The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

I felt stuffed.

Tossing and turning at night, I just couldn’t fall asleep. In the separate room at the corner of the second floor, the occasional “gagging” sound from Juan Fu added to my irritability.

Normally, I couldn’t say that I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, but usually, I would fall asleep after turning over once. Tonight, however, I was unusually excited.

“It’s only been a little over half a year, but I’m about to reach a Dou Qi bottleneck. It somehow feels too fast.”

I was pondering.

Pondering why I could shorten the cultivation time.

In terms of the total amount of Dou Qi in my body, I am now definitely no less than Marcus. I eat well and have a noble lineage; there’s no reason I should be worse than Marcus, who comes from commoner stock—Dou Qi cultivation is related to nutrition, but noble families, with their continuously optimized genetics, are indeed stronger than commoners in many aspects.

As a child, Liszt was very much favored by the Earl because of his appearance, at least until the age of ten. Even with a stepmother, he never lacked for anything in his upbringing.

After turning ten, the Earl grew gradually disappointed with him, and my treatment might have suffered a bit, but I was never mistreated.

Therefore, I laid a very solid physical foundation from a young age. I just lacked a bit of insight and, before adulthood, didn’t manage to break through Primary Dou Qi. But when I had my transmigration, body and soul merged, and I achieved breakthrough in one fell swoop, becoming an Earth Knight. Just over half a year more, and I was set to advance to an Elite Earth Knight.

“Putting it that way, it seems quite natural. Good foundation, high aptitude, good nutrition—faster cultivation speed is normal.” But I always had the feeling that my cultivation progress was too fast.

There must be something I was overlooking.

Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind, “Could it be because of the Smoke Dragon’s influence that I’m affected?”

But I quickly dismissed that idea, “That shouldn’t be the case. My predecessor had the Smoke Mission since he was young, and his cultivation wasn’t notably fast. He didn’t even manage to become an Earth Knight.”

“So, what other factors could be promoting it?”

“Magical Beast Meat?” I’ve been eating a lot of Magical Beast Meat, especially lately. Every meal seems to involve it. If I weren’t young with a fast metabolism, I would probably be so over-nourished that I’d have nosebleeds. “Levis’s diet is certainly no worse than mine, and he only joined the elite ranks at the age of twenty, two years ago.”

“Li Vera’s diet is also good, always scrounging meals and drinks in the Castle, and yet she still hasn’t become an elite.”

“On the other hand, Lidun, that little guy, is only twelve this year, and Lady Marie has been boasting everywhere that her son is about to break through as an Earth Knight… If that’s true, his talent is stronger than Levis’s and might just fall a bit short of mine. No wonder half of Tulip Castle’s resources are slanted towards him.”

My train of thought became a little erratic, with all kinds of things about Tulip Castle floating through my mind.

When I had first transmigrated, I wish I would never have to deal with Tulip Castle again to avoid awkward encounters. As time went on, and I became more integrated into the identity of Liszt, the position of Tulip Castle in my heart subtly changed—I began to care about the matters of Tulip Castle, seeing myself as a member of the Tulip Family.

Or perhaps.

Deep down, I harbored the ambition of taking charge of Tulip Castle.

Growing and developing my own farm was joyful, but it couldn’t compare to inheriting family property.

“Perhaps Lidun is the one the Earl pins his hopes on the most now. For his sake, he doesn’t hesitate to divide the resources intended for Levis’s cultivation, giving half to Lidun. Otherwise, no matter how influential Lady Marie’s pillow talk might be, it wouldn’t sway him. This Earl, forged on battlefields, is not the type to be easily cowed.”

The foundation of the Tulip Family’s earldom was built by Li Weiliam with spear and sword.

“He is in his prime, his Dou Qi as a Sky Knight at its peak, and he certainly harbors ambitions of advancing even further. He never misses the Grand Duke’s Pioneer Mandate every year.” Liszt recalled his interactions with Li Weiliam. The latter’s vast Dou Qi gave a sharp and unmatched impression.

The Earl’s Dou Qi is of the Water Attribute, and generally, Water-Attribute Dou Qi gives off a gentle and accommodating feeling, but his was sharp.

There’s no doubt that personality plays a part.

Liszt, with his Fire Attribute Dou Qi, should be impetuous and fervent, but he comes off as mild and soothing as a spring breeze—this is the influence of his personality—he doesn’t even want to go to the battlefield, only preferring to shrink back in Fresh Flower Town, farming, farming, farming, and still farming.

How fierce can he get?

He didn’t like Marcus and Lidun, this mother and son pair, and neither did he, so he quickly stopped thinking about them. He thought of his sister, Li Vera, the somewhat chuunibyou nineteen-year-old spinster whose talent wasn’t weak, and who had made a breakthrough to become an Earth Knight before adulthood. Yet, several years had passed, and she still hadn’t become elite.

This is related to the physical constitution of women, as the cultivation of female knights is generally weaker than that of male knights.

It is said that the world has yet to see a Female Dragon Knight.

“Li Vera and Lidun don’t have comparative characteristics… Based on Levis’s situation, my advancement to the elite sequence this time will certainly startle everyone. He prides himself on being a genius, an elite at twenty, but what is that before me—a sixteen-year-old elite? In the Duchy of Sapphire, that’s hardly common!”

He didn’t think the bottleneck in Dou Qi was artificially elevated by the Smoke Mission—the rewards were merely a catalyst, and touching the bottleneck of Dou Qi was achieved through his own accumulation.

“Aside from being a genius, there must be other influencing factors.”

Lying in bed, he turned from side to side.

He pondered deeply into the night.

Then a spark of inspiration struck him: “Could it be the milk? Three cups of milk in the morning, noon, and evening, and another cup for supper, four cups of milk a day, plus various dairy products—such abundant nutrition!”

He had previously thought it was the delightful climate of Fresh Flower Town that made the milk from the cows so delicious, but clearly, that was wishful thinking. Even if the climate were agreeable, the milk wouldn’t undergo an ongoing improvement in taste—after all, these were not cows in their first lactation.

The dairy farm had been raising cows for over a decade—if the quality of milk were high, it should have been discovered long ago.

Granney’s mention of the Smoke Dragon earlier that day had given him much to think about.

“The Formless Dragon caused havoc at the dairy farm—could its Dragon Might have somehow affected the cows?” The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed, “The continuous improvement in the taste of the milk indicates something—that the lineage of these cows is changing, and they are quite possibly already Dragon Breed Cows!”

Milk Flower, Milk Yellow, and Milk Black were all pregnant, and the improvement in the taste of their milk indicated an enhancement in their bloodlines.

Perhaps as regular cows, they have limited aptitude and can’t transform into Dragon Breed Cows, but it’s very likely that their unborn calves will inherit the blood of the dragon and become true Dragon Breed Cows.

He simply sat up.

His heart was tumultuous.

Dragon Breed Cows sounded incredibly rare and of immense value.

“Starting tomorrow, I must focus on the dairy farm and provide the cows with rich pastures, especially the three pregnant ones—they must be well taken care of, to ensure the smooth delivery of their calves!”

There was no chance of sleep now.

He forced himself to calm down and began to cultivate Dou Qi.

Dou Qi was continuously generated in the cells of his limbs and torso, converging in his meridians. Maintaining this cultivation, he trained all the way until the next morning.

When the Sun rose and the first ray of sunlight streamed in,

Liszt suddenly opened his eyes, and at that moment, he felt the “fullness” within his body and the surging Dou Qi in his meridians.

He was both mentally exhausted and exhilarated: “I’ve touched the bottleneck of Dou Qi, and now, I have indeed become an Elite Earth Knight.”