Mr. Dragon Knight, the dragon girls are chasing you!

"What's even crueler is..." Eldron's voice was completely hoarse, his eyes filled with despair.

"The purer the bloodline, the more outstanding the talent, and the stronger the power of the Eternal Night Dragon King, the more violent and intractable the curse backlash will be. Over tens of thousands of years, no legitimate Eternal Night Dragon King has lived past six thousand years old, and none have escaped this fate."

"While ordinary members of the Eternal Night Clan will not be directly wiped out by the curse, their bloodline will be diluted, degenerated, and weakened with each generation. If this continues, within ten thousand years, the Eternal Night Dragon Clan will completely lose its top-tier bloodline and eventually decline and disappear from the history of the continent."

Luo Ye fell silent.

The image of Eluvia involuntarily appeared in his mind.

That little black dragon, who was usually arrogant and domineering, stubborn but soft-hearted, always acted like the number one dragon king in the world, and would often use its dragon breath to scare him, whip his forehead with its tail, or wrap its tail around his neck. It was both domineering and childish.

But she also possesses a gentleness and purity that are unknown to others.

When he is seriously injured and weak, she will disregard her own health and use her precious dragon saliva to heal him and relieve his pain.

She would get extremely jealous and awkwardly question him about his racing heart when he was with Seraphina.

Before going into seclusion, he would repeatedly issue the childish prohibition "You are not allowed to see Serafina," which seemed like domineering control, but was actually full of reluctance and anxiety.

How old is she this year?

Luo Ye suddenly realized something.

Judging from her words and actions, and from the silver dragons' teasing remarks that she "hadn't even had her coming-of-age ceremony yet"—

She might actually be just a little girl who hasn't even reached adulthood yet, just as she thinks?

That said, is there any connection between the dragon's human form and the dragon's age?

"Her Majesty Eluvia's father. The previous Eternal Night Dragon King, along with the Dragon Queen, they..."

Eldron's eyes reddened slightly, and a deep sorrow appeared on his aged face, interrupting Luo Ye's reverie:

"When His Majesty turned 1000, the old Dragon King and Dragon Queen left the Eternal Night Mountains. They only said one sentence to their people—'Go to the deepest part of the world and find a way to break the bloodline curse.'"

"After that, they disappeared without a trace and never returned."

Luo Ye's heart clenched suddenly.

"Some say they trespassed into ancient ruins, triggered the restrictions, and perished. Others say they found clues to the antidote but are trapped in a time-stagnant secret realm. Still others say... they touched the source of the curse and were devoured by that shadowy will."

Eldron's voice grew softer and softer until it was almost inaudible:

"The only thing that's certain is that they never came back."

The room fell into a long, deathly silence, with only the shadow crystal floating in the air quietly shimmering with a dim light. The light points brushed across the old man's gray hair, illuminating the fine dragon-patterned wrinkles on his temples, and also illuminating the sorrow that had been buried in his eyes for many years.

"Your Majesty has grown up alone since you were a thousand years old."

Eldron spoke as if to himself, or as if whispering about a past unknown to anyone, "She rarely stayed in the Dragon's Nest Temple, and often ventured alone into the perilous lands of the continent. Her footprints can be found everywhere, from ancient ruins and deadly places to abyssal rifts."

"She publicly claims that she is patrolling her territory, hunting magical beasts, devouring magical cores to hone herself, and strengthening her bloodline."

"But I have followed the dragon race for tens of thousands of years, and I know better than anyone else that she is desperately searching for her parents' whereabouts and desperately looking for a way to break the curse, trying to fight for a way out for herself and for the Eternal Night Dragon Clan."

Luo Ye instantly recalled the scene of recuperating in the forest.

He was leaning against a tree trunk when he casually asked about her past.

Eluvia remained silent for a long time before finally turning her head away awkwardly and saying indifferently, "There's nothing to mention. It's been like this for thousands of years." Then she buried her head in the dragon's wings and pretended to be asleep.

At that time, he only thought that the Little Dragon King was being arrogant and stubborn, unwilling to show weakness, and did not investigate further.

Looking back now, those seemingly casual words concealed thousands of years of loneliness, the burden of bearing the destiny of an entire tribe alone, and the unknown struggles and forbearance.

Looking at the kneeling, aged elder before him, and thinking of the seemingly arrogant and domineering but actually lonely and stubborn little black dragon, Luo Ye's heart was completely touched by both softness and determination.

He looked up at Eldron, his voice hoarse: "Elder, you've revealed all these secrets to me today, does that mean... there's still a way to break the curse?"

Eldron raised his head, a complex light flashing in his dark purple dragon eyes.

"The Dragon Knight is wise."

"Within the Eternal Night Dragon Clan, an ancient legend has always been passed down—"

"When the king of the Eternal Night Dragon Clan forms a soul contract with a true human dragon knight, the power of the contract will flow within both of them simultaneously."

"The blood of a dragon knight contains the 'complete source of life,' which is the purest energy of the dragon race."

"When a dragon knight voluntarily infuses a portion of his lifespan into the dragon king's body through a contract, that pure life essence can wash away the effects of the shadow curse, like a key unlocking the shackles of his bloodline."

The tone shifted, and Eldron's expression turned serious again, his voice heavy as a rock: "But if you want a complete cure, simply using your heart's blood is like trying to extinguish magma with a bowl of water; it won't reach the root of the curse at all."

"To completely break the bloodline curse of the Eternal Night Dragon King, three sacred artifacts are needed simultaneously."

Luo Ye's brow twitched slightly: "Which three items?"

"The first item—a fragment of the Shadow Core." Eldron held up an old finger.

"That is a core crystal that condensed from the depths of the origin when the ancestors of the Eternal Night Dragon Clan made a pact with the source of shadow. It is the origin of the entire Eternal Night Dragon Vein. Only by using it as a catalyst can the root of the curse 'voluntarily reveal itself' instead of being hidden deep within the bloodline and untouchable."

"The second item—the Heart of the Silver Moon."

When Eldron uttered those four words, his tone became noticeably more complex, and a hint of bitterness flashed in his dark purple dragon eyes:

"That is a relic left behind by the first Dragon King of the Silver Dragon Clan. It contains the purest power of the Moon Essence and is the only medium that can neutralize the backlash of the Shadow Essence and protect the Dragon King's body from collapsing during the unsealing process."

When Eldron mentioned the sacred artifact of the Silver Dragon Clan, their age-old feud, his eyes were filled with helplessness.

"The third item—"

Eldron paused.

He gave Luo Ye a deep look, his dark purple eyes swirling with complex emotions. He remained silent for a long time, so long that Luo Ye was almost about to ask him a question, before he finally spoke slowly, his voice much lower than before:

"The third item... is the heart's blood that the dragon knight voluntarily offered."

Luo Ye nodded, not surprised: "I know that, you already mentioned it."

"No." Eldron shook his head, his gray braid swaying slightly in front of his chest. "Dragon Knight, you don't fully understand yet."

"Heart's blood... is not something that can be achieved simply by cutting your finger and letting a few drops of blood fall."

He met Luo Ye's gaze and said, word by word:

"Legend has it that the blood of a dragon knight's heart contains the 'complete source of life,' the purest energy of the dragon race. But the blood of the heart is called 'heart' because it comes from the deepest part of the dragon knight's heart—the point where the soul and life meet."

"To give one's heart's blood means—"

Eldron's voice trailed off.

"For every portion of the Dragon Knight's lifespan that he contributes to the Dragon King's body, his own lifespan will be permanently shortened, irreversibly and irreparably.