King Dalong

It was the small hours of the morning, and the snack street outside was in full swing. In the throbbing heart of the city, people were drunk on the night. Yue Wen had finished washing up and was lying on the little bed upstairs. He scrolled through his phone for a while, then got ready to sleep. Only, before he could sleep, there was one thing left to do. He set the phone down and closed his eyes in meditation. His consciousness sank, slipped in an instant into darkness, and arrived in a hollow realm of empty nothing. When he opened his eyes again, he stood within a deep and solemn great hall of black and gold. Its four walls and its floor were built of stone black as ink, inlaid with sweeping bands of golden engraving that formed relief murals, ancient and inscrutable. Taken one after another, they seemed to recount the countless wars of gods and demons from remotest antiquity. Straight ahead of him rose a long stairway, every step as tall as a rampart. On the vast platform at its top stood a single colossal black-and-gold seat — and upon that seat perched a dragon. That's right: a true dragon out of legend. A dragon throne in the truest sense of the word. The creature's body was enormous. Even that seat, several stories tall, was only enough for it to loosely coil half its body, and a good stretch of its tail still draped over the chair's back, hanging out into the air. The ink-dark scales across its body glimmered with a dark-golden luster, every one engraved with arcane patterns. Its raised head sat high, calm and imperious, and in its slightly parted pupils burned a searing golden flame that chilled the heart. Twin horns like long halberds pointed straight at the dome. "Dalong! I'm back again." Yue Wen felt no particular awe for the creature before him with its air of sanctity. He greeted it the way one hails an old friend. "I have told you many times — do not address me so flippantly." The great dragon on the throne spoke human words, its voice deep as thunder. "You don't know the dragon tongue and cannot pronounce my true name. That I forgive. But when you call me, you should at least add the word 'King.'" "Fine, then — King Dalong." Yue Wen waved a careless hand. "I'm here on real business this time." "..." The dragon on the throne looked rather speechless. "I've cultivated to the late stage of the third realm. I should be closing in on Perfection soon." Yue Wen raised a hand, and a thick, coiling chaos qi dragon appeared in his palm, whistling faintly as it spun. He looked at the dragon. "How much in evil-suppressing coins for the fourth-realm cultivation method you have here?" The flames in the dragon's pupils brightened and dimmed, as if it were searching its memory. Then it answered: "The Gang Realm chapter of the True Dragon Dao Method. Priced at 399." "What?" Yue Wen had expected as much, but his face tightened all the same. "That expensive?" He flipped his hand and brought out a stack of aged copper coins, a dozen or so, each stamped with the words "All evil suppressed, heaven and earth set right." "When I slew a tree wraith with a hundred years of cultivation, it refined into just twelve evil-suppressing coins — and that was the biggest job I've landed lately. At this rate, saving up the price of one method of yours would take until the cows come home. And that's only the fourth realm. What am I supposed to do when my cultivation climbs higher?" Seeing him pull such a long face, the dragon seemed to find the sight mildly satisfying. It gave a couple of snorts. "Too pricey? Then go out there and buy somebody else's method instead." Yue Wen heaved a sigh. For his first three realms, he had cultivated the True Dragon Dao Method sold here. Never mind whether switching methods at the fourth realm would even work — even if it did, the methods one could actually buy on the open market fell far, far short of the True Dragon Dao Method. That method could stand comparison with the finest cultivation arts in the world; otherwise, how could a pure rogue cultivator short on resources have reached this level in so little time? If the True Dragon Dao Method were put up for sale in the cultivators' markets, the fourth-realm chapter alone would fetch well over a million without any trouble. Yue Wen mulled it over, then spoke again. "Then let me ask you—" The dragon seemed to anticipate the thought and cut in: "No credit." "I'm not asking for credit — I told you I'd only owe you that one time." Yue Wen grinned. "What I wanted to ask was, do you take installment payments?" "Hmph." The dragon gave no answer. It simply closed its eyes; the flames within them went out, and the whole hall plunged into darkness. Pulled the plug. ... Dalong really did care about nothing but money. Yue Wen opened his eyes again on his own little bed, his mind back in the real world. He didn't dare join the Supernatural Management Bureau — and this dragon's existence was one major reason. Three years ago, after he fell into a coma, his consciousness went to that space for the first time, and he saw the great dragon. At their first meeting he still held a trace of reverence. The true dragon coiled upon the throne claimed to be the true king of the Dragon Domain, schemed against by treacherous ministers and driven to drift here. If he brought it five million evil-suppressing coins to help it retake its throne, it could then make him chancellor of the Dragon Palace. Yue Wen didn't stop to wonder what species a Dragon Palace chancellor ought to be. He asked just one question: "What are evil-suppressing coins?" Dalong answered: you are a chosen one of destiny, able to descend to this place. You need only slay demons and evil entities, and their souls will naturally refine into evil-suppressing coins. Yue Wen asked: I'm just a student. I don't have any cultivation. How am I supposed to slay demons and evil entities? Dalong said: you can use evil-suppressing coins to buy cultivation methods from me. Cultivate, and you will have cultivation. Yue Wen asked: but I don't have evil-suppressing coins. How do I buy cultivation methods? Dalong said: go slay demons and evil entities, and you will have evil-suppressing coins. Yue Wen asked: but I don't have cultivation. How do I slay them? Dalong said: buy cultivation methods from me and cultivate, and you will have cultivation. Yue Wen said: are you out of your mind? Dalong said: what's wrong with you, cursing a dragon? Yue Wen said: I &%#... So he hadn't only seen a dragon. He had cursed one out, too. After one human and one dragon had looped through that a number of times, both of them realized where the problem lay. In the end, Dalong grudgingly agreed to begin by selling Yue Wen one method on credit: the first chapter of the True Dragon Dao Method. And that was how Yue Wen stepped onto the path of cultivation. Only once he began cultivating did he finally wake — and he realized with a start that half a year had passed. After his parents were gone, this dragon became his strongest support. It sold not only cultivation methods but magic implements, elixirs, talismans... Save for living things like spirit plants and strange beasts, it seemed every cultivation treasure in the world had stock sitting in its treasury. And the quality was astonishingly high. Only, in any transaction, it accepted evil-suppressing coins and nothing else. Circumstances had forced Yue Wen to open this budget-priced cultivation agency as well. Beyond keeping himself fed for the time being, the more important purpose was opening a channel for getting information on evil entities. Much as he longed to go searching for his parents right away, he knew that with his present strength he had no standing yet to probe into that secret. Getting stronger came first — that was the primary goal. He had to slay plenty of evil entities, harvest evil-suppressing coins, and raise his strength at Dalong's place. If these powers and magic implements drew attention inside the Supernatural Management Bureau, Yue Wen would have no way at all to explain where they came from. Dalong's good or evil was unfathomable, and why he himself had been able to form a connection with it was anyone's guess. If he came clean about this ability, he couldn't be sure he wouldn't be locked down by others — turned into a research subject, or a bargaining chip. So he preferred that nobody glimpse any clues. Turning down a plum official post was a little regrettable, but holding on to this dragon was the surest road to strength — Yue Wen had his priorities straight. He was still turning all this over in his head when his phone suddenly vibrated. A message. Yue Wen glanced at the screen — new activity in the "Jiangcheng Cultivator Commissions Group." He perked up at once and tapped in to read the details. Sure enough: a new commission. "East City Cemetery needs evil entities cleared. Now recruiting one bold, careful, and conscientious cultivator; cultivation level requirement: no lower than the second realm. Submit a bid with your price within three hours. Seventh City preferred." Everyone in this group was a fellow practitioner. Ordinarily they all kept up a reserved, mysterious air, livening only when commissions came through. The commission had barely gone up before several replies landed within seconds. "High cultivation level, plenty of nerve. Twenty thousand takes the job." "Professional wraith-clearing. Twelve thousand." "Seventh City local. Any fancy trick you want, and I take clients male or female. Eleven thousand a job." "..." East City Cemetery was a large graveyard out in the suburbs. Many victims of accidental death or demon calamity — unclaimed by family for a stretch of time and awkward to cremate outright — were first sent here for burial. Spiritual qi ran active these days, and corpses easily bred evil entities of their own — chiefly "wraiths," born when the mental force a person left behind after death fused with spiritual qi. But whoever ended up buried there was never anyone formidable. Even if a wraith did take shape, it was usually the feeblest kind there was — the ghost-fire wraith, commonly known as the lantern monster. Those things posed no great danger, so the cemetery's management let them accumulate for a while; once enough ghost fires had gathered, they'd hire cultivators to come sweep out a batch, like a deep-clean on a schedule. The work was low-difficulty and safe, the public employer paid generously, and done well it could turn into long-term repeat business. For rogue cultivators who lived off commissions, it was a decent gig. "A lantern monster, however small, is still meat. A periodic sweep suits me fine." Yue Wen mulled it over and decided to race for this commission. The competition looked stiff, so he posted a message of his own. "Seventh City. Handsome, sweet-talking, high cultivation level. I live close by, no room and board needed. One thousand takes the job." At the sight of his price, the group's fellow practitioners went abruptly silent for a beat. Then a pile of replies burst out. "Did you type the price wrong?" "Holy crap — scab!" "Do you just enjoy beating up evil entities or something?" "???"