The Embers of King's Teyvat Journey

Chapter 144 The New Dragon

2023-09-01

"Boom!" A dazzling crimson lightning bolt descended from the cirrus clouds, becoming the only light in the dim forest.

Red lightning is unique to the ancient dragon race. The ability to use red dragon lightning is even more authoritative in distinguishing ancient dragons from flying dragons than simply judging them by their appearance.

"Roar—" Lance Sanks let out a long and magnificent dragon roar, revealing his dragon form, which made her feel extremely comfortable.

The powerful dragon tail behind her swayed involuntarily. The massive tail, covered in pure white dragon scales, swept through the forest, snapping trees of all sizes as easily as reeds in a storm.

"Quiet down! It's too noisy!" Ember pulled the statues of Luminous and Paimon to Lance Sanx's front paw and tapped her forepaw.

"Zzz!" The dragon lightning covering Lance Sanx's body spread to Ember, giving him a jolt.

"And you should also tone down your dragon lightning. You have to unleash lightning even when you transform. I don't understand you dragons."

"Ember looked at Lance Sanx, whose body was writhing with crimson lightning, and said."

"There's an atmosphere to transformation, you know!" Lance Sanks retorted. "It's so tacky to just turn from a human into a dragon."

However, despite saying that, she still obediently withdrew the dragon lightning that had spread from the sky and around her body.

Only then did Ying and Paimon see the appearance of this otherworldly dragon through the golden light on Lance Sanx's wings.

Her body was covered in rows of pure white dragon scales, as white as rocks; golden light shimmered faintly in the four wings on her back, whether from the reflection of the setting sun or from the presence of some kind of power, it was hard to tell.

Its massive dragon horns still bore traces of chilling lightning, and its downward-looking dragon head brought immense pressure to Luminous and Paimon.

If Dvalin was like a wind spirit that stepped out of a fantasy, then Lance Sanks before them was more like a beast, a beast called "Dragon".

She didn't have the light feathers that fluttered in the wind like Dvalin, because her enemies would notice her softness more than anyone else—only her rock-like scales could allow her to survive the battles at the border.

Lance Sanx exhaled lightly, and the pungent smell that filled the air made Ying and Paimon cough a few times.

It smelled of burning sulfur, and the raging fire within her was a weapon more powerful than dragon claws.

Her twisted, sharp dragon horns are both the source of dragon lightning and a sharp blade.

When the flames subside and the dragon's thunder ceases, it can still tear apart its enemies together with Lance Sanx's mouthful of sharp teeth and gleaming dragon claws.

There is no room for fantasy in Lance Sanx; everything he is constructed is for the purpose of becoming stronger. When they come together, they form a creature called "Dragon".

So when Lance Sanks leaned down to gaze at Ying and Paimon, both of them felt immense pressure.

Yingwei swallowed almost imperceptibly. When she first met Dvalin, he exerted similar pressure, but that pressure was purely based on strength. If a human or an ant possessed that power, it would feel the same.

But the dragon in front of her, named Lance Sanks, was different. Although her aura was much more subdued, the pressure she exerted on Ying was no less than that on Bivalin.

Moreover, this pressure is more like the pressure that organisms feel when they encounter natural enemies.

So profound that it's unforgettable.

However, this pressure quickly dissipated like a gentle breeze. Lance Sanks slightly raised his dragon claws, and a dragon's voice, indistinct in gender, echoed:

"The king's friends? They are my friends too, Lance Sanx. And what about you?"

Ying looked at the dragon finger in front of her, which was about the same size as herself, with sharp claws that gleamed coldly, making it awe-inspiring.

“Luminous, it’s even better to know you, Lance Sanx.” Luminous extended a hand and grasped the end of the dragon’s claw.

Smooth and cold, like pig iron.

Ying rubbed her retracted hand. She had expected Lance Sanx's dragon claws to be rough and full of grooves. But to her surprise, they were smooth, cool, and quite comfortable.

“You… hello, my name is Paimon, and I’m very close to him!” Paimon imitated Luminous, touching Lance Sanx’s paw, then ran to Ember’s side, patted his chest, and said loudly.

"Hey! Say it already!" Paimon saw Lance Sanx's dragon eyes, protected by his high brow bone, looking at him, and immediately floated to Ember's side and whispered.

"Alright, alright, you're my best friend!" Ember pushed Paimon into Ying's arms and said dismissively.

"Your Majesty commands me to reveal my dragon form. What are your instructions?" Lance Sanks asked in a very formal and scholarly manner.

This left Ember completely puzzled. Did the mother dragon also have a few days each month when her temperament changed drastically?

"Have you taken the wrong medicine? You sound so pretentious." Yu Jin looked up at Lance Sanx, wondering if he had eaten something here and undergone some strange change.

"Didn't you say you were interested in my status as a high priest? I remember that's what a priest is like, right? Aren't you satisfied yet?" Lance Sanx stood on his hind legs and spread his two front legs like a human.

This shocked Ying and Paimon once again. Shouldn't dragons stand on four legs? Standing on two legs like a human was truly an eye-opener for them.

If Lance Sanx knew what Luminous and Paimon were thinking, he'd definitely laugh at their ignorance. Not only can she stand on two legs, but she can also wield a sword!

Back then, she wielded a thunder blade in each hand and slashed her way from the south gate to the north gate of the royal city, all while standing!

"You yourself are superior to the High Priestess, understand?" Ember jumped up and tapped Lance Sanx's head, then climbed onto her head and continued, "Take Luminous and Paimon with us, let's go back to Mondstadt!"

“No problem!” Lance Sanks said, then lay down and said to Luminous and Paimon, “If you can’t jump that high, you can climb up by clinging to the gaps in the scales.”

"Hmm." Ying nodded, but she wasn't that weak. With a powerful leap, she jumped onto Lance Sanx's back.

Similarly, Paimon doesn't need to, because she can fly, although she flies low and slowly.

Seeing that everyone was ready, Lance Sanx stood up and shouted, "Passengers, hold on tight to the gaps in the dragon scales, let's go!"

"Boom—, boom—, boom—" A tremendous howling wind rang out, and even the largest bellows could not produce such a loud sound.

Dragons possess scales as thick as rocks, and naturally, they also possess a weight as solid as rocks. The sheer strength of a dragon's wings, enabling such a colossal creature to take flight without external support, is unimaginable.

The last glimmer of light on the horizon vanished. In the darkness, a red glow began to appear on Lance Sanx's dragon horns, illuminating the three people on her back.

"Wow! This is a view I've never seen before!" Ying gripped the gap between the dragon scales tightly and looked down.

She saw a sight she had never seen before. The earth was shrouded in silence and darkness, but in this endless darkness, scattered points of light punctuated it, making the darkness no longer lonely.

“That’s one of the meanings of travel.” Ember stood on Lance Sanx’s back, feeling the howling wind.

The light in the distance was no longer a single point, but a whole expanse; that was the location of Mondstadt.

"Senior, why does Lance Sanx call you King?" Ying glanced at Ember, who had his arms outstretched, and asked curiously.

“Because the King has opened up the future and brought hope,” Lance Sanx mentioned with a smile.

“Because they are elderly, their thinking hasn’t changed.” Yu Jin stopped standing and sat on the ground.

The borderlands no longer need a king, now that the interference of the supreme will has been removed. The long-standing system of one god and one king, along with the two-finger system, is now obsolete.

As for why people still call Ember King, it's probably because they have a place for Ember in their hearts, but they don't know where to put him.

Chapter 145 The Little Bull, Toret

2023-09-01

"Hey, Lawrence, look at those two red flashes in the sky!" Swan rubbed his eyes and looked up at the sky.

As the first line of defense for Mondstadt, he and Lawrence should eliminate all possible hidden dangers!

It's basically just guarding the gate year after year, a job that never changes.

"Hmm... maybe the Hilichurl with the torch got blown away by the Fire Slime?" Lawrence said uncertainly, looking at the flash of light flying in the sky.

However, this is more like a joke; in Teyvat, flying monsters are extremely rare. In Mondstadt specifically, there aren't any at all.

So neither Lawrence nor Swann paid any attention to the red light. It was probably just another peculiar atmospheric phenomenon.

"Look, the red light has disappeared." Lawrence looked at the sky, and apart from the starlight and the moon, there was no other light.

Swann didn't say anything. He looked at the spot where the red light had disappeared, which seemed to be inside Mondstadt.

……

"Ah—, I'm going to fall to my death!" Paimon flew through the air, clutching Ying's head tightly with both hands, struggling to lift her up.

However, it was clear that her efforts were in vain. Ying continued to fall.

"Paimon, have you forgotten something?" Bright, who was falling, was not flustered at all, but instead asked Paimon.

"What—" Paimon snapped out of his daze, realizing he'd been too focused to hear what Ying had said.

"I have wings of wind! You idiot!" Ying shouted with a laugh, then spread her wings of wind and slowly floated down.

"Huh?" Paimon stared blankly at the wind wings billowing behind Luminous. Right, Luminous often uses wind wings during her adventures, why had he forgotten?

It must be because he spent too much time with the embers!

Paimon naturally attributed the source to the embers floating nearby, without considering her own problem at all.

"See you in a few days, senior!" Ying looked down at Mondstadt from the air and quickly found her place.

She slightly twisted her waist, and her body floated towards her residence.

"Goodbye!" Ember waved to Firefly and said goodbye.

Then he looked at Lance Sanx, who had transformed into a half-human, half-beast beside him, and said, "Come on, let me show you my place in this city. If nothing unexpected happens, it will also be your place from now on."

"Oh? Then I'll have to take a good look. I'm very interested in what the king's taste is like." Lance Sanks flapped his shrunken dragon wings, his golden vertical eyes revealing curiosity.

Upon hearing Lance Sanx's words, Yu Jin paused. He recalled the people who had come to his house before, and it seemed that none of them had given him a good review.

"Let me warn you first, you'll be disappointed." Ember turned back to Lance Sanx, laying the groundwork to prevent her from being too shocked later.

There were no watchtowers or searchlights like Winter's End in Mondstadt, so naturally they couldn't spot Ember and Lance Sanx flying down from the sky.

They landed precisely in the courtyard, and Ember led Lance Sanx, who had folded his dragon wings and was left with only his dragon horns, into the house.

As Ember had expected, Lance Sanx fell silent upon seeing the minimalist decor.

After a long silence, she finally spoke up: "Your Majesty, if we don't have any money, we can tear off a few of my dragon scales."

The scales of the ancient dragons, once polished, become excellent forging stones. Even in different worlds, this "hard currency" should fetch a good price.

“I still have some money,” Yu Jin said, pulling out a bag of glittering gold Mora.

"So it's just a lack of taste?" Lance Sanx scoffed. She had already secretly made up her mind to decorate Ember's house properly!

"What is taste? Can you eat it?" Yu Jin smacked his lips and said nonchalantly.

Lance Sanks covered her face after hearing this; it was certainly a unique statement. However, she quickly stopped caring about such things because she had more important matters to attend to.

Lance Sanx approached the embers and stretched out his hand. In the center of his palm was a gilded ring.

Spirit Horse Whistle – A golden ring that emits a soft glow and can be used as a whistle.

It can summon the spirit horse Toret, allowing you to ride it. Using it while riding will dismount you.

"Whoosh—" Lance Sanx suddenly saw a blinding light emanating from the gap in the Ember Helmet.