The Best 'Thank You' Gift Ever

"Storm Cloud Crater?" Logean Wuji frowned, looking down at the excited little girl before him and falling into thought.

"Alright, but you'll have to take this with you." After his short period of silence, Logean Wuji flicked his sleeve and out came a tiny speck, like dust. It slowly grew into a smooth and large rectangular stone, landing in Ji Tianshan's palm as she whispered, "Wow..."

"What is it, Master?"

"A kind of battery. You'll need it to siphon out the dangerous thunder energy within the crater." Ji Tianshan nodded, regarding the rectangle in her hands as the most important treasure in all the world.

Ji Haogui, still in something of a trance, walked forward. Logean Wuji's brow raised when he saw him, and his silvery eyes glowed for a brief second. "Master, I wish to go to Tranquility Hall."

Logean Wuji nodded. When the others saw that he did not say anything about Ji Haogui's weird state, they also disregarded it. However, they did find it weird that Logean Wuji said absolutely nothing about this 'Tranquility Hall.'

Finally, Bi Xue stepped forward with clear eyes. Logean Wuji smiled, his guess in mind.

"Master."

"Little Snow," Logean Wuji said, warmth in his eyes.

"I have chosen... Aether's Courtyard."

Logean Wuji chuckled, finding that his guess couldn't be more wrong. He was expecting Bi Xue to have chosen one of the frost or water related halls, but she had gone above and beyond to choose a place greater than even those.

"A great choice. Aether was one of the sect's instructors, teaching the truths of something called void-space, said to be a type of energy far colder than anything else. Perhaps your dao is not as clear as it seems."

Logean Wuji looked at his nine students with a big smile, then he raised his index finger.

"There are only two rules which you must follow. Rule one: do not leave the confines of the region you have chosen. As for rule two..."

He waved his hands, then continued, "In your spatial rings I have also added Return Crystals, set to bring you back to the dorm tomorrow morning. You will return there and begin the trek to class. After we have had morning class, you will resume work on your assignment."

Ling Jian'er and the others all nodded, checking their spatial rings to find sizable blue crystals in them. Once that was out of the way, Logean Wuji allowed them to return to their mirrors and prepare to leave.

Calling out to them, Logean Wuji sent some of his energy outward in order to activate the nine mirrors. "Listen up!"

Averting their gazes from the awakening portals before them, they looked at the distant figure of Logean Wuji. Though he was far away from most of them, his voice was projected as if he were standing less than a few feet away.

"The assignment comes first! In three days, you must resonate with your dao and break through into the First Dao-Level. Failure to do this, as you know, will result in a month of exile and even more than that for some of you."

Ye Zhiyuan and Ye Zuliao both seemed afraid at that moment, cold sweat running down their backs as they gulped. Ji Haogui barely had a reaction to it, even though he was among those that had lost the bet.

After that, Logean Wuji finalized the process and the portals awoke. Dim light filled the frames of nine mirrors and thin grey mist rose out of them. Each student prepared themself in their own way.

Some (Cyrus) spat into their palms and rubbed them together while some uttered words of prayer or muttered something under their breath. Some of them were even completely silent. As Logean Wuji looked on, they all stepped into their mirrors as if on cue, vanishing from the Cloud Dragon's Firmament.

The very moment they vanished, Logean Wuji's face turned serious and he blinked. With that blink, nine astral clones of himself broke away from his main body, rushing off toward the same nine mirrors that his students had travelled through. Once that was done, he sighed and sat down again, glancing at the cloud region.

Lightning-fast silhouettes flew through the clouds, slithering and writhing in the air with such grace that they could only belong to one race of creature: Dragons.

One by one, numerous cloud dragons poked their heads through the clouds and peeked out at Logean Wuji with nervous expressions. They looked at each other, at him and even at the area, but they did not speak.

Finally, one of them that had a long white beard brought his entire serpentine body out of the cloud and presented himself before Logean Wuji. "Young Master, we returned after your students left like you asked."

Logean Wuji nodded, waving his hand and allowing all the others to show themselves.

"Prince Hyfel, you and your cloud dragons have done a good job of looking after Mother's Moonlight Mirrors."

That one dragon with the long white beard planted his head onto the cloudy floor, his deep voice quickly sounding as he said, "Young Master, I am but your lowly servant. Such words are unnecessary!"

Following his lead, all the other dragons got down and bowed. Logean Wuji shook his head with a smile, then he seemed to think of something.

"Prince Hyfel."

"Yes, Young Master!"

"What would you say to becoming a True Dragon? In fact, what would you all say to becoming True Dragons?"

If a bomb were to go off in Prince Hyfel's mind, it probably would not do as much shocking damage as what Logean Wuji had just said.

As cloud dragons- and even more so- as distant descendants of one, the possibility of becoming a True Dragon in their lifetimes was even less likely than impossible. Even their ancestor, the Elder Cloud Dragon, was not a True Dragon. It had to be known that, in the grand scheme of things, True Dragons were among the rarest of existences in the greater multiverse.

Any subspecies of dragon could cultivate, live for hundreds of thousands of years and even attain some form of godliness. However, only True Dragons were the Gods of the Dragon race. Only True Dragons could become immortal beings, shatter dimensional walls and travel the multiverse. No other Dragon could ever do this.

Becoming a True Dragon was, to every subspecies of dragon, a pipe dream. It was the same as asking a normal man if he wanted to become God Almighty. It was simply too much of a fantasy to ever be believed to be real.

However, the man sitting before them was Logean Wuji. The dragons murmured amongst themselves because of this- because they knew it would be possible for someone like him.

"Hey, Feora, what do you think?"

"What's there to think, Giorgio? Nothing's impossible for the Young Master, so we should just immediately agree!"

"I agree with Sister Feora. Our Leader, the Prince, should just hurry up and accept the offer, damnit!"

"I always thought he was too pussy to be our leader. How about we stage a coux right here, right now?"

"Are you stupid? You would perform such hideous recalcitrance before the Young Master? Someone should stone you to death!"

Some random dragon, who had not been paying attention: "Did someone say something about getting stoned?"

At that, the other dragons went quiet.

Prince Hyfel cleared his throat, trying to calm himself before he responded. "While there is nothing we dragons would not do for you, Young Master, I must ask what it is we will be required to do in return."

Logean Wuji did not immediately reply. Instead, he looked at the rows of mirrors and thought back to something. The dragons remained silent, awaiting his response before uttering any words whatsoever. Prince Hyfel seemed patient and coolheaded, but he was anything but.

'Good dragon lord in dragon heaven, have I just performed the most severe fuck up in history!? Should I have just accepted, no questions asked? Should I have bowed so hard that my head split open and blood sprayed out in order to show my loyalty, then profess my undying fealty to the Young Master?'

Of course, Logean Wuji was well aware of his and all the dragon's thoughts. Smirking, Logean Wuji stood up and folded his arms behind him.

"You all worry too much."

This instantly put them at ease, and only then did Logean Wuji continue. "When the United Sect was founded, my mother and grandfather were the only ones running it. In fact, they built the foundational structures. Back then, it was simply called the Thirteenth Void Sect, one of the many sects at the height of the Mythical Realm."

"With work and dedication, they built and developed it into the greatest sect to have ever existed, united everything in the multiverse and created a karmic bridge between both past and future. The United Sect was the realization of Mother and Grandfather's dream. As for the Moonlight Mirrors that you have protected, they are the products of my mother's hard work. The meticulously crafted symbols of her impartial love for all things, and her hope that all things could come together as one."

"This is what you have been protecting; my mother's pride and joy."

The dragons could not help but feel as though weights had been both added and lifted from their shoulders. On one hand, they had done a great job. On the other hand, they had been carrying out a task so important without even realizing it.

One of the dragons even started to pray, thanking his God that he did not decided to use one of the mirrors to wipe his ass that day he had dragon diarrhea. He thanked all of his lucky stars even, then bowed ten times to heaven as a sign of gratitude.

Logean Wuji then posed the question one more time.

"Prince Hyfel."

"Yes, Young Master!"

"Are you and your people willing to become True Dragons that shall serve me for ever?"

"Yes we are, Young Master."

"Then," Logean Wuji's smile became a steady, calm expression, "let it be so."

Throughout all the firmament, golden light reigned. It was more blinding than the sun, and many times more divine. Each and every dragon was taken up by this light, losing their sense of self just long enough for new selves to take their place.

Their scales became golden, smoother and shinier- even reflective. Their bodies grew and morphed, making them appear less serpentine. Their limbs grew, their tails shortened and their bone structure transformed. The wings on their backs even seemed to shift, tethering themselves to the skin closer to the dragons' forearms.

To top it all off, the dragons' aura had underwent a mountain-toppling kind of transformation. If before it could be said to be comparable to the weight of a planet on someone's shoulders, now their direct aura would feel like an infinite mass of pressure and unstoppable force.

Once the golden light vanished, all that remained were dozens upon dozens of True Dragons, a sight which had likely never been seen before. Prince Hyfel and the other dragons immediately prostrated themselves, not needing to say a word.

"Now, I must leave this place."