A Dragon Among The Stars

He knocked on the door and went inside. The room was quite s.p.a.cious with a lot of weapons in various designs from different grades plastered around its walls. His uncle Huang Jie near the bookshelves reading a book.

Huang Jie seeing Kiel walking inside the room, he closed the book and said in smile. "Hey, How was the food? You like it."

Kiel nodded and said. "Yes uncle, it was delicious!"

Huang Jie let out a smile as he returned the book to bookshelves. He gestured Kiel to take a seat a on the sofa while he sat on the opposite one. He said in concern. "Feng told me that you were feeling depressed the whole journey? Is there something that"s bugging you? You can tell your uncle and I will help you if I can."

Kiel sighed. He took a seat and said. "Uncle you don"t have to worry about it. Its nothing important"

Huang Jie only smiled from his reply and said. "Oh come on! I"m your uncle, you can tell me anything."

Kiel seeing his uncle being insistent opened up and said with his head down. "I"m just lost... I don"t know what to do... I know I should be cultivating to become strong but what for?" This question has been lingering in his mind ever since the trip.

Huang Jie pondered in silence before saying in a slight smile. "I see. so that"s what been bugging you huh... You know back then I too saw cultivation as my ticket to take revenge on the people who I had hated once back then"

Kiel was taken in surprise and said. "Revenge?"

Huang Jie nodded in bright yet sad smile and said. "Yeah, It was revenge for the people who killed my family back then... It was all thanks to your father, if it wasn"t for him. I wouldn"t have the chance to achieve my revenge." All his life, the person who respected the most was Yang Chen"s father, Yang Tianmeng. He knew that if it wasn"t for him, things would have been different. Either he was still in the streets struggling at every steps he take or maybe worse, a cold corpse.

Kiel asked in confusion. "So... for you revenge is about cultivation?"

Huang Jie laughed and gave Kiel a wide smile, His eyes radiating with wisdom from all the experiences he had gone through all his life. He said in a bright tone. "Yes and no... Yes back then because in my heart, vengeance was all I see. It was filled with intense hatred and anger. But through out the years I live after gaining vengeance I thirsted all my life, I realized that my understanding was quite shallow."

He looked at Kiel, He reached his hands and pointed to his heart. He continued with confidence and wisdom. "To me now, cultivation is all about finding and achieving whats deep inside your heart! Fighting for everything you hold dear!"

Kiel looked at his heart in silence before saying in dejected smile. "What if you know what you hold dear but you know you can"t reach it no matter what."

Huang Jie smiled for a moment. His eyes turning a little sentimental. He said. "If that"s you"re worried about then you"re being worried for nothing. I was like you back then. Stepped on like a pile of trash because I din"t have talent, but that didn"t stop me. There is always a path for you to take to achieve your dreams. You might not see the path before you but i doesn"t mean that it won"t one day. Take a look around and explore, the world is insanely vast!"

Kiel muttered in silence. "path... path..." His eyes slowly started shining in confidence he said. "I see. I maybe be weak and clueless now but not forever!"

Huang Jie laughed in delight as he saw bright lively eyes of Kiel. He followed up. "There we go! looks like you know what to do now."

Kiel nodded with a bright smile. His depression dwindled a lot. He said with a breath. "Well yeah, more or less. Though there still somethings I"m clueless about, but I can feel I can manage it!"

Huang Jie was pleased with his response. He laughed as he gave a thumbs up in delight. "Now you resemble more like your father! Now I"m more confident in making you partic.i.p.ate the demon beast hunt!"

Kiel was taken aback. He asked. "Demon beast hunt? You"re making me hunt demon beast?" He"s a little afraid hearing that he will be facing them since Yang Chen had never faced fought one, much less Kiel who lived in Earth. Just from the rumors he heard that a lot of cultivators had met their miserable demise in the claws of this fiendish beast.

Huang Jie raised an eyebrow as he asked. "What you afraid? What are you being afraid for? You won"t go alone. You"ll be with the hunting team of the pavilion. Don"t worry I trained them myself and are trustworthy."

"Hunting team?"

Huang Jie nodded in response. He said. "Though we can just buy some from other hunting teams who try to sell them to us. But having our own team would make more profits than buying and selling them."

Kiel enlightened, he asked. "I see, then when will I go with them?"

*knock*knock*

Huang Jie said in a smile. "That"s must be Shi"er" He shifted his gaze to the door and said. "Come in!"

A tall robust youth came in. He had a red long spear that matched his red fitted rob. He had a youthful face that was filled with vigor and confidence. One could see a striking resemblance with Huang Jie. Kiel already knew that this youth must be related Huang Jie.

The youth approach and bowed before saying. "Father, you have called me?"

Huang Jie gestured for the youth to come closer to him and introduced him to Kiel. He said. "Yang Chen meet my son Huang Shi,"

Huang Shi raised his hands for a handshake. He said in a smile. "Nice to meet you, Yang Chen"

Kiel stood up, held his hands and shook it. He replied with a same smile. "Nice to meet you too, Huang Shi"

Huang Jie said in a smile from the side. "Huang Shi, Yang Chen would come with you to hunt. This is his first time facing a demon beast so I expect you to teach him the ropes. This will serve as training for him." Then he looked at Yang Chen seriously. He continued. "You should take this seriously as this is what your father said."

Kiel thought in his mind. "Well since I promised my new father that I wouldn"t disappoint him then I would work hard!" He looked at Huang Jie and said. "I will" a.s.suring him before looking at Huang Shi, He stood up and bowed. He said. "I would be in your care."

Huang Shi returned the gesture and said, "I would be in your care too,"

Huang Jie was happy seeing his son and Yang Chen getting along. He warned them. "Now you two should get ready and be careful, There will be a lot of other hunting teams going up the mountains since the information has been validated to be true."

Huang Shi"s face became grave and asked. "You mean that there"s a grade three demon beast!?"

Huang Jie nodded his head in a serious manner. He said. "Yes. Our Yang pavilion would be sending three teams consisting of Foundation and Core Formation experts to deal with it and it"s horde." A higher grade demon beast could command lower grade beast as its own, forming what people a beast horde. The higher the grade of the commanding beast, the bigger the horde is and the more threat it pose towards the city.

Huang Shi nodded and said in ponder. "Hordes and high grade beasts seems to be appearing more and more since this year. Could there be something or someone inducing this?"

Huang Jie replied. "Even I have realized this. Even the city lord had started investigating for the reason behind it."

Huang Shi asked in curiosity. "Did they asked for help from the royal family?" The current Royal family situated in the Central Plains. The royal Long family is known for being the descendants dragons and inheriting their bloodline. It was common knowledge that the continent was once ruled by the lofty and domineering Dragon King and his dragon race in the past eras. Hence it name, the Dragon Continent.

Huang Jie pondered for a moment before saying. "Actually... since the situation has deteriorated, they might just send their disciples to train and gain experience. If experts were talking about then no..." He looked at Kiel and continued. "You must be careful to not offend them. And be careful, with your ability and cultivation, you can only fight a grade one beast. Don"t risk your life fighting beast a grade higher or your father would kill me!"

Kiel looked at his Uncle and nodded. He said seriously. "Don"t worry uncle. I won"t throw my life just that easily."

He thought to his mind. "I still have a wife and daughter so I can"t just die yet."