Volume 1 Hello, Lu Mingfei Chapter 67: Dragon Servant (Part 2)
With a slight click, the flickering flames dispelled the darkness and the entire corridor suddenly became bright. The light was a small bronze lamp, depicting a kneeling palace maid holding the lamp in one hand and with the sleeve of the other hand gathered above the lampshade, placed on the side of the corridor.
Ye Sheng immediately recognized that it was the Changxin Palace Lantern, a creation of the Han Dynasty court. During the Three Kingdoms period, Liu Bei always claimed to be a descendant of Liu Sheng, King Jing of Zhongshan, and the Changxin Palace Lantern was unearthed from the tomb of Liu Sheng's wife.
A girl stood beside the Changxin Palace lantern, wearing a white, blue-rimmed, cross-collared skirt that fluttered down to the ground. She looked no more than 20 years old, with her hair tied up in a spiral bun. Without makeup, she looked like a romantic heroine in an idol drama. She was bent over, holding two flints for ignition. The flames of the Changxin Palace lanterns swayed slightly, and her face was covered with a layer of hazy shadows. Ye Sheng had a strange feeling, as if this girl came from a thousand years ago, mysterious and unpredictable, and he only saw her shadow.
Jiude Aki and Ye Sheng did not dare to move forward, although the distance between them and the girl was only five or six meters. In the city of the King of Bronze and Fire, they suddenly met a girl in vintage clothes who looked like a human. No one would think that the calm and indifferent face was a cute girl who could be talked to. When she turned around, what they might see was the king's wrath.
Could the Dragon King Norton be a girl? Ye Sheng's brain was spinning rapidly. Based on the information on the dragon race he had already mastered, Cassel roughly restored the history of the ancient dragon race. It was said that the four great monarchs were all created directly by the Black King. Even solitary dragons could reproduce, and there was no need for male and female mating. Humans had never confirmed whether dragons had genders.
The dragon race is too perfect, it is simply the pinnacle of the evolutionary tree. At that point, offspring seem to be dispensable, because a dragon can be reborn as long as it leaves eggs before being killed, and there are not many things in the world that can threaten them. In ancient China, there is a saying that the phoenix is reborn from the ashes, but the dragon is the real immortal body.
"No one has been here for a long time." The girl threw the flint into the Changxin Palace Lantern, closed the lid, hid her hands in her wide sleeves and clasped them in front of her body, "Tonight... what year is it?"
"Two thousand and two years have passed since Wang Mang replaced the Han Dynasty and changed the country's name to Xin." Jiude Yaji said boldly. If this girl is indeed Norton herself, then she must know about Wang Mang's change of the era name. Gongsun Shu officially started to rise from this period.
“Two thousand years…” the girl murmured, “ So much time has passed in the blink of an eye.”
Ye Sheng could not feel any hostility from her, but all the snakes he released were blocked by the girl. There seemed to be an invisible wall in front of her, which meant that the girl's bloodline was far superior to Ye Sheng's.
Ye Sheng quietly clenched his diving knife. He had received A+ grades in all practical courses at Kassel Academy. Although Word Spirit was not suitable for combat, he felt that he could still fight off a few moves from a humanoid Dragon King. This would at least buy time for Shude Aki to escape.
"When I take action, you run back and return the same way." Ye Sheng used the spirit of words to communicate directly with Jude Aki through his thoughts, so as to avoid being heard by the other party.
"Are you crazy?" Aki Jude opened his eyes wide in surprise, "She hasn't shown any hostility yet!"
"Who else but Norton could be the dragon that would appear in the Bronze City?"
"I can hear your voice." The girl suddenly said, and Ye Sheng's heart trembled violently, "But you are indeed wrong. When the master is away, the subjects should fulfill their duties. It is my duty to stay here."
She half turned sideways and made an inviting gesture: "I am the master's servant, my name is Samson. The master of the house is not here, and it is also the etiquette of a subject to entertain guests. Please follow me."
Samson's every move has the elegance and calmness of an ancient lady. Young ladies from famous families are often well-versed in poetry, songs, etiquette and are omniscient. Ye Sheng always thought that such people should only exist in TV dramas. But now the real ancients are in front of him. Samson came from two thousand years ago, or even longer, so she would ask what year it is today, because she has never left here in the past thousand years. What is more worrying is that she said that the master has left. The master of Bronze City is certainly not Gongsun Shu. Dragon King Norton, has he awakened?
It is not known whether these are lies or the truth, but at least Samson did not show any hostility, and she is very approachable now. Ye Sheng and Jiude Aki looked at each other, nodded, and followed Samson into the depths of the corridor.
There was another door in the depths, guarded by a living spirit, but this time there was no need to donate blood. Samson just patted the bronze man-faced head lightly, and the floodgate slowly opened. A large amount of water flowed down the curved channels on both sides, and the floor began to slowly sink until the water covered their heads.
"Oh my God!" exclaimed Aki Shude.
Ye Sheng followed her line of sight and looked down. The bottom of the water was filled with eerie white bones, densely packed into a mountain. The obvious skull features showed that these were all humans, and there were at least tens of thousands of them.
In the gaps between the bones, you can see pieces of rusted metal, the same kind you saw on the gate before coming in. Those are the remains of armor, which means that these dead bones are most likely ancient soldiers.
This is consistent with history. Historical books say that Gongsun Shu was invincible in the early days when facing Liu Xiu's troops. This must have been with the help of Norton. It was not until Liu Xiu found the mixed-race Wu that the Han army captured Baidi City at a huge cost.
He suddenly looked at Samson's back and felt that this was a trap. Perhaps Samson was luring them to the depths of Baidi City to be strangled like these dead soldiers, but Samson did not turn his head to look at him. She floated freely in the water like an elegant mermaid.
It was that feeling again, as if he was dead and had nowhere to go, drifting in the endless ocean. With his previous experience, Ye Sheng was no longer so panicked. He held Shude Aki's hand tightly, closed his eyes, and let the buoyancy lift him up naturally.
The sound of rushing water was intermittent, and Ye Sheng suddenly opened his eyes. He thought he would see a magnificent palace, with a dragon master holding up the sky, a bronze faucet spouting water, and gold and silver foam painted on the walls, shining brightly like daylight.
But now he and Shude Aki were soaking in a pool in a small house. Behind them, a bronze waterwheel was creaking and turning. In front of them, across the small bridge over the flowing water was a bronze house. Four Changxin Palace lanterns lit up the surroundings. Outside the house, there were several stone pillars and a white jade table engraved with a Go board, and a few chess pieces scattered around. This was probably the most luxurious thing here.
It is very surprising. A monarch should be proud and independent, using wealth and power to build palaces to show his prominence to the world, but Norton seems to be a guy with "low-key" written on his head. Living in such a place, it is better to say that he is a Tao Yuanming-style leisurely person rather than a king.
Samson did not invite them into the house. When the master was away, the guests could not enter the master They sat down at the white jade table outside the house. Samson went into the house and later brought back a bronze teapot. Watching Samson pour tea for them in an ancient way, Ye Sheng began to wonder if this tea was also like Samson, and had been here for two thousand years. Maybe if he drank it, he would have diarrhea.
"I know why you are here." Samson sat down opposite the two of them. There was no tea prepared for her in front of her. "You are human, but you have the blood of dragons."
"It's hard to imagine that I'm sitting and drinking tea with a dragon now. I thought you were going to kill us in rage." Ye Sheng opened the mask of his diving suit. Dragons are reptiles and they also need to breathe. Samson lives deep inside this bronze city, but the air is exceptionally fresh. This should be the design of the bronze city itself. There are ventilation channels around it that connect to the outside world.
"If it were before, I would have done so," Samson said calmly. "My lord once fought against the emperor, and Lord Gongsun gave me a large part of his soldiers to command because he trusted my lord, and of course he trusted me as well. There are more than tens of thousands of Han soldiers' bones buried under this city, so why would I care about killing two more people?"
"That means you won't do that now." Shude Aki said, "Why? Dragons are supposed to be sworn enemies of humans."
"I didn't say that I like you and invited you to sit here, but I need your help. In exchange, I know what you want." Samson pointed to the room behind him, "It's right there."
"Aren't you afraid that we will rob you?" Ye Sheng raised his eyebrows. In his opinion, Samsun was a little too careless. Although she was a dragon, it was two against one now. Jiude Aji was even stronger than him in combat ability, while Jiude Aji always modestly said that she was far inferior to her sister.
"You are no match for me. I am the lord's close minister and his sword. The lord is honored as the King of Bronze and Fire. Even among the dragons, his alchemy skills are outstanding. You should know that."
Samson placed his finger on the white jade table. His seemingly slender and tender index finger just touched it lightly, and a knife-like crack was carved on the white jade table.
She is indeed a weapon, an extremely sharp weapon. Although she looks like a young girl, her inner self has long been forged by Norton into an alchemical blade that can cut through gold and iron. The material may be Samson's bones.
No one knows how Norton did it. As the pinnacle of dragon alchemy achievement, Norton's attainments far exceed human cognition.
"Okay, we admit defeat." Ye Sheng clapped his hands to express his applause for Samson's performance.
If your opponent can cut white jade with just one finger, I'm afraid no one would want to fight such a thing.
"But how did they do that?" Shude Aki was very curious, "You look like a human girl. When the dragons become human in appearance, other parts of their bodies will also become similar to humans except for their inner selves."
"Because I am a living spirit." Samson pressed his hand on his chest, "I have crossed the boundary between life and death. This is the greatest masterpiece of my lord."
Samson opened his collar, and his fingers, strong enough to cut white jade, only needed to lightly swipe his chest. Ye Sheng and Jiude Aki both saw the internal structure of her body. There were no internal organs or muscles. There were only hundreds of mysterious bones of the dragon clan, which had lost their original color and turned into a color like bronze. It was hard to imagine that her beautiful appearance was supported by only these bones. People couldn't help but think of the White Bone Demon in Journey to the West, who had only skin and bones.
"A gentleman should not look at anything inappropriate!" Jiude Aki stretched out her hand to block Ye Sheng's eyes, because she knew that Ye Sheng had never been in a formal relationship, and it was too erotic to let a pure virgin see a girl unbuttoning her clothes in front of him.
"They're just bones, what's so good about them..." Ye Sheng muttered.
"Before my master died, he left behind a cocoon and made me into the ultimate alchemical spirit. I have preserved everything from the past and have stayed here for two thousand years, guarding the master's cocoon, just waiting for him to revive." Samson put on his clothes again, "But I don't like this. Are you willing to be alone in one place, listening to the sound of running water and waiting for two thousand years?"
"But you just said that Norton has left here." Ye Sheng pushed away Jiude Aki's hand, "Then do you still need to stay here?"
"I can't leave here. This is the rule of the Dragon Cave. In order to prevent invasion by outsiders, there are living spirits guarding the gates of Bronze City. At the same time, in order to prevent invaders from leaving and killing them, one must sacrifice a person to leave here. This rule applies to the entire Bronze City, except for the lord himself ." Samson looked into Ye Sheng's eyes and smiled faintly, "The blood of a living person is enough."
Ye Sheng suddenly stood up, kicked over the white jade table, and pulled Jiude Aki back.
The ancient dragons were arrogant and ruthless. They were more inclined to use their violence to crush humans. But as history progressed, the secret party discovered that dragons were becoming more and more cunning. They began to know how to use strategies and knew how to lurk in human society and use their power to create schemes and manipulate puppets. There are often shadows of dragons behind those well-known historical events.
The same is true for Samson. He is just a servant of the Dragon King, but in the past two thousand years, he has learned to use his innocent appearance to deceive humans without any instruction.
This was indeed a trap, planned from the beginning. They should not have come here. Samson tricked them into a dead end with no way out. Those bones were the end.
Samson waved his hand lightly, and the white jade table was silently chopped into pieces. As the ultimate living being created by the Dragon King Norton, she was still an invincible magic weapon even without a master.
"The living spirits sealed in the door are beyond saving, but I am different. I can still move and think. As long as I have the blood of the dragon clan, I can still be myself." Samson's eyes showed a light of desire. "I don't care about betraying my master. I only care about myself. Come on, aren't you here for the bone bottle? I'll give you the jar. Exchange it with your dragon blood!"
She no longer needed to disguise herself. Every word she spoke was a roar, and she spoke at the top of her lungs. Blue-black scales emerged from all over her body. Her graceful and slender arms suddenly grew into the sharp claws of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, tearing her skirt into pieces. A cold light flashed on the bone claws that pierced through her knuckles.
