Fallen into Shen Cong's hands, the White Dragon King could not be arrogant any longer. Under the torture of Shen Cong's cruel methods, the White Dragon King told him everything it had been through, from chaos to intelligence.

At the very beginning it woke in darkness.

At that time there was nothing in its mind but devouring and growing, no other awareness at all — it did not know how to change shape, it did not know how to perceive. It was like lying in deep sleep underground with nothing left but chaotic impulses, turning over and over of themselves.

It did not know where it had come from either, or what kind of thing it actually was.

There seemed to have been a heavy rain. Rainwater went down through the cracks into the earth and fell on it. The rich Activity stung it and woke it out of chaos, and a great many impulses came up quickly and drove it to crawl up out of the ground. It saw two of its own kind. They did not become friends, of course.

It was like two cats looking at each other for a moment and then walking away, each to hunt its own prey.

It learned a great deal from its prey, and what wounded it most was the big lizard whose form it had mimicked. Later it met humans. Humans were not good eating — very thin, with tiny jin cores and very little energy to be drawn out of them. But it liked the environment humans lived in.

After seizing the Taiyuan oasis, the White Dragon King lived there for a stretch.

Then came the ambush by its own kind, the Taiyuan King. It was wounded, its consciousness showing signs of collapse, and it fled into the Taihang range together with the Sword King. Friction with the Taiyuan King never stopped after that, and they fought several times without settling anything. Through those fights, the White Dragon King also communicated with the Taiyuan King and the Sword King.

They divided up spheres of influence between them.

After that…