Evil dragon has a warm heart

Unexpectedly receiving a letter from King Ares·Sundazzle, Russell felt quite proud and self-satisfied. Isn’t life all about gaining fame and fortune?

Dragon Knight, a monarch, personally writing to attract him, that was fame!

However, Russell did not respond to the King’s overture; he did not wish to risk exposure by defecting to the Dragon Knights.

In Shadowflame Duchy, the Shadowflame Dragon regarded him as an ally, the Chief Executive was his maternal grandfather, and he was himself a hereditary and unwavering Baron of high nobility. With the position of Grand Duke yet undecided, he could be said to be the emperor of his own domain.

Better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a cow.

This was a true reflection of Russell’s heart, although young, he was also a prospective Dragon Knight—how could he kneel to others?

"Lord Arno, write a letter to thank His Majesty Ares for me!" Russell put away the letter, "Originally I supplied him with three hundred boxes of Frost Snow Cigars annually. Your share was also provided to His Majesty. How about this—I will specially provide one hundred boxes to His Majesty Ares, and ask that he try the Rain Dragon Cigar!"

The Frost Series Rain Dragon Cigar, only three hundred boxes were produced a year.

One hundred boxes specially supplied to Baron Roman, one hundred boxes to Earl Merlin, one hundred boxes to Marquis Arno, and now Russell decided to produce an additional one hundred boxes, specially for King Ares.

"That’s excellent!" Marquis Arno beamed with joy. Even though he received one hundred boxes of Frost Snow Cigars annually, the lion’s share had to be given to his own King, and he could only keep a small portion of Frost Snow Cigars for himself to savor.

Now that Russell had decided to specially supply one portion to King Ares, he could keep what belonged to him.

Leaving Evernight Castle.

Russell embarked on his journey back to Wuyao Snake Manor.

The construction of the Torrential Flood Dragon’s Torrent Scale Tower had begun. Once completed, the borders of the Shadowflame Duchy would be as secure as if protected by walls of iron. Though the Shadowflame Dragon was in decline, the Torrential Flood Dragon was in its prime; Snow Giant Da would be seeking his own death if he dared to make a move.

Furthermore, Snow Giant Da’s condition could only be worse than the Shadowflame Dragon’s; the fact that Russell could not kill him even with a surprise attack was telling.

Thus, the Dragon Blood Knights patrolling the border no longer needed Russell’s escort.

Without Russell’s escort, the Dragon Blood Knights could serve as better bait. As long as they could lure out Snow Giant Da into the open, they could completely eliminate this significant threat.

"I’ve only been the vice-knight of my Dragon Blood Knights for a few days, and I haven’t even received a salary..." Riding the Black Oil Dragon Ross as he soared through the skies, Russell enjoyed the sensation of the misty clouds brushing against him, lamenting in a somewhat trance.

"Grandfather is too old-fashioned, disapproving of my youth. The Council of Elders didn’t leave a spot for me. I’d better go back to my Blackflame Plains and farm slowly!"

He flew leisurely, arriving at Wuyao Snake Manor by dusk.

The manor felt somewhat desolate; Charles, Eric, and others had all gone to the Blackflame Plains to assist elder brother Roland in clearing the land.

"Welcome home, Master," Butler Morris, ever loyal and dutiful, greeted him in the Cigar Courtyard.

"Quack." The Pseudo-Harpy Dragon Hape, which had stayed behind to watch the house, also flew over, landing on Russell’s extended arm.

Though Hape’s wingspan appeared large with its wings spread, making it seem like a large bird.

In reality, Hape was not very large. Once it folded its wings, it was not much bigger than the Red-Eyed Mouse King Jerry.

After playing with Hape for a while and sharing some affection, Russell let Hape fly off.

Hape did not enjoy venturing out and went straight to its exclusive climbing frame on the rooftop garden terrace, where it settled down to rest.

Meanwhile, the Mark of the Thunder Lord on Russell’s forehead manifested into the figure of Unicorn Polly, who silently entered the bamboo grove, contentedly soaking in the fragrance of spring and occasionally nibbling on bamboo shoots sprouting from the ground.

These bamboo shoots were also part of the Bamboo Elf Bug.

One could say that this Bamboo Elf Bug was quite miraculous, a single Cordyceps formed an entire bamboo grove, and minor damage was of no concern to the Bamboo Elf Bug.

Not to mention Polly’s penchant for bamboo shoots, even Russell would occasionally ask the kitchen to steam him some Cordyceps bamboo shoots to satisfy his craving.

"In the future, when the Bamboo Elf Bug evolves, I’ll definitely get Ice Cream to spray out some Dragonflame to help it survive the life-and-death crisis and evolve into a little elf... By then, the taste of Cordyceps bamboo shoots will definitely be even more delicious." Watching Polly relish the bamboo shoots, Russell also felt hungry.

He immediately ordered Butler Morris: "For dinner, ask the kitchen to steam an extra portion of Cordyceps bamboo shoots."

"Yes, Master," Morris replied and turned towards the kitchen.

After dinner, Russell practiced his cultivation on the garden terrace as usual, but this time the content was different.

He made a small cut in his palm with his fingernail.

Blood began to seep out.

The Flat Louse Mark on his palm flashed, transforming into a tiny Flat Louse that began to voraciously consume Russell’s blood.

"Eat up, after the Sword Butterfly, you’re the little creature with the best chance to evolve." Russell watched his palm silently, constantly activating the ability conferred by the Flat Louse, converting his qi and blood, and changing his own Dragon Breath into blood.

He fed the Flat Louse Amber Worm with his blood.

The growth nutrients for this Flat Louse Amber Worm were solely Russell’s own blood; no other creature’s blood would suffice.

It was fortunate that the Flat Louse itself possessed a natural talent for blood-to-energy conversion, otherwise Russell would not dare to nurture lice with his blood.

"At least you grow by drinking blood, I can still afford to keep you..." Russell stretched out his hand and fiddled with the Flat Louse.

The Flat Louse turned over and continued to greedily suck the blood.

Russell looked at the M-shaped mark, with two other marks the size of sesame seeds next to it.

He shook his head and sighed, "Thorn requires continuous assimilation of wild thorn pheromones; the process is too slow. Without a major opportunity in this life, evolution is hopeless... As for the Guardian, forget it, I still have no clue what the Guardian needs to eat to grow."

It had been quite a while since Russell had bonded with Guardian, but he still hadn’t figured out how the Guardian Lizard Amber Worm evolved.

This little gecko did not eat bugs.

Moreover, previously when Russell’s body shattered, the Guardian expended a great deal of energy repairing his body, leaving it in a deficit state, slightly weakened.

How to make the Guardian recover was a constant worry for Russell.

After all, no one could predict whether he would face an even greater crisis, and if his body fell apart again, without the Guardian’s help, there might be no coming back from death.

A moment later.

The Flat Louse, having fed to its heart’s content, transformed back into the Flat Louse Mark and settled back into the palm of his hand.

Even the wound in his palm healed quietly, thanks to Guardian’s ability; treating such minor injuries didn’t require much effort from the Guardian.

"Alright, Hape, it’s our turn to practice," he said.

"Guo’er!"

A man and an owl began the routine coordination of a Phantom Beast Knight, their mental synchronization steadily progressing towards perfection.

At night, Gloomy Dreamland descended.

The Torrential Flood Dragon’s Torrent Scale Tower was not yet built up to Leize, so Little Dream Dragon could still roam freely in the night for a while longer.

"Ga!"

"Good, call Polly, and let’s set off!"

One man, one dragon, one pseudo-dragon, a butterfly, a flower, a louse, and a gecko—the seven members of the Dream Family set off mightily towards the Snowfield.

They cherished the few collective hunting activities they had left.

"Once the Torrent Scale Tower is complete, we can’t carelessly gather in the Gloomy Dreamland anymore. So this time, Ice Cream, I’ll allow you to fly south until you’re utterly exhausted. Let’s see how far we can get on the Snowfield!"

"Ga!"

They headed south, resolute and decisive in their actions.

Whenever they encountered a Snow Ghost Group, Little Dream Dragon would slow down momentarily, then open its mouth to absorb Ice Pellet Pearls. Along the way, they even encountered a Snow Demon.

Little Dream Dragon sucked out an Ice Soul Pearl but didn’t immediately swallow it.

Instead, it handed it over to Polly. Polly promptly used her Dreamy Unicorn Horn to stick the Ice Soul Pearl and planned to bring it back.

They raced along and then arrived at a range of undulating mountains.

"This is... the Heibo Mountains, Russell, these are the Heibo Mountains," Polly, who was best at remembering routes, quickly recognized the mountain range within the sphere of latitude of eight and a half meters provided by Dream Clone.

"Heibo Mountains, huh? We’ve flown over a thousand kilometers!" Russell did some quick calculations, "That means we’ve been flying for eight or nine hours tonight!"

Usually, Russell didn’t sleep for more than seven hours a night.

That is to say, the time flow in Gloomy Dreamland was likely faster than in the real world—the time flow in the two worlds was slightly different.

But that wasn’t surprising.

Little Dream Dragon was an existence that could stop time in Gloomy Dreamland, so accelerating time in the Gloomy Dreamland relative to the real world was just as effortless for it.

After all, it was the Master of Gloomy Dreamland.