A Secret Mission

But I will have to. Many scenes from the drama showed them all destroying their clothes when shifting fully without preparation. I sigh and start disrobing. At this time of night, this far out from the city, no one should see me. And if they actually made their stupid way out here, they probably deserve a treat, and Murong Zhiyu’s body is definitely one. Oh well, here goes nothing. Between returning to the sect with a ripped uniform or temporarily losing my clothes, I’ll take the latter. Soon I stand at the edge of the lake, fully nude, my new tail whipping back and forth nervously as if I was a cat, swishing through the tall reeds, which provide me with at least some cover.

I close my eyes and think of the dragon from, just like I manifested the half shift. Suddenly it feels like when you get up too fast and I stumble, the vertigo claiming me. I fall forward, but I don’t… fall? I open my eyes and find myself above the lake, just where the ice meets the water. I look back at myself and…

“Oh, shit.”

This time, I actually fall as my body recoils in shock, a wave of motion running through it from head to the tip of my elongated tail. Actually, my whole body is much longer, turning about in the air like a graceless noodle, somehow missing the ground even though I’m falling towards it. But no matter my form, I can still hit my knee on a rock, which I promptly do as I turn, hissing in pain, the sound of which produces a cloud of ice crystals.

I’m praying no one is seeing the noble dragon floundering like a fish on land. At least the body’s inherent floating magic seems to prevent me from hitting my face on the ground. Small blessings and all that. As I lie on my back in the air, I look down towards my new body and see a long, slender form with silver and blue scales, legs that end in claws and a tail that whips back and forth, razing half the reeds around me.

“No. Not doing that,” I mumble and concentrate on my half-dragon form again. A moment later I fall on my butt as the magic fades. I should’ve known.

I don’t know how late it is, but I agreed to meet Dai Xuan at sunrise, and I wasted enough time already. The half-shifted form should be able to breathe underwater. I take a deep breath regardless and walk into the lake.

Under the surface, it takes me much longer than I’m proud to say to breathe in, but as a half-dragon, water is no problem. Though I have a different one… During the night, any body of water scares me. You never know what lurks beneath the surface. It’s not much better in Yueji Lake, since I can see not even as far as my hands can reach. If I could only—

“Hey! Back already? Did you miss me this much?”

I turn around so fast, my tail hits something that happens to swim by and flings it into the distance.

“Do you secretly like punching fish?”

“Gui…”

“The one and only.”

“I’m not here to see you. My destination just happens to be underwater.”

As I talk, there are colours and shadows moving in front of my eyes like various filters dancing across my vision one after the other. Frankly, it’s making me nauseous and I close my eyes until the weird effect is gone. When I open them again, I can see in the dark water as if it was a sunlit day. On one hand, I can now see the bottom of the lake far beneath me, the water plants and fish, the cliffs and caves, the ruins of previous occupations. On the other hand, I’m suddenly hanging dozens of metres above the ground, suspended in what feels like mid-air. Some part of my brain is reconsidering my stance about fear of heights and I hope it decides to disregard it soon.

In the middle of the darkness, Gui is floating like a shining star, a pure white apparition in a flowing robe, making him once more look like an arrogant fighting fish. He looks incredibly handsome and I hate him.

“Aren’t you afraid I’m going to punch you too, after the way you treated me earlier today?” I ask, already balling my hands to fists.

“What way?”

“You stole my soul from another world and implanted it into a dragon.”

“Ah. I thought we were past that. Apparently not.”

“Let me go, I have work to do.”

Gui raises an eyebrow. “Fine. But when you’re immersed up to your head in any body of water again, I will be there.”

“So I could just stick my head into a bucket of water to talk to you?”

“Please don’t do that.”

I make a mental note to try. Then I wave at Gui and he actually sticks out his tongue before he disappears and leaves me alone in the water. I should’ve probably asked him some more questions, but it’s late and I don’t have the patience to deal with him right now.

Suspended in crystal clear water, I turn about to find the direction in which the energy feels the strongest. I actually feel a pull on my skin when I concentrate hard enough, as if I’m being drawn under. With a large gulp of courage, I turn around and swim downwards, towards the source.

It takes a while for the ground to get closer, but once I manage to wave my tail like a fish, I can swim much faster. I wonder… since the dragon form was floating earlier, could the same motion be used to fly? Not that I can show anyone the dragon shift or even the half-shift… Well, in the drama Murong Zhiyu was caught by Liu Renqing and explained the horns and tail, saying she was of Qilin lineage. Still associated with the rulers, but not royal themselves.

At the bottom of the lake, there’s a stone structure that looks like a dome, overgrown with plants. I swim closer and as I do, the central part of the dome opens up, the water around it glittering like the scales on my body. So I am still the keeper and it recognises me as such. I swim to the edge of the opening and look inside. There’s a metal cage under the dome, suspended in the middle of the space, held by countless chains, which are fastened to the walls. As opposed to everything else down here, the chains look as if they’re brand new, sturdy and almost shiny. In fact everything inside the dome looks clean and polished—most of all the large pearl inside the metal cage, which shines in all colours of the rainbow, the water shimmering golden around it. I feel strengthened just by looking at it, as if its energy is seeping into me.

I’ve seen enough. With a wave, the opening closes and the lake ground falls into darkness once more. The few curious fish which had swum closer to the light disperse and my surroundings are peaceful again. I take a few moments to search the area, but can’t find any traps or other things. So they haven’t found the pearl. That’s reassuring. This is the best kept secret of the whole country, this is—

“What are you looking at?” Gui asks and I scream in shock, flailing in the water.