The Earth Dragon remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking, “I truly don’t know…”
“Qi Xia split a single plan into countless fragments—so much so that even he himself can no longer grasp its entirety now,” the Azure Dragon said. “I find it hard to understand… All of this is just for the sake of reaching that blood-red world. Would you be willing to go with him?”
When the Earth Dragon stayed silent, the Azure Dragon looked her up and down before adding, “Would you go with him, looking like this… covered in scales, with a face like a lizard?”
“What do you mean…?”
“I don’t know what lies in that world. Both the ‘Celestial Dragon’ and Qi Xia want to explore it, but I don’t. I don’t want to forge another new world…”
The Earth Dragon’s expression darkened again, and she remained wordless.
“Earth Dragon,” the Azure Dragon continued, “even if the other ‘Earthly Zodiacs’ aren’t prepared for this, you should be.”
“I… am prepared?”
“All ‘Earthly Zodiacs’ dream of one day ascending to ‘Celestial’ status, shedding their monstrous forms. But only the ‘Earth Dragons’ know they can never rise to become ‘Celestial Dragons.'” The Azure Dragon chuckled lightly. “You must have known this when you chose this path.”
“Yes. At first, I didn’t quite understand…” The Earth Dragon gave a bitter laugh. “The ‘Dragons’ could have been the overseers of the Zodiacs, yet no one wanted that position… Eventually, I realized—everyone who joins the Zodiacs hopes to escape. But the ‘Dragons’ can’t. Once you become a ‘Dragon,’ you’re bound forever as a slave.”
“So, you admit it,” the Azure Dragon said. “Your reason for joining the Zodiacs is different from theirs.”
“Yes.” The Earth Dragon nodded. “There’s no point in hiding it now. I might die, but it’s already worth it.”
She wore a look of fearless resolve, but the Azure Dragon made no move against her.
“You’re not going to kill me…?” the Earth Dragon asked after a pause.
“I appreciate your honesty,” the Azure Dragon replied, turning his gaze back downward. “Had you tried to deny or justify yourself, you’d already be dead.”
“You call this honesty…”
The Earth Dragon laughed bitterly again, then simply crouched down and sat beside the Azure Dragon.
Her petite frame, with small horns and scales along her cheeks, made her seem almost like a spirit companion next to him.
“There’s something else I don’t understand,” the Earth Dragon said. “If you knew everything… why did you let Qi Xia get this far?”
“I told you—I was curious,” the Azure Dragon replied. “When you see ants at your doorstep suddenly develop their own ideas and mobilize en masse for some grand scheme… you’d want to see how it ends, too.”
“What an analogy… ‘ants.'”
The Azure Dragon smirked. “How many people would bother killing a single ant the moment it starts moving?”
“But you never expected those ants to become human, standing before you now—almost as powerful as you, making it impossible for either of you to kill the other.” The Earth Dragon also looked down. “That must have been unexpected for you, too.”
“Oh?” The Azure Dragon regarded her with interest. “I never realized you were this talkative.”
“Ever since I realized you saw through me… I don’t know why, but I feel oddly at ease.” The Earth Dragon chuckled. “For so long, the only nightmares I had were of you twisting my head off after discovering my true identity.”
“So, this sudden cheerfulness—where does it come from?” the Azure Dragon asked. “Do you think I won’t kill you now?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I just know I’m doomed anyway. There’s no point pretending. Might as well sit and rest for a while.”
“Ha. Interesting.” The Azure Dragon propped his chin on his hand, watching the bustling crowd below. “I don’t intend to kill you, yet you’re convinced you’re dead.”
“Yes. Since becoming a ‘Zodiac,’ I’ve had plenty of time to think for myself,” the Earth Dragon said. “And I’ve come to understand many things.”
“Such as?”
“Such as how, in this game, even if you don’t kill me, I’ll die anyway.” She smiled faintly, gazing at the people below with indifference. “I have a feeling someone will ‘gamble their life’ against me.”
The Azure Dragon remained impassive. “Wouldn’t Qi Xia save you?”
“Qi Xia is one of the likely candidates,” she replied. “He might be the one to kill me himself.”
“Then I truly don’t understand,” the Azure Dragon sighed. “How can such a relationship exist? You’re willing to die for his plan—even if he knows nothing about it, even if he’s the one to kill you… and you don’t care?”
“Honestly…” The Earth Dragon frowned but still smiled. “I’m afraid of pain. I’m afraid of death. But with some things, you fear them until you don’t anymore. Pain is the same—you endure it until it becomes familiar.”
“I suppose I’ll never understand these ‘human’ sentiments,” the Azure Dragon muttered.
“Qi Xia gave us decades more to live,” the Earth Dragon said. “Isn’t that enough? We came here in our twenties, struggled for fifty or sixty years—every one of us is already at an age where we could have died of old age.”
“Old age…?”
“Exactly!” Her smile brightened as she stared at the Azure Dragon. “You have no idea how much I miss that gathering—the one commemorating our ‘deaths of old age.’ Qi Xia told us that after we drank our fill and woke up, it would be as if we’d all ‘died of old age.'”
The Azure Dragon turned to watch her animated expression, intrigued.
“That year, we calculated—some of us were in our nineties, some in their eighties, others in their seventies. No one in this world gets to choose when they ‘die of old age,’ but we did. My family of companions chose to ‘die’ on the same day. After that, we threw ourselves into the Zodiacs. You wonder why we face death so fearlessly, but for us… we’ve already lived and died long ago.”
“Fascinating.” The Azure Dragon nodded. “I’ve never heard of such a thing—choosing not just your death, but doing so in the uniquely mortal fashion of ‘old age.'”
“Is it really so hard to understand?” The Earth Dragon was still smiling. “Our bodies haven’t changed, but our minds and memories have grown ancient. Monsters like us—even without these grotesque shells—could never blend back into the real world.”
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage