Ze Tian Ji Chapter 121

Chapter 121 – The Dragon’s Worries

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

The Black Dragon indifferently glanced at Chen Changsheng, showing no emotion, or perhaps showing just one emotion. However, just like the Dragon language it spoke, this extremely simple stance contained all sorts of complex information. Chen Changsheng’s and the Black Dragon’s eyes met only for an instant, yet he felt like he saw countless stars and received many of the meanings that it wanted to convey.

The abandoned well had been constructed under the personal supervision of Wang Zhice and was the gate of life for the array that imprisoned the Black Dragon, similar to how the Black Dragon Pond in the abandoned garden served as the gate of life for the Tong Palace. There had originally been three interweaving nets constructed of metal alloy at the bottom of the well that ensured both that the gate of life for the array would remain open and also that none of the capital’s people would accidentally fall into the well and become the Black Dragon’s food. However, not long ago—Chen Changsheng could not tell how long this ‘not long ago’ was, several decades or several days—someone from the Imperial Palace had come and removed those three metal alloy nets.

The Black Dragon had required only an indifferent glance to transmit all sorts of information into Chen Changsheng’s mind. He understood much, but there was still much more that he did not have the time to organize and understand. However, he understood the final idea that the Black Dragon wished to express: humans are truly boring.

Chen Changsheng was not very willing to accept that an existence that had been imprisoned for several centuries and lived a cold and lonely life unable to communicate with anyone would actually think that humans were boring. He thought, if you weren’t so excessively bored, why were you unwilling to let me leave on that night and instead insisted on having me promise to accompany you in chatting? And also, why has that person taken away the three alloy nets? Were they not worried about people falling in?

He shifted his gaze to those two chains behind the Black Dragon that extended off towards that wall in the distance. He looked at those portraits of the two Divine Generals which seemed as tall as mountains drawn on the wall and felt very puzzled.

He had never thought about helping the Black Dragon escape. On one hand, he did not know how much was true and false about those legends, so he did not know what would happen if the Black Dragon were to leave this underground cavern, whether or not it would wreak some devastating calamity on the people of the capital. More importantly, this array that imprisoned the Black Dragon had been laid down by Wang Zhice and other peerless experts of Taizong’s era. He wanted to break this array with his current ability? The mere thought of it was absurd.

Suddenly, he thought of something. Since the Black Dragon could understand human language and he could gain information directly through its eyes, there should be no problem communicating with the Black Dragon. Now that he thought about it, that was as it should be. Cultivators at the Star Condensation Realm and up could communicate with each other very quickly using their thoughts, so why couldn’t a divine being like the Black Frost Dragon?

Chen Changsheng turned to the Black Dragon’s eyes, wanting to say something to it. Unexpectedly, the Black Dragon seemed to know what he wanted to do and closed its eyes with unimaginable speed, causing frost to splash everywhere. Seeing its response, Chen Changsheng fell into a daze. He began to vaguely understand that the Black Dragon did not merely wish to communicate, it also wanted to hear the language of its own race? But why was this? Was it just out of longing?

“On that night, I promised that I would come and visit Senior as quickly as possible, but…it’s difficult to enter the Imperial Palace, and to come isn’t easy, requiring great risk. Senior knows that I’m very afraid of death. But right now, I’m facing a problem that’s rather difficult to resolve. I might die soon, so I thought that I should meet you at least once before then. Thus, I came.”

Chen Changsheng did not speak about the word that the middle-aged woman had left on the stone table, nor did he speak about all the energy he put into meeting the Black Dragon.

“On that night, when I met Senior for the first time, I spoke a lot about death. Today, I will speak more about it, so I hope that Senior won’t be annoyed.”

At this point, he suddenly recalled that the Dragon race had an innate grasp over the source that powered the world and the stars. With their intelligence, they probably had a deep understanding of this aspect. Chen Changsheng suddenly felt a boundless hope. He recounted all the problems he had encountered in his cultivation and then earnestly waited for it to open its eyes.

After a long period of silence, ice rustled down as the Black Dragon slowly opened its eyes.

It looked at Chen Changsheng, its eyes still indifferent. However, Chen Changsheng could see an extremely subtle change: a tinge of bewilderment and frustration.

Of the three noblest and most powerful branches of the Dragon race, the Black Frost Dragons had always been famed for their wisdom, yet this cultivation problem of his was something that not even the Black Dragon could resolve. This fact made Chen Changsheng feel even more depressed.

The Black Dragon’s whisker drifted upwards towards him, then poked him on his brow, waking him from his daze.

This action indicated that it was somewhat losing its patience.

Just what did the cultivation of a human youth have to do with it? It was only concerned with how it could have him grasp the Dragon language as quickly as possible and then have him do a few things for it.

Chen Changsheng helplessly shook his head, his heart feeling rather bitter. Back in Xining Village, when he was reading the Daoist scriptures and feeling fear over the arrogance and ruthlessness of the dragons recorded in the Daoist Canon, how could he have imagined that he would actually meet a real dragon, and it was also one that liked to lecture others?

A while passed.

“Owww…”

Chen Changsheng let loose something similar to a low snarl, but it sounded more like the wind, and it was absolutely not any sort of normal sound. This sound was very simple and also complex, using many very fine muscle groups in the throat, and it even required the fine tuning of some meridians that the human mind had no conscious control over, yet it did not require the use of the tongue.

This was the first word the Black Dragon had taught to him on that first night. When he was young, he had learned a similar sound in the old temple of Xining Village, so he quickly had a handle on it, and he had also not forgotten how to speak it. This word had a very complex meaning, encompassing at least a dozen meanings in human language. The most complex of these meanings would require a significant period of time to describe, while the simplest was just ‘I’.

The Black Dragon was extremely pleased at Chen Changsheng’s performance, its whisker drifting about in pride at its ability to teach others. For some reason, two Night Pearls dropped down from the ceiling and rolled around in its front claw. If the Night Pearls were a little bigger or its claw a little smaller, perhaps it would seem like a teacher of some private school in the countryside.

The Black Dragon slightly rolled its eyes towards that Night Pearl by Chen Changsheng’s side.

Chen Changsheng clearly remembered that on that night, this greedy Black Dragon had attempted to seize his Night Pearl, so quickly put it away.

The Black Dragon’s whisker gently drifted down as if feeling rather helpless, then the Black Dragon let out another noise.

This was the second word it was teaching to Chen Changsheng.

Night Pearls, colored glass, rainbows, the golden scales on the surface of a lake, the blazing clouds at sunset, or perhaps…light.

Chen Changsheng awkwardly laughed, rubbed his brow to focus himself, and then began his attempts to imitate the Black Dragon’s pronunciation. To humans, Dragon language was truly too difficult to grasp. Even the rather experienced him felt this way. Moreover, this process consumed a great deal of mental power, so his face was visibly paling.

The most crucial factor was still time. The Grand Examination was close and he still had not resolved his problem of Purification, so the risk of death was right before him. To Chen Changsheng, time was the most precious object in the world. Logically speaking, he should not have been wasting his time learning Dragon language. It must be known that it was even more meaningless than learning dragon-slaying arts.

But he did not refuse the Black Dragon’s request, nor did he leave. He continued to attentively learn. He loved to learn, and also, he had promised. He would deal with his own matters, and what he promised he would do until the day he died. This was a habit he had picked up when he was young. It might not have been a good habit, but it was a very formidable one.

Although this underground cavern cut off from the world was illuminated by thousands of Night Pearls, it was still cold, lonely, and unbelievably vast.

On the ground, Chen Changsheng was just like an ant before the massive Black Dragon.

He was like an infant just beginning to learn how to speak.

Occasionally, a very strange sound would resound through the vast cavern: he had mispronounced a word.

Then, the ‘zhizhi’ laughs of the Black Dragon would echo without end.