Chapter Fifty-Six: Midnight Lake Excursion, Part 6

For some unknown reason, Zhu Zhanhe found the giant crocodile right in front of him exceptionally pleasant to touch. He could not stop stroking it, to the point where he even ignored the conversation between his old man and the elderly Daoist priest. He was completely immersed in the bliss of petting a crocodile.

Prince Han watched longingly as the old Daoist and his son continually petted the hornless dragon right in front of him. He was consumed by envy, yet dared not step forward.

"Your Highness, this is the Prince's seal. The Prince gave it to me when I went out on an errand, and now I am returning it to Your Highness for safekeeping." Xiao Xizi was very perceptive. Sensing Prince Han's eager anxiety, he hurriedly handed Zhu Zhanhe's seal from his bosom over to Prince Han.

"Oh, good! You've done well!" Taken aback for a moment by Xiao Xizi's words, Prince Han quickly snapped back to reality. He reached out to take the seal and promptly joined the joyful ranks of crocodile-stroking.

……

Time flew by, and the distant sky began to reveal a faint, fish-belly white.

"Master, are you satisfied with this surprise?" Zhu Zhanhe asked the old Daoist beside him while continuing to stroke the crocodile.

"Satisfied, extremely satisfied! It seems the legends are all true!" The old Daoist's face was filled with unwavering certainty. Joy and conviction overflowed his heart: It turns out the ancients were right! If even horned dragons can manifest, what about attaining immortality? Could that also be real?!

"Dad, how do you like the title I secured for you? Are you satisfied?" Having addressed the old Daoist, Zhu Zhanhe turned his gaze toward Prince Han, who wore an expression of total infatuation.

"Satisfied! You truly are my son; your old man has even greater confidence in the future now!" Prince Han was completely overwhelmed by boundless joy, having entirely forgotten what his precious son had said earlier: Blessings and misfortunes are intertwined; where there is good, there is bad. Since this blessing has already appeared, misfortune cannot be far behind!

……

"Your Highness, Your Grace, Immortal Master, it will soon be dawn. We should head back," Weijizhong stepped forward to remind them that it was time to leave. After all, the risk of exposing the Dragon King during daylight was far too great; he could not simply remain out in the open like this!

"Is dawn approaching?" Prince Han raised his head to look at the distant sky. Unawares, daybreak was indeed near. How time flew.

"In that case, let us prepare to return and come see it again at night." The old Daoist maintained a solemn expression, though his burning gaze completely betrayed him.

"Very well, let's head back then." Reluctance plastered across his face, Zhu Zhanhe gave the crocodile's bald, massive head one last stroke.

"Go back and rest now. I'll come see you again when I have time." Reaching out, Zhu Zhanhe patted the fierce, gigantic head of the crocodile and walked reluctantly toward the pavilion.

"Roar—" The crocodile let out a soft, low growl, slowly turning its body toward the lake. It kept turning back every few steps, brimming with reluctance, looking for all the world like a little puppy about to be abandoned!

Zhu Zhanhe gazed at the brightening sky, intending to stop by the small pavilion for a cup of tea before heading home.

Suddenly, Zhu Zhanhe heard an unusual commotion.

Heavy, rhythmic footsteps echoed: *Thud, thud, thud.*

"Your Highness, look out!"

"Your Highness!"

"Zhanhe!"

"Zhanhe!"

Urgent shouts rang out from behind him.

Zhu Zhanhe spun around abruptly, only to see the giant crocodile lunging straight at him with its blood-red jaws wide open.

Everyone behind him stared in absolute panic.

Yet Zhu Zhanhe felt not a shred of fear; instead, a profound sense of familiarity washed over him, as though this was precisely how things were meant to be.

In the eyes of Prince Han, Zhu Gaoxu, the Dragon King of the Hornless Dragons had been slowly making its way toward Xuanwu Lake while his son walked toward the pavilion.

Who could have foreseen that the Dragon King, halfway to the lake, would suddenly spin around and—amidst everyone's astonished gazes—speed up, charging directly at his precious son with jaws agape!

Panicked out of his wits, Prince Han cried out loudly to his son...

Then, everyone witnessed a scene the likes of which they had never seen in their entire lives.

The charging Dragon King, with its massive jaws wide open, did not swallow Zhu Zhanhe in a single bite, nor did it knock him flying.

Instead, the instant the colossal body of the Dragon King made contact with Zhu Zhanhe, it dissolved strangely, flowing like water directly into Zhu Zhanhe's physical form.

This astonishing spectacle left Prince Han and the others utterly dumbfounded.

"Roar—!" The moment the massive, ferocious dragon body touched Zhu Zhanhe, he felt as though a nuclear bomb had detonated inside his body. His vision turned blazing red, and his skin began to radiate heat and smoke, forcing a roar from his throat—a roar identical in every way to the bellow of the hornless dragon!!

"Roar—! Roar—!" The intense pain drove Zhu Zhanhe to roar frantically as his body visibly expanded.

*Rip, rip!* The sound of tearing fabric echoed continuously. Zhu Zhanhe's clothes were ripped to shreds bit by bit by his rapidly growing frame. Even the hair on his body fell out in clumps until he looked like a hairless chicken.

Immediately afterward, new hair sprouted at an explosive rate, covering his entire body once more in no time at all!

Finally, when the entire body of the Dragon King had completely merged into Zhu Zhanhe, he was transformed into an entirely different person.

Prince Han stared open-mouthed at his drastically altered son, a look of utter disbelief frozen on his face.

First to catch the eye was a towering, naked, and fiercely muscular man standing over nine feet tall, with a physique bursting with raw power and a cascade of pitch-black hair loose around his shoulders.

Yet, most terrifying of all were Zhu Zhanhe's eyes, which had transformed into reptilian vertical slits! The sight of them made one's scalp crawl.

"Zhanhe?" Prince Han asked nervously, casting a cautious glance at his thoroughly transformed son.

"True Dragon entering the body?!" Zhang Zhengheng, the elderly Daoist priest, suddenly shrieked at the top of his lungs, acting as though he had lost his mind!

"Your Highness?!"

"Your Highness!"

Weijizhong and Xiao Xizi were equally paralyzed with terror, gazing in disbelief at the unfolding scene.

"Hurry—hurry home! I—I can't hold on much longer—" Just as everyone was at a loss, Zhu Zhanhe, standing stark naked and exposed to the chilling wind, suddenly spoke. His voice was raw and hoarse, his words disjointed as if he were speaking for the very first time. The flashes of cruelty in his eyes were enough to make anyone's blood run cold.

"Immortal Master, what has happened to Zhanhe...?" Prince Han was completely bewildered, having no inkling of what had just transpired.

The old Daoist was equally shocked; he had never encountered such a phenomenon before. Yet, catching sight of the violent savagery in Zhu Zhanhe's eyes, his own heart tightened.

"Zhanhe just experienced the True Dragon entering his body! How immense is the Qi of a True Dragon? Zhanhe must be suffering from the Dragon Qi overwhelming his heart, leaving him unable to maintain control!

We must return immediately!" The old Daoist declared, his expression turning resolute.