Is It Really That Hard to Seduce a Dragon? - Chapter 5

The Divine Dragon’s embrace was indeed warm. When Ji Aqing woke up in Cang Ming’s arms, he felt a bit dazed from the quality of his rest, not quite knowing what time it was.

Slowly clearing his mind, he peeked outward. The cave was pitch black, and he couldn’t see his own hand in front of his face.

Ji Aqing was slightly confused.

During those days he spent wandering in the snow, the Southern Cliffs were exactly as the rumors described: bright, with brilliant daylight that knew no distinction between day and night. Why was it dark now?

“Aqing.” His thoughts were slightly sluggish from the long sleep, and then he heard a magnetic voice from very close by: “Are you awake?”

Startled by the sudden sound, Ji Aqing remembered what he had done before falling asleep. As he came to, his hand touched the hot, hard physique behind him.

Cang Ming hadn’t taken off his clothes, but even through an outer robe, Ji Aqing could feel the firm, taut muscles beneath. The man’s chest rose and fell against his palm, at a rhythm that was slightly too fast.

“Are you too hot?” Ji Aqing pulled back the tightly wrapped blanket a little to let some cold air in.

“I suppose a bit.” Cang Ming also felt his heart beating thump-thump, and nodded in agreement.

As a Fire-element Divine Dragon, he was naturally warm-blooded and cold-resistant, which allowed him to live freely in such an extreme environment.

Usually, when he slept in his true form curled up in the cave, he did so however he pleased. He never even bothered to move further into the cave to avoid the wind and snow, let alone wrap himself in a plush blanket.

Both of them waited quietly for the dragon’s heartbeat to settle. In the silence, Ji Aqing recalled his earlier confusion and asked: “Is it nighttime?”

“Yes.” Only then did Cang Ming pay attention to the outside world, explaining to him: “The Southern Cliffs have a unique environment; it isn’t like the Central Continent, where day and night alternate on a regular schedule.”

“Most of the time, it is bright all day long. But when rare periods of extreme cold arrive, there is a span of nearly a month of darkness, which I call the ‘Dim Period’.”

When the man started to explain the Dim Period, Ji Aqing found himself quite interested in the story. Once the heat had dissipated, he wrapped himself back in the blanket, leaning against Cang Ming’s chest as he listened to him recall and explain the unique weather here.

“I didn’t move here until I was an adult, so I wasn’t particularly familiar with this place before.”

As Cang Ming spoke, he remembered the situation he encountered when he first arrived during a Dim Period, and his expression wasn’t very pleasant.

Young dragons of the Divine Dragon clan generally stay with their parents to receive guidance and inheritances. Once they reach adulthood, they usually choose to leave their parents and find their own path; Cang Ming was no exception.

However, most territories suitable for fire dragons were already known to cultivators. According to his clan elders, they had even been recorded in secret reports by greedy, cunning humans, leading batches of treasure-hunters and dragon-slayers to disturb their peace.

“And then?” Ji Aqing felt fortunate once again that the man was illiterate. He played lazily with the dragon’s hair as he asked.

So, Cang Ming decided to find a place that was rarely known to serve as his cave dwelling.

But a suitable home wasn’t easy to find. He searched while visiting elders and relatives in his clan. After wandering for over a dozen years, he stumbled upon the Southern Cliffs and encountered the Dim Period the moment he arrived.

“Wait a second.” Ji Aqing interrupted his narrative, somewhat confused: “You spent over a dozen years outside, and you never learned to recognize those… diagrams?”

Tugging at the dragon’s hair, he felt the slight tilt of the dragon’s head.

“No,” Cang Ming said. “My parents hadn’t left our clan territory for so long that they came out to travel with me. Basically, my father handled everything.”

Logically speaking, dragons coming to the outside world for the first time should have been curious and playful. Cang Ming’s parents had also been worried that their child might be deceived by humans and were prepared to watch the “show.”

Who would have thought that after leaving the clan territory, Cang Ming would be indifferent to everything, spending his days with his eyes shining only at his relatives’ collectibles?

On the way, he was too busy “fighting for trophies” to care about “the locations where they stopped to battle” or the humans and human writing that would frequently refresh in those locations.

“It’s a pity we have different aesthetics. Besides the first few years when they praised me for being powerful, they stopped accepting my gifts later on.”

Cang Ming didn’t have much subjective emotion when he said this, and his memories of the towns they passed were hazy; he only grew a bit excited when speaking of the trophies he had won.

Ji Aqing listened quietly, summarizing the youth’s decade-long journey and feeling a faint sense of sympathy for his parents.

“And then I ended up here.” The Southern Cliffs seemed remote, but the location was actually excellent.

Flying in any direction for ten or fifteen days, there was a chance to randomly refresh a clansman. Cang Ming was very satisfied with this place, so he chose to stay and bid farewell to his parents, who couldn’t wait to leave.

Cang Ming said regretfully: “They left too quickly; they didn’t know there were several clansmen nearby…”

“Shh.” Ji Aqing placed his fingertip against the man’s lower lip. “They probably didn’t want to know.”

There probably weren’t many parents who could laugh while watching their unlucky child fight relatives just to win ugly knick-knacks. “Continue telling me about the Dim Period.”

After seeing his parents off, Cang Ming ran toward the south. After dueling a few clansmen and grabbing his trophies, he happily returned to sleep, never expecting to run straight into the arrival of the Dim Period.

The Dim Period: thick fog, so heavy that the world became chaotic, with no sunlight at all.

Many vicious beasts that didn’t usually show themselves, or were suppressed by the Divine Dragon lineage, started to stir. Losing their sense of awe, they ran rampant in the fog, their roars shaking the drifting snow.

In this world shrouded in thick fog and violent snow, the world became ethereal, leaving only the most primal slaughter and savagery.

He fought in the Southern Cliffs through days of darkness. New wounds were added to old ones. His unique and powerful bloodline attracted a large group of predatory enemies. As long as he showed even a hint of weakness, they would rush up to tear him apart and feast on his flesh.

Even as powerful as Cang Ming was, he suspected during those dark days that he might perish in this place.

But in the end, he survived the chaos at the cost of killing nearly all the vicious beasts that coveted him, and sustaining near-fatal injuries.

The dragon, having won once again, had no lingering fear of the crisis, returning to his cave dwelling with arrogant pride.

“And then I discovered all my treasures had been stolen.” It had been several years, but Cang Ming still couldn’t suppress the anger in his heart when thinking about it.

It went without saying how furious he was at the time. Had his injuries not prevented him from starting more conflicts, he really would have hunted down those robbers one by one for a duel.

Ji Aqing had been drawn in by the man’s description; he could even imagine the Divine Dragon stretching for miles, his scales flickering with cold light in the fog, shattering one enemy after another with roars.

He was just about to applaud the victory when he unexpectedly heard the surprising ending.

“…” So this is the real reason the Divine Dragon’s nest is completely impoverished?!

Stunned for a long time, Ji Aqing finally came back to his senses. A moment later, his chest began to tremble, and he couldn’t control his laughter: “How can you be so stupid?”

Feeling the gaze, the man shot at him, Ji Aqing stopped laughing. He reached out, accurately finding the dragon’s head in the dark, and rubbed it a few times to soothe him.

He said: “If you’re afraid of being robbed, set up some magic arrays. With your strength, it should be very difficult for anyone to break them.”

“That works, too.” The other’s fingers were soft, and the touching was gentle; Cang Ming felt his head go a little dizzy.

After a moment of hesitation, he didn’t tell him that, years later, this area had long since been permeated by his aura, and no vicious beast would dare to intrude again.

He only asked after nodding: “But what is an array?”

I almost forgot he’s illiterate. He must know very little about the arrays created by human cultivators.

Laughter escaped Ji Aqing’s throat again. After he stopped the man’s actions as the embarrassed dragon pressed his head against Ji Aqing’s chest, he finally restrained him.

When the ticklish, fuzzy feeling from the rubbing hair faded, he said: “An array is a special space constructed through specific materials by applying the natural laws of heaven and earth. It’s not difficult; I will teach you.”

“But before that, you have to learn to recognize ‘diagrams’ first.”

Since he had agreed to teach Cang Ming how to read, there was no point in being perfunctory. Ji Aqing pondered how to initiate the man’s education.

As he recalled and organized the teaching methods of his childhood mentors, Cang Ming didn’t stay idle. He left the plush blanket, tucked in the four corners for Ji Aqing, and walked out with two balls of flame burning in his hands.

The pitch-black cave flickered with light as he moved, occasionally illuminating a small patch of the world. Ji Aqing’s train of thought was broken, and his gaze was drawn to him, following the man to where the clothes were drying.

“They’re dry.” Cang Ming reached out to touch them. They felt a bit cool from the wind, so he heated them up with spiritual energy. “Do you want to put them on?”

“Yes.” Ji Aqing responded, taking them once the man walked over with the clothes.

Because he had impure motives, Ji Aqing had no intention of avoiding Cang Ming.

He had expected the man to be the same; otherwise, he wouldn’t have just stood there, staring intently at his movements with eyes that looked even deeper in the reflected firelight.

Indeed, he thought. After some feigned tenderness, it’s time to get to the main event.

Under the man’s burning gaze, Ji Aqing’s fingers holding the clothes paused. His eyes flickered, and he tossed the clothes back into Cang Ming’s hands.

The Divine Dragon scrambled to catch them, bewildered, only to hear the youth’s laughing voice, tinged with a bit of playfulness and seduction: “My hands and feet are still a bit weak. Could you help me put them on directly, please?”

Worried that the man might not be able to see clearly and intending to hold a light, the Divine Dragon widened his eyes. Silence stretched through the dark air for a moment. He stuttered once before letting out a muffled sound of agreement.

And so, a moment later, the flame that had been extinguished in Cang Ming’s hand to hold the clothes rose once again.

This time, the flame didn’t appear in the man’s broad palm, but danced at the tip of the “clothes pole” he had picked up. The flickering flame rendered the blue spirit bead’s color even more fascinating and dim.

In this hazy, colorful glimmer, Ji Aqing slowly pulled back the plush blanket covering his body, and his fair, delicate frame was completely exposed in the dim cave.

The light was soft, and the youth raised his eyes quietly, his skin as white as jade, emitting a faint luster.

The fire danced in his eyes, his black pupils deep enough to capture a man’s soul.

His long, black hair was draped over his shoulders, the multicolored cord swaying gently in the thick locks, reflecting a brilliant, pale gold in the light.

“Come.” Ji Aqing curved his eyes at him, his body relaxing, spreading a faint layer of pink across his skin, and he invited him with pursed lips, “I’m ready.”

The frost-like youth was frank and moving, falling into Cang Ming’s eyes and making the blood in his body surge with heat.

How beautiful. Cang Ming thought, more beautiful than any treasure or trophy I’ve ever had. It was a pity this was a living person and couldn’t be collected.

His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. The Divine Dragon tried his best to suppress his thoughts, his heart pounding, and somehow instinctively mastered the “speed-dressing method.” Before he even realized what he was doing, he had Ji Aqing wrapped up tight.

“Done.” He said.

“…”

The pride in the man’s eyes was undisguised; his face even showed an eagerness for praise.

Ji Aqing, who had been trying so hard to exert his charm, moved his lips, suddenly laughed, and the veins on his forehead jumped. He squeezed the words through his teeth:

“Ah, that! Is! Just! Amazing!”

You absolute blockhead!