The Endless Promise

140. Fall

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Two dragon pearls had just merged into Bailong...

'F- Father...! Elder brother-?!'

"No..." Bailong's breathing shattered. "No! Impossible!"

He tried to move, but a hand maintained its hold on his wrist.

The hateful gaze Bailong directed at Old man Bao nearly made the old man unfurl his fingers, but he held on tight.

Tears burned down Bailong's cheeks as he trembled. "Release me! Release me! I have to go! My father and brother, they... I have to...!"

Old man Bao did not move.

"Too late..." He said gravely. "Don't you think I sensed their pearls just now? Those were Void-dragon pearls- pearls from dragons which have ceased to exist, and the only reason they came to you, rather than remain with the enemy, was because your father and brother realized they were dying and entrusted them to you on their last breaths..."

His words sliced deeper than any sword, and it was made more real when Bailong felt Yinying, the Shadow Tiger's aura, flow into him as well.

He had inherited Yinying's soul bond...

Bailong collapsed to his knees, clutching at his chest as if trying to tear out the agony clawing from within.

The merging of two powerful dragon cores ripped through his meridians with earth shattering pain, making his vision blur.

But he ignored it as rage exploded through his veins. He broke away from Old Man Bao's hold with so much force that the old man was pushed back and spat blood.

Bailong directed hit after hit towards the sea, eventually revealing a dense blackened barrier, but the attacks had barely cracked it.

Old man Bao recovered and bound Bailong within one of his own seals.

"Calm yourself! XiaoBai!"

"Calm...?!" Bailong snarled, tears dripping from his chin. "My father is dead! My brother is dead! And you tell me to calm myself?!!"

"They're gone!" Old man Bao exhaled slowly, his old eyes deep with sorrow. "Your father and brother... both died defending the East Sea. But I can't let you go, or you will die there as well!

"I also tried breaking in from another shore, but I couldn't defeat the seal..." He was still injured after all. "That means the enemies at play are far too powerful for you! Fortunately I sensed you and stopped you in time!

"Two dragon cores just flowed into you... Immense sources of power, yes! But they might kill you if you don't properly merge with them, and you'll only die faster if you face such a powerful enemy in your current mental state!"

"I don't care!"

"I do!" Old man Bao roared, louder than Bailong had ever heard him speak, his voice shaking the entire shore. "You think you are the only one who has lost family?! When your mother died all those centuries ago, I nearly overturned the East Sea myself!"

Bailong fell to his knees again, silent tears now rushing down his face, falling onto the warm sand. "Let me go...! Please let me go..."

"Xiaobai... Loss is something you will endlessly face as an immortal. You're young... So far, you've only lost your sister, and now your father and brother.

"The older you get, the more you will lose. They will slip through your firm grip like fine sand... I've watched almost a thousand dragons fall, and of my immediate family, more than a hundred, only your mother was left. And then she went away as well, leaving you to me.