The excitement in Ao Ling's eyes told the others that his curiosity had flared up again. Though he was usually aloof, he had one particular trait: once something piqued his curiosity, he would pursue the answer relentlessly. This often made Liu Fengyi, Sun Kuang, and the others wonder whether he really belonged to the Giant Dragon race. Giant Dragons were supposed to be lazy, rarely putting enormous effort into anything other than wealth.
Giant Dragons had a peculiar obsession with collecting wealth. That was common knowledge, beyond any doubt. Every Giant Dragon was, in fact, wealthy, and little besides riches could draw their interest. Ao Ling was clearly an exception. Although he loved wealth just as much as any ordinary Giant Dragon, he had an even more serious flaw: his curiosity. In his pursuit of answers, he had nearly gone bankrupt several times and almost died several times as well. Yet this man-well, this dragon-remained as curious as ever.
Ao Ling was already planning to slip back into the grove when the Elf Queen and the Elder were not looking. The trees looked perfectly ordinary, yet they could absorb the group's power. He was intensely curious about where these trees had come from and who the person mentioned by the Elf Queen and the Elder was. It seemed the changes in the Fountain of Life were connected to that person.
Having spent so long with Ao Ling, his companions knew he would never obediently do as he was told, so they kept watching his movements. Sure enough, while the Elder was settling the elves in, he quietly slipped away to explore the little grove that had taken over the Fountain of Life.
Before Ao Ling could enter the grove, he discovered that all his companions were already waiting at its