Chapter 24: Heartbeat
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Chapter 24: Heartbeat
At some unknown point, Dillon Adam gained self-awareness. He knew his surname was Dillon and his given name was Adam.
He was confined in a dark and cramped space, surrounded by a hard barrier at the edges.
Aside from repeatedly swallowing his own amniotic fluid, doing somersaults, flexing his claws, and bumping against the barrier, there wasn’t much else to do.
He began to enjoy listening to the sounds from outside.
Most of the time, when the barrier grew warm, he was accompanied by a steady, deep thumping sound.
When the thumping disappeared, other sounds would occasionally arise. His memory told him that was the draconic language.
Yet, for some reason, he still couldn’t quite understand what the draconic language meant.
Occasionally, he would stretch out his tiny hands and feet, following the direction of the sounds, and tap against the barrier.
At such times, the draconic language outside would always grow more intense, similarly tapping against the barrier in response to his knocks.
Then, at some point, a terrifying, thunderous roar came from outside—one he had never heard before. It made him deeply uncomfortable.
He curled up.
Along with the thunderous roar came the draconic language that often spoke to him, but the familiar words had turned unusually sharp and furious.
The barrier moved. It shook violently, slamming Dillon Adam around until he was dizzy and disoriented.
After what felt like an eternity, the outside world fell silent, but the barrier grew cold… colder and colder.
Dillon Adam didn’t know what had happened. From time to time, he tried knocking against the barrier, but from then on, no draconic language ever responded to him again.
The familiar thumping sound had vanished as well.
In the solitude, his thoughts gradually froze in the low temperature, and his consciousness sank into darkness.
Much later—he didn’t know how long—he woke up. The barrier was no longer cold, but he was now at the brink of exhaustion.
His consciousness was hazy and chaotic to the extreme.
The outside of the barrier grew noisy.
Yet, he couldn’t hear the familiar thumping or the draconic language. Fearfully, he curled up again.
From then on, frequent magical fluctuations appeared beyond the barrier.
Yes, his memory told him—those were magical fluctuations.
Most of the magical fluctuations were blocked by the barrier, draining a great deal of his energy. Only a few slipped through, drifting past him like intangible wisps of smoke.
This went on for a long, long time.
The vitality he had accumulated through deep slumber was gradually depleted.
His consciousness grew fainter and fainter.
He fell into a deep sleep, rarely waking.
On the rare occasions he did wake, he felt that the next time he slept, he might never wake again.
Until one moment, he suddenly sensed a very peculiar aura outside.
His memory told him—that was a divine aura.
He grew restless, desperately wanting to knock against the barrier.
Because he knew—if he didn’t want to fall into eternal slumber, only this aura could save him.
But he was too weak. Long, long, long ago, he could have tapped the barrier freely. Now, he couldn’t even lift an arm.
The slightest movement made his consciousness spin into darkness, forgetting what he had meant to do. Only after a long while could he regain his senses.
He realized—he was going to die.
Fragmented memories surfaced in its mind, yet it sorrowfully realized that among its scant recollections, only the rhythmic thumping and the draconic language brought it comfort.
Then, in the dead silence, at the far edge of the darkness, countless fireflies suddenly emerged.
They swarmed forward, encircling its body.
Memories buried deep within its bloodline and soul stirred once more. With great effort, it opened its eyes and gazed at these fireflies—it recognized them.
They were words—Draconic Script.
The Draconic Script swirled around it, coiling around its frail soul.
Summoning the last vestige of its will, it lowered the defenses of its soul and embraced these words.
In an instant, as the words transformed into three beams of light, a torrent of life force surged wildly from an unknowable dimension, flooding in.
Its withered life was reignited; its shattered consciousness coalesced into one.
Boundless joy, accompanied by drowsiness, blossomed in Dillon Adam’s heart!
Its instincts compelled it to sleep as soon as possible, to use this life force to replenish its long-depleted Source Essence and awaken the bloodline heritage of the Dragon Clan!
Yet, against this overwhelming instinct, Dillon Adam mustered its will and sent a single message to the other end of the life force:
"Thank you!"
……
"It worked!"
Yu Sheng'an, sensing the successful establishment of the contract, had barely begun to show delight when his youthful face suddenly withered, his jet-black hair rapidly turning white.
"Fck!"
The expletive burst from his lips as his pupils dilated, fear flashing across his face.
In that instant, he truly felt the shadow of death!
He could sense his life force being frantically drained by the Dragon Egg—no, not drained, but shared!
Yu Sheng'an instinctively wanted to terminate the contract, but at this critical moment, after cursing, he gritted his teeth and upheld it, instead diverting life force from his other contracted creatures.
Guided by his "mass-production" mentality, with ample Source Essence at his disposal, even he had lost count of how many demons he had contracted.
Drawing just one percent of life force from each of these demons was enough to sustain the Dragon Egg’s vitality.
Even so, it took a full dozen breaths before Yu Sheng'an’s withered appearance gradually plumped back to normal.
The Dragon Egg’s voracious absorption of life force finally ceased.
The intricate Magic Runes on the Dragon Egg glowed faintly, absorbing natural energy to accumulate power for the young dragon’s incubation.
"Truly terrifying. An unhatched hatchling already possesses such overwhelming life force—how fearsome would it be once it grows into a full-fledged dragon?"
Though he spoke of terror, his eyes blazed with excitement!
The more life force the Dragon Egg devoured, the more it proved its terrifying potential. With a shared contract binding them, how could he not rejoice?
This was an ally!
"Thank you!"
A ripple of soul energy interrupted Yu Sheng'an’s exhilaration.
His smile faltered for a moment before brightening even further.
"Focus on incubating—no need to rush out!"
He patted the Dragon Egg, then rummaged through his spatial ring until he finally retrieved a high-tier magic artifact from Tang En’s stockpile—a Firecloud Flower capable of storing life force.
This Magic Plant resembled a lotus, its interior naturally engraved with life-nurturing Magic Runes. After spatial magic modifications, it could hold objects up to three zhang in diameter.
Yu Sheng'an channeled his magic to activate it, and instantly, an enormous Firecloud Flower bloomed before him.
Then he rolled the half-human-tall Dragon Egg into the Firecloud Flower.
In an instant, the petals closed in, wrapping the Dragon Egg layer by layer, until it shrank to the size of a thumb, hardened like a crystal-carved Firecloud Flower.
Yu Sheng'an pinched the shrunken Firecloud Flower, pondering briefly. For safety's sake, he teleported it back to his main body in the Divine Palace.
Inside the Ancient Castle of the Divine Palace,
Yu Sheng'an's main body waved a hand, summoning a magical chain with the castle's arcane power, hanging the Firecloud Flower around his neck.
The crystallized Firecloud Flower hung naturally, resting against his chest, emitting faint magical fluctuations in rhythm with his heartbeat.
Yu Sheng'an had taken these precautions for an extreme scenario—
if the Ancient Castle of the Divine Palace were suddenly attacked, and resistance proved futile, he would have no choice but to detonate the castle to escape with his life.
Thus, keeping his most valuable possessions on his person was simply a prudent measure.
...
In the pitch-black darkness, Dillon Adam's consciousness flickered briefly. It turned over and sank back into deep slumber.
The endless flow of life force brought it comfort.
Most importantly, the familiar thumping sound had returned, echoing outside the barrier.
At some unknown point, Dillon Adam gained self-awareness. He knew his surname was Dillon and his given name was Adam.
He was confined in a dark and cramped space, surrounded by a hard barrier at the edges.
Aside from repeatedly swallowing his own amniotic fluid, doing somersaults, flexing his claws, and bumping against the barrier, there wasn’t much else to do.
He began to enjoy listening to the sounds from outside.
Most of the time, when the barrier grew warm, he was accompanied by a steady, deep thumping sound.
When the thumping disappeared, other sounds would occasionally arise. His memory told him that was the draconic language.
Yet, for some reason, he still couldn’t quite understand what the draconic language meant.
Occasionally, he would stretch out his tiny hands and feet, following the direction of the sounds, and tap against the barrier.
At such times, the draconic language outside would always grow more intense, similarly tapping against the barrier in response to his knocks.
Then, at some point, a terrifying, thunderous roar came from outside—one he had never heard before. It made him deeply uncomfortable.
He curled up.
Along with the thunderous roar came the draconic language that often spoke to him, but the familiar words had turned unusually sharp and furious.
The barrier moved. It shook violently, slamming Dillon Adam around until he was dizzy and disoriented.
After what felt like an eternity, the outside world fell silent, but the barrier grew cold… colder and colder.
Dillon Adam didn’t know what had happened. From time to time, he tried knocking against the barrier, but from then on, no draconic language ever responded to him again.
The familiar thumping sound had vanished as well.
In the solitude, his thoughts gradually froze in the low temperature, and his consciousness sank into darkness.
Much later—he didn’t know how long—he woke up. The barrier was no longer cold, but he was now at the brink of exhaustion.
His consciousness was hazy and chaotic to the extreme.
The outside of the barrier grew noisy.
Yet, he couldn’t hear the familiar thumping or the draconic language. Fearfully, he curled up again.
From then on, frequent magical fluctuations appeared beyond the barrier.
Yes, his memory told him—those were magical fluctuations.
Most of the magical fluctuations were blocked by the barrier, draining a great deal of his energy. Only a few slipped through, drifting past him like intangible wisps of smoke.
This went on for a long, long time.
The vitality he had accumulated through deep slumber was gradually depleted.
His consciousness grew fainter and fainter.
He fell into a deep sleep, rarely waking.
On the rare occasions he did wake, he felt that the next time he slept, he might never wake again.
Until one moment, he suddenly sensed a very peculiar aura outside.
His memory told him—that was a divine aura.
He grew restless, desperately wanting to knock against the barrier.
Because he knew—if he didn’t want to fall into eternal slumber, only this aura could save him.
But he was too weak. Long, long, long ago, he could have tapped the barrier freely. Now, he couldn’t even lift an arm.
The slightest movement made his consciousness spin into darkness, forgetting what he had meant to do. Only after a long while could he regain his senses.
He realized—he was going to die.
Fragmented memories surfaced in its mind, yet it sorrowfully realized that among its scant recollections, only the rhythmic thumping and the draconic language brought it comfort.
Then, in the dead silence, at the far edge of the darkness, countless fireflies suddenly emerged.
They swarmed forward, encircling its body.
Memories buried deep within its bloodline and soul stirred once more. With great effort, it opened its eyes and gazed at these fireflies—it recognized them.
They were words—Draconic Script.
The Draconic Script swirled around it, coiling around its frail soul.
Summoning the last vestige of its will, it lowered the defenses of its soul and embraced these words.
In an instant, as the words transformed into three beams of light, a torrent of life force surged wildly from an unknowable dimension, flooding in.
Its withered life was reignited; its shattered consciousness coalesced into one.
Boundless joy, accompanied by drowsiness, blossomed in Dillon Adam’s heart!
Its instincts compelled it to sleep as soon as possible, to use this life force to replenish its long-depleted Source Essence and awaken the bloodline heritage of the Dragon Clan!
Yet, against this overwhelming instinct, Dillon Adam mustered its will and sent a single message to the other end of the life force:
"Thank you!"
……
"It worked!"
Yu Sheng'an, sensing the successful establishment of the contract, had barely begun to show delight when his youthful face suddenly withered, his jet-black hair rapidly turning white.
"Fck!"
The expletive burst from his lips as his pupils dilated, fear flashing across his face.
In that instant, he truly felt the shadow of death!
He could sense his life force being frantically drained by the Dragon Egg—no, not drained, but shared!
Yu Sheng'an instinctively wanted to terminate the contract, but at this critical moment, after cursing, he gritted his teeth and upheld it, instead diverting life force from his other contracted creatures.
Guided by his "mass-production" mentality, with ample Source Essence at his disposal, even he had lost count of how many demons he had contracted.
Drawing just one percent of life force from each of these demons was enough to sustain the Dragon Egg’s vitality.
Even so, it took a full dozen breaths before Yu Sheng'an’s withered appearance gradually plumped back to normal.
The Dragon Egg’s voracious absorption of life force finally ceased.
The intricate Magic Runes on the Dragon Egg glowed faintly, absorbing natural energy to accumulate power for the young dragon’s incubation.
"Truly terrifying. An unhatched hatchling already possesses such overwhelming life force—how fearsome would it be once it grows into a full-fledged dragon?"
Though he spoke of terror, his eyes blazed with excitement!
The more life force the Dragon Egg devoured, the more it proved its terrifying potential. With a shared contract binding them, how could he not rejoice?
This was an ally!
"Thank you!"
A ripple of soul energy interrupted Yu Sheng'an’s exhilaration.
His smile faltered for a moment before brightening even further.
"Focus on incubating—no need to rush out!"
He patted the Dragon Egg, then rummaged through his spatial ring until he finally retrieved a high-tier magic artifact from Tang En’s stockpile—a Firecloud Flower capable of storing life force.
This Magic Plant resembled a lotus, its interior naturally engraved with life-nurturing Magic Runes. After spatial magic modifications, it could hold objects up to three zhang in diameter.
Yu Sheng'an channeled his magic to activate it, and instantly, an enormous Firecloud Flower bloomed before him.
Then he rolled the half-human-tall Dragon Egg into the Firecloud Flower.
In an instant, the petals closed in, wrapping the Dragon Egg layer by layer, until it shrank to the size of a thumb, hardened like a crystal-carved Firecloud Flower.
Yu Sheng'an pinched the shrunken Firecloud Flower, pondering briefly. For safety's sake, he teleported it back to his main body in the Divine Palace.
Inside the Ancient Castle of the Divine Palace,
Yu Sheng'an's main body waved a hand, summoning a magical chain with the castle's arcane power, hanging the Firecloud Flower around his neck.
The crystallized Firecloud Flower hung naturally, resting against his chest, emitting faint magical fluctuations in rhythm with his heartbeat.
Yu Sheng'an had taken these precautions for an extreme scenario—
if the Ancient Castle of the Divine Palace were suddenly attacked, and resistance proved futile, he would have no choice but to detonate the castle to escape with his life.
Thus, keeping his most valuable possessions on his person was simply a prudent measure.
...
In the pitch-black darkness, Dillon Adam's consciousness flickered briefly. It turned over and sank back into deep slumber.
The endless flow of life force brought it comfort.
Most importantly, the familiar thumping sound had returned, echoing outside the barrier.
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