A few minutes passed before the boy once again opened his eyes. Trying to stand up and get back on his feet, he only got halfway there before he was forcefully tackled to the familiar ground by a speeding golden mass that came from the obscure corner of his vision. 

The boy was beyond shocked at the grand sight of a majestic, glowing and golden Chinese dragon. His claws were pure white and gleamed like moonlight. His remarkable prominent golden eyes were zeroed in on the boy’s face. The most surprising thing however was the strange symbols that covered his mystical body and emanated heavenly hymns which rendered the small dragon as large as a mountain in his eyes. 

This illusion was sadly shattered though as soon as he felt the little dragon’s furious licking of his face. “Oh fuck” the boy tried to get the dragon away from him however the dragon’s claws were tightly hooked onto his armor causing the lively scene of a small child and a little dragon, one earnestly trying to push the other away and the other attempting to continue it’s personal assault. The boy continued to try only to fail miserably and have the dragon kick off from his hand to the boy’s face where another round of licking began. He was about to retry when he was halted by the small dragon’s eyes which were looking right into his. 

This was the first time he had truly looked into its eyes and all he could reflect was, ‘beautiful.’ His eyes sparkled and moved like a golden sea and undoubtedly had an aura of nobility in them. As the two exceptional beings looked into each other’s eyes they instantly felt an odd connection with each other that felt like it went far beyond the simple bonds of mortality but rather connected them at their core. At this precise moment, although neither recognized why, what they did know was that they were from this point on inseparable. 

“Haha” the boy began to laugh earning him a confused look and tilted head from the small dragon. Remembering the licking of the little beast and their connection just now he felt like all his worries were rather laughable and so he scooped up the small dragon who was only the size of his head which caused the dragon to let out a little squeak of surprise. This caused the boy to look at him, letting for the first time since he had been here, a smile show and his unintentionally narrowed and cold eyes softened a bit as he watched the dragon squirm in his grasp. The boy carried the dragon over to his bed and put him on it. He was intending on sleeping together with it for fear of him dying from the cold of the night. From his past life he knew that reptiles were cold blooded so although he didn’t know if a dragon was the same he decided that it’s better to be safe than sorry. There was also a small part of him that was afraid that the little dragon would run away during the night, but he would not admit that. And so a dragon and a human we’re sleeping together, a strange duo indeed yet it created an unusually harmonious scene. 

However, life is full of surprises; such as the egg hatching. But some are not always so nice and at this moment an elder wearing jade-green robes appeared outside the cave releasing an imposing aura that scared all the nearby beasts attracted by the golden light phenomenon away. His sharp green eyes narrowed on the boy before moving to the dragon. 

When he saw the boy, his eyes trembled a bit but when he glanced at the dragon his eyes, unable to hide his emotions, showed a shocked expression and his aura grew more imposing. ‘This forest is located in a lower realm. The strongest beast here is only at the 4th stage of the Formation Establishment Realm. It’s already surprising that this child has entered the Meridian Cleansing Realm at such a young age, however how in the world is a pure-blooded golden dragon situated here.’ 

By this point, if the boy hadn’t already awakened then it would have been a wonder how he survived in this forest of monsters. His eyes darted nervously between the strange elder and the entrance to the cave. His heightened instincts were screaming to run from the elder and even he himself knew that this person was far stronger than the other beasts in this forest. 

The small dragon beside him had also been stirred awake by the commotion and when it saw the elder it’s vertical pupils thinned and hostility could be seen raging from within them. The elder quickly regained his previous impassive face, not at all caring about the dragon’s direct threat and instead he slightly raised his hand before the two and did a grabbing motion. 

The boy and the dragon lost all control over their body as they could faintly feel some invisible force restraining them and wrenching them towards the elder. Now in front of the boy’s face the elder first took a look at the dragon, his eyes giving off a faint green glow as he carefully inspected it. His gaze appeared to see deep into the dragon causing the little dragon to feel uneasy. The symbols on the dragon’s scales glowed before the elder’s green gaze abruptly ended. The elder was momentarily surprised, but he then took another look at the boy, the green glow coming back. The boy could feel his heartbeat increase but this wasn’t because of fear but rather it seemed like his heart had a mind of its own and was forcefully beating faster. The more his heart beat the more of the golden blood was produced, however, the majority of it was redirected to his skin where it then created an intricate rune like pattern across his skin. The runes seemed to cause some sort of interference towards the elder’s green eyes as his brows furrowed in frustration until the green glow disappeared at which point he sighed. He stared at the two different entities for what seemed like an eternity. 

Finally, he let out a sigh that carried with it the experience of an existence who had lived for a long time. “What’s your name, young one” although his voice was low it resounded clearly within the boy’s mind. He was unable to give an answer, though, since he didn’t remember his name and he had never given himself one. Seeing the boy’s perplexed expression a look of understanding flashed across his face. “So you don’t have one, well that’s to be expected. I doubt most mortals would let their offspring roam about in a forest full of beasts” his eyes darted to the other one “And if you don’t have a name then your tamed beast probably doesn’t have one either, heavens above you most likely don’t even know how to communicate” the elder seemed exasperated. 

He let go of his hand, releasing the two and causing them to fall to the floor. The elder took a look around, when his eyes stopped on the deer leader's carcass on the side. “You killed this”, he turned to look back at the boy while pointing at the corpse to transmit his intent. In response the boy only gave a slight nod. “Impressive, for someone at the first stage of the Meridian Cleansing Realm to beat a beast at the second stage, for a lower realm that is.” The elder praised but did not investigate anymore of the cave as he already knew what was contained within it were mostly primitive crafts and trophies from battles. 

“Meridian Cleansing Realm?” The boy was unable to stay silent at the confusion in his words. The elder’s brows furrowed, “So you do know how to talk huh” the boy jumped at the thought that his simple question might have just spelled his end. The elder’s eyes regained their green glow for a second however this time he didn’t look at the boy or the dragon but at the ceiling instead. He stood there, staring at the ceiling, for only a few breaths time. When the glow subsided the elder talked once more, “Well it seems that you really don’t have a name, but how exactly do you know how to talk I wonder.” 

Hearing this, the boy’s mind ran through different plausible answers such as saying that he found a book in the forest and taught himself or that he actually came from a village outside of the forest. Even if those weren’t true, the elder might not know that. Eventually finding a credible reason, the boy was about to respond but when he met the elder’s calculative and all-knowing eyes his confidence in his story broke like he knew that this man in front of him would instantly peer through any lie. So he simply sat there with his head down. 

The elder continued to look at him but a glint of intuitive comprehension went past his shrewd eyes. He then sized up the boy on the ground and the dragon who still bore hostility towards him. “The second realm in the system of body cultivation” the elder eventually casually replied back to his initial question, his nonchalant attitude only adding to the boy’s apparent confusion at the elder’s sudden change in topic. 

Noting his bewildered face the elder finally made up his mind, “I’m going to take you in as my disciple” 

“Huh” realistically was all that the boy could say. He understood what a disciple was yet he had no idea as to why this old man wanted to take him as a disciple, and what exactly would he be teaching him. 

“You clearly have no knowledge on cultivation so be thankful that I’m willing to spend time on you.” 

“Um, I don’t know what...” 

“If you refuse, I will kill you, don’t think for a second that your special body can protect you from me if I truly wanted to kill you.” 

At that, a strong killing intent was being emitted by the elder towards the boy causing him to gulp nervously and his palms to sweat as he struggled to say a soft, “I accept.” Seeing it’s human agree the dragon was able to somewhat understand and begrudgingly also, much to the elder’s surprise, gave a slight nod. 

“Good” and with that the elder raised his head to look at the ceiling. His hand moved in a slashing motion as a beautiful green energy emerged from his fingertips, dancing wildly like flickering thunder. With a simple flick, the energy shot out and shattered the roof. The elder flew into the air taking the boy and the dragon with him. They continued to rise until they were above the clouds. 

Although the dragon did not seem to be perturbed by the height, in fact, it even seemed natural and comfortable for it. Sadly, the same could not be said of the boy. Despite having memories of flying on a plane, the act of actually moving through the air with nothing to support him caused the boy’s mind to enter a slight state of panic. He was not given much time to calm down though as while they were still rising the elder pointed his five fingers together towards the sky. A greenish aura covered his hand, but they did not stop and continued to rise.

Crrrrrrraaaaahhhhh!!!

A crack appeared in the space above their heads revealing a dangerous and imposing multicolored realm that sent a shiver running down the boy and the dragon’s spine while at the same time causing a sense of worship to well up within them. In the face of this, the elder did not stop for a moment and instead sped up with a sneer on his face as the greenish aura on his fingers slightly intensified. 

At the same time, a few distinct strands of the green energy appeared before the other two’s astonished eyes and quickly expanded to shroud them. Once fully encompassed the previous feelings of imminent danger and worship forcibly disappeared leaving the two dazed.

Crrrrrrraaaaahhhhh!!!

Crrrrrrraaaaahhhhh!!!

Crrrrrrraaaaahhhhh!!!

The crack had now expanded so much that it was a full-on hole allowing them to see what lay beyond it far clearer; a swirling expanse of vivid and bright colors. The duo couldn’t help but be mesmerized by that. 

At last, the three of them were about to enter that multicolored space and all that the elder uttered was a word in a low but clear voice, “Pitiful.” Before the boy could make sense of his words... it happened. As soon as they entered, the swirling colors rapidly turned into blurs as their speed increased beyond human comprehension. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

“Roooaaaaaaaaarrrrrrr!”

Both the boy and dragon screamed as they felt like their mind was liquefying and reforming countless times in one second. Their voices resounded within the thin, semi-transparent green film that enveloped them; however, it would suddenly disappear when the sound reached outside of the film.

The boy saw the blurring colors mix and blend to show vague and blurry figures or scenes. Every now and then it would be much clearer and the boy would get glimpses at them. These included a planet of fire: with stone lands, burnt trees and flowing rivers of lava, a white-robed elegant young man sitting in a lotus position on a clear lake and an ordinary farmer who unwittingly found a bronze ring in the dirt while plowing the land.

This all stopped when a brilliant white and ethereal color arrived in his vision. Unlike the countless others, this one did not blend or move but instead stood firmly rooted in its place until the moment where the trio passed through it.

The comfortable, warm but also slightly chilly sensation when passing through it made the boy genuinely feel like he was in bed on a frigid morning causing him to not want to leave his cozy spot. Woefully, he was dragged out of the space by an unknown force, which the boy reckoned was most likely the elder, onto hard rock.

Shakily standing up whilst trying to get rid of the blurriness of his eyes, the boy suddenly found himself on an incredibly lofty mountain above incredible light blue and fluffy clouds with numerous other ‘small’ mountains surrounding it. Looking around, the boy saw that he was on some sort of a stone platform. Not only that but with every calming breath the boy took, he undoubtedly felt his body cry out in happiness as it was energized more and more. He evidently wasn’t the only one as the little dragon was also crying out in eager joy and he could vaguely feel for some reason that its newfound contentment was due to that exact reason. The boy simply stood there, mouth agape, stunned at the glorious sight and feeling which truly made him feel like he was in another world.

“Oh right, I almost forgot” an authoritative voice exclaimed and the boy turned around to find the elder there. He indicated his finger at the boy and said with a solemn tone and a sharp glint in his eyes, “Since you don’t have a name I’ll give you mine.” Before the boy could even process or retort to that statement, the elder had already continued. “From now on, until a time where your soul and body are annihilated, you shall be named... Chen Huang.” 

At the sound of that, despite there being no actual explosion, the boy could feel one occur in his mind as his eyes went wide and he could carefully feel something inside him change. Somewhere deep within him, that name had been engraved into his very existence. As the boy let this feeling wash over him he ultimately closed his eyes as his lips slightly parted. “Chen Huang” the boy muttered, allowing the feeling of pronouncing it to be experienced by his tongue and mouth.

Chen Huang gently opened his eyes to receive the magnificent view of the vast mountains as he exhaled a visible breath of profound relief and peace.