The Dragon was stupefied!
Then it started to count its fingers, and when it wasn't enough, the dragon started to count its toes. But very soon, even that wasn't enough. Turning its big yellow eyes towards Du Wei, the dragon looked like it wanted to ask if he could borrow Du Wei's fingers….. (I had a good laugh at this point.)
Du Wei had trouble holding in his laughter as he watched the painful expression of the Dragon clumsily counting his fingers and toes: "Well then, can you figure out the answer?"
"..." The dragon was suddenly enraged: "This is a lie! Impossible! This topic, how can anyone figure out the answer! And... And... Once you count up to the thousandth house, there will be a thousand people packed inside! Where in the world would you find such a house?"
"Ch, our human palace can. Let alone one thousand people, even with ten thousand people, it is not a problem." Du Wei Smirked: "Oh honored dragon guard, can you answer it or not?"
"This... Is not a problem! This is a lie! No one can work this out! You would need at least one year to count it all!" The dragon's confusion was turning into rage: "Not even you can answer the question, what right do you have to ask me of this!"
Du Wei did not bother quarreling with him. Laughing in a 'HeHe' manner: "Really now?"
Crouching down on the floor, he quickly drew something onto the surface of the ground. Once finished, he looked up towards the dragon and answered: "The total is five hundred thousand and five hundred people."
"Five hundred thousand and five hundred people?" Sweating profusely, the dragon desperately tried to confirm the answer in his mind: "I don't believe it, how can you possibly work out the answer! You must be making this up!"
With a straight face, Du Wei continued: "The topic was raised by me and I also managed to answer it. Now only you can't answer the question…. Do you want to go back on your words? Is this the dragons so called pride?"
"..." Tongue tied at the insult, the dragon angrily screamed out loud, then growled unwilling: "Fine! Cunning man, consider it your win! You win! You may enter!!"
Angrily staring at the old magician, the dragon spoke: "Now… Your turn! You cheated me the last time, but don't think you will be able to fool me this time!"
Watching the dragon with a sinister smile, the old magician said: "Okay, you ready? Then here I come…. This time, my problem is very simple. Humanity's simplest game: Rock, paper, scissors."
Subsequently, the old magician gestured out his hand to point out the rules. He then laughed dismissively: "To be honest, I don't think you can possibly beat me. So in order to reduce the level of difficulty, you only need to beat me once out of ten tries. Can you? Otherwise, you'll have to let us pass."
The results... In the end was obvious.
Du Wei thought he was evil by using his previous life's mathematical knowledge to bully the creature, but the old guy was even more devious!
Rock, paper, scissors?
Du Wei was laughing so hard, his belly nearly turned inside out.
Dragon claws only had two fingers! Two fingers!
In other words, no matter what the dragon used, he could only put out rock with a clenched fist and a scissor with an open hand…. No matter what, it wasn't possible for the dragon to use paper!
The old magician also didn't want to win, so he churned out rock ten straight times. This action enraged the dragon so much that he was shouting with anger.
"Hey, we won twice now! You should open the door and let us in." Du Wei said.
Sighing helplessly, the dragon moved his huge body towards the Iron Gate and rotated the cross shaped winch on the door. Hearing a 'clickety' sound as the chains rotated, the iron gate was slowly pulled up...
"Go on then!" Finally giving up, the dragon glimpsed at the two: "Next time! Next time I won't lose to you! I will ask the Chieftain for permission to travel the human world and learn of their wisdom!"
After the group passed through the iron gate, Du Wei could still occasionally hear the angry sounds of the dragon shouting in the back.
"That guy is the number one warrior of the dragon clan, but his personality just likes to mess around." The old magician faintly smiled: "The last time I came, I played him for a fool…. But it was kind of fun."
"I just think he's adorable." Du Wei shrugged: "But comparing the wisdom of dragons and humans, their kind simply doesn't work out very well."
"This is all just a joke." The old magician said it with a smile: "Even if he did mess around and held us back, the chieftain would have summoned us in the end. However, it is in your best interest to humor the guy because his strength is the real deal. If you want to have any future dealings with the dragon clan, you best remember this point."
"In the future?" Du Wei frowned.
But the old magician didn't go on.
After passing through the iron gate, the direction of the passage headed straight downwards.
On both sides of the cave, the walls had countless little cracks with flashing jewels embedded inside. Sighing at the unknown amount of treasure in front of him, it seems the legend of dragons favoring shiny objects is true.
The cave passageway continued to narrow down more and more as they walked deeper inside. After coming out of an ending, the group found themselves standing in front of a domed shaped Hall.
Compared to human constructions, this Hall seemed much more simple and crude in comparison to Medusa's palace. The only redeeming feature was the colorful gemstones embedded into the surrounding walls, most likely used as a decoration.
What surprised Du Wei was that a chair was kept in the middle of the Hall and the size was similar to that of a human's body!!
Sitting on the chair was a male adult with a body no different from an ordinary human.
Looking up, his face was covered with a beard and the only thing he had on was a set of robes.
The only thing that could possibly highlight the fact that he was part of the dragon clan was the horns on top of his head…. But to his surprise… The horn on the left side seemed to be cut off by something.
"This gown was originally gifted by me." The old magician whispered these words into Du Wei's ears, and then the old magician suddenly burst out laughing as he marched forward with open arms: "Old friend, it's been two hundred years, but we finally meet again!"
This dragon chieftain didn't look as happy as the old magician. Only letting out a 'hum' sound from its mouth, the dragon chieftain yawned as he stood up from the chair: "Alas, I see you again. It has been really boring these days, so seeing you again is also a good thing. What interesting news did you bring me this time?"
This human formed dragon came up to everyone… but Du Wei couldn't sense any of the oppressive nature of the dragon race!
It is as if this guy had no power whatsoever. But if you were to use your senses to explore around, you will notice the endless void like that of a deep ocean!
Even his facial features looked ordinary. If not for the set of horn on the head… One would easily mistake this fella as a normal human being that couldn't garnish the slightest bit of attention.
Even his set of eyes looked droopy and weak.
Du Wei didn't have the habit of judging a person on their appearance, but this old fella just looked so ordinary and trivial. For this person to be the dragon chieftain, Du Wei couldn't stop himself from showing a hint of surprise.
"Old friend." The old magician coughed loudly: "The reason we are here is to complete the contract with the dragon clan…. I have brought the one to open the secret chamber!"
Upon hearing these words, the eyes of the dragon chieftain had a strange glimmer of light in them! Gazing around, the old fella looked at Du Wei and the others beside him.
Then he laughed in an odd way: "Oh, really? You found him? Is it one of these companions you brought along with you? Could it be this beautiful Queen Medusa, or this proud Saint Knight? Oh, let me see… Could it be this young boy?"
With only these very common words, Du Wei no longer dared to belittle this Dragon Chieftain!
It seems that with only a simple glance, this guy was able to see through Medusa's true identity and the true power of Hussein!
The old magician ponders for a moment, and then looked at Du Wei: "You come over here."
Du Wei took a few steps forward and stood there while the dragon chieftain examined him. After a moment, his eyes had a hint of surprise: "Oh, this young noble is the one you found? His body does indeed have the presence of the devil, but his strength is too weak…. You are certain he is able to pull out the thing left by Aragon?"
When the dragon chieftain was examining him, the gaze he was getting made him feel very uncomfortable. This guy may look ordinary; bur Du Wei felt completely naked standing in front of this guy….. With just a glance, it seems like this person is able to completely see through him!
"All right, I'll go get the key, but if you can't open the door this time, you should know the end result." The dragon chieftain quietly spoke these words before ignoring everyone and turned around into one of the many passageways behind the hall.
After waiting for the dragon chieftain to completely leave them, the old magician turned around and gave a serious glance at Du Wei: "What has happened to you? You look like you're occupied by something."
Du Wei said nothing.
The old magicians took in a deep breath: "Is it because you are disappointed with the dragon chieftain's appearance?"
Du Wei thought for a bit: "I'm just surprised."
"Put away your surprise!" The old magician spoke in a solemn tone: "Du Wei, I hope you will…. No, not hope, but required! I require you to show a certain level of respect when facing this guy! I'm not joking because this guy is not someone you want to mess with!"
Du Wei immediately nodded: "Of course, the chieftain of the dragon clan, how can a guy like that be a good person to mess with. I understand."
"That's good if you understand." The old magician then glanced at the passageway the dragon chieftain took, and then whispered: "I must tell you, this guy is a madman. Don't think his temper is good. If he gets enraged, no one can suppress him, at least no-one here! Also, this guy hates humans, so it is for the best not to provoke him."
After a pause, the old magician continued speaking: "You all see the horn on top of his head? One of the horns is cut off."
Du Wei and Hussein both nodded.
"That is cut was made by Aragon!" The old magician spoke in a cold manner: "But I must tell you, this guy is probably the only person alive still that had fought with Aragon! Moreover, even with Aragon's strength, he wasn't able to kill this person! This person has a weird personality, if his attitude changes, no one present here can stop him, at least none of us here!"