With Herculean effort, Yang Chen propped Long Qinglan against a tree trunk.
"The old fool's faking death again!" he muttered, resisting the urge to punch him.
Long Qinglan glared. "Listen well—miss one task, and I'll haunt you till your line dies out!"
Yang Chen rolled his eyes. The man's brash speech matched his own—genetic, no doubt.
"Spit it out. What's the first task?"
"Retrieve the dragon-shaped jade from my dantian after I die," Long Qinglan rasped, grinning. "Eighteen years ago, I came to White Poplar Town. None of your mother's generation could best me—how else do you think I bedded her? But this jade drained my eighth-level Dragon Meridian true qi within half a year. Waste!"
Yang Chen—now Long Chen—stared. A Dragon Meridian eighth-level master? Even the clan patriarch was only ninth-level!
"Second task: change your surname. You are Long Chen now. Our Long Clan once ruled this world—no descendant bears another's name!"
"Superpower? Save the fairy tales." Long Chen shrugged. "But ditching Yang suits me."
He traced the name in his mind—Long Chen. It fit.
Side by side, they sat. Long Qinglan murmured, "I roamed the Dragon Sacrifice Continent, yet died here. Irony, eh?"
"Enough bull. Let's leave town. I can feed us."
But Long Qinglan's gaze turned misty. "I failed you. But hear this: strength is everything here. Without it, you're dog meat."
He clutched Long Chen's shoulder. "The clan tournament nears. Win the Dragon Seal—key to becoming a Dragon Warrior. Do it for me."
"Me? Fight the clan prodigies? And what's a Dragon Warrior?"
"A lost legend of this continent…" Long Qinglan's hand fell limp.
Long Chen froze. The man who'd roared through life now lay still, smiling faintly.
Night fell. He buried Long Qinglan, knife in hand. "Forgive me," he whispered, slicing the dantian.
The black jade pulsed in his palm. As moonlight bathed it, the jade vanished.
Long Chen staggered. His mind reeled—then he stood in a fog-shrouded sea. This was the Sea of Consciousness, realm of souls!
Before him, the jade glowed. Suddenly, a torrent of power surged from it, flooding his dantian with warmth.
"True qi? But I've never cultivated…"
The jade hummed, its ancient patterns pulsing. Long Chen grinned.
"Old man, you said strength is everything? Let's see how far this takes me."