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

Chapter 3 Hunter

Jie wished she could massage her ears. They still stung. As real as all this felt, she was sure it had to be a hallucination, but it could cause her real pain. Maybe if she went along with it, the dragon wouldn't get so mad.

"I would love that," she said, "but there's always a catch isn't there?"

The dragon smiled again.

"Clever girl," Ming said, "the catch is that you will have to walk through fire and death. You will have to fight for your life every step of the way. You will have to battle against people and creatures more powerful and terrifying than your worst nightmares. I need you to save my world and many others by stopping the followers of Fang Zhuyu. It will not be easy. You may not survive."

This was a weird hallucination. Maybe it was from all the stories she read? She was about to agree to whatever it said, but then she paused.

What if this was real?

Did it matter? If it was real, she would gladly suffer through anything to be free of the hell she was trapped in. What did she have to lose?

There was one more thing she wanted though.

"In case you're actually real and not just in my mind... I would agree to this, but I want something else first," she said.

Lightning flickered over the dragon's onyx scales. "Name your price, girl," the dragon said.

"The ones who put me here... who did this to me and killed my parents. I want revenge," she said.

Ming leaned in closer. His breath washed over her once more, and for once Jie was glad to be paralyzed, or she'd have trembled.

"I shall free you from this prison, and help you get your vengeance. In exchange, you will come with me to my world, and push through overwhelming odds to become powerful enough to save everything I hold dear," the dragon said, "do we have an agreement?"

That sounded good to her. If this wasn't all in her head then it would be an amazing bargain as far as she was concerned. "I agree," she said.

The dragon smiled.

"We shall have to do something more binding when we reach my world, but for now your word will do," he said.

Ming looked at the tubes that went down her throat, breathing for her. "Must you be connected to these... things?" he asked.

"I have to... I can't move anything below my shoulders," Jie said.

Ming shook his head. "That won't do," he said. He raised his hand and a green, glowing ball the size of a pea sprouted from one of his talons.

He brought it to her chest.

A warm tingle ran through her whole body. Numbness gave way to countless feelings and sensations that flooded her mind. It felt incredibly foreign and strange after so long without them. Jie gagged and coughed as the tubes that helped her breathe now suffocated her instead.

Ming frowned at Jie as she spasmed and trembled, her heart monitor beeping frantically as she struggled helplessly. She tried to pull out the tubes, but her hands were weak, and she wasn't even sure that she could anyway... wasn't it partly in her lungs?

Jie panicked and clawed at the tubes.

Ming raised his hand again, and an azure mist flowed out from him and down her throat. Using this strange energy, he pulled out all the tubes, the iv drip... everything. It didn't even hurt.

As he removed the last of the tubes, Jie took in a shuddering breath, relief washing over her like a wave.

"Thank you," she rasped.