Chương 122: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 122 - Dragon Heart

Dragon heart? Su Nian thought: you might as well just read my ID number out loud. Though he was fairly certain this witch wasn't standing here wondering what a dragon heart tasted like. Still. Why did her gaze feel strange? And it wasn't as though just any dragon heart would satisfy the requirement. Kaguya's voice chimed again, clear and melodic. [Because your wife has already been tainted by your dragon aura, the heart must be yours specifically. Otherwise there is no way to save her, much like how most people's blood is incompatible with one another.] [Unless you can locate the being who placed the curse on your wife.] Kaguya's gaze settled on Su Nian. Her meaning was obvious. She was recommending the second option. Find the curse-caster. Because losing a dragon heart meant losing a dragon. The problem was Su Nian had no idea how to find that person. If he did, he'd have gone already. So the two of them — one dragon, one witch — stared at each other.

From a distance, it probably looked like flirting. Su Nian felt a faint, blunt pressure against his chest. He looked down. Anna was there, cheeks puffed out, biting into the scales over his chest. She looked deeply unhappy. [Does brother like that witch sister... he's been staring at her for so long...] [Hmph...] [But...] [Would biting him hurt him?] That thought softened her immediately.

Anna let go, then carefully, gently, rubbed the spot with her small hands, Su Nian had deliberately softened the scales there. She tilted her head up. Their eyes met. Like a little puppy, SMACK. She bit him again. [Hmph! Take that!] [Stinky dragon! Meanie dragon! Pervy dragon!] [Brother belongs to Anna!!] Su Nian watched her with quiet amusement. She was biting him, technically. But she wasn't putting any force behind it whatsoever. At this level of pressure, even a lollipop would sneer:"You call that a bite?"

His little beloved wife. Even her jealousy was unbearably cute. He couldn't help it, his tongue felt a little itchy. There was no point hiding the rest of the conversation from Anna anyway. She wouldn't understand it. Su Nian looked back to Kaguya and spoke directly. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"I have no way of finding the person who cursed Anna. I don't know if you can do it, but if you can, I'll reward you generously." Kaguya shook her head, then hesitated, and gave a small nod, her expression uncertain.

"This concubine will try her best. But I cannot promise I will find them. This curse is extremely vicious. Whoever cast it is no ordinary practitioner." No. They weren't. Su Nian already had his suspicions. The caster was either an abyssal demon or working alongside one. Either way, anything connected to the Abyss was trouble without exception. He didn't press further. He gestured for Kaguya to proceed as she saw fit. Kaguya exhaled quietly.

This black dragon was nothing like the brutal monsters in the stories she'd grown up hearing. She stepped forward, closing the distance to Anna, who was still nestled against Su Nian's chest. Her hands began to move, rapidly forming seals, her lips parting and closing in a low murmur. A strange, resonant rhythm spread outward from her, filling the air with something old and layered. Then, at a certain moment, she turned her gaze to Anna. Something ignited in her eyes. A glimmer of starlight, brilliant and sharp.

The mist peeled back, layer by layer. Abstract images flooded Kaguya's mind, images only she could interpret, a language of symbols and impressions she had spent years learning to read.

"Dragon, demon, human, elf..."

"A fallen one, consumed by envy..." The images flashed and scattered. Then, finally, they settled on a figure. A woman. Tall, with long golden hair, wearing a long emerald dress. She was turned away. Only a silhouette, no face, nothing to work with. Kaguya's temples began to sweat. She needed more. She pushed harder, reaching deeper into the vision, trying to turn this shadow into something real. Slowly, the face began to turn. Or rather, the woman turned it herself. Deliberately. There was no beauty there.

No delicate skin, no elegant features. What faced her was something that should not have been wearing a human shape at all. Crimson eyes. Bulging from their sockets. The skin of her face was rotting, the flesh beneath exposed, deep red muscle tissue and a map of dark veins pressing against what remained. Her lips were gone, sliced away as if by a blade, leaving only teeth. White. Perfectly white. She was smiling. The smile stretched nearly to her ears.

"WAAAAHHH—" The face exploded forward, filling Kaguya's entire vision, a wailing shriek tearing through her mind like a blade. Kaguya gasped. Blood spilled from the corner of her mouth. Her spell had been severed. Not frayed, cut, clean through. The entity on the other end hadn't just blocked her; it had launched a mental attack back down the connection before she could withdraw. Now her skull rang with the echo of that face and that scream. Her ears buzzed, the tinnitus relentless. She let it go.

Pushing further would have been reckless. The result would be the same regardless. Su Nian caught the change in her immediately, the pallor, the unfocused eyes, the blood on her lip. Failed. He didn't blame her. This had always been a long shot. Locking onto a single person across half a continent, with no trail to follow, that kind of ability was the domain of legendary mages or mythical oracle-touched diviners. He turned his attention inward.

"System. Can you build me additional hearts?" Just a heart. With the Modification System at his disposal, surely that was trivial. The System responded, and the answer was not what he wanted. [Host, the System can modify any heart for you.] [Mechanical heart, demon heart, given sufficient System Points and energy, even a divine heart is within reach.] [However. The heart that belongs to you, and only you, is singular.] Su Nian frowned. Was that a yes or a no? [Please open the modification page, Host.] [As you can see.] [All modifications this System performs on your body are built upon the fundamental material already present within you.] [Creation from nothing is not possible.] [The System only induces mutation in organs you already possess, guided by the force of rules.]"Then what is the Molten Heart?"

"Isn't that a heart?" [The Molten Heart is not a true heart. Your heart governs blood circulation throughout your body. The Molten Heart is an energy core, it performs an entirely different function.] Su Nian went quiet.

"So I can't give my heart to Anna."

"If I insist on doing it anyway."

"I die." The frown deepened. In his pale gold dragon eyes, anger and something fiercer than anger, refusal, raw and bone-deep, began to rise. He couldn't just let Anna's condition keep dragging on. He wouldn't. If his dragon heart was the only answer, then so be it. It wasn't out of the question. But if there was even one other path, even a single thread of hope left to pull, He wanted to live. He wanted to keep living. Not to leave Anna behind while he cooled into a dead dragon's shell. ➤ Next: Determination