Chapter 1946 - A Single Life (3)
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Lin Ming didn't know what the Dragon Sovereign's present situation was like. After he was chased by Tian Mingzi into the Eternal Demon Abyss and when he left, the Dragon Sovereign had already been in a precarious state.
In just the blink of an eye, over a hundred years had passed. How was the Dragon Sovereign doing now?
When Empyrean Primordius left, he seemed to have severed all connections with the Dragon Sovereign. Then, if Empyrean Primordius had perished, it was likely the Dragon Sovereign hadn't felt it at all.
The little black dragon was extremely intelligent. It already understood the entire situation, and at this time, it lay quietly on Lin Ming's back, not even making a single noise.
In its eyes, there was nothing but a boundless black wilderness. And at the end of this wilderness there was a terrifyingly giant abyss that revealed a dreadful aura.
In the little black dragon's eyes, a trace of confusion appeared.
Within its memories, it seemed to faintly recall this place.
As if it had seen it before in a dream.
"Let's go…"
Lin Ming said. He flushed forwards like a shot arrow, rapidly crossing thousands of miles. He headed towards that massive abyss and leapt down into it.
Darkness rapidly passed over them. With familiar ease, Lin Ming avoided the ancient life forms in the demon abyss and swiftly passed through the tombs of the martial artists until he arrived at the deepest depths of the Eternal Demon Abyss.
Faintly, Lin Ming could feel an incredibly horrifying aura transmitting from deep within the Eternal Demon Abyss.
The small black dragon was a bit nervous. Its large black eyes blinked. There was anticipation in its eyes but also a hint of fear.
One person, one dragon, the two of them slowed down. Then they felt a boundless vigor that carried with it faint and warm threads of a dragon's majesty.
A planet-sized ancient black dragon slowly appeared in the dark void. As Lin Ming and the little black dragon flew in front of it, they seemed as small as motes of dust.
And on this giant ancient black dragon's body, nine chains wrapped around it. Each chain was thick enough that not even a hundred people together could wrap their arms around it. At the end of these chains were massive metal hooks that plunged into the black dragon's flesh, binding it in place.
Where these metal hooks came into contact with the black dragon, the area would be stained with black dragon blood and pieces of meat. After 100,000 years, this blood had solidified into thick layers of black and brown that alarmed the mind.
Lin Ming sucked in a deep breath. Although he had seen this before, seeing it again still left him depressed and filled with sorrow.
As for the little black dragon, as it saw this sight its eyes began to fill with pain and sadness. Its large and bright eyes started to turn wet with tears.
"Senior, junior has returned…"
Lin Ming bowed. The silent black dragon slowly opened its eyes. The dragon's pupils were like lakes of amber that emitted a quiet light. In the darkness they were especially noticeable.
When the black dragon opened its eyes, the little black dragon also held its breath.
At this time, the little black dragon was in an extremely complex mood. There was fear, there was sorrow, and from deep within its bloodline, there was an inerasable love…
"200 years…" The black dragon slowly said. It looked at the small life in front of it. The growth of a dragon was a long process. This little black dragon only appeared to be a dozen or so years old. When converted to the age of a human, this little black dragon was nothing more than a newborn baby.
Then, it looked at Lin Ming. Lin Ming's changed appearance and his lowered cultivation left the black dragon surprised.
From Lin Ming's inner world, from Lin Ming's potent vitality, from Lin Ming's deep soul force, it could feel a terrifying potential!
"You… seem to have obtained a new life?"
The black dragon asked, unsure.
Lin Ming nodded. He let out a sigh in his heart. He could tell from the black dragon's voice that it had become far, far older than before. Its fires of life were nearing their end and it was doomed to never be able to return to the heaven-shaking grandeur it once possessed in the past.
Lin Ming thought for a moment and then decided to tell the black dragon everything about Empyrean Primordius.
"Lord Dragon Sovereign, junior went to the Primeval Universe and met the primal god race. There, I also discovered the whereabouts of Senior Primordius…"
The black dragon was stunned upon hearing this. "Primordius! You saw him, he…"
Seeing Lin Ming's expression, the black dragon had a foreboding feeling deep in his heart. He didn't continue speaking but instead waited for Lin Ming's explanation.
Lin Ming took a deep breath and explained everything that occurred to Primordius from start to finish, even describing what Primordius' final moments were like.
After hearing this, the black dragon was wordless for a long time.
Perhaps what happened was the best possible result for Primordius. It might have been what Primordius hoped to see…
A hundred different emotions passed through the black dragon's heart. It looked at Lin Ming, looked at its descendant, and fell into silence.
Suddenly, light began gathering between its eyebrows.
Within the Eternal Demon Abyss, the surrounding heaven and earth origin energy started gathering towards the black dragon's single horn.
Seeing this, Lin Ming was bewildered. "Senior black dragon, you…!"
From the black dragon's body, Lin Ming could feel all of its essence energy and flesh and blood essence gathering towards the point between its eyebrows.
Lin Ming seemed to faintly realize what was occurring. He asked, "Senior, just what are you planning to do?"
And at this time, a beam of light shot out from between the black dragon's eyebrows. It shot directly onto the small black dragon that was beside Lin Ming. As the little black dragon was bathed in this light, it cried out in alarm and surprise.
It only felt that the energy within this light was warm beyond possibility, so comfortable that it wanted to sleep. But it also felt that something wasn't right. However, it inevitably wasn't able to withstand the increasing heaviness of its eyelids and it slowly shut its eyes, nearly falling asleep.
"Lord Dragon Sovereign, did you just give your life essence to Little Black?"
Lin Ming was worried. The black dragon's life force had originally been greatly diminished to begin with. If it lost any more life essence then it would perish that much sooner.
In fact, the black dragon might not be able to wait for Lin Ming to grow and gain enough strength to shatter apart the nine dragon trapping cables laid down by the saint race powerhouses in the past.
The black dragon remained silent as it continued passing life essence. Only when Little Black was no longer able to absorb any more did it finally stop.
In the next moment, the little black dragon was wrapped in a black brilliance. It sank into the void and began sleeping.
After doing all of this, the black dragon seemed to age, becoming much older. Its eyes became bleaker and more clouded. It looked at Lin Ming and the corners of its massive jaw seemed to lift up a little in a smile. "I know what you are thinking. You probably hope that I can wait long enough until you can fight with an ordinary Empyrean and then break open these dragon trapping cables to rescue me.
"The truth is… you don't have to waste so much effort or thought. I, have already become used to staying here. These dragon trapping cables have deeply pierced into my organs and for the last 100,000 years they have grown together with my flesh and blood, becoming a part of my body. They even affect my essence energy and blood vessels. Once they are forcibly removed, I fear I will die immediately.
"But if they aren't taken out, they will slowly eat away at my life, causing me to lose essence energy until the day I die…
"Right now, I am the same as Primordius in the past, living in constant pain, calmly awaiting my demise.
"If I must die, then I don't want to die without meaning. What Primordius wished to do, what he wished to leave behind, I am also the same. To see my bloodline live on in the world, that is more than enough for me…"
As the black dragon spoke to here, it affectionately gazed at the small black dragon slumbering deep in the void. It said, "Help me take care of him. He is the continuation of my life…"
The black dragon's last few words touched the deepest emotions within Lin Ming. Because, he had also said words like these…
When Soaring Feather hunted him down, when his life was in peril and death was almost certain, he had asked Xiao Moxian to look after the child in her belly, because that child was a continuation of his life…
This was the instinctive response of a person in desperate circumstances.
Man was always unwilling to die.
But man would die no matter what.
As a person approached the precipice of death, they would hope that they could leave behind something.
So that when they closed their eyes one last time, they could tell themselves that their bloodline continued flowing on in the world…
This intense desire, if traded for another name, could be called 'fatherly love' and 'motherly love'.
The love of parents. In essence, that was one's hope that one's life would continue to exist onwards.
This was a selfish love, but also a selfless love.
A parent's love never asked to be repaid, because to them, their children living well was the greatest repayment they could ever receive.
Looking at the sleeping little black dragon, looking at the utterly exhausted Dragon Sovereign, Lin Ming seemed to have become aware of something new.
He found another manifestation of the samsara of life and death. Children, parents, the love of parents, these three things revolved around life and death…
He fell silent.
The Dragon Sovereign told Lin Ming of his hope. He wished that every hundred years, Lin Ming would bring Little Black to the Eternal Demon Abyss. Lin Ming agreed. Although he knew that this would reduce the Dragon Sovereign's remaining lifespan, this was also the Dragon Sovereign's greatest desire…
The little black dragon slept for a full three days in the darkness. After three days, Lin Ming brought the little black dragon and left the Eternal Demon Abyss, returning to the Sky Spill Continent once more…