Rae's POV

The space quickly turned from utter blackness to a green land. I found myself standing close to a river. The snake-like creature was there too but it was unconscious.

It sat there for a while as days turned to weeks and then months then after about two months. She woke up and transformed into a woman. She resembled my master's appearance. In the two months, she always woke up for a bit and then went back to sleep as if she was suffering from narcolepsy. This only stopped once she transformed into a human. 

In human form, she walked for days looking for food and shelter but it was unfortunate for her that winter was here and she couldn't do anything about it. She fell into the white snow-filled ground and lay there as if waiting for death to take her. She passed out on the snow and when things were looking very grim for her a passerby luckily found her taking her to his village.

There they nursed her back to health and after a few days, she was back up and about. The brother-sister duo that had taken her in tried to inquire about her origins all but she remained quiet and assumed that maybe she was a refugee who had lost her memories from the various skirmishes that were happening in that area. This was a common norm amongst the beast families that lived around. At first, the sister was hesitant about keeping a human around and about because humans were known to treat beast people as subhuman creatures who were no better than animals but the brother talked her out of it saying they should always try to be kind to others treating them how they would like to be treated. When he saw this was not working he reminded her not all beast people showed beast features as even siblings might be born different subrace of the beast race that is beastfolk, beast-kin, and lycanthropes. The snake lady took this chance to transform into her snake form and with that the sister was convinced assuming she must be a refugee from a plundered village.

The previously cautious sister took it upon herself to care for her even though she initially didn't like her. The three of them formed a happy family unit growing in warmth and familial love. This went on for a while until a month no a year or two when the fox man and the snake lady fell in love and got married. They soon had two children who had a three-year difference. This was a surprise to the dragon lady as usually dragons laid eggs for the purposes of birth but she instead bore children as a human woman. The children were also a surprise as the dragon element was very dominant even to children of different races. She saw this coupled with her lack of sustainability of her dragon form as a show that maybe she was no longer a true dragon but a humble human woman. This realization was not badly received by her in fact it was received on such a positive note as she was no longer tied by her duties as a guardian, so she continued enjoying her life with her husband children and sister-in-law. This went on for over a decade. Over the years human scum would come lurk around their village trying to look for valuable products but they were able to fend them off themselves. This continued a while until they decided to retreat further north so as to isolate around the mountain area and this tactic worked for them but many other beast villages were not so lucky. This made the dragon to fear for the safety of her newfound happiness which was her family. She realized that she just had to take up the mantle of guardian again. When her husband was not home she sneaked off leaving a letter about her search for a master of the sword who could come help her people bolster their strength.

There was a rumor about a hermit living very closed off deep inside the mountains they were living close to so she journeyed deep into them hoping that the rumor was true and if so she could get the power to protect her family. She walked the mountain ranges for a week or two and as she was just about to give up and go back to her family she found him.

***

"Greetings to you Miss Guardian."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I know everything, anyway have you been named yet or do you still go by your temporary name of Lingard."

"I thought you knew everything."

"Well I do but that wouldn't make for good conversation would it, so what brings you here today?"

"Well if you already know everything what is the point of I telling you."

"So as to make conversation of course "

"...To make conversation yet you just started by calling out my name while I don't know yours."

"Isn't it rude to ask for a Spirit's true name?"

"So you are a spirit."

"Well I sort of am but not like you dragons and fairies, I am a different kind of spirit."

"Okay at least tell me your temporary name then, I don't care about your true name or anything of that kind."

"Don't worry I will tell you my real name but you won't be able to do anything with it as I told you I am not the same kind of spirit as dragons and fairies. I have two names one from my father and another from my father you can choose to call me either."

"Ok..."

"Well, the name is either Vishnu or Pangu. Choose one."

"What kind of names are those? It feels a bit unnerving using a spirit's real name... Well as I wanted you to be my master. I will just call you master."

"Master? How sure are you that I am qualified enough to be your master better yet how sure are you that you are qualified to be my student."

"... You seem to be a powerful Spirit and as a follower weaker spirit shouldn't you offer aid?"

"What makes you think I am a powerful spirit? I can't say that I ooze magic ."

"But you do ooze power... Well, let's just say intuition."

"Are you sure it has nothing to do with the rumors?"

"Well, that was a part of it. My family is in desperate need of a warrior so you just have to be one. I don't care if you are not you just need to be one."

"So you would like to have the illusion of a warrior just to ease your worries. How amusing... Ok, I will assist you."

"So you will take me in as a student."

"Well, not exactly but I will help you find your way to be the warrior you desire."

" Ok, as long as I will be able to protect my family."

"Great let us begin."

"You mean right now, shouldn't I maybe have a rest and do it tomorrow."

"No, we start now. Come sit here next to me."

"Ok."

"And put those heavy luggage down."

"Ok."

"... Now, to begin I want you to sit in the position I have."

"I should copy your sitting posture?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

"Now that you have sat down. I want you to breathe in and breathe out slowly. Do you think you can do that?"

"Yeah."

"Breathe in... Breathe out... Breathe in again... Breathe out...

"W-"

"Shhh, just breathe in and out. Yes, that's right just continue to breathe."

"..."

"Now, I want you to close your eyes and envision yourself becoming the warrior you want to be."

"How is this going to assist me."

"This is the conditioning so that your whole body will know your desire."

"How is this going to help me, just because I believe I am strong doesn't mean that I will be strong."

"Not entirely but it's a start plus spirits are molded on belief, influenced by the desires and wishes of other creatures so in one way you could mould your own belief and take control of your own destiny. I think you already began too, otherwise, why did you birth children that were not dragons."

"I..."

"While it is true that dragons can barely sustain their huge bodies with the little trickling energy that is within the material plane it is also true that they can learn to adapt to it or why else do you think dragons hibernate for a very long time? Well, you experienced this and this led to your desire to leave your dragon life behind thus your body obliged with your wishes, that is why you are now more human than a dragon."

"I didn't know that I could do all of that to myself.".

"Yes so now do you see why conditioning yourself is very important? Once you learn this trick you will be able to surpass your limits."

This meditation thing went on for days. They did nothing else but meditate. Then... 

"I see it so clearly now."

The dragon lady started to practise martial arts, that is definitely the masters martial art I see. She did this continuously practising in the morning while meditating in the evening. She did this continuously until she started to develop her own form of magic and all. It was like each time she meditated she was discovering the secrets of the universe.

"You have surpassed what I had expected you to achieve. I think my work is done."

"I thank you too great Dao. I didn't know you were the Spirit of the universe but now I see it."

And with that, the hermit disappeared. The woman after three months of the practice went back home to be with her family but when she returned she found her village had been pillaged and her family was nowhere to be found. 

She was about to leave the village when her eyes caught a glimpse of her husband's grave. She couldn't help but cry her eyes out wailing in grief. After a day of grieving, she set out to look for the rest of her family including the villagers.

During her journey she came to find out that she was gone not for three months but three years her time perception had been warped so she could not tell the years had gone by. She searched everywhere for her people with little to no luck. She searched for years only to find a villager or two who informed her that her people had been taken by humans and sold as slaves.

She then embarked on a journey to the human kingdoms which at the time was not as developed as the present day. She hunted down the organisations and was able to recover most of her people except her children and her sister-in-law. She then got word of her children but when she approached them to rescue them they outright refused her accusing her of abandoning them and causing the death of her husband. She pleaded with them but they dared not listen to her. After setting them free from their captors she let them live their lives, by now seven years had passed. 

She returned to her mountain village where her husband had been buried to rebuild the village a new and become its leader and protector. On the way she picked up a wolf pup and a fox cub to raise not as replacement for her children but to raise a guardian wolf for her fox children to protect them once it was powerful enough. The fox cub was to be the training partner for the process.

Once she set up the village she set up five clans giving each its head family. She decided to give herself a true name that she uses to date and that is Longmu in other words the dragon mother.

The five families include the main family which was headed by her an Azure dragon called the Chen clan, the Tiger clan called Hu clan headed by the white tiger, the bird clan called the Feng clan headed by the Vermillon bird, the turtle clan called the gui clan headed by the black turtle and the snake clan called she clan headed by the white snake. Initially, she planned to have four families but decided to add a fifth one. She adopted a new language called shouyan which was used very intensively in the village so as to breed a new kin not similar to the outside world. From there she taught the other heads of the clan her newfound knowledge called qi cultivation and let them develop their own that suited their families. Longmu at this time had regained her dragon abilities and had adapted to the material plane. She continued to build her village and grew the clans' abilities with each developing their own form of martial arts. The wolf and fox were also grown in the way of qi cultivation with her experimenting with her abilities with the animals to the point the wolf and fox transcended their limits. She then let them go to search for and protect her children.

The village was kept in seclusion fearing that their secrets would be stolen and misused.

After about 150 years with her children not ever visiting her or doing anything she decided to pursue transcendence and that is when she discovered the astral plane. She spent most of her time there cultivating her qi. After seeing this she decided to birth another dragon to lead the clan in her place so that she can continue pursuing her transcendence and after a hundred years a son was born. She taught him all he needed to know for fifty years before resigning herself to the mountains where she once learned qi cultivation to continue with her objective. She ended up spending her whole life in the astral plan to the point that she left her body to wither away. She never stopped cultivating until she became a dragon deity the strongest dragon to live but didn't care about regaining her title as the guardian just wanted to cultivate her whole being, so through the astral plane, she planned for her reincarnation so that she could cultivate her human-side as her dragon side had reached its end even with her not truly gaining a complete understanding of herself and the universe and that is where we are today I suppose.

If it was not yet apparent I was pretty sure I was in Master's Minds Eye. As the memory faded away I could see glimpses of memories that were not completely hers. Maybe, maybe not as I saw Riley in one of them which looked to be in a dragon palace, and the memory of a young girl writing letters, it seemed the girl was not well liked by her family but I couldn't make out any of it. Well, maybe the switching of hearts allowed them to have a bridge to each other's consciousness. 

It all went black and then I found myself back in the astral plane.

Master was still deep in meditation but after a few seconds when was back.

"Master, are you alright?"

"...Yeah, I think we have opened your mind's eyes, all three of them. Wow, that really had quite a punch but luckily I was able to fend off an attack from your last Mind's Eye."

"Yeah, sorry about that master, I really did not mean to do any of that."

"Yes, I know... The good news is that you will be able to leave this place soon..."

"Really..."

"Yes, I think with all you have done you should be at the transcendent realm of the core formation stage."

"...You are right! How did that happen wasn't I still at the refinement realm of the core formation stage?"

"Yes, but it seems your body is great at adapting, must be that weird thing inside your head."

"... Sorry about her."

"It's alright, this is a good thing because you can gain all my experience quicker... I am a bit jealous though as you replicated years of experience like it's nothing."

"...Sorry..."

"Okay quickly let's work on your transcendence so that you can start developing your nascent soul."

"Okay... Thank you, master and I am sorry for your loss..."

"As I said before death is a part of life so we just have to accept that."

"... Are you still in love with that man?"

"It was all in the past, let's get back to the matter at hand..."

"...Okay master."