Chapter 8 - Disciple

"Master of the Ark? What does he mean? Am I in control of the ship thing now?" Tian Longmeng began recollecting his thoughts on what had transpired in order to fully understand the situation he was thrown into.

"Wait, you mentioned me being alive. Then does that mean that senior is-" Tian Longmeng finally jumped on a crucial piece of information.

"Yes, indeed." The old man babbled, "Despite my liveliness, I am but a remnant soul that was placed here to prevent it from dispersing and truly dying. It is not just me either; there are countless other souls here that are contained within the Ark. Many however were not as lucky as I am to be able to maintain their consciousness."

Tian Longmeng stood there looking at the old man in disbelief. By appearances, it was hard to even consider him old as he looked like a middle-aged man at most.

The only indicator of old age would be his oriental style of clothing and his flowing, white hair on his head and face. It would be difficult making a case for calling him old, much less dead!

"Senior, could you tell me what happened to cause you all to be put in here?" Tian Longmeng was now piqued with curiosity. After all, a man of his stature would have no problem erasing this entire wilderness or even continent if he wanted to. So how could he, and countless others, wound up in the Ark as remnant souls?

The old man approached Tian Longmeng and smiled while patting the tense child's head. "Young child, that is something for another time. Certain things one cannot hear unless they are strong enough, otherwise it would only be disastrous to them instead."

Tian Longmeng looked up at the old man. There was nothing absurd in that statement and even a child such as himself knows the significance of those words.

The old man's smile widened upon seeing the receptive Tian Longmeng. He knew that Tian Longmeng was understanding of principles and could discern things quite decisively. "That's the trait a genius should have," he murmured to himself.

On the other hand, after inspecting the old man for a while now, Tian Longmeng confirmed that the old man had no harmful intent, thus Tian Longmeng loosened himself a little and began to enjoy the conversation a bit more.

The old man laughed, "Oh where are my manners. This old man is named Elder Canglong. You could just call me the Ark Elder if you like. Of course, there are other elders that kept their consciousness but as I am the most stable, I'm able to appear more often."

"Oh," that explanation cleared up one of Tian Longmeng's doubts about the place. He was wondering why the other elders did not appear to meet him, especially if he was the new master of the Ark. It was because they might dissipate at any point in time and had to preserve themselves for important times.

"What is your name?"

"What?" Tian Longmeng jumped back to reality.

"Your name, young child," the Ark Elder repeated.

"Oh, this junior is named Tian Longmeng." Tian Longmeng bowed as he introduced himself.

"Tian, huh." The Ark Elder supported his right cheek with his hand for a moment while pondering something deeply.

"Interesting. A dragon's dream of the heavens." "Anyways, it looks like reaching there would be impossible with your talent as it is now." The Ark Elder was chatting away with a beaming smile on his face, but Tian Longmeng wore the opposite.

He hanged his head in silence; he knew this would resurface. With a pathetic talent like his, it would be unimaginably hard to reach anywhere substantial. However, having an expert frankly state that fact, would obviously affect him.

As Tian Longmeng ducked his head, the Ark Elder's smile only got broader. "Then how about we just make you reach there?"

"What!" Tian Longmeng eyes widened as his head sprung up and he quickly took a step back to stare at the Elder's beaming smile.

"Sure, with your talent it would be nigh impossible, unless, you had a mentor or two. Then you should be able to reach somewhere. That is if you want to."

It did not take long for Tian Longmeng to give his answer. "I guess I'll have to trouble senior then."

.....

Tian Longmeng woke up and looked in his hands and sure enough, the ship was right there within his clutches. The only thing different about the Ark was that instead of a copperish brown appearance, the plating was now a shiny lustre of silver as if it was stripped of an outer layer of rust.

It was hard to imagine. If the Ark Elder did not tell Tian Longmeng about the mysticisms of the Ark of the Majesty then he would have just written everything off as a strange dream.

Longmeng searched around the place until he found the pond again. Tian Longmeng stopped and held the Ark in his hands. "The Ark Elder told me that I should find a source of water and then call out to him from within the Ark."