129: Chapter 129 Dragon King

The Dragon Continent: This land, like Mondo, was a mysterious restricted area never opened to players.

But unlike the wasteland where outcasts were exiled, Mondo was at least connected to the ley lines of the Anos Continent where players resided, whereas the Dragon Continent was a completely independent continent—as its name suggested, it was the source of the dragon bloodline and the eternal homeland of the dragon race.

The humans living on the Dragon Continent were strangers to their counterparts on the Anos Continent: they had abandoned their faith in the Creator God and worshipped the dragons soaring in the sky as deities.

Dragons were creatures with an extremely strong sense of territory, possessing a vast range of perception, naturally preferring isolated islands far from the hustle and bustle, and possessing almost no instinct for social, communal living.

However, ever since the first-generation Dragon King, known as the "Tyrant," forcibly gathered all dragons to the Dragon Continent and inscribed the "Rules of Confinement," dragons were forced to begin constructing a humanoid-like society.

In short, it was a homing instinct, but its intensity far exceeded human nostalgia for their hometown; it was more akin to the insane obsession of humans exiled to the Demon Realm longing to return to the Human Realm.

Therefore, the dragons struggled to survive on this tiny land, which was completely mismatched to their massive population, and never even conceived the idea of exploring outer islands or other continents.

Occasionally, rebellious individuals would venture away, but without exception, they would return within a year as if dragged by invisible chains—in other words, Mei breaking free from the shackles of the Dragon Continent to build a nest near the coast of the Anos Continent was the first unprecedented case since the "Rules of Confinement" descended.

Mei was also deeply trapped by the shackles of the rules, but to save her mother, she forcibly tore through the rules with a heart-burning, bone-eroding obsession and arrived at the Anos Continent.

Perhaps out of gratitude for Fu Hao's assistance, or perhaps because the "Mei's Wish" quest was progressing, she rarely explained all this to Fu Hao through their mental link.

"Dragon Continent, a new continent... sounds quite promising... Ugh—"

Although Fu Hao was listening to the backstory that would make lore enthusiasts ecstatic, he couldn't muster any interest—amidst the bumpy, high-speed flight, his vision was twisting and shaking crazily, and he had to endure the torrent of information through mental telepathy; even he could not help but feel dizzy.

"Luckily I didn't bring Yongyuan... otherwise she would have vomited all her bile out."

That girl, upon hearing about the long-distance transoceanic flight, immediately abandoned the trip to the Dragon Continent at light speed and chose to stay in Mei's nest—to her, the shadow of being trapped on an isolated island was far less than the physiological fear caused by motion sickness.

Fu Hao initially couldn't understand at all why anyone would give up the epic achievement and title of "columbus"—in the otherworld, the word "First" weighed more than a thousand catties and was of immeasurable value—but at this moment, he empathized with her and even wanted to applaud Yongyuan's wise choice.

"If we keep flying, someone is going to die!"

Near fainting and shock, Fu Hao wanted to jump off Mei's back, even at the risk of falling into the sea and drowning.

Although he had vomited until he was dizzy when flying from Mondo to the nest, this time Mei was anxious to save her mother, and her speed had tripled! The violent turbulence and air friction, enough to tear skin, were no joke—those violent air currents even penetrated Fu Hao's monster-like physical defense, continuously scraping away his HP:

[Received 5 damage.]

[Received 3 damage.]

[Received 8 damage.]

...

Fu Hao could only grit his teeth and endure it—because he was carrying the survival of the entire otherworld on his back!

"We're here."

Just as Fu Hao's consciousness was about to sink into darkness, Mei sent the news of their arrival through telepathy. As she said, at the junction of sea and sky, the outline of a continent slowly emerged.

A moment later, Mei dove down to land, but she didn't stop! While forcibly resisting the air friction, Fu Hao asked in a slurred voice:

"Mei-Mei-Mei-Mei-sama! How much longer do we have to fly-y-y-y—!"

Mei pieced together his intermittent wailing and responded calmly:

"We're almost there."

Thirty seconds later, Mei, having reached the destination, finally ended this ten-hour flight and landed steadily. Although seeing stars, Fu Hao still forced himself to read the popped-up notification:

[First to discover the unknown land of the Anos Continent, 'Dragon Continent'.]

[Obtained title 'columbus'.]

＜columbus＞

* Growth speed +100% on Dragon Continent

* Drop rate +500% on Dragon Continent

* All quest rewards received on Dragon Continent +500%

* Initial favorability with explorer-related NPCs locked to 'Trust'

"Wow—"

Fu Hao was amazed by the title's effects and instantly became half-sober—this title actually occupied four special effects, each comparable to his existing god-level titles! But in fact, more important than the "columbus" title was that he had marked the coordinates of the teleportation gem on the Dragon Continent.

"I need to have Chaos bring the whole guild to immigrate here."

Whether it was the otherworld kingdom or the Dragon Continent, both were new continents that players had not set foot on, but the former was difficult to operate in due to deep-seated racial hostility, while the latter could be explored as freely as human regions.

Although there was Dragon Might surrounding them, as long as they didn't do something stupid like planting a World Tree like Fu Hao, the arrogant dragons wouldn't bother with ordinary players.

"If I can't solve the World Tree issue, moving the players here wouldn't be bad."

This absurd thought had just popped up when Fu Hao shook his head violently to extinguish it—he had enough teleportation gems to bring the players, but the supply of +10 equipment and gold coins was a problem: his weekly production limit was only 6,000 pieces of +10 equipment, and gold coin exchange was limited by the ceiling of dumping items to NPCs, so he couldn't supply them infinitely.

Just as Fu Hao's thoughts were drifting, Mei had finished talking to the middle-aged man guarding the entrance and was walking towards him.

After eavesdropping on a fragment, Fu Hao keenly noticed: although the man's posture was respectful to Mei, his tone of voice carried a hint of command, and combined with his pure human appearance, his true identity was undoubtedly a dragon. From the fragments of the conversation, Fu Hao pieced together that Mei's status within the dragon race was far beyond his estimation.

Under the probing and cold gaze of the middle-aged man, Fu Hao followed Mei into the cave.

The structure and layout of the cave made him feel very familiar—it was strikingly similar to the cave where the Wind Guild had discovered the Mimic!

The entrance only allowed one person to pass sideways, and after going a hundred meters deep, a huge, empty space appeared. Deep in the cave, an emaciated old dragon with dull scales was curled up on the ground, wrapped in ominous black energy, emitting intermittent, painful groans.

"Mother—!"

Mei burst into tears! She flew forward, but no matter how heart-wrenchingly she called out, the old dragon only twitched unconsciously, eyes tightly closed.

"Soon... soon you will be free..."

Mei gently stroked the old dragon's withered cheeks with her slender humanoid palm, then looked at Fu Hao. After Fu Hao nodded, he summoned Xiao Jin—this time, the arrogant Xiao Jin was surprisingly perceptive, not letting out a dragon roar, and was unusually quiet.

"Mei-sama, does the breath need to be output at full power like last time? Or do I need to control the intensity..."

"No need to hold back! Give it your all! The curse is deep-seated; one shot might not be enough. Keep breathing until all the ominous black energy disappears."

Upon receiving the order, Fu Hao signaled with his eyes. Although Xiao Jin was quite dissatisfied with his noble breath being reduced to an exorcism tool, his master's order could not be disobeyed. It raised its head to store power, and the scorching Golden Dragon breath, like a sword of judgment, slammed into the dying old dragon!

One, two, three... As the breath continued to wash over, the black energy on the old dragon's surface receded at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Finally... finally about to get rid of this vicious curse..."

Mei clasped her hands in front of her chest, like a devout believer praying to the God of Fate. Fu Hao also felt a weight lift from his heart: "Although there were many twists and turns, we have finally passed the last hurdle."

He couldn't be completely at ease before stopping the World Tree from going berserk, but compared to the previous predicament, the remaining matters could no longer be considered difficult. However, just when Fu Hao thought the dust had settled, the rolling snowball encountered a downhill slope again before it stopped—

"Oh? I really didn't expect... that you could actually find a Golden Dragon to bring back."

When the ominous aura on the old dragon was about to dissipate completely, a middle-aged woman suddenly broke in, interrupting everything. A middle-aged woman in a dark gold-patterned robe stood at the entrance, not knowing when she had arrived. She was a person Mei knew well, and Fu Hao had also indirectly seen her face.

"Your Majesty the Dragon King?!"

Mei turned around in astonishment, then revealed a bright smile, "Your Majesty! There are still Golden Dragon descendants left on the Anos Continent! I have already brought it back to dispel the curse for my mother. It will only take a mom..."

The method of lifting the curse was exactly what the Dragon King had told her, and Mei couldn't wait to share this joy, about to briefly describe the process. However, the Dragon King's complexion not only didn't clear up, but turned gloomy instead!

She ignored Mei's explanation, her lips parted, and an ancient incantation was recited:

"Bind."

The word became law! The magic power matching the title of "Dragon King" instantly enveloped the cave! Although Fu Hao, Mei, and Xiao Jin were not physically bound, they were completely deprived of their freedom by the invisible magic power and could not move!

Xiao Jin and Mei were caught off guard and hadn't reacted yet, but Fu Hao had experienced a similar scene, immediately understood what had happened, and cursed in his heart:

"F*** you! What the hell is this acting again?!"