Do You Have a Problem with Dragons?

Xi Li is a dragon. As a youth, he was gravely injured and slept beneath a great river for a thousand years.

Over those thousand years, the world underwent great changes. Divine beasts vanished, and dynasties rose and fell several times.

In the seventy-sixth year of Pingchang, after five years of severe drought, the river finally dried Xi Li awake.

The golden little five-clawed dragon struggled out of the water, clutching his luminous pearl. Before he could curse the heavens, he spotted the corpse of a drowned man floating down the river. A golden object peeked out from one corner of the man's bundle.

Xi Li, who loved money and fortune, took human form and hooked the object onto the bank. A quick glance showed it was an appointment letter naming someone magistrate of Shengping County.

Xi Li stood by the river, too stunned to react, when a commotion rose in the distance. Someone excitedly pointed at the appointment letter in his hand.

"We found him! We found the new magistrate! Hurry and tell the deputy magistrate! The magistrate is safe!"

Xi Li, clutching the appointment letter: ?

The emperor was far away, and the world was in chaos. No one cared whether he'd usurped the magistrate's position. The job was exhausting and earned little merit, so Xi Li, whose old injuries had yet to heal, had basically been forced into it.

And he thought his deputy magistrate, Ye Zhou, was strange. The man was always staring at him with a disturbing look in his eyes.

Until one day, a black tail tied up the little golden dragon and licked him all over.

Only then did Xi Li curse: A human?! You're clearly a wicked dragon!

#At first, I said I was a true dragon, and they called me treasonous#

#Later, they said I was the true dragon's son, the Son of Heaven. I'm a true dragon, so what's a Son of Heaven?#

#Ah, a robe embroidered with gold thread. Dragons like that. Fine, I'll be the Son of Heaven too#

Theme: Never give up on anything. Keep going, and you'll benefit both yourself and others.