Cultivating Immortality, Starting from Childhood Sweethearts

“Who says Dragon King’s Soar has to be physically taken out in order to be transferred?”

Ao Yiner smiled as she spoke, showing not a hint of caution toward Xu Ming—almost to the point of being adorably naive.

A girl like this, with absolutely no defenses, could easily be deceived.

“How should I put it…” Ao Yiner pondered seriously, trying to figure out how to explain it in a way Xu Ming would understand.

“I can’t really explain it clearly, but basically, there’s a ceremony. During the ceremony, Dragon King’s Soar will respond to a certain kind of summoning, and then it can be transferred over.” She blinked her eyes. “Does that make sense to you?”

Xu Ming nodded. “I more or less get it.”

It was essentially some kind of summoning array.

And it seemed like the Four Seas had interconnected summoning arrays.

If the Eastern Sea needed to pass Dragon King’s Soar to the Northern Sea, they simply had to activate the array. Once triggered, Dragon King’s Soar would be guided into the Northern Sea.

Otherwise, for such an important item, it wouldn’t just require powerful escorts—the Eastern Sea’s Dragon King himself would likely have to personally oversee its delivery.

But wouldn’t this method of transfer come with risks?

Xu Ming found it hard to believe that there were no dangers involved.

In this world, nothing was completely risk-free. Everything had two sides.

“Could it be…”

Suddenly, a bold thought emerged in Xu Ming’s mind.

Could Ao Jin’s fish have something to do with Dragon King’s Soar?

Could the Eastern Sea be trying to tamper with Dragon King’s Soar?

After all, Dragon King’s Soar was a treasure vital to all Four Seas. If one sea managed to take full control over it, they would hold significant power over the others.

And considering that the transfer was happening between the Eastern Sea and the Northern Sea, if anyone were to attempt something, the Eastern Sea would be the most likely suspect.

No, no… something still didn’t feel right.

For a transfer of this level, the summoning array used must be extremely secure—far from easy to disrupt.

If interfering with it was as simple as using a mere fish, then Dragon King’s Soar would have been lost countless times by now.

And given how many years this transfer process had been in place, most potential “what-ifs” should have already been accounted for and eliminated.

“Do you still have more questions?” Ao Yiner asked, looking at Xu Ming smugly.

She felt proud of herself for being able to answer so many of Xu Ming’s questions.

Looking at her innocent and somewhat silly expression, Xu Ming found himself hesitating to press further, despite the many doubts still lingering in his mind.

Deceiving such a pure-hearted girl truly felt like a guilty act.

“No, that’s all. Thank you, Miss Ao,” Xu Ming replied with a gentle smile, shaking his head.

He felt like he had already learned enough. Any additional information probably wouldn’t be of much use to him anyway.

“Does Miss Ao have any questions of her own? If I know the answer, I will certainly share it with you,” Xu Ming said.

Since he had extracted quite a bit of information from her, he figured he should return the favor.

The only problem was that most of Ao Yiner’s questions were fairly ordinary—so much so that even if he wanted to share something more secretive, there wasn’t much he could say.

Ao Yiner thought for a moment, then started counting on her fingers.

“I have sooo many things I want to know!

I want to know how you people on land grow crops. I heard that farming on land is really impressive. When summer comes, the fields turn into a vast golden sea—just like the ocean!

I want to know what kind of horses you use in battle. I heard that the horses on land are really tall and strong. And they eat grass! How can just eating grass make them grow so much muscle?

I also want to visit the great mountains and rivers of your land! I heard that the mountains are really tall, filled with all kinds of trees, and even have water falling from the sky! I think it’s called a waterfall?”

As she spoke, the young girl’s eyes sparkled with longing.

It was clear—she truly wanted to visit the land.

Her curiosity and desire to see the outside world were written all over her face.

Xu Ming chuckled, watching this innocent and carefree girl. “If you really want to visit the land, can’t you just go whenever you like?”

Ao Yiner shook her head. “No, no way! Of course, I want to go! But my royal father won’t allow it. He says that humans on land are all cunning and deceitful, and if I went, I’d probably be tricked so badly that not even my bones would be left.”

“So, forget about the land—even for small islands nearby, my royal father won’t even let me set foot on shore.”

“…”

Hearing this, Xu Ming couldn’t help but feel that this dragon princess was actually quite pitiful.

Despite her noble status, she was no different from a bird trapped in a golden cage—unable to spread her wings and fly.

That being said, her father’s concerns weren’t entirely unfounded.

To be fair, the girl was way too pure.

It was almost like Shi Xin—except Shi Xin, while kind-hearted to a fault, at least understood people’s true intentions deep down.

But this girl? She was just straight-up naïve.

“If you had family members or attendants accompany you, would that still not be allowed?” Xu Ming asked again.

Even if she couldn’t go alone, surely with a proper escort, it wouldn’t be an issue?

“No, still not allowed.”

Ao Yiner shook her head again, her voice carrying a hint of frustration.

“I actually asked my royal father about this before! I even said, ‘If you don’t want me going alone, at least let one of my brothers go with me! I don’t mind who comes along, I just want to explore!’

But my royal father and my brothers all refused.

I was so frustrated that I tried sneaking out once!

But guess what? I didn’t even make it out of the sea before my royal father caught me.

He was so mad.

That was the first time I ever saw him that angry.

After that, I had no choice but to give up.”

The more she spoke, the more melancholy she became.

Xu Ming: “…”

At first, he thought it was just the Eastern Sea being overprotective of their princess.

But the more Ao Yiner talked, the more off this whole situation felt.

Was this level of protection really necessary?