Another huge explosion. In the end, the male dragon did not smash directly into Zhou Weiqing, instead landing about fifty yards from him, and as it did so, the resulting tremors caused Zhou Weiqing to be knocked off his feet to land on his buttocks.
The violent, almost maniacal gaze of the male dragon fixated upon him, not hiding its hostility. However, at this moment, the mother dragon which was lying on the ground called out urgently. It even lifted up one claw in an attempt to pull her mate back, but it was just too weak at the moment, and could not even succeed in that full motion.
Upon hearing its wife’s call, the male dragon finally gave up its threatening look at Zhou Weiqing, quickly turning back to its mate. Layer after layer of Divine Attribute Heavenly Energy surged out from its body, the shining brilliant gold light rays entering the mother dragon’s body.
With its mate’s help, the mother dragon’s eyes grew gentler, looking once more at the male dragon with much love and sentiment, its eyes slowly closed as it rested its large head upon the male dragon’s wings. Even despite that, the mother dragon did not forget the egg that had almost cost it its life, its wing wrapped protectively around it.
This was the greatest, most selfless love in the world. The great maternal love!
Seeing the dragon family wrapped together in such a peaceful sight, bathed in the Divine gold light, Zhou Weiqing could not help but look on with almost infatuated sentiment. He was clear that his actions today could possibly have severely offended the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, and might even become a huge barrier towards himself and Bing’er.
However, he did not regret anything, especially after looking at the sight before him, he could not feel any sense of regret. He had saved a great mother. Looking at the mother dragon, he couldn’t help but think of his own mother. It’s been so long since I’ve gone home… I miss mother indeed. When I get back from the Heavenly Jewel Tournament, and the academy semester ends, I will definitely have to go back and look for mother.
Unknowingly, Zhou Weiqing’s eyes had grown moist.
The male dragon’s power and Divine Attribute was far beyond Tian’er, and it was a matter of moments before the mother dragon’s scales once again glowed with a healthy brilliance.
Previously, the reason why the male dragon had been so bad tempered was because the mother dragon had been going through a terribly difficult labour, and even with all its power, it could do nothing to help its beloved mate. It was under such a circumstance that Little Four had become the first unlucky soul to be sent out of the Lustre Spatial Realm.
The male dragon had been guarding its wife all this time with all the feelings of anxiety, and seeing that the mother dragon was about to lay her egg… their child… it had also began preparations to heal and save its mate as soon as possible. Who knew that right at that critical moment, the entire Spatial Realm had gone through a strange change, and both dragons had been brutally separated. It was also this exact coincidence that had given the ZhongTian and BaoPo Battle Team members this unheard of opportunity to take action.
The time seemed to pass slowly in such an atmosphere. After a while, Fat Cat squirmed out of Zhou Weiqing’s Spatial Realm. When she saw that she was still in the Lustre Spatial Realm, she was given a frightening shock. Soon after, she spotted the dragon family and their condition and breathed a sigh of relief as she instantly understood what had happened.
Morphing into her human form, Tian’er, she stood beside Zhou Weiqing and said in a soft complaint: “You are just too daring in this case.”
Zhou Weiqing laughed heartily, saying: “With the Lustre Gem, that is not really a huge risk. After all, once I used the Dragon Silencing Seal on the dragon, it wouldn’t be able to use any Skill. Of course, that won’t affect the power difference between us much, but more importantly, it will not be able to restrict me from using the Lustre Gem. In such a case, once it calms down with the help of the mother dragon, there shouldn’t be any danger. You know how scared of dying I am, this was a calculated risk that I decided to take, I would never joke around with my life!”
Tian’er held Zhou Weiqing’s arm, saying softly: “Weiqing, what you did today has truly made me look at you in a whole different light. I thank you with all my heart for what you have done for that mother dragon. If you had chosen to stand on its opposing side earlier, I truly do not know what I would have done, but I know my heart would be broken. I didn’t expect your heart would be so kindly as well. When we get out, I will definitely give you a reward.”
Zhou Weiqing grinned, saying: “Heh heh, what reward? I wouldn’t mind if the reward was you!”
Tian’er rolled her eyes at him, blushing as she muttered: “You scoundrel.”
Since the time Zhou Weiqing had met Tian’er in her human form, this was the first time he had seen her with such an almost feminine action. Added to her alluring figure, that hint of shyness and charm was definitely a ‘killing blow’.
Right at that moment, the male dragon sudden lifted its head and looked at Tian’er and Zhou Weiqing. Although it no longer gave off any sense of hostility, that pure powerful dragon aura still caused their hearts to skip a beat.
“Both of you, please come over.” The deep rumbling voice seemed to come from all directions.
Tian’er continued clutching at Zhou Weiqing’s arm like a drowning man would grasp a lifesaver. Both of them could sense that the dragon did not have any hostile intent towards them, but even as they walked towards it, they felt as if their legs were wobbling.
The two of them walked slowly to almost ten yards from the dragon family before they stopped.
The dragon turned its gaze on Tian’er first, nodding to her as he said: “You are of the Divine Heavenly Spirit Tiger bloodline right. I thank you sincerely, my friend, for extending a helping hand during my wife and child’s most critical and dangerous moment. My wife told me that it was you and your kin who had helped to block our enemies’ attacks.”
Tian’er let go off Zhou Weiqing’s arms and gave a respectful curtsey to it: “Honoured Senior Dragon, us Divine Heavenly Spirit Tigers have always been good friends and allies to the dragon kind, and it is our duty as the Heavenly Snow Mountain core disciples to extend a helping hand. There is no need for thanks.”
The male dragon turned his gaze to Zhou Weiqing, saying: “What about you then? My wife said that it was you who truly turned the tide of the battle. Although your power is extremely puny, I can still sense the aura of a Demonic Dragon Lady on you, and more so, the strange of aura of an unknown tiger… of a bloodline that even makes my heart palpitate. So, young man, why did you save my wife and child?”
Zhou Weiqing knew that this male dragon was no less intelligent than any human. Its question was in itself a sort of test. If he did not answer correctly, all his previous efforts would have be for naught.
“Hello, honoured Senior Dragon. To be honest, I have no way to answer your question, because I myself do not know why I took action. In truth, it went against all logic for me to do so, but when I saw this Senior Lady Dragon looking at her child, those eyes of hers made me think of my own mother. At that moment, I could only think that if my mother was in the same position, she would also use all of her life to protect me. So, I just wanted to do my own bit to help out. Now that your family has been reunited, it is time for us to leave then.”
As he said that, Zhou Weiqing grabbed hold of Tian’er’s hand and ‘pulled’ her into his Spatial Realm. Without saying anything else, he activated the Lustre Gem in his hands.
At that moment, he was furious, because as soon as the male dragon asked the question, he knew that it suspected his motives in helping the mother dragon.
Without a doubt, he had stayed because he had wanted to get some form of reward. That was without question. However, when he had taken action to save the mother dragon, that had not been in his mind at all.
Now that the dragon family was reunited and safe, at least his original goal had been accomplished. Why would he need to gain anything from them? At that point, between gain and pride, Zhou Weiqing chose the latter. After all, even though he was still weak, he still had his dignity and pride.
The male dragon started a little, then it raised its left claw swiftly. A thick gold light enveloped Zhou Weiqing, forcibly breaking the transfer of the Lustre Gem. The thirty seconds of the Dragon Silencing Seal had already long ended.
Zhou Weiqing started, looking at the dragon curiously: “Senior, do you have anything else?”
The male dragon’s gaze gentled, and it said apologetically: “I’m sorry young man, I should not have doubted your motives. You humans are just too notorious for being cunning, and it was not easy for me to trust any of you.”
Zhou Weiqing smiled passively, saying: “In any case, it is up to you to believe or not. I have never thought of myself as a good person, and all I care about is being true to myself. Senior Dragon, if there is nothing else, please allow this young junior to take his leave.”
No matter how he seemed on the surface, that pride that Zhou Weiqing had inherited from Admiral Zhou was ingrained deep in his bones. At this point, he no longer had any intention of gaining any benefit from the male dragon; his motives had already been suspected, if he stayed to try and get anything from them, wasn’t it the same as saying that his motives was indeed impure?
The pride in his heart made him unwilling to wait any longer, and he activated the Lustre Gem once more without hesitation.
The dragon stared blankly as the gold light sprang forth once more. It could sense that pride in Zhou Weiqing’s eyes and countenance, his raised head and straightened back as his actions spoke the same tale as his bearing. In that instant, the powerful beast felt a strange sensation in its heart.
This was just a mere insect-like human, but he was just so proud, not even willing to speak any further with itself.
In the flash of gold light, just as Zhou Weiqing was about to vanish, the huge dragon seemed to make up its mind. A red bolt of light shot out from its claws, striking Zhou Weiqing’s back and forming a sigil. The next moment, Zhou Weiqing disappeared from the Lustre Spatial Realm.
Zhou Weiqing had totally not seen or sensed what the dragon had done; during the entire process he had only felt a slight heat on his back before he was transported out, and in the next moment he had vanished in the gold light of the transporting Lustre Gem. He had dismissed it as part of the teleportation, but little did he know that there was now a dark red sigil on his back.
As the Lustre Spatial Realm returned to its usual calm, the male dragon turned back its gaze to its mate, its gaze soft and gentle again. If there was anyone else there to examine it closely, he would be able to discover that one of the brightest reverse scales 1 around the dragon’s neck had actually disappeared.
As the gold light flashed, the environment around Zhou Weiqing started to grow clearer, and he suddenly appeared in the shrouded portion of the Heavenly Jewel Island where they had begun their journey.
In front of Shangguan Longyin was Zhan LingTian, seated in a cross-legged meditation position.
Currently, Zhan LingTian had his eyes closed, his entire body covered with a layer of black-blue colour.
Besides him, all the members of the other Battle Teams were here as well. As soon as Zhou Weiqing appeared, he immediately became the focus of the entire assembly, as everyone turned to look at him. Anger, malice, both good and bad intentions, a mass of different emotions was palpable in the air. However, Zhou Weiqing was not in a good mood, and he could not care less what the others were thinking at that moment.
Seeing Zhou Weiqing appear, Shangguan Longyin furrowed his brow before saying: “Fei Li Battle Team member, Zhou Weiqing, was the last to leave the Lustre Spatial Realm. The Heavenly Jewel Tournament champion is the Fei Li Battle Team, the second position is the WanShou Battle Team, third position the ZhongTian Battle Team, and the fourth position is the BaoPo Battle Team. This round of Heavenly Jewel Tournament is complete, you may all return to your inns to rest for now, leave your wounded here for now, I will take care of them.”
The WanShou Battle Team members glanced meaningfully at Zhou Weiqing before walking off. The BaoPo Battle Team members also took their leave, and the only remaining people there were the ZhongTian and Fei Li Battle Team members.