Yiming carefully accepted the sketch with both hands, treating the torn notebook paper as if it were a sacred sutra. His solemn expression appeared to bear more weight than a thousand pieces of gold.
He understood the sketch's value better than anyone else; it was the lifeline for his village, the resurrection of their god.
"Thank you very much! I will remember Dr. Ernst's kindness for the rest of my days," Yiming expressed his gratitude, bowing deeply.
"It's not a big deal. I've gained a lot from this too," Dr. Ernst replied, waving his hand dismissively.
To him, it was a simple geological survey.
However, Yiming was quite insistent.
"To you, it might seem insignificant, but this drawing is worth way more than money. Such kindness must be repaid, or it will weigh heavily on my conscience and my cultivation."
"That's fine. If I face difficulties in the future, I'll turn to the Taoist priest for help," Ernst responded nonchalantly, mostly to placate the old man.
He didn't truly believe he would ever need the help of a mountain priest when he had alien technology and mutant powers.
Upon hearing Ernst's promise, Yiming felt relieved.
The karmic debt was acknowledged, if not settled.
"It's getting late today. I've already arranged accommodations in the east wing. Does Dr. Ernst need some rest now?"
Ernst checked his watch. "Well, it's quite late, but we've reached the Shenlong Temple. Yet, we haven't paid our respects to Lord Long. That is rather impolite for a guest. How about we light some incense first?"
"Very well, please follow me," Yiming agreed, smiling.
Ernst's respect for the traditions warmed the old priest's heart.
Inside the temple's main hall, the air was thick with the scent of sandalwood.
A several-meter-high dragon statue dominated the room. It was carved from black stone, winding around a central pillar.
Even the supporting columns were adorned with carved five-clawed dragons, presenting a majestic and extraordinary sight that seemed to shift in the flickering candlelight.
Yiming personally handed three incense sticks to Ernst.
Ernst took them. He approached the altar.
He respectfully bowed and performed three prostrations, the traditional Kowtow.
As he stood up to place the three incense sticks into the bronze tripod holder, he suddenly felt a strange sensation.
It wasn't physical. It was a tug on his consciousness.
It felt as if an invisible thread within him was drawing something out, a fragment of his intent, his focus, and directing it toward the dragon statue.
Curious.
Ernst closed his eyes.
He extended his mental power, amplified by the neural link with the Red Queen, to follow the invisible thread.
Suddenly, the dark temple vanished.
He found himself in a colorful, otherworldly realm.
It was a kaleidoscope of shimmering lights, like fireflies in a jar.
He listened. The lights whispered.
"May Lord Dragon bless us with good weather..."
"May Lord Dragon bless my son to be healthy..."
"Listen, Oh Dragon Lord, and protect our family from harm..."
These lights were wishes. They were the crystallized intent of the villagers who had come to offer incense and tributes for generations.
At this moment, Ernst grasped the essence of this phenomenon.
'Power of Faith.'
It wasn't magic in the Harry Potter sense.
It was the result of living beings experiencing a sense of worship, an intense emotional focus, causing their bio-magnetic fields to oscillate and resonate at a specific frequency.
These fluctuations converged.
While a single magnetic field fluctuation might be incredibly weak and almost negligible, when countless such fluctuations converged over centuries, they grew stronger.
They coalesced.
'They create a Tulpa', Ernst realized.
'A thought-form deity.'
Although the power of incense he felt here was potent, it was still far from sufficient to create an actual, omnipotent god.
It was fragmented, weak. Furthermore, in contemporary society, with the rise of materialism and the destruction of temples, the "food source" for these entities was drying up.
As Ernst was about to retract his mental power, he noticed something unusual.
The power of incense wasn't staying in the statue.
It was being drawn downward.
It flowed into the ground, as if the dragon statue acted as a lightning rod or a conduit, channeling the faith energy to something deep beneath the earth's surface.
'Its down there', Ernst thought'.
'Hungry.
His curiosity piqued, Ernst decided to investigate further.
He pushed his consciousness down.
Through the stone floor. Through the granite foundation of the mountain.
Through the aquifers he had mapped earlier.
He went deeper.
However, Ernst had underestimated the depth. At 10,000 meters, the pressure on his mind was immense.
The sheer weight of the rock above was crushing his astral projection.
Warning: Mental strain at 85%, the Red Queen whispered in his ear.
Push harder, Ernst commanded.
He continued. 11,000 meters. 12,000 meters.
Suddenly, a deafening roar echoed in his mind.
It wasn't a sound. It was a psychic blastwave.
Ernst "saw" a sight that left him utterly astonished.
It was a dragon.
Not the Western image of a winged lizard that breathed fire.
This was a genuine Chinese Shenlong.
It had the head of a camel, the antlers of a deer, the eyes of a tiger, the ears of a cow. Its body was long and serpentine, covered in shimmering fish scales. It had the claws of an eagle and the whiskers of a carp.
But it wasn't flesh and blood.
It was pure, golden energy.
It was massive, curled in a subterranean cavern filled with magma.
It was floating in the molten rock as if it were a bath.
Ernst realized that this dragon appeared to have a simple consciousness, a primitive, instinctual awareness born from prolonged exposure to the power of incense.
However, it was currently in a deep slumber. It was dormant.
The dragon was connected to the underground magma veins, the telluric currents of the Earth. It was constantly absorbing geothermal energy, mixing it with the faith energy from above.
'It is a battery', Ernst deduced.
'Or an embryo.'
This dragon may have initially been a formless energy mass, a geological anomaly, but the human collective consciousness had shaped it.
They believed in a dragon, so the energy became a dragon.
Unfortunately, Ernst concluded that the dragon had not fully materialized. It was a semi-real entity. It was stuck.
Unless it gathered enough energy to reach a critical mass, perhaps a massive surge of faith or a geological event, it would remain here, a ghost in the machine of the Earth.
Ernst marveled at it.
'If this exists... what else is down there?'
He wondered if other divine creatures were hidden away.
The Phoenix? The Qilin? The Black Turtle?
Ernst opened his eyes.
He was back in the temple hall. The incense stick in his hand was still burning. The entire experience had taken only a few seconds of real time.
He placed the incense in the burner.
'Sleep well', he thought.
'I won't wake you.'
Three days passed in a flash.
Ernst decided to extend his stay. The discovery of the dragon had shaken him, but the library of the temple intrigued him even more.
He immersed himself in reading ancient secret books that Yiming provided.
These weren't just religious texts; they were manuals on Feng Shui engineering, on how to manipulate the flow of earth energy.
Yiming explained and demonstrated, happy to have a student who could actually understand the math behind the mysticism.
Despite the Chinese government's attempts to influence him through Li Guang, who spent most of his time pacing nervously and checking his watch, Ernst was deeply moved by Yiming's unwavering support and simplicity.
He had initially intended to share the discovery of the underground dragon with Yiming.
It would have validated the priest's entire life.
But he reconsidered.
'Knowledge is a burden. And sometimes, a danger.'
If Yiming learned the truth, he might try to wake it. Or dig for it. Or the government might find out and turn the mountain into a mining operation.
The dragon's energy field was powerful.
Disturbing it could trigger earthquakes or volcanic eruptions within a radius of hundreds of miles.
So, Ernst kept the secret.
As night fell on the third day, Ernst lay in bed, unable to sleep.
He couldn't help but wonder about other places like this.
'Kunlun. Shangri-La. Kamar-Taj.'
The world is deeper than I thought, he realized.
'There are layers to this game I haven't even touched.'
He contemplated whether places like Kunlun might harbor even more powerful artifacts.
Perhaps the Ten Rings were real. Perhaps the Hand was more than a myth.
Despite his temptation to explore further, Ernst wisely chose to suppress that desire. He had a mission.
He had a son. He couldn't go chasing every ghost story.
Finally, Ernst made preparations to leave.
He gathered his belongings. Yiming personally saw him off at the temple gate.
"Dr. Ernst," Yiming said, his eyes filled with genuine concern.
"The road ahead may be fraught with challenges and obstacles. The wind is changing. Please take extra care."
While speaking, Yiming subtly glanced at Li Guang, who was standing behind Ernst, adjusting his gloves.
Yiming wasn't blind. He sensed the malice coming off the guide.
Li Guang's face twitched, but his extensive experience in espionage kept him composed.
He maintained a polite, plastic smile.
Ernst chuckled, clapping Yiming on the shoulder.
"I won't need to worry, Master Yiming. The challenges that lie ahead are nothing more than a group of insignificant troublemakers. I have dealt with worse. I have dealt with Nazis and demons."
Yiming regarded Ernst, observing the absolute confidence in his blue eyes. He nodded slowly.
"That's good. Since it's still early, please descend from the mountain now to avoid any time constraints."
"Goodbye, my friend."
With a final nod, Ernst turned and began his descent down the mountain. Azazel followed, carrying the luggage, and Li Guang brought up the rear.
Descending was much faster. Gravity was on their side.
While it had taken them most of a day to climb up, they reached the clearing with the helicopter in less than four hours.
They boarded the plane.
The pilot started the engine. The rotors began to spin.
Once they were airborne, leaving the Hidden Dragon Mountain behind, the atmosphere in the cabin shifted.
Li Guang couldn't hide his unease anymore. He was sweating. He kept his left hand in his pocket, gripping something tight.
"Dr. Ernst," Li Guang said, his voice tight.
"I have a question for you."
Ernst looked out the window at the passing clouds.
"Ask."
"If I were to ask on behalf of the Chinese government... for you to stay and assist... promising to meet all your requirements, give you your own laboratory, unlimited funding... would you agree?"
Ernst didn't turn his head. He smiled at his reflection in the glass.
"Are you finally ready to take action, Mr. Li?"
Li Guang froze.
"If I were to decline," Ernst continued calmly, "would you open fire immediately? Or would you try to drug me?"
He turned to face the spy.
"Fortunately for you, you have a tranquilizer gun in your pocket, not a lethal one. Or else, you might have met a very different fate by now. My friend here," he gestured to Azazel, "has been itching to throw someone out of the door."
Li Guang's expression changed dramatically.
The mask fell. Panic and duty warred in his eyes.
"I have my orders!" Li Guang shouted.
He started to pull the gun from his pocket.
He was fast. A trained agent.
Ernst moved with a speed that blurred the air.
He unbuckled, leaned across the aisle, and pressed his palm against Li Guang's neck before the gun had even cleared the fabric of the pocket.
Bio-electric disruption.
Ernst discharged a precise, low-voltage shock directly into the vagus nerve.
Li Guang gasped. His eyes rolled back.
He felt his strength draining away instantly, his muscles turning to water.
His vision darkened.
He slumped forward, unconscious.
"Amateurs," Ernst whispered, sitting back down.
"Shall I toss him?" Azazel asked, reaching for the door handle.
"No," Ernst said, opening a book.
"He's just a messenger. Let him sleep."
-------------
Author's Note:
Do you want to read 25+ Chapters ahead right now?
Stop waiting. Come over to the dark side. We have cookies, advanced chapters, and very, very detailed 'plot.'
patreon.com/
Dark_sym