The Killing Game (part two)

The old dragon too is like this. Under the effect of the spring's water, his body was permanently changed to that of a human. Even if he were to use transformation magic to modify his body, it would only last up to the time limit.

Ignoring the old dragon's rage, Penguin continued asking: "I'll just ask you this one thing. With your current ability, can you take on the form a dragon even if it's just for a little while?"

"Yes." The Dragon patriarch endured his wrath and answered, "But only for a short period!"

"Then that would be easy to work with." Penguin was relieved to hear this.

Despite being under the effect of the spring's water, the old fella is still able to transform into a dragon due to his transformation magic reaching its peak level.

But in Gargamel's case, he could only keep the form of a mouse. Even at his best, this mouse could only change his body size and not fully take on the form of a human….. This is due to Gargamel's transformation magic being only at the sixth level, far below that of this old dragon.

"My approach is very simple." Penguin reveals his answer: "You transform back into the body of a dragon, then drink a little bit of the solidifying water! With that, your body will return to its original form! Wouldn't that work?"

The old dragon was stunned.

Over all these years, he has been looking for a solution to this problem in many ways. But because of his overwhelming strength, his way of thought has long been restricted to using powerful magic or miraculous cures to counteract the spring's water… This was one of the reasons he would often travel into the human world.

Although the solution thought up by the penguin is simple, but the thought pattern to come up with this idea is already out of the norm. The old dragon may be smart, but he had never gone down this route in thought.

Drink the spring's water?

It's like eating a poisonous food, then asking you to eat it again later on. Would you want to eat it again? Of course not!

Pausing for a long moment, the dragon patriarch's complexion changed colors several times before breaking out into a laugh! Within his voice, there was excitement and a hint of unwillingness mixed into it!

"For it to be possible like this!" After his initial excitement, the old dragon suddenly stared at Penguin: "However, what is that water! Where can I find some more?!"

Struck with a thought, Du Wei took the initiative: "I have the water and I can give it to you!"

Du Wei was worried about penguin revealing the canyon valley in the frozen forest—Out of personal interest, Du Wei didn't want the old dragon to know about the spring's existence in the Canyon!

The events that took place afterwards became much simpler. On his body, Du Wei carried with him a lot of the spring's water... Of course, this not includes the fountain of youth, but also the water from "As time goes by."

Fortunately when the older Dragon used his magic to cut apart his clothing earlier, the bottles of water weren't damaged in the process because they were kept inside his baggage.

Under the careful gaze of the old dragon, Du Wei took out a bottle of the spring water to give the old fella. It was at this moment when he was taking out the bottle, a sudden thought hit him: if he were to take out a bottle of the "As time goes by" instead of the "fountain of youth", then wouldn't he have a chance to kill this old dragon if he could trick this him into drinking the aging water?

Du Wei absolutely believed the water of "As time goes by" can kill this old dragon because this water is a poison of time, there is definitely no cure to save him.

But in the end, Du Wei gave up on the plan to kill this old dragon because the success rate of this going smoothly is far too low. This would work if the old dragon drank a mouthful, but if he only drank a sip?

Even then... If he did succeed, there would be trouble following closely behind him at every turn!

This matter is not only about killing the dragon chief. The dragon clan as a whole would chase him down if they ever learned of this. Wouldn't that be a disaster in the making? Moreover, what if in his dying moments, this powerful dragon figured out what has happened? Du Wei would never know if this old fella could muster enough strength to rip him apart just before his death.

Best not to invite anymore trouble.

Du Wei sighed and then dutifully pulled out a small bottle of the 'fountain of youth': "This is it. Once you change your form into a dragon and drink this, it will be done."

Du Wei looked at the water with a heart wrenching pain. He may not like this because the amount of water he had on him was limited, but in order to save his life, he had no other choice. If anything, he could go get some more later on after getting out of here.

Once the deal is done, the Dragon Patriarch waved his hand and shouted: "Now you can go!"

"Hold on." The Penguin reminded Du Wei: "Within the sarcophagus, there still remained some other stuff from my previous owner."

This old Dragon may be ferocious, but luckily he was someone that kept his promises. Standing there as he watched him coldly, Du Wei carefully removed each and every item from the coffin.

These things were very messy: eight badly looking pots, a box with tattered clothing inside, and a strange looking bag made out of cloth.

Fortunately the penguin appears to be very familiar with the contents inside. Under the guidance of the penguin, Du Wei found that this strange looking bag had a function similar to the bag of the old magician's. Even after he stuffed everything into the bag, it still seemed like it wasn't even close to being full.

Before he could investigate, Du Wei took everything he had and stuffed it into the strange looking bag. This of course includes the bottles of waters he had on him. But as he was doing this, the penguin strongly objected to what he was doing. In his mind, Du Wei actually wanted to also throw this penguin into the bag.

Finally solving all his problems at hand, Du Wei hitched the bag onto his back and took one look at the old dragon.

Letting out a grunt, the old dragon asked: "Good now? You can be off then!"

With that said, the dragon gently raised a finger towards a rock in the back of the secret chamber. As if being commanded, the rock wall quickly dissolved to reveal a large hole with rays of sunshine shooting in.

"Remember from now on; run as far as you can! Two days later, I'll start from here and chase after you!" Snapping a finger, the grains of sand inside the giant hourglass started to gently pour down...…

"Quick! We have to hurry!" Du Wei anxiously shouted at the Penguin next to him: "Can't you run any faster?"

The Penguin's tone was calm: "I'm an elegant animal. Even when running, I cannot give up my style." With that said, penguin gently twisted his ass and short tail as he walked. Twist, twist...

Du Wei could no longer stand it. With one fell swoop, he lifted the penguin up and stationed the bird onto his shoulder. Ignoring the screams beside his ears, Du Wei ran towards the exit like the wind itself... (AHHHHH run for it!! Man this part reminded me of playing tag in grade school.)

This god forsaken Holy Mountain simply had too many passageways! Extending in all directions, this place was more like a maze than anything else. Luckily his memory was super strong, so along the way, he was able to barely remember the way he came from. After many turns, he was finally able to make it out.

As he came out, he came across the so called strongest warrior of the dragon clan. Seeing the huge dragon lying there with his huge claws scratching the floor, it was pretty obvious the guy was still trying to calculate the math question set up by Du Wei.....

In a single breathe he came of the Holy Mountain. Upon reaching the entrance, Du Wei saw that the old magician and Hussein were still standing outside the dragon cave in order to wait for him.

Panting from his run, he could not help but give in to his worries as he shouted: "How come you are still here! Quick, run!"

Seeing him running out, the old magician had a shock of surprise in his eyes. Stopping Du Wei in his track, the old magician excitedly exclaimed: "The things from the secret room..."

"Got it! I got it all!" Du Wei quickly answered.

However, when they all saw the penguin on Du Wei's shoulder, every one of them couldn't help but be surprised for a moment. Du Wei sighed at their reaction because there was no time to explain: "Alright! This is no time for questions! These fellows are my companions, Wizard, Knight, a rat and a snake! This here... Is an animal Aragon left behind for me! A Penguin!"

Both the Old Magician and Hussein looked at each other: "What's a peng, penguin... An ugly bird?"

The penguin immediately protested: "I am not an ugly bird! I am a penguin! Penguin! Are the most elegant animal in the world!"

"Good then! Now is not the time to argue on this subject. If you don't shut up then wait till you become the dragon's dinner! They will roast you and then let's see how elegant you are afterwards!" Du Wei harshly patted the penguin once.

"It can talk?" The old magician's facial expression changed: "A talking bird... Can it be, this bird is the heavenly beast left behind by Aragon?" In-between his words, his attitude and tone took on a more respectful tone.

Heavenly Beast?

At this point, Du Wei has already become very impatient to this word and immediately yelled out: "What nonsense heavenly beast! From this point onward this is my pet…. Hmmm, you will be called QQ then. (This is not a mistake, the author really named this penguin QQ.)

Before others could even speak, QQ already raised an objection: "I do not want QQ for my name! I am a graceful animal and should be matched with a graceful name….."

"Off the mountain, off the mountain! That old dragon promised to give us two days to run away! You guys can ask me other questions as we move. The most important thing right now is to escape!" Du Wei shouted this to stop them from asking anymore question. But seeing Hussein and the others heading towards the mountain road, he stepped up to stop them: "Hey! Have you guys lost it?! Taking the mountain road? In order to climb the mountain, we spent a total of two days! Why do we need to take the road down? The old dragon promised that within the two days, no dragon can stop us! Of course we will fly down! By the time we get down there, a day would have already passed if we relied on the road!"

Subsequently, the old magician performed a wind based flying spell to carry everyone down the mountain. In their attempt, everyone ended up like a sugar coated haw just so they won't break up apart in midair: Hussein held onto the old magician's leg, Du Wei held onto the knights leg, Medusa held onto Du Wei's leg, and Gargamel along with QQ hid inside Du Wei's clothing.

Enduring the hard winds, the group desperately flew towards the south where the forgotten ice field was...

Now they only had two days left before the hunt begins.