Chapter 17: The Dragon’s Shadow

Inside the sturdy cedar hut, the tension that had nearly resulted in Bai Yue becoming a rug via Gū Gū’s walking stick had gone down into a chaotic, wholesome energy.

Yòu Lín, the little fox kit, refused to let go of Bai Yue. He was currently perched on her lap, his small, nimble fingers tangling in her hair. “Mama, your hair smells like the river,” he giggled, his fox ears twitching with every laugh. “It’s messy! Like a bird’s nest!”

“Hey! I’ll have you know this is the latest in ’post-vulture-combat’ chic,” Bai Yue teased, booping his nose. She felt a surge of genuine joy. In her old life, she had struggled to keep a succulent alive, and now she was successfully navigating a den of beast-children. “If you keep pulling it, I might turn into a hedgehog!”

“Mama a hedgehog!” Ruì Xuě echoed, venturing a tiny, shy laugh. He was sitting close to Bai Yue’s knee, his purple eyes bright.

“Come, Ruì Xuě! Come play with Mama and Yòu Lín!” Bai Yue reached out, and for the first time, the snow leopard cub didn’t flinch. He crawled into the pile of limbs.

Suddenly, the panther triplets decided they were being left out of the ’Mama-pile.’

“I want to play!” Miao Miao shouted, shifting into her panther form and pouncing on Bai Yue’s shoulder. “I want my hair to be long and flowing like yours so I can be a warrior queen!”

“Me too!” Xiao Hei scrambled over her legs. “No, I said it first! Rawr!”

“Oof! Wait, wait! I only have two arms!” Bai Yue laughed, falling back onto the soft furs as five cubs (and two snake twins who were cheering from the sidelines) swarmed her. “I am being defeated! Send help! The fluff is too strong!”

From the corner of the room, Zhāo Yàn leaned against a wooden pillar, his arms crossed. He wasn’t laughing, but the hard, cynical line of his mouth had completely vanished.

He watched the way Bai Yue’s eyes crinkled when she laughed, the way she carefully tucked Ruì Xuě under her arm so he wouldn’t get squashed by the heavier panther cubs.

He was almost fully convinced. This wasn’t a performance. No one could fake this kind of warmth for forty-eight hours straight, especially not the woman who used to call children ’useless little meat-sacks.’

The door creaked open, and Gū Gū walked in, carrying a heavy wicker basket overflowing with star-fruits, honey-pears, and thick, sweet tubers. The scent of fresh fruit filled the room.

The cubs immediately swarmed her. “Food! Grandma, food!”

Gū Gū handed out the fruit, but when she got to the bottom of the basket, she looked at Bai Yue. Her expression soured instantly. “And as for you, Cursed Female…..you get nothing. You’ve had enough of my son’s hospitality. You can eat the leaves outside.”

Bai Yue’s stomach gave a loud, traitorous growl. She sighed. “Fair enough. I’ll go find a particularly tasty-looking bush.”

But before she could stand up, a small hand appeared in her field of vision. It was Ruì Xuě. He was holding out his honey-pear, his hand shaking slightly. “You can…..you can have mine.”

“Mine too, Mama!” Yòu Lín chimed in, shoving his star-fruit toward her mouth.

“Take the panther berries!” A-Li insisted.

“No, take the snake-fruit!” the twins hissed, offering their own shares.

Gū Gū froze, her eyes darting from the cubs to the woman they were so desperately trying to feed. She looked at her son, Zhāo Yàn, who simply shrugged as if to say, ’I told you.’

The old woman let out a long, dramatic huff. “Oh, for the love of the Great Spirit…..fine! Take the fruit! If you starve to death in my house, my grandson will never let me hear the end of it.” She shoved a large pear at Bai Yue, though she still looked like she wanted to hit her with it.

“Thank you, Gū Gū,” Bai Yue said, taking a huge, delicious bite. “Best pear I’ve ever had. Truly. Ten out of ten, would recommend to a friend.”

Gū Gū squinted. “Stop using those weird words. You sound like you have been kicked by a mule.”

The afternoon passed in a blur of games and storytelling. Bai Yue found herself telling them a vastly simplified version of ’Cinderella,’ which the cubs found confusing because they didn’t understand why she didn’t just shift into a beast form to run away from the ball faster.

As the sun began to dip behind the jagged peaks of the Eastern Hills, painting the sky in shades of bruised purple and burnt orange, Zhāo Yàn stood up.

“It is time,” he announced, his voice regaining its Alpha authority. “We must return to the village before total darkness. Mo Xiao will be expecting the triplets.”

“Awww!” A chorus of disappointment filled the hut.

“Nooo!” Yòu Lín wailed, clinging to Bai Yue’s waist like a limpet. “Can I come too? Can I come with Papa and Mama? Pleaseeeeeee!”

Bai Yue looked down at the little fox boy, her heart aching. She looked at Zhāo Yàn, her eyes pleading. “Yes! Please let him come back with us! He shouldn’t be hidden away up here.”

Gū Gū slammed her stick on the floor. “No! I will not release my grandchild back to that den of vipers! Especially with her around!”

“Mother,” Zhāo Yàn said, his voice soft but firm. “Look at him.”

They all looked. Yòu Lín was glowing. The sorrow that had defined the boy for months was gone, replaced by a desperate, hopeful spark. He looked like a kit who had finally found his sun.

Gū Gū’s face softened. Her shoulders slumped. She was about to speak, about to give her reluctant blessing, when it happened.

BOOM.

The entire mountain seemed to shudder. Dust shook from the cedar beams of the ceiling. The cubs shrieked, the snake twins immediately coiling around Bai Yue’s ankles in an instinctive defensive posture.

“What was that?!” Bai Yue gasped, her heart leaping into her throat. “An earthquake?”

Zhāo Yàn’s eyes went wide, wider than she had ever seen them. He didn’t answer. He lunged across the room, slamming his hand over Yòu Lín’s mouth and placing a finger to his own lips.

“Shhhhh,” he hissed. “Not a sound. Everyone, get under the heavy table. Now!”

Gū Gū grabbed her stick, her old eyes suddenly turning maternal. She moved with a speed that defied her age, ushering the cubs into the shadows of the back room.

Zhāo Yàn crept toward the window, his ears pressed flat against his head. He peered out through a crack in the shutters.

Bai Yue crawled up beside him, her breath coming in shallow hitches. “Zhāo Yàn? What is it? What’s out there?”

He looked at her, and for the first time, she saw dread in his gaze. He moved aside just enough for her to see.

The sky wasn’t orange anymore. It was being blotted out by a massive, serpentine shadow.

Gold-flecked scales as large as shields. A long, elegant body coiled through the clouds, descending toward the plateau. Each beat of its wings, if you could even call those massive membranes wings, sent a gale of wind that nearly tore the roof off the hut.

It wasn’t a vulture. It wasn’t a beastman.

It was a creature of myth.

“A dragon,” Zhāo Yàn whispered, his voice trembling.

[DING! ☆]

[WARNING: LEVEL 99 BOSS DETECTED!]

[ENTITY: Cāng Jì – The Golden Dragon Prince!]

[Current Status: Looking for someone.]

[Survival Chance: 0.01%]

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep