Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 585 - 538 Tomb of the Dragon Priest

Lyle felt his body was quite foolish because he didn’t know what kind of actions to take or expressions to make in response to Mr. Zhiyan’s story. A person purely in pursuit of freedom had caused his own death and had a terrible impact on those around him. Although Zhiyan had never intended to harm anyone, his actions driven by the pursuit of his ideals still led to regrettable consequences.

An absurd accident had induced a sense of powerlessness in Lyle’s heart, a stifled feeling of helplessness with no way to vent, like a fishbone stuck in the throat.

"Does Mr. Law know these truths? Does he realize that the laws he believes he’s upholding were, from the very beginning, a fatal misunderstanding?"

"He doesn’t know," Zhiyan leaned forward, arms pressing on the bone table, those vivid eyes staring intently at Lyle, with the blue within turning to ice, "and he won’t ever know because you won’t tell him..."

Zhiyan’s threat lasted less than a second before the ice in his eyes melted into water, swirling around his eye sockets.

"Please, Mr. Plague Doctor."

Mr. Zhiyan’s handsome charm transcended gender, and when the owner of this face conversed with a pleading tone, Lyle felt nothing but chills down his spine.

"Get away from me, please just get away from me!"

"You first promise me, not to tell Mr. Law! Otherwise, I will, I will climb all over you!"

The Giant Dragon silently watched the two of them on the opposite side of the table gesticulating in a you-push-I-block manner, picked up the teacup, taking a sip. I might barely find it interesting enough to watch if I put two monkeys to compete with them.

"Damn it, I promise you, now get away from me! Get away from me!" At that moment, Zhiyan’s face was only ten centimeters away from Lyle, with strands of his platinum hair brushing against Lyle’s face.

Zhiyan retracted back to his seat, transforming back into his gloriously handsome appearance.

"Law doesn’t need to know these things, if all this is due to my selfishness, then it is I, the instigator, who should bear the dreadful truth. Law enforces his own will, believing in his own righteousness. I shall curl up outside of Andrey, tasting solitude amidst the wilderness. Everything is perfect, isn’t it?"

"And to be honest, I actually have no regrets; the guilt of failing someone is like a heart that’s non-existent to me. I enjoy my current life, studying ancient texts in the tombs. So, I believe this is the best outcome."

"If we end the tea party with this story, wouldn’t that be a bit boring? Let’s talk about something interesting, shall we?"

Zhiyan’s face bore a carefree grin as he passed the conversational baton to the Giant Dragon.

Mr. Giant Dragon looked down at his two companions, for it was time to talk business.

"How is your research into the Dragon Clan coming along, Mr. Zhiyan?"

"I’ve hit a bottleneck; recently, I’ve been paying attention to tombs related to the Dragon Clan, but after the Dragon Clan was slain by the Holy Light, their existence has been like it was erased. I can only glean some fragmented knowledge about the Giant Dragon from ancient engravings and wall paintings. Since ’that visit,’ there hasn’t been any substantial progress in my research into the Dragon Clan. Most of my time since parting with you has been spent absorbing the knowledge from that gain, but that’s all it has been: absorption. The knowledge I’ve gathered is still too fragmented. I need more tombs related to their race, but as you know, the tombs of the Dragon Priests are not easy to find, and who knows if there could be another terrifying entity like that woman."

The tomb of the Dragon Priest? Lyle’s gaze lingered on Mr. Zhiyan’s face, who displayed genuinely palpable trepidation. And this genuine fear transmitted to Lyle’s own face.

"Mr. Zhiyan... you’ve actually robbed the tomb of a Dragon Priest!"

Lyle turned stiffly, facing the impassive Giant Dragon.

"Giant Dragon Instructor, isn’t Scholar Teacher a Dragon Priest, have you also raided the tomb of his companion?"

"Yes, and it was quite fruitful," said the Giant Dragon, his words as blunt as his bone staff.

Mr. Zhiyan seemed to reminisce about the old days, his face flushing with excitement.

"That was shortly after I transformed into a Lich. At that time, the Giant Dragon had not yet become the Chief Spirit Summoning Scholar. We formed a duo called ’Knock-and-Bash’, and visited many tombs. A year after our joint exploration, we found a two-person tall gap on the cliffs of Melmosen, which looked only the size of a bowl from the coast below, and the bottom was filled with sharp reefs. Trusting my keen intuition, I determined that it was a hidden tomb rather than a natural fissure as the Giant Dragon claimed. Afterward... we figured out a way to squeeze in. I must say, climbing that place was quite difficult even for a Lich, but your mentor the Giant Dragon is a monster in both Spirit Summoning Skill and physical strength. And then we struck it rich."

"The style inside that tomb was completely different from all of the others we had visited. The hieroglyphs carved on the walls, the burial gifts with the wings of flying dragons, the ancient runes still at work, all showed us a new civilization. Then the Giant Dragon, as if possessed, gazed at those ancient runes with rapture. It took me two days just to search my memory and decipher that ancient script. Finally, I successfully decoded the cipher."

Lyle expressed his curiosity.

"What was written inside? Ancient magic? Legends of evil gods? Or... the secret of buried treasure?"

"A love poem."

"..." Lyle imagined a powerful Dragon Priest’s tomb where he lay sleeping. He was in the company of the Giant Dragon, possessed of ancient powers far beyond those of humans, leader of the Kin Clan, endowed with great charisma and wisdom. And then... and then he left a love poem in his tomb...

"What was the poem like... what did it say?"

"About parting from a lover in life and death, quite sappy, and riddled with misspellings. Clearly the author was no literary genius and had a shallow understanding of human poetry..."

The image of the Dragon Priest suddenly came alive, and Lyle was very interested in the content of the poem.

"How sappy was it?"

"So sappy that the author immediately came running back, and tore me, who had intruded into the tomb and was reading the poem loudly, into many pieces, and froze me into an ice sculpture. That was one very violent, crazy woman."

"..." Lyle realized that this Dragon Priest had not crawled out from a coffin, but had run back from outside. "Who exactly is buried in that tomb?"

"The Dragon Priest’s lover, an ordinary human. When the Giant Dragon opened the coffin and tossed those bones on the ground, it took me three seconds to recognize that it was an ordinary human. My skull was frozen in a block of ice, and the Frost Mana had stiffened my thoughts, otherwise I would have identified it even faster."

Dragon Priest, female, fell in love with a human, Frost Magic...

Lyle looked at the Giant Dragon.

"Instructor, how bad is your relationship with Princess Princy of the Dragon Clan’s mermaid kin?"

"So bad that I desecrated her man’s grave."