Chapter 426: The True Identity of the Little Bone Dragon

Chapter 426: The True Identity of Little Bone Dragon

"Teacher."

Li Wei broke the silence, calling out.

Though Torresta stood with his back to Li Wei, he had long known that Li Wei had arrived.

He said nothing.

Li Wei had no choice but to break the silence first.

"This day has finally come," Torresta said with a sigh.

Li Wei looked at Torresta's silhouette and asked, "Teacher, you should know what I want to ask?"

Torresta remained silent.

So Li Wei cut straight to the point. "What exactly is your relationship with the legendary lich from the ancient battlefield in the Western Desert Wasteland? Are you an illusion created by him?"

Torresta finally spoke, slowly and calmly.

"Illusion? Perhaps that’s how you see it."

"I prefer to call it another life."

Hearing this, Li Wei showed a trace of surprise.

"Possession? Reincarnation?"

Torresta replied, "That doesn’t matter. After I reincarnated as a lich hundreds of years ago, I stayed within the ancient battlefield for a long time, constantly eroded by the aura of the undead. My consciousness gradually shifted toward that of the undead, separating from humanity."

"At that time, I realized what might happen in the future, so I thought of a way to preserve my human consciousness."

"I separated part of my soul, used illusion magic to forge a human body for it, and walked through the world under a new identity, experiencing human emotions to maintain my human awareness, so that I wouldn’t completely fall into becoming a heartless, desireless undead lich."

"Torresta is one of the identities I’ve used over these centuries."

Upon hearing this, Li Wei already understood Torresta’s origins.

After pondering for a while, Li Wei asked, "Why did you resurrect Little Bone Dragon? What was your purpose?"

Torresta smiled and answered, "Why? Do I need a reason to resurrect my daughter?"

Li Wei widened his eyes, staring at Torresta’s back in disbelief.

He couldn’t believe what he had just heard.

In shock, he asked, "Little Bone Dragon is your daughter?"

"But you’re human, and she’s a dragon!"

Torresta replied, "Her mother was also a dragon. We fell in love and gave birth to her."

Li Wei sucked in a breath of cold air, feeling momentarily blank.

"Ahh..."

For a moment, he couldn’t process it.

"Hehehe..."

Torresta suddenly laughed. "Didn’t such things happen in the legendary stories you wrote? Why can’t you accept it now?"

"I thought you’d heard my story before."

Li Wei: "..."

Fiction was fiction—it was all made up by him.

Reality turned out to be more fantastical than fiction.

The image of Torresta and a dragon together creating a child surfaced in Li Wei’s mind.

Uh... indescribable.

He thought of Erika—perhaps dragons could take on human forms.

Anyway, how they had a child wasn’t something he needed to worry about, since Little Bone Dragon had already been born.

Unless everything Torresta said was a lie.

But there seemed no reason for him to lie.

At least, Li Wei could tell that what he said came from genuine emotion.

When Torresta mentioned that Little Bone Dragon was his daughter, his voice trembled slightly.

Looking at Torresta’s back, Li Wei asked in confusion, "I have a question—if Little Bone Dragon is truly the offspring of you and a dragon, why does she look like this? Logically speaking, both of you are extremely powerful. No one should have been able to harm the child of such a legendary couple."

Torresta nodded and said, "Indeed, Philis and I were both very powerful—we were already legendary figures a thousand years ago."

"But the enemies we faced were even stronger."

Li Wei’s heart stirred slightly. He keenly sensed the key information hidden in Torresta’s words.

Legendary figures a thousand years ago, facing even stronger enemies.

This meant that Torresta’s true identity went far deeper than Li Wei had imagined.

"Who were your enemies?" Li Wei asked curiously.

Torresta replied, "The Dragon King of Evil, the Dragon Slayers, and the gods themselves!"

Li Wei’s heart shook—he felt as if he had uncovered some ancient secret.

So Torresta’s past involved gods.

And what about the Dragon King of Evil and the Dragon Slayers?

Suddenly, Li Wei recalled a glorious era in the history of the Human Empire.

The Dragon Blood Potion emerged, giving rise to countless Dragon Blood Warriors and mighty Dragon Slayers, bringing the empire to its peak.

It even nearly drove the dragons to extinction.

Could it be that era?

If it was a thousand years ago, the timeline roughly matched what Torresta had said.

Li Wei continued to press, "What exactly happened a thousand years ago?"

Torresta said, "A thousand years ago, the dragon race split internally. War erupted between the Dragon King of Evil and the Holy Dragon King, becoming the catalyst for the decline and near-extinction of the dragons."

"It was during that time that the Human Empire obtained the formula for the Dragon Blood Potion, hunted dragons across the lands, and nearly exterminated the dragons, who were already weakened by internal strife."

"My wife, Philis, became a victim of that internal division among the dragons."

"The Dragon King of Evil, desperate to defeat the Holy Dragon King, resorted to treachery and ambushed Philis. At the time, she was pregnant and gravely wounded. She fled deep into the ancient battlefield. By the time I reached her, Philis had already died. She transferred all her remaining life force into the dragon egg, giving birth to an incompletely formed egg."

"Afterward, the Dragon King of Evil found Philis’s corpse and extracted her dragon heart and soul. Under his watchful eye, I could only barely preserve the egg."

"After he left, I took the egg away, hoping to hatch it. But the life inside hadn’t fully developed yet when it was forced into existence. Even with Philis’s final life force, there was still a high chance the life would perish."

"With no other choice, I transformed her into a bone dragon to preserve the last thread of hope."

"The ritual of resurrection from death can replenish the missing life force and soul from her previous life, allowing her to truly complete her revival and gain full life."

This was a millennium-long scheme devised by a father.

All for the sake of resurrecting his daughter.

Li Wei felt a profound shock deep within his soul.

After the shock subsided, Li Wei regained his composure and began to reflect on what Torresta had just said.

He asked with some confusion, "Wasn't this tragedy caused by internal conflicts within the dragon race? What does it have to do with the gods?"

Torresta replied, "The dragon blood potion was bestowed upon humanity by the gods."

Li Wei instantly understood.

Behind the extermination of the dragon race stood the hand of the gods.

Why the gods wanted to exterminate the dragon race was another question entirely.

In any case, it was certainly not something done out of idle boredom.

Torresta stood up and said, "Having spoken so much, I presume the doubts in your heart have been largely resolved."

"Let us go, to retrieve the final item needed for Saint Xi's resurrection."

Saint Xi was the name the little bone dragon had in life.

Li Wei found this somewhat strange. "Don't tell me we still need the dragon's corpse?"

He followed in Torresta's footsteps.

Heading toward the seventh level.

Torresta spoke as they walked, "I have long since prepared the reincarnation ritual formation. You will understand once you bring the item there."

(End of Chapter)