novelraw Chapter 253
Chapter 253
Chapter 253: The Dragon Isn’t Right
“Battlefield?”
Even though they were thousands of meters in the air, the smoke and dust in the air still choked Xia Li’s nostrils.
He pulled the collar of his softshell jacket all the way up, covering his mouth and nose, and put on his goggles before he could see the scene below.
Visible to the naked eye, there were craters of varying shades of charred black on the ground.
These craters were a few meters in diameter at their smallest, and the larger ones could reach hundreds of meters.
Without involving nuclear weapons, the power of war in the magical world was no less than that of modern warfare on Earth.
The scorched yellow earth stretched for hundreds of kilometers in a radial pattern, and the unextinguished sparks danced on the scorched earth. Those flames from the earth were like the gaze of death.
“What are we doing in a place like this…” Xia Li said, a little puzzled.
In his subconscious, Lucia should have taken him to her birthplace, or the place where she lived as a child. At the very least, they might be able to find Lucia’s biological parents under this vast and boundless sky…
As a result, the dragon neither took him to reminisce about his childhood, nor to find her own relatives, nor even to see the beautiful scenery.
Instead, she brought him to the smoke and fire of this post-war world.
“This should be the border between the Human Empire and the kingdom.”
Lucia spread her dragon wings and soared high in the sky, aided by the updraft created by the heatwave.
Xia Li looked down following her gaze.
This battle seemed to have just ended. There were still a few embers left by magic in the sky, and the heatwave rolled up the withered grass that had been burned to ashes, and there was an unpleasant pungent smell of smoke in front of his nose.
The scarred earth was littered with unknown white bones and cold weapons.
Armor, swords, bows and arrows…
Human bones, beast bones, dragon bones.
When he was on Earth, war was far away from Xia Li. Even though he could see some news from abroad online, it was only a distant observation through the screen.
He had never seen it so close.
At this time, only two words flashed through Xia Li’s mind, ‘desolate’.
The lifeless scorched black earth, the corpses of soldiers who had no time to be collected, there was no sound, no wailing, only deathly silence. When the billowing smoke filled the sky, it seemed as if he could hear countless undead crying in his ears.
It was no longer just the word ‘desolate’.
On top of the desolation, there was also a strong feeling of sorrow.
War is a mirror that allows people to understand what is precious.
Xia Li suddenly remembered an essay he wrote on the theme of war when he was in high school.
At that time, the so-called war only appeared in history books, and he could only reflect on himself through books, using his poor imagination.
But now, all those imaginations had materialized before his eyes.
“The kingdom’s army colluded with the rebel organization in the Lyon Empire, forming a pincer attack from both sides, completely ‘liberating’ the western territory.”
“This place has been in constant war. Until recently, the Lyon Empire’s rebels cut off the empire’s logistical supplies, and the defeated kingdom seized the opportunity, attacking in one go and successfully retaking its territory.”
Guide Lucia explained as she soared.
She even gave her own opinion.
“However, this battle was really fierce. The land that has been bombarded by magic and curses has lost its ability to farm and graze… This used to be a grassland, with peculiar flowers growing in it, which could be used for alchemy and medicine. It was originally very valuable.”
As she spoke, the silver dragon’s slender neck swayed, her tone somewhat regretful.
“Seeing this scene, I feel that winning or losing doesn’t really matter anymore.”
Xia Li listened, silent for a moment.
What Lucia said was also what he was thinking about.
For this otherworldly continent where even survival was a problem, the plants growing on the land, the minerals underground, and the inhabiting species… these were more valuable than the land itself.
Take ordinary lords, for example, they would rather choose ten kilometers of fertile land where they could grow vegetables and raise sheep than hundreds of kilometers of scorched earth after a war.
‘Eating one’s fill’ was the primary goal in this world.
However… when the war had spread for so long, it was really just a matter of pride.
Giving in again would only be further annexed by the insatiable empire.
Therefore, for these small kingdoms bordering the empire, they would rather destroy their own border territories than hand over this land.
No wonder the Lyon Empire, with such a strong foundation, would fall apart in fifty years.
It was not only making enemies externally, but also internally unstable.
It was understandable that the Lyon Empire, which was thriving in this world, would be overthrown by a mere rebel army.
However, these were all things for the future.
“How do you know so much?”
Xia Li asked, half squatting, one hand around the silver dragon’s hard dragon horn, thinking.
Lucia paused, muttering in response.
“This is the history of my childhood… Of course I know!”
“Oh…” Xia Li responded, “Then what did you bring me here for?”
“To find something in my memory!”
Lucia raised her voice, seemingly to cover up her guilt.
The wind was too loud in his ears, Xia Li didn’t quite hear the dragon’s guilty reply. He did think of something else.
“Where did you go this morning?”
“I went back to my hometown…”
“Hometown?” Xia Li thought, “Dragon Homeland?”
“Yes! You guessed right!” Lucia said excitedly.
“…”
Xia Li covered his mask in front of his nose and coughed again from the smoke.
It was strange.
Even at an altitude of several thousand meters, Xia Li didn’t feel any discomfort from lack of oxygen or low temperature.
The magical world had its own solutions. Maybe Lucia was using some kind of magic to improve the airflow around him while she was flying with him on her back?
Xia Li thought randomly.
The silver dragon, who was being sat on by him, couldn’t help but raise her eyes and stare at Xia Li above her for a while.
Her majestic golden-red dragon eyes were almost crossed at this moment.
“Ahem…”
Lucia cleared her throat.
She thought Xia Li would continue to ask her what she was doing back in her hometown.
As a result, Xia Li didn’t ask any more questions, making her waste her time organizing her words.
“Why don’t you ask me what I went to Dragon Homeland for!” Lucia said dejectedly.
Walk Xia Li’s path, and then leave Xia Li with no path to walk.
“Sometimes, it’s also necessary for two people to give each other some personal space. If you’re willing to tell me, you’ll say it…”
Xia Li made an excuse for himself, and then asked again.
“What did you go back for?”
“To find the old black dragon!”
“Old black dragon?”
“Yes! He’s a highly respected old dragon in our dragon clan… If you think of Dragon Homeland as a village, then he’s the undisputed village head!”
“You’re looking for him, is there something you want to ask?”
Actually, the second half of Xia Li’s sentence was ‘you can ask me if you have any questions’, after all, he considered himself a knowledgeable and reliable boyfriend in front of Lucia.
But then he remembered that this was Azure Continent, and his limited experience couldn’t support Lucia’s questions, so he thought about it and decided not to make a fool of himself.
“Xia Li, I actually discovered something…”
Lucia suddenly lowered her voice and said mysteriously.
The silver dragon half-folded her wings, and her altitude dropped sharply.
She took Xia Li straight down a thousand meters, and Xia Li watched as the scorched black earth got closer and closer.
The horizon, which was originally invisible, suddenly disappeared, and the approaching earth appeared before him like a giant.
Earth’s roller coasters were nothing compared to this.
Xia Li even closed his eyes nervously.
“Look at the Demon Repelling Sword in your hand.”
Before landing, Lucia flapped her dragon wings one last time, stirring up dust and ashes, and finally her bulky body landed steadily.
◈◈◈
Xia Li coughed, fanning the air in front of his nose with his hand, and then took the Demon Repelling Sword in his hand and looked at it.
“And then?”
“Feel it carefully…” Lucia said.
“The anchor point of Earth inside, the plane teleportation magic, are all these things gone!”
“…”
Xia Li was stunned, and quickly calmed down to feel it.
When he returned to Azure Continent from Earth, Xia Li didn’t think much about it.
He naturally thought that since there was a way to travel from Earth to Azure Continent, and from Azure Continent to Earth, then it was only natural to travel back and forth a few more times.
As long as the magic circle was still there and the magic power was sufficient, the return trip was not a problem.
He came over with the mentality of taking one step at a time.
As a result, now, the plane teleportation magic originally engraved in the Demon Repelling Sword had really disappeared. But Xia Li didn’t feel anything at all.
… This magic, couldn’t be a one-time thing, could it?!
“Qin Chuan’s ability has failed?” Xia Li guessed.
If that was the case, then he could only find another way to go back.
The first time he returned to Earth from Azure Continent, Xia Li was fighting Lucia.
At worst, he could just experiment repeatedly, imitating the scene at that time…
Now that he was in Azure Continent, he didn’t have to be bound by destructive power and combat effectiveness, and he could let go and do it.
But it would indeed take a lot of time.
One year, ten years?
Xia Li calculated in his mind, three years for seven days, he promised Mrs. Fang to go home before the results of the veterinary qualification exam came out, how much time did he have to stay in Azure Continent during this period.
While he was lost in thought, Lucia was not idle.
After the silver dragon’s huge body landed, her legs sank into the scorched earth.
The huge dragon shrunk at a speed visible to the naked eye, and finally condensed into a small, girlish figure.
The girl was wearing a white robe, with a blue floral skirt on her lower body, and pure white sneakers covered in mud on her feet.
Her hands stretched out from the narrow cuffs, Lucia shook her sleeves, and then a soft little hand grabbed Xia Li’s index and middle fingers, and she pursed her lips in satisfaction.
“Last time when we slept, I couldn’t sleep, so I played with your sword… Then I found out that the teleportation magic inside was gone!”
“So, I went back to Dragon Homeland today to ask the all-knowing old black dragon how to solve this problem.”
The girl said in a crisp voice.
After speaking, she felt her vision darken.
This place was already in the middle of a magical explosion, the sky was dark, and the earth was black.
With Xia Li getting so close, the light in front of her completely disappeared.
Suddenly she felt her moist little mouth being forcefully blocked.
Xia Li closed his eyes and cupped the back of the evil dragon’s head with one hand.
The dragon’s saliva was sweet, with a faint fragrance, like a mountain spring, or like the sweetest nectar secreted between flower buds in the early morning.
Xia Li savored it carefully.
The dragon’s tongue was bitten by him mischievously, and Lucia let out a pained ‘mmm’ sound.
He then stopped contentedly.
“What’s the solution?”
Licking his lips, Xia Li said with endless aftertaste.
Lucia blushed, clutching her skirt tightly.
The words she had originally organized became stammering when she spoke them.
No, no…
She was clearly going to talk about important business, but Xia Li had to do this and that to her.
It messed up her dragon heart!
“It’s just, it’s just…”
“‘The future has become your past, fate has been decided, you just continue to walk along this path.'”
Lucia repeated the words of the old black dragon, Neer Hulk.
Of course, she only said part of it.
Xia Li was confused by the riddle-like dragon’s words.
He was still immersed in the sweet kiss just now, and couldn’t understand Lucia’s words.
Squinting his eyes, Xia Li felt that if he couldn’t figure it out, he might as well not think about it.
He was now a man controlled by desire.
Naturally, he was going to do things that satisfied his desires!
He wrapped his arms around the girl’s soft waist, ready to take another bite of that chattering little mouth.
Lucia stretched out her hands and pressed Xia Li’s head, stopping this act of forced kissing of the evil dragon.
“It’s just, it’s just… I’m going to get to the point!”
Lucia was held by Xia Li, she wriggled softly in Xia Li’s arms, and finally couldn’t resist Xia Li’s enthusiasm, closing her eyes and letting him kiss her randomly.
Then she panted, wiped her lips, and reorganized her words in her mind.
Oh no, she was really going to be kissed unconscious.
Before she lost her ability to think independently, Lucia blurted out:
“It means that the future that has already been decided needs to be fulfilled by ourselves…”
“Think about it carefully, in another fifty years, you will be transported to this world by summoning magic. The Lachlan Kingdom that summoned you hasn’t even been established today. Can they really complete the construction in these short decades and research the ‘plane teleportation magic’ that no one has conquered yet?”
“This kind of rule-breaking magic can’t even be defined by the conventional first to tenth order. It’s a more complex and energy-consuming magic circle, which is difficult for humans to achieve with current technology!”
As the girl spoke, she kept cooling her cheeks with the back of her hand.
Xia Li then regained some of his sanity and listened to the evil dragon’s words.
“That is to say… we need to help humans complete the research of ‘plane teleportation magic’, otherwise the future will change, and I won’t be able to come to this world?”
Xia Li felt that this consequence was quite serious, so he paid close attention.
“That’s pretty much it!”
Lucia put her hands on her hips, her silver dragon tail dragging behind her.
“Completing the ‘plane teleportation magic’ will not only ensure that you will come to this world smoothly in the future, but also ensure that we can return to Earth safely!” Lucia added.
Xia Li thought about it carefully.
He found that it was indeed the case.
But, he always felt something was wrong.
This dragon was so smart.
Shouldn’t he, the reliable boyfriend, be the one to worry about these things?
In his relationship with Lucia, he was basically the one in charge.
Lucia didn’t have much of her own opinion, she would do whatever Xia Li said, so she was always arranged clearly by Xia Li.
But now, the dragon actually took the initiative to do something.
Not only did she come up with a solution, she even arranged their itinerary clearly in reverse.
Well, she had matured!
When can he pluck the peach?
At this moment, Xia Li was a useless person with only yellow paste in his head.
He had just been insecure for a while this morning, and now he just wanted to hold Lucia in his arms and do shameful things, and put all the things about destroying the world and saving the world behind him.
“But!”
Just as Xia Li’s thoughts went astray again and he reached out to hug the dragon.
The evil dragon twisted and threw herself into Xia Li’s arms, offering herself up.
Then she raised her head, her delicate brows furrowed slightly, and said in a gentle but firm tone.
“No one in this world can summon you!”
“Only you can summon yourself.”
“Xia Li, you now not only have to master the ‘plane teleportation magic’, but also set up a magic circle and leave a prophecy in the human world… to summon yourself fifty years later.”