101. The Golden Dragon
Looking at Elly's incoherent appearance in front of her, Xia Yi was somewhat speechless, really afraid that this clumsy little maid would perform a gasp on the spot.
"Take it slow, Elly."
"Actually! Your Highness, because… the golden dragon… no…"
"Come, take a deep breath, follow me, one two three, three two one, awoo."
Xia Yi remembered the method Sera used to calm herself down.
Elly did as she was told, took a deep breath, and then exhaled, "One two three, three two one, awoo."
"Feeling better?"
"Better, Your Highness."
Elly nodded, her expression finally a bit more normal.
"Your Highness, it's impossible for you to see a golden dragon, because the golden dragons have long been extinct!"
"…Extinct?"
"Yes, our Dragon Clan no longer has golden dragons, it's been a long time since a golden dragon appeared in the history of our clan, the last golden dragon of our clan died ten thousand years ago!"
Elly explained earnestly:
"Your Highness, you and the Queen, you have the Royal Silver Dragon bloodline, in fact, it has been manifested in the bodies of the past Dragon Kings, or like the previous King's Black Dragon bloodline, think about it, Red, Blue, Green Dragon bloodlines should all have appeared in the past Dragon Kings… but there is no Golden Dragon bloodline!"
Xia Yi carefully recalled, and it was indeed so.
She had seen the roster of past Dragon Kings before, and now there really is no Golden Dragon bloodline.
Even if there was, it was a very long time ago.
She seemed to have heard about the golden dragon in history class, although she was dozing off at the time, she still heard some content.
The history teacher also asserted at the time that there were no living golden dragons left in the Dragon Kingdom.
The Golden Dragon race triggered some kind of taboo and was exterminated within the Dragon Clan.
"The Dragon Clan with Golden Dragon bloodline has already disappeared from the Dragon Kingdom… no, it should be from this land, Your Highness, so what you just said, seeing a golden dragon, I think it's impossible." Elly gave her conclusion.
"Did I really see it wrong?"
Xia Yi was puzzled.
Could it be that she was too nervous, so she fantasized, mistaking it for reality?
But the smile of the golden dragon girl she saw just now was too real.
She really doesn't think her mind was in a daze at that time.
…Perhaps, the golden dragons really have disappeared from the Dragon Kingdom.
But the little princess thought that the golden dragon she just saw was not fake.
There must be some special inside story that makes both of these objective conditions real.
"Elly, let's keep going," said Xia Yi.
"Your Highness, I clearly told you that the golden dragons are extinct!"
"I think so too, but since the way back has disappeared behind us, and we can't leave this valley by flying, isn't there only one way to go, to keep moving forward?"
"What you said makes sense, it's just…"
"Elly, if we keep retreating, we will never be able to leave here, if you are scared, you can hold my hand, I will take you out! The best way to overcome fear is to face it!"
The silver-haired loli's expression was very serious now.
Elly felt quite surprised.
How come all of a sudden, the Princess has become reliable, completely different from the usual lazy and proud loli.
What's the situation?
Elly inexplicably remembered that she had heard people from the Royal Maid Corps talking before, it was about the Princess—
The Princess has schizophrenia, which is the potential of a powerful Dragon King.
At first, Elly just felt it was exaggerated, but now seeing Xia Yi's performance, she gradually started to think so.
She thought that Xia Yi would definitely cry and make a fuss when encountering such a situation, saying she didn't want to play anymore, wanting to go home.
But no, the Princess was still able to maintain rationality, just like a battle-hardened warrior.
Incredible, as if she had changed her personality!
"Elly has been staring at me in a daze?" Xia Yi was puzzled, "Did I say something strange?"
"Nothing, Your Highness, I think what you said makes sense, since there is no other way out, let's keep moving forward!"
Afterward, the two of them moved towards the depths of the Purple Kite Valley together.
For safety, their actions were not very rushed, but maintained a certain safe speed, so as not to have any accidents and be able to react in time.
Xia Yi and Elly didn't know how long they had walked, it felt as if the scenery had not changed.
They were still deep in an endless sea of flowers.
The only certainty was that they were moving forward.
"Your Highness, what is that!?" Elly pointed in a direction, her voice changing.
Xia Yi looked in the direction Elly was pointing, it was just a small hill.
However, the scenery did seem to have changed a bit, previously it was a flat sea of flowers without any undulation.
"A small hill?"
"No, look closely!"
Xia Yi focused and noticed that the soil of the small hill was white…
No.
That wasn't soil, but a huge skeleton!
She approached and found it to be the remains of a giant dragon, apparently dead for a long time.
If a dragon dies of unnatural causes, it leaves behind resentment and curses, contaminating the land.
But looking at the situation here, the purple flowers were thriving, spreading over the dragon's skeleton, covering it, not seeming cursed.
Unfortunately, it was just a skeleton, and looking further revealed nothing more.
Xia Yi and Elly could only move on, having come this far.
Besides the skeleton they had just seen, there were other white hills.
"Many dragons must have entered the Purple Kite Valley," Elly trembled all over, "It seems the legend is true, once you enter the Purple Kite Valley, you never return, will we end up like these dragons…"
"Elly, some have come here and left alive, have you forgotten?"
"Who?"
"Of course, Xia Lulu!" Xia Yi reminded.
"Right, the Queen!" Elly suddenly remembered, "The Queen had visited the Purple Kite Valley before to meet an old friend!"
"So, could it be that the golden dragon I saw was…?"
Xia Yi pondered, the golden dragon girl she had seen, could there be a possibility that she was Xia Lulu's old friend?
"We must find her."
"Your Highness!! It's not good!!"
Elly screamed, pointing behind Xia Yi, her face drained of color.
"Behind, behind!!!"
Xia Yi didn't understand the situation at first, accompanied by purple petals falling like rain, drenching her body, and then a huge shadow covered her.
She turned her head and saw the dragon skeleton that was supposed to be dead, standing up from the ground again.
The dragon skeleton raised its huge claw and slammed it down towards the little princess, the exaggerated force stirring up a wind pressure, both strength and speed were astonishing.
Xia Yi stood still, not moving, just as she was between the gaps of the giant claw, the dragon skeleton hit the ground, and she was unharmed, avoiding the attack.
"Your Highness, please don't move!!"
Elly shouted, transforming into her dragon true form, and slammed into it.
After transforming from human form to dragon true form, a dragon's physical strength, defense, magic resistance, and power all see a significant increase.
Although agility and control might decrease, overall strength soars considerably.
Thus, when dragons use their true form, it's generally assumed their power will rise.
Like an ordinary dragon guard, who could leap past the threshold of the third rank.
And Elly's strength was already above that of an ordinary dragon guard, so in her true form, she reached the mid-level of the fourth rank.
Boom!
Elly disassembled the dragon skeleton, picked up Xia Yi from the ground, flew to the side, and carefully placed her down, shielding the little princess with her body, only relaxing after ensuring there was no threat.
"Are you hurt, Your Highness?" Elly asked.
"Thank you, Elly, I'm fine."
"Why would that dragon skeleton suddenly turn into an undead bone dragon and attack?"
"I don't think it was an undead bone dragon," Xia Yi shook her head.
"Not?!"
"I observed it just now, and I didn't sense the presence of a soul container on that skeleton. Without a soul container to store a soul, it doesn't count as an undead creature."
"If it's not an undead bone dragon, why could it move after death?"
"I feel it's just a skeleton, perhaps controlled by some mysterious method. Let's go check it out!"
"...Okay."
Elly, maintaining her dragon true form, guarded Xia Yi in front of the disassembled skeleton.
After a careful inspection, it was just as Xia Yi said, no soul container could be found on the dragon skeleton, which had been dead for perhaps thousands of years, its soul likely long dissipated.
"Could it be a spell?" Elly frowned, "A necromantic bone manipulation spell?"
"If I remember correctly, although bone manipulation spells can control skeletons, controlling the skeleton of a dragon requires a huge amount of magic due to the immense consumption. But there isn't that much magic on this skeleton, just some minor magical residue."
"Your Highness, is there a spell that requires just a tiny bit of magic to control the skeleton of a dragon?"
"...I haven't heard of one."
Xia Yi also found it unbelievable.
"Since there's magical residue on this dragon skeleton, that means someone did it on purpose."
"Why does it feel like this Purple Kite Valley is getting scarier by the month? Can we still make it back alive?" Elly worried.
Xia Yi began to feel uneasy as well.
But now, there was no turning back for her; she could only move forward.
"Let's go, Elly."
"Mm..."
Elly continued to advance with Xia Yi.
The further they went, the more dragon skeletons they saw. Before, they encountered them sporadically.
Now, they saw several every few steps.
Suddenly, a terrifying thought crossed Xia Yi's mind.
What if all these skeletons came to life?
A chill ran down her spine.
These dragon skeletons could assemble an army.
"No, no, no, it can't be that exaggerated," Xia Yi quickly suppressed the thought.
She mustn't overthink it now and jinx it, or she'd be the ultimate unlucky one.
"Your Highness..."
Elly's voice sounded very downcast, probably under a lot of pressure.
"What's wrong?"
"I have a bad feeling, what if these skeletons—"
"Don't say it, don't say it!!" Xia Yi quickly covered her mouth to interrupt, "It's impossible, absolutely impossible!!"
"Mmm!" Elly nodded helplessly.
Since entering the valley, aside from the occasional wind and the sound of the sea of flowers stirring, they hadn't heard any other sounds. It was eerily quiet.
There were no other living creatures, as if time in this world had frozen.
"Eh, a cross?"
In Xia Yi's view, a giant cross appeared.
Nearly a hundred meters tall, it was astonishingly large, standing in the purple sea of flowers, like someone's tombstone, with a dramatic visual impact.
"Why is there such a big cross?" Elly was puzzled.
At the top of the cross, a girl sat, looking down at the two in the sea of flowers below.
Her golden hair fluttered slowly in the wind, her golden vertical pupils exuding a faint pressure, with a dragon's tail behind her...
It was the golden dragon Xia Yi had seen before!
"Golden dragon?!" Elly couldn't believe her eyes.
The golden dragon girl was petite, wearing a light-colored dress, a deep purple long-sleeved coat, black gloves on her hands, and her slender legs wrapped in black silk stockings, gently swaying in mid-air, her actions somewhat playful, yet her overall attire was elegant.
If judged solely by appearance, this golden dragon girl might not even be much older than Xia Yi.
Clearly, she was a living dragon, watching Xia Yi and Elly with interest.
"Living golden dragon? In this Purple Kite Valley, a living golden dragon! But wasn't the golden dragon race extinct long ago!" Elly said in disbelief.
"Xia Lulu, it's been a long time, how much time has passed outside, must be a few hundred years, right?" the golden dragon girl complained, "That's so mean, leaving me alone here without care!"
"..." Xia Yi watched her.
Judging by her tone, she indeed knew Xia Lulu.
Previously, Xia Lulu came to the Purple Kite Valley, surely to find her.
This girl, an old friend of the Silver Dragon Queen!
Now, she clearly mistook Xia Yi for Xia Lulu, after all, she looked almost identical to the Silver Dragon Queen.
"Oh no, haven't seen you for hundreds of years, how come your chest got bigger? Don't tell me, you're still so vain, padded yourself quite a bit, right?" the golden dragon girl teased, "After all, you stopped growing a long time ago."
"Who are you?" Xia Yi asked.
"What, playing this kind of joke with me? I think, you'll never forget me in your life," the golden dragon girl laughed maliciously, "Xia Lulu, after all, everything you have, you owe to me."
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