The Definition of an Arch-Enemy and a Stunned Counter-Question

Gu Yuena did not respond immediately.

Her fingers had somehow slipped back under the covers.

The moonlight cast a thin layer of silvery-white light on her face, making her expression appear more distant and detached than usual, as if viewed through frosted glass.

"If you cultivate for one night, how many levels can you gain?" she asked.

Yun Jingheng thought for a moment and then held up one finger.

"Level 1?"

One percent.

He said, "It doesn't even increase by one percent every night. When the moon phase is wrong, when the weather is bad, or when I've used up too much energy during the day, it might not even be less than 0.1%."

Gu Yuena frowned again.

The wrinkle between his brows resembled a lightly drawn watermark, deepening for a moment before fading away.

"So, at your current speed, once you reach level 60..."

"One year."

Yun Jingheng gave her the answer, "If nothing is done and the body relies on the natural cleansing effect of the Moonlight each night, it will probably take a year."

The room fell silent for a moment.

The sound of the waves outside the porthole suddenly became exceptionally clear, like someone striking a giant drum, keeping time in rhythm.

"One year." Gu Yuena repeated the number, her tone as flat as if she were reciting a postal code.

"Yes, one year."

"You'll still have to fight, get injured, and use your Soul Power this year. Every time you use it, it will slow down your recovery process."

"Um."

"So that's why you agreed to Zi JI's request?"

Yun Jingheng turned to look at her; Gu Yuena was also looking at him.

Their eyes met in the moonlight, and this time she didn't look away.

"The Soul Spirit Ferocious Beast bring more than just Soul Ring."

Gu Yuena's voice was very soft, so soft it sounded like a secret meant only for him, "When Zi JI becomes your Soul Spirit, her power will seep into every inch of your meridians and every bone."

"When the Moonlight heals your body, Zi JI's power will act as... a framework, guiding where the Moonlight should go, at what density it should accumulate, and in which places it should linger a little longer."

She paused.

"It's like building a walkway on the edge of a cliff; having ropes and not having ropes are two completely different things."

Yun Jingheng was taken aback.

How do you know so much?

Gu Yuena lowered her eyes, her eyelashes casting a small fan-shaped shadow on her cheek.

"Because the dragon race once conducted similar... experiments."

When she uttered the word "experiment," there was a very subtle, almost imperceptible twitch at the corner of her mouth.

"Of course, it ultimately failed."

"It failed?"

"The guiding force and the guiding force repelled each other; halfway through the construction of the plank road, the ropes suddenly turned into blades."

Gu Yuena looked up at him, her purple eyes reflecting the moon outside the porthole. "But we have the friendship between Heng'e and the Li Huang Demon Dragon as our backing. The power of the Hell Demon Dragon King is inherently a close relative of the Yin attribute."

She reached out and touched Yun Jingheng's heart with her fingertips.

"Your Martial Soul won't have a rejection reaction. I guarantee it."

Yun Jingheng looked down at the finger she was pointing at his chest.

Under the moonlight, her fingernails shimmered with a faint pearlescent sheen, like a small, polished seashell.

"You promise?"

He repeated it, his tone carrying a hint of something indescribable.

"I promise."

Gu Yuena withdrew her hand and curled herself back into the blankets.

Yun Jingheng glanced at the two stacked boxes on the table, then at Gu Yuena was huddled under the covers with only a small section of her silver hair showing.

He said, "Shall we chat?"

Gu Yuena peeked out from under the covers, her purple eyes appearing almost black in the moonlight.

"What should we talk about?"

"We can talk about anything."

Yun Jingheng kicked off his slippers, crossed his legs on the bed, leaned against the wall by the porthole, and faced Gu Yuena. "For example... when you were little."

"I didn't..."

"You have."

Gu Yuena stared at him for two seconds, then pulled the blanket up, leaving only her eyes exposed.

Those eyes blinked in the moonlight.

"Well, when I appeared, I received the Dragon God's memories, and I learned a lot of things. But that also meant I couldn't run away immediately and was directly struck by the Asura God's blade."

"Huh?" Yun Jingheng's eyes widened.

"The information is too overwhelming. Do you expect a newly born dragon to react and retaliate immediately?"

"Just born? You shouldn't be...?"

Gu Yuena poked her head out, "Should be what? An Old Dragon God has lost part of his power?"

"I'm not that old man; strictly speaking, I'm His daughter."

Yun Jingheng paused for a moment, then slowly, very slowly blinked.

"Daughter?"

When he repeated those two words, his tone was as if he were confirming a conclusion that he himself didn't quite believe.

Gu Yuena pulled the blanket down further, revealing her entire face.

The moonlight made her long silver hair almost transparent, like flowing mercury.

"Otherwise what?"

"Nonsense."

Yun Jingheng blurted out, "Everyone thought the Silver Dragon King were split off from the Dragon God— "

"That's because everyone is used to understanding dragons using human thinking."

Gu Yuena's voice was as calm as stating a physical law. "Humanity's deity split, but what it produced was still itself."

"But the Dragon God is different. The Dragon God's power is so immense that His Golden Dragon King and Silver Dragon King, at the moment of separation, each gave birth to independent consciousness."

She raised her hand, looking at her palm, where moonlight danced along the lines of her life.

"The Golden Dragon King the Dragon God's power and body, while the Silver Dragon King inherited the Dragon God's elements and soul. But that's not a 'split,' it's..."

She paused for a moment, as if searching for the right word.

"Production?"

Yun Jingheng asked tentatively.

Gu Yuena's lips twitched, it was hard to tell whether she wanted to laugh or roll her eyes.

You could say that.

"So you are the daughter of the Dragon God."

He put the question in his mouth and pondered it for a moment, then asked, "Is the Dragon God male or female?"

Gu Yuena glanced at him, her gaze like that of someone looking at a very curious child.

"Dragon God is Dragon God; there's no such thing as... gender distinction."

"Then you are...?"

"Like different forms of power, what I inherited from motherhood during childbirth was womanhood."

Yun Jingheng remained silent for a while.

The sound of the ocean waves outside the window surged up layer by layer, and then receded layer by layer.

"So you're saying that when you were just 'born,' the Dragon God's memories flooded into your mind like a torrent?"

"It wasn't a flood."

Gu Yuena corrected, "It's like an entire library of books crashing down on you in the same second."

"... That definitely hurts much more than a knife cut."

Gu Yuena turned her head and glanced at him, something flashing in her purple eyes.

"You're a strange person."

What's strange about it?

"When a normal person hears this kind of information, their first reaction is to question its authenticity."

"For example, 'How can you prove you are the daughter of the Dragon God?' 'Are you lying to me?' 'This does not conform to the known history of Soul Beast.'"

Gu Yuena listed them one by one, a hint of confusion in her voice, "But you didn't. You accepted it directly."

Yun Jingheng's lips twitched.

How can I answer you? Should I tell you I'm a time traveler and have a high capacity for understanding?

"Perhaps it's because I'm not human?"

"You weren't even human to begin with."

Yun Jingheng: "..."

Yun Jingheng remained silent for about three seconds.

Then he suddenly changed his sitting posture, stretching out his legs that were crossed, then crossing them again, as if he were making a less-than-successful attempt to escape.

"What about the Golden Dragon King?"

Gu Yuena's purple eyes narrowed slightly.

"You changed the subject very abruptly."

"That's not important."

What do you want to ask?

Yun Jingheng took a deep breath. Moonlight shone in through the porthole behind him, casting a long, long shadow that stretched all the way to Gu Yuena's blanket.

"Is the Golden Dragon King your... brother?"

Gu Yuena pulled the blanket up, leaving only her nose and above exposed.

The expression in those eyes was not clearly visible in the moonlight.

"Strictly speaking, He inherited the ultimate power of the Dragon God, while I inherited the foundation of God."

"We share the same origin, but at the moment consciousness is born, we are two completely independent individuals."

She paused for a moment.

"Brother and sister... if you insist on a definition from human society..."

"So, what's your relationship with him?"

"Soulmate."

Gu Yuena's voice suddenly became very soft, so soft that it was almost swallowed up by the sound of the waves outside the porthole, "The kind where one of us has to die."

Will the tragedy depicted in the original story still occur?

She continued, "In other words, either I or your good buddy Tang Wulin has to die."

"Don't play dumb. If you can recognize my identity, you should be able to sense his aura."

Yun Jingheng was taken aback. "You want to kill him?"

Gu Yuena retorted, "Do you want me to kill him?"

"What are you saying?"

"If you want him dead, I'll have Di Tian and the others attack this ship immediately."

???

"No... you like him, why would you do this?"

Gu Yuena sat up abruptly, her eyes shining like light bulbs, but filled with astonishment. "Who had their head caught in a door and said I like him?"