1693 Pure White Tiger
"Greetings, Your Majesty," the White Cat spoke. "I'm Shi Meiyoung. It's a pleasure to finally meet you after all this time."
"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you too," the Dragon Emperor said. "Congratulations on the son. I assume he's healthy."
"Shouchuang is healthy and strong," the White Cat said, slowly petting the little white kitten that was smaller than the size of her palm.
Shi Meiyoung… the Dragon Emperor found that name a little familiar for some reason, like he had heard of it somewhere.
The Empress sat beside the flower field and greeted the White Cat as well as the newborn. While she started talking to the two, the Dragon Emperor simply looked at them.
He was very much so surprised to see the son of the Azure Dragon. "When you said you found someone to spend your time with, did you mean her?" the Dragon Emperor asked.
"Yes," the Azure Dragon said excitedly. "And that phenomenon was my son's birth, so you should stop worrying about him."
"I'm not as worried anymore," the Dragon Emperor said. "Weirder things have been happening outside. You might not be aware, but people from some other world have started appearing and are very talented."
"Other world?" the Azure Dragon got curious. "From higher realms?"
"Maybe," the Dragon Emperor said. "But they seem to not be as aware of cultivation, so I'm hesitant to say they are from higher realms." His eyes kept moving toward the White Cat and the small kitten for some reason.
There was something there that bothered him, and he couldn't tell what exactly it was.
"Hmm, I'll check what is happening when I have the time," the Azure Dragon said. "Before that, I must do something else. In a week, I plan on announcing my son's birth. And then, we will have to go back to the Beast Paradise so Meiyoung can spend time with her family."
"Ah! Right," the Dragon Emperor finally remembered. "The Golden Lion, Leader Shi, she's his daughter?"
"Yes," the Azure Dragon answered. "She was one of the ones sent here to take care of me when I was weak. We ended up spending time together and got close."
"I see," the Dragon Emperor said. "I did hear something about leader Shi having a child, but I wasn't aware his child was not a Golden Lion as well."
Now that he was saying it out loud, the Dragon Emperor finally realized his cause for confusion as well.
"It's not that surprising," the Azure Dragon said.
"Maybe not," the Dragon Emperor said, his eyes narrowing at the situation. "But this certainly is. How is the son of an Azure Dragon, not an Azure Dragon? In the first place, how did the child even get conceived? Aren't you two quite incompatible to have a child?"
The Dragon Emperor couldn't wrap his head around the event. He whispered the last part. "In the first place, aren't the Azure Dragon's children born from an egg?" he asked.
The Azure Dragon chuckled. "There are trivial facts that everyone knows in the higher realm that you would consider a great piece of information," he said. "We are incompatible as beasts, yes, but a beast's human form lets him achieve a miracle that would otherwise be impossible."
"Your human form?" the Dragon Emperor asked, not understanding.
"You will get what I mean when you go to the higher realm," the Azure Dragon said.
"Okay…" the Dragon Emperor said softly. He had some inkling of understanding as to what the Azure Dragon was talking about. Still, another question kept bothering him.
"How did you end up with a son that isn't an Azure Dragon though?" the Dragon Emperor asked. "I don't mean any offense, but isn't the Azure Dragon's bloodline supposed to be the strongest? How come a cat was born out of you two instead of a dragon?"
"Well, as much as I wanted to have a dragon child, I still only ended up having a cat as my son because his mother's bloodline exceeds mine in the end," the Azure Dragon said.
"That's… not possible," the Dragon Emperor said. "How can an Azure Dragon have a bloodline weaker than a white cat?" He looked back at the mother and child. No matter how good they were, these pure white cats…
Pure white…
"She's not just any cat," the Azure Dragon said. "She holds the bloodline of the White Tiger, one that is significantly stronger than mine. When we return to the Blessed Sun realm in a thousand years, she will go through an evolution ritual that will turn her into a proper White Tiger."
The Dragon Emperor felt as though his entire world had come apart at that word. His eyes slowly moved toward the large white cat and then at the child.
A Pure White Tiger. It was only now he saw his mistake. White Tigers were white, but they also had black stripes on their body. They weren't all white. Which meant… if his prophecy were to somehow come true, it would be because of one of these two beasts in front of him.
The Dragon Emperor felt himself panicking. All this time, he thought he had dealt with his prophecies. He had changed them, he had beat them. And yet, here he was, seeing another one come true right before his eyes.
No, this couldn't be. This couldn't be happening to him again.
"I… I heard somewhere that…" his mind raced. "That is two incompatible beasts end up having a child, the one born usually doesn't have—"
"Oh that, yes," the Azure Dragon said quickly. "It is true that children born from non-compatible beasts mostly don't have the bloodline of either beast, but we won't have to worry about that. You saw the omen, you saw what it said."
The Dragon Emperor couldn't help but nod thoughtlessly.
"My son was born with both Supreme Metal and Wood root," the Azure Dragon said excitedly. "He was born with both the White Tiger and the Azure Dragon's bloodline. He will no doubt create miracles."
The Dragon Emperor looked back at the Azure Dragon in shock. "Supreme Metal and Wood root?" he asked, unable to fathom what was said. "Bloodline of both the White Tiger and the Azure Dragon?"
"Yes," the Azure Dragon said. "All he has to do is grow up and go through both of our family's rituals. I can only imagine the shock on my elder's face."
"I see," the Dragon Emperor said meekly. He looked at the two white cats for the last time and said, "I think we should leave now. There is much chaos in the Empire right now. We will have to be there to handle things. I'll see you later, Your Majesty."
"Oh, you're leaving already? But you just came here," the Azure Dragon said.
"That's alright. We'll meet again soon," the Dragon Emperor said.
"OK then." The Azure Dragon had no reason to stop him. "We'll meet again soon. I'll let you know when I plan to make the announcement."
The Dragon Emperor nodded and left the secret realm. He didn't know how he returned to the palace. All of his thoughts were focused on this very thing. He had worked so many years of his life toward stopping this very thing from happening, and yet… here he was presented with the same problem.
"We can't waste any more time, dear," the Empress said from his side.
"Huh?" the Dragon Emperor looked around. "What?"
"That White Cat," she said. "We have to kill both of them as soon as possible."
