Vicissitudes of Life, Eternal Fragrance of Ten Thousand Generations! Neuvillette Stands Shoulder to Shoulder with the Dragon God?!

Tang San furrowed his brow, lost in thought.

His memories from childhood had grown hazy, but with his teacher's reminder, the outline of that statue gradually became clear.

It was a statue of a man wearing a robe and holding a tome, his expression solemn as he looked down upon all living things.

At the time, he had only thought the statue was exquisitely carved and hadn't given it much thought.

Now that he looked back...

The statue's face was astonishingly similar to the blurred figure in the Golden Ranking List's projection.

"So it was him..."

Tang San felt his hands and feet turn ice-cold.

That terrifying presence had been watching this continent ever since all those years ago.

Yu Xiaogang looked at Tang San and sighed.

"Xiao San, I know what you're thinking."

"You're thinking about Xiao Wu."

At the sound of her name, Tang San's body trembled violently.

Xiao Wu was sealed away in Skywater City.

He had originally planned to storm Skywater City and save his beloved after becoming a god.

But now...

Was it a dragon's lair? A tiger's den?

No. It was the Forbidden Land of Gods, an absolute domain beyond mortal reach.

"Give up."

Yu Xiaogang closed his eyes and spoke those unbearably cruel words.

"Teacher?!"

Tang San jerked his head up, his eyes filled with shock and resistance.

Yu Xiaogang opened his eyes. His gaze had grown exceptionally calm, almost coldly rational.

"Before today, I supported you going to save her, too."

"But now, the Golden Ranking List has laid the answer before us."

"Neuvillette's power is beyond anything we can comprehend."

"To offend a God King-level powerhouse who commands time and rules for the sake of a Soul Beast—even the Divine Realm might be destroyed because of it..."

"It isn't worth it."

"Besides..."

Yu Xiaogang paused, his voice growing even heavier.

"Perhaps we should leave Xiao Wu there."

"Consider it... a 'gift' from Shrek Academy, perhaps even from the Sea God and Asura God, to that powerful being."

Tang San clenched his fists until his knuckles crackled.

His knuckles turned deathly white from the force.

Offer the person he loved most as a gift?

The humiliation made him want to rush out and fight to the death right then and there.

But he didn't move.

Because his reason told him that his teacher was right.

If he truly went to war with Neuvillette, it wouldn't just be him who died. The Shrek Seven Devils and the entire Heaven Dou Empire would perish, and even the two gods backing them would suffer.

Silence.

A suffocating silence spread between the teacher and his student.

After a long while,

Yu Xiaogang suddenly smiled.

The smile was faint, yet carried a trace of his trademark confidence and slyness.

"Still, Xiao San, don't lose heart."

"Everything has two sides."

Tang San raised his head, his eyes vacant.

"What other side could there be? It's the number-one divine artifact. It's the rules of time."

"Exactly. It's a divine artifact."

Yu Xiaogang stressed the words, deliberately pausing on "divine artifact."

"Divine artifacts are powerful, and naturally, they're awe-inspiring."

"But that doesn't mean their wielders are invincible."

Tang San froze.

"Teacher, you mean..."

Yu Xiaogang clasped his hands behind his back, once again assuming the bearing of a Grandmaster.

"There's an old saying."

"A child swinging a sledgehammer."

"Neuvillette may be a city lord, and he may be able to wield a divine artifact, but what about him personally?"

"Has he ever displayed terrifying Soul Power of his own?"

"Has he ever displayed an invincible body of his own?"

"Other than summoning creatures and controlling water with that tome, has he ever fought himself?"

The string of questions made Tang San's previously dead heart stir.

That was true.

In the projection, Neuvillette had done nothing but turn the pages.

All the attacks and powers seemed to come from that tome and the external forces it controlled.

"If..."

A nearly crazed light of speculation gleamed in Yu Xiaogang's eyes.

"What if he's just an unusual Soul Master with powerful mental strength who got lucky and found an ancient inheritance?"

"What if, without those two divine artifacts, his own strength is actually inferior to yours?"

It was a bold idea.

You could even say it was self-deception.

But in the depths of despair, even a straw would be seized desperately by someone drowning.

Tang San's eyes gradually brightened.

The suffocating sense of being utterly crushed began to fade.

That was right.

I possess two gods' powers.

My strength comes from my painstaking cultivation, the gods' inheritances, and the accumulation of every Soul Ring.

But Neuvillette relies too much on external objects.

Those who rely on divine artifacts are often at their most vulnerable when the artifacts are taken away—or when an enemy gets close.

"Teacher, I understand."

Tang San took a deep breath. The dejection in his eyes vanished, replaced by renewed fighting spirit and a ruthless glint buried deep within them.

"However powerful a divine artifact may be, it's still just an inanimate object."

"People are what matter."

"As long as I find a chance to get close, as long as I can avoid a direct blast from that tome..."

"I may still have a chance of winning!"

Yu Xiaogang nodded with satisfaction and patted Tang San on the shoulder.

"That's more like it."

"You're the prodigy of this generation, a genius rarely seen on Douluo Continent in ten thousand years."

"Don't let a few inanimate objects scare you witless."

"Go. Get yourself back in shape."

"The Golden Ranking List has exposed his trump cards. That may not be a bad thing for us."

"Once we know his trump cards, we can find a way to counter them."

Only after watching Tang San turn and walk away, his back once again straight and proud, did the smile slowly fade from Yu Xiaogang's face.

He looked at the enormous Golden Ranking List in the sky. The wild thought in his heart hadn't faded completely. Instead, it continued to take root.

If...

Just hypothetically.

If Xiao San really could defeat Neuvillette...

Wouldn't those two Supreme Divine Artifacts, ranked first and second, change hands?

By then,

Shrek Academy would be an unrivaled presence, even in the Divine Realm.

And Yu Xiaogang, as the teacher of a Supreme God King—

His theories would become the one and only truth throughout the myriad worlds!

Star Dou Forest, Core Circle.

The water of Lake of Life was unusually still today. The dense life energy that usually filled the area seemed to have been eclipsed by the Golden Ranking List in the sky.

Several terrifying auras lay hidden in the shadows along the lakeshore.

They were the true pinnacle of this world's power—the Ferocious Beasts feared by the Divine Realm.

At the center of the gathered beasts stood a silver-haired woman with violet eyes.

She possessed a beauty that transcended the mortal world, a beauty that belonged neither to the human realm nor even to this continent.

Gu Yuena.

The Silver Dragon King.

The Lord of Soul Beasts.

At that moment, her violet eyes, usually tinged with aloofness and indifference, blazed with fervent light.

The light of ambition.

And of hope.

The scene the Golden Ranking List had just shown might have filled anyone else with fear and despair.

But in Gu Yuena's eyes, it was the key to breaking the deadlock.

"Vicissitudes of Life... Eternal Fragrance of Ten Thousand Generations..."

Gu Yuena parted her lips, savoring the words over and over.

Her voice was clear and sweet, yet carried the authority unique to one in a position of power.

"So this is Neuvillette's power."

"He isn't a god, yet he surpasses one."

"To command time and even create an ecosystem out of thin air—when it comes to such finely controlled powers, even the Dragon God of old might have been no better."

Gu Yuena turned around, her silver hair tracing a graceful arc through the air.

Her gaze swept across the Ferocious Beasts prostrated around her.

The Scarlet King, Xiong Jun, the King of Ten Thousand Demons... Every one of them was powerful enough to make a Titled Douluo tremble, yet now they didn't even dare breathe too loudly.

At last, Gu Yuena's gaze settled on a black-clad, middle-aged man.

The Beast God, Di Tian.

"Di Tian."

Gu Yuena called out.

The black-clad man immediately stepped forward and dropped to one knee, his manner utterly respectful.

"My lord, I am here."

Di Tian's voice was deep and resonant. Even though he deliberately kept it low, it made the leaves around them rustle.

"I'm going to Skywater City."

Gu Yuena's words stunned everyone.