Three Steps Apart, Both Dragon God and Gu Yuena

"Di Tian".

She spoke, her voice not loud, but each word carried a kind of authority that Tang Wulin had never heard from her before. "You talk too much."

Di Tian lowered his head even further. "It was I who overstepped my bounds. But the Lord's plan can no longer be delayed."

Tang Wulin's hands began to tremble.

He looked at Gu Yue, his lips moved, and he uttered a sound that even he himself found unfamiliar, "Gu Yue... what did he call you?"

Gu Yue did not answer him.

She stepped out from behind Tang Wulin, bypassed his arm that was across her, and took a step toward Di Tian.

The step was small, but Tang Wulin felt something in his chest being crushed by that step.

"Gu Yue!" He reached out to grab her wrist, but his fingertips brushed against her sleeve and he grasped nothing.

"Don't go there, it's dangerous!"

She didn't turn around.

"Tang Wulin."

Gu Yue stopped, her voice coming from behind him, softer than ever before, "Are you saying that all the Soul Beast on this continent are necessarily evil?"

Tang Wulin was stunned.

He didn't understand why she asked this question at this time, but his intuition was screaming wildly that something was hidden behind those words, something more terrifying than Di Tian's appearance, something that had been lurking in the shadows since the first day they met.

Gu Yue did not wait for his reply.

She continued walking towards Di Tian Di Tian, and when she reached him, she lowered her head to look at the man kneeling before her.

There was no extra emotion in her eyes.

"Let them go," she said.

Di Tian slightly raised his eyes, "My Lord?"

"Di Tian, did you ask for my opinion when you made this decision on your own? Yun Jingheng is unlikely to appear, so they pose no threat."

Gu Yue's voice suddenly turned cold, not intentionally, but rather something closer to instinct, something that had been suppressed for too long, was awakening.

Di Tian was silent for a moment, then lowered his head.

"Your subordinate dares not."

He stood up and casually waved his right hand.

The invisible force pressing down on Xie Xie, Yuanen Yehui, Ye Xinglan, and Xu Xiaoyan vanished instantly, and the four of them gasped for breath almost simultaneously.

Xie Xie braced himself on the ground with both hands, sweat dripping from his nose onto the floor. But the first thing he said when he looked up wasn't a cry of pain, but a glare at Di Tian, his voice hoarse. "You said Jing Heng is trapped, what do you mean? What did you do to him?!"

No one answered him.

Yuanen Yehui used her fists to push herself up, her knees still trembling, but her gaze was fixed on Gu Yue.

She didn't speak, but looked at Gu Yue with an expression she had never seen before.

Ye Xinglan gripped the Stargod Sword, her expression one of disbelief.

Gu Yue turned around and faced everyone.

Light streamed down from the sky above the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, making her almost transparent.

She stood there, with the Beast God Di Tian kneeling in submission beside her, the eternally flowing spring of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well- Yang Well behind her, and five companions who had gone through countless life-and-death experiences with her before her.

Her expression remained calm.

"Tang Wulin," she said, "You just asked me why Di Tian calls me 'Lord '."

She paused, her silver pupils reflecting Tang Wulin's stiff face. "My name isn't Gu Yue. My name is Gu Yuena. Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena."

Xie Xie's pupils suddenly contracted.

Yuanen Yehui's clenched fist made a cracking sound.

Ye Xinglan slowly closed her eyes, and Xu Xiaoyan covered her mouth.

Tang Wulin stood still, his left arm still in the stiff position protecting her.

He looked at Gu Yue, at her silver eyes, at the face he had spent countless days and nights with.

His lips moved several times, but in the end he only managed to squeeze out a few words: "How could this be... I don't believe it."

Gu Yue remained silent.

Di Tian stood beside her, his golden vertical pupils coldly staring at Tang Wulin.

"You are Gu Yue," Tang Wulin's lips trembled, "You are our partner."

"I am."

Gu Yue said softly, "But I am also the Silver Dragon King. I am the ruler of all Soul Beast and the master of the Star Dou Great Forest. My reason for approaching you from the very beginning was for the Golden Dragon King Bloodline within you."

"From day one, I knew who you were, and from day one, my mission was to remove it from your body."

With each word she spoke, Tang Wulin's face paled a little more.

He wanted to say, "You lied to me," but the words stuck in his throat because he knew she wasn't lying; she just had never told him the truth.

"So Jing Heng's seclusion..."

Tang Wulin's pupils contracted sharply. He finally pieced all the fragments together. "You're the ones who trapped him?"

It's me.

Di Tian calmly accepted the statement, "Yun Ming owed me a condition because of Yun Jingheng's Soul Spirit, and I used it on him."

"He won't show up here until all this is over, and that's good for him." His tone was devoid of sarcasm or smugness, only a cold calm.

Tang Wulin did not look at Di Tian.

He kept looking at Gu Yuena, into her eyes, trying to find even the slightest hint of wavering in them.

He didn't find it, but he didn't look away either.

"Why?"

Xie Xie was the first to speak.

He scrambled to his feet, still staggering from the oppressive force he had been subjected to, but his voice had already burst from his throat. "Were you lying to us from the very beginning?"

His voice was terribly hoarse, each word sounding like it was being scraped off sandpaper. "From the first day you joined the class, you trained with us, ate with us, went on missions with us—was it all an act? Was it all for this?"

Gu Yuena looked at him but did not answer.

Xie Xie's expression twisted for a moment, not with anger, but with something deeper, like being stabbed in the back and turning around to find the person he trusted most holding the knife.

"Then why didn't you say so sooner?"

He gritted his teeth, "If you had just said you were the Silver Dragon King, we—"

What will happen to you?

Gu Yuena's voice was calm, "You will hand me over to the Shrek's higher-ups, to the Sea God Pavilion, to those who will exterminate all Soul Beast on the very first day."

Xie Xie opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.

Xu Xiaoyan's voice came from the side, trembling with tears. "Gu Yue... no, we won't. You are our companion, no matter who you are, you are our companion."

Her hand gripping the Star Staff trembled, tears streaming down her chin. "We've been through so much together. You saved me, and I shielded you from attacks. It was all real, wasn't it?"

Gu Yuena's eyelashes twitched slightly; that was the only change on her face. The rest of her face remained as still as a Ice Seal lake.

It's true.

She said, a tiny crack finally appearing in her voice, "Every day I spent with you was real, but that doesn't change who I am, nor does it change what I have to do."

"Things that must be done?"

Yuanen Yehui's voice was low and restrained, her fists clenched so tightly her knuckles turned white, but her tone was calmer than ever, "You mean you have to kill Wulin and take his bloodline?"

She took a step forward, standing between Tang Wulin and Gu Yuena.

She was taller than Tang Wulin, and her presence completely blocked out the captain behind her.

"Let me ask you a question. When you met him, you knew he was Tang Wulin, and you knew he was the host of the Golden Dragon King Bloodline. You could have made your move then, so why did you wait until today?"

Gu Yuena did not answer the question. But her silence itself was an answer.

Ye Xinglan remained silent.

She stood behind Xie Xie, her fingers never loosening their grip on the sword hilt.

Her gaze shifted from Gu Yuena's face to Di Tian Di Tian, then back to Gu Yuena, and then she spoke.

"Does Jing Heng know you are the Silver Dragon King?"

Gu Yuena looked at her.

The two stared at each other for a long time, so long that Xie Xie couldn't help but break the silence.

Then Gu Yuena nodded slightly, "I know."

Ye Xinglan said, "He knew your identity but didn't tell any of us, keeping it a secret for you. Doesn't that show our stance?!"

"Gu Yue! Do you even know how much you mean to us?!"

"Quantity?"

Gu Yuena repeated the two words softly.

She looked at Ye Xinglan, and the corner of her mouth twitched slightly. The curve wasn't exactly a smile; it was more like a micro-expression that had been suppressed for too long and finally lost control.

"I know," she said.

"I know how much each of you means to me, and I know how much I mean to you."

"Xing Lan, do you think I haven't considered another possibility? Do you think I haven't thought about it in the dead of night, what would you do if I told you everything, if I said, 'I am the Silver Dragon King, but I am also your companion. Help me think of a solution that benefits both of us'?"

Her gaze shifted from Ye Xinglan's face and slowly swept over everyone present.

Xie Xie still maintained the same clenched-teeth expression, but the anger in his eyes began to soften. He wanted to refute, but he found himself unable to.

Xu Xiaoyan's tears flowed even more fiercely. She didn't wipe them away, letting the tears stream down her face, her lips moving as if she were saying something silently.

Yuanen Yehui's feet, which were blocking Tang Wulin's path, did not budge, but her clenched fists trembled slightly.

Ye Xinglan's fingers tightened around the Stargod Sword, the sword making a slight grinding sound under the pressure, and her hand trembled.

Tang Wulin stood behind Yuan En, his expression obscured, but he remained silent, a silence that itself was the heaviest response.

"I've thought about it."

Gu Yuena's voice finally cracked for the first time; the crack was small, but enough for everyone to hear.

Her composure wasn't indifference; rather, she had suppressed all her emotions behind a dam that she herself didn't know how much longer she could hold on.

"I've thought about it more than once. In the dorm, after every battle, watching you bandage your wounds, I've thought—maybe I should just tell you, tell you the whole truth, and then see what you choose."

She paused for a moment.

But I can't.

"Why?"

Xu Xiaoyan's voice was almost pleading. She took a step forward, but Xie Xie stopped her with his hand, which was still reaching towards Gu Yuena.

"Why not? We're comrades! Isn't that what comrades do—stand together through thick and thin, no matter what happens? Why don't you trust us?"

"Because this isn't a matter of belief or disbelief!"

Gu Yuena's voice suddenly rose, marking the first time she had lost control during the conversation. Her voice echoed throughout the valley of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well before gradually dissipating.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and when she opened them again, the icy lake in her eyes had closed again, but everyone could see that beneath that ice, magma was churning.

"If I had said it,"

Her voice regained its calm, "You will then face a choice—either help me and betray the entire human world, or don't help me and watch me continue to bear all of this alone."

"Tell me, which one do you choose? Help me, and you will become traitors in the eyes of humanity. Your families, your academy, your future—all will be destroyed."

"If you don't help me, you'll be tormenting yourselves every sleepless night, asking yourselves, 'She's our comrade, why didn't we help her?'"

She looked at Xu Xiaoyan, her voice suddenly becoming very soft. "Xiao Yan, tell me, can you take it?"

Xu Xiaoyan's mouth was open, and large tears were falling down her face, but she couldn't utter a single word.

Gu Yuena didn't wait for her answer; she turned to Xie Xie. "Yes, I lied to you. I lied to every single one of you."

"But this is the only thing I can do—take this choice away from you. You don't need to choose; I'll choose myself."

"That way, no matter the outcome, you won't have to bear the stigma of being traitors, nor the guilt of failing to save someone in distress."

She paused here, her Adam's apple bobbing slightly—a very small movement, but Ye Xinglan noticed it.

Ye Xinglan frowned slightly, and her lips tightened into a more defined line.

Did Jing Heng know you would do this?

Gu Yuena paused for a moment, then said, "I know. Ever since he learned my identity, he's been trying to persuade me."

Tang Wulin finally spoke, "So that's why you're locking him up?"

"Not entirely."

Gu Yuena's gaze returned to Tang Wulin.

"It was Di Tian's idea to trap him. Di Tian went directly to Yun Ming to fulfill the conditions, without ever asking me. By the time I found out, Yun Jingheng had already been confined to Sea God Island and was not allowed to leave the island."

"Once he leaves the island..."

"The energy within Yun Ming's body will explode; that's what I left behind," Di Tian added.

Her lips twitched slightly, the curve so faint it was almost imperceptible, but it was a bitter smile, a sarcastic remark only she knew, one she couldn't even be bothered to say aloud.

"Di Tian's reasons are very valid. Yun Jingheng knows my identity and my plan; trapping him is the safest course of action. He said—"

"If Your Lord cannot bring yourself to harm that brat, I will clear the area for you."

Di Tian calmly accepted the statement, his tone revealing no intention of seeking credit or making excuses, but simply stating a fact.

Tang Wulin looked at Di Tian, then at Gu Yuena.

His brain was working at lightning speed, rearranging all the fragments, and then he discovered something that had been hidden in the gap from the very beginning.

Her gaze never left Tang Wulin's face; Xie Xie's question was unimportant, and Di Tian's lack of information was also unimportant.

The important thing is what Tang Wulin will say next.

"Then why didn't you stop him?"

Tang Wulin's voice became very soft, so soft that it was almost drowned out by the sound of the spring water from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

He wasn't questioning; he was seeking confirmation, confirmation of something he vaguely sensed but dared not confirm.

"Because what he did was right."

Gu Yuena said, "It's better for everyone if Jing Heng doesn't come. Even if he did come, it wouldn't change anything. He would only be troubled by Yun Ming, by me, by himself, and by their current situation. Di Tian has him trapped on Sea God Island, at least... he won't be in pain."

She paused, then added a sentence, speaking a little faster than before, as if trying to gloss over the matter. "Besides, if it were me, I wouldn't have let him come either."

Tang Wulin looked at her.

There was no anger or fear in those eyes, only a deep calm that had been maintained with great effort.

"Do you think you won't feel bad if he doesn't come? He's so smart, how could he not guess what you're planning?"

Gu Yuena remained silent.

"You came here from day one for the Golden Dragon King Bloodline. You said you had to do this, and Di Tian thought so too. He called you 'Lord,' he cleared the way for you, and he believed you would take action."

Tang Wulin spoke slowly and deliberately, each word seeming to be drawn from the depths of his heart and weighed on his tongue before being uttered, "But you just said that you considered telling us everything, that you considered another possibility."

He took a step forward.

Yuanen Yehui's body twitched slightly, but she did not stop him.

He stepped out from behind Yuan En and stood face to face with Gu Yuena, only three steps apart.

"Gu Yue."

What exactly do you want to do?

Gu Yuena looked at him.

From three steps away, she could see the bloodshot eyes, the faint white teeth mark on the corner of his mouth from clenching his teeth for so long, and his hands hanging by his sides.

His hands were relaxed, but there was a deeper weariness that seemed to seep from the very bones.

"I will take the Golden Dragon King Bloodline from your body; I will restore the Dragon God."

Gu Yuena said, her voice returning to calm, but that calm was so thin it was almost transparent, revealing the undercurrents beneath.

"Will you die?" Tang Wulin asked.

Gu Yuena was taken aback; this question wasn't in her plan.

"I have no idea."