At the same time, he caught the glint in the eyes of the blank-faced Long Moya in front of him and realized that the old dragon, too, could apparently see everything in this lightless place… Then again, he had existed down here for several thousand years. How could he not be accustomed to the darkness?

Long Moya wasn’t looking at Ye Tianxie. He was staring, dazed, at the spot where the Dragon God’s Stone had shattered. The stone he had guarded for a thousand years, the dragon race’s most precious treasure — a divine stone that could fairly be called the dragon race’s faith itself… and today, right in front of his eyes… it had vanished without a trace.

Feeling Ye Tianxie’s gaze on him, Long Moya slowly turned his head, and his fierce eyes flickered with a faint tremor… But in that gaze Ye Tianxie found no anger at the stone’s disappearance — only a deep, unbelieving shock.

“Shattered… gone… The Dragon God’s Stone is actually… gone…” He murmured it, soul-stricken. For a man whose entire life’s conviction had been guarding that stone, how could such an outcome be borne?

Then he let out a long sigh, and the vacancy in his eyes slowly cleared. Looking at Ye Tianxie, he said, “In the history of my race, those able to hold the light attribute or the dark attribute have been vanishingly few, and every one that appeared became foremost among dragons. But a dragon holding light and darkness both — there has never been such a thing… And the Dragon God’s Stone shattered because of you. There is only one way to break the stone: either a power strong enough to smash it, or a potential so vast the stone cannot bear it, and turns to ash… Though what the appearance of a human with half a dragon’s blood means, I do not know…”

Ye Tianxie said nothing. When he had first heard the name Hidden Dragon Abyss from the Holy Magus Kong Xiu in the City of Stars, his desire had been fierce — but he had never imagined he would arrive here so soon, and in such a bizarre fashion, and that he would come by his own class here with such absurd ease… An exclusive class utterly unlike any other player’s, and one whose sheer power far surpassed anything he had expected or imagined.

Beneath his calm surface, his heart was pounding beyond measure. Since his purpose in coming here had already been achieved, whatever Long Moya said next hardly mattered to him now. He put on an apologetic expression — whether real or feigned was anyone’s guess — and said, “The Dragon God’s Stone must be very important to your race… I never expected it would disappear because of me.”

“The Dragon God’s Stone is more important to my race than you can imagine. But, hnh, this is not your fault—” And then something seemed to occur to Long Moya. His expression froze, and his face changed utterly. “The stone is gone. The Mystic Fox… where is the Mystic Fox that was inside it!?”

The words had barely left his mouth. With his attention deliberately searching, his gaze went straight to Ye Tianxie’s feet. His eyes, too, could see in the dark — and though the creature had hidden itself well behind Ye Tianxie’s leg, the little tip of a snow-white tail that stuck out gave it away.

At the same instant Long Moya found it, Ye Tianxie found it too. The little snow fox that had been sealed inside the Dragon God’s Stone was curled up against his foot, using his leg to shield its body. When both sets of eyes turned on it, the fox knew it had been discovered. It scrambled to lift its head, looking up at Ye Tianxie, who was staring down at it in astonishment — and in those jet-black eyes was a misty, pleading look.

The air turned heavy at once. Long Moya’s whole spirit drew taut, as though facing a mortal enemy. No other living creature would even know the Mystic Fox existed, but among the dragons it was the subject of a truly terrifying legend. A thing that had forced the mightiest Dragon God to spend his life and every scrap of his power merely to seal it — not destroy it, only seal it. One could well imagine the depths of horror it must be capable of.

And yet the aura Long Moya had raised soon eased again. Because when his senses locked onto the Mystic Fox, he discovered that the energy coming off it was pitifully small — as small as some feeble monster not even level 10, posing not the faintest threat to him.

The look in the little fox’s eyes tugged at something in Ye Tianxie. That pitiful gaze — panic, fear, and pleading all mixed together — was startlingly like the look Guoguo gave him when she was angling for candy. He couldn’t help thinking back to the voice that had spoken inside his heart, the one like a young girl’s… That had been its voice. In a hazy flash he seemed to see a pitiful girl at the end of her rope gazing at him in longing, hoping for his protection…

Before Long Moya could attack, Ye Tianxie crouched, scooped the fox up off the ground, and gathered it into his arms. In that moment he saw the color and the joy come alive in its eyes. It curled itself up and burrowed into him as deeply as it could, as though it wanted to press its whole body inside his own.

Mystic Spirit Snow Fox: Level 0. HP 100. Origins unknown. Sealed inside the Dragon God’s Stone by the Dragon God seventy million years ago; only just escaped. Delicate in build, gentle in temperament, extremely decorative. Will never initiate an attack on any living creature.

Skills: none. Weaknesses: none.

The moment his Eye of the Evil Dragon fell on the little fox, its information surfaced in his mind of its own accord, and it visibly threw him… Level 0 in ability, with a mere 100 HP. Was a little fox that even he could one-shot really the Mystic Fox that had once driven the mightiest Dragon God to despair?

No… sealed for seventy million years… Seventy million years inside the Dragon God’s Stone and it still hadn’t died. A fox like that could hardly be as simple as it looked on the surface.

“Put it down. I must make it disappear.” Long Moya, who had been on the verge of delivering a killing blow to the fox, stopped his arm halfway through the swing for fear of harming Ye Tianxie, and said it with a frown.

Ye Tianxie shook his head slightly and said with a smile, “Old master dragon, with your ability you must be able to sense it — it’s weak now, weaker even than me. Even if it were the most irredeemably wicked fox alive, it wouldn’t be worth worrying about. Surely there’s no need to take its life. Besides, you’re a dragon with the power of Divine Mystery. How could you turn that great strength of yours against a small, harmless creature? And don’t you think it’s cute?”

The little fox lifted its head and gave Ye Tianxie a look of gratitude.

“You are mistaken.” Long Moya shook his head and said gravely, “If it were not a wicked fox, why would the Dragon God of that age have thrown away his life to seal it? If it were weak, how could it have forced the Dragon God to use power of that magnitude — and how could it have survived so long inside the stone without dying? Its ability is feeble now because it has been sealed within the Dragon God’s Stone for a full seventy million years, and in all that time its power and its body have endured the stone’s constant erosion. In resisting, the Mystic Fox’s power was gradually drained, and it has gone on resisting and expending itself until this very day. And yet — I would not have believed it — even so, seventy million years failed to take that fox’s life. Its ability back then was far, far greater than the legends say…”

Long Moya’s face was grim, his eyes severe as he went on. “A Mystic Fox like that, once free of the Dragon God’s Stone, will inevitably recover its ability quickly. And on the day it recovers what it once was, who will be able to stand against it…? At that time, what it brings about may be an unprecedented and irreversible catastrophe. Put it down. I must destroy it.”

Ye Tianxie was not persuaded. The fox’s own description had stated plainly: delicate in build, gentle in temperament, extremely decorative, will never initiate an attack on any living creature. How could such a fox possibly have a heart of evil? And its appearance alone didn’t touch the word “wicked” at any point.

He tightened his hold on the little fox. Perhaps it was that first cry for help, or the pitiful look in its eyes — but he found he could not accept this fox dying in front of him. And once he had decided to protect something, whoever stood in the way, he would not concede an inch. He shook his head flatly. “I trust my own judgment. This isn’t a wicked fox. It’s just a pitiable creature that’s been sealed away far too long. What it needs is care and compassion, not persecution. I believe there was more to its sealing all those years ago than we’ve been told.”

Long Moya’s brow furrowed, his voice growing heavier still, his eyes staring straight into Ye Tianxie’s. “Light and darkness have appeared in you together. What you possess is a strange dragon-power that has never existed before. Your potential shattered even the Dragon God’s Stone, forged by the Dragon God himself, and made it vanish. A man like you astonishes me, and makes me hungry to see your future. If I can, I will give you every help I am able to give… So I do not wish to harm you. But in the end you are too young, and too ruled by your feelings. A man like you will pay dearly for it, sooner or later.”

“Heh. I’ve never regretted a choice I’ve made.” Ye Tianxie shrugged, indifferent. One arm cradled the snow fox; the other hand stroked back and forth across its fluffy body. The feel of it was astonishingly soft and smooth, enough that he found himself reluctant to set it down. The fox seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the attention, lying meekly in his arms without moving at all.

Long Moya steadied himself. “Appearances can deceive. And one’s own feelings can deceive oneself. How certain can you truly be that it is not a wicked fox? And on what basis do you conclude there was some other reason for its sealing? Even if there is only a one-in-ten-thousand chance that it is a wicked fox — with its terrible ability, that one chance in ten thousand cannot be permitted to exist. Otherwise, who could bear the consequences…? You? Or I!”

He slowly raised his right hand, and a small orb of energy condensed in his palm in an instant. An immense pressure formed and bore down straight at Ye Tianxie. “Put it down!“

Ye Tianxie shook his head without a moment’s hesitation. “Let it go. Whatever the consequences, I’ll bear them… if there turn out to be any at all.”

(End of Chapter 112)