It was a dark and silent night.

Somewhere on the Mountain Yin, Dragon Ying was sitting on a huge rock, staring blankly at the pitch black earth. He could not remember clearly how many years had passed since the war – was it three or was it four thousand years? Or was it closer to ten thousand years? Perhaps he was too old and experienced too much, so that the passage of time was meaningless now.

As he was thinking, someone approached from behind and said in a deep, respectful voice: “Master Dragon Ying, Luan has gone down the mountain.”

Dragon Ying didn’t turn around, but kept staring into the distance. Finally, he replied: "Feng Huang is still asleep, and Zhu Yin hasn’t been seen for a long time. But I still don’t fully understand all those things that happened this year. Why did Luan trigger this accident, why is the culprit still missing, why…? Why did Tian Lei come to the east?”

The man lowered his head, and listened quietly.

The night wind caressed Dragon Ying’s long hair, gently blowing them up and down onto his shoulders. Dragon Ying rested his chin on one hand and looked at the first faraway rays of light in the east, still too weak to disperse the darkness. Slowly, he continued: "Yin and yang are always changing. There’s always someone who rises to meet his destiny. Now, the question of life and death lies within his body. Let’s hope it will have a different ending.” Having said that, he suddenly recalled something. He finally turned to the man standing beside him and asked: "What about Liu Liu?’

The man stumbled for words, and carefully replied after a longer period: "I met him the day before, and haven’t seen him since. Did he go to play in the mountains again?”

Dragon Ying leaped down from the rock and frowned: "What a baby! Nothing but trouble!”

The man didn’t dare speak out, but muttered: "He only reacts when something happens to his son."

Ying Long was about to walk in the opposite direction, but hearing that, he turned around and asked: "What do you mean?”

The man waved his hands around and cautiously said: "Nothing! I'll go looking for him in the mountains.” Having said that, he quickly ran away and disappeared from sight.

Dragon Ying long shook his head and once again looked where the dark fog condensed.

In the morning, mountain forests had a special sweet smell, and the delicate golden rays of light penetrated the canopy to create countless tiny bright spots on the ground. Suddenly, a loud “thump” broke this mountain tranquility. A well-built, tall young man was quickly dashing back and forth, brushing up leaves and sending them flying in the wind.

The young man walked briskly through the woods. It wasn’t until he spotted the nearby Murky Spring that he stopped and said to himself: "Finally, I didn’t lose direction this time!”

So early in the morning the sun hadn’t yet had the time to warm up the water in the river. The youth paused at the river bank, drank a handful of water and washed his face. The Murky Spring was flowing slowly, and very soon, its surface reflected a clear and handsome face – regular eyebrows delicately curved upwards, large and bright eyes with brightness sparking in their gaze, pointed nose and thin lips that he kept pressed together. All in all, his face was exquisite and delicate. If an onlooker didn’t look at him closely, he could be mistaken for a girl.

A gust of wind blew and wrinkled the water surface. In turn, the young man’s delicate face blurred too.

The lad stood up and flung back long hair that cascaded down on his chest. His long hair resembled ripe pomegranate seeds, red and bright, and he fashioned it into a braid that gently dangled all the way to at the waist.

This simple rest made him feel good. Relaxed, he stretched himself when suddenly, in a twinkle of an eye, he noticed a figure only ten meters away. Quickly alerted, he looked around and noticed a creature with two pig heads that was spinning round on the ground, humming and howling.

Curious, he stepped forwards and watched the scene for some time. Finally, he said: "Ping Peng, why are you spinning round?”

The two-headed guy approached, and both pig heads spoke in unison: “Luan, so good you’re here! Be our judge!”

Luan gave a puzzled look: "I should be… Your judge?”

Both heads nodded in unison and started to talk simultaneously, but their speech was nothing but unclear gibberish. Luan scratched his head, pressed both of his palms into fists, and loudly interrupted them: “Stop this quarrel! Let’s do this – try and guess in which hand I hold leaves.”

The left head quickly answered: "The right one!”

Luan opened his right fist, and sure enough, he held a green leaf. Pointing the left head, he smiled: "That's right, you go first.”

The left head mustered all his mental capabilities and spoke eruditely: "We just came here, when suddenly we heard strange noise coming from the forest. Seeing imminent crisis, I thought it’s be more secure to flee north, but he chose to run south!”

It wasn’t fair to judge this piggy based on his looks. His speech was cohesive, and his manners resembled that of a school teacher that Luan once spied upon near the mountain. Luan did his best not to burst into laughter as the two pig-heads’ quarrel erupted once again, in mind-hazing cacophony.

How much longer were they going to quarrel…? Luan looked at both of them and rolled his eyes. In a flash, he formed a fist and punched the right pig head. Piggy didn’t even block this strike, but simply groaned and passed out.

The left head stared silently at Luan, who quickly shouted: "Don't you run away! He’ll wake up and you’ll quarrel incessantly all over again!”

"You… Ahem, we’ll meet again!”

Without delay, the left head rushed straight into the depths of the mountain forest, dragging his dizzy buddy along.

Luan’s mediation was successful. Feeling a sense of accomplishment, he started humming a song and strapped his backpack on. He turned, and his mood soured. He had just come to wash his face in the river and solved Ping Peng’s problem, and in all this ruckus, he had completely forgotten in which direction he was supposed to go.

That was a problem!

Luan turned around, trying to pick the right direction, when all of a sudden he heard a roar of some fierce beast in the forest. In an instant, branches and leaves started to swing around, scattering leaves around. Luan was staring dumbfounded, as another howl filled the forest, startling countless birds and spreading in all directions.

Who was that?

Luan, previously worried about losing his way, was fascinated by this new danger posed by the natural world. He barely took two steps in the direction the sound came from that he spotted a deep yellow shadow rushing in the distance. A tiger, tall as a grown man, suddenly leaped in front of Luan and opened his big mouth, showing rows of dagger-sharp teeth. The woods sounded with another mighty roar.

"Tiger!” Luan wasn’t shocked in the least. Laughing, he jumped and landed on the tiger’s back, and chatted merrily: "Tiger, you're right on time! I can't find the road leading to the human’s transportation hub. You can take me down there!”

This tiger had been abusing people in those mountains for a century. He never messed with mythic creatures, but they didn’t mess with it either. He never thought he’d meet such a mature, fearless man who would even dare to ride him as a mount.

The tiger roared, scratching and kicking with its legs, he tried to throw the rider down from his back. But Luan was sitting firmly. Patting the tiger on the head, he laughed: "Do me a favor, I'm going to miss the bus! Wait for my return, I’ll bring you something delicious!”

The big cat was still unconvinced, and angrily threw his head to the sides. Luan held on tight, simply lying down and hugging on to the animal’s neck. Seeing that he couldn’t throw down this little brat, the tiger roared helplessly and ran straight to the transportation hub’s entrance.

Riding a tiger felt really good - you didn’t have to find the route yourself, and the seat felt cozy and warm. Well, the fur was somewhat coarse and pricked his palms, but if only tiger would bathe it… Lost in such thoughts, Luan fell asleep, lying on the tiger’s back.

He didn’t know how long it took, but the galloping tiger finally came to a sudden halt. He kicked his rear legs up and shook his whole body, and finally managed to thrown Luan down.

Awakened from a deep sleep, Luan opened dazed eyes only to find himself flying mid-air. He quickly grabbed a branch to stop his fall, and gently dropped to the ground. Raising his head, he found himself standing in front of some station building. He had arrived at the portal to the human world!

"Thank you, tiger! We’ll play together again someday!”

…Who'd want to play with you?! The tiger rolled his eyes and ran away, cursing.

Having received no answer, Luan waved the tiger farewell. He pulled out the pass prepared for him by Dragon Ying, and boldly walked towards the station’s security check passage.

“Boshlake City, I'm coming!”