Chapter 61#

His Holiness the Pope Who Bestows Sacred Light#

The enormous dragon claw cradled its precious treasure with exquisite care. Ionas had even cast a barrier using dragon language magic, fearing that the howling wind might muss the neatly combed, pale golden hair of the person in his palm.

Lu Heng’s smite spells proved futile once again. This golden dragon was already thick-skinned and tough-furred by nature, not to mention immune to magical attacks. Lu Heng had originally thought that divine spells might deal some damage, but after a dozen smite spells sank into oblivion without a single ripple, he had to accept reality.

He had probably angered the great dragon as well — otherwise, a protective shield wouldn’t have suddenly appeared. Lu Heng gave up. Tearing through that barrier would likely drain every last ounce of sacred light power in his body. Since prayer could no longer replenish his sacred light, every bit he used would be a bit lost forever.

Even if he did manage to tear through the shield, Lu Heng glanced at the clouds drifting beneath his feet. Without sacred light power to cast a levitation spell, there was no escaping a fatal fall.

Sensing the human princess in his palm had grown quiet, Ionas figured she was perhaps tired and resting. He closed his claws together, making sure the light wouldn’t disturb her sleep.

This dragon was probably afraid of leaking the secrets of Dragon Island — he had meticulously blocked off his line of sight entirely. Lu Heng thought to himself. This golden dragon was a demigod, and for some unknown reason had remained stranded on this continent. Back then, the War of the Gods hadn’t reached the dragon race, but as a demigod, this dragon surely knew many secrets regarding the divine realm.

He had imprisoned him — had he discovered something? Lu Heng sat in total darkness, a sense of unease creeping through him. Whatever he was doing in secret absolutely could not be exposed. If anyone found out, he would surely meet the same end as the previous Pope, Roseth.

After all, in this world where divine authority reigned supreme, impersonating the name of God to swindle power of faith from believers — however devout a fanatic had been, that was exactly how furious they would become.

Lu Heng felt the dragon’s speed gradually slow. Then the claw restraining him withdrew, and light flooded back into his vision. The moment his sight cleared, Lu Heng found himself staring straight into a pair of enormous golden slit pupils that were practically inches from his face.

Even His Holiness the Pope, typically so calm, composed, and nobly elegant, was startled by this encounter and instinctively took a step back. It was only in retreating that Lu Heng realized the ground beneath his feet felt rather odd. He looked down.

He was standing on a mountain of gold coins. Each coin was exquisitely crafted, and the engraved patterns carved onto them were all unique. Such meticulous, breathtaking opulence could only come from the hands of the White Elves.

The Elves had no fondness for gold, so gold products produced by them were exceedingly rare. A common noble who managed to acquire even one or two White Elf-minted coins would treasure them as supreme valuables, carefully storing them in crystal boxes. Yet here, they were casually piled on the ground, heaped into a tall little mountain.

My treasure truly is the most dazzling thing in the world — even set among my proudest collection, she still shines the brightest. Ionas stared at the person before him, extremely pleased with his own discernment. With a single glance, he had discovered the most beautiful human princess spoken of in bards’ tales.

In that case, he would grudgingly forgive their offense against the great Lord of Dragons. After all, they had played a part in helping him acquire this most precious treasure. But did Her Highness perhaps find these collections unsatisfactory? Seeing Lu Heng still staring at the gold coins beneath his feet, Ionas felt a flicker of unease.

“You—” Ionas opened his mouth to ask, only to realize that Her Highness was far too petite. The mere blast of air from his breath tousled her neatly combed long hair.

Lu Heng brushed a few strands of golden hair from before his eyes back behind his head, only to find that the great dragon before him had vanished. In its place stood a tall, slender figure on the empty ground below. Lu Heng leaped downward, cast a levitation spell, and landed softly.

Only then did Lu Heng get a clear look at this demigod Ionas’s human form, which was rather unexpected. Dragon kin in humanoid form were typically tall and imposing, and Ionas was no exception. He had a very tall stature — yet his face was that of a youth.

The golden dragon transformed into human form had short black hair and a pair of golden eyes. His entire face was as flawless as the proudest masterpiece crafted by a White Elf master artisan. Yet it was unexpectedly — and strikingly — young in appearance.

The youthful-looking Lord of Dragons tilted his chin upward slightly. “I am the Guardian of Time, the Weave-Shaper, the Master of the Earth, the Administrator of Space, the Lord of Storms, the Lord of Dragons — Ionas.”

“Your Excellency Ionas, Lord of Dragons.” Lu Heng folded his hands within the wide sleeves of his priestly robes and offered a bow.

“Human princess, I permit you to call me Ayo.” Ionas appeared to wear an expression of careless nonchalance, but Lu Heng could tell his eyes were brimming with expectation.

“Ayo, I am a man.” The Pope was renowned for his mild and easygoing temperament.

“WHAT?!” Ionas’s face twisted into an expression as though the sky had split and the earth had crumbled. “I merely took a nap — has the human kingdom changed so drastically that a princess has become a man? That’s not what the bards said. Those bards are indeed all liars. But never mind, I don’t mind.”

“I am not Princess Windsor. You’ve likely found the wrong person.” Lu Heng sighed inwardly at the question of how this golden dragon had formed such a worldview.

“The great Lord of Dragons never makes mistakes. What I seek is my treasure, not Princess Windsor.” Ionas gazed at the long hair before him — even more radiant than his own original form — and finally couldn’t resist reaching out to touch it. For the first time, the Lord of Dragons felt that taking human form was a rather excellent choice.

Indeed, Ionas did not like transforming into human form. Because the humans he had encountered in the past would always wear expressions of astonishment, as though marveling that a dragon of who knew how many tens of thousands of years could have such a youthful appearance. These ignorant, foolish humans did not understand — a dragon without a mate would never reach adulthood in humanoid form.

And in front of his own kind, Ionas was even less inclined to take human form. He didn’t want to be ridiculed by his brethren. The great Lord of Dragons, the demigod Ionas, actually being a tens-of-thousands-of-years-old virgin dragon.

But from the moment his fingers touched that person’s long hair, Ionas felt that human form was infinitely better than dragon form. If he remained in dragon form, how could he ever touch his most precious treasure at such close range? Thinking it over like this, even the prospect of being mocked by his own kind no longer mattered to Ionas.

The first thing any dragon did upon acquiring a new treasure, naturally, was to settle in for a long, satisfying sleep to celebrate. This was the nature of all dragons, and Ionas was no exception.

【Assistant, could you look up how to awaken a sleeping dragon?】

Lu Heng was truly at his wit’s end. That day, Ionas had suddenly reverted to dragon form, scooped him into his claw, pressed him against his chest, and fallen straight to sleep. Now two full days had passed, and there was not the slightest sign of him waking.

Even the Pope, powerful as he was, could not escape basic human needs. Lu Heng was starving. Although he had endured for two days on sacred light power alone, he was now beginning to feel dizzy and lightheaded.

【Don’t panic, I posted a help request on the System Communication Forum. Replies should come soon.】

【Forum?】

【Yep, a newly developed feature from the Main System. We systems can exchange information and help each other out on there — pretty useful. Look at what a great title I came up with: Trapped in a sleeping dragon’s arms and about to die of hunger — what do I do? Online, urgent.】

【All I want to know is whether the forum is anonymous.】If it wasn’t anonymous, Lu Heng figured his colleagues would laugh about this for a hundred years after he got back.

【There’s a reply! Apparently, sleeping dragons are still somewhat aware of changes in their environment. But they usually ignore changes that don’t constitute a threat, so you just need to make a drastic change to the surrounding environment in an instant.】

Sacred light. With the inspiration, Lu Heng immediately thought of a solution to his predicament.

The Sacred Light spell unleashed by the Pope blazed like a sun, turning the dim cavern bright as day in an instant. At last, the golden dragon stirred, lifting an eyelid and cracking open a sliver of an eye.

“I want to sleep a little longer.” A dragon whose sleep was disturbed would usually spiral into a state of furious rage. Ionas was no exception — but in the very instant his anger began to rise, he caught the clean, refreshing scent coming from his arms. The towering flames of fury hadn’t even ignited before, with a faint hiss, they were extinguished.

“Ayo, I’m sorry to disturb your sleep, but as a human, I need to eat.” Lu Heng’s tone was gentle, carrying not a trace of anger despite having starved for two days.

Realizing that his treasure was not the kind of dragon who could eat one fill and then sleep for hundreds of years, Ionas hastily took Lu Heng out to find food.

“Should I go down and catch a few dragon hawks to roast for you? Dragon hawk wings roasted are especially tender and delicious!” Ionas shared his recipe with great enthusiasm.

Lu Heng shook his head with a hint of a smile. “No need to go to all that trouble. Is there anything like berries or fruit on this Dragon Island?”

Ionas nodded, transformed into dragon form, and vanished into the distance. Before long, the golden dragon returned. From his dragon claw tumbled a small mountain of piled fruit.

“Is this enough? If not, I’ll go find some more.” Ionas felt these few fruits wouldn’t even fill the gaps between his teeth.

“It’s more than enough. Thank you.”

Ionas then shifted back to human form, watching Lu Heng eat with keen interest.

“Ayo, I need to cultivate.” Lu Heng did not ask the dragon to let him leave. Two days ago, he had already tried. But the dragon race, besides their explosive tempers, was probably most defined by their stubbornness — once they set their minds on something, they would never change even if the world collapsed. Ionas had declared him his treasure, and no matter what Lu Heng said, the dragon insisted that Lu Heng must stay by his side.

“Cultivate? Wonderful — let’s go back to sleep.” Ionas’s eyes lit up.

“The methods of human cultivation are different from those of your dragon race. I can’t cultivate during sleep. I need to find a temple and pray to obtain sacred light power.” Lu Heng’s plan was to use this excuse to get Ionas to take him off Dragon Island. “If my sacred light power runs dry, I will weaken and die.”

Lu Heng added a bit more fuel to the fire.

Upon hearing this, Ionas grew anxious. “Is that all? A temple? The great Lord of Dragons shall grant every single request of his treasure!”