In the middle of the Mythical Beast Continent, there was a sudden burst of azure light, raining down from the heavens that could be seen across the world. Some took it as a positive omen from heaven, that they were going to experience a time of great blessings. Others, believed this to be the sign of a great calamity coming to them. There was, of course, those that saw the light and thought it pretty.

Still, a very small minority, feeling what had seemingly descended from the heavens with that azure light trembled and quaked in fear. For they sensed a being so far beyond their power, so far beyond any level of power they ever imagined, that they knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, if this being so wished, they could annihilate the entire world! Then…

“For those of you upon the Human Continent who can sense me, I am speaking directly into all of your minds!” This voice was one that seemed to come from an ancient, primordial being, and yet, at the same time, sounded akin to a woman in the prime of her youth, melodious and beautiful, and yet exuded a sense of dread all at the same time. “I am a being so far beyond your insignificant mortal understanding, that if I so desired, it would not take me but a thought to erase your whole continent from existence!”

As they heard this, they feared that this being was a harbinger of doom, sent from the heavens to punish them for all their misdeeds in life, as well as those of their ancestors! For none among them could truly behave as a saint to reach the level of strength that they had achieved! “However, doing so would destroy the reason why I came here! In 5 years, the strongest amongst you are to send one of your descendants to retrieve a boy I am leaving in this location from the edge of this continent, adopt him, and raise him as your own, on the pain of death,” she commanded. “To ensure you keep your word, I am placing a cursed seal upon you all to prevent you from leaving for this forest until the 5 years has passed, as well as to prevent you from speaking of its existence. If you do not follow my orders precisely, all of you, as well as all of your descendants will have your blood flow reverse, and burst out the pores of your body!”

At these words, all of them felt a blinding flash of agony, while an imprint of a large, black dragon was seared into their backs. “Remember my words, or else!” She threatened, as she receded from the presence of their minds.

The strongest amongst them thought to herself, “Why, if she is so powerful, does she have to leave a child in this world? Could she not raise it to be more powerful on her own?” Her name was Lilith, and, in time, she would become a mother-like figure to the child left behind in that world. She had been training for about a hundred years, and was considered an unprecedented genius to reach her level at that age, when the others at a similar level to her, required 150 years to reach their present stage, and yet even the strongest amongst them was lower than her by a level. And yet, she still maintained a youthful appearance of a woman in her twenties, with raven black hair, and her skin appeared much like that of a babes. She had sharp eyes, with golden colored irises.

All the other martial cultivators had similar thoughts, but knew, since she sought the strongest amongst them, the future affairs of the child had naught to do with them. Nonetheless, all of them, as if by common agreement, decided to leave their training sites to watch the events unfold in 5 years.

Meanwhile, in the forest…

A woman that could only be described as a woman whose beauty would destroy continents, a true world class beauty, was looking down upon a bundle of white cloth in her hands. She was rounded where she should be rounded, and smooth where she should be smooth, not an ounce of excessive fat to be found anywhere. She had golden hair extending down her back, with streaks of crimson running through it. Her eyes were slightly sharpish, and had silver colored irises, but if one looked closely, they would see within that silver, flecks of white and gold, similar to a miniature universe within her eyes. “I am sorry child, I am not strong enough to protect you, and so I must leave you here. Please, forgive your mother and father. We made too many enemies in our time,” as she said this she began weep.

She looked up from the baby swaddled in the cloth, and spread her sense around the forest. She was able to sense all the beings within the forest, from the tiniest ant, to the most ancient of dragons. She teleported herself to the strongest being within that forest, a variant Azure Lightning Dragon, and she had already reach such a high level in her cultivation that she was able to assume a human form, and had intelligence many folds greater than even the most learned of the human beings.

She found the ancient dragon hidden away inside a massive cavern, behind close-door cultivation. Upon the woman entering, the dragon snapped back to awareness, and opened her eyes to look upon this seemingly human being, whose cultivation was so far beyond the dragoness’s that she could sense nothing from her, even as she stood before her. Under normal circumstances, the dragon would have attacked the woman, forcing them both into a battle to the death, however, the dragoness had a premonition that if she so much as moved from her current position before being allowed to, she would die before she knew what had occurred.

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“That was wise, dragoness, to decide not to attempt a fight with me. I would have outright killed you in order to prevent you from waking this child. What is your name?” asked the female intruder.

“Hah, I am arrogant but not foolish. I know when I have met a being so far beyond my comprehension, that there is no point to even resisting. I was named Valeria,” said the dragoness, as she began transforming into her human form. “This form is more convenient for speaking to you. What is it you seek of me?”

Valeria’s human form had the appearance of a woman in her early thirties, with a perfect hourglass figure, and beauty that if shown in the human world, would be enough for an empire to fight over. And yet, she still felt that her beauty was inferior to this mysterious being before her.

“Valeria, I wish you to raise this child for a period of 5 years. After 5 years, humans will come to retrieve him from the edge of your forest, and bring him into their society. During the time he is with you, I wish you to raise him personally, and bring him to such a level that he will have naught to fear from the average human being. Do you accept this?” queried the woman.

Valeria paused, and thought. For her, 5 years was not even a period of time worth mentioning for her. However, she was being requested to raise a (presumably) human being, a baby at that, beings notorious for their arrogance, as well as their weakness in their earliest stages of life. She had experience raising young before, she’d even birthed some herself, all of whom went on to become leaders of their own clans. Even after all of this was considered, she feared to outright reject the woman, a being who would not even have to try exceedingly hard to erase her from existence.

The woman sighed, sensing her hesitation, and said, “Valeria, I swear upon the Heavens, if you raise this child as your own, and the dragons truly accept him as their family, I will place a barrier upon your lands, such that for the period of time of 5 years, I will prevent any humans from entering, as well as for an eternity thereafter, none stronger than you are now may enter if you do not wish it. Do you agree now?”

Valeria thought upon it, and after considering that it was, in fact, highly beneficial for her, she replied, “Alright, I agree to take this child and raise him as my own, this I swear unto the Heavens.”

Upon her completing the vow, a beam of light came down from above, entering the two of them. Neither were shocked upon this, since this was just proof that the Heavens had witnessed their agreements, and would obliterate them if they reneged upon their word. The woman took one last look at the child in her hands, and from within the folds of her robe, produced a necklace, tucking it into the babes cloth, and then handed him over to the dragoness.

“This necklace is his heritage from myself, as well as his father. Be sure he keeps it with him at all times. It is his ticket to finding us upon him reaching your current level of strength. He need not concern himself with the present occurrences in our home realm, nor why I had to leave him until such a time. As you already know, for each successive realm, the time flows a hundred fold slower than it’s previous, lower realm. We came from a realm two levels beyond this one. He need not know more than that!”

After finishing her words, the azure aurora from before appeared again, and after disappearing she vanished.

The dragoness looked upon the babe swaddled in her arms, and said to herself, “Little one, oh little one, your background would appear to be anything but simple! What shall I call you?”

She thought to herself for a moment, and decided, “I will call you Long Tian.”

The baby woke up at this time, and looking at her, began bawling. The dragoness did not get any sleep that night for the first time in decades.

Author: Hello all! As per the usual, if you see any grammatical mistakes or issues with consistency or clarity, please point them out to me, and I will do my best to quickly rectify them. If you have any questions on my phrasing, a lot of my phrasing was influenced by the reading of Chinese stories, and thus uses some similar expressions. If you need me to explain it, just ask, and I will at least try haha.