At first, the Gang Hong Clan was rather confident, claiming a few victories while Wei Yi and Chao Ru, the two aberrant fighters, weren’t participating, but they were claimed less definitively than they would have preferred.
When those two, as well as some of the stronger fighters from the Brotherhood of Power, did return into the arena, they began to suffer loss after all, balancing out the numbers to the point that the two groups were almost equal in terms of scores by the time that the day was coming to a close, meaning that there would need to be one more duel by the end of it.
Before that, though, Wei Yi was able to conclude one more fight with one more final gain for the day, which was the advancement of the Heeled Balance Art and the Phoenix Transformation into the Minor Achievement stage, which didn’t reveal any particular advanced abilities from these two principles, but did greatly raise their power and stability, meaning that she was effectively more capable of walking around in the heeled boots than on her bare feet, although she would be lying if she said that she didn’t prefer the latter situation.
The Phoenix Transformation modifier was also significantly easier to use and was now sufficiently stable to be applied to other techniques, beyond the small strengthening effect that it offered initially.
Hopefully, if she was able to advance it to the Full Success stage, she would eventually be able to bring out the true nature of a phoenix rather than just the imitation that she currently displayed, much like the Scorching Blades showcased some approximation of the true nature of a dragon, perhaps allowing it to imbue her flame-based techniques in a similar way to the golden shade that oft appeared within them, or a similar shade that appeared within her blood-type planar energy.
That would take time, and she didn’t have it right now as the entirety of the Brotherhood of Power and the Gang Hong Clan were made to leave the lower chambers of the arena and led to the spectator seats, while the two leaders of the factions were made to go there instead.
Nobody knew the exact scores at the moment, since the arena managers and the leaders of both factions had come up with them in private and did not share them with anyone, giving only vague answers every now and then, but they were aware that such a duel was only scheduled to occur if there was a chance for it to turn the tides, as it were, and grant victory to the losing side with the vast number of points that would be earned from it. The fact that it would occur wasn’t a perfect situation for either one of them, as their power was relatively similar and their techniques specifically countered the abilities of the other, despite the wide difference in cultivation realm and searing mark count between them, but they wouldn’t pass on this opportunity to ensure their victory.
To give them enough time to prepare, the arena organisers instead brought out a performer, initially surprising everyone there.
They had come there for bloodshed and combat – perhaps less intense than what Wei Yi would provide, but combat nonetheless – and now they were going to see some kind of trick being performed by a performer? It was only when a large sheet, resembling a talisman only in material, was brought out that the more knowledgeable amongst the audience had an idea of what was intended.
‘Oh, I’ve heard about the Flashes of Antiquity talismans… This could be exciting, to say the least.’
After coughing a few times, the performer, a man obscured by loose robes and a hood that revealed only the tip of a white pointed beard, addressed the crowd, “Everyone, are you familiar with the tale of the Fated Dragon Hatchling?”
A few people indicated their awareness of the story, while most just nodded along regardless.
“Excellent. It is a simple tale, so even those that are unfamiliar with it will surely understand and enjoy what they are about to see. The sights will be extravagant, but they are all founded in reality.”
He raised the talisman sheet and displayed it to everyone, but even those from the Luo family understood nothing other than the fact that it was indeed a talisman, as it differed entirely from normal designs, containing not just two or three characters, but countless symbols overlapping, weaving into, and merging with one another, resulting in something that either resembled an indecipherable mess, or a fantastic piece of art of an abstract kind.
Wei Yi stared at it more than most, as she had personally experienced what it was like to create and use a talisman that was larger than usual. It had used her own blood, and was thus a somewhat messy affair, but she had accidentally managed to accomplish something that most wouldn’t try, so she did not only have a basic understanding of it, but she also wanted to acquire as much knowledge regarding talismans as possible to ensure that it would remain as one of her viable great arts. As such, she made sure to store the image of the talisman in full within her Ascendant’s Library and studied it as much as was possible before it was activated.
Unfortunately, her foundation in talismans was rather lacking in comparison to the other great arts, and as a result, she lacked the proper understanding of the characters that were written upon talismans, understanding only their function in typical situations. To understand the complex web of writing upon the Flashes of Antiquity talisman, she would require far, far more understanding of matters than that, which would come from countless tomes and excessive practise.
“I present: Fated Dragon Hatchling, Seventh Iteration.”
The man tore the talisman sheet slowly and carefully, almost like performing some kind of ceremony, or praying to a deity. It was split evenly, and once a quarter was torn apart, the edges of the torn portion began to light aflame, although it was no ordinary crimson fire but instead a soothing white glow.
It consumed the talisman sheet evenly and slowly, only growing faster once the two halves of the talisman were finally parted entirely, at which point it rapidly grew in intensity and devoured the entire sheet in an instant, leaving nothing but ash on the ground, which was quickly picked up by the wind and carried away as it turned to naught.
Before anyone had the chance to ponder whether something had gone wrong, the man kept his hands in the air and clapped them together slowly.
The entire arena seemed to shatter into minute particles of stone, wood, dirt and other substances, scattering a little like ink within water. All sound, light, smells, tastes, faint sensations that could normally felt within the world, vanished entirely, scattering alongside the particles of substance and vanishing into absolute darkness.
Even with the Third Eye, Wei Yi was only barely able to see traces of reality.
‘That makes sense, though. If it was capable of seeing through all illusions without fail, the Third Eye Elixir would have been one of the most valuable items during any conflicts with those that use illusions. Since that did not appear to ever be the case, only receiving niche usage, it is likely either that illusions are generally lacking in higher realms, which is highly likely, that the Third Eye is only suitable for lower level illusions, or that both were true and had led to it becoming worthless in the eyes of most.’
Why the Master of Yi City had seen fit to place two copies of the elixir within the Kong District was a different question entirely, and not one she or Yi Shi Ming could answer readily.
Instead of trying to decipher questions of the past, she focused on the present, and watched the effects of the talisman play out as she was certain that even if it wasn’t simply a pretty presentation of a presumed historical event, she would be able to see through it and any dangers it could present.
After a moment of absolute silence, a small flame lit up within the middle of the arena, although to most, this was a random point within the absolute abyss. It did not sit atop a pile of wood, coal, or any other flammable material – it just was. Just as the flame had no source, the large plumes of smoke that began to emerge from it had no clear origin either, since smoke naturally needed to come from some sort of fuel to appear.
What was far more attention grabbing to most people, however, was the way in which the smoke began to shape itself after a few moments, two figures slowly forming from it.
They were feminine, with large breasts and shapely bottoms that quickly caught the attention of the more lecherous in the crowd, but as horns, serpentine eyes and traces of scales appeared as details within the fog, it became clear even to them that these were not ordinary humans.
That was made even clearer when the smoke suddenly began to gain colour and texture, although it still retained the appearance of the grey gaseous substance. The skin of these figures was olive, their eyes were golden, surrounding black slit-like pupils and were themselves surrounded by white sclera, not particularly unusual considering some of the features that people of the Planar Continents have, but the black scales on parts of their bodies that did not need to bend or turn, similarly black horns sprouting from the middle of their hairlines, above the outer corners of their eyes, and the rather prominent bulge beneath one of their dresses that most certainly did not belong to a normal woman pointed to only one conclusion.
‘These are depictions of the ancient dragons. Then, the egg that they are both looking at is…’
The figures made of smoke were far larger than people, but this was just a method to convey the story, not the actual size of dragons in human form, as, at that point, human form would be entirely pointless, and everything around them was still ordinary in size, while the egg between the two was very large, larger than the two of their heads combined, meaning that this was a dragon egg laid in dragon form.
While she was pondering the overall composition of this image – and was silently rather impressed by the size of the thing concealed beneath the fanciful clothes of one of the dragons, although she didn’t have much interest in it besides a scholarly one – the dragons began to move, breathe, and speak.
“My love, our child is going to hatch soon. Have you considered the name that we shall bestow upon her?”
“I have given it some thought, darling. In our current state, with the humans growing ever more aggressive in their expansion, we are in great danger for the first time in countless years. As such, I think we must bestow upon her an auspicious, hopeful name, to carry us through the chaos,” the other dragon said, placing her hand upon the egg as she looked into her partner’s eyes, “I had thought of Long Zhuding. What do you think, my love?”
“Dragon, and fate, in the language of the humans. Then, wouldn’t Long Mingyun be closer?”
“Hm~, would it? Their language is ever so confusing…”
Although she said that, the marks of the second name appeared upon the egg through some supernatural means.
‘This is almost certainly the more human-favoured version of the story, since I recall seeing mentions of the draconic language. Each one of the letters in that is significantly more complex, so I doubt that any dragon would struggle with understanding the language of the Planar Continents,’ Wei Yi thought to herself, ‘At least they didn’t change these into enormous musclebound giants that kidnap women, or something of the sort. I’ve heard of those versions of the story.’
As someone without any links to dragons, other than finding their powers and appearances quite pleasant, she didn’t really care whether the story was changed one way or another, except for the fact that there appeared to be some truth in many tales of the past, meaning that with each major change to any one story, more and more of past knowledge was being lost. Due to this, any inaccuracies were significantly more unpleasant, and if her life was ever written down anywhere for any reason, she would naturally prefer it to remain as accurate as possible, so that nobody would have the chance to completely subvert her image and identity for their own pursuits and goals.
Nonetheless, she wouldn’t attempt to shatter the illusory darkness just for this. Most people would be unlikely to think of it as being real in the first place, so even incredibly large changes wouldn’t really matter here.
“Long Mingyun, grow up wise and strong, and lead us forth…”
The image in the smoke changed, advancing time and moving the scene to the top of a small mountain, in the midst of a great storm. Apart from the rain heading up, into the sky, everything was normal.
Both of the dragons were in their ordinary, draconic forms, black wings keeping them in the air as they breathed flame and launched incredibly complex planar constructs of all kinds at foes that were too far to be seen through the smoke. In the middle of the image, the egg remained mostly as it had been, except that it now occasionally shook while its parents fought with all that they had to protect it from the attackers.
It was slowly hatching, and its parents couldn’t even watch it occur.
While the scene had been playing out, the area that the smoke covered was also expanding, slowly granting all viewers the ability to see the ones that the two dragons were fighting with such great effort.
They were all humans, with planar anchors standing tall behind them, surrounded in spherical barriers that displayed a vast number of scorching marks, all of which were linked to the anchor with constant threads of energy. This meant that they were, at the very least, within the sixth realm, and that there was such an incredible number of them that they were able to pose a serious threat to dragons.
Through the Third Eye, Wei Yi was able to hear the faint gasps of amazement from some of those sitting near her, and after she took another look at the scene, she understood their feelings. The searing marks, linked channels and whatever else were quite impressive to behold, but their lustre had somehow faded in her eyes. Perhaps the number of times that she had witnessed greater things in the proximity of her own realm had caused her to be slightly less impressed, or perhaps it was the lacking presentation of these events that were clearly composed by those that did not have the full understanding of the realms they were portraying, causing them to appear far less impressive in comparison to the real thing.
Nonetheless, as the smoke grew thicker and the image clearer, she was able to see numerous wounds within the dragon’s scales, and their number only grew with every moment.
Despite that, they did not move away, nor allow a single human to advance. They stood their ground – while flying in the air – and guaranteed as much time for their child as their rapidly weakening bodies could possibly allow. They were all in the Oblivion Halo realm, as all adult dragons would be, and yet they couldn’t defeat a single human due to their powers combining and entirely stopping any attacks from the dragons.
For a moment, Wei Yi wondered whether this was what it was like to have a close family and parents that cared about their child, and if she could have experienced this if her parents hadn’t died when she was only a few years old.
It was a tempting line of thought, but she tossed it out of the library the instant that it appeared.
Cracks appeared within the dragon egg, cracks that slowly grew and covered the entire egg before a draconic child broke out of it in one go, exactly in time to witness both of her parents being brought down to the ground, their flesh being torn asunder and their eyes and scales quickly being gouged out and removed to be used by the people there.
Although it was incredibly young, it still understood basic things due to the innate intelligence that such entities as dragons were born with. It knew that it had just seen its parents die, and that she would perish if she stayed behind, so she desperately broke out of the egg and rushed away, figuring out how to use her limbs as she was going, stumbling countless times and nearly trapping herself several times as it couldn’t understand how to properly apply the body that it possessed.
Still, she just barely managed to get away, as the humans were far too occupied with looting the two dark bodies and likely didn’t even know that there was even an egg that the dragons were guarding.
The smoke continued to expand as the image changed once more, but Wei Yi was able to tell that it was soon going to reach its apex, after which it would only remain in place for a short length of time before the illusion would begin to recede once more, meaning that the overall duration of the tale was naturally far lesser than the full Fated Dragon Hatching was. It skipped how the dragons and humans had gotten into a conflict due to misunderstandings and assumptions from both sides, nor did it display how long the dragons had fought to ensure that their child would survive, with many characters also being removed for the sake of brevity, although most were not that important.
Thus, the scene finally transformed into one depicting a slightly older dragon, roughly matching the human age of ten. She stood opposite some other intelligent planar beasts – who were almost certainly an invention of some writer, for there were few intelligent beasts in the fourth realm – and breathed heavily, occasional tongues of flame emerging from her mouth.
To someone unfamiliar with the tale, this scene might be rather difficult to understand, since no explanation nor narration was provided, but it was ultimately a simple moment.
The child, Long Mingyun, had escaped the pursuit of humanity and was able to survive her first few days in the wild due to her inborn strength. Despite lacking experience, size, techniques and proper guidance, she was able to benefit from the draconic bloodline and grow while consuming what she could and when she could, eventually earning the attention of several planar beast packs in the area. More precisely, what she earned was their ire, as their easy hunting grounds had been unknowingly stolen by the dragon hatchling.
As a direct result, in the oldest tradition of cultivation, they came over to beat her up and steal any gains that she might have made before letting her go in some location of great danger, where she would be unable to survive the night.
When they saw that the entity stealing their food was a pure-blooded ancient dragon hatchling, already in the fifth realm from birth, although she lacked any of the searing marks that humans would accumulate due to the differences in draconic cultivation and progression, they were somewhat put off, but the least cowardly amongst them, the ice wolf, managed to convince them to attack regardless of their fears by pointing out the weakness of this young dragon.
Furthermore, they had some methods of learning about human affairs, and so they knew that a set of weaker humans was able to take down two stronger dragons. If that was the case, why wouldn’t they be able to take down one hatchling, even if they were only in the fourth realm?
Like that, the wolf, the tiger, the lion, the hawk, the titan beetle and the snake surrounded the poor dragon, who could barely manage to produce a proper spark of flame due to her youth.
The original story did not describe much about the dialogue that these two groups must have had, with negotiations occurring between the snake and the dragon, and this Flashes of Antiquity talisman ignored it as well, resuming time on the scene as conflict was already in progress, Long Mingyun desperately leaping at the snake as she thought it to be the weakest of the enemies before her due to its smaller size, while the other planar beasts lacked organisation and couldn’t decide when to attack all at once, nor how to do so, resulting in most of them holding back and watching as the dragon tried to bite down on the snake.
Immediately, they realised that the suggestions from the wolf were incredibly accurate, for the dragon could barely approach the slithering serpent, much less consume it in one gulp, which was what they were most afraid of.
That did not help with their cooperation and coordination, but it did mean that, slowly but surely, more and more attacks were sent at the dragon hatchling. Planar anchors fell onto the ground behind them, not far away in the slightest as they had no more fear of this ancient creature of legends – or, rather, not towards this particular hatchling. Clearly, tales of the immediate power of dragons were significantly over-exaggerated by those who had shared them.
Quite quickly, this scene began to resemble that of the initial conflict between the dragons and humans, except there were fewer combatants on either side.
Some of the audience gasped once more, seeing the wounds appearing on the body of this young creature, almost forcing Wei Yi to inspect them with her spiritual perception to confirm whether they were actually adults, or if some children had snuck in while she had been focusing on the scenes. Surely, they had to know what combat looked like, and the damage that it could result in?
When she did check a few of these people, she also recalled that they were not worried in the slightest about the extreme wounds when they were on humans, as she vividly remembered one of the spectators casually watching as she nearly split three people into little pieces not too long ago.
She hardly cared enough to actually go through with any kind response to this, so she just ignored their strange and nonsensical behaviours and continued observing, waiting for the action to turn in the dragon’s favour, which it did almost the moment that she had recalled the relevant portion of the story. Just as the dragon seemed to be close to death, it felt the flames within its throat ignite with far greater intensity, and all of the bloodline power within it unlock something within its very body and soul, unleashing an abrupt and unexpected clap of thunder.
It was followed immediately by a great burst of flame that instantly cooked the serpent and burnt half of the hawk’s wing, forcing it to land in less than stellar condition. Long Mingyun wasn’t able to fully control the flame at this point, and so she continued breathing fire at the rest of the attackers, melting much of the ice wolf and killing all but the titan beetle, that had burrowed into the ground long ago and was likely on the other side of the continent by now.
Only when the dragon hatchling was nearly exhausted did the flames come to an end, at which point her form suddenly shimmered. Its wings retreated into the body and the entirety of its shape transformed into that of a humanoid child, with this depiction of it showing the child miraculously covered by plain clothing that it would have had no opportunity to acquire in reality.
The wounds partially healed due to the change, but it also exhausted every bit of strength that was available to her, causing her to drop to the ground.
In that moment, she was extremely vulnerable, and the mostly molten wolf and injured eagle were well aware of this. The moment that they put out the flames that were threatening to consume them, they approached this dragon once more, thinking of how they would consume it and which one of them would get which part. The ice wolf, as displeased as it was with most of its mass being turned back into water, suggested caution this time, but the hawk was having none of it.
“You said it yourself, Bing Lang! This dragon is weak, and it is just lying there, waiting for us to eat it!”
“Ye Ying, have you lost your mind? That hatchling was clearly unaware of what it was doing, and yet it torched all of the guardians of the forest in one go! One of the most terrifying things about these ancient beasts is their ability to recall their bloodline and grow immensely from it. The moment that it wakes up, it will probably eat us all!”
“Then why are you delaying us both? We should be rushing to eat it first! Don’t suddenly lose your mind now-”
An explosion in the distance shook the ground, forcing their eyes towards it. The image in smoke just barely included it and showed a group of people dressed in armour approaching, each one wielding an artefact, a series of talismans, and a small inscription plate with a defensive effect.
“See, Ye Ying, I told you! Grab the dragon and help me bring it out of here!”
The injured ice wolf and leaf hawk grabbed onto the young child together, barely managing to drag it away with them as the humans advanced slowly, unaware of their presence as they hunted after various planar fauna and flora. Had they been able to glimpse the wolf, hawk and dragon in their escape, they would have most certainly chased after them, and the success of the humans would have been guaranteed, but as if the very heavens willed it, both sides moved in exactly the right manner for them to remain unseen.
The scene advanced once more, the smoke ceasing to expand and remaining in place as the dragon, wolf and hawk now stood on the edge of the forest, clearly having grown from the previous moment.
In the Fated Dragon Hatchling, several years had passed between these scenes, meaning that Long Mingyun had grown to a humanoid teenager while being unable to transform into a dragon once more. She formed a precarious alliance with the two beasts that had attacked her, as she did manage to unlock a few of her abilities and understood as well as they did that if they didn’t work together, they would be unlikely to survive for long.
Having spent some time together, they ended up growing surprisingly close, becoming friends that would only occasionally cast hungry glances at one another. Long Mingyun was tempted to eat them in order to gain a much greater quantity of energy and grow significantly in strength due to their fourth realm strength, while the other two were still drawn by the immense power that they could gain from her draconic bloodline, although neither side would actually commit to such an action due to their combined experiences.
Now, they had made their way out of their forest, guided by the instincts of the dragon, the senses of the wolf, and the observation abilities of the hawk, and looked up at an enormous mountain.
“Is this where your blood has been leading us?” asked Ye Ying, standing on the back of the ice wolf, “I doubt that either of you have any semblance of an ability to get up there, but I can tell you that I have no ability to fly that high, or up such a steep surface.”
“I cannot climb it, although the peaks would be good for my skin,” remarked Bing Lang.
“However, we must go up there. I don’t know what we will find, but it must be significant enough for my blood to guide me there. We must ascend the mountain and see exactly what it is that we have been pursuing for so long,” Long Mingyun declared, turning to the other two, “We’ve been together for so long. Will you continue walking with me?”
“No,” said the leaf hawk, “I will not be able to make it.”
“No,” said the ice wolf, “My legs may be strong, but they are not strong enough.”
Thus, they decisively turned away, as if this had nothing to do with them, and walked off, the hawk still resting on the wolf.
The young dragon, despite all of the experiences that she had within this world, had never yet dealt with allies, friends that she had made despite the initial circumstances, leaving her at such an important moment, and so she fell to her knees and cried the moment that they left the scene. Despite her immense beauty, bestowed upon her by her draconic bloodline, this act could hardly be called beautiful, although the truth was likely changed by both the original story and this portrayal to look a little more dignified.
After she had poured out her grief, however, she stood up and looked towards the mountain once again, as she knew what she had to do and wouldn’t be stopped from doing so no matter what happened. Whether this calling was from her parents, ancestors or even the very blood itself, she would pursue it until the end, as it was essentially the only thing she had left.
Without much preparation, she began the climb.
As the smoke began to recede, the time within the scene also appeared to accelerate. Just as with every other moment, the centre of the smoke depicted the young dragon, with the mountain before her moving as she ascended it slowly, with occasional failures, falls and disasters on the way. It was easy at first, as the climb wasn’t that steep nor particularly dangerous, but as the poor child rose higher and higher, it was more and more difficult for her to make even a proper step of progress.
After a while, it was as if the scene had been slowed down beyond normal, although it was obvious judging by the dragon hatchling’s growth that this was not the case. She went from being a teenager to a young adult, attaining the equivalent of the human age of nineteen, and continued up the mountain all the same, occasionally hunting various creatures that lived within the stone and skies of the mountain, the name of which was never mentioned in the scene or in the original tale, leading most to believe that even if any of the tale was actually true, the mountain itself was simply made up and that the thing found at the top was not truly there.
Speaking of which, the peak of the mountain was finally revealed after a long enough stretch of time that those watching almost felt as if they had truly followed her all the way there, without the temporal dilation.
They saw a small cave entrance, which the dragon entered and lit with a flame, although the reality of the situation would have likely been that she could see in the darkness through the natural fire within her heart, and that the added flame was probably just there as another aesthetic discrepancy. At first, there was little within the cave, but as she ventured further, all of the audience could feel a faint warmth from deeper in the ground that prompted their curiosity and Long Mingyun’s haste.
After a sudden turn, the nature of what she was searching for was finally revealed.
Countless draconic eggs lined the walls, each one a different colour and size, but all of them contained the great warmth of a living thing. Further in, more eggs were also placed all over the place, with some coated in frost while others were nearly covered in plant growth, vines, moss and leaves. Even here, where there was no sustenance for these things, they endured due to the immense lifeforce of the dragons in the eggs.
As for why they were still there, in that state, despite such a long length of time undoubtedly passing since they were placed there… dragons were a curious species that often said quite a number of strange things to the other intelligent entities of the continents. Creating a secret vault of eggs for some uncertain time and purpose was hardly unusual for them.
They were also able to prevent their children from hatching – or perhaps warn their children, who would then control this themselves – for incredibly long periods of time, as entities at the level of the fifth realm could certainly sustain themselves using nothing more than the planar energy around them, and they even had the insides of the egg, as well as the shell, to assist them further if the quantity of energy fell for whatever reason. From the representation of the eggs in the smoke, it did not appear like they had to go that far to survive.
Long Mingyun was understandably amazed, standing in awe near the largest collection of eggs of all colours and textures for several minutes of real time, only looking back when she felt the ground tremble once more.
While the smoke continued to recede, the image rushed ahead until the young dragon stood at the entrance of the cave and watched as countless humans rushed towards it in a mad mob. Somewhere behind them was a mount on which a dead ice wolf and leaf hawk lay, likely killed not long ago by the people before they began to pursue the last member of their small party.
The young dragon couldn’t possibly know whether or not they had told them about her, or if the humans had found some other source of information regarding this location, but she did know that she couldn’t possibly allow them to enter and desecrate the countless dragon eggs that had been hidden away. Whether her blood had resonated with all of these eggs by coincidence, or if there was a force that had intentionally guided her here with some deeper meaning and purpose, she would never allow her fellow dragons to perish, much like she nearly did at the hands of very similar humans. She would do everything she possibly could to stop the wave.
By some stroke of fortune, these particular attackers were primarily in the fifth realm, and they were only reasonably powerful by human standards, meaning that they were significantly weaker than any dragon, especially a dragon that was nearing the sixth realm due to her natural growth.
Less fortunately than that, however, their numbers were immense, filling the smoke image in its entirety and likely carrying on far beyond it, countless individuals ascending the mountain in all kinds of ways, using flame, water, wind, stone and wood energy and planar constructs to complete her lengthy climb in a matter of days, whereas she needed years.
For the third time, the scene before the viewers appeared to repeat itself. A dragon, guarding something they cared for, being struck and wounded, and perhaps due to the current humanoid form of Long Mingyun, the audience couldn’t help but feel more for her, some almost experiencing the wounds themselves as they quietly cried out with each attack, prompting further annoyance from Wei Yi as she decided to look around once more.
Just as the dragon was about to meet its end, it prepared to unleash a devastating attack to seal the caves and prevent the humans from discovering the things within, when a human emerged from the army and approached the dragon with extreme calmness.
Some dialogue followed, but Wei Yi was already far more focused on his appearance.
From the memories that she had seen within the Kong Prison Realm, this man looked, acted, and spoke exactly as the Master of Yi City, Kong Shi Meng, had, and thus she understood one thing.
Whatever details were changed by the creator of these images, they had, at some point, obtained enough information to recreate the image of the Master of Yi City, even if they had no idea that they had achieved this. Judging by the way in which the man within the smoke spoke, it was likely that he was considered to be a powerful leader amongst humans, rather than their most powerful. However, since this was accurate, the image of the mountain might be accurate. The cave might be accurate. And, if things went as the Fated Dragon Hatchling described them, then there might now be countless dragons living here to this day.
‘I must search for this place, some day, and uncover the truth. Countless living dragons…’
At first, the Gang Hong Clan was rather confident, claiming a few victories while Wei Yi and Chao Ru, the two aberrant fighters, weren’t participating, but they were claimed less definitively than they would have preferred.
When those two, as well as some of the stronger fighters from the Brotherhood of Power, did return into the arena, they began to suffer loss after all, balancing out the numbers to the point that the two groups were almost equal in terms of scores by the time that the day was coming to a close, meaning that there would need to be one more duel by the end of it.
Before that, though, Wei Yi was able to conclude one more fight with one more final gain for the day, which was the advancement of the Heeled Balance Art and the Phoenix Transformation into the Minor Achievement stage, which didn’t reveal any particular advanced abilities from these two principles, but did greatly raise their power and stability, meaning that she was effectively more capable of walking around in the heeled boots than on her bare feet, although she would be lying if she said that she didn’t prefer the latter situation.
The Phoenix Transformation modifier was also significantly easier to use and was now sufficiently stable to be applied to other techniques, beyond the small strengthening effect that it offered initially.
Hopefully, if she was able to advance it to the Full Success stage, she would eventually be able to bring out the true nature of a phoenix rather than just the imitation that she currently displayed, much like the Scorching Blades showcased some approximation of the true nature of a dragon, perhaps allowing it to imbue her flame-based techniques in a similar way to the golden shade that oft appeared within them, or a similar shade that appeared within her blood-type planar energy.
That would take time, and she didn’t have it right now as the entirety of the Brotherhood of Power and the Gang Hong Clan were made to leave the lower chambers of the arena and led to the spectator seats, while the two leaders of the factions were made to go there instead.
Nobody knew the exact scores at the moment, since the arena managers and the leaders of both factions had come up with them in private and did not share them with anyone, giving only vague answers every now and then, but they were aware that such a duel was only scheduled to occur if there was a chance for it to turn the tides, as it were, and grant victory to the losing side with the vast number of points that would be earned from it. The fact that it would occur wasn’t a perfect situation for either one of them, as their power was relatively similar and their techniques specifically countered the abilities of the other, despite the wide difference in cultivation realm and searing mark count between them, but they wouldn’t pass on this opportunity to ensure their victory.
To give them enough time to prepare, the arena organisers instead brought out a performer, initially surprising everyone there.
They had come there for bloodshed and combat – perhaps less intense than what Wei Yi would provide, but combat nonetheless – and now they were going to see some kind of trick being performed by a performer? It was only when a large sheet, resembling a talisman only in material, was brought out that the more knowledgeable amongst the audience had an idea of what was intended.
‘Oh, I’ve heard about the Flashes of Antiquity talismans… This could be exciting, to say the least.’
After coughing a few times, the performer, a man obscured by loose robes and a hood that revealed only the tip of a white pointed beard, addressed the crowd, “Everyone, are you familiar with the tale of the Fated Dragon Hatchling?”
A few people indicated their awareness of the story, while most just nodded along regardless.
“Excellent. It is a simple tale, so even those that are unfamiliar with it will surely understand and enjoy what they are about to see. The sights will be extravagant, but they are all founded in reality.”
He raised the talisman sheet and displayed it to everyone, but even those from the Luo family understood nothing other than the fact that it was indeed a talisman, as it differed entirely from normal designs, containing not just two or three characters, but countless symbols overlapping, weaving into, and merging with one another, resulting in something that either resembled an indecipherable mess, or a fantastic piece of art of an abstract kind.
Wei Yi stared at it more than most, as she had personally experienced what it was like to create and use a talisman that was larger than usual. It had used her own blood, and was thus a somewhat messy affair, but she had accidentally managed to accomplish something that most wouldn’t try, so she did not only have a basic understanding of it, but she also wanted to acquire as much knowledge regarding talismans as possible to ensure that it would remain as one of her viable great arts. As such, she made sure to store the image of the talisman in full within her Ascendant’s Library and studied it as much as was possible before it was activated.
Unfortunately, her foundation in talismans was rather lacking in comparison to the other great arts, and as a result, she lacked the proper understanding of the characters that were written upon talismans, understanding only their function in typical situations. To understand the complex web of writing upon the Flashes of Antiquity talisman, she would require far, far more understanding of matters than that, which would come from countless tomes and excessive practise.
“I present: Fated Dragon Hatchling, Seventh Iteration.”
The man tore the talisman sheet slowly and carefully, almost like performing some kind of ceremony, or praying to a deity. It was split evenly, and once a quarter was torn apart, the edges of the torn portion began to light aflame, although it was no ordinary crimson fire but instead a soothing white glow.
It consumed the talisman sheet evenly and slowly, only growing faster once the two halves of the talisman were finally parted entirely, at which point it rapidly grew in intensity and devoured the entire sheet in an instant, leaving nothing but ash on the ground, which was quickly picked up by the wind and carried away as it turned to naught.
Before anyone had the chance to ponder whether something had gone wrong, the man kept his hands in the air and clapped them together slowly.
The entire arena seemed to shatter into minute particles of stone, wood, dirt and other substances, scattering a little like ink within water. All sound, light, smells, tastes, faint sensations that could normally felt within the world, vanished entirely, scattering alongside the particles of substance and vanishing into absolute darkness.
Even with the Third Eye, Wei Yi was only barely able to see traces of reality.
‘That makes sense, though. If it was capable of seeing through all illusions without fail, the Third Eye Elixir would have been one of the most valuable items during any conflicts with those that use illusions. Since that did not appear to ever be the case, only receiving niche usage, it is likely either that illusions are generally lacking in higher realms, which is highly likely, that the Third Eye is only suitable for lower level illusions, or that both were true and had led to it becoming worthless in the eyes of most.’
Why the Master of Yi City had seen fit to place two copies of the elixir within the Kong District was a different question entirely, and not one she or Yi Shi Ming could answer readily.
Instead of trying to decipher questions of the past, she focused on the present, and watched the effects of the talisman play out as she was certain that even if it wasn’t simply a pretty presentation of a presumed historical event, she would be able to see through it and any dangers it could present.
After a moment of absolute silence, a small flame lit up within the middle of the arena, although to most, this was a random point within the absolute abyss. It did not sit atop a pile of wood, coal, or any other flammable material – it just was. Just as the flame had no source, the large plumes of smoke that began to emerge from it had no clear origin either, since smoke naturally needed to come from some sort of fuel to appear.
What was far more attention grabbing to most people, however, was the way in which the smoke began to shape itself after a few moments, two figures slowly forming from it.
They were feminine, with large breasts and shapely bottoms that quickly caught the attention of the more lecherous in the crowd, but as horns, serpentine eyes and traces of scales appeared as details within the fog, it became clear even to them that these were not ordinary humans.
That was made even clearer when the smoke suddenly began to gain colour and texture, although it still retained the appearance of the grey gaseous substance. The skin of these figures was olive, their eyes were golden, surrounding black slit-like pupils and were themselves surrounded by white sclera, not particularly unusual considering some of the features that people of the Planar Continents have, but the black scales on parts of their bodies that did not need to bend or turn, similarly black horns sprouting from the middle of their hairlines, above the outer corners of their eyes, and the rather prominent bulge beneath one of their dresses that most certainly did not belong to a normal woman pointed to only one conclusion.
‘These are depictions of the ancient dragons. Then, the egg that they are both looking at is…’
The figures made of smoke were far larger than people, but this was just a method to convey the story, not the actual size of dragons in human form, as, at that point, human form would be entirely pointless, and everything around them was still ordinary in size, while the egg between the two was very large, larger than the two of their heads combined, meaning that this was a dragon egg laid in dragon form.
While she was pondering the overall composition of this image – and was silently rather impressed by the size of the thing concealed beneath the fanciful clothes of one of the dragons, although she didn’t have much interest in it besides a scholarly one – the dragons began to move, breathe, and speak.
“My love, our child is going to hatch soon. Have you considered the name that we shall bestow upon her?”
“I have given it some thought, darling. In our current state, with the humans growing ever more aggressive in their expansion, we are in great danger for the first time in countless years. As such, I think we must bestow upon her an auspicious, hopeful name, to carry us through the chaos,” the other dragon said, placing her hand upon the egg as she looked into her partner’s eyes, “I had thought of Long Zhuding. What do you think, my love?”
“Dragon, and fate, in the language of the humans. Then, wouldn’t Long Mingyun be closer?”
“Hm~, would it? Their language is ever so confusing…”
Although she said that, the marks of the second name appeared upon the egg through some supernatural means.
‘This is almost certainly the more human-favoured version of the story, since I recall seeing mentions of the draconic language. Each one of the letters in that is significantly more complex, so I doubt that any dragon would struggle with understanding the language of the Planar Continents,’ Wei Yi thought to herself, ‘At least they didn’t change these into enormous musclebound giants that kidnap women, or something of the sort. I’ve heard of those versions of the story.’
As someone without any links to dragons, other than finding their powers and appearances quite pleasant, she didn’t really care whether the story was changed one way or another, except for the fact that there appeared to be some truth in many tales of the past, meaning that with each major change to any one story, more and more of past knowledge was being lost. Due to this, any inaccuracies were significantly more unpleasant, and if her life was ever written down anywhere for any reason, she would naturally prefer it to remain as accurate as possible, so that nobody would have the chance to completely subvert her image and identity for their own pursuits and goals.
Nonetheless, she wouldn’t attempt to shatter the illusory darkness just for this. Most people would be unlikely to think of it as being real in the first place, so even incredibly large changes wouldn’t really matter here.
“Long Mingyun, grow up wise and strong, and lead us forth…”
The image in the smoke changed, advancing time and moving the scene to the top of a small mountain, in the midst of a great storm. Apart from the rain heading up, into the sky, everything was normal.
Both of the dragons were in their ordinary, draconic forms, black wings keeping them in the air as they breathed flame and launched incredibly complex planar constructs of all kinds at foes that were too far to be seen through the smoke. In the middle of the image, the egg remained mostly as it had been, except that it now occasionally shook while its parents fought with all that they had to protect it from the attackers.
It was slowly hatching, and its parents couldn’t even watch it occur.
While the scene had been playing out, the area that the smoke covered was also expanding, slowly granting all viewers the ability to see the ones that the two dragons were fighting with such great effort.
They were all humans, with planar anchors standing tall behind them, surrounded in spherical barriers that displayed a vast number of scorching marks, all of which were linked to the anchor with constant threads of energy. This meant that they were, at the very least, within the sixth realm, and that there was such an incredible number of them that they were able to pose a serious threat to dragons.
Through the Third Eye, Wei Yi was able to hear the faint gasps of amazement from some of those sitting near her, and after she took another look at the scene, she understood their feelings. The searing marks, linked channels and whatever else were quite impressive to behold, but their lustre had somehow faded in her eyes. Perhaps the number of times that she had witnessed greater things in the proximity of her own realm had caused her to be slightly less impressed, or perhaps it was the lacking presentation of these events that were clearly composed by those that did not have the full understanding of the realms they were portraying, causing them to appear far less impressive in comparison to the real thing.
Nonetheless, as the smoke grew thicker and the image clearer, she was able to see numerous wounds within the dragon’s scales, and their number only grew with every moment.
Despite that, they did not move away, nor allow a single human to advance. They stood their ground – while flying in the air – and guaranteed as much time for their child as their rapidly weakening bodies could possibly allow. They were all in the Oblivion Halo realm, as all adult dragons would be, and yet they couldn’t defeat a single human due to their powers combining and entirely stopping any attacks from the dragons.
For a moment, Wei Yi wondered whether this was what it was like to have a close family and parents that cared about their child, and if she could have experienced this if her parents hadn’t died when she was only a few years old.
It was a tempting line of thought, but she tossed it out of the library the instant that it appeared.
Cracks appeared within the dragon egg, cracks that slowly grew and covered the entire egg before a draconic child broke out of it in one go, exactly in time to witness both of her parents being brought down to the ground, their flesh being torn asunder and their eyes and scales quickly being gouged out and removed to be used by the people there.
Although it was incredibly young, it still understood basic things due to the innate intelligence that such entities as dragons were born with. It knew that it had just seen its parents die, and that she would perish if she stayed behind, so she desperately broke out of the egg and rushed away, figuring out how to use her limbs as she was going, stumbling countless times and nearly trapping herself several times as it couldn’t understand how to properly apply the body that it possessed.
Still, she just barely managed to get away, as the humans were far too occupied with looting the two dark bodies and likely didn’t even know that there was even an egg that the dragons were guarding.
The smoke continued to expand as the image changed once more, but Wei Yi was able to tell that it was soon going to reach its apex, after which it would only remain in place for a short length of time before the illusion would begin to recede once more, meaning that the overall duration of the tale was naturally far lesser than the full Fated Dragon Hatching was. It skipped how the dragons and humans had gotten into a conflict due to misunderstandings and assumptions from both sides, nor did it display how long the dragons had fought to ensure that their child would survive, with many characters also being removed for the sake of brevity, although most were not that important.
Thus, the scene finally transformed into one depicting a slightly older dragon, roughly matching the human age of ten. She stood opposite some other intelligent planar beasts – who were almost certainly an invention of some writer, for there were few intelligent beasts in the fourth realm – and breathed heavily, occasional tongues of flame emerging from her mouth.
To someone unfamiliar with the tale, this scene might be rather difficult to understand, since no explanation nor narration was provided, but it was ultimately a simple moment.
The child, Long Mingyun, had escaped the pursuit of humanity and was able to survive her first few days in the wild due to her inborn strength. Despite lacking experience, size, techniques and proper guidance, she was able to benefit from the draconic bloodline and grow while consuming what she could and when she could, eventually earning the attention of several planar beast packs in the area. More precisely, what she earned was their ire, as their easy hunting grounds had been unknowingly stolen by the dragon hatchling.
As a direct result, in the oldest tradition of cultivation, they came over to beat her up and steal any gains that she might have made before letting her go in some location of great danger, where she would be unable to survive the night.
When they saw that the entity stealing their food was a pure-blooded ancient dragon hatchling, already in the fifth realm from birth, although she lacked any of the searing marks that humans would accumulate due to the differences in draconic cultivation and progression, they were somewhat put off, but the least cowardly amongst them, the ice wolf, managed to convince them to attack regardless of their fears by pointing out the weakness of this young dragon.
Furthermore, they had some methods of learning about human affairs, and so they knew that a set of weaker humans was able to take down two stronger dragons. If that was the case, why wouldn’t they be able to take down one hatchling, even if they were only in the fourth realm?
Like that, the wolf, the tiger, the lion, the hawk, the titan beetle and the snake surrounded the poor dragon, who could barely manage to produce a proper spark of flame due to her youth.
The original story did not describe much about the dialogue that these two groups must have had, with negotiations occurring between the snake and the dragon, and this Flashes of Antiquity talisman ignored it as well, resuming time on the scene as conflict was already in progress, Long Mingyun desperately leaping at the snake as she thought it to be the weakest of the enemies before her due to its smaller size, while the other planar beasts lacked organisation and couldn’t decide when to attack all at once, nor how to do so, resulting in most of them holding back and watching as the dragon tried to bite down on the snake.
Immediately, they realised that the suggestions from the wolf were incredibly accurate, for the dragon could barely approach the slithering serpent, much less consume it in one gulp, which was what they were most afraid of.
That did not help with their cooperation and coordination, but it did mean that, slowly but surely, more and more attacks were sent at the dragon hatchling. Planar anchors fell onto the ground behind them, not far away in the slightest as they had no more fear of this ancient creature of legends – or, rather, not towards this particular hatchling. Clearly, tales of the immediate power of dragons were significantly over-exaggerated by those who had shared them.
Quite quickly, this scene began to resemble that of the initial conflict between the dragons and humans, except there were fewer combatants on either side.
Some of the audience gasped once more, seeing the wounds appearing on the body of this young creature, almost forcing Wei Yi to inspect them with her spiritual perception to confirm whether they were actually adults, or if some children had snuck in while she had been focusing on the scenes. Surely, they had to know what combat looked like, and the damage that it could result in?
When she did check a few of these people, she also recalled that they were not worried in the slightest about the extreme wounds when they were on humans, as she vividly remembered one of the spectators casually watching as she nearly split three people into little pieces not too long ago.
She hardly cared enough to actually go through with any kind response to this, so she just ignored their strange and nonsensical behaviours and continued observing, waiting for the action to turn in the dragon’s favour, which it did almost the moment that she had recalled the relevant portion of the story. Just as the dragon seemed to be close to death, it felt the flames within its throat ignite with far greater intensity, and all of the bloodline power within it unlock something within its very body and soul, unleashing an abrupt and unexpected clap of thunder.
It was followed immediately by a great burst of flame that instantly cooked the serpent and burnt half of the hawk’s wing, forcing it to land in less than stellar condition. Long Mingyun wasn’t able to fully control the flame at this point, and so she continued breathing fire at the rest of the attackers, melting much of the ice wolf and killing all but the titan beetle, that had burrowed into the ground long ago and was likely on the other side of the continent by now.
Only when the dragon hatchling was nearly exhausted did the flames come to an end, at which point her form suddenly shimmered. Its wings retreated into the body and the entirety of its shape transformed into that of a humanoid child, with this depiction of it showing the child miraculously covered by plain clothing that it would have had no opportunity to acquire in reality.
The wounds partially healed due to the change, but it also exhausted every bit of strength that was available to her, causing her to drop to the ground.
In that moment, she was extremely vulnerable, and the mostly molten wolf and injured eagle were well aware of this. The moment that they put out the flames that were threatening to consume them, they approached this dragon once more, thinking of how they would consume it and which one of them would get which part. The ice wolf, as displeased as it was with most of its mass being turned back into water, suggested caution this time, but the hawk was having none of it.
“You said it yourself, Bing Lang! This dragon is weak, and it is just lying there, waiting for us to eat it!”
“Ye Ying, have you lost your mind? That hatchling was clearly unaware of what it was doing, and yet it torched all of the guardians of the forest in one go! One of the most terrifying things about these ancient beasts is their ability to recall their bloodline and grow immensely from it. The moment that it wakes up, it will probably eat us all!”
“Then why are you delaying us both? We should be rushing to eat it first! Don’t suddenly lose your mind now-”
An explosion in the distance shook the ground, forcing their eyes towards it. The image in smoke just barely included it and showed a group of people dressed in armour approaching, each one wielding an artefact, a series of talismans, and a small inscription plate with a defensive effect.
“See, Ye Ying, I told you! Grab the dragon and help me bring it out of here!”
The injured ice wolf and leaf hawk grabbed onto the young child together, barely managing to drag it away with them as the humans advanced slowly, unaware of their presence as they hunted after various planar fauna and flora. Had they been able to glimpse the wolf, hawk and dragon in their escape, they would have most certainly chased after them, and the success of the humans would have been guaranteed, but as if the very heavens willed it, both sides moved in exactly the right manner for them to remain unseen.
The scene advanced once more, the smoke ceasing to expand and remaining in place as the dragon, wolf and hawk now stood on the edge of the forest, clearly having grown from the previous moment.
In the Fated Dragon Hatchling, several years had passed between these scenes, meaning that Long Mingyun had grown to a humanoid teenager while being unable to transform into a dragon once more. She formed a precarious alliance with the two beasts that had attacked her, as she did manage to unlock a few of her abilities and understood as well as they did that if they didn’t work together, they would be unlikely to survive for long.
Having spent some time together, they ended up growing surprisingly close, becoming friends that would only occasionally cast hungry glances at one another. Long Mingyun was tempted to eat them in order to gain a much greater quantity of energy and grow significantly in strength due to their fourth realm strength, while the other two were still drawn by the immense power that they could gain from her draconic bloodline, although neither side would actually commit to such an action due to their combined experiences.
Now, they had made their way out of their forest, guided by the instincts of the dragon, the senses of the wolf, and the observation abilities of the hawk, and looked up at an enormous mountain.
“Is this where your blood has been leading us?” asked Ye Ying, standing on the back of the ice wolf, “I doubt that either of you have any semblance of an ability to get up there, but I can tell you that I have no ability to fly that high, or up such a steep surface.”
“I cannot climb it, although the peaks would be good for my skin,” remarked Bing Lang.
“However, we must go up there. I don’t know what we will find, but it must be significant enough for my blood to guide me there. We must ascend the mountain and see exactly what it is that we have been pursuing for so long,” Long Mingyun declared, turning to the other two, “We’ve been together for so long. Will you continue walking with me?”
“No,” said the leaf hawk, “I will not be able to make it.”
“No,” said the ice wolf, “My legs may be strong, but they are not strong enough.”
Thus, they decisively turned away, as if this had nothing to do with them, and walked off, the hawk still resting on the wolf.
The young dragon, despite all of the experiences that she had within this world, had never yet dealt with allies, friends that she had made despite the initial circumstances, leaving her at such an important moment, and so she fell to her knees and cried the moment that they left the scene. Despite her immense beauty, bestowed upon her by her draconic bloodline, this act could hardly be called beautiful, although the truth was likely changed by both the original story and this portrayal to look a little more dignified.
After she had poured out her grief, however, she stood up and looked towards the mountain once again, as she knew what she had to do and wouldn’t be stopped from doing so no matter what happened. Whether this calling was from her parents, ancestors or even the very blood itself, she would pursue it until the end, as it was essentially the only thing she had left.
Without much preparation, she began the climb.
As the smoke began to recede, the time within the scene also appeared to accelerate. Just as with every other moment, the centre of the smoke depicted the young dragon, with the mountain before her moving as she ascended it slowly, with occasional failures, falls and disasters on the way. It was easy at first, as the climb wasn’t that steep nor particularly dangerous, but as the poor child rose higher and higher, it was more and more difficult for her to make even a proper step of progress.
After a while, it was as if the scene had been slowed down beyond normal, although it was obvious judging by the dragon hatchling’s growth that this was not the case. She went from being a teenager to a young adult, attaining the equivalent of the human age of nineteen, and continued up the mountain all the same, occasionally hunting various creatures that lived within the stone and skies of the mountain, the name of which was never mentioned in the scene or in the original tale, leading most to believe that even if any of the tale was actually true, the mountain itself was simply made up and that the thing found at the top was not truly there.
Speaking of which, the peak of the mountain was finally revealed after a long enough stretch of time that those watching almost felt as if they had truly followed her all the way there, without the temporal dilation.
They saw a small cave entrance, which the dragon entered and lit with a flame, although the reality of the situation would have likely been that she could see in the darkness through the natural fire within her heart, and that the added flame was probably just there as another aesthetic discrepancy. At first, there was little within the cave, but as she ventured further, all of the audience could feel a faint warmth from deeper in the ground that prompted their curiosity and Long Mingyun’s haste.
After a sudden turn, the nature of what she was searching for was finally revealed.
Countless draconic eggs lined the walls, each one a different colour and size, but all of them contained the great warmth of a living thing. Further in, more eggs were also placed all over the place, with some coated in frost while others were nearly covered in plant growth, vines, moss and leaves. Even here, where there was no sustenance for these things, they endured due to the immense lifeforce of the dragons in the eggs.
As for why they were still there, in that state, despite such a long length of time undoubtedly passing since they were placed there… dragons were a curious species that often said quite a number of strange things to the other intelligent entities of the continents. Creating a secret vault of eggs for some uncertain time and purpose was hardly unusual for them.
They were also able to prevent their children from hatching – or perhaps warn their children, who would then control this themselves – for incredibly long periods of time, as entities at the level of the fifth realm could certainly sustain themselves using nothing more than the planar energy around them, and they even had the insides of the egg, as well as the shell, to assist them further if the quantity of energy fell for whatever reason. From the representation of the eggs in the smoke, it did not appear like they had to go that far to survive.
Long Mingyun was understandably amazed, standing in awe near the largest collection of eggs of all colours and textures for several minutes of real time, only looking back when she felt the ground tremble once more.
While the smoke continued to recede, the image rushed ahead until the young dragon stood at the entrance of the cave and watched as countless humans rushed towards it in a mad mob. Somewhere behind them was a mount on which a dead ice wolf and leaf hawk lay, likely killed not long ago by the people before they began to pursue the last member of their small party.
The young dragon couldn’t possibly know whether or not they had told them about her, or if the humans had found some other source of information regarding this location, but she did know that she couldn’t possibly allow them to enter and desecrate the countless dragon eggs that had been hidden away. Whether her blood had resonated with all of these eggs by coincidence, or if there was a force that had intentionally guided her here with some deeper meaning and purpose, she would never allow her fellow dragons to perish, much like she nearly did at the hands of very similar humans. She would do everything she possibly could to stop the wave.
By some stroke of fortune, these particular attackers were primarily in the fifth realm, and they were only reasonably powerful by human standards, meaning that they were significantly weaker than any dragon, especially a dragon that was nearing the sixth realm due to her natural growth.
Less fortunately than that, however, their numbers were immense, filling the smoke image in its entirety and likely carrying on far beyond it, countless individuals ascending the mountain in all kinds of ways, using flame, water, wind, stone and wood energy and planar constructs to complete her lengthy climb in a matter of days, whereas she needed years.
For the third time, the scene before the viewers appeared to repeat itself. A dragon, guarding something they cared for, being struck and wounded, and perhaps due to the current humanoid form of Long Mingyun, the audience couldn’t help but feel more for her, some almost experiencing the wounds themselves as they quietly cried out with each attack, prompting further annoyance from Wei Yi as she decided to look around once more.
Just as the dragon was about to meet its end, it prepared to unleash a devastating attack to seal the caves and prevent the humans from discovering the things within, when a human emerged from the army and approached the dragon with extreme calmness.
Some dialogue followed, but Wei Yi was already far more focused on his appearance.
From the memories that she had seen within the Kong Prison Realm, this man looked, acted, and spoke exactly as the Master of Yi City, Kong Shi Meng, had, and thus she understood one thing.
Whatever details were changed by the creator of these images, they had, at some point, obtained enough information to recreate the image of the Master of Yi City, even if they had no idea that they had achieved this. Judging by the way in which the man within the smoke spoke, it was likely that he was considered to be a powerful leader amongst humans, rather than their most powerful. However, since this was accurate, the image of the mountain might be accurate. The cave might be accurate. And, if things went as the Fated Dragon Hatchling described them, then there might now be countless dragons living here to this day.
‘I must search for this place, some day, and uncover the truth. Countless living dragons…’
