very sensitive to the ancestral return in me. As I began to take form in my mother’s womb, my father sensed it.”
“My grandmother, when she gave birth to my father, suffered greatly because he showed signs of ancestral return. She almost died during childbirth, but fortunately, my grandmother was very strong, so she survived.”
“But my mother is different. She doesn’t have my grandmother’s physical strength, and she might not survive. At that time, my father had already developed feelings for my mother after two years of marriage, and naturally, he didn’t want anything to happen to her because of me. So he repeatedly told her not to keep me.”
“My mother disagreed and asked him why, but my father wouldn’t say.”
“Because my father knew that once my mother knew that the child was showing signs of ancestral return, she would never agree to abort the baby.”
“My mother knew my father’s identity. She understood she couldn’t be with him forever, but having a child would change everything. If she had a child, then even after she passed away, my father wouldn’t be alone—he would have the child.”
“If she was lucky, she would endure the hardships and give birth to the child, and they would live happily as a family of three.”
“If she was unlucky, she would die during childbirth, leaving behind the child and her husband. But with the child, her husband wouldn’t be alone in the future.”
“Knowing my mother’s thoughts, my father was unwilling to say anything. In the end, my grandmother asked my father for the reason. After she found out, she told my father to tell my mother, saying that my mother should make the choice herself.”
“My mother didn’t need to choose. After learning about the child, she ignored all of my father’s warnings and resolutely chose to keep the child.”
“My father couldn’t stop my mother. In the end, he could only make all the preparations for my birth.” Jing Chen’s gaze dimmed as he continued, “Although he made all the preparations, my mother still passed away a year later.”
“And without the dragon pearl, my growth was very slow.”
“By the normal human age, I should be sixteen this year, but my body still looks like that of a five- or six-year-old.”
Bao Bei comforted him, “There’s nothing we can do about it. That’s just how the dragon race is.”
Jing Chen’s body had managed to grow to the size of a five- or six-year-old in just over a decade, thanks to the half-human bloodline within him. If he only had the pure dragon bloodline, he wouldn’t look any different after a hundred years, let alone sixteen years—he would still appear as a dragon cub.
“I know.” Jing Chen nodded, then added, “We’ve finished watching the memories left by the ancestors. Let’s go.”
Bao Bei nodded and led Huang Quan and Jing Chen out of the small space inside the dragon egg.
Once they were out, Bao Bei looked at Jing Chen and said, “This dragon egg is a small storage space, and without the method I taught you, no one else can enter. You can take it with you.”
Jing Chen looked slightly incredulous. “Can I really take it with me?”
“Of course.” Bao Bei replied, “Isn’t this something from your ancestors?”
“As their descendant, you’re naturally allowed to take it back.” Bao Bei added, “And isn’t your father looking for this? If you bring it back, you can use the method I taught you to enter and show your father.”
Upon hearing Bao Bei’s words, Jing Chen was moved and nodded eagerly. He placed his hand on the dragon egg, preparing to put it into his space.
Bao Bei looked at him and said, “That’s too much trouble.”
“Since you called me ‘brother,’ I’ll teach you a shrinking and enlarging spell.”
“Shrinking and enlarging?” Jing Chen looked puzzled. “Is there such a technique?”
397
“Yes.” Bao Bei nodded. “But it only works on certain dragon-related objects.”
Jing Chen nodded, signaling that he understood.
Bao Bei then taught him the spell.
It was a simple spell that could be learned by anyone with dragon blood. Jing Chen had high natural talent, so he picked it up quickly after just a few tries.
Bao Bei said, “Now, follow the method I just taught you and shrink the egg.”
Jing Chen immediately did as he was told.
His spiritual power touched the egg, and it glowed faintly. As the glow intensified, the egg, which had been about half his height, slowly shrank until it was the size of a fist.
Seeing this, a smile appeared on Jing Chen’s face.
The next moment, he picked up the egg.
As soon as the egg left the ground, a rumbling sound echoed throughout the cave…
Huang Quan looked up and saw the cave starting to crack. She immediately understood the cause.
That egg had been the reason the cave hadn’t fully sealed!
“This place is going to collapse, we need to leave now!”
As soon as Huang Quan spoke, Bao Bei disappeared from the spot.
Before Jing Chen could even react, Huang Quan grabbed him and, in the blink of an eye, they appeared outside.
Huang Quan’s speed was so fast that even Jing Chen couldn’t keep up with her. Everything around him appeared as a blur, and he eventually closed his eyes.
Soon, Huang Quan saw Feng Jiu Yuan and the others.
The egg was in Jing Chen’s hands, and the blue cold mist it had been emitting was gone. Without the fear-inducing aura of the egg, the three-eyed bugs no longer felt afraid and began scrambling to escape as the cave collapsed.
They encountered Feng Jiu Yuan and the others who were waiting just outside the cave.
As they met, the three-eyed bugs tried to cause trouble by creating illusions to trap them inside, hoping to bury them all when the cave collapsed. But to their surprise, Huang Quan had already emerged.
The three-eyed bugs weren’t afraid of them, but they were terrified of Huang Quan.
When the bugs saw Huang Quan emerge, they immediately fled from Feng Jiu Yuan and the others, scrambling to escape.
Feng Jiu Yuan and the others hadn’t been fully trapped by the three-eyed bugs. Once the illusion was broken, they quickly regained their senses and stepped out of the illusion.
Huang Quan saw they had recovered and said, “The cave is going to collapse, we need to leave, fast!”
As soon as they heard this, the group immediately followed Huang Quan and ran toward the exit.
They kept running after leaving the cave, not daring to stop until they reached a higher ground. At that moment, they all flew upwards.
“Boom…”
Chu Liang came up from below, crashing to the snow-covered ground in a disheveled state.
Huang Quan said, “Get up quickly, we need to leave this place.”
Chu Liang immediately got up and followed Huang Quan, running as fast as he could to get as far away as possible.
After they had run some distance, a louder sound came from behind. The group turned around and saw that the crack in the mountain was starting to close.
If they had been any slower, they would have been trapped below.
“What did you do?” Chu Liang asked Huang Quan. “This crack in the Northern Snowfield has been here for years, and it never closed. Why is it closing now?”
Huang Quan expressionlessly took a stone out of her space and showed it to the group. “This.”
“After we took this, the cave started to have problems.”
The stone she casually pulled out was pitch black, plain, and unremarkable, looking no different from an ordinary stone.
Jing Chen looked at it and thought, “…”
He understood Huang Quan was trying to help him cover up the matter with the dragon egg, but… could she have chosen something a little more presentable?
The others also looked at the stone with confusion. It looked like something they could have picked up on the side of the road.
Huang Quan noticed their expressions and raised an eyebrow. “What? Don’t believe me?”
