# Chapter 9 Sacred Relic
Wu Long's body was wrapped in a kind of white cloth made from white silkworm thread. The wounds covering his body from being scraped and hurled against the rocky walls of the ravine seemed to have vanished completely.
"Who saved me? There's no way I could be lying here with my body wrapped in white cloth if no one had helped me. But who lives inside a cave on the slope of this ravine?" Wu Long wondered.
Before his surprise could fade, a powerful wind suddenly began to blow, accompanied by the appearance of a creature so terrifying that Wu Long froze.
"A-A dragon...!" he cried when he saw a gigantic White Dragon standing right in front of him.
Wu Long could only resign himself to his fate. "I escaped Lie Wei only to run into a vicious dragon! What terrible luck!" he thought, keeping his eyes shut as he waited for the end.
But nothing happened as he had expected. The White Dragon neither breathed fire nor swallowed him alive, as Wu Long had heard dragons were known to do.
"You're lucky, Master Wu Long. I arrived just in time to save you! Your body was gravely wounded, and many of your internal organs were destroyed! Your life would have been beyond saving if not for the thousand-year-old mushroom growing on this ravine's slope! Fortunately, Master once taught me alchemy and how to concoct medicine, so I was able to treat you!" the White Dragon said.
"What? I taught you medicine? That's impossible!" Wu Long shot back.
"It's true, Master! How could you forget? Your memories should have returned by now, even though they disappeared for a while during your reincarnation!" the White Dragon replied, leaving Wu Long even more confused.
"Reincarnation? Forget what? I'm getting more confused by the second, White Dragon! Who are you, really?" Wu Long asked.
"I'm the White Dragon! Have you forgotten?" the White Dragon replied, even more confused as it looked at Wu Long's condition.
Wu Long began to realize that the White Dragon was not dangerous. In fact, it seemed to know him. "Why do you keep calling me Master, White Dragon? Have we met before?" he asked.
"Have you really forgotten your true self, Master?" the White Dragon asked. "I've been searching for you for the past several years, ever since you plunged into the Well of Life. I became suspicious when you never appeared in Heavenly Nirvana at all. Even I, who was fused with you, was separated from you when you disappeared!"
"Just call me Wu Long! I'm nothing more than the impoverished son of a farmer from Rembulan Village... That's who I am!" Wu Long said helplessly. He had no idea what the White Dragon was talking about.
"No! You're not the impoverished son of a farmer from Rembulan Village. You're much more than that! You are Wu Long, a mighty Immortal from Heavenly Nirvana!" the White Dragon declared, refusing to accept Wu Long's words.
Wu Long began to take an interest in what the White Dragon was saying. His fear of the creature vanished in an instant, replaced by curiosity. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"You are a mighty Immortal Dragon from the Upper Realm of Heavenly Nirvana! Master can transform into the White Dragon!" the White Dragon replied, still appearing only as a spirit-like silhouette.
"I was a mighty Immortal Dragon in my past life?" Wu Long asked the White Dragon Spirit.
"That's right... Wu Long! The two of us were an incredible team in battle! Not every Immortal in Heavenly Nirvana can transform into a dragon!" the White Dragon Spirit said.
"I can become a White Dragon?" Wu Long asked, unable to believe what the White Dragon Spirit was saying. "You said I actually lived in the Upper Realm, in a nation called Heavenly Nirvana?"
"Exactly, Wu Long! Because of the arrogance of the King of Heavenly Nirvana, you were sentenced to death and reborn as this useless wretch!" the White Dragon Spirit said disdainfully.
"Hey... watch what you say, White Dragon Spirit! You're insulting me too, you know! I'm Wu Long now, a young man who can't do anything!" Wu Long reprimanded it.
"Have your memories of the past returned, Master Wu Long?" the White Dragon Spirit asked.
"I only remember my life in a poor farming family and the misery I endured at the Matahari dan Rembulan Sect!" Wu Long replied.
"What terrible luck, Master! I found a flute made of white bamboo deep in this bottomless ravine. As far as I know, you were once after this Sacred Relic while you were in Heavenly Nirvana!" the White Dragon explained.
"Me? I chased this White Bamboo Flute all the way to the Lower Realm?" Wu Long asked. "Why?"
"That's right! As I recall, Master once said that this White Bamboo Flute could multiply Qi's power several times over, but I don't know whether it has any use in this Mortal World!"
"Qi? What's Qi? All I know is that inner energy, or sin-kang, can enhance the body's abilities dozens of times beyond ordinary external power!" Wu Long said. His face still showed his confusion, especially after the White Dragon appeared and began telling him about his past life.
"Qi is the energy cultivators need to cultivate and increase their physical abilities to a certain limit—or beyond any limit. Qi is energy from the Universe that becomes a powerful and destructive force when a cultivator successfully strengthens it!"
Wu Long listened intently to the White Dragon. "You said I'm an Immortal. What does that have to do with cultivators who need Qi?"
"Immortal is the cultivation level of those who have achieved immortality! I can't believe my eyes. Master was reborn in a body this wretched!"
"I want to believe your story, White Dragon Spirit, but I still have my doubts... Is any of this real, or is it all just a dream?"
The White Dragon Spirit still could not accept Wu Long's terribly damaged body—not for a Martial Warrior, much less a cultivator—but it continued to hope that a miracle would occur.
"What does this White Bamboo Flute do? It must be some kind of Sacred Relic belonging to the greatest Martial Warrior in this Lower Realm. That must be why I sought it in my past life!" Wu Long said, curious about the object in his hand.
What was the White Bamboo Flute really used for? Why had Immortal Wu Long desired this Sacred Relic so desperately back then?