Marriage Alliance

When Xia Linyuan arrived, a sudden rainbow glow shimmered across the Silver Dragon King's enormous body. Bathed in its radiance, her massive form slowly shrank until she became a naked young woman.

She was tall and curvaceous, with long silver hair casually draped down her back. It had an unusual texture, like silver crystal, and barely covered her exposed body.

Her clear, translucent purple eyes were like violet glass. A hint of bewilderment in them only made her more endearing.

Faced with such a tempting sight, Xia Linyuan's golden eyes remained cold and utterly devoid of emotion.

Over the many years he'd spent sending R'lyeh to other worlds to carry out its duty of destroying them, his emotions had all but faded away. That wasn't to say he had none at all, only that it was difficult to stir them.

It was the same with Duke Molong and his wife. At first, he'd felt nothing for his adoptive parents. But over the past few years, as they'd spent day after day together, their sincere affection had awakened his deep-seated longing for family only six months ago.

Xia Linyuan said nothing. He took off his coat and draped it over the Silver Dragon King, then casually began removing the special energy within her that was hindering her recovery.

The instant his hand touched her shoulder, the Silver Dragon King felt an irresistible aura of destruction—cold and despairing—surge into her body.

Though the power felt so cold and despairing, to her surprise, she felt no resistance to it whatsoever.

Just as Xia Linyuan had said, a special power was interfering with her recovery, which was why her hidden injuries were healing so slowly.

As the Abyssal Power spread toward the Silver Dragon King's injuries, a foreign force suddenly burst forth from them, attempting to block its advance.

But the instant it collided with the most primordial, purest forces of destruction and nothingness, that special power crumbled completely. The Abyssal Power wiped it out without a trace.

In less than half a minute, Xia Linyuan had purged all the special power hidden inside the Silver Dragon King's body.

"How do you feel?" Xia Linyuan asked calmly.

The Silver Dragon King closed her eyes and circulated her Soul Power to heal her injuries. She immediately realized that cultivating to recover was no longer as sluggish and obstructed as it had been before.

"My injuries should be completely healed within six years at most." The Silver Dragon King's exquisite face could not hide her excitement.

She had lost track of how many tens of thousands of years she'd been tormented by her hidden injuries. She'd expected to need another ten thousand years to recover, but now she would be healed in six years at most. How could she not be excited?

"In that case, I won't disturb you while you recover." Xia Linyuan rose to his feet.

"Thank you, Your Excellency Nyarlathotep."

"Just call me Xia Linyuan. That's my name here on the Douluo Continent—and my original name, too." He left the last sentence unsaid.

"Of course, Your Excellency Xia Linyuan," the Silver Dragon King replied solemnly.

"Also, I've left a little of my power inside you to mask your aura and presence from the Douluo God Realm. You don't need to worry about its gods sensing you."

Back at the Molong Duke Mansion.

He had only just recalled his Inverted Clone when the butler came to tell him that Duke Molong wanted to see him.

When he entered the reception room, he found Duke Molong and his wife there, along with a middle-aged man Xia Linyuan had never seen at the mansion.

"That is the situation, Your Grace," the middle-aged man said respectfully.

Duke Molong raised an eyebrow. "You're saying the Duke of White Tiger's wife wants to arrange a marriage between her daughter and my son? But wasn't her daughter already promised to the Zhu Family heir?"

A marriage alliance?

Hearing their conversation as he entered, Xia Linyuan raised an eyebrow.

The middle-aged man gave an awkward smile. "Your Grace, as you know, the Duke of White Tiger has more than one daughter."

Duke Molong sneered. "In terms of family standing, the Dai Family is indeed a suitable match for my Xia Family. But my son Linyuan is the son of a duke and the future Duke Molong. You want him to marry one of your duke's illegitimate daughters? Why don't you go back and ask your madam what she thinks of my Xia Family—and of me, Xia Yanqing?"

"No, no." The middle-aged man hurriedly waved his hands. "Your Grace, you've misunderstood. Madam doesn't mean for Young Master Linyuan to marry our young lady. She knows an illegitimate daughter isn't worthy of his status. Her intention is to have one of the young ladies marry Young Master Linyuan as his... concubine!"

Hearing this, Xia Yanqing's icy expression finally eased a little.

Duke Molong's wife couldn't hold back. She said coldly, "Zhu Yu certainly has a clever scheme. Does she think that marrying off an illegitimate daughter she can't stand as a concubine to our Linyuan will bind the Xia Family to her? I, Zou Yihan, will never agree to this!"

Faced with Duke Molong's wife's merciless words, the man could only complain inwardly while forcing a smile.

When immortals fought, it was ordinary mortals like them who suffered.

Xia Yanqing motioned for his wife to calm down, then turned to Xia Linyuan and beckoned. "Linyuan, come here."

Xia Linyuan walked over as requested, taking a moment to nod politely to the man.

The man's eyes lit up when he saw Xia Linyuan. "Is this Young Master Linyuan? So young, and already so handsome and distinguished. He's even more impressive than our Young Master Huabin!"

He meant it sincerely.

He'd worked at the White Tiger Duke Mansion for many years and had watched Dai Huabin grow up from birth. How could he not know what sort of person Dai Huabin was?

It was a pity that the Duke of White Tiger, for all his brilliance, had fathered a son as calculating and vindictive as Dai Huabin.

Just for nodding politely to him, Xia Linyuan was already leagues ahead of Dai Huabin.

Xia Yanqing ignored the man's praise and asked Xia Linyuan, "Linyuan, what do you think?"

Xia Linyuan smiled faintly. "If there's something to gain, why not?"

The man had just been full of praise for Xia Linyuan, but those words sent a chill through him. His hair stood on end, cold sweat broke out across his body, and a shiver shot from his tailbone straight to his head.

If there's something to gain, why not?

Just listen to that. Was that something a normal six-year-old would say?

Even Xia Yanqing and his wife, who knew well that Xia Linyuan was far more mature than other children his age, thought he'd grown up a little too fast. They couldn't help frowning.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Zou Yihan couldn't help scolding him.