Prologue - 15 Years Ago (part 2)

Heng Lóng was the first one to reply, his voice fluctuating from deep emotion: "Liana, my precious daughter… Without wanting to exaggerate..." The extreme joy he was currently experiencing was hard to contain, but he still managed squeeze out an explanation, "What you just now referred to as a "condition", is an absolute insult to the true glory and unrivaled treasure your son was born with!"

Elder Ming was vigorously nodding his head as Chen Lóng spoke.

Taking a deep breath of stale bedroom air to try and calm himself, the grandmaster continued: "Elder Ming can confirm my story, but I am 99.9% confident that these eyes your son... My grandson possesses... are identical to those that were recorded only once in our clan's ancient history, five hundred years ago! The Eyes of the founder … Of the dao of Goma!" His voice started to quiver at that last sentence, yet it was overflowing with pride!

Glistening tears of happiness started to fog up Elder Ming's old but sparkling eyes while his nodding started to slow down. To be able to have witnessed this miracle, even if he were to die today, he would gladly do so with a blissful smile on his gentle, elderly face!

'Well that explained absolutely nothing…' Liana and the core disciples thought to themselves, but relief had wiped away Liana's worries when she saw both elderly men acting like they had just now won at life.

Seeing the expressions of cluelessness on the faces of those around him, Elder Ming cleared his throat and decided to elaborate:

"It seems that... For this to make any sense to you all, a little history lesson on the roots of our Crimson Dragon Clan is required."

All eyes in and outside the room had now shifted towards the kind Elder. Many of the core disciples, as well as Lady Liana had always wondered about the roots and the foundation of their martial art.

All they knew was that they were but one of the few, rarely seen branches of the illustrious 'Crimson Dragon clan'. But that was pretty much the extent of their knowledge.

"First of all!" Elder Ming exclaimed loudly, while raising his hand into a pointing gesture…

"Why are the bunch of you still outside the door, peeping inside like a litter of puppies? Get in and sit down, will ya?" He laughed, making them feel a bit foolish. "Just look out for the pieces of broken glass and the yellow wine on the floor. It's my mess, so I'll clean it up later. Just leave it for now." He instructed them.

As soon as all 7 core disciples had seated themselves on the floor along the other side of Lady Liana's bed, Elder ming started the eagerly awaited history lesson:

"First off, I must warn you that what I am about to tell should never be revealed to outsiders!" Elder Ming's voice sounded unusually severe. "As it is normally a well kept secret, only passed down from grandmaster to grandmaster, and even amongst the elders, only a select few know about this.

There are a few reasons for this, but the main reason is because it all sounds more like lore or legends, than actual history…"

Elder Ming couldn't help but direct his gaze with admiration and veneration to, in his eyes at the miracle that laid in Lady Liana's arms.

"However, with the situation being what it is right now, any traces of doubt or uncertainty that used to linger in my and Grandmaster Heng's heart have now completely wiped clean!

Still… It does not excuse any of you to go blab to anyone else about this, since this has to remain quiet... At least for now! Not a word about any of this should not be leaked to the outside world at any cost!"

Seeing the ever calm and easy-going Elder Ming act this serious was a new experience for the 7 core disciples as well as Lady Liana. All of them clearly recall how this elderly man remains unperturbed no matter what absurd situation he finds himself in.

Thus, all of them couldn't help but swallow some saliva and engraved his warning deep inside their memories.

"It all begun about 460 years ago, during the times of the Ming dynasty… It was a time where Kung Fu would reach a new peak; Qi Jiguang, a famous patriotic general, had decided to compile all the skills and styles of kung fu throughout China at that time."

Almost all known skills , like the Long Fist, Short Hands, Hong Fist, Bazi Fist and other skills had been assembled, and people started calling the art Southern Shaolin Boxing!"

"… What many people don't know however, is that during this time, a nameless 16 year old boy, born in the most north-western part of the Shaanxi province, had left the Ming dynasty to lead a solitary life while immersing himself in the Dao of martial arts.

Ever since he was 12, had begun to create his own style of martial art and unique skills."

'16 years old? Living a solitary life since he was 12, while creating a new brand of martial arts??' That was indeed a very difficult pill to swallow. Nonetheless, none of the core disciples dared to interrupt and kept listening to Elder Ming, whose eyes now radiated idealization and respect.

"He was truly an exceptional boy! … Ever since he was born, whether it was intelligence, athleticism, strength or his ability to comprehend or learn, he was vastly above his peers when growing up…

And while this had many villagers very excited, expecting great many things for his future; There were also many villagers that were skeptical, and who watched him grow up with caution and fear in their hearts. The main reason for this was because this boy was born with a set of extremely striking eyes!

… As most of you have probably guessed by now, they are indeed very similar to the eyes your son was born with, Lady Liana" Elder Ming smiled at her and her son.

Although Liana felt it coming, it was still strange to hear her son might grow up differently from his peers…

"The precise reason why he had left his little village has never been a hundred percent clear… The theory goes that, on his 12th birthday, a cataclysmic storm hit his, and the surrounding villages. The Villages' harvests, farming fields, food supplies and housing had all been destroyed."

Elder Ming sighed and shook his head. "Ignorance and superstition at the time, had the villagers believe this was a sign that the boy was cursed, that his eyes were those of the harbinger of disaster and thus, he was shunned and chased out of his own village as well as all surrounding villages."

All of the core students as well as Lady Liana couldn't imagine how tough his life must have been after that.

Elder Ming continued: "Anyway, his solitary life and journey to create and hone his martial arts, and his immersion in the Dao of martial perfection had lead him to the Kunlun mountains.

For 23 years, he had spent all his time tirelessly cultivating: basics, stances, meditations, usages of qi as well as creating its many aspects and forms, while residing deep inside the Kunlun mountains. And although he was only 35, the depth and level of his martial art had reached an unfathomable realm!"

"The feeling of never having the chance to put his martial art into practice against other martial artists, began to slowly fill his heart over those 23 years. Which is why he decided to travel to Shaolin Monastery, located in Song mountain of the Henan province, to see for himself its monks' fighting techniques…"

Elder Ming intentionally paused, and glanced at the bunch of young-lings whose eyes were now glittering with anticipation, and chuckled inside.

"… What happened next, Elder Ming? Come on, tell us!" Eden Haze, the youngest of the core disciples, and unsurprisingly, the one with the least patience, couldn't help but ask.

"shush!" Evelina nudged Eden in his side to have him shut up.

Seeing this, the other disciples had now a worried look on their faces, since they knew Eden and Evelina were like fire and ice, which resulting in them butting heads many times!

Surprisingly however, Eden decided to let it slide and shut up for the sake of hearing the rest of the story.

As they all relaxed, Elder Ming nodded approvingly and resumed his 'lesson': "Although martial practice had become such an integral element of Shaolin monastic life, that the monks felt the need to justify it by creating new Buddhist lore, the young man found them quite disappointing."

Disappointing?? The now world famous Shaolin temple was disappointing?' It was difficult for these youngsters to imagine.

"His first intention was to only spar against the students of the Shaolin temple, but after he easily defeated their "once in a century prodigy student", the Shaolin masters themselves decided to exchange pointers with him."

Elder Ming shook his head. "But regardless of whether it was technique, speed, power, strength or even reaction time, they were all vastly outclassed by the man. Even the Grandmaster of the temple had a go at him, but ultimately admitted defeat before either of them had actually struck at one another.

After hearing the tale of everyone losing so badly against a single individual with demonic looking eyes, the abbot of the Shaolin temple couldn't help but ask who or what he was, where he came from, and what kind of demonic arts this "monster" was using."

"My parents named me Ju-lóng, I originate from the Shaanxi Province, and as for what martial art I'm using, I haven't given it a name yet, but I guess you could name it 'Gankyil Dragon arts'." Was the man's response."

Elder ming acted out the scene with aloofness and pride. "There are three main aspects to it!

First is the hard and soft earthly aspect of the body. Second is the hard and soft heavenly aspect of technique. And third is the vast spiritual aspect of the mind..."

Another voice suddenly chimed in: "Leaving aside its many sub-aspects, they are all linked and interchangeable, creating an endless sea of routes that can be taken on the Dao of one's own martial perfection!" Grandmaster Heng Lóng interrupted as he said these words with his head held high!

Slightly annoyed for intercepting this glorious citation, Elder Ming glanced at Grandmaster Heng lóng before moving on: "Those are indeed the words that were spoken by Ju-Lóng at the time.

And when the abbot asked what Ju-Lóng's plans were for the future, Ju-Lóng, inspired by the methods of the Shaolin temple, replied he intended to create his own independent temple. To teach Gankyil Dragon arts to those who wish to learn."

"The abbot then used all his influence and connections to help Ju-Lóng establish his glorious temple on the mountain where Ju-Lóng had cultivated his martial art. He even went as far as to send all the students who were willing over to the 'Gankyil Dragon' temple. This was also around the time when Ju-Lóng met his future wife, which was perfectly fine, as he wasn't a Buddhist monk to begin with…"

Grandmaster Chen Lóng found that Elder Ming had already told them quite enough and interjected:

"Elder Ming, it is already quite late, and they should all go to bed! Since the normal training schedule will be resumed in 4 hours… Also, Lady Liana needs her rest, she looks exhausted!"

Lady Liana shook her head. "It's fine father, this is obviously related to my son, so I really want to hear the complete story." Liana argued, while reopening her almost closed eyelids. She now realized she had subconsciously begun do drift away.

As moans of unwillingness could also be heard from the group of sitting ducklings, Elder Ming replied: "I'll try to keep it short, give me another 5 or so minutes, and I'll be finished. How does that sound?"

Grandmaster took a deep breath and then sighed. "Fine, but no more than 5 minutes, and not a second longer. If you're not done by then, I'm going to drink this bottle of yellow wine I bought yesterday all on my own!" He gave in while he threatened.

Surprised Heng Lóng had also bought a bottle of yellow wine, and with his bottle now broken all over the floor, he couldn't help but gulp and quickly continued: "Life in the 'Gankyil Lóng Temple' was peaceful, and 2 years after its establishment, Ju-lóng's wife gave birth to a triplet of babies: 2 boys and 1 girl.

Bizarrely, as if fate was playing a game with him, they all inherited totally different aspects of Ju-Lóng's eyes, which had been branded as the Yin Yang eyes of Goma by the abbot of the Shaolin Temple."

"The first boy was born with Crimson colored sclera, the second boy had inherited his silver irises while the girl only received the pearl-white limbal rings of her father."

Elder Ming showed an awkward smile on his seasoned face… "Whether it was coincidental or not, no one will know, but as Ju-Lóng's children grew older, they all showed their father's unparalleled talent, but only truly excelled in 1 of the 3 aspects of the Gankyil Dragon arts:

The boy with the crimson sclera was a prodigy in the hard & soft earthly aspect of the body, and was named Kung Lóng.

Born with silver irises, the second boy became a prodigy in the hard & soft heavenly aspect of technique, and was named Kong Lóng.

As for the girl with the pearl-white limbal rings, she had incredible aptitude for the vast spiritual aspect of the mind, and was named Ling Lóng.

Like with most siblings, a big sense of rivalry naturally bloomed between them, however none of them could tuly outshine the other, as they were all geniuses in their own right. And although Ju-Lóng preached that balance of the 3 main aspects always be maintained, only Kung Lóng really listened to his father. The other two focused only on the aspect they excelled at…"

Elder Ming's face turned a bit solemn. "Aside from their siblings, there wasn't anyone they couldn't beat, and this caused Kong Lóng and Ling Lóng to grow complacent.

However as more and more time passed, Kung Lóng slowly began to surpass his two siblings, which caused a growing friction between him and his sister, but even more so with his brother…"

"To Jun-Lóng's dismay, this friction between his children never dissipated in his lifetime. And on his deathbed, when appointing the next Grandmaster of the 'Gankyil Dragon temple', his choice naturally fell on Kung Lóng."

Alder ming then took a seat at the foot of Lady Liana's bed and continued:

"Before completely leaving this world however, he left his children when expressing his last wish:

- Kung Lóng, Kong Lóng, Ling Lóng, my beloved children. If in this world, no matter if it is amongst your descendants, or if born from someone outside of it, a person were to be born with my full legacy… Promise me... promise your father, that the three of you... Or your descendants will impart that individual with all of the knowledge available to you or them. That is all I ask of you… My flesh and blood..."

"Regardless of the friction between them, the three siblings still loved their father with all their heart, and swore to uphold this promise if such time ever came." Elder Ming concluded his tale.

Angelo was the first to speak: "So does this mean we are a branch of the "Gankyil Dragon" martial art sect? Then how come Grandmaster named this school 'The Crimson Dragon school'? He asked with a puzzled face.

The other disciples connecting the same dots had equally puzzled looks on their faces as they looked at Grandmaster Heng Lóng.

"What you're saying isn't wrong but not totally correct either," Grandmaster Heng Lóng answered. "The friction between Jun-Long's children Elder Ming told you about, turned out to be too irreconcilable…

In the end both Kong Lóng and Ling Lóng decided to leave 'Gankyil Dragon' Temple with a lot of their followers, and thus Kong Lóng's 'Silver Heaven-Dragon' & Ling Lóng's 'Spiritual Snow-Dragon' clans were established on neighboring mountains.

Kung Lóng in return also erected his own clan, as he felt that the name of 'Gankyil Dragon' clan was too heavy to bear, and established the 'Crimson Earth-Dragon' Clan... To which this school belongs"

"Now all of you, please get up and go to your rooms. Don't expect any leniency in tomorrow's training because of this." Grandmaster Heng Lóng gave them one last stern warning.

Elder Ming however, gave the bunch of leaving youths a discrete wink. Since it was his turn to train the students tomorrow morning, they immediately understood and let out sighs of relief in their hearts.

Them now understanding the whole picture and their clan's foundation had them feeling quite content, and without any further incidents, they all scattered to their respective rooms to go to sleep.

Although grandmaster Heng Lóng had noticed, he pretended not to. This was a marvelous event after all! Small matters like these were the farthest things on his mind right now.

He slapped Elder Ming's shoulder and smiled: "Old friend, seeing how destiny has dealt us this unfathomable hand today, I can't possible drink my bottle of yellow wine on my own! Come! let's go to my room and drink, so Liana can finally rest. She'll need it if she wants to feed the baby later!"

"Father, Elder Ming…" One thing was on her mind which had not yet been cleared up: "From your story, I can conclude that my baby boy's eyes are indeed very similar to that Ju-Lóng of the past…

The crimson sclera from our 'Crimson Earth-Dragon' clan, the pearl white limbal rings from the 'Spiritual Snow-Dragon' clan... You mentioned the Silver irises from the 'Silver Heaven-Dragon' Clan, but… my son's left eye has a golden iris??" She had to ask... "What does it represent?"

As her baby was staring her in the eyes, she felt as if her son was able to see right through her, straight inside her soul. It was a hard feeling to describe… But she subconsciously realised that under their gaze, nothing could remain hidden.

"Yes, well as for that golden eye of his... I honestly have no idea." Elder Ming replied, his open palms reinforced that he really didn't have a clue, while Grandmaster Heng Long shook his head, also indicating he didn't know.

What both of these elderly men hadn't realised at the time, was that the eyes of Liana's baby in actuality eclipsed those of Ju-Lóng. These were the complete Yin Yang eyes of Goma!