Just like before, the old man was sleeping on a stone and even though he was sleeping, his body twitched as if he was having a nightmare or he was still suffering the effect of the curse. The two girls stared at him pitifully, seeing his twitching body.
"In order to decrease his pain, we used the fairy melody to make him sleep" She then turned to Johana. "Johana, let's wake him up"
"Yes," Johana immediately sat down with her legs crossed. She gently caressed the strings of her veena with her elegant hands, producing a piece of gentle soul-soothing music from the veena.
Nerita's fingers also touched the strings of her veena, using a unique method to wake Christopher from his slumber. Hearing the melody, even Michael felt his exhausted body feel slightly refreshed while the baby dragon seemed unaffected by the melody at all.
"Who is he?" the baby dragon whispered into Michael's ear.
"Sect Leader Claire's grandfather"
"Whoa, isn't he supposed to be dead?" the baby dragon asked curiously. Claire's life was not a secret to the baby dragon who spent enough time with Claire as he would often leave the baby dragon in her care and she loved to take care of the baby dragon. Although at that time the baby dragon couldn't converse in the human tongue, he understood the language perfectly. Only the baby dragon knew that Claire loved to talk about her feelings and everything she went through with him rather than actual human beings. She was a girl who preferred to keep the sadness in her heart and share the joy with the others, it was the overwhelming sadness buried in her heart about her family that made her pour everything out to the non talkative baby dragon when she was alone with him. To be honest, the baby dragon sympathized with Claire because he too had no blood relative family.
While he was sick, he heard how he was thrown out from the nest by his own mother due to his illness from Gaya. He could still vividly remember how he was chased through the forest by a group of humans who looked at him like a prized possession because of his race and the moment he met the human who looked at him differently than the others. When the baby dragon met Ghost, the baby dragon saw no ill intention in his eyes as he only saw joy and love. The baby dragon sensed no bad vibrations from him, he may be little but he knew it was this human who fed him and kept him safe when even his own mother rejected him.
The gratefulness and the devotion he has for the human had no bounds. Though he hated to admit it, he knew he loved the Naga and these two were like his family, despite their differences. Thinking about everything this human went through to save him, the baby dragon hugged his neck as tight as he could and began to shower him with wet kisses.
Michael was surprised to see the baby dragon starting to lick him suddenly.
"What happened to you?" he chuckled, asking the baby dragon in low voice.
"Nothing," the baby dragon said while licking his side of the face.
As the baby dragon was licking Michael's face without stopping, Christopher slowly sat up from the stone bed. He said with a croaky voice, "Sigh, how long have I slept this time?"
"Here, give this to him" Nerita flicked her wrist, retrieving the small orb of fire that's burning with dark purple flames. Michael gently grabbed the purple fire and surprisingly, the fire wasn't even warm but he could feel the pulsing energy within the fire. He then walked to the old man carrying the Demon Dragon heart in his hand.
"Sect Leader, just like I told you, I got the Demon Dragon heart. We can now suppress the curse and help you breakthrough to the Soul Refining Stage" Christopher saw the purple orb of fire in his hand and the little majestic dragon sitting on his shoulder. His old eyes darted between the fire orb and the little dragon. He wasn't sure what's the most shocking thing, the Demon Dragon heart or the baby dragon on his student's shoulder.
Soon afterward, he fixed his gaze on the fire orb and felt a surging excitement in his heart, extending his trembling hand to accept the Demon Dragon heart. He mumbled frantically, "Demon Dragon heart, Demon Dragon heart! This really is Demon Dragon heart! The curse in my soul can finally be suppressed! I finally have the chance of becoming a Soul Refiner. I can soon see my granddaughter!"
Christopher carefully cupped the Demon Dragon heart in his hand. With the glistening of tears in his eyes, "Youngman, I never thought you'd actually succeed in obtaining the Demon Dragon heart from the Treacherous ocean. It must have been a very dangerous journey and you have a noble dragon"
"Noble Dragon, I like this old human" the baby dragon mumbled under his breath as Michael just smiled, "Sect Leader, I will tell you everything that happened there on our way to the sect. For now, let's focus on suppressing your curse and reach the Soul Refining stage. We will then find a way to permanently lift the curse in the future"
"Ghost, you cannot stay here when we suppress the curse, wait outside the cave," Johana said after taking out a few items such as metal plates, parchments, and a few books.
"Yes," Michael nodded at Johana and stood up to leave the cave,
"I'll be waiting for your return Sect Leader" He then walked out of the cave leaving Johana and Nerita to do whatever they would do to suppress the curse.
Outside the cave, Michael sat on a large rock while the baby dragon flapped his wings and flew around him. Michael observed the movements within the cave excitedly. He couldn't wait to bring a Soul Refining stage cultivator to his sect which would instantly protect the sect from rogues, thieves, and small sects that would have been a challenge to his sect before. Furthermore, he would not need to buy something from the system to protect his herbal garden.
Coupled with the Broad River sect takeover, he was positive that the base of operation legend would increase which could provide him with surprising benefits.
These matters aside, when he thought about the snake girl who would be waiting for him, he couldn't help but smile looking at the horizon.
************************************
((While Michael was in the Treacherous Ocean))
The forest was humble, gloomy, and prospering. Its canopy was ruled by birch, ash, and linden, who provided just enough openings for the moonlight to pass down for a mosaic of shrubs to rule the sloping and slanting ground below. Coiling vines suspended from the occasional tree, and a range of flowers, which were seen occasionally, added some color to the otherwise jade scenery. A disharmony of animal sounds, which were caused by rummaging critters, echoed in the air and formed a chaotic orchestra with the occasional roar of a large animal trying to scare away predators. Hidden among the sea of trees, there was a campsite with several large huts and in the middle of the huts stood a cabin.
At the moment inside the cabin, the light coming from the torches reflected on two figures. They were hanging from the ceiling and tied with iron chains.
Slowly, the cabin door creaked open to reveal a sturdy man with two bodyguards who stood seven feet in height, they were neither too thin nor too muscular but had a lean body. The most iconic feature of these bodyguards was their faces, they resembled the wolf and one did not need a special glass to identify them as the beastmen.
"Release me! Do you know who I am?" the one who was hanging from the ceiling ruffled the chains and shouted at the man standing between the two beastmen.
"Of course I know who you are, Mister Gerty, the infamous cousin of Minister Bobby Gerty" the man walked out of the shade cast by the two beastmen and showed his face in the torchlight. The man wore a hat with colorful feathers on it and wore an eye patch covering his right eye. From above his left eye to his chin, a long deep scar could be seen.
He slowly walked towards the man and ran his fingers through the man's face and then he moved to the figure hanging next to him,
"Get your filthy hands off of her!" the man rattled his chains, violently shaking his body
"You have a beautiful wife, Mister Gerty, too bad she's a first-class bitch and a devil reincarnate." The lack of light in the room prevented anyone from completely seeing her face but the dim light cast on her face did make the two wolves-faced beastmen lick their lips.
"I heard she loves to set commoners on fire, did she recently burn a family of commoners alive because they came to work five minutes late?"
He said before brushing his hand on her face and the cloth wrapped around her mouth.
"Don't! don't you dare touch her!" Mister Gerty shouted as his wife let out a muffled groan.
"Release us! I'll… I'll pay you...I have gold...thousands of gold" Mister Gerty began to shiver in fear, he thought they would immediately release them after he told them who he is but seeing they did not give a shit about his identity, he tried to get out of captivity by paying them.
"Oh we don't need gold Mister Gerty, we are in for this for the greater good and for our god..." there was a moment of silence after he finished his sentence. He then slowly unsheathed the short dagger hanging from his waist,
"Lucifer"