The Taste Was Pretty Good

Ya Ji returned to her own lair. Luo Yun wanted to follow her inside, but she ruthlessly drove him out.

He flapped his Wings and hovered outside the lair, staring wide-eyed at Ya Ji inside. Whenever Luo Yun made even the slightest move to enter, Ya Ji would respond with a muffled growl, though she never took any real action to drive him away.

Just Like That, the two dragons found themselves in a rare standoff.

"Wuu~"

"Ya Ji, I'm so tired. I can barely keep flying."

He tentatively stretched out a foot and rested it at the entrance to the lair.

"Roar~" (Get lost!)

"Okay."

He pulled his foot back.

After a while, Luo Yun spoke again.

"Ya Ji, I don't want to stay outside."

"Ya Ji, the sun outside is scorching. It's so hot."

"Ya Ji~~~"

Ya Ji, who was lying down to regain her strength and ease her injuries, felt her brow twitch. Luo Yun's endless chattering was driving her mad.

"ROAR!!!"

Can you just be quiet?!

Ya Ji let out a furious roar, glaring so fiercely that she looked ready to rush over and smack him with her tail.

"Wuu~" Seeing that Ya Ji seemed genuinely angry, Luo Yun hurriedly whimpered softly to show that he would be quiet.

Ya Ji glared at Luo Yun for a long while. Only after deciding that he had truly quieted down did she calm herself, irritably thumping the ground with her tail before lying back down.

Her fight with that unfamiliar Poisonous Bird had left her with quite a few external injuries, but the worst wound was on her Wings. Before the venom struck, that spot had already split open during the initial collision. Once the venom hit, it seeped into the wound.

That was what caused the wing membrane in that area to begin festering.

What truly troubled Ya Ji was not the pain from her injuries, but the fact that she probably would not be able to go out hunting until the wound on her Wings healed. That meant she would have to go hungry for several days.

Going hungry for a few days would not kill a dragon, but she had no desire to experience that miserable feeling again.

Whenever she went hungry for too long, she would remember the days after the mother dragon had gone out and never returned, leaving their clutch of Hatchling Dragons behind.

There had originally been six of them in that clutch, but only three were still alive now.

Thinking of this, Ya Ji opened one eye and saw Luo Yun furtively stretching a foot onto the lair's entrance. The moment he realized she had noticed him, he quickly pulled it back. His cowardly yet stubborn appearance left her unsure whether to be angry or laugh.

But as she watched Luo Yun skillfully hovering outside the cave, she felt puzzled again.

Among the dragons born in the same batch, Ya Ji had always been the most unusual one.

She had been the first among her siblings to learn to fly, the strongest, and also the smartest.

After something happened to the mother dragon, she had been the first to leave the lair and inspect the surrounding area. She had also been the first to decide to hunt outside while her other siblings still cowered in the lair, crying to be fed.

If not for her, those stupid siblings of hers probably would not have survived at all, let alone gone out together under her command to hunt as a group.

When they had eventually gone their separate ways and stopped hunting together, it was not only because Ya Ji believed her siblings could survive on their own. It was also because she truly could no longer stand their stupidity.

Yet even though she had been so different from the rest, when she had been Luo Yun's size, she had only just learned to fly. There was no way she could have taken part in a battle like the one before.

Luo Yun's earlier performance had been so powerful that he did not seem like a Hatchling Dragon at all. His combat awareness and decision-making were things she had never seen in any dragon other than herself.

Even with her directing them, her foolish siblings only knew a few basic moves. Cooperation was out of the question, let alone adapting to the situation and making use of their own advantages.

She felt that Luo Yun was the same kind of dragon as her.

Besides, at his current size, he should still have been staying beside the mother dragon.

But Luo Yun truly had the strength to stand on his own. Ya Ji could not force herself to pretend she had not seen it and continue treating him as a Hatchling Dragon who needed looking after.

That awkwardness was what Ya Ji struggled with, and why she clearly wanted to drive Luo Yun away but never went through with it.

In the end, Ya Ji was not truly Luo Yun's mother dragon. The way she cared for him was merely an imitation of how her own mother had once cared for her.

She had never experienced being driven away herself, and because of her exceptional talent, she had never suffered through cold and hunger after parting from her siblings.

On top of that, Luo Yun was not only a Hatchling Dragon, but also a Male Fire Dragon. That made it difficult for her to decide what to do, so she could only pretend not to notice his current shameless persistence.

Outside the lair, Luo Yun watched Ya Ji close her eyes again. Seeing that she did not seem inclined to rise and drive him off as before, he sighed in relief. Just as he was about to stretch out a foot again, his stomach growled.

He could not help it. Today, he had only eaten a Terror Bird as a snack. After that, he had spent all his time searching for Ya Ji, and then he had even taken part in a battle. After so long, he was already starving.

He glanced at Ya Ji, who seemed to have fallen asleep as she began recuperating from her injuries. Then Luo Yun turned around, violently flapped his Wings, and flew deeper into the Great Antlion Desert.

After he turned away, Ya Ji seemed to have detected something. Her eyes suddenly opened wide as she stared blankly at Luo Yun's receding back, an indescribable feeling stirring within her.

Perhaps it was still because she had seen too few of her own kind.

That was what Ya Ji thought.

She slowly walked to the entrance of the lair and watched Luo Yun's figure gradually disappear into the yellow sand. Ya Ji did not know whether they would ever meet again.

But with the strength Luo Yun had displayed, he should not die so easily, right?

Returning to lie in her nest, Ya Ji closed her eyes again. Only her tail, which kept swaying and smashing against the ground, revealed her current irritation.

Ya Ji had thought she would see Luo Yun again someday, but she never expected it to happen so soon!!

She had only dozed off for a moment—not even fully asleep—when Luo Yun returned carrying a Spirit Deer.

Before she could even assume a threatening posture to drive him away, he tossed down the Spirit Deer's corpse and hurriedly flew off again.

Ya Ji stared at the Spirit Deer before her, cleanly killed in a single strike, and slowly produced three question marks.

So... what was going on now?

When Luo Yun returned for the second time, he brought back a slightly smaller Spirit Deer. This time, however, he did not throw the carcass in front of Ya Ji. Instead, he openly began devouring it at the entrance of the nest.

As he ate, he even raised his head in confusion to look at the stunned Ya Ji, as if asking, Why aren't you eating yet?

Ya Ji felt that her understanding of Luo Yun needed to be revised once more.

Didn't you leave? I even prepared myself mentally—so why did you come back again?

And this food... is it supposed to be a peace offering? Do you think I won't drive you away just because of this?

Who do you think I am? Am I the kind of Female Fire Dragon who would casually accept a Hatchling Dragon's attempt to curry favor?

"Ahwooo~"

It actually tasted pretty good!!