Morning broke slowly over the jungle—not with fanfare, but with a quiet, creeping light that filtered through thick canopies in shifting golden slivers. Mist clung to the underbrush like fading breath, rising gently from the damp earth. Birds began their low calls—some melodious, others sharp and wild—echoing faintly through the tangled branches. The waterfall roared with endless motion, its cascade catching glints of morning sun and scattering them in soft, dancing arcs across the rocks below. The air was cool and damp, tinged with the scent of moss, wet stone, and wildflowers just beginning to unfurl.

It was a rare, untouched kind of beauty—a pocket of the world still untamed.

But Aaryan didn't have time to admire it.

His full focus was locked on his dantian, where—among the drifting mist of colourless Qi—a wisp of radiant silver Qi now floated. Calming his heart, Aaryan drew out nearly a quarter of his total Qi along with the silver wisp, beginning to circulate it through the route described in the Confluence Codex.

The nearby flame dragons, sensing the familiar presence within that silver strand, rushed toward it on their own. As they collided with the colourless Qi, it burned away instantly. Aaryan ignored it. His attention remained fixed on the silver Qi, guiding it carefully through his meridians.

Soon, all the scattered flame dragons had gathered around the fused Qi and merged with it, forming a much larger flame dragon than before. It released a low, draconic roar—challenging the unseen pressure that had subdued it earlier.

This new dragon, forged from the complete essence, was far more violent and terrifying. As it surged through his meridians, the once-bearable pain escalated into something far worse.

The joy Aaryan had felt moments ago turned quickly to agony. Still, he gritted his teeth and clung to the fading connection he had with the silver Qi—now lost somewhere within the body of the blazing, multi-coloured dragon. He continued sending Qi from his dantian to suppress the heat, but it was barely enough to make a difference.

Sensing the foreign presence within itself, the flaming dragon thrashed violently. A section of Aaryan's meridians was instantly burned to a crisp, triggering a wave of excruciating pain. His jaw clenched so tightly his teeth bled, but he refused to stop. He kept circulating Qi through the damaged paths.

The overwhelming heat caused the cracks already lining his skin to deepen. Hot blood began to seep from them, and where it met the cold spray of the waterfall, faint wisps of steam rose. Right now, Aaryan resembled an ancient statue unearthed from ruin—riddled with fractures, scorched and crumbling. Even his hair had burned away, revealing a cracked scalp from which hot air visibly rose.

Aaryan was unaware of the changes taking place on his body. His mind was focused solely on dragging that tiny wisp of silver Qi through his meridian path. He could feel his connection to it being torn apart, bit by bit, by the blazing dragon within him. If that connection was completely severed, not only would he fail to completely fuse his Qi with the flame—but even his life would hang by a thread. Survival, even with Vedik's help, would be next to impossible.

Vedik, who was watching everything, had worry written all over his face. Since birth, he had been with Aaryan. Even when he was still an egg, he had taken him as kin. Now, seeing Aaryan in such a miserable state, his heart ached. But he had no idea how to help. Acting recklessly could make things even worse. He'd thought of dragging Aaryan into the water, or forcefully waking him up—ideas that even to him, sounded absurd, and were discarded as quickly as they came.

But he was still barely a year old—what did he know? Silly ideas were all he had.

Anxiously, he hovered around Aaryan, checking him from every direction—as if that might help. Then his gaze landed on the dull scale resting on Aaryan's lap. Vedik hesitated, his eyes darting from the scale to Aaryan—whose body was now cracked all over, like a clay doll on the verge of shattering—and back to the scale.

Determination flashed in his eyes. He lifted the scale carefully with his tail and flipped it over a few times. But aside from the faint connection he had sensed from the moment he first saw it, nothing changed.

His gaze returned to Aaryan's face, now pale and marked with deep cracks. Panic growing, Vedik threw all caution to the wind and swallowed the scale, desperately hoping for some change, some miracle—anything to save Aaryan.

But nothing happened.

A few seconds passed. Still no change. Disappointed, He spat the scale out.

Time was slipping away. Frustration, helplessness, and anger boiled inside his young, usually mischievous heart. Watching his only kin suffer while he stood powerless—it was like his heart was being pierced by a thousand venomous thorns.

Memories flooded his mind: Aaryan's promise to stand by him, even if the world turned against them… the time when Vedik was still hatching, surrounded and vulnerable, and Aaryan came back for him instead of abandoning him.

The anger rose until he could no longer hold it in.

He let out a furious roar—and a burst of pure silver flame erupted from his mouth, aimed at the dull scale to burn it into nothingness. But the moment that flame touched the iridescent surface, the scale began to shine again. Its faded colours bloomed to brilliance, more vivid than ever before.

Vedik stared, stunned. Before he could react, the shimmering scale floated gently upward and settled in the centre of his forehead. Against his silver body, it looked like a gemstone embedded in his flesh.

As the scale became one with him, Vedik let out another roar. But this one was different—ancient, authoritative.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

And had Aaryan been conscious, he would've recognized it instantly. It was almost identical to the roar of the Nine-Coloured Mirage Dragon he had once seen in his dream.

🔱 — ✵ — 🔱

Aaryan was still storming through the pain, dragging the ember-beast through the final stretch of the path described in the codex. As he drew the remaining Qi from his dantian, his hand moved to withdraw the final herb from his spatial ring, and without hesitation, he tossed it into his mouth. The herb quickly dissolved, transforming into pure Qi that surged into his dantian, once again flooding it with colourless energy.

At this point, Aaryan had exhausted every last card he could play. All that remained was to grit his teeth through the searing pain and pour every ounce of will into forcing the flame dragon to complete the circulation route outlined in the Confluence Codex. Only by finishing this process could the agony he was enduring mean something—only then would the torment be worth it. If he failed to bind the flame to his Qi, his body might very well disintegrate on the spot, reduced to ash. A fitting end, perhaps—crushed by the very power he had sought to claim.

Sensing the change, the blazing dragon struggled even more violently, its rampage ripping apart the insides of his body. Aaryan, in turn, threw everything he had left into one last desperate push, drawing out the last of his Qi. It was now or never. The circulation was nearly complete, and that meant the fusion was on the verge of success. The swirling colours along the dragon's body began to dim, just like before, and radiant silver once again began to emerge as the dominant hue.

Aaryan exhaled faintly in his heart. It was working—the process was nearly done. But the flame dragon, sensing its end, retaliated with everything it had. A searing wave of heat tore through his body, incinerating the fresh wave of colourless Qi instantly. The meridian it passed through now showed gaping holes, and Aaryan knew with a sinking heart: he had failed.

'You old geyser, what did I ever do to deserve this? Couldn't you have left some damn instructions on how to tame your ridiculous flame?' he cursed silently, the sting of helplessness cutting deeper than even the pain. He had already given everything. There was nothing more to give.

And then, just as the last thread of hope threatened to snap, the ancient cry echoed once more within his body—this time deeper, more visceral, its rage poised to break free. The flame dragon faltered, its blazing destruction slowing, though not stopping.

Aaryan laughed bitterly in his heart. He was so close. The fusion was almost complete. All he needed was one last push. But he had no Qi left, no tether to that silver thread to guide it to the end.

Then—another roar.

Not within his body, but outside.

A draconic roar.

The flame dragon froze instantly, as if standing before its master. And then, without resistance, without heat, without destruction—it moved. Silently, obediently, it travelled the final meridian on its own. And in the span of five breaths, the full circulation was complete.

Aaryan stared stupidly at the swirling mist in his dantian, drifting, just like before, the only difference being that it wasn't colourless anymore. The radiant silver qi drifted around, looking divine and majestic and finally the fusion of his qi and the flame was now complete.

Aaryan felt as if he had just avoided a calamity, staring frighteningly at the drifting silver mist. He hadn't expected it to be this difficult. If he knew he wouldn't have dared to try even if beaten to death. But the task was not over, only the fusion was. Now it was time for the Confluence codex to show its brilliance, to show why it was probably the only one of its kind to exist in this world.

If Aaryan had been practicing any other cultivation technique then the process would have been over, but the Confluence codex had an additional step. Its practitioners could tame multiple elements and for that they needed to create a separate space termed as the Elemental Nexus which overcome the issue of only one elemental qi residing inside one's body.

Aaryan went through the information about the process once again, and after confirming that he didn't miss anything, he began. Within the drifting mist of his dantian, strands of silver Qi shimmered like moonlight on water—untamed, unanchored. They drifted aimlessly, formless and fragile, but unbearably pure.

Aaryan gathered his focus. Every breath, every heartbeat bent toward one goal: compression. The silver Qi responded slowly, reluctantly, like a wild creature pressed into a cage of glass. His meridians tightened, veins humming with strain again as he pulled the strands inward.

His vision blurred. Heat surged through his spine. The silver Qi bucked, refusing to be tamed. Despite all this, he kept controlling the qi, precise and skilful. His unorthodox practice paying dividends at this moment.

Then, in a single instant, the storm collapsed.

A point of silver light ignited within the compressed mass—spinning, twisting, growing. From it, a head emerged. Then wings. A tail that glowed like a comet's spine.

A silver dragon, no larger than a finger, coiled in his dantian. Its eyes shimmered with knowing fire. It didn't rage—it watched. A still predator. A newborn god.

Aaryan watched the dragon drift through the radiant mist. He exhaled in his heart—now came the most crucial part: opening the Elemental Nexus. According to the technique, every human body held a hidden space between the heart and the dantian. It couldn't be found through effort alone. Aside from vague signs, there were no real instructions. Aaryan had never heard of it anywhere else.

The space's location varied with each person. His breaths grew ragged. His organs remained scorched, meridians barely intact, but he pressed on. He gave a silent command. The silver dragon responded, lifting its head, eyes aglow, and began to move—

Not down. Up.

Toward his heart.

It slithered through his inner channels, a stream of silver fire coiling like a living river of will. Its path was erratic at first, weaving through half-burned meridians and flooded Qi, but as it neared his chest, its direction turned sure. Unshakable.

Aaryan felt it drawing close to his heart—not metaphorically, literally.

The closer it came, the worse the pain. His lungs burned like molten slag. His heart thundered, each beat a war drum in scorched caverns.

Then, just as the agony peaked—everything shifted.

The heat fell away.

The roar of burning veins dulled.

And beneath the pounding in his chest, he felt it.

A void.

Not dead. Not numb. Just... still.

A pocket of untouched space. Cold, inert, strangely serene—heat and force refused to exist there. Amid the maelstrom inside him, it was a hidden alcove of silence.

Aaryan's eyes snapped open. "That spot…"

His mind raced, but instincts moved first. He guided the dragon closer to that space. It struck the exact spot, not on flesh, but something unseen. The silver dragon roared triumphantly and dove into the rift as if it had found its destined home. A blinding light surged—not destructive, but transcendent.

Something ancient stirred within.

Suspended in a pulsing void, it hovered in stillness. Its petals were shut, translucent like frost-glass holding forgotten light. This wasn't an organ.

This was the Elemental Nexus.

A lotus. No, not just a lotus—a throne.

The silver dragon let out a soundless roar and crashed into its heart. For an eternal moment, stillness.

Then—

Light.

A petal trembled. Silver bled through its core like divine veins. Slowly, with a grace that defied the violence, the petal unfurled. Threads of gold shimmered along its edge. At its centre, a shape formed—a faint spectral silhouette of the dragon, coiled in eternal slumber.

Aaryan watched, dazed and barely conscious, as the blooming petal pulsed in acknowledgment. A bond had been forged. The first seed had taken root. And the lotus…had begun to wake.

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