Chapter 64#

His Holiness the Pope Who Scatters the Light of the Holy#

Ionas seemed to be sleeping far too much. Although the dragon race were all idle dragons who would bury their heads in slumber whenever they had nothing to do, their sleeping was more like hibernation — they would sleep for a hundred years or so and then remain awake for a relatively long period. Ionas’s condition was clearly somewhat abnormal.

Lu Heng thought for a moment and understood the crux of the matter. It was simply because the great dragon lord’s divine core had been destroyed, yet his body was still a divine body. To put it plainly, his internal energy was insufficient to sustain the needs of a divine body, so he frequently remained in a sleep state that consumed less energy.

Having figured this out, Lu Heng finally felt at ease. This wasn’t really a big problem. As long as Ionas tried to maintain his human form as much as possible, it would be fine. The human form consumed far less energy than the dragon form, so there would be no issue of insufficient energy.

Seeing that the person on his shoulder seemed to have the tendency to sleep until the end of the world again, Lu Heng couldn’t bear it and nudged Ionas.

No response.

Lu Heng thought for a moment, then softly said beside his ear: “Great Dragon Lord, your treasure has been stolen by thieves.”

“What!” Ionas was instantly wide awake, only to meet Lu Heng’s smiling eyes. Even the greatest fury dissipated in an instant. “You might as well use that fruit. Didn’t I give you a whole bunch?”

Lu Heng gently squeezed Ionas’s hand, soothing the somewhat unhappy dragon, then freed himself to continue examining the murals in the temple.

Upon closer inspection, Lu Heng discovered that many secrets buried in the river of history were recorded faithfully on the murals along the temple corridor. Among them was indeed information about the goblin race.

The goblins had originally lived intermingled with the dwarves, the two races exchanging frequent visits. The dwarves lived above the Boulderstone Mountains, while the goblins resided underground within the mountains. After the undead army invaded, the dwarves joined the battle under the leadership of their patron deity, the God of Forging. The goblins, however, found themselves in an awkward position — they did not worship the gods. Without faith, they naturally had no patron deity, and in this chaotic battle, for a race without a patron deity to step onto the battlefield was essentially walking to their deaths.

To protect themselves, the goblins sealed off all passages leading to their underground kingdom. Subsequently, the dwarven territories fell. The dwarf craftsmen left to guard the rear panicked and sought the goblins’ shelter, only to be turned away.

The Sorrow of the Dwarves — this tragic history is still sung in the mouths of bards to this day. Besides the dwarf warriors who fought within the allied army, the entire dwarf race was slaughtered by the undead forces, and even today, the dwarf race has yet to recover its former vigor.

Following the long murals all the way to the end. The final mural actually depicted the gods, after sealing the rift leading to the Realm of the Dead, joining forces to peer into the River of Time with their divine power, making a prophecy concerning the fate of the continent.

The prophecy on the mural began with the gods creating the Divine Realm and departing the continent, and scene by scene depicted the following:

The human race, with their exceptional learning ability and higher birth rate, quickly recovered their vigor, then rose to prominence, seizing control of the entire continent and ending the era of divided rule by the various races. Dragon Island rose into the air, and the dragons all relocated there; dragons had almost become legend upon the continent. The splitting of the elf race — part of the elves left their homeland to establish Moonlight City in human territory, while the rest remained in the Elf Forest. The Church of Light declined, the priests who practiced divine arts vanished, and combat qi and magic flourished in their place. The Beiga Empire launched a war and ultimately brought the entire continent under its dominion.

Finally, the undead army tore open the spatial rift once more, arriving upon the continent. The entire continent fell into a vortex of war and death, with every region overrun. Living beings retreated into the Papal See, and what changed the tide of battle was that one spark of hope.

However, the mural ended abruptly at this crucial point. Lu Heng looked at the clouds drifting slowly beneath his feet — the spot where this temple had broken apart was truly a pity.

Ionas noticed Lu Heng gazing downward with an inscrutable expression: “Have you grown bored of staying on Dragon Island? How about I take you for a flight around the island. Hmm, I could grant you the extraordinary honor of sitting upon the back of the Great Dragon Lord.”

“Ao, I want to see the other half of this temple.” Since he now knew Ionas was that person, Lu Heng no longer needed to hold back. As long as it was something he proposed, the other party would never object.

“No. My treasure must stay by my side.” Ionas shook his head the moment he heard this.

“You can come with me.” Lu Heng didn’t quite understand this dragon’s logic.

“But those humans are too noisy, and I can’t sleep properly. Back when I raised the dragon race’s territory into the sky to become a floating island, it was because those clamorous humans kept me awake.” A hint of grievance crept into Ionas’s tone.

“Doesn’t your dragon race sleep well when you hold a treasure you love?” Lu Heng’s words carried an implied meaning.

“Oh, right!” Ionas’s eyes lit up. The reason he hadn’t been able to sleep well before was because, unlike other dragons, he didn’t have a treasure that perfectly satisfied his heart. Now there was no need to worry about that at all.

“If you promise to sleep with me every day in my human form, then the Great Dragon Lord will grant your request.” Ionas raised his chin slightly, though he felt somewhat apprehensive inside, because he had heard from that bard that humans took sleeping together very seriously. Although he didn’t understand why, Ionas felt he should respect Lu Heng’s opinion.

Lu Heng smiled and said: “As you command, Lord Ionas.”

Bibei City was the largest city on the Lalann Plateau. According to legend, the Lalann Plateau had once been dragon territory. In the center of the plateau lay that enormous depression — the place where Dragon Island had once stood. Although Dragon Island floated high in the sky and no one could verify whether the depression truly matched the island’s edges, this legend had attracted countless adventurers to explore. The dragons’ treasure — what an alluring thing.

This was also why the Adventurers’ Guild in Bibei City was the largest in the Northern Provinces. The Adventurers’ Guild of Bibei City occupied the best plot of land in the center of the city, surrounded by a wealth of shops and taverns. a small squad of city guards patrolled the vicinity all day long, solely to prevent the hot-blooded adventurers from causing trouble.

The Blood Wolf Squad had just turned in a mission and were idly drinking in a tavern beside the guild. This mission had been a total loss, so the ale in their cups had downgraded from Boulderstone Mountain black beer to inferior barley ale. The squad members were all thinking about how to quickly find a wealthy patron.

“This barley ale isn’t fit for human consumption. Under normal circumstances, this would barely be enough to feed the horses!” A burly warrior slammed his mug down hard on the bar counter.

“If it weren’t for you, you idiot, letting that Frostedge Leopard escape, would we have almost lost our underwear on this job?” A mage in a hooded cloak sneered mockingly.

“You!”

Just as the two were about to commence their one hundred and first argument over this matter, a young ranger with a short bow on his back pushed the door open: “A fat sheep! A big fat sheep just arrived at the guild and is posting a mission!”

By the time the Blood Wolf Squad arrived, a long queue had already formed in front of the fat sheep’s mission-posting desk. The warrior could only curse silently, then obediently join the line at the back.

The queue moved along quite quickly — this was clearly a picky patron. Before long, only two people remained ahead of the warrior. His line of sight was finally unobstructed, and he quietly evaluated the mission-poster seated behind the desk. Indeed, a fat sheep. One glance and it was obvious — some eldest young master from a noble family had run out for adventure. Just look at that fair, pampered face, that broadsword studded with gems, and that ornate but impractical light armor. Clearly a rookie who had never seen real combat.

He also listened to the reasons this person gave for rejecting the adventuring squads that came to accept the mission.

“Who is the scout on your squad?”

“An experienced rogue.”

“I despise rogues the most. Next.”

“The scout on our squad is a ranger.”

Before the young master could even ask, the person behind quickly chimed in.

“Do you have a dedicated priest?”

“N-no, we don’t.”

“This mission is no simple affair. Without a priest, it won’t do. Next.”

“Wait — didn’t you bring a priest with you?”

“You dare covet my priest? Get out, get out! Next!”

Just listen to what this was all saying. Only a young master from a noble family could be this willful and unreasonable. Still, the warrior secretly rejoiced — his squad seemed to perfectly match this young master’s requirements. The young master’s capriciousness didn’t matter. The key was that he looked as foolish as he was easy to fool, and moreover, he had plenty of money. Plucking a single gem off that sword would probably be enough for his squad to feast and drink for a entire month.

Once this mission was over, he might even be able to go find Julie for some warmth. The warrior thought gleefully.

This handsome, proud, and somewhat ill-tempered young master was naturally Ionas. The fair-faced apprentice priest he had brought along was Lu Heng, who had changed his appearance with divine arts. After all, the Pope’s visage was known to virtually everyone.

With a bag of gold coins as a deposit, they hired the Blood Wolf Squad and returned to the inn where they were staying.

Upon entering the room, Ionas immediately sat down in the rattan chair on the balcony. Lu Heng could tell at a glance that this dragon was sulking, otherwise he would have eagerly dragged Lu Heng off to bathe and then go to bed. As for the reason for his anger — with this dragon’s straightforward way of thinking, it wasn’t hard to guess.

“Hmph!” Perhaps noticing that Lu Heng had made no move for quite a while, an intentionally emphasized voice drifted from the balcony.

Looking at Ionas’s back, on which the words come comfort me quickly seemed to be written in huge letters, Lu Heng shook his head with a somewhat amused smile.

“Ao, what’s wrong?”

“You actually want to hire an adventuring squad to help. You’re looking down on me.” The moment Lu Heng asked, Ionas poured out everything he had been preparing in his heart. “A dragon’s treasure can only be guarded by the dragon himself.”

Lu Heng smiled gently at the somewhat puffed-up Ionas: “Hiring them is only for finding the temple ruins. The duty of guarding me, of course, still falls to you personally. This is also for the sake of your body.”

After the two arrived on the Lalann Plateau, Ionas had confidently led Lu Heng to find the temple ruins. But upon reaching the depression, he was dumbfounded. So many ages had passed that all traces of Dragon Island’s former existence had been swallowed by towering trees and thickets of tall grass. Add to that the weathering and collapse of the edge rocks, and Ionas couldn’t even discern where the borders of Dragon Island had once been, let alone locate that half-temple.

Ionas proposed that he transform into dragon form and spiral in the air to search carefully, certain to find some clue. Considering Ionas’s physical condition, Lu Heng rejected the suggestion and instead decided to go to the nearby Bibei City to hire a powerful adventurer squad to assist him in finding that half-lost temple. The squad couldn’t have too many members, because this matter was of great importance, and afterwards Lu Heng would need to use divine arts to erase the memories of all participants. With too many people, it would be far too wasteful of his Holy Light.

Ionas naturally agreed to Lu Heng’s proposal without condition, though his mood was somewhat subdued: “The energy I consume transforming into dragon form — I can just recover it with a single sleep.”

Lu Heng stroked his back, perfectly practiced at comforting this dragon: “If you fell into a long slumber, I’d feel very lonely.”

“If that’s how you feel, then the Great Dragon Lord forgives you.”