In the pitch black cave with no light source, a faint sound of rhythm could be heard.
It was the sound of air passing through something with a certain speed, perhaps a narrow space. If one were to go deeper inside the cave, one would find that there were no such thing as gaps or holes in the cave wall.
Instead, they would find an object as big as a house, perhaps even bigger. If one listened carefully, they would also realize that the sound was coming from this very object.
It was the sound of breathing, in and out on repeat.
That object was no other than the massive flood dragon, Zhou Zaizhi.
Zhou Zaizhi woke up in daze and blurring visions. He first turned around to look at the surroundings, then bent his head to look down and examined his own body.
The massive dragon let out a long sigh, as if in disappointment.
"So I'm really stuck here… I had hope that it was all just a long dream."
He turned his head to the cave's entrance, to that gigantic double door where his gaze seemed to penetrate everything.
He seemed to have seen a lone gingko tree standing there beside a small pond and stone table set. His gaze penetrated further, down the mountain, deep into the pond, the gingko groves on the mountain foot, then it turned back, finally settling on a small wooden house.
It was the house Tian Yisong had built for Wan Zhaolu just yesterday.
His gaze penetrated the small house easily, its concealment as thin as paper. He felt like he was looking through a glass wall or windows, with an omnipresent three hundred sixty degree angle of vision that he could adjust at will.
He watched the human girl sleep for some time before she woke up. He was still marveling at his newfound power when this female Sword Immortal took off her clothes and went to the bathroom.
Zhou Zaizhi quickly closed his eyes, feeling quite ashamed.
'That was close, good thing I reacted in time. Though I am now a dragon reptile, peeping at a young lady without her knowledge was truly unsightly. How inappropriate.' Zhou Zaizhi criticized himself inwardly.
Then he shifted his focus to his hearings. As expected, his ability to perceive sound was excellent, no less than his sight. He could hear everyone and everything within the radius of twelve kilometers easily, the length expanding the more he concentrated.
This hearing ability was a little more unique than his ability to see.
With just a thought, he could hear every living beings' inner thought and emotions in them, it was as natural as breathing. More miraculously, he could faintly sense the speaker's sincerely and distinguish truth from falsehood even without this mind reading ability.
'How convenient. Just one of these abilities alone would take me far on Earth, whether they were omnipresent sight or mind reading and lie detecting, they are truly divine.' Zhou Zaizhi thought in amusement, then sighed, 'It's a shame I could no longer go back…'
Zhou Zaizhi unrolled his coiling body and stretched his four dragon claws.
He turned to look at various containers scattering around the cave mansion. With a thought from his mind, these containers all floated up and rearranged themselves.
'It really works, that feeling I got from the dream can really work in real life!'
Zhou Zaizhi couldn't help but smile warily when he thought of the dream he had just now.
Just thinking about it sent a chill down his spine.
In that dream, he was in a cramped space, struggling to get out.
After struggling for some time, he heard a crackling sound and saw bright light penetrating from the crack. When he finally got out, he realized that the space he was in was an egg, a giant egg like it belonged to an ostrich.
And he was the baby.
'Did I… die in my sleep again? Damn it!' Was the first thought that ran through his mind.
Zhou Zaizhi cursed his luck, cursed his fate, cursed himself for being complacent and falling asleep in an unknown cave. He should have found out more information about the world from that gingko tree, should have probed more about his identity rather than being cautious.
After cursing himself for a while, Zhou Zaizhi let out a sigh and left the place he was born at.
He was hungry.
"It seems I was born as a lizard this time… Damn my luck, what do I have with these reptiles? Was I also a reptile in my past life too? A snake, perhaps?" Zhou Zaizhi mumbled under his breath while he walked and slithered forward.
Then he realized one crucial thing:
"Eh? I can talk? I was just born and can already talk? Looks like this is not Earth either. After all, how can a lizard have the necessary organs needed for human language?"
He was surprised but at the same time not surprised.
"I better be cautious this time and find out more about this new world, no more sleeping!" Zhou Zaizhi resolved himself.
He walked until he reached a small river. There he drank water and hunted small animals such as birds and mice for some time.
He was clumsy at first, barely having anything to eat.
But circumstances made men, he soon adapted and improved, becoming more proficient in hunting. Time passed slowly as Zhou Zaizhi spent his time traveling down the riverbank, hunting small animals along the way.
On the seventh day, problem finally came.
It was not a giant beast or a natural disaster, but was Zhou Zaizhi himself.
"No, I can't fall asleep yet, I haven't even found out anything about this world, who knows what world I would be in after I opened my eyes again?" Zhou Zaizhi mumbled to himself, trying to not fall asleep by pretending to talk to someone.
"Yes, you can't fall asleep yet. Just keep moving a little."
"Ok, I will do as you say, I will do as you say, stop nagging me, I just need a little rest." The small white lizard spoke to empty air beside the vast river before its eyes fluttered closed.
Zhou Zaizhi fell unconscious in a deep sleep.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a vast forest, a stranger standing before him not far away.
Zhou Zaizhi was shocked, who wouldn't when they woke up and see a stranger standing over them? Zhou Zaizhi instantly became alert, shouting:
"Who's there!? Show yourself!"
He was about to stand to confront the stranger, but found out that he could not move a muscle.
'Ghost's prank!?'