By now, he locked me inside the barrier, trapped but not neglected. He delivered three meals a day, always heavy with large fish and rich meats. I was eating quite well, but there was no way for me to leave.
"When are you going to let me out?" I asked bluntly, wanting to hear what Bai Mu was really thinking.
He sneered, pride shining in his eyes. "You still want to go out? From now on, you live here. When I feel like it, maybe I’ll consider letting you leave."
"My precious Bai Mu, are you turning dark on me?" I immediately sensed something was wrong.
This little white dragon used to be a sweet, innocent goofball how could the months I cared for him have twisted him into this cold, stern version? No, it could not be. During those months, I pampered him with all the comforts. Otherwise, how could we have produced nine dragon eggs?
I decided to press on with my tame-the-dragon plan.
I threw my arms around Bai Mu’s waist and ran my hands across his sculpted abs with a sly smile. "My dear Bai Mu, don’t you feel sorry locking me up like this?"
He stared coldly at me, silent and unmoving as I fondled him playfully.
I pushed my luck further, coaxing, "Bai Mu, please let me out. I promise I won’t tie you up again or run off. I’ll stay right here and hatch the eggs and be good, okay?"
I was now absolutely certain Bai Mu had darkened. The innocent boy who used to blush at sweet talk was gone.
"You just stay put, don’t have any wild ideas. When the kids hatch, I’ll set you free," Bai Mu said firmly, breaking my embrace with strength.
Then in a soft, almost pitiful voice, he muttered, "What? You’re going to lock me up for a thousand years?"
That set off my temper immediately.
"Bai Mu, no matter how much I treasure you, I can’t lock you up for a thousand years. We need to talk this out today."
I put my hands on my hips to make my point, but Bai Mu dashed away instantly, only glancing back at me after he crossed the barrier line.
"Be good, I won’t lock you up for a thousand years, but if you try to run away, I’ll trap you here for ten thousand years."
That stubborn little white dragon really was impossible to sway.
Forced love and imprisoning hearts just was not my style.
The next day, I was busy incubating the eggs on the bed when footsteps echoed outside.
Opening my eyes, I saw a stunning woman in her early thirties enter.
Her gaze was sharp and calculating as she looked me over.
"So, you must be Qing Yao the black dragon?" she said, voice measured but filled with appraisal. "You’ve got a certain charm. I can see why Bai Mu is so captivated by you."
Her presence instantly filled the room with a different sort of tension.
Who was this woman, and what did she want with me or with Bai Mu?
I steeled myself, ready for whatever was coming next.
I looked at her in confusion. "And you are?"
She lifted her chin proudly. "I am Bai Mu’s mother. People outside call me Lady Bai."
Lady Bai’s eyes gleamed with haughty disdain as she sneered, "I thought the Hei Black Dragon clan was wiped out completely. Didn’t expect there to still be a stray little black dragon like you. Not only are you still alive, but you refuse to stay quietly in the Hei Dragon Gully. You come here and seduce my son, Bai Mu, and have so many black dragon eggs. I will never allow you to hatch so many black dragons again."
Her words struck hard beyond offensive.
Instantly I was on guard, my gaze icy as I coiled protectively around the dragon eggs beneath me.
"If you even think of harming my children, I swear on my scales, it will be a fight to the death between us."
Lady Bai, unbothered by my warning, took a deliberate seat on a nearby chair.
Her voice was steady yet filled with old resentments.
"Long ago, if your black dragons hadn’t arrogantly claimed greater strength and oppressed us white dragons, driving us apart, the Black and White clans would never have split. Now your black dragons are nearly extinct. This is your karmic retribution. As a descendant of the white dragons, I will never allow your kind to rise again."
So the Black and White dragons truly had been one family once upon a time.
I had never heard of this history before. My parents and clan died when I was still very young, victims of that great war between gods and demons.
"I don’t know what you speak of, but my parents and clan members all fell in that terrible war. They were brave dragon warriors protecting the three realms.
Since I am the last of the Hei Black Dragons, it is my sacred duty to carry on our bloodline. If you seek to wipe us out, then come I was not raised to be a meek lamb."
At this, the tension snapped like a thunderclap.
I let out a fierce roar, wrapping the dragon eggs tightly around me, bursting out of the barrier and soaring high above Baiyun Town.
In an instant, a colossal black dragon, over a hundred meters long, twisted and spiraled through the sky above the town.
I did not know how many white dragons were here, but my foes surely were more than just Lady Bai.
Wasting no time, I prepared to depart Baiyun Town when voices echoed up from below.
"Oh? Is that a little black dragon?"
"Yeah, it’s been so long since any black dragons were seen. I thought they were all extinct."
"Father... Uncle...Don’t hurt her"
Suddenly, Bai Mu took his true dragon form and flew up beside me, struggling to shield me with his smaller yet fiercely determined body.
He was the youngest here, and even in his true form, he wasn’t as large as I was.
Compared to the older white dragons looming below, my black dragon form was comparatively small but no less fierce.
One of the elder white dragons, regal and stern, stepped forward and asked authoritatively, "Bai Mu, what is going on here?"
Bai Mu’s voice trembled slightly as he replied, "Father, this is my wife. It was I who brought her here."
He looked nervously at his father, eyes wide with a mixture of pride and fear.
The elder dragon’s gaze shifted between the two of us his son and the enormous black dragon protecting precious eggs before his expression hardened further.
"Bai Mu, you have crossed a line by defying our traditions and bringing a black dragon here. This is not simply a matter of marriage but of clans, history, and politics. You understand the weight of this?"
Bai Mu nodded solemnly but stood firm by my side.
I lowered my massive head slightly in a gesture of respect, then spoke in a deep, commanding voice.
"I am Qing Yao, the last Hei Black Dragon. The old feuds and grudges are known, but neither I nor my offspring seek unnecessary war. We only seek the survival of our kind."
The elder white dragon’s eyes narrowed, and tension filled the air. Yet beneath the heaviness, I sensed a flicker of respect for strength, courage, and resolve.
The gathering of white dragons shifted uneasily, murmuring among themselves about the unprecedented reunion of clans through this unlikely pair.
Bai Mu’s mother, Lady Bai, remained seated but her eyes glinted sharply, as if calculating the unfolding future whether it would be one of war or uneasy peace.
I knew that from this moment forward, nothing would be simple.
Bai Mu’s mother hurriedly explained, "My son loves her. They are already married."
A different white dragon, standing nearby, scoffed, "Kid, how old are you claiming to be married? Did the clan even approve this?"
"Uncle," Bai Mu replied stubbornly, "Marriage is my business. I like her. That is all that matters. No clan approval needed."
"You have been brainwashed by some spell," Bai Mu’s father fixed me with a piercing gaze, his voice low and authoritative. "Little black dragon, change back now. You won’t be running away this time. But I want to hear exactly when you two got married, since I don’t recall being told anything."
I knew there was no point in escaping this confrontation. I reluctantly shifted back into my human form and landed softly on the ground. My arms were still tightly wrapped around the nine precious dragon eggs, fearing any careless movement might harm them.
"That many dragon eggs?" Bai Mu’s father, who transformed into a regal, imposing man in his early thirties, exclaimed in surprise. "When did Baiyun Town ever have that many dragon eggs? This is extraordinary."
I stared anxiously at him, silently pleading that he would not harm my eggs.
Bai Mu was equally tense, stepping forward and nervously shielding me from his father. "Father, please spare her. She’s still young and knows nothing of past conflicts or grudges between our clans. She’s just an ordinary girl."
"An ordinary girl?" Lady Bai stepped closer, glaring sharply at Bai Mu. "White and Black dragons have been divided for ages. That little black dragon deliberately seduced you to revive the Hei Black Dragon clan. I won’t allow that to happen."
Chapter 05
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