The dragon did not really care about them. As the snake has stated, young dragons start neutral but they can be good or evil depending on how they live their lives. They are basically sociopaths.
The author is basically retconing what the dragon has already done in the past. It was already leaning evil. He surrounded himself with lackeys that had evil tendencies too. Yes he cared about them but it was twisted and selfish.
A lot of commenters seem to be siding with the dragon and i'm confused why. The girl dying was the dragon's fault. If it was that powerful, the dragon could have searched for a cure for her instead of trying to dominate the martial arts world.
Also why blame the MC for the girl's death? The needles can't harm that lady because she is powerful enough to counter it. The swordsman protecting the girl was too arrogant and thought lowly of the MC cause he was from the Tang clan.
Yes! Exactly, all of this
I get it, I really do. Losing the people you love and consider family is one of the worst things we as humans can go through. ESPECIALLY since he seemed to be the type of person who REALLY cared about them, but damn man if he was so powerful couldn't he have prevented this? Couldn't the MC have prevented this if he was so powerful? Just a flick of the wrist and the needles could've taken out that bitch. Like bruh LMAO but I see how they're building up the story, I guess the MC is going to be the next dragon hunter?