Chapter 1124 - 605: The Dissipation of Golden Light and Xiaoheizi’s Complicated Feelings

"I’ll allow you to keep your bloodline surname, but I’m also going to give you a new name."

"Looking at you now, all pitch-black and scruffy, I’ll call you Xiaoheizi."

As soon as he said that, Black Handsome Guy’s chest started heaving off the ground.

With every breath, white vapor puffed out from his nostrils.

At the same time, a Loyalty change prompt also popped up in front of Zong Shen.

[Due to your coercion]

[Little Black Dragon Xiaoheizi’s Loyalty towards you has decreased by 5 points, current Loyalty: 52]

There we go, another 5 points down, but at least it hadn’t dropped below 50.

Still, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. As long as the Little Black Dragon could gradually accept Zong Shen’s conditioning and oppression, it would slowly adapt to the identity of a War Pet.

Better a short pain than a long one—building a sense of hierarchy early on is more profit than loss.

Once he decided on the new name, the Black Dragon’s name in the Lord System’s data changed to Xiaoheizi.

Zong Shen’s naming style had always been like this: not about sounding domineering, just about being easy to remember.

It’s just that, considering Giant Dragons have bloodline surnames that are passed down, he also allowed the Little Black Dragon to keep its own name; as long as it didn’t interfere with how Mr. Zong addressed it, it was fine.

With its Loyalty hovering on the edge of Neutral, the Little Black Dragon’s gaze towards Zong Shen held a few more shades of dissatisfaction.

Such changes naturally couldn’t escape his eyes.

Zong Shen planned to give it some sweeteners only after they left the ground.

He took out the [Flower of Tiamat (Orange)] and waved it in front of Xiaoheizi, then put it away.

Black Handsome Guy stared at the Five-Colored Flower until his eyes went glassy.

"As long as you behave yourself, this flower will definitely be yours."

Zong Shen repeated the promise. For creatures of the Evil Faction, baiting with profit works far better than simply drawing big pies.

Sure enough, Zong Shen saw a new Loyalty change prompt appear.

[Due to your inducement]

[Little Black Dragon Xiaoheizi’s Loyalty towards you has increased by 3 points, current Loyalty: 55]

Because its Loyalty was at the edge of Neutral, the Little Black Dragon’s Loyalty kept bouncing back and forth, which was a perfectly normal state.

After a round of "friendly" conversation,

the Little Black Dragon more or less understood its situation.

As long as it had even the slightest thought of resigning itself to fate, the resistance in its heart would gradually weaken.

Zong Shen directly climbed onto the Little Black Dragon’s back and took out the [Dragon Taming Saddle (Orange)], selected the Little Black Dragon as the target, and the Saddle in his hand instantly expanded to the appropriate size.

He tied the lower straps around the Little Black Dragon’s front abdomen, then looped the front girth around its neck.

The Saddle was like a Ma saddle, sitting just right on the Black Dragon’s back, able to carry one to two riders.

Xiaoheizi stayed quiet the whole time, only turning his head to silently watch Zong Shen install the Saddle on him.

From the moment it was shot down till now, more than ten minutes had passed.

On the periphery, some bold Lords had begun to approach.

But constrained by the Black Dragon’s previous ferocity, they didn’t dare get too close.

However, as the poisonous mist dissipated, these guys were definitely going to set their sights back on the Poison Swamp.

Besides taming the Little Black Dragon, Zong Shen had plenty of other things to do on this trip.

For example, collecting Dragon Scales and Dragon Blood, performing Soul Extraction on those corpses, and exploring the Dragon Nest and Poison Swamp ruins.

He had already sent people separately to handle the first two tasks; what remained was only the exploration of the Poisonous Mist Swamp.

By this time, over a hundred Warriors had already gathered near Zong Shen, all temporary combat squads assembled from nearby.

Zong Shen sat directly on the Saddle and waved at the remaining Warriors.

"Everyone, march on the Poison Swamp!"

"Form a blockade line on the front of the Poisonous Mist Swamp."

"Ignore both flanks and the rear; they definitely can’t move faster than me anyway."

After issuing the order, he patted Xiaoheizi’s back neck.

Through their Spirit link, he sent the command to depart.

The texture of the Dragon Scales was icy cold, carrying no warmth at all, feeling like raw iron to the touch.

Urged on by Zong Shen, Xiaoheizi reluctantly spread his Dragon Wings.

The two massive Black Wings blotted out the sky and sun, still bearing quite a few damaged wounds that had yet to fully heal.

With a light flap of his wings, the Black Dragon’s body lifted into the air, carrying Zong Shen towards the Poison Swamp.

The Little Black Dragon’s Speed wasn’t much faster than Eagle.

Flying wasn’t its specialty.

From the air, looking down, Zong Shen could clearly see the situation around the Poison Swamp.

The earth looked like a ragged cloth patched in many places.

Blood Red corpses, pitch-black scorch marks, ink-green corrosive fluid, cratered impact pits, and rising gray smoke all silently testified to the carnage just now.

In several directions around them, there were bold Lords slowly approaching on Grassland Horses with their ragged remnants of troops.

Even though not long ago the Little Black Dragon had turned the battlefield into a Chaotic Scene with blood, sending the Lords fleeing like stray dogs, once it was tamed, some Gou Dadan Lords started having ideas again.

History has long since proven that blood and death can never stop the steps of opportunists.

Looking across human history, there’s never been any shortage of Adventurers, navigators, and profit-seeking long-distance merchants—roles driven to risk their lives for nothing more than fame and fortune.

Judged by modern human standards, the danger in their actions is no less than approaching the Little Black Dragon.

But these Lords returning to take another gamble were doomed to come up empty-handed.

He had already successfully tamed Black Handsome Guy, so the Dragon Nest treasure and everything within the Poisonous Mist Swamp would become his spoils of war—also part of the gains from this Poison Swamp expedition.