Wang Li Tian sat by his wooden table. He looked up at the ceiling, pondering about his journey for the past few months. With inspiration, Li Tian took out a pen. He decided that he should try to write a diary for his adventure. The words came out haphazardly as the 12 year old wrote down his thoughts. A blast from the past…
Master, a lot of things has happened since you left the mountain. During my training, I had accidentally walked too far out into Deathwater Mountain. You remember the cave that you had discovered back then and told me to not enter? Well, a rabbit I was chasing had ran into the cave and so I chased after it.
…
"Stop running rabbit!" Li Tian shouted out impatiently. He had been chasing the animal for a good thirty minutes before it fled into the cave.
Without thinking, Li Tian leaped into the opening, completely forgetting everything his master had said to him. The rabbit was caught off guard and finally laid in the hands of the ecstatic boy. Li Tian bared his teeth as he excitedly thought about how delicious the rabbit would be after he cooked it.
As he was about to climb back up towards the opening from before, a loud roar echoed throughout the entire cave. It had come from the depths of the cave. There was no longer a cave opening and the only source of light was from the purplish-red crystals that laid around the cave.
Wang Li Tian did not get scared and chose to harden his resolve. Master always says 'A person who was spoon fed from beginning till end, shall not progress further in the road of cultivation than someone who had to face challenges and solve them by themselves.'
Of course there was a certain extent where Mu Zhi Xuan's quote could be applied to a context. Sometimes a person would also need to figure out their own limits. Challenging anything beyond your limit is plain stupid. For Li Tian's case, the boy was sending himself to his death.
With every step forward, the roar from within would get louder and louder. By the time he was about to bend a corner into a separate large space, the roar was basically screaming right at him. As Li Tian peeked his little head into the space, the boy noticed how dimly lit it was. In the cavern, the only source of light was from the purplish-red crystals that laid around the edges of the room. There was no light in the center.
Squinting his eyes, Wang Li Tian stared into the center, he was trying his best to look at what was in front of him.
"RARGHHHH!!!" The roar this time was clearly very different from the previous few. There was murderous spiritual intent infused into it. As the intent rushed towards Li Tian and the poor rabbit in his hand, the weak hearted animal had died immediately. However, Li Tian stood his ground, completely unaffected by it.
The little boy cocked his head to the side and lifted up the dead rabbit in his hand. Why had it die already?
"Impossible! How are you still alive?!" A loud voice echoed across the room.
"Why would I not be alive?" Li Tian wasn't afraid one bit.
"I.. I had infused my spiritual aura in my roar! You're just a little runt!"
"I am not a runt okay! I am a sword cultivator!"
"Hahahaha! A sword cultivator? How cute! I eat sword cultivators for breakfast!"
"Hmph! Show yourself right now! Let me show you my powerful sword arts that my master left for me!"
"Hahahaha! Very well! I shall show myself in front of you! Make sure to not pee your pants, little runt!" When the mystery beast finished speaking to Li Tian, a loud gurgling noise came from the center of the room. Within a few breathes, a bright flame emitted in the middle of what seemed to be a mouth. Then, an Inferno of flames had blasted out from the depths of the beast. The light from the fire had revealed a humongous beast that towered as high as the vacuous cave. It had reddish scales that glistened in the light and wings that spread wide open when it breathed fire. As the blast of fire finally came to a stop, there were still large embers that floated down from the ceiling. The tiny Li Tian stood still, as he squeezed out the identity of the Demonic Beast.
"A.. Dragon.."
"Hahaha! Are you finally scared out of your wits, little runt?
"That.. That.."
"Hahahaha!"
"That is so cool!!!"
"…"
"You are really a dragon?! A real fire breathing dragon! Wow!!!"
"Yo..You're not scared of me?"
"Why would I be? You look so big and powerful!"
The dragon was speechless from speaking to the little boy. Why would you be scared? Doesn't 'big and powerful' usually mean that you are scared shitless? It even started to doubt whether he even got the right human definition for the words.
"But, Mr. dragon, why are you staying in the cave? Shouldn't you be flying around in the skies?" Li Tian bobbed his head to the side as he asked the dragon.
Indeed, Li Tian was not one bit afraid of it. The dragon sighed inwardly as it gave up on even trying to scare the little boy anymore. The boy in front of it was far too abnormal.
"It is not that I want to stay in the cave, but more like I was imprisoned here."
"Imprison? What is imprison?" Li Tian's reaction had floored the dragon once again.
"I was locked in the cave."
"Why? Did you do something bad?"
"I.. I may have accidentally burnt down an entire city.."
"Oh no! Did you apologise?"
"…"