The Art of Taming the Dragon - Chapter 1

Pain consumed Luo Qingci as her senses returned. It felt like a hammer pounding her chest, shattering bones and pulverizing organs. Although her eyes were open, darkness still enveloped everything around her. Helplessly, her body flew uncontrollably, crashing down with a heavy impact. A nauseating stench of blood surged from her throat, causing convulsions as she spat out a mixture of fishy and sweet liquid.

The excruciating pain radiated from her chest, tormenting every limb, and engulfing her heart and soul. It was unbearable, rendering her unable to speak or cry out. She felt as if she were on the brink of death.

Could she be the first stepping stone who dies right after transmigration? Was her purpose to entertain the female lead by dying?

Before she could recover from the intense agony, a sorrowful and furious roar erupted above her, accompanied by a powerful gust of wind.

Curled up, Luo Qingci tumbled from the impact.

Now, things took a turn for the worse.

The roar reverberated, ancient and profound, like a mighty whale breaking through the ocean’s depths, only to exhaust itself and fall—a fading hero.

Amidst her dire situation, Luo Qingci was amazed at her ability to contemplate so deeply.

“Good luck to you!”

A cold voice resonated in Luo Qingci’s mind as she remained dizzy and disoriented. Gradually, the intense pain subsided, and her numbed senses slowly regained their sensitivity.

Gasping for breath, she weakly gritted her teeth, “Perhaps this is a wish for my early demise.”

However, as soon as the words left her lips, she was stunned by the scene unfolding before her. Her vision gradually cleared, revealing the creature responsible for that resounding roar.

Before her, lay a dragon, its majestic form marred by bloodstains and damaged scales as dark as black jade. The colossal creature sprawled on the ground, its body bearing battle marks. A bowl-sized wound adorned its neck, bleeding profusely. With great effort, the dragon lifted its head, its whiskers fluttering and its breath wavering uncontrollably. Even in the face of death, its regal presence commanded involuntary submission.

In a long, anguished howl, its eyes brimming with anger and heartache, the dragon gazed in Luo Qingci’s direction, although it seemed to look past her. “You shall pay the price for your actions today!” The words were spoken through gritted teeth, laced with hoarse resentment and profound helplessness.

Having uttered its final words, the dragon could no longer bear the weight of its colossal head, which crashed heavily onto the ground. Blood splattered, and a tear escaped from its blood-stained eyes, joining the pool of crimson beneath it.

As it fell, the earth quaked in an instant.

Dragon cries reverberated from all directions, resounding like thunder and lightning. Each cry carried sorrow and pain, mingled with a solemnity that bid the fallen black dragon farewell. Listening to this mournful chorus, Luo Qingci couldn’t help but tremble.

When the dragon cries finally subsided, rock fragments tumbled amidst the tremors. Luo Qingci hastily shielded her head, struggling to rise and avoid the cascading debris. However, she stumbled over a round object and was flung to the ground, unable to move a muscle upon impact.

As the dust settled, Luo Qingci lay on the ground, gasping for breath, as if she had narrowly survived a catastrophe. She turned her head, surveying her surroundings. Fortunately, the peculiar stone cave remained partially intact, with only the entrance blocked.

Despite being forewarned of the impending danger, Luo Qingci was overwhelmed by the successive events that surpassed her comprehension, leaving her bewildered and at a loss.

Struggling to sit up, her gaze transfixed on the black dragon buried under a heap of stone and crystal-like fragments. Only when something oval-shaped caught her peripheral vision did she snap out of her daze.

Just a short distance from her head lay an oddly shaped object resembling an egg. It had caused her to stumble earlier, though describing it as an egg seemed like a stretch. Its appearance defied description—a haphazard oval shape with a surface that lacked the smoothness of a regular egg, instead pitted and uneven.

The egg bore a black texture reminiscent of scales, layers upon layers forming its shell, now stained with Luo Qingci’s blood. However, the blood swiftly vanished, absorbed by the egg in a crimson glow, leaving no trace behind.

Restless tremors coursed through the egg as if it harbored anger and fear.

In all honesty, it was monstrously ugly, deserving of divine retribution and human scorn.

Luo Qingci propped herself up, gingerly covering her chest wound, and let out a muffled groan. “How hideous…” she muttered, her voice subdued due to her injury. Yet, her words carried an unfamiliar coldness, devoid of emotion. Infused with a malicious undertone, these words transformed the phrase “how hideous” into a vessel of extreme disgust.

Startled by her own chilly tone, Luo Qingci found herself taken aback. She had intended to say “how hideous this egg is,” so why couldn’t she utter those last three words?

“What is happening now? Could this egg be the female lead?” she attempted to say again, but yet again, not a single word emerged as if her mouth had been forcibly shut.

Damn it!

Before Luo Qingci could continue her string of curses within her mind, a light screen materialized in her consciousness, displaying a flashing red exclamation mark. Accompanying the warning was a cold voice, “Egg, danger!”

An instant sense of dread gripped Luo Qingci, and waves of despair washed over her.

Her last sliver of hope shattered. This was no dream; she had truly transmigrated into a book.

She knew her name sounded antiquated, fitting for a female lead in some ancient novel. However, as a firm believer in materialism, she had never entertained the notion of such a bizarre phenomenon as transmigration.

All she had done was borrow her best friend’s account to read an old-fashioned romance cultivation novel. Her only complaint had been the protagonist’s ruthless master sharing her name.

She hadn’t done anything outlandish or irrational, so why had this misfortune chosen her to become a mere “stepping stone” in the book’s narrative?

That’s right, she had transmigrated into the highest-risk occupation in the Green River world for many years, a “master”.

Based on her limited understanding, being a “master” was a challenging profession. If you treated the hapless protagonist poorly, you’d usually end up getting killed off. On the other hand, being too kind to her would also result in various consequences. If she pursued you and you provoked her, she might undergo a transformation and subject you to certain things before ultimately sealing your fate.

Just the thought sent shivers down Luo Qingci’s spine.

Thankfully, she was a woman, and her disciple was also a woman. In this romance novel, the risks she faced from certain scenarios should… theoretically be slightly diminished.

The novel she found herself in was titled “The Calamity of Humans and Dragons,” a xianxia-themed story.

The book began by describing the rise of the demonic race, wreaking havoc upon the cultivation world, while the demons themselves gradually declined and faded into obscurity. Many demonic bloodlines had been severed, unable to carry on, leaving only the indomitable dragon race.

To counter the invasion of the demonic race, humans and dragons set aside their past animosities and successfully repelled the demons, sealing off the entrance to the demon realm from the world of cultivation.

Initially, this should have been a cause for celebration. However, soon after, several cultivators from the immortal sects were systematically killed by dragons. The Miaosheng Pavilion, known for its neutrality, was ruthlessly attacked and annihilated, with the dragon race being unjustly blamed.

Subsequently, the conflict between the human and dragon races reached new heights.

The Dragon King, who despised conflicts, extended an invitation to representatives from various immortal sects, aiming to negotiate a resolution for the turmoil plaguing the eastern region of Chaisang.

However, the members of the immortal sects harbored deep mistrust toward the dragon race.

During the negotiations, tensions escalated, and Luo Qingci’s master, Tian Jizi, unleashed the Holy Anti-Draconic Arbor—the bane of dragons—launching a surprise attack on the Dragon King. Exploiting the Dragon King’s grievous injuries, Tian Jizi led the immortal sects’ disciples to breach the Dragon Palace’s barrier, resulting in the near-extinction of the dragon race.

From that moment onward, dragons became a forbidden subject in the cultivation world.

The immortal sects issued strict orders, commanding their disciples to spare no dragons they encountered. Even the few dragons who escaped the initial slaughter eventually met tragic fates.

The book’s female protagonist, Ruan Li, happened to be a princess of the dragon race. This unfortunate child remained trapped in her egg for three hundred years, barely surviving the annihilation of her kin. Concealing her true identity as a dragon, she infiltrated the Tianyan Sect, becoming a disciple under Luo Qingci’s guidance.

In the original story, Luo Qingci possessed exceptional talent and stood out among the first-generation disciples of the Tianyan Sect, earning the utmost regard from Tian Jizi.

However, she was a character defined by her cold-blooded ruthlessness.

Luo Qingci held a deep impression of Ruan Li because, in the prologue, it was Luo Qingci herself who, alongside her ill-fated master Tian Jizi, massacred the entire family of the female lead, leaving behind only a solitary egg.

If it hadn’t been for the Dragon King severely injuring Tian Jizi and Luo Qingci herself falling into a coma due to her own injuries, even the female lead would likely have been shattered like eggshells.

Luo Qingci’s cold and intimidating demeanor had always instilled both fear and admiration in people, and her “reputation” spread far and wide after this battle.

As Luo Qingci took in the scene before her, a profound sense of despair washed over her. It was evident that she had arrived at the exact time when the female lead’s entire family had been annihilated.

Looking at the continuous telegraphic reminders about the “danger of the egg,” Luo Qingci couldn’t help but feel impatient. She would keep muttering it in her mind if she couldn’t say it out loud.

“Are you sure it’s the egg that’s in danger, not me? Why do you speak like sending a telegram? Are you charged for each word? Can’t you write a few more? And you want me to prevent the female lead from turning dark but also to temper her and not hinder her from becoming the Dragon King. Are you really trying to get me killed? Couldn’t you have advanced the plot a bit earlier? At least leave her father alive! The grudge of killing a father, the hatred of annihilating a clan, it’s an irreconcilable enmity. I am definitely going to end up like the original Luo Qingci, dead without a complete corpse.”

…

The “system” inside Luo Qingci’s body felt speechless. This woman’s mouth may have been controlled, but she could still talk so much.

Luo Qingci didn’t care about what this peculiar thing thought. She could now be certain that her fate as the master would only have one outcome: being eliminated by the female lead.

She took a deep breath and stared at the incredibly ugly egg on the ground, tentatively asking the sparingly-speaking incarnation of the divine envoy, “Could I have smashed it now?”

“Unless you want to die,” came the cold and heartless response.

A sinking feeling filled Luo Qingci’s heart, but before she could utter a word, the entrance blocked by fallen rocks suddenly trembled.

Someone was coming in.

“Egg, danger!”

Luo Qingci panicked. If the people from the sect outside saw this ugly egg, they would smash it to pieces.

The original novel was vague about this part, only mentioning that a surviving dragon had saved the female lead. But how she had been saved, Luo Qingci had no idea.

She had just arrived and hadn’t figured anything out yet. She didn’t know how to protect this dragon egg.

“I don’t understand. Just because I didn’t faint, the plot turned out like this? How did this egg escape disaster in the first place?” Luo Qingci’s mind raced, but the clearer she became, the less she understood why things had turned out this way.

As she saw the entrance about to break open, the pretending-to-be-dead system spit out a few words again, “Raise your hand and make a gesture.”

Luo Qingci: …

She recklessly raised her hand and made some random gestures in the air, and then the ugly egg disappeared.

Before she had time to celebrate, Luo Qingci collapsed to the ground like a shut-down robot, fainting instantly.

The moment she fell, the entrance was blasted open by someone.

“Gasp! The Dragon King is dead!”

“Goodness, it’s a dragon crystal!”

The chaotic voices were the last pieces of information Luo Qingci received.

She thought to herself, she had fainted at just the right time.