Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 6 Life is a measuring stick for the universe

"For dragons, there is a process that can rejuvenate them when they jump through space at faster-than-light speeds, but it's hard to say what it will do for you."

If the journey is short, you've hit the jackpot; if it's long, you'll witness yourself revert to the most primitive state of carbon-based life…

Under Yun Ce's burning gaze, Ao Bing took another bite of the eggshell.

“I have a courtyard in Wolf Run Water Village. It’s very quiet there. If you’re bored staying here, you can stay there. After all, you can’t walk in the human world in the form of a dragon.”

"Those old men prepared several nests for me..."

"What belongs to you is very different from what others give you. For example, do you find it convenient to live with your mother now?"

"I don't like quiet places."

“I also have a house in the city. It’s not big, only a few dozen square meters, but the neighborhood is very lively and there are a lot of people. You will live very conveniently in human form, especially since a new roast whole lamb shop has opened downstairs. If you can accept human food, that house is a good choice.”

"You're giving it to me?"

"Dragons can be large or small, can rise or hide; when large, they stir up clouds and mist, when small, they conceal their form; when rising, they soar through the universe, when hiding, they lurk within the waves. As a noble dragon, would you accept what I offer you?"

As Yun Ce spoke, he naturally took the half-eaten eggshell from Ao Bing's hand and put it in his mouth. The eggshell melted instantly in his mouth, turning into a warm current that flowed into his limbs and bones.

Ao Bing looked at Yun Ce with great interest, then took out an eggshell from his pocket and handed it to him.

Yun Ce ate the eggshell again.

After eating three pieces of eggshell in a row, Ao Bing said leisurely, "You are a very greedy person."

I hatched from an egg in this kind of shell, and all dragons hatch from eggs in this kind of shell.

Dragons are formed from the essence of heaven and earth, and are inherently formless. The dragon race used the essence of heaven and earth to forge such eggshells, allowing us, these formless essences, to nurture our true forms within the eggshells. We, too, are formed from these eggshells created by the essences, and thus achieve the form most suitable for traveling through the universe.

"By the way, after all this rambling, what I really want to tell you is that this thing isn't really suitable for you humans. After all, your level of life is too low; you're not worthy of it."

Yun Ce looked up at the low-hanging clouds, listening to the terrifying sounds coming from above, and continued staring at Ao Bing's undergarment, saying, "Help me, I don't want to die."

Ao Bing, with his chubby, childlike face, sneered and said, "You're about to die."

"That's not the agreement we made with the dragons."

"There's no agreement here. We're just on a routine trip to make our aging bodies young again. Aren't you just thinking of using you as a beacon to illuminate a path for your cosmic exploration?"

Whether it's the dragon's travel destination or your own goals, those are more important than your life.

Therefore, there's no difference between you being alive and dead.

What is life to you?

"All life is meaningless, it's just nature. Experience is the most important thing. Although our lives are long, they are also limited. Compared with humans, we are ancient pines, while you are small grasses that live in spring and die in autumn. The pine tree does not care about the life or death of the grass."

"I am very worried that there are even more powerful beings who also regard you dragons as insignificant grass."

"Very likely, so what are you going to do?"

"I want to be a strong blade of grass."

Ao Bing smiled, and under Yun Ce's gaze, he took out a bead that could emit a dazzling light from his belly pocket. Then he reached out and pried open Yun Ce's mouth, stuffing the bead into his mouth.

The bead was the size of a ping-pong ball. Yun Ce couldn't swallow it, so Ao Bing rubbed his neck hard with his hand. Yun Ce seemed to hear a crisp metallic clanging sound in his stomach, and then his stomach burned with pain.

"what is this?"

"Seeds, oh, you call them Dragon Balls."

"Isn't it said that there's only one dragon per dragon? Why are you being so generous?"

"Who says a dragon only has one seed? Whose seed only has one?"

"You'd better say something like wheat seeds, not that thing."

"it's the same."

Why did you give me the seeds?

"Now, you are a big seed."

Ao Bing placed his left hand on the rescued backpack and saber, and in an instant, the backpack and saber disappeared.

Ao Bing let go of Yun Ce's hand and said, "If you want these things out, just tell the bead."

"Can I go inside and hide?"

"No, you can't hide in your own stomach, that's a paradox."

After finishing speaking, Ao Bing looked up at the dark night sky and said, "Let's go!"

Yun Ce glanced at Ao Bing's undergarment and said, "I think you can further enhance my abilities."

Ao Bing shook his head and said, "It's too late."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a series of thunderclaps echoed across the sky, accompanied by a sudden gust of wind. The thick, dark clouds instantly parted, revealing a large, round hole. Then, a claw, resembling an ancient pine tree covered in scales, emerged from the cloud hole. The enormous claw grew smaller as it approached the ground, and with a violent burst of thunder, it seized Yun Ce in its palm before swiftly returning to the cloud.

The cloud cave shrank rapidly and vanished in an instant. The thunderstorm struck again, but after a brief tremor above Ao Bing's head, it continued westward.

"2014 tracking is normal."

"West Mountain tracking is normal, telemetry tracking is normal."

"203 tracking is normal."

"Xishan optical radar tracking is normal." "Xishan 211 telemetry tracking is normal."

……

Yun Linchuan's courtyard was filled with instruments, which constantly reported Yun Ce's coordinates to him.

Yun Linchuan sat upright, even buttoning his Zhongshan suit all the way up. As he listened to the news of Yun Ce crossing the Carmen Line, the light in his eyes gradually dimmed.

"He can't come back alive, right?"

Yun Linchuan's voice was low and he sounded completely lacking in confidence.

“If the dragon hadn’t protected him, he would be dead by now, sir. We should give him more time to prepare.”

The man in black bent over slightly and spoke in Yun Linchuan's ear in a low voice.

Yun Linchuan's hands, covered in age spots, gripped the armrests of the rattan chair, veins bulging.

“Courage is just a momentary burst of energy. Many people can do something the first time, but they can’t do it the second time. Yun Ce is the same. Rather than making him think it over, it’s better to just push him out.”

The man in black sighed and said, "What we need are the coordinates. It doesn't really matter who goes. Yun Ce, what a pity."

"It's no pity; as part of a grand narrative, it's his glory."

"Yun Ce did not fully understand your good intentions."

Yun Linchuan glared angrily, his eyes wide, and remained silent for a long time.

"Let's go!"

The man in black glanced at the monitor and saw that the wavy lines had become straight. He ignored the buzzing sound from the monitor and quietly stood guard beside Yun Linchuan, looking up at the gradually brightening sky.

The sky is incredibly beautiful during the transition between light and dark. The sky overhead remains black, while the sky closer to the ground gradually changes color from black to deep blue, light blue, and white.

Yun Linchuan stared wide-eyed at the dim sky, seemingly searching for Yun Ce's figure. A morning breeze stirred up some dust, some of which settled on Yun Linchuan's eyes, making his once sharp, wolf-like gaze cloudy and lifeless...

Even in death, he had regrets; even at the moment of parting, Yun Ce still refused to understand him.

"What you owe others, you always have to pay back. I'll go pay it back now."

This was the last thing Yun Linchuan said after learning that Yun Ce had been taken away from the Carmen Line by the dragon.

People who have lived for over a hundred years can generally control their own life and death. Often, when people reach this age, as long as they lose the will to continue living, they will die without warning.

The dragon left, and Yun Ce followed. The dark clouds that had been hanging in the sky dispersed, and the rising sun lazily shone on Langpaoshui Village, making it bright and clear.

Although a great figure has died here, and a so-called genius has been lost, it doesn't stop the sun from rising and setting.

It's as if this is how the world is supposed to be.

It will not exist for Yao, nor will it perish for Jie.

Ao Bing crawled out of a smoking pit, and of course, he was also covered in smoke. Fortunately, this chubby baby-like Ao Bing was good at tidying up his appearance.

When he was lying in the pit, he looked like a four-legged lizard. When he climbed out of the pit, he returned to his cute chubby baby appearance. After walking a few steps barefoot on the road full of pits, he turned into a chubby-faced boy.

After he raised his hand and threw Yun Ce's tattered Wrangler into the depths of the Gobi Desert, he looked no different from Yun Ce. He stood on the empty road for a moment, thought for a while, and then headed towards Langpaoshui Village along the road.

Just now, he suddenly had a great idea. Since Yun Ce has disappeared from the earth, perhaps he could use that person's identity to blend into the crowd. That would definitely be a very interesting thing.

Yun Ce was very clear-headed.

However, the earth was shrinking rapidly. The first thing to shrink was Ao Bing, followed by his broken-down cart, then the trees on both sides of the road, and even the mountains.

When the wide road becomes a black line and the vast mountains turn into undulating mounds, Yun Ce's vision becomes especially expansive.

This is a one-way trip. Looking back at his hometown is meaningless to Yun Ce. He must focus all his attention on the present and seek a glimmer of hope.

Despite the slim chances, Yun Ce's upbringing taught him that he must fight to his last breath.

The dragon's claws were dry and warm, with even a slight breeze flowing through them.

As the outline of Earth gradually appeared, Yun Ce was more interested in seeing the giant dragon that was holding him. To be honest, he had never seen a dragon before, not counting Ao Bing, whom he had just seen.

Logically speaking, dragon claws should be similar to chicken claws, with the only difference being that they have two more fingers.

Yun Ce could see the palm of the dragon claw when he looked up. The palm was dark and had some huge skin folds. There was nothing like lightning in the folds, only the vicissitudes and antiquity of rocks.

Indeed, solidity and eternity are the true feelings that Yun Ce has about the dragon claws that trap or protect him.

Trapped in the dragon's claws, Yun Ce couldn't see the true dragon's appearance, nor could he experience what a truly harsh space journey was like, because the dragon had protected him very well.

Just as Yun Ce began to focus his attention on the blazing fireball in space, a huge dragon seemed to emerge from the fireball, its massive body instantly obscuring much of Yun Ce's view.

It was a strange feeling. Just a moment ago, a black dot suddenly appeared in the fireball, and the next moment, a dragon of unknown size, due to the lack of a reference point, blocked Yun Ce's view to the left.

This is a golden dragon.

However, this is just Yun Ce's personal conjecture. It is common knowledge that anything, regardless of its color, will turn golden after being exposed to sunlight.

Sound cannot travel in space, so the way this golden dragon appeared was rather unremarkable because it lacked the embellishment of thunder, rain, and clouds.

Yun Ce had always thought that the more powerful a creature was, the fewer there would be. But when he turned his gaze to his right, he realized that there were actually a lot of dragons.

The golden dragon on the left was too close to the dragon that was holding Yun Ce during his travels, preventing him from seeing far away. Clearly, the dragon on the right had little desire to approach other dragons, which greatly helped to open up Yun Ce's vision.

The reference points in space are too far away and therefore too small. As a result, the dragon that Yun Ce saw could not be that big. Moreover, as the distance increased and the height became indistinguishable, the dragon in the distance looked about the size of an earthworm and did not appear so majestic.

(End of this chapter)