“I didn’t deceive anyone! The whole point of me using Grandmother’s life blood was to regain my cultivation, whatever happened after was just me adapting to the situation.” Although this Hihi did seem to be quite hostile towards him, Zilan didn’t feel any killing intent coming from him and since he was probably sent here by Sera there was no way he would harm him.
“Hmph! So what? Just because you have Mistress’s blood, you think you’re so great. When Hihi was born, I was already at the soul-compression stage.”
Zilan stared at Hihi and couldn’t help but doubt the little dragon’s words.
“What are you?”
Hihi smiled and puffed out his chest,
“Hihi was made by the Mistress of the Starry plane and in the future Hihi will become a mighty Spirit King.”
Zilan’s mouth curved into an “o” as he suddenly came to a realisation.
“Grandmother must be an unfathomable existence to control a plane let alone create a Spirit King.”
Spirit Kings were born from the soul of a powerful practitioner and they held the great power of being able to grow and cultivate. Usually they were created in times of war in order to join the fight or in instances where cultivation had stagnated practitioners would create them and once their power had grown to a great height they would absorb the Spirit King, using its power to propel them even further.
“It looks like Grandmother isn’t having too good of a time wherever she is.” concluded Zilan.
“Tell me, why did Grandmother send you to me?”
With an unwilling expression on his face the little Dragon mumbled out some words,
“Hihi was instructed to help guide you on the ways of our people and to…..give you my powers once you become strong enough.”
Zilan rolled his eyes as he sighed,
“This woman is too crazy.”
“Hihi, you don’t need to worry I have no need for your power. All I want is the knowledge and inheritance that I was promised.”
Hihi’s ears instantly perked up and his wings uncontrollably flapped as he listened to Zilan’s words however, a thought suddenly sprung into his mind.
“Hihi knew it, you’re definitely an evil person!” he shouted.
Zilan rubbed his temple, forcefully calming himself down.
“What did I do now?”
“You’re looking down on Hihi’s power! Is that why you don’t want it. Let me tell you, Hihi is a genius overlord, even if you put Hihi against Eldest brother who is three hundred years older, our powers are still equal.”
“A foolish child…Wait, what!?”
“Hihi, how old are you?” an interested spark could be in Zilan’s eyes.
“Hihi is fifty two…still young, still young!” nodded Hihi with absolute pride.
Zilan gasped in awe. It should be noted that Spirit Kings grew stronger with age so for a fifty two year old newborn’s powers to be equal to a three hundred year old veteran, what did this mean?
It meant Hihi was special and that he would grow stronger even quicker than most.
It was a pity Zilan’s cultivation method would be adversely affected otherwise he might have just gone with the flow and absorbed Hihi once the time came.
“A pity indeed…”
These words sent chills down Hihi’s spine for some unknown reason. Little did he know he was just like the hen that the farmer didn’t select to be his dinner, thus surviving for another day.
“Hihi, I promise you that I will never ask to absorb your power for as long as I live! So please tell me about my inheritance.”
The scales on Hihi’s body glowed with a bright red lustre. His wings spread out and with one flap the air trembled and Hihi disappeared.
“Hihi..isn’t afraid or anything b..but Hihi will believe Brother Zilan’s words.” His voice sounded distant but Zilan could still tell that he was elated.
It was after all normal for anyone to be happy that they got a new lease on life, even death row prisoners who deserved to die would rejoice when they heard the execution date was postponed.
Suddenly the all white realm Zilan was standing on started to uncontrollably shake and shift. The white quickly dissipated and Zilan found himself in a massive hall.
The hall was extremely wide and breathtaking to behold, paintings of awe-inspiring Dragons could be seen all around the walls and on the ceiling a beautiful engraving of a Spring Dragon with its wings spread out looking down on the world, could be seen. Beneath all the paintings were jade tablets the size of Zilan’s head.
“What is this place?” whispered Zilan, his words echoing throughout the empty hall.
“This is the first hall in the Mistress’s Cloud Inheritance Palace. She made this realm so that it could be of use to any type of descendant she produced, no matter what element, or level of power.”
The space beside Zilan trembled and Hihi suddenly appeared.
“Excluding where we are now, this realm has a total of six levels. This is the base level where your path as a descendant of the great Elemental Dragons that came before you will begin.”
Zilan walked along the exquisite red carpet as his eyes darted around the hall focusing on the images of the Dragons.
“These Dragons…who are they?”
Hihi shook his head as he followed behind Zilan,
“Hihi doesn’t know but even if I did, Mistress told Hihi not to tell you. The choice has to be yours, depending on which Dragon’s way you choose, the rest of the levels will also have things related to that Dragon. Mistress also said that you shouldn’t pick using your brain but your heart.”
A Dragon’s “way” was its greatest secret. It was basically their own personal cultivation method, similar to how Zilan had his “Path of Blood”.
Of course, only Dragons and other advanced Beast civilisations could ever create their own way. This was because their “way” was actually just a secret of the Universe that they had comprehended and adjusted towards their own cultivation. Humans on the other hand were restricted solely to the way of Heaven, absorb spiritual power and then breaking through.
“How am I supposed to choose based on a painting?”
His eyes narrowed and he kept analysing each and every dragon. If it wasn’t of the water element then he immediately put it away, if it was then he remembered it.
“How did Grandmother collect so much information on the ways of other Dragons?” asked Zilan as he continued to look around.
“Hihi only knows that Mistress has a special ability that aided her in being able to complete this realm.”
“What kind of ability is that?”
An hour passed, then two hours, then three. Soon Zilan lost all sense of time as he directed all of his focus onto the various dragons.
“There are a total of forty four dragons of the water attribute. The question is, which one should I choose?”
Zilan suddenly slapped his thigh,
“I’m such an idiot!”
Four stars quickly appeared in his pupils and a calm smile graced his face.
His eyes surveyed all the candidates before they landed on a painting of a sleeping dragon covered in grey scales. Its entire body blended in with the murky scenery of a valley where rain drizzled down.
A faint gray aura escaped from the painting causing Zilan’s body to tremble slightly.
“That one!” pointed Zilan. “That’s the one I choose.”
Hihi nodded in understanding as he flew up to the painting and retrieved the jade tablet.
“This..this is a Rain Dragon King. Why couldn’t I recognise it?” Hihi’s shocked voice sounded out, leading Zilan to smile.
“Picking with the heart…isn’t that the same as guessing! If I have an advantage I’ll use it.” With that thought Zilan’s eyes went back to normal.
Hihi couldn’t understand how he was unable to recognise such a Legendary figure, but below him was someone who had already figured out that a concealing formation was placed on all the paintings. Luckily, Zilan’s eyes that were born from the universe were too overpowered, otherwise he really would have had to rely on luck.
Hihi slowly flew down and handed Zilan the jade tablet.
The instant his hands touched the tablet, thousands of cracks appeared on its surface and with a loud “kacha” sound, the tablet broke.
A strange grey mist travelled from the broken tablet and directly entered Zilan’s mind. A rush of information on the Rain Dragon’s [way] then followed, continuously flowing into his brain.
