Path Of The Dragon (A Dark Fantasy Cultivation Wuxia Xianxia Progression Series)

Chapter 2 The Bargain

Ambition and a desire for revenge burned within her. He witnessed her countless daydreams of making the ones who'd taken her family and done this to her pay...

He broke the link before he could be drawn any further in. He stared at her. This tiny child... only eight years old, and she had a fierceness about her that dwarfed any other he'd ever known.

Her body was broken, but he would have to remake the body of anyone he brought with him from this pitiful world. The sacrifice from him would be extreme, and he may never recover. Was she worth the extra risk?

It would take her years to cultivate... no not years... centuries, but maybe just maybe... she could do it.

He smiled, and his fangs gleamed under the fluorescent lights.

What was he wasting time for? He'd made his choice the moment he sensed that aura. It had to be her.

Every human he'd seen on this pitiful world paled in comparison. She was weak, and her body was broken... but he doubted her spirit could ever be.

Who better to follow the difficult path of cultivation to become a supreme expert? With this raw determination... perhaps she could reach heights that others only dreamed of. It was a long shot, but long shots were all he had now.

He looked at her with cold, calculating eyes.

She would have to agree to it... she would have to swear. He needed to know that she would take on his cause and truly embrace it with all her heart. And he knew exactly how to do that...

***

Jie twitched her cheek, and the page turned. She felt a bit guilty for taking a break from her studies and enjoying a novel. But if she didn't, her mind got frazzled.

It wasn't exactly like she could go for a stroll in the park to clear her mind.

Besides, she'd studied for the last twelve hours straight. She needed a break. Her forehead tingled, but she ignored it as best she could.

If it started itching, she'd go insane. Better to focus on her book.

The tingling grew. She blinked and waggled her eyebrows, but it didn't help. It never did.

Suddenly, she found herself thinking of the day her parents were killed... and her life afterward... she tried not to, but it was like something anchored her mind to it, pulling her deeper into more vivid memories...

Tears formed in her eyes as she desperately tried to focus on her book. The text was blurry and distorted and she had to blink hard several times to clear the tears from her eyes. Her brain tingled as though fingers were combing through it.

The tingling stopped and the memories faded to a dull ache in the back of her mind. She'd have let out a relieved sigh if she could.

The screen of her electronic book flickered and went out and she found herself staring at her own crying reflection in the black screen. She frowned. Great. Now she'd have to wait for one of the nurses to come and fix it. And, when they did, they'd find she'd been crying.

Wonderful, Jie thought bitterly.

The air in front of her shimmered with a faint distortion that turned to a blue crackle of energy like lightning and glowing water, growing into an enormous serpentine form that seemed to take up the entire hospital room.

Gradually, the energy receded and as it did so, it revealed onyx black scales in its wake until Jie found herself face to face with a dragon.

The dragon was of an eastern style, with a long, serpentine body and four legs... though the front ones could easily have been large, taloned hands...