The tale of the fox and the dragon egg

Chapter 67 - Every end is a new beginning

For the moment, the sun was already high in the sky, just around midday. It was clear except for the few clouds here and there, a truly wonderful day to start travelling. That is when Wei Ying hummed and his face grew a little more serious.

"Ah, it's almost time to see him off. He must already be on the way to the entrance", he said with his fingers stroking his chin. 

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"Yes! Hit him stronger, A-Yuan!"

"Wei Ying."

"Aiyah, don't Wei Ying me! Look at our son go; he's barely holding a wooden stick but he's already so strong!"

Lan Zhan couldn't respond to such words. As soon as the fox mentioned their son, Wei Ying could see how his eyes grew weak. The dragon simply held still and watched how A-Yuan stood in between the disciples that were much older and bigger than him.

It was astounding, really, how such a tiny boy straightened his back and held his wooden practice sword like that. Since they came back from Lotus Pier three weeks ago, A-Yuan became hellbent on learning and practicing reading, writing, and training his golden core and body. The idea to fight and compete with Jin Ling, his proclaimed big brother, was enough motivation for him to beg his father to place him into the classes.

And now, because he was the youngest child in the clan by far, he began to practice next to the other disciples. Of course, he had special treatment. Not only because his father was Hanguang-jun and his mother the Yiling Patriarch, but he was a fairly intelligent child and had mixed blood and energies. But that didn't stop the little one, not by one bit.

Under Lan Zhan's watchful eyes, Wen Ning had explained every necessary person how the energy flow within the little dragon behaved and how it should be trained. Thankfully they accepted his advise, not only for A-Yuan's but for their sake as well.

Wei Ying and Lan Zhan could be very convincing otherwise.

Although the fox was a little bit worried at first, it seemed that A-Yuan was more and more motivated with disciples older than him. They were teenager, mostly even a little older than Jin Ling, but that was exactly what he needed.

And right now, he was training to handle a wooden sword. Wei Ying was proud, more than proud. He saw the little callouses on A-Yuan's hands after he held the sword for so long, but he needed to learn how to treat the weight and how to balance it. The fox remembered how bright he had been himself back then, when he had been a simple cub.

"Lan Zhan, look how he holds it. Maybe the sword really is a little bit too heavy yet?"

"He will grow accustomed to it", the dragon answered as they watched A-Yuan's hand tremble from the weight, "And he will deny you as well."

Indeed, he would. With how serious and determined the little one looked right now it would be no surprise for him to continue even with such words of worry.

„Hmmm, then he will grow into a fine young man. Just give him two decades, he will beat everyone here ", Wei Ying said with his nose held high, grinning his fox grin from ear to ear, „He's a talented young boy. He reminds me of someone."

„Mn", Lan Zhan hummed and glanced at the fox, who was so proudly glancing at his son, „Just like Wei Ying."

„Good, good. You knew immediately who was on my mind", the fox hummed and nudged Lan Zhan's arm with his elbow, „But I heard Hanguang-jun was a young prodigy as well. With both of us as his parents, he will become even better and beat everyone."