The Holy Dragon King's eyes brimmed with old tears as he called out in relief, "It's been a long time, Xiao Tian."
Di Tian's body stiffened just as he rose.
He tested the waters in utter disbelief. "F-Father?"
"It's me, child, it's me." Di Guangming answered repeatedly.
White and gold light lit up above his head, and a Platinum Dragon Crown formed from light and holiness appeared atop his hair crown.
At the sight of that platinum crown, combined with that kind face, warm scenes buried deep within Di Tian's memories lit up one by one.
He took a step forward and dropped to his knees with a thud.
"Father!"
"Xiao Tian." Di Guangming could no longer maintain his composure and embraced the kneeling Di Tian.
"Father!"
Large tears of a dragon flowed from Di Tian's golden eyes.
As father and son recognized one another, the Dragon Emperor did not speak to disturb the touching scene.
He waved Xu Tianyi away, then handed the emptied little jade cup to Bi Ji and urged her in a low voice, "Quick, steep all of it."
"Di Guangming is usually stingy with these leaves. Before he realizes what's happening, brew them quickly!"
"Back then, during that perilous hunt by the gods, although I barely managed to save several royal dragon eggs, after falling into the Douluo Plane and losing the nourishment of immortal spirit energy, every one of those royal dragon eggs... failed to hatch."
"Only that ordinary Water Dragon Clan egg, carefully nourished with my essence blood, luckily hatched into a female True Dragon. I named her Zi JI."
"But strangely, although Zi JI lacked the qualifications of a Water Dragon Clan king, she could fuse the two attributes of darkness and water. Combined, they were even stronger than either attribute alone. After Master's repeated evaluations, her growth potential was actually above mine."
"Now, she can be considered a rising new star of our Dragon Clan during these declining times."
Di Tian poured out to his father the hardships and experiences he had faced since surviving.
On the glass terrace atop the building, the father and son, one in white and one in black, spoke across the ages as traffic flowed below and the lights of countless homes glittered.
Di Guangming listened intently. He no longer toyed with his late wife's crown, answering instead with a sigh. "I never expected things to have deteriorated this badly. Still, seeing that you survived and grew, I am deeply comforted."
He raised a hand and stroked the black hair at the back of his son's head, unable to avoid the concerns of a father. "But when that Yin Water True Dragon... Zi JI, was it? Once she matures, remember to breed True Dragon Clan offspring with her."
"Try to do it before the ninth heavenly tribulation. Do you understand, Xiao Tian?"
Even Di Tian, who called himself the Beast God, could not escape his God King father's pressure to marry and have children.
So he simply avoided answering directly and changed the subject. "Father, now that Master has awakened, as the rational side of the Dragon Clan's god, she will surely be able to lead us in restoring the Dragon Clan's glory!"
"Rather than remaining here and waiting for this plant soul beast to someday inherit the second-level Goddess of Love position, you should serve Master alongside me and help her complete the great task of reviving our clan as soon as possible."
Listening to his son's rather risky plan, Di Guangming frowned as expected. "The Silver Dragon King? That little girl who sealed away her cultivation and memories this afternoon?"
"Yes." Di Tian tilted his head slightly toward the purple-haired youngster drinking tea and listening to gossip nearby. "According to Master's speculation, that boy is most likely the Lovesick Heartbreak Red soul beast in Sunset Forest that inherited Uncle Fire and Aunt Water's legacy."
"He must have been unsatisfied by greed, taking the opportunity to attack Master after she sealed her cultivation and memories. He wanted to steal the path to heaven from our Dragon Clan and accelerate his path to godhood, which is why Master sent me to deal with him..."
"Stop, stop, stop." Di Guangming promptly interrupted his son's wild assumptions.
He cast a wary glance at the Dragon Emperor and quickly changed the subject. "He did not come from Younger Brother Fire and Younger Sister Water. However, we are about to depart for the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to retrieve..."
Yet Di Tian interrupted his father as well and declared with absolute certainty, "Father, rather than relying on him to break the curse that soul beasts cannot become gods, it would be better to solve the problem at its root. Let Master complete herself and become the new god of the Dragon Clan!"
Di Guangming covered his forehead and shook his head. "Xiao Tian, that girl, the Silver Dragon King, is unreliable."
"If she were the Golden Dragon King, then after regaining the forty-ninth rib, she could directly advance to Father God's physical realm. Then, with the nine great laws of our Nine True Dragon Kings feeding her back, along with the Dragon Clan's other inheritances..."
"Finally, she could return to the Dragon Tomb, retrieve Father God's Divine Core of Nine Laws, and return to the realm of a Half-Step God King without issue. Taking control of the Douluo Plane would be no problem either."
"But she is only the Silver Dragon King. She has no Golden Dragon bloodline at all, which means that not only must she repeat all those steps, she must also devour the Golden Dragon King before she can become the new god."
"You know that the Golden Dragon King's current host has eighteen..."
"But even if she became the new god of the Dragon Clan, what then? Even Father God, with his unparalleled talent, still lost his mind under the influence of two Godhoods. Can the Silver Dragon King bear the Godhoods of creation and destruction?"
"If she forcibly bears them without the Dragon Ascension Pillar's aid, she will likely go mad and kill every last remaining dragon before she can even create a new Divine Realm!"
"But if she does not bear both Godhoods, she cannot recreate the Divine Realm or lift the curse. We beasts will still die beneath one heavenly tribulation after another on the path of cultivation."
"Following Father God's old path means repeating the same mistakes, but refusing to follow it means accomplishing nothing. Dragon God's Path is a dead end either way. Neither the Golden Dragon King nor the Silver Dragon King can walk it through!"
"Child, wake up."
The Holy Dragon King spoke earnestly, hoping to bring his son, who had already strayed down the wrong path, back to the right one.
Yet Di Tian still wanted to argue. "But... if we do not try, how can you know that path cannot be walked?"
As soon as those words fell, the rooftop beneath the night sky fell silent.
The Holy Dragon King blinked, thinking he had misheard.
He instinctively reached toward his lower back. Only after discovering that his Dragon-Slaying Blade was gone did he calm down and recall the ways of raising children, then ask in an exceedingly pointed manner, "Xiao Tian, tell Father honestly. Do you like the Silver Dragon King?"
"Huh?" Di Tian waved his hands repeatedly. "How could I? How could I? Father, you misunderstand me."
"Master is the one I am loyal to. How could I harbor improper thoughts? Besides, Master was once my teacher, so how could I commit such an act of betraying my teacher?"
"Besides..."
Di Tian suddenly became despondent. "Other than this path, does our Dragon Clan have any other choice, Father?"
Di Guangming blurted out, "Yes!"
Di Tian's golden eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked, "Where?"
But as though he had received some kind of warning, Di Guangming suddenly fell silent. Only after hesitating did he change the subject. "Father cannot say... at least, not yet."
"Tsk, anyway, you cannot go wrong listening to Father. Father would never harm you."
"Alas..." A sentence caught in Di Tian's throat before finally turning into a shaking head and a sigh.
He took it as a hasty lie his father had made up to persuade him.
Father and son fell into silence, as heavy as the night itself.
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