Chapter 241: A Cinnabar Mole on the Brow (Part 2)
(Yesterday I took a day off to rest and organized the earlier parts, only to realize the chapter numbers were a complete mess. I troubled the editor to fix them, and just checked—they've been sorted out perfectly. My thanks to the editor. . . . Then, last night my mood improved, and I started plotting and making detailed outlines, staying up until now without sleep. By morning, I just started writing, and it flowed quite smoothly. But since I haven't rested, I'm a bit dazed. If anything feels scattered or off, please bear with me—I'll find time to revise it.)
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Chen Changsheng was truly furious.
Before the Grand Examination, he had suddenly succeeded in marrow cleansing, even achieving perfect marrow cleansing. Though he had been unconscious throughout the entire process and had no idea what had happened, he knew it was definitely related to the black dragon.
Now he was alive, able to claim first place in the Grand Examination, and then view the steles in the Mausoleum of Books, comprehending their truths, causing starlight to stir the capital—all of this came from the black dragon's gift.
To Chen Changsheng, the black dragon was more important than a lifesaver. Seeing the wound between its eyes that still seemed to bleed, glimpsing the white bone faintly visible deep within the gash, he could imagine the pain it endured. How could he not be moved?
Yes, legend said the black dragon was an evil dragon. The Pope had said as much earlier in the Li Palace. But even if it had once committed heinous crimes in the capital, being tricked and imprisoned underground by Wang Zhice for centuries should have been punishment enough. How could it be tortured like this again?
The black dragon floated silently in the air, listening to Chen Changsheng's angry accusations. Its eyes were utterly calm—no pain, no fear, no anger echoing his emotions, no trace of being moved. Only cold indifference, devoid of any feeling.
Under its indifferent gaze, Chen Changsheng felt like an idiot. He didn't understand why and found it terribly awkward. Had he misunderstood something?
After a long silence, he felt the need to break it and asked hesitantly, "That day… this is my first time seeing you since then. Are you alright?"
The black dragon didn't answer or react in any way.
As mentioned before, though Chen Changsheng didn't know exactly what happened during his first meditation in the underground space that day, he knew the black dragon had helped him escape that ordeal.
"I don't know how to thank you, so I brought some of the things you usually like to eat."
He took out the whole roasted lamb he had ordered from Quyuan's Roast Lamb Shop and placed it on the ground before the black dragon. The fragrant aroma, carried by waves of heat, instantly spread through the air, only to be quickly frozen by the underground chill.
"Eat the lamb while it's hot. Don't worry about the rest."
He pointed at the grease slowly congealing on the lamb leg and reminded her.
Then he continued taking out more things: roast chicken, roasted deer tail, roast goose, sour cabbage and fatty beef hotpot, wooden bucket tofu, fire phoenix fruit… In no time, the ground was covered with dozens of food items.
A glimmer of brightness flashed in the black dragon's eyes, but it still didn't move or speak.
Chen Changsheng felt something was off. In his previous visits to the underground space, the black dragon, aside from teaching him dragon language, rarely spoke with him—perhaps out of disdain or because roaring was too tiring—but it was never as silent as today.
"What's wrong? Angry that I haven't visited you for so long?"
He looked at the black dragon and explained, "That day, I woke up in the National Academy. I don't know who sent me back. After I realized the marrow cleansing was successful, I wanted to come find you, but someone had filled in the well… I think it might have been the same person who sent me back. After that, I had to prepare for the Grand Examination, and these past days I've been in the Mausoleum of Books studying the steles. I really didn't have time to come."
He didn't need to explain so much, but he did anyway.
His eyes were clear, his expression earnest.
Perhaps because of this, the black dragon's whiskers gently floated up, waving twice in the light of the night pearls, indicating it would enjoy his offerings later.
Chen Changsheng finally relaxed and began chatting with the black dragon.
"Thank you so much. Otherwise, I never could have gotten first place in the Grand Examination."
He recounted the Grand Examination in detail, then described how the Pope himself had placed the thorn flower crown on him during the award ceremony. He didn't mention what happened in the Lingyan Pavilion, but he could clearly and thoroughly describe the scenery of the Mausoleum of Books and the stories from the stele huts.
"I've seen many stele rubbings, but before entering the Mausoleum of Books, I always had this fantasy that the hardest-to-understand stele might be written in dragon language."
Chen Changsheng smiled at the black dragon. "I studied dragon language as a child, and you've been teaching me these past days. If the stele inscriptions really were in dragon language, I'd have a much easier time reading them than others."
The black dragon's eyes were full of mockery and disdain.
He felt a bit embarrassed, chuckled twice, and said, "It wasn't until I saw the steles in the Mausoleum of Books that I realized I was overthinking it."
This was somewhat awkward, but he laughed happily.
As his laughter faded, he looked at the black dragon seriously and said something with an extremely grave, even solemn expression.
"In over twenty days of viewing steles in the Mausoleum of Books, on the last day I saw all seventeen steles in the front mausoleum and finally discovered a secret… stars can move."
Earlier, in the Li Palace, he hadn't even told the Pope this.
But the black dragon seemed dismissive of his trust, even amused by his seriousness and solemnity. The mockery and disdain in its dragon eyes grew stronger.
Chen Changsheng was stunned. It took him a moment to react.
Dragons were the highest-flying creatures in the world, able to break through clouds and soar into the heavens. Legend had it that top-tier dragon royalty like the Xuan Frost Giant Dragon could fly freely among the stars once mature. Even if the black dragon had never flown through the starry sky, how could it not know that stars could move?
What he thought was a complete overturning of common sense, even a violation of truth, was the most ordinary thing to the black dragon. His solemnly telling it that stars could move was like gravely informing a fish that the water's bottom was quiet, or telling a bird that clouds were just water vapor…
"I think I overthought it again."
He looked at the black dragon helplessly, then added with confusion, "If that's the case, many people must know this. But why has no one ever mentioned it?"
The black dragon still ignored him.
Chen Changsheng had no choice but to set those thoughts aside and focus on happier things. He said cheerfully, "You know what? I'm now at the upper level of Penetrating Darkness."
In his mind, the black dragon was at least several hundred years old—an ancient senior. Under a senior's guidance and care, achieving something should naturally be reported promptly.
The black dragon glanced at him twice, still with that mocking, disdainful look.
Chen Changsheng continued on his own, "Earlier, I went to the Li Palace and found out… the Pope is my uncle. Hmm, he said I'm the only disciple of our lineage, so I'll inherit the state religion in the future. I think it's ridiculous, but I also feel the Pope is serious."
Hearing this, the mockery and disdain in the black dragon's eyes finally vanished. Even as the noblest and most powerful of dragons, it had to show some respect to the heir of the state religion.
"Of course, actually…"
Chen Changsheng thought for a moment, then shifted to another topic. "I'm going on a long trip—to the Zhou Garden. I might not be able to visit you for a long time."
"Hmm… my fiancée, Xu Yourong, should also go to the Zhou Garden. If I meet her, I plan to return the marriage contract to her. That's her father's request."
"I know she doesn't want to marry me, but returning the contract won't necessarily make her happy. Her maid Shuang'er once came to the National Academy to find me. I can guess her intention—she wants to use the contract and my status as her fiancé to pretend to be a married couple, so she can focus on cultivation."
"This doesn't seem harmful to me, but I don't like it. So I don't like her for it. I'll just break off the engagement directly."
Having voiced this most important decision, Chen Changsheng felt much lighter. He stood up and bid the black dragon farewell. "After I return from the Zhou Garden, I'll come see you again."
The black dragon watched him in silence, its eyes faintly bright, as if it wanted to say something. But in the end, it said nothing—perhaps wanting him to stay a little longer.
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Leaving the underground space, he emerged in the same desolate abandoned palace, near the pond that seemed rarely visited. Chen Changsheng, now experienced, walked to the pond, took out a towel to dry his wet body, and changed into clean clothes.
After finishing, he noticed a pair of dark eyes in the nearby flower bushes staring at him. Startled, he pressed his chest and shook his head with a smile. "Good thing it's you watching me."
The black sheep slowly stepped out from the bushes, its expression aloof and proud, as if to say, "What's there to look at in your scrawny form?"
Chen Changsheng quickly followed.
There was no key around the black sheep's neck—the key was always in his hand. The sheep only led the way.
Passing through layers of the deep palace, avoiding the guards and eunuchs, they reached the secret door of the imperial city, covered in ivy. Chen Changsheng took out the key, unlocked it, and stepped inside.
He looked back at the palace in the night, silently wondering: Who had been helping him all along? That middle-aged woman? Or the Pope?
In the underground space, he had said many things to the black dragon that he had never told anyone. But he hadn't mentioned Senior Brother Yu Ren or a single word about the old temple in Xining Town. Since the Pope had admitted to deliberately letting him see the black dragon, what did that mean? Being cautious couldn't hurt.
Chen Changsheng returned to the National Academy.
The black dragon remained in the cold underground, unable to go anywhere—not even home—for centuries.
Of course, its name wasn't "Squeak." Its dragon name was extraordinarily long; written in human language, it would take dozens of pages. And since no fellow dragon had called it by that name for many years, it had almost forgotten.
The light of the night pearls gradually dimmed.
A magical power faded in the cold air—a spell akin to an illusion.
The black dragon, floating in the air like a mountain range, shrank rapidly, scattering specks of light until it vanished.
A little girl in black clothes knelt on the ground.
The ground was covered in frost, and her expression was as cold as ice.
Her eyes were vertical pupils, enchanting like the night, and between her brows was a red line, like a cinnabar mole.
Looking at the whole roasted lamb before her, covered in congealed fat, she frowned slightly, displeased.
She spoke, in human language: "This idiot, is he trying to stuff me to death?"
Because of the blood from her brow that day, she still hadn't recovered and couldn't transform back into dragon form. A whole roasted lamb was indeed too much for a little girl—she could only look, not eat.
Then she spotted the red-braised chicken wings wrapped in oil paper.
She picked one up, put it in her mouth, and savored it slowly, her brows lifting in delight, blooming like a flower.
Red-braised chicken wings—her favorite.
Chen Changsheng had also brought her some fine Cloud Mist green tea.
She brewed a cup, holding it in her small hands as she drank slowly.
For some reason, her expression turned sorrowful.
Just then, a voice echoed through the underground space.
"Good tea."
Hearing this voice, the little girl's expression shifted—a mix of disgust and, more than anything, fear.