Chapter 25: The Dragon Emperor.
Krista met him at the door and looked at him furiously. Haru was at a loss for words. Wasn't it her idea to go out to walk Xue? He reached down and unclipped Xue from the leash. Xue ran off into the house. "I just went to the park." He explained but Krista was too tired to deal with an explanation.
Your Uncle ordered breakfast for us but you weren't her. I wanted to call you home but your father told me to stop nagging you. Haru looked over to the doorway as he heard a little scuffle come from it. Luke and Zen were both peering in. "Ah, It doesn't matter anymore. I thought you might have gotten lost. Oh, Where did you get the clothes from?" She noticed his new clothes.
"I went to a store to look at clothes and the owner gave them to me. She said she was friends with Zen." He lied. "Hmm, Friends with Zen huh?" She doubted the story. The truth did lie in between what he had told her but he also promised not to tell zen that he saw the pile of clothing.
"Well, we had a nice discussion when you were out. Zen thought it would be a good idea to send you to a school nearby. We can't have you getting lazy and sitting around here all day. And you need to get an education since you can't use magic anymore." Krista grabbed Haru's arm before leading him into the kitchen.
"But I won't have time if I plan on cultivating. How can I balance school life with that?" Krista looked at him for a moment. "That isn't my problem. We have been too lenient on you since you are our only child. But that stops today. We just want the best for you." She said before sitting down at the table.
This was new. The main reason Haru didn't feel like they were his actual parents is that they acted more like his friends. It would have been nice for parental input when growing up but they just left him to do his own thing. Maybe it was getting lost in the mountains that caused the change? She is probably trying to make sure everything will be okay. He found it odd but appreciated it. He had never had someone worry for him like this before.
A week flew past before he knew it. His parents flew back to japan two days after they had arrived and knew that Haru would be okay without them. Zen was away most of the day working. Haru asked him about his job but Zen just said he worked in an office. Haru wasn't stupid. He owned the biggest mansion on a private road full of mansions. An office worker couldn't afford to live there in a million years. He wondered what it could be that he was actually doing.
He had a few ideas. Maybe he owned the whole office building and his income came from his employees? No that would be too simple, He wouldn't try to keep that a secret. What if he was a crime lord and owned his own drug trafficking ring? That also seemed unlikely. Zen seemed too nice to be a criminal. He stopped thinking about it when he realised there are thousands of things that he could be doing for a living.
Zen gifted him the set of clothes the same night that he arrived and also gave him an allowance of 6,000 yuan a month. It was a lot of money. The average monthly salary for someone working in Shenzhen was triple that amount but Zen also bought everything that Haru needed.
When Krista told Zen that Haru had become a cultivator he went out and bought a bunch of things that he could use for training. He even installed a gym on the second floor so Haru could train his body and martial arts on boxing bags. Li Jun trained Haru in hand to hand combat by hitting him with even bigger sticks until he learned to avoid the attacks.
Just as Haru was heading to bed he heard a voice in his head. "I have been waiting to speak with you." It was the same voice that he had heard in the cave and who Li Jun confirmed to be a dragon. Just as he was about to respond his body felt like it began to collapse into itself as he was sucked through to an unknown place.
The space he had now found himself in looked like it would go on forever. The sky was blue with clouds being blown away. He looked down at his feet to find himself stood on top of what looked like water. He bent down to touch the surface. His hand went right through. It was actually water. This was far by the strangest place he had ever been to. There was no wind and the whole area was silent enough to hear a pin drop.
"Behind you." Li Jun's voice called out. Haru Turned around to see Li Jun stood next to a large green wall. The texture caught his attention. It kind of looked like scales...
Haru followed the wall with his eyes as he looked up and down before seeing it. "Hello, child. I have been waiting for you." The words boomed around the area like a bomb had been dropped. It was almost enough to deafen him. With every word, Haru felt a power growing inside of him. He looked up to see green scales and glowing yellow eyes looking down at him.
He gulped. "You have?" He asked nervously. What was he supposed to do? Is there a courtesy for meeting dragons? In some cultures, dragons are seen as gods. And he was seeing a real dragon for himself. Was this the equivalent of meeting a god? He was at a loss for words.
"Yes there were a few things I usually tell all the inheritors of this ring but Li Jun here has explained most of it already. The only thing he skipped out on telling you is about that thing. The dragon moved his head to indicate for Haru to look.
He looked over to see a storm cloud brewing in the sky. Lighting shot out of the cloud silently and struck a solid mass of land that was levitating in the sky. The clouds slowly turned red and a mist seemed to form on the horizon. What is this thing? He looked closer to see an old fashioned Chinese building on top of the floating mound of rock and dirt.
"What is that!?" Haru almost shouted out. But his voice was silenced by the feeling of death that seemed to be coming from the building. "The Abandoned god's mansion," Li Jun said with a smile. Haru looked back to them both. Did they not have the same feeling as he did?
"Do you want the chance to enter that place?" The dragon looked down at Haru. "Are you crazy!? That place is terrifying! Why would I want to enter it?"
"It will give you a chance to gain unimaginable power. The original owner is probably one of the strongest cultivators to ever live. Their power is far beyond my understanding. I entered that place with Li Jun here many lifetimes ago. And even we couldn't understand much. But just stepping across the threshold your power will be amplified by one hundred times.
"One hundred times? Are you serious?" Haru was amazed. He felt pretty powerful already but he did want to eventually see all of the amazing things that Li Jun had to describe to him. What if this was just the thing he needed? "Yes, I will do it!" Haru's attitude changed quickly from fear to excitement.
"Even if you have to erase your current cultivation and start again from scratch? I have the power to make your body return to its original state. In doing so I will inject my power into your body. Your body will be strong. But your Qi will be a lot weaker." The dragon explained.
"Really Lao? You are going to explain everything? You didn't even give me a choice when you took all my power." Li Jun complained. The dragon began to laugh. "Well, you already had knowledge of cultivating. Haru here has only the knowledge you have given to him. If I just decided things for him I don't think I would be able to offer him anything to gain his trust again."
Haru thought it over. His power right now meant nothing to him. He hasn't used it properly so if he had to use his full power how would he know it would work? It would be much better to get as strong as possible. Then he would know if he did find himself in a situation where a strong opponent wanted to kill him he would be confident in at least being able to escape.
"Okay, I will do it," Haru said. As soon as he finished he felt a power suck out all of the Qi from his body. His body began to ache all over. He fell to the floor completely exhausted.
He lay there for a few moments before he looked back up at the dragon. He leaned down with his mouth directly next to Haru's ear before letting out a roar. The roar lasted for a few seconds as it seemed to go on forever.
Haru felt like he was losing consciousness as a power gathered inside his chest. Something tightened around his heart. It felt like something was moving inside of him. He opened his eyes to see what looked like a miniature version of the huge dragon in front of him. It flew up into the air and floated toward his head as a burning pain radiated around his whole body.
Then everything seemed to stop. There was nothing but silence. Haru was surrounded in darkness.