~~~

Liu Jin knows more about hearts than most. He grew up learning anatomy from his father and has performed more than one autopsy. He has held the real thing in his hands and even knows what the heart of a dragon looks like. After all, the first Spirit Beast he ever saw harvested was the Earth Realm Dragon that Old Jiang killed.

Thus, Liu Jin can confidently say the Heart of the Storm Dragon does not look like a heart at all.

The Heart, as everyone calls it, looks more like a crystal. It is a purple, many-sided geometrical atrocity that reaches all the way to the ceiling. The only thing it has in common with an actual heart is the way it beats. It happens at perfectly spaced intervals. Every time the Heart beats, the crystal glows and thrums in a way that Liu Jin cannot interpret as anything other than alive.

Power overflows from the crystal with every beat. Even Liu Jin, who has been in the presence of several Emperors and temporarily experienced the might of the Divine, finds himself in awe. If he’s not careful, he feels he will forget about his very existence. It makes it easy to understand why even the greediest of nobles have yet to visit this room.

“I do not understand,” Liu Jin says, sitting on the floor before the Heart. “Ancestor, if keeping you manifested is all that is needed for this to happen, why has no one tried until now?”

“Good sense, one would assume,” the Storm Dragon says as he manifests around him. “Understand this, whelp. I might talk and think like the Storm Dragon, but I am not the Storm Dragon. I am nothing but the Shadow left behind. The real one died millennia ago. My very existence is proof of his death.”

Liu Jin frowns. “Unlike Su Daji.”

“Exactly, wretched though the state of her soul might be, Su Daji was undeniably alive. Keeping me manifested created the thing before you. In time, it might even create a body for me. However, it cannot give me life. Should the process be allowed to continue, there is no telling what might be created. Your ancestors were largely smart enough to understand that. Those who weren’t had enough sense to fear the consequences of toying with this much power.”

It is by far the most serious Liu Jin has heard the Storm Dragon sound. That is how dangerous the Heart is. If left unchecked, it will spread throughout the palace, turning the whole of it into a new body for the Storm Dragon.

And yet, people will still want to use the Heart for their own ends. The power of the Divine Realm is too tempting. For those who can only dream of such things, the Heart must seem like a heavenly gift. However, Liu Jin has experienced first-hand how it feels when reality is simply something that can be unmade and remade with nothing but a spoken word.

It is too scary.

“Ancestor, what does it mean to be a dragon?”

“Oh?” A familiar smile appears on the Storm Dragon’s face. “That’s an interesting question, whelp. What brought it on?”

“I have known about demons for a long time,” Liu Jin says, looking at his hands and letting scales appear over them. “I have known Nine-Headed Snake God’s Inheritance was changing me for nearly as long, though I did not realize its demonic origins then. I know I’m becoming something not quite human, yet the curse of the Earth Realm still has a hold on me. Why is that?”

Liu Jin frowns. Undeniably, his Qi had felt more demonic than Su Daji’s. However, the Curse of the Earth Realm had no hold on her while it slowed down his every move. She called it the Curse of Nuwa.

Come to think of it… those old poems Old Jiang made him learn…

Didn’t they mention Nuwa?

“What does it all mean?” Liu Jin asks. “I wish to understand this body of mine better so I might be prepared for what lies ahead.”

“I suppose I can indulge your curiosity,” the Storm Dragon says. “Your base is human. That is what truly matters as far as the Curse of the Earth Realm is concerned. People such as you, who cross the lines between human and demon, are not as rare as you’d imagine. Some do it through ancestry. Some through Inheritance. Others through imitation. The curse is not concerned with what you end up as, only what you started as.”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“You speak of the Curse as if it had a mind of its own,” Liu Jin says.

“Did I?” The Storm Dragon chuckles. “Stranger things are true. Now, for the first part of your inquiry. You wish to know what it means to be a Dragon? I’ll tell you. To be a Dragon is to be Majesty personified. We stand at the apex of it all. Humans. Demons. Spirit Beasts. It does not matter. We are above them.”

“I see humbleness is not one of our gifts,” Liu Jin says dryly.

“Does the sun excuse itself for its radiance?” the Storm Dragon asks. “You need to understand our supremacy to understand our main characteristic: Permanence.”

Liu Jin feels the word echo inside of him. There is a weight to it. Something that makes him sit straighter and focus on nothing other than his Ancestor.

In a way, he already knew.

It is one of the first things people are told about dragons.

“A dragon cannot stand to be anything other than a dragon,” the Storm Dragon says. “This quality persists even when we are corpses. It persists even in a shade such as I. Our Majesty cannot allow us to be changed into something inferior.

Liu Jin frowns as he grasps the meaning behind those words.

“Ancestor, do you mean to say that, as the dragon side of me grows stronger, it will become impossible for me to change?”

“We do not change,” the Storm Dragon says the word distastefully. “We merely become more ourselves and grow into our Majesty because of it. However, if you are worried about excessive Permanence, do not be. Your master already took care of that.”

Liu Jin cocks his head to the side.

“My… Master?”

“I am not sure if he knew the source of the Inheritance beforehand. Most likely, he thought any Inheritance could act as a counter-balance. However, the snake, loathe as I am to admit it, was a suitable choice. Snakes are quick to discard that which inconveniences them. They are fluid. Some might call them adaptable.”

Liu Jin thinks back to his ‘death.’ The snake part of himself tried to discard his old body. However, the dragon side of himself reclaimed it.

“Are you saying the Inheritances act counter to each other, Ancestor?”

“In a way,” the Storm Dragon replies. “At the very least, they should counter what some might consider the most troublesome aspects. It is just like him to come up with an idea like this.”

Liu Jin blinks. The way the Storm Dragon is speaking…

“... You knew my master?”

As Liu Jin asks the question, several memories hit him all at once. His father mentioned it, hadn’t he? He first met Old Jiang when the old doctor visited the palace. However, his master had been above the Emperor Realm. Why would he visit the ruler of the Storm Dragon Empire?

“My master used to visit you,” Liu Jin says in realization.

The Storm Dragon chuckles. “When one grows old, one realizes the need for intelligent conversation. Many of the times I have been made to manifest in the past centuries have involved his visits.”

“If that is the case… Do you know who was after him?” Liu Jin asks with some hesitation.

“That is not a question whose answer you are qualified to hear,” the Storm Dragon answers. “You lack power. However, you should have some inkling already.”

Liu Jin nods. His master was poisoned by people who sought his knowledge. Considering his strength, only someone from the other side of the Dead Plains could have prepared the poison that killed him. Liu Jin is certain of it.

The presence of the Death Fashioning Scripture here… might have started as a way to locate his master.

“I see,” Liu Jin says. He bows his head. “Ancestor, I cannot claim I have enjoyed every moment we spent together, but I am thankful for your aid.”

The Storm Dragon laughs.

“Why so timid now? You have gained what you can from me. You have prepared yourself. What point is there in prolonging things? Do what you have come here for.”

He is right. There is no point in delaying this. Liu Jin has made his choice. As long as the Heart is here, others will covet its power.

Liu Jin takes a deep breath.

“Ancestor, destroy your Heart and go to sleep. Your presence is needed here no longer.”

The Storm Dragon smiles with approval. “Good, that’s the way you should be. The Empire will be safe in your hands. Until we meet again, whelp.”

The Heart shatters like glass.

~~~

Days later, Liu Jin is ready to leave. There is a large celebration, and several people are there to bid him goodbye.

As Liu Jin makes his way to the same Flame-Wheeled Wagon that brought him to the Storm Dragon Empire, he looks back and sees his uncle staring at him through one of the palace windows. The gaunt man nods in his direction. The gesture is small, but it gives Liu Jin some hope that perhaps they will be able to talk one day.

Right now, it is time he returns to the Eternal Flame Clan.

~~~