There is a legend on the grasslands. Beneath Mount Agula lives the “Hei E'er.”
The elders say it's a giant snake beneath the earth, one that swallowed dragon energy and has lain dormant for a thousand years. Anyone who falls in will never come out.
Batu doesn't believe it.
Until he goes into the mountains looking for sheep, steps on empty air, and plunges into a bottomless pit. There is no light or water inside, only a soft, sticky substance. Eat it, and you won't feel hungry; drink it, and you won't feel thirsty. He survives on it for over a hundred days. When he finally comes back out, the people on the grasslands tell him:
“You've been dead for three years.”
No one dares go near him. His right hand is covered in blue-black scales, his eyes can see in the dark, and he hears something calling his name from beneath Mount Agula.
Later, that thing wakes up.
Batu grabs it by the mane and charges out of the pit. A Daoist tells him he has eaten dragon saliva, and dragon energy has entered his body: he is now half human and half dragon.
Some want to use him to make pills. Some want to kill him as a sacrifice to Heaven. Some want to take his daughter.
Batu says, “I went looking for sheep. Now I'm taking my daughter home.”
