"Two..."
Zi Ning's voice drowned out Zi Yuner's cries.
Like a tide submerging the last reef on a sandy shore, it was steady, unhurried, and brooked no argument.
The deep blue light in her palm brightened another shade.
The entire sea within the Dragon Vein Core began to shake violently at that moment.
Above the vaulted ceiling, a thousand Night-Luminescent Pearls dimmed in unison for an instant, their light replaced by her even more dazzling radiance.
Zi Ning lifted her chin slightly, her face bearing the calm confidence of someone who held victory in her grasp.
"Three..."
Lin Shisan's foot came down off the reef after all.
He withdrew the foot that had been about to enter the pillar of light, retreating from the edge of the Teleportation Array to stand in ankle-deep seawater.
He looked at the purple-black figure opposite him, then turned to glance at Zi Yuner, her face streaked with tears, her body crushed in place.
Then he raised a hand and pressed it to his chest. "Eldest Princess, I can give you the Dragon Spirit."
Zi Ning's brow relaxed, and the corners of her lips lifted slightly.
Lin Shisan closed his eyes, drew a deep breath, and opened every meridian in his body.
A fist-sized ball of dark golden light slowly emerged from his chest, passed through his palm, and hovered three inches above his hand. Within it, the faint shape of a curled-up young dragon could be seen, its scales fine and dense, its eyes tightly shut, as though it had not fully awakened.
"Come here."
Zi Ning was overjoyed, her eyes suddenly lighting up.
With a beckoning motion of one hand, the ball of light wrapped in Dragon Breath left Lin Shisan's palm and flew toward her.
The instant the light left his body,