Four hundred forty-nine. Five Years Later

In the blink of an eye, five more years had passed, and in those five years, so much had happened.

Fox had ultimately failed to escape with his life. Long Xiaotian erased his memories, and when Angus found him, he spared him once; but in the time that followed, he still could not find Ye Feng, so Angus simply killed him.

Andrea was not faring well either. In these five years, more than half of the men she had brought with her had fallen. Back then, they had all chosen of their own free will to remain on the surface with her, but now scarcely any of them were left alive. No one knew when this nightmare would end, and she could not help but hope that Ye Feng would emerge soon and bring it all to a close.

During these five years, because of geological changes, the crops produced had dwindled to almost nothing, and the Earth was already nearing collapse. Humanity’s population had fallen to less than one and a half billion. Chi Huo had gradually lost his patience. He had grown tired of the delicacies of Earth, and there was little left worth eating, so the number of people he killed grew greater and greater.

Long Xiaotian and Long Yunfeng were also in a somewhat perilous position. Though it remained uncertain whether that Heaven Dragon inner core truly belonged to Long Xuan, as members of the Heaven Dragon Clan they naturally had to search for their kin. Because they were unsure whether the Heaven Dragon inner core was even on Earth, they had not called for reinforcements. This continued for three years. Like Angus and the others, they found not the slightest clue. Under normal circumstances, they could sense the location of a Heaven Dragon inner core, but for those three years it had remained within a spatial ring, quietly recuperating, so Long Xiaotian and the others still could not determine where it was.

The worst came in the fourth year, when Chi Huo accidentally discovered the trail of Long Xiaotian and his wife and began relentlessly hunting them down. Two living Heaven Dragons were clearly far more tempting than an inner core that could not be found. By then, it had become very difficult for Long Xiaotian and his wife to seek help again, because Chi Huo had already ordered Earth sealed off completely, and their signals could no longer get out. For a time, the situation turned dangerous.

Fortunately, Earth was full of caves, and there were many places for the couple to hide. They spent more than a year moving from place to place without any immediate trouble, though Long Xiaotian was injured, and breaking out of Earth became extremely difficult.

Over the course of those five years, the icy and fiery energy within Ye Feng’s body finally vanished. Yet Ye Feng still remained in that half-dead state: no heartbeat, no breathing, only the faintest brain waves. But through the scan of the little artificial intelligence, the dantian region of Ye Feng’s body was gradually transforming into a sphere, looking rather like an inner core.

Life inside the cavern had by then settled into a steady rhythm. The resources underground far exceeded what Bu Huai and the others had imagined. Of course, Bu Huai did not let them overexploit them. Although mining could expand living space, and abundant resources made technological development easier, this place had once been the deep sea and lay close to the Earth’s crust. Excessive excavation could easily trigger shifts in the crust, and if that happened, unpleasant things might occur.

The residents of the cavern had already adapted to life beneath the earth. Aside from not being able to see the sky, everything else was not much different from life on the surface.

Long Xiaotian and his wife’s situation was, of course, discovered by Bu Huai. He simply could not tell what they were exactly. Many of the strategic satellites outside Earth had been destroyed by the Flood Dragon, so they were no longer enough to provide global coverage. Bu Huai’s surveillance of the surface had diminished greatly, and he had merely mentioned the matter briefly to Amy and the others. It was not until recently that Bu Huai finally discovered that the ones being hunted were actually two adult Heaven Dragons.

After learning of Long Xiaotian and his wife’s situation, Bu Huai immediately summoned Amy and the others.

“Bu Huai, is Ye Feng about to wake up?” Lisa asked anxiously.

“Though I’d very much like to say yes, I’m afraid I can only disappoint you,” Bu Huai said regretfully.

“Then why all the urgency to call us here?” Juliana said with annoyance. She and Lisa had both thought Ye Feng was awake.

“I discovered something that may be to our advantage,” Bu Huai said.

“What did you find?” Ye Shihan asked calmly.

“Do you remember that a year ago I told you the Flood Dragon had begun hunting down two cosmic beings?” Bu Huai said.

“That’s right. What does that have to do with us?” Ouyang Lanlan asked in surprise.

“Maybe it had nothing to do with us before, but I’ve just found out they are actually two adult Heaven Dragons. Do you know what that means?” Bu Huai swept his gaze across the group.

“What does it mean? That we have two more comrades?” Nangong Jing asked.

“You could say that. If my analysis is correct, they may very well be Long Xuan’s parents,” Bu Huai said.

“Are you sure?” Ji Ludan asked.

“Not entirely, but I’m about eighty percent certain. As far as I know, Long Xuan came to Earth more than ten thousand years ago, and back then he was still only a child. Heaven Dragon children are very difficult to bear, and their parents treasure them deeply. So the ones now searching for Long Xuan are very likely his parents,” Bu Huai explained.

“Then why not just have Xiaose come over and ask? He was even saying two days ago that it had been a long time since he’d seen Little Dragon,” Ji Ludan added.

“That’s exactly what I mean,” Bu Huai said with a smile.

“Well, why didn’t you say so earlier? I’ll go fetch Xiaose and Xiaofeng,” Ji Ludan said irritably, then turned and left.

After Ji Ludan had gone, Amy asked, “How are those two Heaven Dragons doing now?”

“I’m not sure either. Of the strategic satellites launched back then, only two are still functioning, so I can no longer monitor the surface comprehensively. But from what I can tell, the two of them should be hiding somewhere, otherwise Chi Huo would not be mounting such a global manhunt,” Bu Huai said.

“Let’s hope they’re all right,” Amy said.

“Uncle Bu Huai, can I see Little Dragon now?” Xiaose’s clear voice rang out from beyond the door.

“Of course you can,” Bu Huai answered kindly. His tone was becoming more and more human.

“Why can’t you just use a different spatial ring to keep Long Xuan in?” Ye Xiaofeng said helplessly. It was not that he was unwilling to retrieve the Heaven Dragon inner core, but this made it seem as though his only role was taking things out of Ye Feng’s spatial ring, like nothing more than a stand-in.

“This wasn’t our choice. You saw it last time—Long Xuan returned to Ye Feng’s spatial ring on his own. Maybe he feels safer there,” Bu Huai explained.

As Bu Huai spoke, Ye Xiaofeng had already taken out the Heaven Dragon inner core.

Xiaose was already more than five years old, almost six. He ran forward joyfully, hugged the Heaven Dragon inner core, and began chatting with Long Xuan.

And the moment Long Xuan emerged from the spatial ring, Long Xiaotian and Long Yunfeng both trembled all over, because they could feel their child. He was on Earth. Though not close to them in distance, his soul had grown much stronger than before, which at the very least meant he was healthier now.

The End