After learning the ‘cultivation method’ from Gao Yang, Qing Ling had been quiet the entire afternoon, even more so than usual.
In class and during breaks, she stayed in her seat. Although she kept her eyes open to avoid attracting attention, her gaze was unfocused, making it clear that she was trying hard to enter a meditative state for cultivation.
Gao Yang felt bad about it, but he didn’t have a choice.
After the evening self-study, Gao Yang received an encoded message from White Rabbit, telling him to visit the base.
Qing Ling had been training with War Tiger every night, so Gao Yang met up with her in their usual alleyway, and they each changed into casual clothes.
“Did the cultivation method work?” Gao Yang asked on purpose.
Qing Ling shoved her uniform into her bag and answered honestly, “No.”
“I told you everyone grows differently.”
“Fighting with War Tiger suits me better.”
“Yeah, and my cultivation method is at odds with your training,” Gao Yang quickly said to reaffirm her words. “If you use my cultivation method and then train with War Tiger, the efficiency will suffer.”
Qing Ling nodded thoughtfully. She seemed to have accepted it.
They went to the underground sixth floor of the Millennium Tower together, and Qing Ling went straight to the Tiger Room. On the other hand, Gao Yang entered the Monkey Room. It was a recreational space with all kinds of gaming rooms and even a movie theater.
White Rabbit had told Gao Yang to go straight to the movie theater, but she didn’t explain why.
Gao Yang opened the door. He had expected to find a home studio, but it was an actual oldschool movie theater, only smaller. There was a large projection screen, tiered audience seats, and a film projector in the small room above, from which a beam of light shot through the small window to project image on the big screen.
An animated film was playing. It was very old. Gao Yang believed it was called Uproar in Heaven.
He had watched it when he was a child. It told the story of the Monkey King running rampant in the Heavenly Palace with his golden cudgel in defiance of the tyrannical authority of the Heavenly Court. After beating up the heavenly soldiers, he returned to Mount Huaguo to enjoy a life of freedom with other monkeys.
“Here, Dark Horse.”
Gao Yang was staring at the projected film when a voice startled him out of his reverie. It was Dragon!
He sat in a corner seat dressed in the same everyday clothes he wore last time. With his hair running down his shoulders, he tucked his legs to his chest to fit himself in the chair, his soft facial features and beautiful, heterochromatic eyes giving off an androgynous impression.
Gao Yang rushed up to him.
“Here, sit.”
Gao Yang sat down beside Dragon, secretly feeling cautious and a little afraid. Although Dragon was on the same side as he was, someone so powerful would naturally inspire fear and awe in others.
“Sorry for calling you here so late at night,” Dragon said gently and amicably.
“It’s fine,” said Gao Yang. “But I thought you had gone back to hibernating, Captain.”
“Do you wish for me to return to the coffin so much?” Dragon was in a good enough mood to joke.
“Oh, no, no. It’s just that the spy has been dealt with, and given how precious your time seems to be, it should be saved for something more important.” Gao Yang mixed truths with flattery.
The film entered its climax. The Monkey King escaped from the alchemy cauldron of the Supreme Venerable Sovereign with his newly gained fiery eyes that could spot evils, and he started wreaking havoc without reservation.
Dragon seemed lost in the film with his head slightly tilted, and he forgot to respond to Gao Yang.
Colorful lights scintillated as they cast on his face. His heterochromatic eyes looked almost inhumanly beautiful, yet there was a childlike innocence to his gaze.
Finally, Dragon returned to reality and smiled at Gao Yang. “I have watched this film many times, but I still love it.”
Gao Yang nodded. The Monkey King was also his hero when he was a child.
“But a friend of mine didn’t like the film.” Dragon’s eyes turned melancholy. “He said that if the Monkey King was going to return to Mount Huaguo in the end, why must he go through all the trouble and tribulations? Why didn’t he just stay?”
Gao Yang listened.
“What do you think?” Dragon asked suddenly.
“Huh?”
“Were you the Monkey King, would you barge into the Heavenly Palace and start trouble?”
Gao Yang focused his mind and steadied his breaths. He wasn’t foolish enough to think that Dragon would waste his time talking about a movie with him.
This question was an important one. If he gave the wrong answer, it would surely affect how Dragon saw him, and even his fate going forward.
However, he didn’t have the ability to read minds, and he didn’t know what Dragon was thinking.
Should he ask Dragon a question instead and try to get a feel of his attitude with Lie Detection? No, that was a lowly trick Dragon would surely feel insulted by, no different from suicide.
Then as usual, honesty would be the best policy.
“I will,” said Gao Yang.
Dragon looked at him with calm eyes and an impassive expression. There was no telling whether the man approved of his answer.
After a moment, Dragon asked, “Why?”
Why?
Gao Yang asked himself the question. Was it because he would be bothered by the Heavenly Court’s hubris and arrogance? Was it because he wouldn't tolerate the oppression and derision? Was it because he would feel the impassioned urge to prove himself to the world?
Yes, but more than that.
The greatest drive to Gao Yang was an instinctual desire and calling rooted in the very core of his soul.
“Because the Heavenly Court was there,” said Gao Yang.
Dragon remained quiet, his eyes glinting.
Then he chuckled.
“White Rabbit spoke the truth. Perhaps we are the same kind of people.”
Gao Yang wasn’t sure what to feel. He asked tentatively, “Is that a compliment, Captain?”
“It’s not a good thing to be like me.” Dragon smiled sadly.
After a brief pause, he continued, “We’ve gotten two Rune Circuits since you joined, Dark Horse. It’s unprecedented. You’re our lucky charm.”
“Oh, no,” Gao Yang said humbly. “I just got lucky.”
“Luck is a part of strength, and an important part at that.”
“True,” Gao Yang admitted.
“Seven Rune Circuits have now been found. Things will get more turbulent.” Dragon sounded a little concerned. “The path forward will only be more arduous.”
Gao Yang nodded.
“Before I go to sleep, Dark Horse, I have a mission for you.”
“Me?”
“Yes, a mission direct from me to you.”
Gao Yang was surprised. “Not even War Tiger knows?”
“I didn’t tell him.” Dragon smiled knowingly. “But someone like him will end up getting involved one way or another.”
Huh, he sounds like those master strategists from history.
“I don’t think I’m strong enough for that, Captain.”
Dragon leveled him with a genuine gaze. “It will be dangerous for you, but there is no better candidate than you. You must understand that nothing in the world will wait for you to be ready.”
Gao Yang kept his expression under control, but in his head he was shouting, Are you joking?! You’re the biggest shot among all bigshots, Mr. Dragon! A mission from you must be S-class at least! And me? I’ve only awakened for a month! I’m at best a second rate awakener!
Are you sure you’re gonna entrust an S-class mission to a second rate awakener?
“I won’t force you. I’ll tell you about the mission first, and you may decide if you are going to take it.”
“Okay.”
“Be yourself from now on,” said Dragon.
“That’s it?” Gao Yang was taken aback.
“That’s merely the first step.” Dragon smiled. “When the time comes, the mission will knock on your door.”
“But I don’t know what it is.”
“Let me give you a code. When it shows up, you’ll know. Then you may decide to take it or leave it.”
How mysterious. I guess it fits him.
Gao Yang nodded. “Alright.”
Then he mustered the courage to say, “If I take the mission and complete it, Captain, will I be rewarded?”
Dragon chuckled. “Of course.”
“Great.”
“What do you want as a reward?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“How about this? I’ll grant you a favor within my ability as long as it doesn’t go against my principles.”
“Okay, deal.”
Gao Yang nodded. Although the promise sounded a little empty, someone like Dragon could more than fulfill the kind of wishes Gao Yang would have at this stage.
“Give me your hand,” Dragon said. “Here’s the code.”
Gao Yang offered his hand, and Dragon wrote down a few words on his palm.
After learning the ‘cultivation method’ from Gao Yang, Qing Ling had been quiet the entire afternoon, even more so than usual.
In class and during breaks, she stayed in her seat. Although she kept her eyes open to avoid attracting attention, her gaze was unfocused, making it clear that she was trying hard to enter a meditative state for cultivation.
Gao Yang felt bad about it, but he didn’t have a choice.
After the evening self-study, Gao Yang received an encoded message from White Rabbit, telling him to visit the base.
Qing Ling had been training with War Tiger every night, so Gao Yang met up with her in their usual alleyway, and they each changed into casual clothes.
“Did the cultivation method work?” Gao Yang asked on purpose.
Qing Ling shoved her uniform into her bag and answered honestly, “No.”
“I told you everyone grows differently.”
“Fighting with War Tiger suits me better.”
“Yeah, and my cultivation method is at odds with your training,” Gao Yang quickly said to reaffirm her words. “If you use my cultivation method and then train with War Tiger, the efficiency will suffer.”
Qing Ling nodded thoughtfully. She seemed to have accepted it.
They went to the underground sixth floor of the Millennium Tower together, and Qing Ling went straight to the Tiger Room. On the other hand, Gao Yang entered the Monkey Room. It was a recreational space with all kinds of gaming rooms and even a movie theater.
White Rabbit had told Gao Yang to go straight to the movie theater, but she didn’t explain why.
Gao Yang opened the door. He had expected to find a home studio, but it was an actual oldschool movie theater, only smaller. There was a large projection screen, tiered audience seats, and a film projector in the small room above, from which a beam of light shot through the small window to project image on the big screen.
An animated film was playing. It was very old. Gao Yang believed it was called Uproar in Heaven.
He had watched it when he was a child. It told the story of the Monkey King running rampant in the Heavenly Palace with his golden cudgel in defiance of the tyrannical authority of the Heavenly Court. After beating up the heavenly soldiers, he returned to Mount Huaguo to enjoy a life of freedom with other monkeys.
“Here, Dark Horse.”
Gao Yang was staring at the projected film when a voice startled him out of his reverie. It was Dragon!
He sat in a corner seat dressed in the same everyday clothes he wore last time. With his hair running down his shoulders, he tucked his legs to his chest to fit himself in the chair, his soft facial features and beautiful, heterochromatic eyes giving off an androgynous impression.
Gao Yang rushed up to him.
“Here, sit.”
Gao Yang sat down beside Dragon, secretly feeling cautious and a little afraid. Although Dragon was on the same side as he was, someone so powerful would naturally inspire fear and awe in others.
“Sorry for calling you here so late at night,” Dragon said gently and amicably.
“It’s fine,” said Gao Yang. “But I thought you had gone back to hibernating, Captain.”
“Do you wish for me to return to the coffin so much?” Dragon was in a good enough mood to joke.
“Oh, no, no. It’s just that the spy has been dealt with, and given how precious your time seems to be, it should be saved for something more important.” Gao Yang mixed truths with flattery.
The film entered its climax. The Monkey King escaped from the alchemy cauldron of the Supreme Venerable Sovereign with his newly gained fiery eyes that could spot evils, and he started wreaking havoc without reservation.
Dragon seemed lost in the film with his head slightly tilted, and he forgot to respond to Gao Yang.
Colorful lights scintillated as they cast on his face. His heterochromatic eyes looked almost inhumanly beautiful, yet there was a childlike innocence to his gaze.
Finally, Dragon returned to reality and smiled at Gao Yang. “I have watched this film many times, but I still love it.”
Gao Yang nodded. The Monkey King was also his hero when he was a child.
“But a friend of mine didn’t like the film.” Dragon’s eyes turned melancholy. “He said that if the Monkey King was going to return to Mount Huaguo in the end, why must he go through all the trouble and tribulations? Why didn’t he just stay?”
Gao Yang listened.
“What do you think?” Dragon asked suddenly.
“Huh?”
“Were you the Monkey King, would you barge into the Heavenly Palace and start trouble?”
Gao Yang focused his mind and steadied his breaths. He wasn’t foolish enough to think that Dragon would waste his time talking about a movie with him.
This question was an important one. If he gave the wrong answer, it would surely affect how Dragon saw him, and even his fate going forward.
However, he didn’t have the ability to read minds, and he didn’t know what Dragon was thinking.
Should he ask Dragon a question instead and try to get a feel of his attitude with Lie Detection? No, that was a lowly trick Dragon would surely feel insulted by, no different from suicide.
Then as usual, honesty would be the best policy.
“I will,” said Gao Yang.
Dragon looked at him with calm eyes and an impassive expression. There was no telling whether the man approved of his answer.
After a moment, Dragon asked, “Why?”
Why?
Gao Yang asked himself the question. Was it because he would be bothered by the Heavenly Court’s hubris and arrogance? Was it because he wouldn't tolerate the oppression and derision? Was it because he would feel the impassioned urge to prove himself to the world?
Yes, but more than that.
The greatest drive to Gao Yang was an instinctual desire and calling rooted in the very core of his soul.
“Because the Heavenly Court was there,” said Gao Yang.
Dragon remained quiet, his eyes glinting.
Then he chuckled.
“White Rabbit spoke the truth. Perhaps we are the same kind of people.”
Gao Yang wasn’t sure what to feel. He asked tentatively, “Is that a compliment, Captain?”
“It’s not a good thing to be like me.” Dragon smiled sadly.
After a brief pause, he continued, “We’ve gotten two Rune Circuits since you joined, Dark Horse. It’s unprecedented. You’re our lucky charm.”
“Oh, no,” Gao Yang said humbly. “I just got lucky.”
“Luck is a part of strength, and an important part at that.”
“True,” Gao Yang admitted.
“Seven Rune Circuits have now been found. Things will get more turbulent.” Dragon sounded a little concerned. “The path forward will only be more arduous.”
Gao Yang nodded.
“Before I go to sleep, Dark Horse, I have a mission for you.”
“Me?”
“Yes, a mission direct from me to you.”
Gao Yang was surprised. “Not even War Tiger knows?”
“I didn’t tell him.” Dragon smiled knowingly. “But someone like him will end up getting involved one way or another.”
Huh, he sounds like those master strategists from history.
“I don’t think I’m strong enough for that, Captain.”
Dragon leveled him with a genuine gaze. “It will be dangerous for you, but there is no better candidate than you. You must understand that nothing in the world will wait for you to be ready.”
Gao Yang kept his expression under control, but in his head he was shouting, Are you joking?! You’re the biggest shot among all bigshots, Mr. Dragon! A mission from you must be S-class at least! And me? I’ve only awakened for a month! I’m at best a second rate awakener!
Are you sure you’re gonna entrust an S-class mission to a second rate awakener?
“I won’t force you. I’ll tell you about the mission first, and you may decide if you are going to take it.”
“Okay.”
“Be yourself from now on,” said Dragon.
“That’s it?” Gao Yang was taken aback.
“That’s merely the first step.” Dragon smiled. “When the time comes, the mission will knock on your door.”
“But I don’t know what it is.”
“Let me give you a code. When it shows up, you’ll know. Then you may decide to take it or leave it.”
How mysterious. I guess it fits him.
Gao Yang nodded. “Alright.”
Then he mustered the courage to say, “If I take the mission and complete it, Captain, will I be rewarded?”
Dragon chuckled. “Of course.”
“Great.”
“What do you want as a reward?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“How about this? I’ll grant you a favor within my ability as long as it doesn’t go against my principles.”
“Okay, deal.”
Gao Yang nodded. Although the promise sounded a little empty, someone like Dragon could more than fulfill the kind of wishes Gao Yang would have at this stage.
“Give me your hand,” Dragon said. “Here’s the code.”
Gao Yang offered his hand, and Dragon wrote down a few words on his palm.
