Lu Mingfei, why are you slaying dragons if you're not involved!

Chapter 216 Shocking Change
The room was filled with a faint aroma of tea. Guan Ying only added what looked like "tea leaves" to the pot.

“Originally, this dish should include scallions, ginger, and orange peel, but we simply couldn’t find any substitutes here,” he said.

"These teas are a pleasant surprise; they taste very similar."

As he spoke, Guan Ying gripped the wooden handle and poured the tea into a prepared teacup.

Lu Mingfei was already prepared to extend both hands to receive it; he knew the proper etiquette. However, Guan Ying didn't offer him a cup as well. Instead, she put the pot back on the fire pit, smiled slightly at him, and asked, "Want some?"

"I'm not really interested in it..." Lu Mingfei wasn't particularly interested in tea, but if it were a can of cola in front of him, he would be quite eager to get started.

"That's good... You'd better not eat or drink anything here."

Guan Ying sipped the scalding hot tea and sighed slightly, "If there's nothing else important, then prepare to leave."

"why?"

Lu Mingfei was taken aback, not understanding why Guan Ying had suddenly asked him to leave when they had been chatting so well.

"Because this is not a place for humans... You may be okay, but your friends, in the long run, will not be able to stand it."

Guan Ying paused midway through his speech, as if he wanted to say something else, but stopped himself and returned to the previous topic.

"Judging from your appearance, you probably don't have much food on you, do you? The water here and the food we grow are not enough for you to eat or drink. You won't starve to death, but you will get thinner and thinner until you become skeletons... unless you want to become like us."

He paused briefly, seemingly giving Lu Mingfei time to think.

"Can't you... turn back?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"It's not that easy. You can't just change it like this whenever you want, and change it back whenever you want!" Guan Ying laughed.

"Xiao Lu, do you know why His Majesty strictly forbade all information about dragons and prevented any information about us from being left outside?"

"For... secrecy?" Lu Mingfei felt like he had said something pointless.

"And what is the purpose of keeping it a secret?" Guan Ying pressed on.

Lu Mingfei honestly shook his head.

"To avoid the fact that the so-called 'immortality' will be known to future generations and thus bring great trouble."

Guan Ying explained, “Your Majesty is a man of great talent and strategy. He said that it was the will of Heaven that he, a commoner, took the world with his sword three times. Since destiny is in the hands of Heaven, we should follow the will of Heaven… But there is the precedent of Qin Shi Huang. Your Majesty is worried that some of your descendants may have the ambition to seek immortality.”

Think about it, wouldn't someone like me be considered immortal?

He laughed, almost self-deprecatingly.

"Although I've lived for so long, I feel there's no difference between being alive and being dead. But some things you can't understand until you've truly experienced them. When I first heard the alchemist talk about this, I couldn't help but feel a longing in my heart... Regret! But it was too late for regrets."

When I started to regret it, I was already here, unable to leave, as were everyone else... There's a price to pay for surviving here. That price is that we can no longer adapt to the outside world; it's hard to say we can still be considered human.

"We were just ordinary people before, and I only got in after faking my death outside, so it's not a big deal that I'm like this. But if an emperor came here to achieve immortality... the consequences would be unimaginable!"

Lu Mingfei was filled with awe.

He wasn't interested in serious history classes, but in his first year of high school, his history teacher liked to tell stories while teaching, and these stories weren't in the textbook; they were gossip-like. This made Lu Mingfei always able to concentrate on listening.

This part is precisely what it includes. Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, was clear about his open-mindedness in the face of life and death, and his vigilance regarding "his descendants' pursuit of immortality"... was truly prescient! It could even be said to have a prophetic quality.

Because, not long after, Liu Bang's great-grandson, Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, was a typical example of someone who was ambitious and talented in his youth, but caused a lot of trouble in his old age because of his pursuit of immortality!

If Liu Che had known back then that he could achieve immortality in this way, he might have led a group of civil and military officials to try every means to open and maintain the entrance to the Nibelungen, and then become emperor for who knows how many years.

Later in his life, Liu Che was almost inhuman. Lu Mingfei thought he was truly capable of such a thing. If that were the case, who knows how history would have unfolded...

Even if Liu Che was overthrown afterward (Lu Mingfei had no doubt about this; history has proven countless times that a powerful figure always appears at crucial moments), the history of the dragon race's existence could no longer be concealed, and after that, everyone would know...

What if more and more people enter the Nibelungen for conversion?
Lu Mingfei had read the documents; in ancient times, the dragon civilization was brilliant and advanced, and humans were their servants until the dragons' rule was overthrown. But if most people were to undergo this transformation and live in Nibelungen… Nibelungen was, after all, created by dragons. Wouldn't their survival then be entirely in the hands of their enemies?!

"Judging from your expression, you seem to have figured it out."

Guan Ying stared at Lu Mingfei, "Are you scared?"

"afraid."

Lu Mingfei nodded again. When faced with Guan Ying, his usual rambling was unusually suppressed, and he simply became a ruthless nodding or shaking machine.

It could even be described as terrifying upon closer inspection!
“I was afraid too… but by the time I finally understood this, a long time had passed, so whenever I think about it, I can’t help but feel grateful. I’m grateful that His Majesty had foresight and a long-term vision.”

Guan Ying downed the hot tea in one gulp, his nonchalant manner making it seem more like he was drinking alcohol than tea. Lu Mingfei didn't know if they had any alcohol here; fermentation requires microbial reactions, and Nibelungen, this land of the dead… it was hard to say whether they could achieve that.

"So let's bury this matter here... We exist for a purpose, and now that purpose has ended, the only meaning of our existence is our mistakes."

Guan Ying looked into Lu Mingfei's eyes. "I can't let myself become a sinner. Can you understand?"

"……Can."

Lu Mingfei was somewhat stunned. He understood the meaning of Guan Ying almost instantly—if someone knew of Guan Ying's existence... even in modern times, there would be people who wanted to live forever.

"But if that's the case... would you still be willing to let us go?" Lu Mingfei suddenly realized.

The best way to keep a secret is to prevent the person who knows it from ever speaking out, right?

"I have no choice but to believe you."

Guan Ying smiled calmly, lightly tapping the "well-behaved" Overlord Spear in Lu Mingfei's hand with his finger. "To gain the spear's recognition, and to make it seem even more obedient than it was in Xiang Yu's hands, I am no match for you."

After saying that, he stood up, casually dusted off the side of his clothes, and said, "Alright, that's the end of the story. I'll have someone escort you away..."

He stopped abruptly before he could finish speaking.

In that instant, Guan Ying gave Lu Mingfei a feeling that was completely different from an ordinary old man from the countryside. Time had not smoothed out his edges, but had only hidden his sharpness deeper and accumulated it more, and at this moment, they were all activated!
A burst of golden light erupted as he coldly glanced to one side, his gaze seemingly piercing through the wall, looking into the distant, unknown horizon.

A moment later, the surroundings began to tremble slightly, the walls and the ground shaking more and more violently, making it difficult for people to stand.

"It seems you won't be able to leave anytime soon..."

Guan Ying took a deep breath and spoke slowly.

"Who else came in with you?"

(End of this chapter)