A Good-for-Nothing

294. The Tale of a Dragon

Translator: Dragon Rider

Shortly after that incident happened on the expressway, Zhen Daoyuan and some others had been informed that Li Zong and He Zheng would arrive at the airport in the afternoon. Owing to He Zheng’s special new identity, SMB attached great importance to the matter. Xiang Hailou, bringing with him Wei Cheng and some others, came to the airport to meet them in person. In order to avert suspicion, he had not allowed Zu Zhichong and the others to come with him, but when they returned from smoking a cigarette, they found that Li Zong and the others had left with someone else.

Xiang Hailou and the others first called someone in the department and then, capitalizing on their personal relationship, gained access to the surveillance video of the airport. The time of Li Zong’s departure was definite, which made it very easy for them to look into the matter. Soon they found out who had taken Li Zong and the others away.

Zhou Yang had not made any arrangements to cover his tracks before coming to the airport, so he naturally knew that SMB would soon come to know what he had done, but this did not seem to bother him at all.

What with Zhou Yang’s words, the mood in the car became rather awkward.

Zhou Yang smiled, “Relax. It’s not like I’m interrogating you. This is supposed to be a casual chat. Nothing more.”

Zhang Jingqiu and the others were further baffled. What did this old man want exactly?

Before long, the man dressed like a bodyguard respectfully handed a cellphone to Zhou Yang and said, “Mr. Zhou, you have a call from Elder Chen.”

“That old fart … ” Zhou Yang snorted, “Hang it up.”

Then he said to the others, “Many years ago a junior did me a favor and I promised to return it, which is why I’m inviting you guys to my house and spend some time there.”

Zhang Jingqiu and Li Zong exchanged a glance, both of them poker-faced. Now that they had got in Zhou Yang’s car, they had to do as Zhou Yang said. Besides, the two of them might not necessarily be able to overpower Zhou Yang even if they joined hands. Therefore, Li Zong and Zhang Jingqiu reached a consensus during the brief eye contact – they should adopt a wait-and-see attitude and play it by ear.

Zhou Yang did not care what they were thinking. Eyes on Li Zong, he said, “This is the vessel of the Seed, I suppose?”

He Zheng was rather unacquainted with Zhou Yang, so he had been vigilant all along.

“Some things in this world are so weird. This could’ve been settled in a very simple way. I can’t understand why they’re trying to make it so complicated.”

Li Zong furrowed his brows and said coldly, “Master Zhou, there are indeed shortcuts to settlement of some matters, but it’s not always easy to take a shortcut.”

The admonitory undertone contained in Li Zong’s words was manifest, and Zhou Yang naturally understood it. Zhou Yang had had a reputation for being short-tempered when working in SMB, but on this occasion he kept his cool. Stroking his walking stick, he smiled but made no reply.

Soon the car arrived at Zhou Yang’s villa. Zhou Yang was from the capital city, and he was staying in Coastal City only temporarily, but this old man tended to do things with pomp whenever he could. Though he did not come to Coastal City to live in this villa very often, the residence had still been decorated in a very sumptuous way, which showed that he was very proud of being a citizen of the capital which had been inhabited by many emperors in the past.

After the three of them got out of the car, Zhou Yang said, “Would you like to get some rest or have something to eat?”

Zhang Jingqiu was always a straightforward man and hated this kind of formalities, but unlike Zu Zhichong, Zhang Jingqiu tended to be impulsive and irritable in front of Zhang Shi, but when faced with Elder Zhou, the leader of the second action group managed to comport himself with courtesy.

“Master Zhou, you know what Li Zong has to deal with. We need to go back to the bureau to report on our work. We really don’t have time for this.”

Zhou Yang smiled as two servants walked over from the side, carrying tea and snack.

“Have a try. These are Wandouhuang, ice lollies made in our own country. Back in the Qing dynasty, this was the empress dowager’s favorite. She would have a helping of it after every meal.”

The central air conditioner was on, and they felt very comfortable the moment they walked in. It was midsummer and the sun was scorching out there. The ice lollies, which had just been taken out of a refrigerator, were emitting white steam. The very sight of them made He Zheng feel a little thirsty.

“Give it a shot. Master Zhou is an elder, and he won’t do anything unbecoming of an elder,” said Li Zong, picking up an icy lolly and putting it into He Zheng’s hand. He Zheng, who liked sweet food, accepted the offer without any pretense of being courteous and started eating it slowly.

This kind of snack did not appeal to Li Zong, so he did not take one for himself, and neither did Zhang Jingqiu.

Zhou Yang, seeming not to take offense, smiled and eat one. When He Zheng almost finished his ice lolly, Zhou Yang had the servants take the remainder away and serve some other snacks.

“Zhang Jingqiu, You need to grow some balls.”

Zhang Jingqiu smiled a skin-deep smile. “You’ve got a point.”

“I know you guys are wondering why I invited you over and ignored that old fart Chen Sanquan. In fact, there’s something I need to ask Li Zong about.”

“What is it?”

Zhou Yang removed the round shades from on his nose. Unexpectedly, Zhou Yang’s eye sockets were empty. There was nothing in them. He Zheng was startled at the sight of them. Even Zhang Jingqiu was astonished. He only knew that Master Zhou wore shades almost all the time, but nobody had ever found out that Zhou Yang had no eyes!

“Ha ha. Judging from the looks on your faces, I think it’s safe to say all of you were hoodwinked by me.” Zhou Yang smiled a sly smile, which, curiously enough, seem to go well with his old face.

Zhou Yang continued, “This time around, the reason why I called Li Zong here was not because of the matter of the vessel but because Li Zong did something for me many years ago, and I’ve been meaning to repay the favor all these years. I had a hard job to figure out his true identity, and I’ve got to do something to make up for it.”

“Li Zong’s identity?” said He Zheng, subconsciously glancing at Li Zong. If truth be told, He Zheng did not know much about Li Zong’s identity, because Li Zong had never told him any details. However, given that Li Zong had both phoenix plumes and dragon blood, his identity was by no means ordinary.

Zhou Yang said, “I heard that Li Zong was born out of the vital essence of a dragon and a phoenix, that he has both dragon blood and phoenix plumes, that he has dragon’s eyes and phoenix’s neck. Is that true?”

Li Zong nodded.

Zhou Yang gave a smile of giddy relief. “I was wondering where that old fart Chen Sanquan found such a powerful newbie. The Li family is not really a large family, but a man like you actually grew up in there. It never crossed my mind you were of such origins. No wonder you’re unwilling to be cooped up in the Li family.”

“The vital essence of a dragon and a phoenix?” He Zheng raised his voice. Originally he had thought that Li Zong was a fabled beast taking a human form, but now it turned out that he was further removed from a human than expected.

Zhou Yang was momentarily surprised. It had never occurred to him that Li Zong had not even told He Zheng about it. After a long, amazed silence, he chuckled, “You’ve been doing a very good job keeping it secret, Li Zong. I mean, you didn’t even tell the one sharing a bed with you.”

“I never tried to keep it secret. It’s just most of those that I confided this to have passed away,” said Li Zong, stroking He Zheng’s head. “In the time of Mofa, the spiritual energy in this world was very thin. It was by sheer luck that I was born out of the mixed vital essence of a dragon and a phoenix in Danqiu. When I grew powerful enough to turn into a human being, the ancient fabled beasts were at the end of their prime. Afterward, thanks to the Phoenix Plume in me, I was reborn in flames every few centuries, and my powers waned with every rebirth. In this incarnation of mine, the spiritual energy in this world has long since become turbulent and foul. Maybe I’ll never have another chance to rise from the ashes, which is why I feel it unnecessary to disclose my origins to anybody.”

Therefore, this lifetime was Li Zong’s last chance to find his lover. Fortunately for him, he had found He Zheng.

He Zheng’s face was becoming paler and paler. Eventually it was scarily white. His lips kept twitching uncontrollably. No wonder Li Zong had never told him about it. It turned out that … there were so many secrets.

“You can’t be reborn again? But the Phoenix Plume is still here inside me.”

“It has turned into our Soul Beast, and the process is irreversible. As for another rebirth, it doesn’t mean much to me any more, because I’ve found you.”

He Zheng felt as though someone scratched his heart. He averted his face, sniffled and did not speak for a long moment.

“People with such origins are favored by the providence. Relax. Although Li Zong could no longer be reborn, his lifespan should be much longer than those of common people like us.”

These words made He Zheng more worried. What if he died before Li Zong did?

While they were talking, He Zheng’s thoughts ran wild.

Zhang Jingqiu on the side was astonished that Li Zong had such cool origins. It turned out that someone was born in Rome. He felt overshadowed once again.

“Master Zhou, what is it that you want to make up for?” asked Zhang Jingqiu curiously.

He Zheng’s ears also pricked up.

Zhou Yang smiled mirthlessly and, pointing at his empty eye sockets, replied, “That has something to do with our sins.”

He put on his shades again, turned his head to look at Li Zong, and then said in a soft voice, “You’re a descendant of the last dragon and the last phoenix in this world, I suppose?”

“Yes. After I turned into a human, most ancient species became extinct. Many of them sank into the sea. The phoenix never rose from her ashes again. As for the dragon, I have no idea where he is.”

The phoenix had turned into ashes, leaving a phoenix plume, while the dragon had been nowhere to be seen when Li Zong had developed his own sentience. He heard that the dragon had died.

“Actually several thousand years after that, that dragon still lived in a river near Zhou Village.

Take it easy and drink some tea. I’ll tell you a story.”

Zhou Yang grinned, took a sip of tea for his throat and then began to tell a very ancient story in a slow voice.

About a thousand years ago, a dragon materialized in a peaceful village and quietly stayed in a river running through the village. The dragon was golden and very imposing. Because of the presence of the dragon, the climate in the area that the village was located became very favorable for agriculture and the harvest was good every year.

Most of the villagers were in awe of the dragon. The situation stayed this way for hundreds of years. No matter how chaotic the outside world was, the villagers here lived a happy life in the paradise-like place because of the protection of the dragon. Although the dragon seldom emerged from the river, many villagers saw him with their own eyes.

Everybody in the village believed that the dragon did exist.

For many years the dragon in the river could only move his eyes and palps. Actually all the villagers knew that the dragon was dying. However, though the dragon was close to death, the villagers still stood in awe of it. However, over time, evil thoughts came into being in some villagers’ minds.

One day, a baby was born in the village. The baby’s father, a migrant worker, returned to the village with all haste after receiving the message. When crossing the river, he caught sight of the dragon and with that greed took hold of him.

If he transferred this thing outside, wouldn’t he be able to make a fortune? This was a dragon. Its meat alone was worth a lot of money.

However, although he had such an intention, he did not dare put it into action.

After another five years, all the children in the village had grown up. The man’s son swam in the river every day in summer. One day he went into water and never came back. The villagers searched for him for a long time but there was no trace of him. Everybody believed that he had drowned. The boy’s mother got on her knees on the riverbank and kept kowtowing at the dragon whom she knew was at the bottom of the river, begging the dragon to save her son.

On that very day, at dusk, the boy was found on the bank, unconscious but unharmed.

The woman was positive that it had been the dragon who rescued her son, so she brought her son to the riverbank to express their gratitude, but the dragon still did not show his face.

That very night, all villagers had the same dream, in which a mighty-looking dragon told them that they might take his scales after he died, that the scales would ensure their safety, but they should not take the golden scales over his chests, that they should sink one scale into the river every day, so that the dragon’s soul would continue to protect them.

After saying this, Zhou Yang suddenly smiled and asked a seemingly irrelevant question. “Do any of you know what evil is?”

Zhang Jingqiu and the others, fascinated by the story, were all bewildered by this question and exchanged perplexed glances.

He Zheng said, “Evil means doing bad things.”

Zhou Yang shook his head. “Those villains doing all kinds of bad things are not the only evil ones. Those ‘kind’ residents who beat stray dogs on the street are even more hateful.”