The Reader and Protagonist Definitely Have to Be in True Love

The moment the black dragon landed, the long dragon spear pierced the chest of the desert bandit. The others could only watch in horror as the bandit who had trampled Du Ze became similar to a burst balloon. The bandit magically aged until his body was dried out. Finally, the bandit decayed into dust that was blown away by the desert wind. No blood was shed because the man on the dragon’s back had the same idea – that person’s clothes should not be stained with blood.

The desert bandits were in disarray. The black-turbaned leader dropped Nina and turned to flee, but the black dragon murmured the words of a spell which made an invisible force press down on them. The bandits were only able to run a few steps before the pressure forced them down on the sand, unable to even breathe. The black-turbaned bandit could not move. He watched as the Dragon Knight dismounted and gently picked up the black-haired youth, acting like a man who just recovered a treasure. When the blond youth looked at him, the black-turbaned bandit knew that his end was near.

“Quicksand burial.”

Hearing Xiu chanting a spell, Du Ze spat out a mouthful of sand and hurried to cry out: “Don’t – cough – don’t kill that – cough – fox!”

At first Xiu did not understand the meaning of “fox,” but then he saw Nina’s fox ears and tail and understood that Du Ze was referring to the beastkin girl. Xiu never rejected any of Du Ze’s requests so he excluded Nina from the spell.

The giant magic spell in the land of wind and dust was very powerful. The desert bandits’ struggles were futile as they sought to escape the sand underneath that was devouring them. The bandit wearing the black turban’s heart turned into ashes – such a potent spell was cast with just a few words; the man they had offended was not just a Dragon Knight but also a Mage God.

As the quicksand swallowed him up, the bandit in the black turban was still wondering: Why did they find the black-haired young man carrying a fox beastkin?

By the time Du Ze had finished wiping the sand from his glasses, all he could see was empty desert – all the desert bandits were gone. Nina, sitting on the sand, looked at the scene with horror. Du Ze felt something heavy on his head but it was just Xiu’s hand that was helping him to remove the sand in his hair.

“I always seem to lose you ...”

Xiu’s voice was almost a sigh, heavy with worry. Du Ze looked at Xiu and said earnestly: “That was an accident and you can always find me.”

When he heard Du Ze’s words, Xiu’s mood seemed to lift a little. He grabbed the back of Du Ze’s neck and said, as though he was joking: “If I lose you again, next time I’ll make a cage and lock you up, how about that?”

Du Ze nodded tolerantly.1 The corners of Xiu’s mouth turned up in a smile.

Nina was totally unable to describe this sight. She just felt that the golden-haired man was terrifying. When the human riding the black dragon appeared, Nina thought that it was the god of death descending. The blond man’s overpowering killing intent and the black dragon were extremely frightening. But when the man was standing with Du Ze, Nina saw that he was a handsome young man with a gentle smile whose dazzling blond hair was like the sun that dispelled all evil, not a ghastly death god.

Why was there such a difference? Nina looked at Xiu and Du Ze; it seemed to her that the two were taboo: something that can’t be spoken about or touched.

Du Ze and Xiu spoke with each other a bit more then went to Nina together.

“Where is your tribe? We’ll send you back,” Xiu said to Nina.

Nina’s fox ears trembled. She looked at Du Ze then nodded cautiously.

After resting a bit, the black dragon spread its wings and flew to the west. As they flew, the desert slowly gave way to barren, rocky land. There were few plants and animals in this land. It seems that the wilderness in eastern part of the Chaos Continent, where the beastkin live, is a very harsh environment. Suddenly, Du Ze saw a ruined city appear in the distance. The city seemed very out of place in the wilderness and Nina said in amazement: “Why is there a city here?”

The black dragon circled the city. Du Ze looked down on the ruins and has a vague feeling that this place was familiar. When he saw the unfinished statue in the middle of the abandoned city, the foolish reader finally recognized it: Isn’t this one of the 72 cities, Dantalion?!

Xiu seemed to recognize the city, too. He made the black dragon land in the city. Du Ze looked at the humanoid idol with a square object on his face. His brain struggled to comprehend – Isn’t this city in the reverse side of the continent? Why is it here? Or was a new city being built on the Chaos Continent? Du Ze examined the idol carefully and dismissed his previous conjecture. The idol was in exactly the same condition that he and Xiu had seen when they passed by the city last time.

“When I was looking for you, I saw Halphas City on the way.” Xiu said in Du Ze’s ear: “There are many other demon cities here. It seems like the Chaos Continent and its reverse side have merged.”

The sea of undead souls has merged with the ocean and the 72 demon cities are now all over the Chaos Continent, only a merging of the two sides can explain all of this.

Why did the Chaos Continent suddenly merge with its reverse side? Du Ze looked at the unfinished idol and thought that only the gods know why.

Click, clack, click, clack.

The sound of footsteps came from behind the idol and the black dragon raised his head, alarmed. A person soon appeared. When he saw the black dragon he was momentarily speechless but as the newcomer’s eyes fell on Du Ze, he showed a familiar gentle smile.

“Looks like I found the right place.” The brown-haired man tapped the instrument in his hand and smiled as he spoke: “Long time no see, Mr. Du Ze. As long as I could find you, I know the little master must be near.”

Du Ze had no idea that he would meet Old John here, and when he saw Ariel looking at him from behind Old John, some silly, cute person’s brain seemed to freeze up as it lost a key part.

Old John put away the instrument and his eyes swept over the man on the back of the black dragon. When he saw the six-star metal bracelet on the young man’s wrist, Old John smiled happily, like an old man playing hide-and-seek with his grandchildren. “Little Master, I have found you.”

“I’m glad to see you, Old John.” Xiu looked at his faithful mechanical puppet: “What has happened to make you travel such a long distance to look for me?”

“I’m sorry Little Master, I’m afraid I have some bad news.” Old John said: “The Gnome Ruins have been taken over by the elf gods.”

According to Old John, after parting with Xiu that day, Old John led the dark elves back to the Gnome Ruins. They chose a place in the ruins to plant the Tree of Life then the dark elves began to build their new home. Everything was built in a methodical way, but one day the spider goddess appeared before them. She did not bother to conceal her malice towards the other gods.

The dark elves obeyed her commands and began to expel other beings. Almost all of the dark elves listened to her commands. Only Ariel followed Old John when he went looking for Xiu and Du Ze. They had been in the wilderness, following the locator instruments, when the black storm appeared. In order to avoid the storm, Old John and Ariel spent seven days in this city and unexpectedly found what they had been looking for.

By the time Old John had finished speaking, it was nearly dusk so they decided to rest for the night in the abandoned city. Old John quickly set up camp for them. Muir turned into his humanoid form and rested in a corner while Nina and Ariel stayed together. Xiu sat by the fire and seemed to be meditating. Du Ze lay tossing and turning on a nest of blankets; his headphones’ batteries ran out of charge not long after Old John finished speaking, so he did not know how Xiu had responded to Old John’s news.

When the continents merged, the gods descend. The reader who does not know the plot can only look at Yi Ye Zhi Qiu’s work from inside this world, afraid that the author will make another god descend. Du Ze watched the moons climb up in the sky. He could not sleep and could only stare as the two moons gradually overlapped each other.