VHBF -Chapter 174 The Evil Dragon Daddy (Part 5)

Everyone’s attention was drawn to that egg that was about to—no, was already—hatching. No one noticed someone approaching from behind.

As everyone knew, dragon eggshells were incredibly hard, comparable to mystical iron. Watching the cracks on the golden egg widen and multiply inch by inch, the believers were utterly mesmerized yet anxious beyond measure, wishing they could take the little master’s place and help him break free of the shell.

But at such a moment, only the dragon hatchling itself could rely on its own strength. No one could replace it.

For a time, the cavern held only the crack, crack of the shell breaking and… a faint, indistinct, babyish huff-huff sound.

Someone cupped their face and cried out, “Ah, the little master is working so hard to break out of the shell! As expected of Dragon Venerable’s descendant—already so diligent while still in the egg, so strong and persevering! Dragon Venerable, I have a premonition that the little master will definitely become the greatest and cutest dragon in the entire world!”

When that person met the dragon’s casually lifted gaze, they choked mid-sentence and hurriedly added dryly, “T-the second greatest dragon in the world… mm… mm!”

Ao Su, everyone else: “……”

Ao Su narrowed his eyes, watching the egg hatchling struggling in his arms. Frowning, he thought that this little egg was far too clingy. Normally, after accepting the inheritance, it should break out of the egg immediately. Yet this one had flown into his arms first, then only began to hatch at an unhurried pace.

This behavior… truly displeased the Dragon Venerable.

His offspring was timid and sticky—this was nothing like him. The great divine dragon race ought to be independent from the moment they broke out of their shells, so that they could grow into powerful dragons in the future!

The dragon ignored the bubbling satisfaction and pleasure rising in his heart and firmly decided that once the hatchling was born, he would train it properly. It must not cling too much to its father; it should learn to become an indestructible, iron-blooded dragon!

Finally, under everyone’s gaze, amid their breathless attention, the golden egg at last cracked open!

With a crack, the shell split into two halves. From the fissure in the center, a round little dragon head struggled its way out. When the shell completely rolled away, a wet, chubby, golden baby dragon was fully revealed.

Its eyes were closed, its tiny bundled form instantly capturing the hearts of all the believers.

The baby dragon seemed not yet to have reacted, still maintaining the posture of exerting itself to break the shell—its two front claws, short and plump, stretched forcefully to either side; its two hind claws tried hard to stand straight, revealing a soft, smooth, chubby little round belly.

The little dragon head turned about in confusion, but unfortunately its eyes were glued shut by egg fluid. Instinctively, the baby dragon rubbed its eyes with its chubby paws, then licked the paw, smacking its lips as it ate the egg fluid.

Once the fluid was licked away, the baby dragon could finally open its eyes.

Those signature, peerlessly noble crimson-gold dragon eyes stunned everyone present.

The round dragon eyes were clear and innocent. Everyone was struck dumb in an instant. By this point, the female believers could no longer contain their excitement; they covered their mouths to stop themselves from screaming, afraid of startling the newborn little master.

Their eyes shone brightly as they stared, unwilling to miss a single movement of the tiny baby dragon.

The little golden dragon’s eyes—majestic (babyish) and dignified (adorable)—slowly swept the surroundings, as if inspecting its territory. Then its small dragon nose twitched as it sniffed, precisely turning its little head toward Ao Su.

The big dragon and the little dragon silently locked eyes for a moment. Then the baby dragon, barely half the size of its father’s palm, blinked those crimson-gold eyes identical to its father’s, light shimmering within them—full of affection and reliance.

It pressed itself against the dragon’s chest and climbed upward, using all four claws.

The black giant dragon that was the baby dragon’s father was far too enormous for it. It struggled and climbed with all its might, finally making its way onto the giant dragon’s face, where it rolled around again and again, smearing egg fluid all over him.

Ao Su: “……”

The dragon thought for a moment, curled his tail, and prepared to teach the hatchling some manners…

Then he heard a soft, babyish miu~wu.

The newborn dragon hatchling clearly hadn’t learned the language of the human world yet. It could only make sounds instinctively.

The voice was milky-sweet and tender, so soft it made hearts melt.

The believers wore expressions of intoxicated bliss, longing to scream aloud!

Ah, their little master was simply too adorable—utterly enchanting!

The goddess Ulari must have foreseen how adorable the little master would be; that was why she had issued her divine decree to the shaman!

The Three Great Gods and Goddess Ulari must all love the little master dearly, just as they did!

The believers’ faces flushed with excitement. If they weren’t afraid of making noise and disturbing the little master, they would have howled to the heavens!

“Oh gods above, my noble little master! I would do everything in this world—everything possible and impossible—for you! I am willing to become anything for you, to be your servant, asking only to watch you grow up!”

If only they could hear the little master call them once in that babyish dragon voice—even if they died afterward, those wide-eyed, fervent believers felt it would all be worth it!

They clutched their hearts with both hands, not daring to blink, afraid of missing even the slightest movement of the little master—unwilling to miss even a meaningless lip-smack!

Whenever the baby dragon’s innocent gaze shifted toward them, someone would flush crimson with excitement, nearly kneeling on the spot before the little master, eager to become a human steed for it to ride!

The believer who had spoken earlier thought to himself: whether the little master was the greatest dragon or not, no one knew—but the little master was definitely the cutest dragon in the entire world!

On this point, Lord Dragon Venerable would never be able to compare!

Absolutely!

He secretly—and boldly—cast a glance at the little master’s father: that noble, elegant, powerful black great dragon. The great Dragon Venerable’s body was forever so massive and well-proportioned, elegant to the point of fascination, as imposing and awe-inspiring as the statues in Dragon City, so majestic that one dared not look straight at him.

But—so what?

The believers suddenly realized that compared to Lord Dragon Venerable’s cold, hard demeanor, they loved far more the little master’s soft, squishy, tiny-little-ball appearance. They loved it to the extreme!

So much so that their hands trembled at the fingertips. The believers swore that for this, they would even be willing to change their faith and devote themselves to the little master!

The little milk dragon had no idea that it had already gained a massive army of brainless fans mere moments after hatching. It was still huffing and puffing, constantly moving about.

The milk dragon climbed down from its father’s face and returned to its shattered shell, pawing at the broken fragments around it and slurping up the egg fluid clinging to the shells.

For a newly hatched milk dragon, this was undoubtedly immensely tempting. That it could overcome its instincts and not immediately eat the egg fluid and shell, but instead run to its father’s face to snuggle with him first, was already extremely rare.

After licking up the egg fluid, the little fat paws lifted a piece of eggshell and began gnawing on it. For a time, only crisp ka-cha, ka-cha crunching sounds echoed through the cave. The little milk dragon ate in pure bliss, bite after bite, loud and crunchy.

Some of the younger believers and cultivators couldn’t help but swallow along with it—was that eggshell really that delicious?

Everyone in the valley, whether cultivators or believers, tacitly refrained from making a move at once. Instead, they patiently waited for the little milk dragon to finish eating its eggshell, because they knew this was very important for a dragon hatchling. Only by completely consuming its own eggshell could its post-birth strength be fully replenished.

When only the final piece of eggshell remained, the little milk dragon hesitated and stopped. It looked left and right, and under the eager, expectant gazes of everyone watching—

The chubby little milk dragon decisively turned its head and once again huffed and puffed its way up onto the dragon’s face.

Ao Su: “……”

With both little chubby paws holding the eggshell, it stretched it toward the dragon’s mouth, letting out several ao-ao wu-wu cries. Seeing that the dragon still didn’t open his mouth, it grew anxious. Ao Su seemed to hear a babyish voice ring out in his sea of consciousness:
“Da… daddy, daddy eat… eat, eat…”

Ao Su raised his brow in surprise. By all reason, newly born hatchlings didn’t know how to use their own power, much less transmit sound directly into another’s consciousness to speak.

But his… hatchling…

Eggshells were a great tonic for young hatchlings, but for ordinary people—or even adult dragons—they were useless. What’s more, as a father, as a hatchling’s great father, a dragon would never snatch food from its young.

Ao Su’s voice was low and deep. “Egg hatchling, you must finish eating it to grow up healthy.”

The little milk dragon tilted its tiny head, looking at the black dragon in confusion, as if wondering why such tasty food wasn’t something Daddy wanted to eat.

Driven by instinct, even though the little dragon was very willing to share its favorite food with its most beloved father, once it realized that its giant dragon dad didn’t want it, the milk dragon still couldn’t help but feel a bit happy. It quickly let out an ao-wu, then crunch-crunch swallowed the eggshell into its mouth.

As if the earlier offering had merely been polite.

Ao Su: “……”

Once the little milk dragon finished gnawing all the eggshells, the cultivators finally breathed a sigh of relief. Only then did several sect masters remove the soundproof barrier. Earlier, fearing that their young disciples might blurt something out and frighten the little golden dragon, they had hurriedly sealed off all sound; it was only now that they dared to speak.

The Daoist sect master was visibly trembling with excitement, eyes shining as he stared at that tiny little golden dragon. The light blazing in his gaze was no less than that of the people of the Fantasy Continent. The other sect masters, elders, and even the disciples beside him were the same.

“Heavenly Dao bear witness—within our lifetimes, we have truly waited for the divine dragon!”

They gazed excitedly at the little milk dragon lying on the great dragon’s face. That small ball of gold was so soft and adorable, yet one day it would surely grow into what the annals of continental history recorded—majestic and handsome, humanity’s guardian holy beast, capable of safeguarding the fate and peace of an entire continent.

For the sake of the little golden dragon, the sect masters were willing to temporarily turn swords into plowshares. Softening their tone, they said to the black dragon, “Venerable Ao Su, the golden dragon is the guardian divine beast of our human race. We bear the responsibility and duty to raise the young dragon to adulthood.”

Between the lines, they hoped to take the little golden dragon away.

This was utterly unexpected!

Even the dragon himself had not anticipated such a reaction from the dragon-slaying cultivators.

The dragon and the people of the Fantasy Continent had thought the same: once the little dragon hatchling was discovered, because it was Ao Su’s offspring, these cultivators would surely seize the chance to wipe it out completely. Yet who could have imagined that their reaction would so completely defy expectations?

No one had expected that their excitement and joy would be no less than that of the people of the Fantasy Continent, or that they would even propose taking the young dragon away to raise it.

But—a dragon’s offspring—how could lowly humans take it away?!

Without bothering to trace the reasons, Ao Su let out a cold snort. Terrifying dragon breath blasted forth, violently hurling the cultivators backward into the cave wall behind them. Whether sect masters or rookie disciples, none could evade it. All were struck by the dragon breath, spitting blood as their souls shook violently.

The Daoist sect master lay on the ground, fear filling his eyes. He had never faced the evil dragon head-on before. The once-every-hundred-years dragon-slaying assembly had been more like a one-sided assault, and so he had never known that the dragon still had strength in reserve—never known that the evil dragon’s power had never declined. With a single breath, he could injure them all.

“Arrogant,” the dragon snorted coldly.

The overwhelming dragon might pressed down on everyone in the cave without discrimination—everyone except the little milk dragon, who was still obliviously nuzzling affectionately against its father. Under the immense pressure, all others were forced to bend their backs and knees, collapsing with a thud to the ground.

The evil dragon suddenly coiled and took flight, splashing water everywhere. In an instant, icy air filled the cave. Frost formed on people’s faces and bodies, and they shivered uncontrollably.

This cold didn’t merely seep into their bodies—it seemed to freeze their very souls. The believers of the Fantasy Continent trembled as they knelt on the ground, cursing those damned, rash, foolish cultivators in their hearts. If not for their overestimation of themselves and their provocation of Lord Dragon Venerable, the believers wouldn’t have been dragged into this!

Damn cultivators—did they not think about what they had done to Lord Dragon Venerable over the past ten thousand years, to dare dream of raising the little master?!!

Even the believers themselves had been looked down upon by Lord Dragon Venerable when they wanted to raise the little master—let alone these damned cultivators!

At the same time, the believers understood that Lord Dragon Venerable was surely venting his anger on them as well. After all, they too had harbored thoughts of carrying the little master off to raise.

With Lord Dragon Venerable’s arrogant nature, perhaps no one in the world besides himself was qualified to raise his child.

Just as Ao Su was considering whether to crush these little crawling insects to death in one go, the little milk dragon used all four paws to gently scratch at his face, then puffed out a soft breath. Though the dragon didn’t understand the meaning of the gesture, the hatchling’s attempt at comfort was far too obvious—and the dragon’s movements paused.