Godhead

Inside the Golden Dragon King's God Core.

The white Purification Fire was so faint it was almost invisible to the naked eye.

There wasn't much time left.

The Golden Dragon King's aggressive questioning echoed through the space. His enormous eyes fixed on Xu Lanqing, reflecting a figure just as large.

Sensing the tense atmosphere, Xu Lanqing met the Golden Dragon King's gaze without flinching. His eyes were as calm as a secluded lake, and he spoke unhurriedly:

"To be honest, I do feel sorry for what happened to you Soul Beasts, though that doesn't help much. You might even think I'm being insincere.

"But I won't say that I understand you, or that I know how you feel. If someone said that to me, I'd resent it too.

"Don't tell others to be good when you haven't suffered what they have.

"I'm not a Soul Beast, and I haven't been through what you have. Though I've seen your memories, it was like watching a play. At most, I could sigh a few times afterward, so I can't pretend to know how you feel.

"But killing is not enough to solve the problem. You've already tried, and you failed.

"Since that's the case, why choose death and mutual destruction instead of a chance to live?

"Don't you still have the Dragon God's unfinished mission?

"I believe the Dragon God's greatness lay not only in strength, but also in a heart that embraced all things.

"So why not try another path?

"And your Remnant Soul must be reaching its limit too, right?"

The Golden Dragon King fell silent, barely able to suppress the violence in his eyes.

A moment later, divine power surged around him. Countless rays of golden light gathered above his dragon head, condensing into a strange, radiant sigil that floated in the air.

"Do you know what this means?"

"I don't," Xu Lanqing replied with a shake of his head.

"This is the Godhead left behind when I died. Once you fuse with it, my power will be entirely at your disposal. You won't have to worry about dying, nor will you need to seal it away.

"Afterward, even the Silver Dragon King won't be able to extract my power from your body and fuse it into her own.

"From now on, you'll bear the mark of the Golden Dragon King and become a thorn in the Divine Realm's side. It cannot be erased. Even if you give it to someone else, its aura will remain on you. The only way to be rid of it is to destroy your cultivation and live as an ordinary person. So, do you understand now?"

The Golden Dragon King gazed at the Godhead, his eyes filled with wistfulness.

"All I know is that you have no other choice. Even without you, sooner or later I'll end up at odds with the Divine Realm."

Xu Lanqing shrugged and replied coolly.

"Roar—"

The Golden Dragon King raised his head and let out a long roar. The gleaming Godhead shot into Xu Lanqing's mental body.

"Ugh..."

Vast divine power surged into him. Xu Lanqing's vision went black, and he fell unconscious.

The Golden Dragon King's Remnant Soul gradually became specks of golden light and vanished.

He gave Xu Lanqing one last look.

May the Dragon God's will truly be passed down...

In the depths of the silent space.

A colossal skeleton lay half-buried in the desolate land, its body nearly a thousand meters long.

Though it had been dead for who knew how long, a terrifying aura still clung to its bones, as if it might come back to life at any moment.

An exquisitely beautiful woman slowly approached the skeleton. She studied it, and her surprised voice rang out:

"Back then, the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon was influenced by its own nature, becoming brutal and bloodthirsty and slaughtering its own kind. After the Dragon God killed it, he banished it to another world. I never expected it to be here."

Her gaze shifted to the skeleton's dragon head. An enormous long blade was embedded deep in the gleaming white bone, with only its hilt exposed.

Compared to the massive skull, the wound made by the blade was so small it was almost unnoticeable. Yet even the exposed hilt alone radiated boundless malice and bloodlust. Just one glance could plunge someone into an illusion of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

"The Dragon Clan Dharma Blade, the Dragon Slaying Blade..."

The beautiful woman had somehow appeared beside the hilt. As she gazed at it, memories shone in her violet eyes, as though she could see the Dragon God forging the blade long ago. How glorious the Dragon Clan had been then.

Alas, the world had changed, and it was all in the past.

She lowered her head, her clear, limpid violet eyes tinged with sadness. There was something about her that made people want to cherish her.

Her flawless white hand closed around the hilt.

At once, mournful dragon roars filled the air without end. One headless dragon shadow after another appeared. They were the dragons who had once committed offenses and been beheaded by the Dragon Slaying Blade.

"Pfft—"

With a single tug, she pulled the Dragon Slaying Blade free.

Its spine was straight, its edge sharp, and its bright, snow-white blade reflected her violet eyes.

The strange sights around them vanished. As soon as she drew it, all the malice that had enveloped the blade receded, leaving it plain and unremarkable.

Divine artifacts had spirits. Clearly, it had recognized the woman and chosen to submit.

She sighed and casually stowed the Dragon Slaying Blade in her personal space.

Then she surveyed the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon's skeleton. With a beckoning motion of her right hand, two objects abruptly appeared in it.

One was a purple pearl the size of a fist, and the other was a purple Left Arm Soul Bone. Both contained terrifying energy. The Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon must have gathered the last of its power into them.

Just then,

the Silver Dragon King—or rather, Gu Yuena—suddenly changed expression.

She looked toward the place where Xu Lanqing was. In the next instant, space twisted, and she tore through it to travel there.

"This..."

"How could this happen?"

Seeing Xu Lanqing still lying on the ground, sound asleep, Gu Yuena could no longer maintain her composure. Her eyes were filled with disbelief.

She sensed the Golden Dragon King's God Core gradually fusing with Xu Lanqing—and it was a fusion of Godheads. It was simply inconceivable.

She had only been gone for a short while. How had things suddenly turned out like this?

She had no idea that the Golden Dragon King still had a Remnant Soul. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been so shocked.

Gu Yuena pressed her lips together, confusion welling up inside her.

What should I do? Should I stop him? But if I interrupt the process, it'll explode, and then nothing will be left.

As she hesitated, the purple pearl she had been holding suddenly flashed.

"Whoosh..."

A sharp sound split the air. While Gu Yuena was distracted, the purple pearl concealed its aura and slipped straight into Xu Lanqing's body.

By the time Gu Yuena noticed, it was too late.

Her expression darkened. Someone had actually tricked her right under her nose. How could she tolerate that?

After the purple pearl entered his body, a layer of purple spread over Xu Lanqing, deepest around his head. His brow furrowed, and his once peaceful face twisted in pain.

"Hmph!"

A chill glinted in Gu Yuena's eyes. Did they really think she wasn't here? If that Remnant Soul had kept hiding, she might have let it be. But now it wanted to possess him?