Chapter 412 - 308: Tyl’s Determination

Long Yi eliminated the mutual perception clause from the contract and added a section of absolute confidentiality regarding all matters related to him. Being a modern youth, Long Yi’s revisions were watertight. Tyl merely smiled and watched Long Yi’s maneuver. Tyl surely had his intentions, but those had nothing to do with Long Yi. Tyl needed Long Yi’s contract to assist him in completing some tasks, but this didn’t interfere with Long Yi. In other words, as long as the contract was in existence, the specific terms were irrelevant.

As for Long Yi’s concerns, they were, in fact, bound not to occur, for Tyl had no intention of harming him.

In the secret chamber, the contract was established, and Long Yi heaved a sigh of relief.

"Alright, we’re off to hunt monsters in Gentle Wind Plain. Any suggestions?"

"What!"

Tyl was startled - he had assumed that Long Yi wanted to play tricks behind the Black Dragon Empire and came to him for advice. He never expected that Long Yi was intending to go to Gentle Wind Plain!

"The advice is, it’s best not to go." Tyl said.

"Anything more constructive?" Long Yi asked.

"Are you guys really going?"

"Look at my honest face, do I look like I’m lying?"

"If it weren’t for the contract I just made, I’d rip that honest face of yours off. If you want to go, go alone; don’t drag my child into it," Tyl said angrily.

"Hey, come on, you were one of the leaders of the Black Dragon Empire and fought fiercely with our dean. Why are you suddenly so cowardly?" Long Yi tried to goad him into action.

"Don’t even try, that won’t work on me..." Tyl sighed as he realized that Long Yi wasn’t joking. "Kid, you guys must be going crazy for Crystal Cores. If you’re really going, I indeed have something to show you."

Saying so, Tyl pulled a metal cylinder from his personal space.

He opened it from one end, revealing a set of complex maps. Tyl selected one from among them and handed it to Long Yi.

It was a strategic map of the Black Dragon Empire’s layout on Gentle Wind Plain. The fixed patrol routes were marked on it, and the spots highlighted in red were potential locations of inter-dimensional rifts. If it were closer to the White Dragon Empire, it would be fine; however, if it were closer to the Black Dragon Empire, they would need to avoid these routes or deal with them in advance.

Without speaking, Long Yi took a quick look at the map and prepared to tuck it away, but Tyl stopped him. "You can’t have this. I made an oath."

As a member of the Black Dragon Tribe, Tyl had to ensure through the strictest oath that he wouldn’t harm the interests of the Black Dragon Empire with his knowledge.

However, because oaths were given orally, they naturally had some loopholes to exploit.

Now, Long Yi wanted to go to Gentle Wind Plain, which, just like the inter-dimensional rifts, was a neutral area for both the Black and White Dragon countries. Tyl showing Long Yi this map ostensibly meant to make Long Yi aware of the layout of the Black Dragon Empire. Still, it could also be explained as ’helping Long Yi remember the locations of rifts’. Moreover, Tyl emphasized that he could not give him the map.

Thus, without directly breaking his oath but still fulfilling his intentions, Tyl handled the situation ambivalently.

Both Long Yi and Ai Lin had good memories. After they memorized the map and cross-verified it, they returned the map to Tyl.

"So, uncle, do you have any insights on controlling monsters?" Since they had started asking questions, they might as well ask as comprehensively as possible.

"Control monsters?" Tyl thought for a moment.

"I’ve never done such a thing, but I do have a method you could try," Tyl said.

"What’s the method?" Long Yi initially asked casually but didn’t expect this old Black Dragon to actually have a way!

"The Black Dragon Empire has always been studying necromancy and has developed a control magic method that combines necromancy with puppetry. In theory, as long as someone proficient in psychic magic—Yes, I’m referring to Little Zi—casts the control magic on a monster, it should forcibly stop the monster’s self-destructive process. But how long it takes for this spell to take effect depends on the power difference between Little Zi and the monster. The greater the difference, the longer it takes to cast the spell, up to possibly ten minutes for it to start working."

While talking, Tyl taught Little Zi the spell.

"Also, when casting this spell, the Black Dragon Empire uses a certain artifact for control. I don’t know how to make it, so you might need to get it from the Black Dragon Empire first," Tyl added.

Upon hearing this, Long Yi and Little Zi looked at each other and smiled.

"Uncle, do you think this thing will work?"

Saying this, Long Yi took out a dragon’s heart-shaped artifact from his personal space. It had a complex mechanism connected around it, but at its core was a dragon’s heart. It was one of the two puppet hearts Long Yi had obtained from a small island deep in magma. The other one was left at the Imperial Research Institute for studying the necromancy of the Black Dragon Empire. Naturally, he kept this one for himself.

"Puppet’s heart? Where did you get this from? I remember the Black Dragon Empire stopped producing these a long, long time ago." Tyl was startled as he took the Puppet’s Heart.

"Well, the story of how we got this is long; let’s just say we were lucky." Long Yi said with a smile.

"Hmm, using this thing should greatly increase the success rate of using the puppet technique," Tyl agreed without delving deeper, well aware that Long Yi had more secrets than even he did, though he had no interest in knowing them.

For this operation, Tyl showed great concern. Even a direct war with the Black Dragon Empire on the front line would not cause him such concern. But that was because the opponents were monsters. Even the smallest monsters were carriers of horrifying Crystal Poison. Though people have found many ways to restrict the Crystal Poison over the years, as the research deepened, they realized that the Crystal Poison that they could restrict was not the actual Crystal Poison. The real Crystal Poison came from the body of a giant monster.

In past battles with giant monsters, no dragon knight or dragon who had been infected by the crystal poison of a giant monster had ever recovered. Even in the last nationwide monster hunt, several dragon knights died from the giant monster—they were not defeated but were merely infected by the crystal poison. Once infected by the crystal poison of a giant monster, they wouldn’t even get much time suffering. To prevent them from becoming monsters themselves, they would beg their companions to kill them.

They preferred this death to becoming a monster.

These stories would never be shared with common folk, and the families of these Dragon Knights only knew of their honorable death in battle.

"This bastard... he is absolutely mad..."

Black Dragon Tyl, watching Long Yi and the others leave, shook his head helplessly and returned to his secret chamber by himself. The contract glowed inside his soul. Tyl had planned many coincidental events, trying to get Long Yi to accept his contract. Sometimes he found himself comical, that the once dominant Guardian Giant Dragon had now gone to great lengths to persuade someone else to accept his contract. However, against all odds, he managed to secure Long Yi’s contract effortlessly.

Since the contract was in place, all his plans could now proceed to the next step.

Tyl took off the priestly robe he’d been wearing for years, replacing it with a black suit. This suit was specially made for Tyl when he first became human and wanted to visit the grave of his Dragon Rider. Since becoming a human, he had only worn it once.

"The clothes... are a bit large."

Tyl looked at his emaciated self in the mirror, far removed from his former vigor, but with an added touch of steadiness. Tyl’s heart started to beat frantically, even he hadn’t expected to feel nervous after so meticulously planning everything up to this crucial point.

"Time to say goodbye to an old friend."

Tyl said to himself.

Just as Tyl was about to leave the temple, he saw the Dean standing there, a light flickering in the depth of his eyes.

"You’re leaving?" asked the Dean.

"Yes, old friend, I am leaving," Tyl responded with a smile.

"Did you get the contract from Long Yi?"

"Yes, everything proceeded as I expected."

"So, you are returning to Dragon Island?"

"Yes."

Two old men, two ancient dragons, stood face to face. For a while, neither of them knew what to say.

"Ah..."

In the end, it was the Dean who let out a deep sigh.

"Don’t be so nervous, old friend. We’ve fought together for a lifetime. I’m nearly dead, shouldn’t you be happy?" Tyl said, clapping the Dean on the back.

"If you were really dead, I might be able to rejoice for a few days, but I’m afraid you’re not completely finished," the Dean shook his head and smiled bitterly.

Tyl was taken aback, his smile slowly fading: "You’ve guessed it?"

"A contract, a Ghost Dragon, and your belief in revenge. As a dragon, what other choices do you have?" said the Dean softly, "Or would you think, perhaps you are the only one seeking revenge for your rider?"

Tyl was completely stunned, then, a smile slowly spread across his face.

"Oh, old friend, if only we weren’t different colors, I think we could have been real brothers," said Tyl.

The Dean sighed heavily, "Ah! If that were the case, Dragon Island would not have let either of us live."

Tyl nodded, "Yes, the balance amid war is the only thing those old immortals consider. For that, they are willing to pay any price!"

Saying this, Tyl’s eyes were filled with anger!

"But this time, they will pay the price! As a member of the Dragon Clan, I may not be as cunning as humans, but the one who devised all these plans for me is one of the rare geniuses in the human world!"

The Dean was startled, "Wait, you mean, this plan of yours, he devised it for you?"

Tyl nodded slightly, "Yes, otherwise, why do you think I, as a Black Dragon, would rather make the most stringent promise and come to the White Dragon Empire?"

Hearing this, the Dean couldn’t help but smile bitterly, "First, he helped you with the revenge plan, then pushed Kirei to the throne, who knows what’s next? This game of chess is too elaborate, I’m struggling to keep up!"

"Okay, old friend, I am leaving now. If I’m lucky, I will reach Dragon Island by tomorrow evening. Then, the outcome of all this, success or failure, will soon become clear," said Tyl, extending his hand with an easy smile on his face.

The Dean also extended his hand, grasping Tyl’s and then both elderly men embraced each other tightly. Tyl heard the Dean say, "If you fail, when the day comes that the White Dragon Empire destroys the Black Dragon Empire, I have a second plan."

Tyl was startled, then whispered with a smile, "Don’t worry, it won’t come to that."

The two old men separated, both of them seeing determination in each other’s eyes.

Then, they turned and left, disappearing into the crowd of the bustling street, unnoticed. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit qidian.com to vote and support. Your encouragement fuels my motivation. For mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com.)