Chapter 120: Seeking to Purchase

"Since you have lived in the material realm for so many years, your network of connections must be quite extensive..."

The Black Dragon gathered its thoughts and moved on to the next matter. "If I give you half a year, and you act as the intermediary, how many dragon eggs can you procure at most?"

"Why are you asking that?"

The Red Lady widened her eyes in surprise. "Although the bonds of kinship among us dragons are generally not very strong—many heartless male dragons even harbor genuine disgust for their own offspring; if dragons had laws against abandonment, over eighty percent of male dragons would be sentenced—the vast majority of mother dragons are quite protective of their young during the first few years after laying them. Getting eggs from them is not easy..."

"Then how did you get these four?"

The Black Dragon’s gaze suddenly turned serious. It felt a strange sense of revulsion—strictly speaking, the Red Lady’s act of providing dragon eggs to the Xia Kingdom was undoubtedly a grave crime of trafficking and treason within dragon society! If dragon law were as robust and strict as that of the Xia Kingdom, this red dragon would be worthy of a death sentence.

Although the Black Dragon’s loyalties did not lie with the dragon race, it still possessed a modicum of empathy. If the Red Lady had truly used despicable means to obtain these four eggs, then her character was clearly deeply flawed, making her unworthy of deep friendship or trust.

"...I asked for them from my past children."

Perhaps the Black Dragon’s masculine aura was too intense; the Red Lady shrank her neck, sounding a bit aggrieved. "I’ve hatched quite a few children in the past, and I still have some connection with them. It is possible to ask them for a few eggs that don't have very strong vital signs..."

That was more like it.

The Black Dragon’s expression softened slightly. "That is exactly the kind of egg with weak vital signs I’m talking about. With your channels, how many can you get?"

As ancient and powerful transcendent beings, dragons are favored by the heavens, but they are also tested by them. Naturally, not every dragon egg can successfully hatch. Generally, a fifty percent success rate is considered quite good. Usually, only those with strong vital signs receive the favor of fate and successfully break through the shell. Those with weak vital signs not only have a low chance of hatching, but even if they do, they are unlikely to be recognized by the Dragon God or awaken their ancestral memories, destined only to become foolish dragon-beasts.

However, in the Black Dragon’s opinion, these dragon-beasts without awakened ancestral memories were actually easier to train and more suitable for the Xia Kingdom to keep. The concept of ancestral memories was simply too broken—it was almost like being born with innate knowledge. As soon as they crawled out of the egg and chirped their true names, they would instantly acquire terabytes or even tens of terabytes of memory, leading to independent thought and cognition that made them resistant to external conditioning.

Dragon-beasts were different. Although their innate potential was far inferior and their minds were as blank as a sheet of paper, it was precisely this blankness that made them easier to train and mold. The Black Dragon’s heart could produce Black Gold Dragon Blood, which was perfect for washing the minds of these beasts.

"If it’s eggs with weak vital signs, I could probably get about fifty or sixty..." The Red Lady’s thought process seemed quite healthy; she did not share the mathematical cognitive impairments of her phoenix acquaintance and gave an answer quickly.

Fifty or sixty... that seemed a bit low.

The Black Dragon was not entirely satisfied. Eggs with weaker vital signs already had lower hatch rates; if only ten baby dragons survived out of fifty eggs, that would be considered lucky. However, the Black Dragon couldn't really ask for more. Given the total population of dragons and the relatively poor environment of the material realm in recent years, most female dragons were not very motivated to lay eggs. For the Red Lady to secure fifty or sixty eggs was already a testament to her capability and wide connections.

"...Fine. Name your price. How much will it cost for you to get me sixty eggs?" the Black Dragon asked, getting straight to the point.

"Why do you need so many eggs?" The Red Lady looked puzzled and offered some well-meaning advice. "Mr. Dius, you should know that dragon cubs cannot be tamed. Even if you treat them well, they will eventually betray you or even stab you in the back!"

"This is actually a major inherent flaw of our dragon race. While ancestral memories provide us with convenience, they also solidify our thinking. We mature too early, which easily leads to heartlessness and selfishness."

"...That is my problem. You just need to get the eggs."

The Black Dragon was dismissive, though privately it felt that the Red Lady had a point. Ancestral memories were not necessarily a good thing. After all, most souls start as a blank slate, gradually developing self-awareness and a unique personality through growth and learning. Ancestral memories, however, greatly accelerated this process, often carrying the strong, biased personal will of ancestors, which frequently led to all sorts of problems.

The Black Dragon even felt that ancestral memories were not a gift from ancestors to their descendants, but rather a form of control, or even enslavement. It was like misinformation: the more you know, the more extreme, reactionary, and abnormal you become.

"...May I ask, are these eggs for you, or for the people of the Xia Kingdom?" the Red Lady asked curiously.

"There is no difference," the Black Dragon replied. "Just consider them for me."

"Oh..." The Red Lady understood, then immediately said, "Since they are for you, I won't charge you money. You just need to agree to one small request of mine!"

The Black Dragon was not someone who could be easily manipulated by such schemes. It immediately retorted, "Let’s stick to money. We are both dragons, after all; it wouldn’t be proper not to talk about money."

"You haven't even heard what my small request is yet!" The Red Lady became agitated, huffing indignantly. "If you think you can just dismiss me with money, don't even think about me helping you find eggs, and I won't help you hatch them either!"

"If you think money can solve everything, then go find another dragon!"

"Alright, alright..." The Red Lady’s sudden temper flare caught the Black Dragon off guard. It had to pacify her: "Let’s not get excited. Tell me what your request is."