The God-Rank Lie Detector, Heading to Heaven Dou City

The Dragon Emperor let the jade cup circle against his lips as he quietly watched the family drama unfold.

The bond between fathers and sons never changed, no matter where you went: either it was as strained as that between mortal enemies, or as distant as that between strangers.

In their everyday interactions, they either argued like they had just done, each insisting on his own views and doing everything he could to make the other accept them, or they fell silent like they were now, and the conversation suddenly went cold...

But the Dragon Emperor neither revealed his identity nor intervened in the conversation. He stayed silent the entire time, like an invisible spectator.

Ever since he had bestowed the Xu Clan of the Sun Moon Federation with their inherited Martial Soul tens of thousands of years ago, he had seen plenty of similar scenes through the eyes of one awakened descendant after another.

Bi Ji, meanwhile, wrung her fingers together at the side, seeming to worry that her father-in-law might blame her... for brewing leaves from her mother-in-law's grave.

Back to the father and son.

It was their first meeting in hundreds of thousands of years.

The Holy Dragon King didn't want to sour their relationship, lest he leave his son with the impression that he was overbearing.

To break the awkward silence, he spoke first. "By the way, Xiao Tian... this is for you."

It was the Dark Dragon King's Crown. The Holy Dragon King handed it over without hesitation.

"What's this?" Di Tian took the crown, and his eyes suddenly reddened and grew moist.

In that battle, when their entire clan had been wiped out, the nine Dragon Kings had indeed perished to the last. His mother, the Dark Dragon King, naturally hadn't escaped the calamity.

Now even her crown had fallen into their hands. That meant her dragon soul might have... already dissipated within the Dragon Tomb.

"Mother..."

Di Tian couldn't help covering his face with one hand.

The Holy Dragon King sighed. "It's a pity that, because the laws of the universe changed, your mother's divine position has become invalid. Otherwise, you could have inherited her crown and become the new king of the Dark Dragon Clan."

At that moment, Di Tian seemed to understand a little more of his father's views and stubbornness.

Yes, the Dragon Clan couldn't have another Dragon God who slaughtered his own kin.

But with human Soul Guidance Technology growing ever more powerful, Soul Beasts had been pushed to the brink of extinction. Did they have any other path to choose?

At that thought, Di Tian's golden eyes grew resolute.

He raised a hand to push the Dark Crown back and spoke firmly. "No, Father. I can't take what you hold dear."

"I'll earn the title of Beast God through my own efforts. I'll do everything in my power to support my master and restore the glory our Dragon Clan once enjoyed."

"You..." The Holy Dragon King had a stomachful of words stuck in his throat.

In the end, all he managed to choke out was, "You're young and reckless."

"No, Father." Di Tian clasped his father's hand and spoke one word at a time. "There's little left in this world to hold me back. Rather than linger on beneath the heavenly tribulations, I'd rather risk my life and follow my master to carve out a place for the Dragon Clan!"

Suddenly, a sharp snap of fingers sounded behind Di Tian.

The little brat in his eyes tossed an object into the air and called out, "Hey, catch!"

Di Tian instinctively reached out and caught it. A pitch-black stone, astonishingly heavy to the touch, now rested in his palm.

"Crow-Absolute Stone?" With his vast experience, Di Tian recognized the strange stone at a glance.

He weighed the Crow-Absolute Stone in his hand, then immediately frowned. "What do you mean by this?"

The purple-haired Dragon Emperor curled his fingers, drawing the Crow-Absolute Stone back, and smiled. "Nothing. I was just testing you."

Di Tian frowned. Lovesick Heartbreak Red Ferocious Beasts... are they all this arrogant?

The Holy Dragon King hastily chimed in to smooth things over. "Well, perhaps he only wanted to see if you could lift that Crow-Absolute Stone."

Perhaps because the Dragon Emperor's current appearance was so childlike, it was all too easy to underestimate him. Di Tian paid little attention to the mischievous child.

After all, he had just learned from his father that this "Ferocious Beast," Lovesick Heartbreak Red, had passed the Goddess of Love's divine trial. There was a good chance he would become a Second-Level God in the future, breaking the curse that kept beasts from becoming gods and prying open a crack where none had existed before.

Returning to their conversation, Di Tian immediately remembered Bi Ji standing awkwardly off to the side. He quickly took her hand and introduced his wife to his father.

The atmosphere grew warm and cordial. Di Tian first warmly invited Di Guangming to stay in the Star Dou Forest for a few years. As expected, his father declined. Though Di Tian was somewhat disappointed, he didn't press the matter.

A spatial door opened. Father and son parted without much sentiment or tears.

After giving Di Guangming a slight bow, Di Tian stepped into the transparent space with Bi Ji.

"Ah..." The Holy Dragon King sighed as he watched his son's retreating figure.

He turned to the Dragon Emperor, who was still playing with the Crow-Absolute Stone but had returned to his usual composed demeanor, and voiced the question that had been puzzling him. "Your Majesty, why wouldn't you let me... explain to Xiao Tian..."

"Explain how powerful the path of combining gold and amethyst is?" The Dragon Emperor supplied the words he hadn't dared to say.

"Yes." The Holy Dragon King nodded.

After their conversation just now, he had realized that both father and son shared the same blind spot in their thinking.

They had blindly believed that the Dragon God Bloodline, the source of the True Dragon, was the most powerful bloodline in the universe.

Even though the Dragon God had already failed once in his attempt at creation, both father and son still believed that reviving the Dragon God of old was the best way to revitalize the Dragon Clan.

Only when he had been on the verge of losing his soul inside the Dragon Tomb, and the Amethyst Dragon Emperor had pointed it out to him, had he finally understood: the reason the Dragon God couldn't wield both creation and destruction at once...

Was that the Dragon God Bloodline itself was an incomplete creation.

Only by combining gold and amethyst, bringing together the twins that had split apart from chaos, and fusing the source of the True Dragon with the source of the Sub-Dragon, could they piece together a truly complete "dragon."

That was why the Holy Dragon King had been so certain: if he laid out this path, his son Di Tian would have the same sudden revelation he had—and leave the Silver Dragon King's side to devote himself to helping the Dragon Emperor grow.

On this righteous path, the two of them wouldn't even need to do anything. They could simply stay by the Dragon Emperor, eating, drinking, wandering around the human world, and taking in the sights.

They only had to wait for the Dragon Emperor's new body to mature enough to bear the power of his previous life. Then he could kill that wisp of the God King's divided soul, break through the eighteen seals, and reclaim the Golden Dragon King Divine Core, bloodline, and forty-ninth rib.

The Dragon Emperor would then become a complete, ultimate creation. He could devour the Silver Dragon King and the Dragon God Heart, unite creation and destruction, and accomplish the great task of restoring the clan.

Everything on this proper path would be effortless and carefree.

So why wouldn't the Dragon Emperor let him bring it up?

The Dragon Emperor's answer, however, was simple and direct. "Because after your son returns, he'll let it slip on purpose—or even tell her outright."

"Then the Silver Dragon King will definitely take the Golden Dragon King's host and go into hiding."

"But for me, losing either the Golden Dragon King or the Silver Dragon King would be a huge setback."

"I have only these last ten years. I don't want any more complications, and I especially don't want to reach the peak of my power only to find that I'm still missing the Godheads of Destruction and Creation."

The Holy Dragon King nevertheless argued back. "Your Majesty, forgive me for daring to say this, but I think you've... misunderstood Xiao Tian."

"As his father, I know Xiao Tian quite well. He's not the sort to say one thing to your face and do another behind your back."

"And once he's set his mind on something, he'll fight for it and give it everything he has—even if it costs him his life and soul."

The Dragon Emperor countered sharply, "What if he's secretly in love with the Silver Dragon King? Can you still guarantee he wouldn't soften and deliberately let the secret slip?"

Di Guangming was stunned by the question.

He had only just heard his son's unwavering promise, so it hadn't even crossed his mind to doubt him.

But the Dragon Emperor didn't waste any more words. He tossed the Crow-Absolute Stone back and had the other man catch it.

"Do you love your wife?" the Dragon Emperor asked.

The Holy Dragon King nodded without hesitation. "I do. From the first day of my life to the last."

The Dragon Emperor asked again, "Do you love A-Jin... or, rather, your Father God?"

The Holy Dragon King's gaze turned resolute. "I do. My Father God's place in my heart can never be replaced."

"Then do you love your son?" the Dragon Emperor asked at last.

"I do." The Holy Dragon King's voice remained firm, though pain and helplessness were buried in it.

"Then you're very honest." The Dragon Emperor stopped asking questions. He took back the Crow-Absolute Stone and weighed it in his hand as he explained, "This is the only god-rank lie detector in the world."

"Do you understand now?"

"Huh?!" Only then did Di Guangming suddenly see the light. "So that's what it was?"

Remembering the many oddities in his son's behavior—how he avoided talking about reproduction, how he became tongue-tied whenever the Silver Dragon King came up, and so on and so forth—he now saw how all the pieces fit together.

The Dragon Emperor, who had watched the whole exchange, had already seen through Di Tian's feelings from the shifts in his tone and expression.

That final toss of the Crow-Absolute Stone had merely confirmed his suspicions.

After all, through the perspective of the Xu bloodline, he had already seen tens of thousands of years of events across the world. Scenes of subordinates secretly falling in love with their superiors, or students falling in love with their teachers, were nothing new to him.

And after tens of thousands of years together, it would have been strange if love hadn't blossomed.

If an ordinary human had been the one watching over her, they probably would have spent just three or five days in her company before secretly fantasizing about her in bed.

"Divine Ancestor, Tianyi requests an audience."

At the entrance to the terrace, Xu Tianyi stood with a sheet of information in his hands.

"What is it? Speak," the Dragon Emperor asked without turning around.

Xu Tianyi smoothed out the paper and reported, "The information on the person you asked me to investigate, Tang Wulin, has all been gathered."

"The Golden Dragon King's host?" The Holy Dragon King remained mindful of his duty. He took the paper, then dismissed Xu Tianyi.

Then he read from the report. "Tang Wulin, six years old."

"Martial Soul: Blue Silver Grass. Innate Soul Power: level three."

"Adoptive father: Tang Ziran. Adoptive mother: Lang Yue."

"Home address: 23 Coastal Avenue, Aolai City."

"..."

The Dragon Emperor closed his hand around the Crow-Absolute Stone and put it away, looking as if everything had fallen into place. "As expected, he's his descendant."

The Holy Dragon King raised an eyebrow. "Your Majesty, you mean...?"

The Dragon Emperor connected the clues. "The surname Tang, the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul, a God King's divided soul inside his body, and seals powerful enough to restrain a God King."

"Think about it. Over the past twenty thousand years, who on the Douluo Plane has achieved God King cultivation besides Tang San, the founding ancestor of the Tang Sect?"

He snatched the report from the other man. "The Asura Sword of the Asura God King is the main divine artifact behind the Sword of Three Realms Judgment."

"I think I have a pretty good idea how the Golden Dragon King died."

The Dragon Emperor's Pure Gold Eyes fixed on the lines of text in the particularly lengthy "Adoptive Father's Information" section at the bottom:

Tang Ziran, original name: Tang Muran.

Current occupation: contracted mecha repairman with our company.

Previous occupation: cadre-level mecha designer for the Sun Moon Federation. He disappeared while working on a major level-four mecha design project. He later assumed a new identity for personal reasons and is now living in seclusion at 23 Coastal Road, Aolai City, East Sea.

The Dragon Emperor shook his head. "Every one of them has quite a story. Tang San really knew how to make life hard for his son."

"Your Majesty." A shadow crossed the Holy Dragon King's eyes. "Should I take this opportunity to use some methods on the couple?"

As a Dragon King who had once guided his clan's prayers, he was naturally well-versed in subtle methods of mental manipulation.

"No!" The Dragon Emperor's Pure Gold Eyes slowly turned purple, and a terrifying dragon's might swept out of them. "Don't forget what I just told you. No more complications!"

"Yes." The Holy Dragon King returned to his usual deferential manner.

The Dragon Emperor's Purple Gold Eyes returned to pure gold. He withdrew the slight pressure of his bloodline and walked toward the distance.

The Holy Dragon King hurried after him.

At the end of their path was a circular landing pad built on the rooftop of this Spirit Pagoda building.

A sleek, pitch-black Soul Guidance aircraft that seemed to absorb all light sat securely on the landing pad.

Against the backdrop of the night, an ordinary person would have had difficulty noticing the light-absorbing craft unless they were looking for it.

Led by Xu Tianyi, the Sun Soul Masters had made the trip from Ming Capital to Aolai City in less than half a day aboard this aircraft.

The short distance was certainly a factor, but it still showed how fast this Aviation Soul Tool was.

The Holy Dragon King hurried over to the Aviation Soul Tool, then looked back and asked, "Your Majesty, would it be too rushed for us to set out tonight?"

"Why not rest for one night first? Your body and soul were unstable just this afternoon. Add a bumpy journey on top of that..."

The Dragon Emperor shook his head. "There's no need."

He raised his left wrist and clenched his fist, confident. "As far as I know, Huo Yuhao, the God of Emotion from ten thousand years ago, plucked a Lovesick Heartbreak Red from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well."

"Now another ten thousand years have passed. Surely a new one has grown there, with at least a hundred thousand years of cultivation."

"Once I fuse with that Lovesick Heartbreak Red, it will not only make up for the weakness of my soul compared to my body, but also greatly nourish this Flower Immortal Physique."

"Then awakening the Amethyst Dragon Martial Soul will be a piece of cake."

After saying this, he performed a nimble sideways somersault and climbed into the aircraft's copilot seat.

Hearing this well-reasoned analysis, the Holy Dragon King stopped trying to dissuade him.

After checking the Aviation Soul Tool's energy reserves, he leapt into the pilot's seat and skillfully put on the auxiliary-control helmet.

With a strange "vmmm," a powerful magnetic hum spread through the air.

Di Guangming clasped the control sphere in both hands and piloted this stealth Aviation Soul Tool as it slowly rose from the ground, gradually turned around, then picked up speed in stages and raced toward the northern horizon.

The Xu Family's black-clad Sun Soul Masters orderly streamed onto the rooftop.

Their transport had been taken away, so they couldn't possibly have failed to notice.

They never questioned the will of their god. They simply obeyed and offered their sincere prayers.

"Beep, beep."

Xu Tianyi activated a remote single-line communicator and spoke quickly. "The Divine Ancestor has already set out from Aolai City. Tell the brothers who were on their way here to change course."

"Destination: the northern part of the continent—Heaven Dou City."