"Zi Ning, you were imprisoned for over two hundred years, yet your temperament still hasn't been worn smooth."
The Purple Sky Dragon King looked down at her from above, remaining silent for a long time.
His voice was a few shades deeper than usual.
"Worn smooth? Heh heh heh..."
Zi Ning chuckled softly. "My dear elder brother, you pinned me beneath that mountain for over two hundred years, facing the Dragon-Sealing Lock's runes day and night, all to wear me smooth. But did you ever consider that over two hundred years was enough for me to carve every line of those runes into my bones?"
She raised her right hand.
That hand was withered and pale, the skin over its joints so thin that the blue veins showed through. Yet when she spread her fingers, an exceedingly faint purple glow rose from her palm, like a spark kindled into flame, tiny but impossible to ignore.
"Including the core runes of the Dragon-Sealing Lock you used to imprison me back then. I carved those into my bones too."
The Purple Sky Dragon King's expression finally changed.
His pupils contracted slightly, and he leaned forward another inch from the Dragon Throne.
The oppressive pressure abruptly intensified, pressing slowly toward the center of the square like a mountain.
Even the merfolk silk curtains hanging from the stone pillars were pressed flat against them by that invisible force.
He stood there, his purple-and-gold dragon robe stirring without wind, the golden patterns on the dragon horns above his forehead lighting up ring by ring.
"Zi Ning, do you think unraveling a few runes will let you shake the foundations of the Dragon Palace?"
"The restrictions on this Dragon Palace run deeper than you imagine. What you spent over two hundred years carving into your bones