Young Master System: My Mother Is the Matriarch-Chapter 70: Misty Dragon

Smoke receded in spirals, pulling away like curtains unveiling a celestial stage.

A dragon.

Smoke spilled from the creature’s flared nostrils like funeral incense drawn toward a ceiling of unseen sorrow. Its jaws parted to reveal jade-green fangs carved as though by the gods themselves—saber-length teeth that defied logic.

Yet the dragon bowed not to wrath but to recognition—its manner regal, as if measuring their souls against cosmic scales.

A voice—cold, measured, ancient—resounded within their minds.

"What are outsiders like yourselves doing in here..."

The creature’s nostrils flared. Smoke hissed from its snout, curling downward like burning incense. Its jaws parted, revealing rows of fangs that shimmered like polished jade and bone, each tooth the size of a sword blade.

"Do not bother lying to me, i can sense your thoughts"

The voice came not through the air, but through their minds. A deep, measured resonance that echoed behind their eyes and stirred the marrow in their bones. It spoke in perfect clarity—cold and old and endlessly tired.

Li Wei’s eyes narrowed slightly, his gaze meeting the dragon’s without flinching.

"Sentience," he muttered. "No mere beast, then. A remnant of true will."

"Hold on..." the voice rumbled again, its tone tinged with disbelief. "You... are not even from the chosen lineage..."

The misty dragon shifted slightly, its vast head circling around them like a serpent coiled around a cosmic truth. Its nose flared as it sniffed their spiritual signatures. The smoke within its form churned faster.

The dragon’s head swiveled slowly as spiritual signatures were assessed. "What is this... you are not even residents of this plane. Your qi... it is foreign. Refined. Heavier than this realm should allow. You descend from above—from a higher plane."

A pause, as the dragon’s glow flickered with solemn warning. "Descending into lower realms is unwise. The walls between heavens were set for a reason. Your presence could bring imbalance. Pandemonium. Or worse..."

Its great form coiled around them in invisible gravity, tension enshrouded in vapor. "Perhaps you are warmonger," the voice rumbled, "perhaps you wish to gather troops against a foe that has been at odd with you for eons.

Leng Yue leaned toward Li Wei, whispering with a wry smirk, "This beast is rather paranoid..."

The dragon coiled tighter around itself, its eyes narrowing. Behind its gaze was suspicion—and dread.

"Perhaps you flee," it said, "perhaps you hide from a sovereign too great to confront. If so, you may yet drag his wrath here. This world is not ready for war among those who bear heaven’s breath."

Leng Yue leaned toward Li Wei, whispering with a faint smirk. "Mmm... It may already be too late for that."

Li Wei half-suppressed a chuckle behind his sleeve, but the chamber remained hushed—each breath measured, each moment suspended on the knife-edge of silence.

Li Wei took a step forward,

Then bent his posture slightly with solemn grace,

*THUMP.*

and struck his chest in homage—a ritual of respect ingrained in him. His fist still close to his chest in salute. His head lowered with practiced humility.

"We pay our respects to a remnant of antiquity," he said with humility that belied the power at his fingertips. "To a will that still endures when all else has fallen. May your wisdom illuminate our ignorance."

Leng Yue mirrored the gesture with silent grace. The dragon did not speak at first. But slowly, its misty mass loosened. Its glow softened. Leng Yue continued to smoke from her pipe with fluid elegance.

"At least," it finally said, "you are not tyrants. Many before you came seeking to tear open the crypts, steal what their hearts could not even comprehend. I fought them. Crushed them. Sealed this place for centuries."

Its voice grew heavier, laced with might. "I am not what I once was. A sliver... a guardian’s breath left behind. But I would still collapse this hall upon us all, if it meant preserving the legacy of my master."

A tense silence followed, but Li Wei remained calm. A faint light swirled around the bong in his grip as he brought it to his lips and inhaled slowly.

*GLUUG-GLUG-GLUUUG...*

The water bubbled.

Smoke filled his lungs. He exhaled softly, a silvery plume spiraling upward to dance among the dragon’s mist.

"I did not come to fill my satchel with trinkets," he said slowly. "These artifacts mean little. Dust and gold mean nothing to a man who walks between planes."

He raised his gaze, meeting the dragon eye to eye."I have come for knowledge. If this place holds even a fragment of the wisdom once wielded by your master, then that is all I seek."

Leng Yue stepped forward and let the accusation in her tone be known. "We came not to rob this tomb, but to understand the intricacies hidden within."

The dragon hovered, motionless. Its gaze was unreadable, and for a long moment, all that could be heard was the whisper of smoke, curling in the still air.

"Hmmm..." The dragon’s voice returned, contemplative.

Ten candles—arcane bongs—flared to life, casting amber runes onto the marbled floor, whose surfaces shimmered with astral resonance. Symbols of ancient dialects, glyphs of power, constellations woven from starlight and qi.

"Then you shall be tested."

The room trembled once more. The bongs around the chamber—ten in total—flared with light, each one projecting a glowing image into the center of the room.

Charts. Arrays. Astral maps. Glyphs in an ancient dialect—nearly lost to time.

"My master sealed his teachings in ten trials. To unlock them, you must resonate with each flame, each path. Succeed, and his legacy shall speak to you."

The dragon turned slightly. "Fail, and the tomb will close once more. Perhaps forever."

Li Wei’s gaze gleamed with renewed vigor. "So be it."

Leng Yue cracked her knuckles, smiling faintly. "It’s been too long since my limits were truly tested." An azure light shone in her pupils like a shooting star, while her qi presense soared.

The dragon’s great head dipped.

"Then let the trial of the First Flame begin."

*FWOOSH!!!*

FWOOSH!

From the central bong erupted a torrent of golden smoke, blossoming into a lotus aflame upon a whirlwind-shaft of wind. The runes shifted pattern like living maps: constellations of logic, labyrinthine glyphs, and arteries of circulating qi.

A bone-chilling wind cut through the chamber. The air itself crystallized. No longer a sanctuary of scented haze, but a conduit of unresolved trial.

Li Wei’s expression stilled into solemn composure. His palm glowed with faint, condensed energy. "Let us see," he whispered, "what secrets the mist has buried." freewёbnoνel.com

Leng Yue drew a slow breath, shoulders squared. Her qi pressed outward, meeting the swirling glyphs with the crisp intention of a comet’s strike. "Onward," she murmured—less an invitation than a vow.

The dragon observed, its form motionless but its eyes alive with sober hope. "Remember," it intoned behind all thought and breath, "this trial is but the first. Fail not through pride, nor fear, nor folly. The legacy’s flame burns pure—and its keepers likewise."

So the warriors stepped onto the shifting runes. The chamber, ancient as creation, awaited the clash of mortal intent and primordial wisdom.

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