"Am I dead? Is this heaven?" Chen Zoe anxiously scanned his surroundings, bewildered by the miraculous escape from the fire.
However, his anxiety dissipated abruptly upon seeing the face of Lei Wei that turned dark while protecting him from the extreme heat. Lei Wei glared at him ferociously.
The enchanted ring that Lei Wei had given to Chen Zoe possessed the ability to protect the wearer in any dangerous situation, along with the power to summon Lei Wei directly. [The second function were a secret to Chen Zoe a few moments ago.]
"Mummy…." Chen Zoe involuntarily screamed at the sight of Lei Wei's imposing figure, which gave off ghostly effects. "L-Lei Wei… It's you? Are you alright?"
Returning to his actual form, Lei Wei furiously questioned him. "I asked you not to cause any problem inside, and what you did? It hasn't even been 5 minutes, and you almost ended up dying here…"
"I didn't do anything, just picked a flower. That's all…" Zoe tried to explain but seeing the flower in his hands, Lei Wei had a surprised expression.
"Dragon flower… Where did you get it?"
Lei Wei attempted to take it from Zoe's hand, but he couldn't touch a single petal. Being near it, Lei Wei felt a burning sensation all over his hand, as he was about to grab a flower on fire. "Don't you feel anything while carrying it?"
"Should I be feeling something?" Cluelessly, Zoe asked.
"Who are you exactly? Are you aware, what kind of flower it is?" Lei Wei couldn't comprehend what he was witnessing. The flower that arose from the blood of a dragon contained the exact power of the dragon.
According to the dragon's attribute, the power could be fire, ice, water, wind, or earth. Instead of the person the flower was dedicated to, no one could touch it except for extremely powerful beings.
In this situation, a mere human holding it with ease left him confused, especially when he was a thousand times more powerful than Chen Zoe.
"Dragon flower." Interrupting his thoughts, Chen Zoe answered.
"How do you know that? Who told you about this flower?"
"You…" Seeing the speechless expression of Lei Wei, Chen Zoe continued. "My hearing ability and memory are not that bad.
You are the one who screamed, 'dragon flower' a second ago. Remember, you foolish dragon."
Knowing Zoe didn't have any idea about it, Lei Wei tried to act along with it. "Can you tell me exactly what happened here?"
Chen Zoe explained everything he experienced after coming here, however, the name Xuan Yu struck Lei Wei quite hard.
"Xuan Yu, are you sure you read the name, correct?" Getting a positive reply, Lei Wei continued in a lower voice with a worried expression. "How can this happen?
Because of that damn demon, once the whole world suffered and now is it going to repeat."
"You told me, I will enter to Yuzhen's dream but what's with all this?" Chen Zoe shared his worries.
"My spells won't go wrong; it's the dream realm of Yuzhen. And this one is somehow related to his past life." Observing the situation, Lei Wei continued. "You were reminded about the prophecy I told you, that exactly came down from a curse of this demon, Xuan Yu."
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
Lei Wei briefly explained the situation:
"Thousands of years ago, in an era where gods and demons continuously fought for supremacy, a dragon named Long Tian was born. He possessed the power of destruction and became known as the God of War over time. He was the pride of dragons and the heavenly realm, undefeated in every battle.
However, the demons resorted to a dirty trick to gain an advantage. They used a lustful demon named Xuan Yu to distract Lord Tian. Unfortunately, he fell into this trap and decided to withdraw from his position to live with his lover. Shortly after, he discovered that Xuan Yu had only used him for personal gain. Enraged, Lord Tian went against the demon realm.
Unexpectedly, to achieve his goal of destroying the heavenly realm, Xuan Yu took his own life and placed a deadly curse on Lord Tian. That curse made him destroy his own kind and bring destruction to the whole world.
Slowly, the curse drove him insane, and made him a devil god, who nearly bring destruction of the heavenly realm.
In a desperate attempt to stop him, twelve gods sacrificed themselves to win against Lord Tian. Even though they succeed but they couldn't undo the curse and later, it became a prophecy that everyone fears."
"So, you are trying to say, Yuzhen is the reincarnation of Long Tian, the devil god…" Without any disbelief at the legend Lei Wei told, Zoe tries to confirm his doubts.
After experiencing illogical things repeatedly, he doesn't seem that surprised. After getting a positive reply, Chen Zoe continued to seek an answer for his doubts. "Then what you think about this current situation, is it desire or regret that Lord Tian has?"
"Mm… That… reg…no…" Lei Wei couldn't answer that question. He can't confidently speak it as a regret nor desire, because both leads to one answer that the legend, he learned from his elders was wrong.
No one want to spend their whole life beside the person who betrayed him, nor fill their grave with dragon flower that bloom under deep emotion of love.
"I think it's both." Seeing the confused face of Lei Wei, Chen Zoe continued. "Who knows, there be a story that no one ever heard about your Lord Tian?
Every story has two sides, one we hear and believe as truth. And the other, the hidden truth, that no one desire to hear nor see.
Just like the story of Xuan Yu. He is a villain in the story, but do you know his story or why he did such a thing?
Okay, forget all these, just answer me one thing. The lord of war, heavenly dragon Long Tian, why did he fall in love with a filthy demon in the first place when there are plenty of heavenly ones out there? Why?" Chen Zoe just wanted to defend but couldn't understand why he was digging deep into such a story as he felt upset without any cause.
Seeing Lei Wei had no answer to speak, Chen Zoe tried to control his emotions that were pouring out for no reasons. "I wish, I could quickly end this quest and return home."
"Hey, look out…" Noticing the dragon flower, slowly brightening after Chen Zoe's wish, Lei Wei screamed out, but before Zoe could throw it away, they both were forcibly drawn into the memories of Long Tian.