Chapter 298: Still Tongue Out to Lick

The awakened Night Raven felt as if her threshold had been shattered; she no longer cared about anything and asked casually: "So you're the Dragon Clan Chief, the God of Knowledge, the God of Immortality, the Goddess of Beauty, the God of Cultivation, and the Dimensional Beast?"

With each name she uttered, she made a corresponding gesture of invitation.

Lu Se kept nodding.

Night Raven didn't know how to react, so she finally waved her hand irritably: "Whatever. Assume everything you said is true—what now? What are you going to do with me? Throw me overboard?"

Lu Se laughed: "We brought you along precisely because we feared someone might kill you. We can't let you go now, so you'll have to come with us to Longdao."

"You're not going to kill me?" Night Raven asked softly, testing the waters.

Lu Se shook his head: "Why would we kill you? You haven't offended us."

"But… but I accidentally blasted you with my cannon, and I can't pay you back," Night Raven muttered weakly.

Lu Se laughed: "Nai Ge was just joking with you. But you're truly broke—your entire fortune barely covers four cannon shots. And yet you came here to retaliate? How did you end up this poor? Even pirates can't be this destitute!"

Night Raven grinned awkwardly: "Well, uh, we don't rob things."

"You don't rob things? You're a pirate—how do you make money if you don't rob?" Lu Se stared, dumbfounded. A pirate who doesn't rob?

"We charge passage fees and escort fees. If a ship's cargo is worth one-thirtieth of the fee, we won't rob it. If they pay one-tenth, we'll escort them all the way to their destination," Night Raven said.

Nai Ge Li couldn't help turning around: "Huh? That's a brilliant idea. If more ships pass through, you earn more—and steadily. So why are you still this poor?"

Night Raven grinned awkwardly: "There aren't many ships, few people, and we can't compete. The Canglong Pirate Guild stole all our business."

"Why don't you switch careers?" Nai Ge Li asked.

"It's not that easy to switch. We don't know how to do anything except sail and handle sails. What else could we do?" Night Raven sighed.

"Go ashore and farm. At least you won't starve. Unlike now—dangerous and poor," Nai Ge Li said.

Night Raven glanced at it, as if stunned it could say something so ignorant:

"Pirates don't pay taxes, don't do corvée labor, and aren't forced to sell or buy from noble landlords. On land, just the landlords alone could easily bankrupt us. Don't you think that's why we ended up at sea?"

Nai Ge Li blinked, exchanging glances with Lu Se—they clearly couldn't understand this. Nai Ge Li knew what land consolidation was, but how exactly it worked, and what happened to the farmers who lost their land, was beyond its comprehension.

Lu Se, of course, understood even less—the population of Anxi Abyss hadn't even reached the point of land consolidation.

Seeing their expressions, Night Raven immediately realized and muttered: "So you're landlords too."

"No, no, don't say that—I'm a city lord!" Lu Se protested.

Nai Ge Li quickly changed the subject: "So what's your situation now? Earlier you said your hideout was raided by the Canglong Pirate Guild?"

"Yes. No one was hurt, but they stole all our food and burned our fields. This year's harvest won't be enough. So we came out to buy grain, but prices are sky-high and there's no supply. Now I know why they raided us. That's why I got angry and decided to blast them."

Nai Ge Li asked, puzzled: "Aren't you afraid they'll return to retaliate? They know your hideout's location—they can strike anytime."

Night Raven smiled bitterly: "Do you think we care about retaliation when our food is stolen and we can't buy any? We don't even know how many of us will survive next year."

Lu Se, Lei Ting, and Nai Ge Li's expressions turned solemn. Was this pirate woman, who looked so naive, really burdened with such a grim future?

What kind of despair must one feel to say, "We don't even know how many will survive next year"? Was she unwilling to save them? No—she'd come out to buy grain.

But under current conditions, getting grain wasn't easy at all. Didn't even An Dong Ni have to come to Ang here? An Dong Ni was the Grand Archbishop of the Eastern Diocese, the Acting Pope of the Church of Light—and even he couldn't get grain. Pirates had no choice but to raid.

"How many people are in your group?" Nai Ge Li asked.

"Over a thousand."

"Pfft, so few? I'll let Ang slip you some."

"Slip?"

"Uh, I mean sell—sell you some. A thousand people—two hundred tons enough?"

"More than enough! We won't eat that much in a year—we can still fish. You… you really can sell me two hundred tons of grain?"

"Hey, that's just a little slip. Our business starts at a hundred thousand tons," Nai Ge Li patted its waist, boasting.

Night Raven believed Nai Ge Li wasn't lying—especially after arriving at Wowliu Island and seeing the colossal creatures all over it. There was no reason for Nai Ge Li to lie to her.

Someone who could be friends with dragons wouldn't bother lying over two hundred tons of grain.

They placed her in a clean cave. Brucek rapidly shrank, transforming into a human with a nose tilted upward. Reluctantly, he said to Night Raven: "We shouldn't have brought you. Keep this secret. Don't go blabbing about it."

"Huh? Can't I talk about it? Can't I brag about going to Longdao? Then what was the point of coming?" Night Raven widened her eyes, unwilling.

"Uh, fine, fine, go ahead—say whatever you want. If anyone asks, I'll say you came. By the way, what's your name?" Brucek immediately realized: this human didn't know she was on Wowliu Island—she thought it was Longdao?

If she went around boasting she'd been to Longdao, it would mislead many. Letting her boast was actually beneficial.

"Night Raven, Lord Brucek. I'm Night Raven, the blackest female pirate on the open sea. Lord, you must remember me!" Night Raven's eyes sparkled. The Dragon Clan Chief was so kind—oh my, even giving her official recognition!

Just the fact that she'd been to Longdao would make her pirate crew famous overnight. Elite pirates from all over would flock to join.

"Alright, don't wander off. We'll come back for you when we leave." As he spoke, he gestured toward the sea. A bluefin tuna, as tall as a human, flew up and landed in the cave.

The tuna was still alive, fresh—its tail thrashing in the cave. Brucek continued: "Nothing fancy to offer. Eat fish for the next few days. Don't wander—the island is full of dragons. Step on the wrong spot and you'll be flattened."

Night Raven glanced outside the cave's mouth—the cliff dropped into pitch-black ocean. Fall there, and your corpse wouldn't even surface. She couldn't fly—where could she run?

Lu Se felt sorry for her and scolded: "You really shouldn't treat a guest like this—not even water!"

He pulled out his water bag from a spatial artifact and placed it aside: "Clean."

Then he pulled out some sauces: "You don't even serve sauce with raw fish? How rough do you live?"

He drew his Dragon Pattern Sword and sliced the tuna's tail, draining its blood: "Xi Lu Di once served us tuna and insisted we drain the blood. Don't dragons drain blood when eating fish?"

Since the blood was already drained, Lu Se didn't hold back—he cut off a large piece, dipped it in sauce, and ate: "So fresh! Everyone, come—"

He turned—and everyone was gone. Only he and Night Raven remained in the cave.

Only Lei Ting needed food, but Lei Ting was vegetarian—eating things like tender shoots of the World Tree. It wouldn't touch salty, fishy raw tuna.

Night Raven felt awkward: "It's just us. We can't fly. Why don't you stay? This fish is enough for two." The thought of being alone with a strange man made her shy.

Lu Se quickly finished his tuna, ran to the cave entrance, and said: "Hehe, you can't fly—I can. Bye!"

He summoned his battle aura, leapt out of the cave, and chased after Ang and the others. A high-rank Sword Saint could fly short distances—sometimes faster than a mage.

Night Raven's face flushed red. After a long silence, she muttered: "What a terrible conversationalist. If you're still single, you must be single by merit."

Ang and the others, led by Brucek, arrived at the platform before the hatching chamber. Upon receiving the message, nearly all dragons on Longdao and Wowliu Island gathered.

They lined the path to the hatching chamber, even hovering in the air, eagerly watching the one who claimed to solve the Dragon Clan's egg-stuck problem.

Then they saw Ang and the others behind Brucek—and their expressions turned instantly disappointed.

What kind of lineup was this? One human? One bronze juvenile dragon? A wingless holy angel? A living undead? A unicorn and a giant cat?

Could they solve the problem that had plagued the Dragon Clan for millions of years?

"Oh my, Brucek, who did you bring back? Why not introduce them? Let's see—who's this great person who can solve the egg-stuck issue? Are you relying on this human and this bronze dragon smaller than a dragon egg?" A sharp, mocking voice suddenly rang out.

Brucek narrowed his eyes, retracting his inner eyelids, revealing a dangerous gaze.

The voice belonged to the most acerbic copper dragon of the Dragon Clan—Mi Le Di Er.

Mi Le Di Er had a vile personality: loved showing off, craved vanity, adored shiny things, and delighted in flaunting her offspring before mother dragons who were egg-stuck or had lost their young.

Brucek's wife hated Mi Le Di Er intensely—especially during her own egg-stuck period—and often flew into rage, even once begged Brucek to expel Mi Le Di Er.

But as Clan Chief, Brucek couldn't expel a dragon just because his wife disliked her—he pretended not to hear.

Lately, they hadn't heard her name much—because Brucek had brought back Little Golden Dragon. Mi Le Di Er couldn't find superiority here anymore; she probably went to other mother dragons to boast.

If her past behavior was merely vile, this act was outright criminal.

On the way back, Nai Ge Li had told Brucek about Ang's new divine technique.

Brucek had assumed it was like Bai Hou and its offspring—growing bodies with nutrient fluid, then transferring consciousness. But Nai Ge Li revealed: Ang could purge the egg-stuck defect directly from the Dragon Clan's bloodline. Future dragons would never face this flaw.

What was this? The Dragon God reborn!

This grace of remaking the Dragon Clan—if Mi Le Di Er's words angered Ang and he left, Mi Le Di Er would be the Dragon Clan's greatest traitor.

As Brucek prepared to explode, Nai Ge Li suddenly burst into laughter: "Ha! Isn't this little Mi Ti? All these years, you've grown so big! I'm your Nai Ge Grandpa!"

"Nai Ge Grandpa?" Mi Le Di Er froze. That familiar name, that familiar tone—every elder dragon present suddenly remembered something.

Brucek seized the moment to introduce: "This is the second dragon to ignite divine fire, hailed as the guiding lantern of dragons, the god who swims through the ocean of knowledge, the Omniscient God of Knowledge—the bronze dragon Nai Ge!"

The surrounding dragons erupted in murmurs. Some elders exclaimed: "I remember now! No wonder this bronze dragon looked familiar—so much like Grandpa Nai Ge!"

The speaking dragon was clearly older—Nai Ge Li's nephew or niece.

"Heh." Nai Ge Li scanned the crowd. Most elders looked familiar, but now wasn't the time for nostalgia. It turned to Mi Le Di Er:

"Little Mi Ti, when you were small, Nai Ge Grandpa held you. Look at you now—grown so big! When I held you, you pooped right on me—almost splattered me. Now you've grown—has your digestion improved?" Nai Ge Li asked with concern.

What? Pooped? Instantly, every dragon turned its gaze to Mi Le Di Er.

Mi Le Di Er was stunned. If it happened in her childhood, it was thousands of years ago—how could she remember? She couldn't confirm if it had ever happened.

Nai Ge Li grinned cheerfully: "It made a huge puddle on the ground. You probably never saw it—you even stuck out your tongue and licked it."

"Eww~~~" All dragons wore expressions of shock and utter disbelief.

"I didn't! You're lying!" Mi Le Di Er shrieked.

She didn't remember pooping—but she remembered licking. Even as a hatchling, dragons had full memories—they matured fully inside the egg. This Nai Ge was lying, framing her.

"Oh? Maybe I misremembered," Nai Ge Li feigned regret.

But now, Nai Ge Li's apology and Mi Le Di Er's denial meant nothing. Every dragon stared at Mi Le Di Er with shock and gleeful amusement. Some even looked puzzled—as if asking: You really did that?

Because of Mi Le Di Er's vile nature, not a single dragon pitied her. All looked eager, ready to spread the tale far and wide.

Undoubtedly, Mi Le Di Er was now socially dead in the Dragon Clan.

"Aaaah!!" Mi Le Di Er shrieked, flapping her wings and flying away—she wouldn't dare return to Wowliu Island for a long time.

Brucek secretly gave Nai Ge Li a thumbs-up. How had it never thought of this trick?

Mi Le Di Er loved showing off? Next time she came to boast, someone could just say: "Heard you licked poop as a hatchling." Would she have any face left?

So never anger the elders. One childhood story—like peeing in your pants—and you'll be shamed for years.

Nai Ge Li's mockery of Mi Le Di Er brought unexpected benefits: all dragons instantly accepted this ancient elder who had returned from the dead as an embryo.

Entering the hatching chamber, Brucek, for safety, drove all other dragons out, then brought Ang to two dragon eggs in the corner.

"These two eggs have been stuck for a long time. I originally planned to bring them to you for help, but they've reached their most critical moment—too fragile to move. Please, my lord, lend your aid. The Dragon Clan will forever remember your grace."

Ang studied the two dragon eggs for a moment, then suddenly said: "No need for Meishen Fist."

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