Silver Dragon King

Cold, trembling...

The moment she woke, Ning Rongrong immediately used her Second Soul Skill Speed Boost, ready to dart away and see where she was. Then a crushing pain shot through her legs, leaving her completely unable to move.

She propped herself up with both hands and looked around in alarm. She was still deep in the Star Dou Great Forest, but her companions had vanished. All she could see was a soul beast with the head of a bull and the body of a snake, surrounded by countless trees. In the distance behind her, she could just make out a Titan Giant Ape, with someone sitting on its shoulder...

I must still be asleep.

Ning Rongrong couldn't believe what she was seeing, so she lay back down. A minute later, she opened her eyes and found that nothing had changed.

Ha ha.

She laughed helplessly. How many strange things had happened to her over the past few days?

She couldn't make sense of it.

She was numb to it all.

The Sky Azure Bull Python gradually slowed, then swung its tail and flung Ning Rongrong into the lake.

Under normal circumstances, a person should have floated on the surface. But this lake seemed to possess some kind of magic. It dragged Ning Rongrong down, deeper and deeper, until she sank to the bottom. Then the current pushed her somewhere unknown.

To her surprise, Ning Rongrong found that she was no longer underwater. She was lying on the ground, as if on a bed, breathing the air around her.

She tried exhaling. There was no resistance from the water; her breath came out smoothly. When she inhaled again, no water entered her mouth.

She opened her eyes and found herself inside a palace. A warm current flowed through her body, and she realized her legs had healed.

Even the wounds beneath her bandages seemed to have recovered.

She stood up. The palace had passages leading in every direction, and for a moment, she had no idea where to go...

But it definitely wasn't outside.

"Come to the center."

A languid, authoritative woman's voice reached Ning Rongrong's ears. She nodded dazedly and walked toward the middle of the palace.

She couldn't see anyone, yet the voice had been perfectly clear.

When she entered the central area, she saw a Seven-Colored Crystal Coffin floating in the air.

A puppet lay atop it. The moment it noticed Ning Rongrong, it dropped to the ground and transformed into an exact copy of her.

"What is this?"

Ning Rongrong took half a step back. To her, this was yet another strange occurrence.

"Don't be alarmed. It's only a puppet. My true form is the Silver Dragon King, and it's not convenient for me to meet anyone yet. For now, she will keep you company."

The same voice as before came from the puppet's mouth.

"Who are you? What am I doing here?"

Ning Rongrong asked warily.

"I am the Silver Dragon King. You have no right to know my full name. You may address me as Your Highness. As for you, since you were chosen by Her, you must raise your physical condition and mental strength to a high level here. At the very least, you must not hold Her back."

Hold Her back? Under what circumstances could her physical condition and mental strength hold someone else back?

The thought of the person who had controlled her flashed through Ning Rongrong's mind. She waited, hoping the other party would confirm her suspicions.

"Who is She?"

"She is the supreme existence. She can manipulate everything, and She has the most devout followers..."

That was it. That was it.

Ning Rongrong grew more and more certain that "She" was the person who had controlled her.

But followers?

Ning Rongrong thought the lunatics of the Holy Spirit Cult were the perfect candidates for that title.

Still, if the person controlling her also had followers, did that mean she didn't need to fear the Holy Spirit Cult anymore?

"In your world, She has another title. The people of this world have tried to vilify Her, but with their limited ability, how could they possibly succeed?"

Wait...

Something didn't feel right to Ning Rongrong.

"How should I address Her?"

Ning Rongrong probed again. The reply that followed struck her like a heavy blow.

"Simply call Her the Holy God."

Silence.

The girl and the puppet stared at each other without making a sound.

The person who had controlled her was the Holy God?

The same Holy God whom the fanatical believers had worshipped during the Saintess Ritual?

No, no, no. Something must have gone wrong.

The person who controlled her and the Holy God might not be one and the same. Maybe she had been chosen simply because she had disrupted that Saintess Ritual...

Ning Rongrong tried desperately to convince herself, then managed to speak with difficulty:

"Why do you know She chose me?"

"Because your body bears traces of having been controlled by Her." The other party's voice held a hint of anger. Within that anger, Ning Rongrong seemed to hear a trace of... jealousy?

At any rate, the fact that the person who controlled her was the Holy God had been confirmed. Her father and the others hadn't been able to detect that she had been controlled, yet this woman knew. Clearly, what she said was true.

Ah...

Thinking about how the Holy God had used her to wreck a Saintess Ritual, Ning Rongrong felt her scalp itch.

Could the Holy God not know that the Saintess Ritual was meant to revive Her? No, that couldn't be right. Even my father knew...

Could the Holy God not know that She was the Holy God?

A jumble of thoughts filled Ning Rongrong's mind. She had no idea what to say, so all she could ask was:

"Where should I start training my physical condition and mental strength?"

Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena had initially been gnashing her teeth, finding Ning Rongrong thoroughly irritating. But those words made her opinion shift slightly.

As expected of the Holy God. The person She had chosen had a fine disposition.

"It's simple. All you have to do is take a beating."

"T-take a beating?"

Ning Rongrong's eyes widened. She had no idea what the other party meant, but in the next moment, the puppet was already holding a Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda.

She was still wondering why the other party had a Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda when the second level of the puppet's pagoda lit up. Then it threw a punch at her, moving at least twice as fast as she could.

Ning Rongrong couldn't dodge in time. Fortunately, using Trapped Beast had become second nature to her. Purple light flared before her, and she swung her right fist.

Just as her fist was about to hit the other party, Ning Rongrong started to feel smug. Then purple light appeared in front of the puppet too, and it was obvious that most of her attack had landed on the purple barrier. Not sixty percent—more like ninety...

"Mm..."

Ning Rongrong's face darkened. She thought she was beginning to understand what this puppet was...

It could copy all her Soul Skills perfectly, and even strengthen them to a certain extent.

After several exchanges, Ning Rongrong was panting, her Soul Power nearly depleted. Yet the instant it ran dry, it began recovering at a rapid pace.

She had been wounded several times, but each wound quickly healed under the effect of the warm current.

Once she had recovered, the puppet moved again and clashed with her. Trapped Beast remained active almost the entire time. Ning Rongrong also discovered that any power she hadn't used up could be accumulated. But the puppet's strength increased far faster than hers.

Under the puppet's steadily accumulating strength, her Soul Power soon ran dry again.

"Your humans have a saying: if you want to grow stronger, you must defeat yourself. As it happens, the Holy God left behind a puppet like this. It can perfectly copy your physical condition, mental strength, Soul Power, and Soul Skills. On top of that, it will strengthen them a little. With its current settings, its Soul Skills are three levels higher than your current ones. You don't have to worry about dying here, or about running out of Soul Power. In my palace, even death requires my permission. So keep training—until I decide you're allowed to stop."