Wei Long scrolled through the translucent screen before him, his focus fixed on his abilities.
Each one sounded confusing:
Bio-engineered Mortal Healing (Peak), Bio-engineered Mortal Toxic Scales (Peak), Bio-engineered Mortal Camouflage (Peak).
It was like something out of a sci-fi novel—his abilities.
What is that Mortal word? What is the use of it?
The absurdity of his situation actually made him relax for a moment.
Alright, Wei Long, he thought, leaning into his odd reptilian body. This might not be too bad. Just keep a low profile and figure out the rules of this world. I've got this.
But his calm didn't last that long.
The ground beneath him began to tremble violently.
A deep, resonating hum filled the air, rattling the egg he was nestled in.
Wei Long's heightened senses flared to life. He could hear faint gasps and excited murmurs beyond the trembling shell.
Then, the sky above grew impossibly bright.
Blinding rays of light pierced through what seemed to be the clouds, illuminating the area in a radiant, otherworldly glow.
Ethereal floating islands emerged from the sky, each one glimmering with cascading waterfalls and vibrant greenery.
They looked like fragments of paradise suspended in the heavens.
Wei Long's sharp eyes caught sight of celestial beasts circling the islands—dragons, phoenixes, and serpents of unimaginable beauty.
A booming voice echoed across the realm, deep and commanding, yet melodic to the ear.
"Let the awakening begin!"
The crowd roared in response, their cheers were loud.
Wei Long, still confined in his egg, watched the spectacle in stunned silence.
Then, he felt it—a warm sensation spreading across his body, sinking into his very essence.
The glow of the Heaven Newborn Spring touched every egg, coaxing life from within.
Suddenly, eggs began to crack open one by one around him.
Small, pure white creatures emerged, their delicate forms shining with an innocent light.
The newborn dragons chirped softly, their big, curious eyes drawing even more cheers from the crowd.
Wei Long observed them with fascination. Despite himself, he found the little creatures strangely cute.
Their pristine scales gleamed like polished pearls, and their tiny wings fluttered as they stumbled forward.
The crowd was ecstatic.
"Look at them! Such purity! Such grace!"
"The future of the Heaven Dragon Clan is bright indeed!"
But soon, the cheers turned into murmurs of confusion.
Wei Long's egg was still whole.
As the moments dragged on, the murmurs turned into tense whispers.
"Why hasn't that one hatched yet?"
"Is it truly pure blooded? The purer the bloodline, the faster they awaken!"
"Could it be… impure?"
The growing accusations sent a surge of anger through Wei Long.
Despite his past as a decorated soldier trained to remain calm in dire situations, something deep inside him stirred—a primal fury he couldn't contain.
Impure?
The word echoed in his mind.
Suddenly, his vision blurred as an intense heat coursed through his body. His breathing quickened, and he felt his heartbeat pounding like war drums.
His skin—or what should've been his skin—began to change.
Veins bulged across his body, their teal hue glowing faintly, pulsating like rivers of raw energy.
The color wasn't calming or serene; it was terrifying.
The teal veins twisted and writhed across his reptilian form, exuding a sinister aura that made the crowd gasp in shock.
Inside the egg, Wei Long was helpless to stop it.
The glow of his veins intensified, radiating a chilling power. He felt his instincts taking over, his rational mind slipping away.
The anger, the indignation—it was feeding something dormant within him.
What is this? What's happening to me?
Then, the egg cracked.
A sharp, jagged sound pierced the air as a web of fractures spread across the shell.
"Crack!"
"Crackle!"
The crowd fell silent.
All eyes turned to Wei Long's egg.
The shell broke apart, piece by piece, until he finally emerged. His body was pure white at first, as if sculpted from the finest jade. His scales gleamed with an unearthly brilliance, his form immaculate.
For a brief moment, the crowd stood in awe.
But then, they saw it.
The terrifying teal veins crawled across his body, glowing brighter with every passing second.
They pulsed in sync with his heartbeat, exuding a foreboding light that sent shivers through the crowd. His reptilian eyes, glowing faintly, locked onto the stunned onlookers with a predatory intensity.
"What… what is that?" someone whispered, their voice trembling.
"That… that isn't a Blue Eyes White Heaven Dragon of our clan!" another voice shouted.
"Look at those veins! That's not purity—that's… something else!"
The crowd erupted into chaos, their cheers turning to shouts of anger and fear.
"Send it back!" one voice roared.
"Send it to the lowest realm! That thing doesn't belong here!"
The chants grew louder, more frenzied. "Send it back! Send it back!"
Wei Long's anger surged once more.
The veins across his body pulsed violently, their glow becoming blinding. He couldn't control it.
His heightened senses went into overdrive, picking up every word, every insult, every heartbeat of those watching him.
And then, he felt it.
His body became lighter, unnaturally so.
The air around him shimmered as if reality itself were bending.
He could feel it—space distorting, his body being pulled away.
"They're teleporting me!" Wei Long realized, his mind snapping into focus.
The translucent screen before him flickered. His abilities began to glow one by one, their names lighting up in rapid succession.
Wei Long didn't know how, but he felt something inside him ignite.
I won't let this happen.
The teal glow erupted like a storm, engulfing him entirely. The crowd froze, their faces pale with fear.
"What… what is it doing?!" someone screamed.
The elder at the gate rushed forward, his expression grave. "Stop it! Contain it before it's too late!"
But it was already too late.
Wei Long's body flared with energy, and the last thing he saw before his vision turned hazy was the horrified faces of the crowd.
They will pay!
With that, Wei Long leaped from one small dragon to another. His body glowed with that terrifying teal light, but his actions weren't violent.
He didn't hurt the others; instead, he touched them gently, almost instinctively. Yet, the moment his claws made contact, a strange phenomenon began to unfold.
One by one, the newborn dragons he touched began glowing faintly. It was as if a chain reaction had started, spreading from one hatchling to the next.
The crowd gasped in unison.
"What is happening?!" someone shrieked, their voice echoing across the ethereal chamber.
"Stop him! He's doing something to the pure ones!"
"Don't let him touch another!"
But it was too late. The moment the last hatchling was touched, a powerful ripple of energy surged through the air, crackling like thunder.
And then, they vanished.
In an instant, Wei Long and the other newborn dragons disappeared as if they had never existed.
The crowd fell silent, their stunned faces mirroring the shock that gripped the entire realm.
One elder broke the silence, his voice trembling. "Th-they're gone... All of them. The pure ones—they've been dragged away by that impure creature!"
Gasps erupted. Then came the wailing.
"This is a catastrophe!"
"The pureblooded ones! They won't survive in the lower realm! They'll be deprived of resources—they'll never reach their potential!"
"How could this happen? An impure one with such intelligence... it's unnatural! Unholy!"
The voices grew louder, overlapping in a cacophony of despair and rage.
"He must pay!" someone bellowed, their voice shaking with fury. "That vile impure creature has ruined everything!"
Another cried out, "We must retrieve them! The future of the Heaven Dragon Clan depends on their return!"
But then, the chaos was abruptly silenced by a deep, resonating voice. It carried an authority that demanded obedience, and the air seemed to thrum with its power.
"Silence!" the voice boomed, echoing across the chamber like a thunderclap. The crowd immediately quieted, their heads bowing in reverence.
The voice spoke again, this time with a somber tone. "What has happened is unfortunate. The impure one's actions are irreversible. The pureblooded ones have been dragged to the lower realm."
A voice dared to question, "What should we do, Great Ancestor? We cannot abandon them!"
The Great Ancestor's reply was cold and deliberate. "We have no choice. To leave them in the lower realm without aid would be a greater tragedy. We must create an environment for them to grow and return to us."
"But how?" another elder asked hesitantly.
The Great Ancestor's tone darkened. "We will send dangerous creatures to the lower realm. Beasts of unparalleled ferocity. We will turn the realm into a crucible. Only by surviving such trials can the pureblooded ones achieve their true potential."
Murmurs of discontent rippled through the crowd.
"But that will endanger the realm's balance!" one elder protested. "The mortals there will suffer greatly. Is there no other way?"
The Great Ancestor's voice hardened. "This is the only way. The survival of the Heaven Dragon Clan takes precedence over all else. The impure one has forced our hand. They must grow stronger and return, no matter the cost."
The crowd fell silent, their hearts heavy with the weight of the decision.
The pureblooded dragons, their brightest hope, had been cast into a realm unworthy of their lineage. And it was all because of the impure one.
"He must pay," someone whispered again, their voice trembling with anger.
The sentiment spread like wildfire, soon it became chant.
"He must pay! He must pay!"
The Great Ancestor did not stop them. He simply watched as their cries echoed through the ethereal chamber, his expression unreadable.
…
Meanwhile, in the Fu Realm, where the cultivators discovered a better and more powerful spiritual energy—spiritual essence that would only appear whenever they fully tamed, controlled, or enslaved beasts, the skies suddenly darkened.
Across the vast landscapes, ancient cultivators stirred from their meditations, their eyes snapping open as they felt the disturbance in the air.
Deep in a shadowy forest, a figure sat cross-legged on a stone platform surrounded by towering black trees.
His body was cloaked in thick, swirling mists, and beside him crouched a massive, multi-eyed beast with fangs dripping an acidic green liquid.
The beast growled lowly as the cultivator's lips curled into a faint smile.
"The heavens have opened," the man murmured, his voice gravelly and laced with excitement. "An opportunity descends upon the Fu Realm. How rare..."
In a crumbling temple atop a jagged mountain, a woman dressed in blood-red robes stood before a shrine. Her hair billowed around her as if caught in an unseen storm, and behind her loomed a shadowy serpent with crimson eyes.
Her smile was sharp, predatory.
"So," she said softly, her voice carrying an eerie melody. "The heavens have gifted us a boon. Let us see what treasures fall from above."
At the heart of a sprawling desert, a figure cloaked in golden light knelt in the sand.
His body shimmered with an ethereal glow, and behind him, a colossal creature with a lion's body and an eagle's wings stood vigilantly.
The figure opened his eyes, revealing irises like molten gold.
"The heavens stir," he said, his voice calm yet filled with resolve. "Something significant has entered this realm. I must uncover its secrets."
In the depths of a dark, ancient cave, a skeletal figure draped in tattered robes sat on a throne of bones.
Around him slithered countless shadowy tendrils, their movements hypnotic.
The figure's hollow eyes glowed faintly as he chuckled.
"The heavens have opened, and chaos follows," he rasped. "What delightful chaos this shall be..."
The tremors across the Fu Realm intensified as the remnants of Wei Long and the newborn dragons' arrival rippled through the land.
Beasts roared, rivers churned, and winds howled as the balance of the realm shifted.
In the distance, Wei Long lay amidst the glowing forms of the newborn dragons.
H
is teal veins still pulsed faintly as he stirred, his mind racing to make sense of his new surroundings.
Unbeknownst to him, his arrival had already drawn the attention of some of the most powerful beings in the Fu Realm.
This is where the real story begins!