Stuck in a Chinese novel

"You want me to what now?" Wei Jun asked.

"Eat me," Guardian said, but laughed after seeing Wei Jun's reaction. He smiled and said, "My heart cannot be put back into my body. Once extracted, the heart can never be put in again. It can be controlled, but it can never be put back in."

"You can, however…"

~~

"Control it…" Wei Jun muttered the words said by the system as he looked at the notifications in his vision.

[The flesh of the great elder dragon Guardian has been fully incorporated]

[The connection with the heart has been fully established]

[INT stat +100]

Wei Jun remained silent as he stared at the stat gain and felt the connection with the heart beating inside the citadel. He felt like he had a second heart, another one beating with his own as he felt the calm but powerful beating return.

Thump!

Thump!@@novelbin@@

Thump!

Samson and Ahmad and everyone else turned their heads towards the Citadel as they felt the powerful beating of drums from the Citadel. They could tell what it was. They knew very well what it was. They knew of it almost half of their lives. The beating of the dragon heart. But never before had it been so powerful. Never before had it been so strong. Never before had it been so…

"Destructive, isn't it?" Samson turned his head when he heard Wei Jun's words. Wei Jun stood with a warm smile on his face, a dark but serene look in his eyes as he stared at the Citadel, his expression like a warm sun as he said, "It's beautiful, isn't it? Takes away your heart, doesn't it? Captivating, isn't it?"

"But destructive nonetheless." Wei Jun said as he stepped forward and placed his hand on the second dome's barrier. He touched it slightly, and it began to tremble. The shaking soon got intense, and it got to the point where cracks began to appear in the dome.

Samson looked at Wei Jun with a horrified expression as Wei Jun kept his hand on the dome, the cracks coming more and more until it was riddled with them until finally, the inevitable was close.

"The thing about Spiritual energy is, you see, it has a limit, like all other powers. In the end, a mind needs to sleep." Wei Jun said, making Samson's eyes widen in horror as a dark hue appeared around Wei Jun.

"For you, it is even more so. You use your mind in your daily routine but also in combat. You…" Wei Jun finally turned to look at Samson and said, "You have a limit that cannot be overcome no matter how much you train. Because while a mind can be trained, it always becomes tired."

"That is the flaw of spiritual power." Wei Jun said, "But you have been able to keep it up with the help of Guardian's heart. I wonder what would happen once it's no longer in your possession. I wonder how long you will last."

Wei Jun's expression was to behold. The warm expression on his face concealed the ridicule in his tone as he talked to Samson and the rest.

"The city is built upon the Guardian's heart. Take that away, and you're nothing but humans with a limit." Wei Jun's last words rang in their minds as the reality began to set in. Along with that reality, the dome shattered, and all defenses became useless in its face.

Wei Jun took a step forward. Unlike anything Samson had experienced before, Wei Jun appeared before Samson, and Samson, along with Ahmad and two others, Alfred and Anastasia, hurriedly bent down before a dark wave passed above their heads, splitting the rest of everyone in the vicinity in half.

"You were right, old man," Wei Jun said as he looked down at him, "I have so much more yet to show."

~~

"You mean I have to eat you?" Wei Jun asked as he sat cross legged in front of the Guardian who was still in chains, looking down at him with his giant eyes, nothing but reverence in them.

Gradian closed his eyes and gestured the motion of nodding while he didn't actually nod because his nod would bring the cave down. He wasn't in a position to do any movement after all. The giant cave wasn't anything special. It would be nothing but a normal mountain in his presence. He even had to ignore the itches on his back or any part of his body.

"Don't worry. You don't have to literally eat me. The power inside of you will devour me on its own. Devouring is one of its many qualities after all." Guardian spoke, "It'll eat me, perhaps not even leaving bones."

Wei Jun nodded as he understood everything. Still, he had to ask. "Why would you do that? Why would you willingly end your life?"

"My life…" Guardian had a nostalgic expression on his face, "My life ended the day my purpose was taken away from me. When my brothers and my sister turned against me along with millions and millions of our children, intent on only one thing. To kill me."

"I had spent my entire life protecting my race, to make sure that my children weren't hunted, they weren't mistreated. But I upheld justice when it concerned them as well. No children of ours were allowed to kill others, people of the other races. They weren't allowed to use their authority to bully or hurt anyone. If they were ever to do so, I personally judged them and gave them the harshest of punishments."

"Perhaps that was why… my children not only feared me, they also hated me."

The expression on Guardian's face may have been nostalgic, but the pain behind that expression was also visible to Wei Jun. Still, he was more curious about another thing…

"When you say brothers and one sister, and then you say your children. Did you all…?" Wei Jun asked, a slight curiosity in his eyes, but the real purpose of his question was something else, and it worked as Guardian began to laugh. The mood lightened as the Guardian said, "You share many qualities with him, my lord."

"Hahaha…" He chuckled once again before he stopped and said, "Unfortunately, the great elder dragons cannot procreate. But the children of lower dragons were still our children. We cared for them like they were our own. I did more so than rest of my siblings."

Wei Jun nodded. There was nothing more to ask. Wei Jun didn't want to dwell on the matters of how Guardian was caged, defeated, captured, or whatever his fate was. Wei Jun didn't want to dig into a memory that could be painful for Guardian. He simply had one question to ask. Another question that had nothing to do with Guardian's current condition or his past.

"Do you resent him?" Wei Jun asked.

"..." The Guardian remained silent. With how old he was, Wei Jun didn't have to elaborate his question. He didn't have to spell who he was talking about exactly. Guardian knew of that very well.

He looked at Wei Jun and said, "Do you, my lord, intend to return home one day?"

"..." Wei Jun remained silent for a while. For a good while. Eventually, he raised his head and answered, "Yes, I do."

"Then what about the people you'll be leaving here?" Guardian asked another complicated question. Once again, Wei Jun took his time to answer, "I'll make sure no harm would ever come to any of them."

"Precisely." Guardian replied, "My master was the same as well. Before he left, he gave me power beyond measure, and not just me, but my siblings as well. Of course, I was his favorite," Guardian said as if he was proud of it before he continued, "He had a life beyond the curtain. Perhaps even a lover or children. It would have been selfish of me to ask him to stay. He did what he could before he left, and for that, I can never resent him."

"Even when I am like this, I can not resent my master, my lord."

At Guardian's reply, he was left to ponder. Would Xia Lu, Yan Rong, or others be the same? Would they also choose not to resent him? Or would they choose to do so?

"Questions. Questions. Questions." Guardian said as Wei Jun was deep in thought, "Questions are a part of life. Without them, there cannot be life. However, life itself is the answer."

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He looked at Wei Jun and said, "My lord, I hope one say all your questions are answered by the life you built."

Wei Jun soaked in those words and let out a deep exhale. It was time. Wei Jun stood up and made his way toward Guardian. He arrived before his giant foot and placed his hands on it.

He looked up, but he couldn't see his face, but he hoped he was looking at him as he said, "It was short, but it was nice knowing you."

"The same goes for me, my lord. You know what you have to do once you're done here. May your journey be a little easier with this small gesture of mine." Guardian spoke with gratitude in his voice.

Wei Jun sighed and reached deep down. Into the dark sphere in his abdomen. The sphere of Death Qi. He reached deep into it before he plucked some strands of it and began to guide them to his hand that was touching the Guardian.

"Goodbye." Wei Jun didn't know why he felt so, but he was compelled to say that last word as the Death Qi flowed into the Guardian from his hand and then…

A storm ensued.