The day after the incident between the Princess of the Dragon Clan and the Wu Di, Lorne found himself sitting in his home with the Clan Chief, his parents, his grandfather and the Princess of the Dragon Clan. The Princess also brought two officers with her, both were unarmed.
It seemed Lorne hadn't thought through his sudden appearance at the Wu Di Clan. His parents' identity had been more or less figured out by the Princess. The Clan Chief was present to protect the Ying family just in case this Dragon Princess tried anything.
Ironically, the whole reason the Princess wanted to meet with the Ying family was that she hoped they could arrange a meeting with the Clan Chief for her. Funnily enough, arranging a meeting with the Ying family automatically gave her a meeting with the Wu Di Clan Chief.
The Ying family sat awkwardly in their living room with their 'retinue' standing behind them; while the Princess sat in front of the Yings with her retinue behind her.
Lorne could tell this meeting was going nowhere fast. Why did they send this princess, she's not very good at being an ambassador. Lorne figured he could help out the situation by playing the role of a child.
"So you're the daughter of the Dragon Emperor." Lorne suddenly said.
Lorne's comment seemed to wake the Princess who look at him and smiled.
"Yes I am, and you're Ying Xiong. That's a curious name for a dragon." The princess said in a genuinely friendly way.
"Why's that curious?" Lorne asked.
"Doesn't Xiong mean bear? But you're a dragon, not a bear. You should have been named Long, right?" The princess asked.
"I have a bear brother named Xiong. I always thought to call a Bear, 'bear' was a bit strange. Calling a dragon a bear or a bear a dragon isn't strange because it means there's something you admire about the other person. If I'm called 'bear,' then perhaps it's because my parents liked something about bears." Lorne said. He then turned to look at his parents.
"Father, is there something you like about bears that made you call me, Xiong?" Lorne asked.
Lorne's father laughed and nodded his head.
"Indeed, I wanted you to be like a brother I had who was a bear. He had the best qualities of bears. He was loyal, strong, and not afraid to love others. He was like most of the bears I've met. I wanted you to share those qualities so I called you Xiong. Plus, when you came, flying out of your egg and punched me across the room it was like a mighty bear waking up from his nap with a mighty roar!" Lorne's father said with a laugh.
Hearing this, everyone in the room laughed. Everyone except for the Wu Di Clan Chief. He just observed the princess. The princess was aware of the Clan Chief observing her but decided to ignore it for now.
"May I know how the two of you met." The Princess asked Lorne's parents.
"He saved my life." Lorne's mom said.
"I was exploring outside of the Clan grounds as part of my coming of age ceremony. I ran into a True Lord realm Fire Snake. It suddenly attacked me and broke a couple of my life preserving treasures. Just when I thought it would kill me, this crazy dragon guy rushes out and punches it in the jaw. It had absolutely zero effect other than to make the fire snake angry." Lorne's Mom looked at her husband tenderly with a smiling gaze and continued.
"He brought up a shield that the fire snake immediately melted after it rammed my husband. It must have knocked him several hundred feet away. That gave me a chance to escape. The snake rushed after him, but couldn't find him. It had knocked him into a hollow tree. He fell into unconsciousness.
Then Dad showed up," She pointed to the man on her other side, "...and killed the snake. He even made a pair of shoes from it and gave them to my husband." Lorne's Mom laughed.
"Of course, we couldn't just leave him there unconscious in that tree after he saved my life. My father built a little house, this little house, and we nursed him back to health. We fell in love, much to my father's dismay!" Lorne's mother laughed again as did everyone else except for the Clan Chief.
"How romantic!" The Princess exclaimed.
"I hope to meet my future husband like that." The princess said with a twinkle in her eye. For the first time, the Clan Chief had a small smile at the corner of his mouth.
"Princess, perhaps you can tell us what you hoped to accomplish here." The Clan Chief said.
"I already accomplished that," she laughed. "I wanted to ask the Yings to help me meet with you. I didn't expect that you would show up at our meeting. You must really care about them!" The princess said.
The Clan Chief was surprised for a moment but decided it made sense. Who knew she got what she wanted just because he didn't trust her with the Yings.
"Since you have me here, what did you want to say?" The Chief asked.
"I'll be blunt. What would it take for us to come together like the Yings? How can we restore ourselves in the eyes of the Wu Di Clan so that we, the Dragon Empire, can become friends or at least allies with your Clan?
"I don't know, nothing, we don't trust you!" The Clan chief said.
"You don't have to trust us. We hope to earn your trust over time. Perhaps we could work together though?" The princess asked.
"Princess, why did your Dragon Empire try to wipe out my Wu Di Clan?" The Chief asked.
The princess was hesitant to answer because she knew the answer and it wasn't good. However, she couldn't avoid the truth, not if she wanted to demonstrate their sincerity to the Wu Di clan.
"The Dragon Clan felt threatened by the Wu Di Clan. The Dragon Clan and the Wu Di clan used to be rivals. We fought a war against each other to see who would be the supreme Clan and the Wu Di Clan lost. My great-grandfather was worried that the Wu Di clan would grow strong again and try to extinguish our Dragon Clan so he decided to pull your Clan up by the roots." The Princess said.
"How do you expect us to work with someone who tried to pull us up by the roots? Your Dragon Clan ran rampant all over the universe and subjugated this universe before moving on to others! You have set up a vile Empire that brings misery and death to all who cross you. Your clan wants power, and it will always see our clan as opposition to their bid for power. How can the Dragon Clan ever let us go?" The Clan Chief asked.
"I think you're being unfair Clan Chief. Someone had to take control of this universe. Before my great-grandfather took over, this universe was mad with chaos! Someone had to take responsibility. My great-grandfather didn't want to start an Empire, but when he looked at all of the sufferings what could he do? The Wu Di Clan never tried to aid others. They only cared about themselves!
Look at this world you live on. How many years have you lived here? A half a million years, longer? How many times has the Wu Di Clan ever reached out to help their neighbors to overcome the tribulations they faced. The Beast Forest elders have repeatedly defended this world from the Divine Kill Sect, that sect of bandits who only sought to kill to fill their pockets. The Dragon Clan itself can't solve every crisis. We need worlds to stand up for themselves as best they can.
The weak beast clan stood against that evil sect and won. Not just for themselves but for everyone on this planet. How many times did the Wu Di Clan help? Never! You're right, my Dragon Empire are certainly guilty of going too far, but when has the Wu Di clan ever gone beyond doing nothing? The Wu Di clan only cares about itself. Isn't that true!" The Princess yelled. The Princess was no longer going to play the regretful lamb. She was truly angry.
The Clan Chief looked sullen, he contemplated the words of the Dragon Emperor's daughter. She was right, all they ever did was hide from the world in their hidden holy land. When had they shown that they deserved to be in this world?
"Now, you're not being fair to the Wu Di Clan princess," Lorne said.
"The Wu Di Clan was afraid for its survival. The Dragon Clan was hunting them and if word got back to the Dragon Clan that the Wu Di Clan was found on a planet, by your own words, you admit that the Dragon Clan would have killed them. Pulled up the roots, as you said. How can the Wu Di Clan save others when they can't save themselves?" Lorne asked.
"On my old world of Earth, there are flying machines called planes. People took them all over the world, but sometimes these planes would fail and crash. At the beginning of every flight, the crew would teach people how to help themselves survive emergencies.
One part of helping themselves survive is at times they may not be able to breathe so special masks came from the ceiling. If they put the masks on they could breathe. Mothers were told that before they put their mask on their child they must put it on themselves. Why? Because you can't save someone else until you can save yourself.
Now you're trying to tell the Wu Di Clan that they should be ashamed because they never tried to save their neighbors? How could they save their neighbors when a sword was at their throat?" Lorne asked.
The Princess was stunned into silence. She had let old prejudices surface and she became angry at how stubborn these Wu Di people were being. The Clan Chief, on the other hand, looked up at the boy and felt his pride return. That's right, they wanted to help the Beast Forest but if they did, it would mean death to their Clan.
The princess calmed down and looked at the little dragon baby.
"You sure are wise Xiong, I hadn't thought of that, you were right to rebuke me." The princess said sincerely.
"You seem to have a good heart; we all suffer from our own prejudices. It's hard to guard against prejudice against others. What's most important is to put aside your prejudice to consider the current situation. If the Wu Di Clan had completely listened to its prejudices I never would have been born!" Lorne said with a wink to the princess.
The princess was surprised by Lorne's action. This baby dragon seemed more like an elder than a baby.
"You seem so much older than you are. The princess said." Right after she said it, one of her lieutenants, Foxx, whispered something in her ear. Her eyes opened wide.
"Did you say something about your last world?" The princess asked.
"Yes, I mentioned in passing the last life I remember leading. I've reincarnated into this world from another place. In my old world, I was an adult, I even had a wife and children. It makes being a baby tough." Lorne admitted.
Not everyone present knew that Lorne had reincarnated. Only his parents and his grandfather knew this family secret. The Clan Chief quickly recovered from the surprising revelation.
"It's not unusual for members of our tribe to remember their past lives." The Clan Chief said.
"Xiong'er, you had children in your old world? You never told me!" His mother said.
"I would have, but when I mentioned that I was an adult at 32 you laughed and made infantile jokes. Who would be in the mood to share anything after that?" Lorne said.
Lorne's mother was suddenly embarrassed and felt bad. It was just that they were so happy at the time that they thought everything he did and said was cute. He was trying to have an adult conversation with them and they just made fun of him. They were acting more like children than he was. Suddenly, she felt really bad and started tearing up.
"I'm sorry Xiong'er, I was wrong to make fun of you. It's just we were so excited, you were in that egg for ten thousand years..." his mother began.
"Ten Thousand years!!!" The Princess yelled. What did a ten thousand year incubation process mean for a dragon? It meant it was powerful. The longer it incubated, the stronger it was. A ten-thousand-year-old dragon baby that was only a Silver Horn Dragon, impossible!
"Are you sure you're just a Four-Clawed Silver Horn Dragon, Xiong?" The princess asked.
Lorne's mother realized she had accidentally spilled the beans. Now, she was in a panic. Lorne looked at his mother and smiled. He patted her hand.
"I can be a ten-thousand-year-old dragon hatchling and still be a Silver Horn Dragon," Lorne said.
"There's no way," the princess refused to believe Lorne.
"Sure, you're thinking of me as a full-blooded dragon, but don't forget that I'm half Wu Di. Don't you think that would drag out my birth? I mean, I'm as powerful a member of the Wu Di clan as I am the Dragon Clan. You might say I'm overpowered, right? Doesn't this explain things?" Lorne asked.
What Lorne said made sense, when had there ever been a half-dragon-half-Wu Di baby? Never that she could remember. This baby was unique!
"Can you prove it?" The Princess asked.
"Can you provide a cultivation method?" Lorne asked.
"Make it something for a Silver Horn Dragon, something my father an I can use," Lorne said with a smile.
The princess fished out a cultivation method from her storage ring and handed it to Lorne. The princess carried around cultivation methods for all sorts of cultivators, especially dragons, as rewards. When a warrior did outstandingly well she liked to reward them with cultivation methods.
Lorne examined the cultivation crystal that was the size of his thumbnail and plugged it into a crystal reader he had. Using his Wu Di energy sensing ability, Lorne started making changes to the cultivation. After he finished making the changes he grabbed two blank crystals the size of a thumbnail. He made copies of the cultivation method and handed one to his father, kept one for himself, and returned the original cultivation crystal back to the princess.
The princess examined the crystal with shock! This method increased the power output by at least seventy-three percent, increased Qi efficiency by eighty-two percent, and increased the flow of Qi by forty-nine percent! This previously mid-tier cultivation technique could just barely qualify as a heavenly technique!
"Xiong, would you like to come to the Dragon Clan capital and learn in the Imperial Academy?" The Princess asked excitedly.
Lorne looked at his parents. This is what they feared would happen when someone discovered Lorne's abilities.
"Princess, my parents would prefer that I live here with them, and frankly so would I. Childhood, even for dragons, goes by so fast. It would break my parent's heart. Plus, my Grandfather is here and the elders of the Wu Di clan have always taught me. I would feel wrong abandoning them." Lorne said.
The Wu Di Clan people were happy and proud of Lorne's answer. This boy truly was a part of their Wu Di Clan! Lorne's parents were overjoyed. Hearing that their son preferred to stay with them, what parent wouldn't be happy.
"But..." the princess began.
"Princess," Lorne said in a whisper as he leaned forward to her.
"I think this is a good opportunity to demonstrate sincerity," Lorne said.
This dragon baby was too sharp. He was right. She could insist that he come with them. However, this would reinforce the image of the Dragon Empire as an unfeeling tyrant. Or she could listen to his wishes and show that the Dragon Clan truly wanted to change and become friends with the Wu Di Clan. To succeed in her mission she knew which choice she had to make.
The princess nodded her head.
"You're right Xiong. Would you mind if I sent a teacher here to teach you how to cultivate as a dragon?" the princess asked.
"Don't I have my father?" Lorne asked with a smile.
This kid was tricky! She knew she couldn't win against him. Once again, she gave in to his wishes. On the upside, the Clan Chief began to see the Dragon Princess in a positive light. He didn't know about the rest of the Dragon Empire, after all, he still saw the hate and fear in the eyes of that Major yesterday. Lorne was right. He should judge each person individually. One person doesn't make the Dragon Empire Good, but it also doesn't make it evil. He needed more time to understand the current Dragon Empire.
The Dragon Princess eventually took her leave after they finished their chat. It was a much better meeting than she could hope for, especially after yesterday's disaster! The princess made her way back to her ship and contacted her father. The princess told her father about the meeting and about the amazing dragon baby hidden away near the beast forest.
The Dragon Emperor was amazed to learn that there was such a powerful dragon Wu Di hybrid. Even still, he felt his daughter was right to not insist that the dragon baby come with her. As important as such an addition would make to the Dragon Clan, it still paled in comparison to the benefits of becoming allies with the Wu Di Clan. Besides, it was still just a baby, who knew what would happen in the future.
The Emperor never revealed just how much the Dragon Empire needed the Wu Di clan. The princess knew that this deal would affect the living beings in the Dragon Empire, but she mainly thought it meant that the Dragon Clan could be overthrown.
The Dragon Emperor knew better. He knew it was just a matter of time before that terrible being decided to finally strike at the heart of the Dragon Empire. He knew that if this being was successful it wasn't just the Dragon Empire that would suffer. Not only would the Dragon Empire disappear. All sentient life would disappear. The being they were facing was a member of the Desolate Demon Empire who was renowned for their vicious policy of wiping out all sentient life in the universes they conquered and replacing them with members of their race.
The Dragon Empire and its allies would soon enter a genocidal war!