Yue's hesitation only deepened Mo Yun's suspicion of the honey-blonde fox spirit.
His sharp gaze searched her face, trying to uncover whatever she was hiding.
"Is something wrong?" he asked softly.
His voice was gentle.
Yet it slithered through the air like the whisper of a serpent weaving through rain-soaked leaves.
Yue said nothing.
She simply turned her face away before turning her back on him, as though eager to end the encounter.
Seeing her reaction, Mo Yun finally relented.
"Very well. I won't force you," he said with a hint of regret, though calculation still flickered in his eyes.
Yue walked away at an unhurried pace.
After only a few steps, however, she glanced back over her shoulder.
"Don't come looking for me again."
Her voice was calm, yet unwavering.
Before Mo Yun could ask another question, white mist slowly seeped from Yue's feet, swallowing her figure until nothing remained but empty air.
Several strands of fine golden fur drifted onto the marble floor, twirling in the breeze before vanishing without a trace.
Mo Yun reached out and caught one of them in his palm.
Then he slowly closed his hand around it.
"Am I... overthinking this?" he murmured to himself.
He lifted his head and stared silently down the now-empty corridor.
Yue's light footsteps echoed softly as she descended the moss-covered stone staircase.
The light from above gradually faded, replaced by the bluish-green glow of luminous moss clinging to the cavern walls.
The air was cold and damp, carrying the scent of ancient earth.
When she reached the bottom, the sight before her felt like another world.
A colossal cavern stretched beneath the Sky Colosseum itself.
Towering stone walls rose like sheer cliffs, while water trickled endlessly through countless cracks, its steady dripping forming an eternal, lonely rhythm.
A thin veil of mist blanketed the cavern floor.
Pale clouds drifted lazily among the stalactites, as though this underground realm possessed a sky of its own.
Beyond the mist, the silhouettes of colossal beings could be seen, breathing slowly in their endless slumber.
A black-scaled dragon lay coiled upon itself, its immense body as vast as a fortress. Its eyes remained shut, yet every exhale caused the air to tremble.
Nearby, a wide-mouthed troll sat leaning against an enormous boulder. Rust covered the iron chains wrapped around its arms, though they remained unbroken.
Farther within, a one-eyed giant lay half-submerged in a pool of cold mud.
Its massive chest rose and fell like a living mountain.
Meanwhile, a stone golem stood motionless in the darkest corner, its body nearly indistinguishable from the cliff behind it.
Yue walked carefully between them.
Her footsteps were light, yet cautious.
Whenever her fingertips brushed against the damp stone walls, she could feel faint vibrations—ancient power still pulsing beneath the rock, refusing to fade completely.
After climbing over uneven stones and winding deeper through the cavern, she finally stopped before an enormous figure stretched across the darkness.
Its body was as black as obsidian, gleaming faintly beneath the blue reflections dancing across the pools below.
Every scale looked ancient and unbreakable, like layers of the earth that had endured thousands of years of suffering.
As Yue stepped closer, a pair of golden eyes slowly opened from the darkness.
They fixed upon her with a piercing gaze, glowing like embers buried beneath black coal.
"What do you want?"
The deep voice echoed throughout the cavern.
Hoarse, yet thunderous, like lightning swallowed by fog.
Yue immediately bowed respectfully, folding her hands before her chest.
"Are you... Shen Long?" she asked carefully.
The dragon snorted.
A plume of gray smoke drifted from his massive nostrils.
"No matter which angle you look at me from, the answer remains the same."
He turned his head, the motion shaking the cavern walls and sending dust raining from the ceiling.
Unsatisfied, Yue gathered her courage and stepped closer until only a few paces separated her from the dragon's tail.
She wanted to see the legendary dragon more clearly.
The creature that had once scorched the heavens and challenged lightning itself.
Shen Long watched the fox spirit's every movement with cautious eyes.
"Did you come here to pity me as well?" he asked coldly, drawing one massive wing over part of his body.
"Of course not, Great Dragon," Yue replied firmly, though her voice remained respectful. Its melodious tone echoed gently through the cavern.
She walked around to the dragon's other side.
It felt less like circling a creature than walking around a hill.
Then—
Her eyes widened.
She stopped abruptly.
Her gaze had fallen upon a massive wound carved into the dragon's flank.
The gash yawned open.
Its flesh had long since dried, leaving behind a bleak crimson scar.
Shen Long noticed where she was looking.
He slowly closed his eyes again, as though there was no longer any reason to hide it.
"Have you seen enough?"
"Then leave, and carry this disgrace to the rest of your kind."
His voice echoed against the stone before fading beneath the endless dripping of water.
Yue did not answer.
Her eyes remained fixed upon the wound.
To her, it looked less like an injury than the mouth of a crimson cave, from which warm vapor occasionally escaped, like the final breath of something that had once lived there.
"You..."
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
Yet it was enough to make Shen Long turn his head slightly.
"...You've lost something too... haven't you?"
"What concern is it of yours?"
His reply was sharp.
But beneath it lingered unmistakable exhaustion.
Yue lowered her head slightly.
Her tails swayed gently, as though trying to restrain the worry slowly swelling inside her.
"I just wanted to know... how you've managed to endure it."
She swallowed.
"After a loss that feels... almost the same as what I experienced after my own battle."
The dragon let out a short snort.
He closed his eyes.
Then rested his enormous head upon the boulder beneath his chin.
"Leave."
"I don't wish to speak of it."
His voice sank low, like distant thunder fading over the horizon.
Silence followed.
Only the dripping water and the slow rhythm of the dragon's breathing filled the vast cavern.
Yue looked at him for a long moment.
Her lips parted slightly.
Before she could speak—
Heavy footsteps echoed from elsewhere in the cavern.
"Hey! Little Fox!"
The voice was deep, yet oddly cheerful.
Yue immediately turned.
From behind a massive stone pillar emerged a giant as tall as a tree.
His skin was dark gray.
His shoulders were as broad as a palace gate.
In his right hand rested a gigantic club nearly twice Yue's height.
The giant chuckled softly, though his laughter thundered through the cavern.
"I wouldn't recommend talking to that gloomy fellow right now," he whispered, raising one hand beside his mouth as if sharing a secret.
Ironically, his "whisper" echoed loudly enough for the very subject of the gossip to hear.
Yue glanced back at Shen Long, who remained lying silently where he was.
After a few seconds, she nodded.
"I understand."
She turned around.
Then offered the dragon one final respectful bow, though he no longer seemed to care.
The giant gave her a small shake of the head, signaling for her to follow him farther into another part of the cavern.
His enormous footsteps made the damp ground tremble.
Even so, he carefully avoided stepping on the little fox spirit, who hurried after him with quick, light steps, occasionally hopping to keep pace.
"Hah..."
The giant suddenly sighed.
His voice sounded like wind sighing through a dense forest.
"I truly do feel sorry for that dragon," he muttered quietly.
"You saw his match up in the arena, didn't you?"
Yue nodded while jogging beside him.
"I did. But..."
She glanced back once toward Shen Long, who now resembled nothing more than the shadow of a distant mountain.
"...Shouldn't he stop shutting everyone out like this?"
The giant blinked before offering a faint smile.
Small though it was, it somehow fit his gate-sized face.
"Did you know?" he continued.
"According to the old legends, dragons born with more than one head don't simply possess multiple bodies."
He gestured through the air, as though painting the image for Yue.
"They are one soul... with two voices."
"That's why they often call their other head 'brother.'"
They continued walking through the rocky cavern.
"Shen Long always called his second head 'my brother, born beside me from the primordial clouds.'"
"They grew together."
"They fought together."
"They breathed the same fire."
Yue swallowed.
Something inside her heart stirred, as though the story touched a wound she already knew.
"And then... when that human erased his dragon fire..."
The giant nodded heavily.
"That fire wasn't merely a weapon, Little Fox."
"It carried his name, his memories, and a dragon's honor."
"When his fire died... it was as though his past vanished with it."
He shrugged slightly.
"And then they severed his second head."
"That was the same as cutting away half of his soul."
"No wonder he became like this."
The two of them eventually stopped beside a crack in the cavern wall where pale white light filtered down from the sky far above.
"That's why he's become so withdrawn," the giant concluded.
His booming laugh followed, strangely warm despite its sheer volume.
Yue's tails swayed gently.
She remained silent, unwilling—or perhaps unable—to answer.
Only one question continued circling inside her mind.
Could two different races ever truly understand each other's pain?