Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 227 Sin and the King of the Griffins
In fairy tales, the hero defeats the demon king, becomes king, and lives happily ever after. But what is the price?
"The price is being cursed for generations. No, to be precise, this curse is the seal itself."

The seal of the owl is probably the most special; it is a truly intangible thing, and only such a seal could possibly lock up that fierce bird forever.

The royal bloodline is the seal of the owl; each generation of Lion King is a shackle that seals the evil bird.

"If the bloodline is severed..."

"The owl will revive."

Rean was a little confused. Was this really the truth?

"And the owl will stop at nothing to bring the monarchy to its end, which may be one of the reasons why the royal family is short-lived and has too many mentally ill and crazy people."

Rean fell silent. Wasn't this a bit unfair?

“Unfair? Ha, Griffin thinks so too. You probably don’t know him, but he’s Marianne’s father, the wise king in many people’s eyes.”

Too many thoughts swirled in Rean's mind. Was it because his father wanted to change the fate of the royal family that this series of tragedies occurred?
So he asked it.

"Ha, you actually believed that? You're even dumber than me. That's only half the truth. Do you really think a king would sacrifice himself and his descendants to seal away an immortal monster?"

"This is just a lie told to ordinary members of the royal family. By the way, Marianna didn't even know this, and Griffin didn't even have a chance to tell her."

Lex's words were full of self-deprecation; he had been a fool back then, actually believing that the royal family were good people.

Who is truly the most evil party? Humans? Beasts? Or all of them? In this overly realistic story, no one deserves sympathy.

He refused to be awakened, not only because he didn't want to see people for some reason, but also because some memories were too disgusting, and he hoped to take them to the grave. He was a little worried. In the end, the Thousand-Faced Dragon's judgment was that the kingdom was not worth saving and everyone should die.

This was actually his own judgment, but considering his wife and daughters, he decided to take it easy and let future generations deal with it since he was already dead.

"The truth is much dirtier, so let's start with the cleaner parts. Uh, I only know part of it myself, and you'll have to fill in the rest. I hope you can tell me who's worse, the father or the daughter." Lex didn't intend to tell the whole story; he only planned to say what was relatively clean.

Lex's words were full of sarcasm. Seal a monster with his own bloodline? Impossible!

"The first White Lion King devoured the owl in an attempt to gain the power of the beast."

Just one sentence left Rean dumbfounded.

Isn't this just courting death? Beasts are the embodiment of rules, the manifestation of nature. These things are immortal. Can you even eat them?

“I know you think it’s ridiculous, but that Griffin I was ridiculously strong, and he had some special abilities. He succeeded; he obtained a portion of the Owl’s power.”

Rean was utterly speechless. What the hell was this? This even works?

However, some of this information actually comes together.

“That’s right. That guy used the white griffin emblem not to commemorate the help of the Eagle Witch. That guy is extremely selfish and arrogant. The emblem he engraved is of himself, half lion and half eagle.”

The first White Lion King transformed into the White Griffin King, mastering both light and shadow, becoming the pinnacle of power in that era. However, just as Rean suspected, the owl is the embodiment of nature and should be immortal. You, White Griffin King, are ridiculously powerful; what will happen after you die?
"That guy was greedy. He sealed this power within his bloodline, hoping to pass it down and make each of his descendants stronger than the last."

Clearly, he went too far. The descendants of heroes are not necessarily heroes, and at least they are not qualified to control the power of beasts.

Ultimately, this "treasure" became a "curse".

"The curse of the second princess ultimately stems from the unique heritage of their family. As exemplars of the power of the sun, the bloodline of lionesses is inherently less adaptable than that of male lions. Furthermore, the power of the Sun God Lion King (Alvark) inherited in their bloodline can only be passed on to one princess at most. The second princess lacked sufficient power from the Sun Lion King, allowing the 'owl' sealed within to break free."

The first Griffin King designed the power of "Alvark (God)" to be passed down in his bloodline. He used the power of the sun to constantly suppress the darkness and forcibly control the power of the owl.

However, the result was that this bloodline inheritance was simply not enough (and the descendants were not strong enough), which instead made the royal family members mediocre (the bloodline power was used to suppress the owls), and the weakest royal family members often died suddenly.

With so many offspring, something big is bound to happen. The royal family says it's the Owl's curse, but Lex estimates that the diluted bloodline power can't suppress it, and the Owl will naturally drive them mad.

In the end, they could only maintain a small population, and reproduction was extremely difficult. Barely surviving was the limit, as if they had been cursed to the brink of extinction until they produced a second Griffin!

"My father-in-law, ha, that bastard who calls himself Griffin II, also dreams of becoming the King of Griffins, he is the source of all this disaster."

Rean fell silent, recalling Rosalind's angry roar of "Father, eat me!" not long ago.

Did he allow the birth of the second princess from the very beginning so that he could become the second Griffin King?
"No, no, no, you underestimate him. In some ways, he's no less than the original Griffin, at least in terms of utter ruthlessness and humanity. Rean, how do you think a small kingdom with insufficient population, weak military, a crippled economy, and no technology can become a great power?"

Upon hearing this, Rean thought for a moment and realized there didn't seem to be any way to resolve it.

"Well, it seems like it depends on luck, like being in the right place at the right time, like a sudden technological revolution or a technological explosion. I don't think that's something an individual can handle."

Rean recalled certain countries that, before some world wars, happened to experience a technological breakthrough and forcibly gambled on the explosion of their national destiny. Although their fates were not good, they did seem to have a real possibility of success.

"Yes, the key is technology, requiring cutting-edge knowledge and technology. How do you think a small country with nothing can acquire technology?"

You're asking me? Go into education or something? No, that's unrealistic; it's highly unlikely to create a significant difference in education. But this is a world where magic and miracles exist.
“Whisperers.” Rean recalled his recent encounter with the Whisperers Museum, which was at least thirty years old.

“Yes, Whisperer, Owl brought you the Whisperer’s knowledge. But you also know that Whisperers gain knowledge by sacrificing their lives.”

The Outer Gods do not need your "life," but this gift is the "price" of knowledge, which must come from the price you yourself most desire.

Could it be that Griffin was willing to sacrifice his own life? Or was he using his people as expendable commodities?

Lex laughed, thinking how naive his little brother was.

There's an old saying, I don't know if you've heard it: "Children are the life of their parents."

Rean was completely stunned. His imagination had already told him what kind of evil these calm words meant!
"This, this won't do. A symbolic concept shouldn't meet the needs of a Whisperer."

"So, can a child whose umbilical cord has not been cut, along with their parents, be considered a life?"

(End of this chapter)