Chapter 10 - The Dragon's Awakening
The acrid stench of the Dragon-Devouring Pool rose in thick, suffocating plumes, a physical manifestation of the malice Cang Lie had harbored for centuries. The priests, their faces obscured by ritual masks that looked like weeping demons, tightened their grip on Leng Qingqing’s arms. Their fingers felt like iron shackles, cold and unyielding, as they dragged him toward the edge of the bubbling, emerald-black sludge.
Leng Qingqing’s gaze was fixed on the center of the pool. There, submerged in the corrosive filth, lay the motionless form of the white dragon. Leng Jing’s magnificent scales, which usually shimmered with a celestial radiance, appeared dull and grey beneath the toxic surface.
"Jing... Xiao Jing..." Leng Qingqing’s voice was a broken whisper, his heart fracturing with every pulse. The sight of his "son" lying so still, seemingly extinguished by the very essence of the Dragon Court’s cruelty, drained the last of his strength.
Cang Lie stood at the precipice, his imperial robes fluttering in the foul wind generated by the pool’s dark energy. His laughter was a jagged shard of glass, cutting through the heavy silence of the cavern. "Do not weep for him, Shaoqing. In a few moments, you shall join him. The Dragon-Devouring Pool does not merely kill; it erases. Your souls, your memories, your very essence will be digested by the corruption of the Dragon Pearl. You will become nothing more than the fuel for my eternal reign."
Leng Qingqing looked up, his eyes burning with a mixture of grief and sudden, sharp clarity. "You sacrificed everyone, didn't you? The entire Snake God Clan... my brothers... my father... all for this throne?"
"A throne requires a foundation of bone and blood," Cang Lie replied, his expression twisting into something monstrously smug. "That 'Immortal' was right. Why be a mere snake, crawling in the dirt and hiding in the shadows of the Great Snow Mountain, when one can soar as a dragon? The ritual required the life force of the entire clan to forge a new destiny. I simply did what was necessary. I am the Dragon Emperor! I am the master of the Three Realms!"
"You are a coward," Leng Qingqing spat, his voice trembling with rage. "You are a snake who stole a dragon’s skin, but your heart is still full of venom."
Cang Lie’s face darkened. He raised a hand, signaling the priests to finish the task. "Throw him in. Let the silence of the abyss take him."
The priests heaved Leng Qingqing upward, his body suspended for a terrifying heartbeat over the churning poison. But just as they prepared to cast him into the depths, a low, resonant vibration began to shake the very foundations of the Dragon Court. It wasn't the sound of an earthquake; it was a hum, a primordial frequency that seemed to resonate from the dawn of time.
The surface of the Dragon-Devouring Pool, previously a chaotic mess of bubbles and steam, suddenly went deathly still.
"What is this?" Cang Lie demanded, his arrogance momentarily replaced by a flicker of instinctual dread.
From the center of the pool, a voice drifted upward—calm, bored, and utterly unimpressed.
"Is this it? I was expecting something with a bit more... kick."
The emerald-black water began to swirl, not outward, but inward, as if a massive drain had been opened at the bottom of the pool. The toxic sludge, the corrosive poison of the Dragon Pearl, and the concentrated malice of centuries were being sucked into a single point.
Leng Jing rose.
He did not climb out; he ascended. The white dragon’s body was no longer dull. Instead, it glowed with a blinding, pearlescent light that seemed to eat the darkness of the cavern. The "corrosive poison" that was meant to dissolve his flesh was instead being absorbed into his scales, purified by the sheer intensity of his Primordial Essence.
"Impossible!" Cang Lie screamed, stumbling back from the edge. "The Dragon-Devouring Pool is lethal to all dragon-kind! No one survives the corruption of the Dragon Pearl!"
Leng Jing, now in his human-like manifestation but wreathed in the ethereal silhouette of a gargantuan dragon, looked at his hands. "It was a bit salty," he remarked, glancing toward Leng Qingqing. "But it did wonders for my complexion. Dad, are you alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost."
The priests, terrified by the sudden surge of divine pressure, released Leng Qingqing and fell to their knees, trembling. Leng Qingqing scrambled away from the edge, his breath coming in ragged gasps. "Jing... you're alive..."
"Of course I am," Leng Jing said, his eyes shifting to a piercing, golden hue as he turned his gaze toward Cang Lie. "But as for this 'Emperor'... I think he’s overstayed his welcome in this realm."
Cang Lie roared, drawing a sword infused with dark lightning, but before he could strike, Leng Jing moved. He didn't run; he simply *was* there. With a casual flick of his wrist, the Dragon Emperor was sent flying across the hall, crashing through the ornate pillars like a discarded toy.
"We don't have time to play with the trash," Leng Jing said, reaching out to grab Leng Qingqing’s hand. "The 'Immortal' he mentioned... I sense a lingering scent. We need to go to Xiangguiyuan. That’s where the answers are."
Before Leng Qingqing could process the words, Leng Jing’s form expanded. The white dragon returned in its full, majestic glory, its body stretching hundreds of feet long, filling the cavern with its divine presence. He scooped Leng Qingqing onto his back, settling him securely behind his horns.
"Hold on tight, Dad," Leng Jing warned, his voice echoing like thunder. "I’m going to skip the scenic route."
With a deafening roar that shattered the remaining pillars of the Dragon Court, the white dragon surged upward. They didn't use the tunnels; Leng Jing simply tore through the ceiling of the underwater palace, a streak of white light cutting through the dark ocean depths and bursting into the open sky above.
The wind became a physical wall, screaming past Leng Qingqing’s ears as they accelerated to a speed that defied the laws of the mortal world. The clouds became mere blurs, and the horizon vanished into a streak of blue and white. Leng Qingqing squeezed his eyes shut, his fingers buried deep in the dragon's mane, praying that his internal organs would stay in their proper places as they hurtled toward the distant southwest.
