Chapter 63#

His Holiness, the Pope Who Broadcasts the Holy Light#

Goblins, much like the dragons, hadn’t been seen on the continent for a very long time. Were it not for the mining dwarves insisting that they had encountered goblins, most people on the continent would have assumed that those green-skinned little monsters had already gone extinct.

But this wasn’t all that surprising. Since the Divine Era, the goblins had ceased all contact with the other races. Legend had it that they had built a vast underground kingdom beneath the Bouldermountain Range, but these were mere tales—no one had actually seen it.

The goblins had been missing for so long, so how did goblin artifacts end up among Aeonas’s collection? If Lu Heng hadn’t seen the goblin clan’s crest in the Pope’s records, he never would have recognized that strange object as the work of those green-skinned little monsters.

To get an answer to this question, he could only ask the owner of the item. Lu Heng walked out of the temple and saw a golden hill lying at the entrance, its back rising and falling in a rhythmic pattern.

One look and Lu Heng knew the golden dragon had fallen asleep again. Lu Heng took out a purplish-red fruit and crushed it right at the dragon’s nostrils. Aeonas had given it to him, saying that dragonkind found the fruit’s scent extremely repulsive—they would wake from even the deepest slumber the moment they caught a whiff.

Seeing the dragon’s nostrils twitch, Lu Heng stepped aside. A tremendous sneeze shook loose a shower of leaves from the nearby trees. The fruit’s effect was truly immediate—the sleeping dragon opened his eyes right after sneezing. He glanced at Lu Heng, then transformed into human form.

“You’re done praying? Wonderful, we can finally go back to sleep.”

Then what were you just doing? Lu Heng thought to himself. Dragonkind really was extraordinarily lazy—they seemed to have nothing to do all day but sleep, and even their treasure hoarding was merely to make a more comfortable bed. Still, seeing Aeonas continuously rubbing his nose, he asked, “Are you feeling unwell?”

“Mm,” Aeonas rubbed his nose until it turned red. “The scent of that fruit is a bit too intense for us dragons.”

“Then why did you give me this fruit?” Lu Heng couldn’t help asking when he saw how uncomfortable Aeonas looked.

“I was worried about a repeat of the accident from a few days ago. You should know—once a dragon enters slumber, it’s very difficult to wake them.”

“I could use Holy Light, like last time,” Lu Heng said.

“Esmond is already dead. You should save your power of Holy Light for when it’s truly needed. Is there anything else you want to do? If not, let’s hurry back to sleep.” Aeonas didn’t care about the stinging, eye-watering spice in his nose; right now, all he wanted was to return to his treasure pile, clutch his treasures, and sleep.

Lu Heng’s heart stirred. This way of acting—willing to endure injury or discomfort rather than letting the other person suffer even the slightest harm—was far too familiar.

“I’m sorry, but there is something I still need your help with.” Seeing Aeonas’s eyes growing slightly red from discomfort, Lu Heng’s finger lit with a streak of white light. He gently tapped the tip of Aeonas’s nose.

Aeonas immediately felt the discomfort vanish. “You really are troublesome. But never mind—the great Lord of Dragons doesn’t mind a little inconvenience.”

Having grown accustomed to the dragon’s way of speaking, Lu Heng understood this meant Aeonas had agreed. He then took out the goblin artifact. “Where did this box come from?”

Aeonas took it and examined it for a long time. He found it bizarre—why would he have collected something like this? It was black and dull, not the least bit shiny. It was something far beneath the discerning eye of the Lord of Dragons. Of the items placed in his treasure vault without careful selection, it was probably only that pile of things.

“I found this in the ruins,” Aeonas said. “Back then, several dragons discovered that ruin together on the Dragon Island. We fought each other bloody trying to claim that pile of things. For the sake of dragonkind’s peace, I beat them all up and then put the entire pile into my treasure vault.”

Lu Heng was momentarily stunned by the Lord of Dragons’ uniquely crude approach to dispute resolution. He was silent for a moment before speaking. “I’d like to visit the ruins.”

At the outermost edge of the Dragon Island, the ruins of a temple stood tall. When the Dragon Island was separated from the continent, this temple had happened to lie right on the dividing line. As a result, only half of the temple had risen into the sky along with the island, while the other half remained on the ground.

Ten thousand years had passed. Under the wash of time, the half remaining on the ground had been overtaken by vegetation. However, temples were generally constructed from the sturdiest stone, and this half had not yet collapsed—its structure was still quite intact. Only the exquisite carvings on the pillars told the story of the temple’s former glory.

A golden dragon of enormous size flew in from the distance, then descended onto the open ground before the temple. The moment his feet touched the ground, the dragon’s claws—carefully curled against his chest—opened up, and a figure in priestly robes jumped down from them.

This person and dragon, naturally, were Lu Heng and Aeonas.

Seeing Lu Heng examining the temple with a focused expression, Aeonas suddenly remembered that this person was the Pope of the Church of Light. This temple was the Church of Light’s property, yet he had destroyed half of someone else’s assets.

“Back when the Dragon Island was raised, this temple was already abandoned. I’m sorry for destroying your things.” Aeonas explained with a trace of guilt. After speaking, he felt that an apology required looking into the other person’s eyes to be sincere, so he lay his entire dragon body flat, his golden vertical pupils meeting Lu Heng’s gaze.

Lu Heng patted Aeonas gently, signaling that he didn’t mind. “I’d like to go inside and take a look.”

“I’ll come with you.” Aeonas shifted into human form. Unless it was truly necessary, he didn’t want to leave his treasures even for a step.

The long flight of steps before the temple had mostly crumbled away, and the remaining portion had been claimed by tenacious wild grass, leaving nowhere to set foot. Lu Heng had no choice but to cast a Levitation spell to enter the half-destroyed temple.

The moment he entered, Lu Heng identified the temple’s era of construction from the painting techniques on the dome above. This was, remarkably, a temple built during the late Divine Era. Temples constructed in that period all featured murals depicting the gods leading the various races into battle.

Yes, during the era of the First Undead War, the Divine Realm did not yet exist. The gods of the Light Faction all resided on the Divine Mountain in the heart of the continent, ruling over this land. Later, the deities of the Dark Faction invaded the continent with an army of undead. The God of Light led the gods down from the Divine Mountain and guided the continent’s races in resisting the undead army.

Through the combined efforts of the gods and the creatures of the continent, the undead army was driven back to the Realm of the Dead. But the continent had been too severely damaged to bear such tremendous power. To prevent the continent from collapsing, the gods joined forces to create the Divine Realm and reached an agreement: no god would appear on the continent in their divine form. From that point on, the gods vanished from the continent. The Divine Era reached its end, and the races of the continent became its masters.

“Aeo, do you know anything about the Divine Era?” Given the Lord of Dragons’ age behind him, he should have lived through that era—though Lu Heng didn’t know why Aeonas hadn’t followed the gods to the Divine Realm later, instead remaining on the continent in a demigod’s body.

“Hm?” Aeonas had been staring at Lu Heng’s focused profile in a daze. It was only when Lu Heng spoke that he snapped back to attention. “Here’s what happened. When the undead army invaded, I was asleep. Later, when Esmond and the others were about to leave, they came to my territory to find me, and only then did I wake up.”

Now Lu Heng understood why the dragon clan—the most powerful in combat during that undead invasion—hadn’t participated. Their leader had been sleeping the whole time, so there was no one to command them. Besides, dragonkind had always been indifferent to other races’ affairs, and the undead army never made it to dragon territory. So naturally, no dragon had fought.

Seeing Lu Heng’s expression, Aeonas felt his words had just sullied the name of the Lord of Dragons. He didn’t want to lose face in front of his treasures, so he decided to share a secret with Lu Heng: “The Lord of Dragons never fears battle, but—”

“Hmm?” Lu Heng noticed Aeonas had fallen silent for a moment.

Aeonas’s expression flickered with a brief haze—he had never told anyone about this. “The Lord of Dragons descended into this world to wait for something. Ever since I was a dragon egg, my instincts have told me this. But the waiting has been so immeasurably long, and I could only pass the time by sleeping.”

“As a dragon god, how could you remain stranded on this continent?” The moment Lu Heng heard this, everything clicked into place. A heavy worry took root in his heart—this Lord of Dragons was, in truth, the dragon god, yet he had been able to stay on the continent in a demigod’s body all this time. Surely, a great price must have been paid.

“How could something so trivial trouble the wise and mighty Lord of Dragons? All I had to do was destroy my own divine status.” Aeonas wore a proud expression—but Lu Heng didn’t respond with the worshipful gaze he expected. Instead, the man’s pupils contracted sharply, and he grabbed Aeonas’s hand with anxious urgency.

“Please let me examine you,” Lu Heng said hurriedly. Light divine power probed into Aeonas’s body. It was just as he’d feared. Fortunately, dragonkind was innately robust in body, and the destruction of his divine status hadn’t left any hidden dangers in Aeonas.

Though the flow of time differed across planes, Lu Heng had never expected that Shirong had arrived in this plane so soon. Tens of thousands of years of waiting, not even knowing what he awaited. No direction, no end in sight—this torment that could drive nearly any soul mad, he had actually endured it all.

“It doesn’t matter, though. I’ve already found my most precious treasure. Thank goodness I wasn’t tricked into going to the Divine Realm by Esmond back then.” Aeonas noticed the mingled joy and sorrow on Lu Heng’s face and figured he should say something to cheer him up. After all, treasures looked best when they were sparkling and gleaming.

Lu Heng looked at the blissfully content expression on Aeonas’s face. He smiled gently and reached up to touch the other man’s cheek.

The first time Lu Heng initiated physical contact, Aeonas felt himself light up entirely. He pulled Lu Heng into his arms in one fluid motion. Hmm, embracing in human form does feel even better. Aeonas decided he would hold his treasures in human form while sleeping from now on.

Lu Heng wrapped his arms back around Aeonas tightly, and the two of them savored the warmth of the moment.

Ten minutes passed. An hour passed.

Aeonas still hadn’t let go. There was still business to attend to—Lu Heng was about to say something when he heard a steady rhythm of breathing by his ear.

The Lord of Dragons had… fallen asleep standing up?