Mud Jiao

A jiao in the mud, trapped in shallow water for a lifetime, cannot look up and see the sky.

Some accept their fate. Others refuse.

The one who refuses claws its way out of the mud, shedding one skin, then another. By the time it sheds the last layer, there's nothing beneath the skin but bone.

A jiao doesn't become a dragon by flying up. It does so by tearing away its layers, one by one.