Chapter 1263 — Chapter 1263 Liya's True Identity

After resting for a few minutes, Yuan recovered enough energy to move.

"Then I will leave for now. The next time I see you, I should have some new information regarding the situation." Yuan said to the Lord.

The Lord nodded, "I will keep inspecting the formation and notify you if there are any changes."

"Liya, take him back to his house." The Lord said to her as Yuan made his way down the mountain.

As they walked down the mountain, Yuan suddenly asked Liya, "Hey, why do you hate humans?"

"Why do you want to know? It's none of your business." Liya sneered.

After a moment of silence, Yuan mumbled, "Is it because humans hunted your kind in the past?"

"What did you say…?" Liya halted her movements and stared at him with wide eyes.

"My kind…? You speak as if you know about me when you don't know anything…"

"You're a dragon, aren't you? It's faint, but I can sense it from your aura. I didn't notice it before, but after spending some more time in the Ancient Dragon City and encountering more dragons, I can sense it more clearly now. Of course, I also know about the war between humans and dragons."

"If that's the case, while I understand your hate toward humans, that happened countless years ago before Divine Heavens became Nine Heavens. Are you actually that old?"

Liya's face flushed with redness after hearing his words— mostly when he called her old.

"How dare you! I am not even a thousand years old!" Liya exclaimed.

Yuan looked at her with wide eyes, "Seriously? You're that young? And you don't deny being a dragon?"

Liya clenched her teeth and murmured, "You are right. I am a dragon."

"Then I don't understand your hatred for humans. That war ended way before you were even born. Where did your hatred come from?"

"You don't understand anything!" Liya shouted at him.

"Then help me understand!" Yuan shouted back.

"Why?! Why do you even care?!"

"Why wouldn't I want to help a friend who always appears to be in a sour mood?" he sighed.

"Friend…? Since when did we become friends…?" Liya was utterly speechless.

"You've helped us many times since we moved into the mountain, so it's only natural to think of you as a friend."

"I-I was only doing my job! I didn't help you because I wanted to be friends!"

Yuan shrugged, "That kind of minor detail doesn't matter to me. And you're training my friends now."

"Furthermore, I'm growing weary of seeing you intentionally acting rude just to avoid human connections, pushing others away so that they won't approach you. If we're going to be working together to save this world, I want to do it as friends."

"However…" Yuan suddenly stopped walking and turned to look at her with a serious expression.

"If you really hate my guts that much, then I will stop bothering you and act as though you don't exist."

Liya's body quivered when she met his intense gaze, not to mention his cold words that made her feel weirdly uncomfortable.

"Act as though I don't exist...?" Liya repeated softly to herself.

While it was true that she intentionally distances herself from humans to avoid their interference, hearing such a thing made her completely perplexed and unsure how to respond.

If it had been anyone else in Yuan's position, Liya might have readily told them to behave as if she didn't exist without hesitation. However, it wasn't as though she liked Yuan either. In fact, he was someone she was determined to distance herself from, yet when presented with the chance to do so, she found herself unable to summon the courage to accept it.

After a moment of silence, Liya muttered in a low voice, "My mother… she was hunted by humans while she was pregnant with me. After using what little strength she had left to give birth to me, she passed away from the injuries she suffered during that time."

Yuan was left flabbergasted upon hearing this revelation, and he questioned, "Your mother was pregnant with you during that era? How many millions of years was she pregnant? I understand that Divine Beasts have lengthier gestation periods, but doesn't this seem excessively prolonged?"

"A Divine Beast doesn't just require time to give birth. They also need spiritual energy, so depending on the spiritual energy in their area, their pregnancy may speed up or slow down. My mother spent most of her pregnancy on Earth, and with the trash-quality spiritual energy here, her pregnancy slowed down almost to a halt."

"Also, her unique bloodline didn't help, as it was the bloodline with the slowest birth rates."

"Anyways, humans killed my father before I was born and my mother died to the injuries they inflicted on her after giving birth to me. Do you understand why I don't like humans now?" Liya stared at Yuan with a cold expression.

He nodded and said, "I understand, but it doesn't change the fact that it happened millions of years ago. I won't tell you who you should hate and who you shouldn't, but hating humanity as a whole because of a few bad apples is… childish."

"C-Childish?!" Liya had a baffled look on her face.

"That's correct," Yuan responded. "Contrary to demons, not all humans harbor ill intentions toward you. Even in the past, only a small group of humans hunted dragons, but because of how often they hunted and their overall prowess, it seemed like most humans hunted dragons. As for nowadays— I doubt you will be able to find a single human willing to hunt a dragon on Earth."

He continued, "Throughout history, countless humans have fallen victim to beasts, and such incidents persist even today. However, I don't hold animosity toward all beasts. I even consider some of them my companions— cherished friends whom I'd willingly risk my life to protect."

"If you still don't believe me, then I'll share with you a secret. The Lord thinks I am the Immortal Monarch's descendant, but in reality, I am the Immortal Monarch himself— his reincarnation."

"You are what…?" Liya's jaw dropped to the ground after hearing Yuan's reveal.