"Waa! Thank you so much for waiting for me!" The purple-haired child was laying supine on the ground a few steps from where Cheng Hao stood. Initially being unable to stop panting, he had only been able to mutter those few words after resting for a while.
"Do you need anything? Like, a glass of water?" Cheng Hao eyed the newcomer with curiosity. The first thing that got his attention were the green eyes shining like emeralds, the long, purple-bluish hair and the beautiful features.
Damn, he's handsome. Maybe not as stunningly handsome as me, but his proportions are way too perfect...
"Hey, Cheng Hao… What should we do with this brat?” Goldy, whom had suddenly come out of the boy’s robes and landed atop his head, asked with a slight yawn. Immediately afterwards however, as soon as he actually focused his gaze onto the emerald-eyed youth, is eyelids twitched slightly and he frowned, “Mmm? Now, now, doesn’t this boy look familiar? Hey Stupid Hao, why do his features look just like-"
“S-Snake!” a crystalline voice interrupted the golden dragon’s words: as Goldy had been rambling on and on, the emerald-eyed child had been nervously looking back and forth between the golden-eyed child and the one-foot-long snake. In the end however, she had actually pointed at the golden dragon and had even screamed ‘Snake’ in order to warn Cheng Hao of the threat.
Such a nice girl, to be worrying about others… Ahh, it warms my heart to see that this generation has actually grown up to be so thoughtful!
…
Wait. Something was wrong with this scene.
Because of a strange ability of theirs, Primordial Beasts should be invisible, unable to be sensed by the senses. And well… Goldy, or rather, Heaven Devouring Dragon Blindlight was such a being. But then how in the world was this random kid capable of seeing the golden dragon???
Two pairs of golden eyes widened until they had grown as wide as tennis balls. Cheng Hao and Goldy's jaw both dropped to the ground: no living being not connected through karma with the golden dragon should never have been able to feel, let alone see, the one-foot long snake! That had been one of the first few things Goldy had taught Cheng Hao when they had first met as Xu Ling and Blindlight, and during the time the two had spent together, the boy had had many chances to verify this.
Cheng Hao was able to see Goldy as the dragon had once accidentally killed one of Cheng Hao's arch-enemies in its sleep, unconsciously building a strong, ‘friendly’ karma thread and thus allowing Cheng Hao to meet him and build a friendly relationship with him. Although the beast had endlessly regretted that one action in the future, it still admitted deep in his heart that after millions of years passed doing nothing but watching the sky, a breath of fresh air such as waging war to the Heavens had actually been really appreciated. There is no doubt that without the golden dragon's help in his past life, Xu Ling would have had no chance to reach even a hundredth of his cultivation and thus battle evenly against the Lord of the Heavens, Tian. So it all began because of a single mistake in the part of a sleeping Primordial Beast and, thanks to that, Cheng Hao and the golden dragon Blindlight had met.
But this child that Cheng Hao had never even seen before could actually see the golden dragon... As far as he knew, the dragon had deeply hid itself after their defeat by the hands of Tian. It had been by a one-of-a-kind circumstance that the two had come together here, in such a lowly plane of existence, so there should have been no chance of him meeting anyone or sewing any kind of Karma connection until Cheng Hao had come around.
For this reason, if such bonds truly existed, it would have to have been before that... more than a thousand years earlier!
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The green-eyed boy CLEARLY didn't look like some thousand-years-old bloke, so how in the world could he see Blindlight? What kind of sorcery was this?
"Fellow disciple! Fellow disciple! There's a snake on your shoulder! Watch out!"
Hearing the boy's panicked yell, Cheng Hao had to think fast!
This guy... Is he a friend or an enemy? No karma thread, and yet he can see the bloody snake... Can't hide him, it's too late... This is dangerous! Wait. Danger and Snake... Dangerous Snake... That's right! A snake is dangerous! I should just act as if I hadn't noticed and shrug my shoulders a little. Blindlight should guess what's up and will fall off his own accord and that would be the end of it... but why do I suddenly feel as if this is a chance I should not miss?
Suddenly, Goldy felt a cold shiver run down its spine: once he looked at Cheng Hao, he found that the golden-eyed youth had also turned his head around and was looking at the golden dragon with a strange expression on his face... Goldy gulped and shed a drop of cold sweat once he noticed the pair of thin lips arranging into an evil smirk. The poor, one-foot-long snake could only watch as a delicate and small palm was raised in the air before immediately striking out!
"Ah! A snake!" Cheng Hao exclaimed as he took a step back and slapped his scaled companion with all his might!
This is for sending me to challenge the final boss halfway through the story you golden bastard!
The miniature dragon was sent flying through the air and landed a distance of more than thirty feet away! Goldy lay on the ground with an 'I don't even care anymore' expression plastered on its swelled up face.
"Ahh, that was close!" Cheng Hao let out as sigh of 'relief'.
He was both 'shocked' and 'terrified' that he had not noticed the dangerous beast resting atop his shoulders. His gaze fell upon the startled green-eyed youth and bowed 'gratefully': who knew what kind of 'dangers' could have befallen him had he not been warned?
What's more, he even got to slap the damn snake!
"Disciple Cheng Hao thanks this fellow disciple for his aid! May I know your name and what business you might have with the humble me?"
Although Cheng Hao's face was full of gratitude, he had already secretly grasped the golden lotus hairpin in his hand, ready to strike at the minimum notice of any danger.
Shocked to see such courtesy from Cheng Hao, the young boy didn't hesitate to bow and struggled to respond in a similar manner. "T-This humble disciple is called Xiao Li, from the Clan of Xiao... I doubt however that Disciple Cheng Hao has ever heard of such Clan, as I come from afar… So much so that it took six months to get here! I have only arrived in this Four Divine Beasts Mountain Range today and joined this Sect as per the esteemed Clan Master's secret orders!"
Xiao Clan?
Cheng Hao’s eyes widened slightly in excitement. Then however his facial muscles relaxed immediately afterwards: nah, it couldn't be.
Although they must have suffered a huge blow after the rebellion against Tian failed, I doubt they would be forced away from their Clan Grounds. The gifts the Jade Emperor gave the Clan prior to his death should have been enough for them to surpass the initial crisis, so they should still be located in that Top-Rate plane of existence, far, far away from here. Then again...
The youth eyed the self-proclaimed Xiao Li with even more interest.
He DID mention that he comes from far away. And he only got here after travelling for… six months? That... is actually roughly the time it would take at high-speed inter-spatial travel to cross the distance from there to here! This would also explain why he is somehow able to see Blindlight; it's in his blood! One mystery solved! On to the next: isn't the surname of Xiao and those green eyes a sign of the Xiao Clan's Main Lineage?
Cheng Hao's gaze fixated on the pair of emerald orbs with extreme interest, until a strange hypothesis took form in his mind.
Is this Xiao Li a Young Master of the Xiao Clan?
"Eh? What's wrong?" Xiao Li noticed the golden-eyed youth had a strange expression in his face. "Eheheh," the emerald-eyed boy let out a crystalline laugh and smiled cheekily, "Could it be that snake from earlier bit your tongue off? Why aren't you saying anything?"
Cheng Hao snapped awake. He sent a curious glance at Xiao Li and cocked his head to the side, "It's nothing, really. Just wondering why, since it's 'Secret Orders' from your Xiao Clan's Master, fellow disciple would go ahead and tell me about it so freely..."
Xiao Li's eyes lit up. "Oh that? This Disciple was assigned to hut #5742 from Senior Lao, to live alongside fellow Disciple Cheng Hao… at least for the duration of his stay in the Sixth Ring, that is! I had guessed that roommates shouldn't be keeping secrets from each other, so I just went ahead and blurted it out!" Xiao Li chuckled embarrassedly. Then, he smiled and bowed deeply, "I hope fellow Disciple Cheng Hao will treat me well!"