It was not that Anbaixiu was bent on saving the world, but rather that the dragon race's return conflicted severely with his personal interests.
Right now, Anbaixiu's most lucrative businesses were sunscreen and the Fountain of Youth. Sunscreen was an everyday necessity marketed toward low-income groups, while the Fountain of Youth was a high-end luxury item that didn't swindle the poor.
Both of these were items only humanoid creatures would use, especially humans.
The dragon race was entirely different. Generally, the older a dragon grew, the more powerful it became, making the Fountain of Youth nothing short of poison to them. Sunscreen went without saying—what dragon on earth needed sun protection?
If the dragon race staged a comeback and turned all sentient races into slaves, to whom could Anbaixiu sell his goods?
Moreover, dragons were plunderers by nature. They never engaged in production, only taking what belonged to others.
If a species like that ruled the world, commerce would cease to exist. How could Anbaixiu conduct business or make money then? By relying on looting everything himself?
Even the most formidable bandit could not bring in money as fast as doing business. That was an indisputable fact.
So what Anbaixiu had said before was genuinely true: he truly hoped the real Ryan would rule the continent so everyone could live in peace and prosperity, allowing him to amass a staggering fortune.
The ideal outcome, of course, was for the dragon race to remain half-dead and stuck overseas unable to return, leaving them with no choice but to wait for Anbaixiu to deliver food and drink while he, as the middleman, pocketed the markup.
Unfortunately, Gareth had no idea what method the Astral red dragons were using to break the covenant's influence, knowing only that it was a drawn-out process measured in years.
Those living dragons had once been as thick as thieves with the bone dragons, yet now that an opportunity to return to the mainland had presented itself, they began despising their former kin. This showed just how wretched the dragons' temperaments were—cooperating as equals was entirely out of the question.
After gathering this intelligence, Anbaixiu decided against heading to the overseas dragon island right away. Tensions were running high over there, and an outsider like him could easily draw a direct assault from the dragons.
Still, the situation could not simply be left alone. Anbaixiu asked Gareth to scout out information on the dragons, making sure not to miss any clue related to breaking the covenant.
In truth, having the Bone Dragon Eldest Miss gather this information would have been more suitable. A brute like Gareth was ill-suited for such meticulous work, whereas she possessed formidable stealth abilities, making her the ideal candidate for digging up intel.
Yet for some reason, the bone dragon lady had remained silent and showed no intention of paying Anbaixiu any mind. Even Gareth could not sway his own wife. Anbaixiu had no choice but to ask the Rose of Decay to help persuade her close friend.
Although the plan to visit the dragons was put on hold, Anbaixiu could not afford to sit idle. Before a world war broke out, he needed to rake in all the gold he could and settle the debts he owed.
If the world truly plunged into chaos, Anbaixiu could simply dig a hole somewhere, bury himself, and crawl back out once the dust settled.
Right now, the only debt Anbaixiu owed was to the Elven Gods: the drow elves needed to be tamed so Catherine could become their new deity.
Looking back, perhaps the Elven Gods had been plotting against Lolth the Spider Queen from the very start.
Only someone of pure goodness like Catherine would never be corrupted by the malice and cruelty of the drow elves. Once she became the god of the drow elves, she could guide these subterranean elves back into the greater family of the elven race.
Why Catherine had always enjoyed the favor of the Elven Gods, and why she could receive their blessings even after committing such outrageous blunders—it all made sense now.
Anbaixiu stepped out of his laboratory and headed to another sector of the dungeon.
Through continuous development, more than half of the dungeon had already been renovated.
The giant-sized architecture, originally unfit for normal human dimensions, had undergone repeated remodeling and was now suitable for beings of standard size.
The southern district had been allocated for Catherine and the drow elves to reside in. When Anbaixiu arrived, he saw that the area had transformed into a sea of blooms, where countless faintly glowing flowers adorned the quarter like a river of stars.
One had to admit that although the elves had many flaws, their aesthetics were truly superior to those of most sentient beings. These soft glows were arranged in tasteful harmony without overwhelming their surroundings, perfectly setting off the architecture's original beauty. Houses like these could easily fetch astronomical prices right now.
As Anbaixiu walked along, he could see many drow elves bustling about: some were tending to plants, some were mending clothes, some were cleaning, and quite a few were reading books... They did not look like cruel, malicious drow elves at all, but rather like a community of simple folk living in secluded retreat. Not bad at all. Regardless of whether the drow were putting on an act, Catherine's efforts had clearly yielded results.
Upon seeing the dungeon lord appear, the drow elves bowed respectfully, behaving with utmost obedience.
Anbaixiu arrived before a tall tower. It was covered in creeping vines, yet it did not look dilapidated in the least. The vines adorned the tower's outer walls in an exquisite pattern, and at a glance, one could spot the full moon emblem of the Moonlight Goddess, Sehanine Moonbow.
It was this very goddess who had bestowed upon Catherine the blessing of invulnerability under the moonlight, which had enabled Anbaixiu to withstand a strike from the Silvermoon Knight. Otherwise, his very soul would surely have dissipated by now.
Sehanine Moonbow held a rather unique status in the elven pantheon. She was the daughter of Corellon, King of the Elven Gods. Rumor had it that Corellon had fashioned the physical bodies of the elves, while the Moonlight Goddess had granted them life with her tears.
Later, due to Lolth the Spider Queen's betrayal, Corellon fell victim to a treacherous ambush and was gravely wounded. Sehanine Moonbow merged her divinity with two other goddesses to give birth to the triune goddess Angharradh, who healed Corellon's wounds and saved the entire elven pantheon.
In return, the goddess Angharradh became Corellon's second wife, known as the Queen of Arvandor.
To some extent, Sehanine Moonbow was both Corellon's daughter and his wife. It sounded rather incredible, but that was precisely what set deities apart from mortals.
Sehanine Moonbow existed independently, yet she was also part of Angharradh.
Thus, Sehanine Moonbow had not vanished. Hermits, seers, diviners, and illusion-weavers all favored praying to her, though it was extraordinarily difficult for anyone outside the elven race to receive an answer from her.
Back when Anbaixiu was still alive, he had tried placing his faith in this goddess, but the result was that she simply looked down on him. Left with no choice, Anbaixiu had had to rely on himself.
Musing on the past, Anbaixiu climbed the tower and met Catherine.
Having not seen each other for a long time, the Elven Queen's appearance had hardly changed, but her demeanor had.
The Catherine of the past gave off an air of naive innocence at every turn, allowing Anbaixiu to lead her around by the nose with ease. But seeing her now, though her eyes remained clear, her presence had matured considerably.
Catherine looked at Anbaixiu and smiled. "Long time no see. You finally found some free time to visit?"
Anbaixiu said apologetically, "I really was quite busy lately. But haven't I come to pay my debt the moment I finished? Looks like you've trained these drow elves quite well."
Catherine shook her head. "Only on the surface. In the past three days alone, I've faced five assassination attempts, and over the past month, forty drow elves have tried to escape."
Catherine took out a thick notebook and handed it to Anbaixiu.
Anbaixiu opened it to find detailed accounts of the drow elves' conduct. Catherine had diligently fulfilled Anbaixiu's instructions, recording every single detail.
The results were quite solid: Catherine could now distinguish with fair accuracy whether the food they brought was poisoned, and how many drow elves were trying to stab her in her sleep.
Yet the more she recorded, the more disappointed Catherine felt. These drow elves truly seemed to have no intention of mending their ways; they were merely obedient on the surface while doing everything they could to escape.
Anbaixiu flipped through the entries, then said to Catherine, "It hasn't been completely fruitless. Look at this drow elf named Constance. She should be the fruit of your recent training."
"Constance?" Catherine remembered the name well. Sighing, she said to Anbaixiu, "She has attempted assassination more times than any other drow elf. She's tried over fifteen different ways to kill me, and you're saying she's changed?"
Anbaixiu chuckled. "If you don't believe me, summon Constance over. I'll prove it to you."
Chapter 353