"Your Majesty, are you sure we're not going to Eastsea City with him?"
The Holy Dragon King asked in a low voice.
Long Zijin shook her head. "No. After taking it easy for a month, it's time to continue improving myself."
"Besides, I've already planted a tracker on him and sown a seed within his emotions."
"With his character, as long as that bond remains, he won't be able to break free."
Yet the Holy Dragon King asked worriedly, "But what if the Silver Dragon King gets there before us and makes her move..."
Long Zijin's tone, however, remained brimming with confidence.
"The Silver Dragon King is far too driven by emotion. She's already thrown herself into this."
"Unless she can cut away a third of herself, she will never hurt Tang Wulin."
"Your poor son is acting on wishful thinking. In the end, there's a high chance that... he'll neither revive the beast race nor attain the position of Beast God. Sigh, the grand cause is doomed."
As she spoke, Long Zijin once again raised her right arm high and waved farewell to Tang Wulin, who had finished ticket inspection and turned back.
She watched his small retreating figure from afar, sunny and cheerful, unyielding even in the face of setbacks.
The Holy Dragon King could not help asking again, "Your Majesty, are we really going to kill this boy?"
Long Zijin raised one brow and turned back in surprise. "What? Can't bear to?"
"Back then, you joined the group that hunted me down and strangled my children. You showed no mercy despite us being of the same Dragon Clan."
"So why can't you bear to do it when it comes to a human child?"
After two seconds of silence, the Holy Dragon King lowered his head and apologized first. "Forgive this little king's reckless speculation, but in this little king's humble opinion, perhaps the one who truly cannot bring herself to do it is Your Majesty."
"Oh?" Long Zijin surprisingly did not refute him.
Nor did she fly into a rage from embarrassment. Her voice remained as calm as an ancient secluded pool. "I am not some emotional creature like the Silver Dragon King. Besides, stripping away the Golden Dragon King bloodline, divine core, and Annihilation Godhead will not endanger his life so long as it is not done too forcefully."
"Once I create another Five-Dimensional Divine Star, I can simply arrange a godhood for him and let him live well with his adoptive parents."
"After all, unlike your Father God, I do not hesitate when dealing with outsiders while exterminating my own people without mercy."
She turned and walked out of the train station.
The Holy Dragon King returned to the driver's seat of the Soul Guidance Car and asked while looking into the rearview mirror, "Your Majesty, are we returning to Ming Capital next?"
"No." The tranquil curve at the Dragon Emperor's lips vanished.
His gaze became sharp once more, like an eagle before takeoff.
"Make preparations. We're heading to Shrek City, to the Spirit Pagoda headquarters."
"My Second Deity should be somewhere near there."
In the central region of the Douluo Continent controlled by the Sun Moon Federation.
Stood a colossal city—Shrek City.
And upon the eastern horizon beyond Shrek City.
There stood an eight-sided giant tower, crystalline from top to bottom.
Like a pillar holding up the heavens, it supported the entire sky east of Shrek City.
This was the headquarters of Douluo Planet's Spirit Pagoda organization, the legendary structure known as the "Heavenly Spirit Pagoda."
The pinnacle of the Heavenly Spirit Pagoda pierced straight into the clouds. Its eighty-one-story glazed tower body awed the entire city. Its structure was formed from countless ice-blue Soul Guidance crystals, every one sharply faceted and refracting dazzling, resplendent colors beneath the pale morning light.
The tower rose into the clouds, its base spanning a vast area. Every ten floors, it narrowed inward until its peak became a sharp spire, as though it sought to pierce the heavens and reach the heart of the sky.
The Heavenly Spirit Pagoda's interior was magnificently adorned.
The dark-gold floor formed natural patterns, like flowing lava.
Stone pillars dozens of meters tall stood one after another, supporting the vaulted ceiling of the first-floor hall.
Looking up at the dome, one could see magnificent colored murals depicting classic tales, each story widely known.
Beginning from the first floor, the fluctuations of Soul Spirits grew richer with every floor climbed.
Above the eighty-first floor, at the core of the Spirit Pagoda's summit, was kept the "Ice Soul Heart" left behind by the Spirit Ice Douluo.
That mysterious ice-blue crystal remained at the tower's highest tip even now, emitting a faint blue glow.
A woman held a sealed confidential letter, its seal stamped in red wax with a sun insignia.
The letter accompanied her into a red-level internal elevator. After she swiped her card, it ascended floor by floor until it finally reached the eightieth floor.
The elevator doors opened onto an empty corridor, with a sea of clouds drifting beyond the glass at its end.
The woman, whose work badge on her left chest bore the word "Assistant," carried the letter to a silver door.
She knocked on it, then pushed the door open and entered.
It was a spacious office, simply furnished with ample empty space.
A tall red-haired woman sat behind a phoenixwood desk, handling the day's affairs.
Though she appeared nearly thirty, her features were exceptionally elegant, and her temperament was gentle yet full of vitality.
"Vice Tower Master." The female assistant gave a slight bow, then placed the confidential letter on the phoenixwood desk and pushed it within reach of the female vice tower master's fingers.
The red-haired woman glanced at the wax seal and raised a brow in considerable surprise. "The Sun Lineage of the Federal Old Imperial Family?"
"Yes." The female assistant explained, "This is a handwritten letter from Councilor Xu of Ming Capital, requesting that you read it."
The red-haired woman did not take it. Instead, she frowned. "Our Spirit Pagoda has never involved itself in Federation internal affairs. If it concerns official business within the Spirit Pagoda, tell them to go through official channels. Don't send me secret letters."
"Did the person who delivered it leave any message?"
The female assistant answered, "They said they wanted a 'targeted training' slot and hoped you would personally open it. They said you would definitely be interested."
Disbelief flashed across the red-haired woman's face. "They dare ask for targeted training at my level? Haven't I publicly announced that I don't accept disciples?"
This piqued her interest instead.
If the Xu Family of Ming Capital could not produce a promising candidate for her, then hmph...
She picked up the letter. Its outer layer of gold-threaded paper turned to ash, and the folded letter within was opened with a rustle.
The ruby-like eyes within her phoenix eyes swept across it and immediately lit up.
"Long Zijin?"
"Amethyst Dragon?"
A smile touched the red-haired woman's lips. "After so many years, the Xu Family has produced another Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon awakener, so they're sending him to me for training?"
Though the female assistant did not know the contents of the letter, she could only agree. "This subordinate guesses that he is probably an heir secretly raised outside by the Sun Lineage. To avoid the White Tiger Lineage's attention, he changed his surname to Long."
"As for Amethyst Dragon, it is probably the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon recorded in the history books. They likely renamed it Amethyst Dragon to avoid suspicion."
The red-haired woman nodded. "More or less what I guessed."
Having received her superior's approval, the female assistant voiced her own doubts. "However, this subordinate does not understand. Since he is an awakener of a Sub-Dragon Martial Soul, why not send him to be trained by the Tower Master's lineage?"
But the red-haired woman laughed. "Although both Martial Souls contain the word dragon, are you going to send a beast Martial Soul master to a family of tool Martial Soul masters to learn the Indomitable Staff Technique of the Coiling Dragon Staff?"
The female assistant quickly lowered her head. "This subordinate was foolish."
The red-haired woman merely shook her head slightly. "Contact Councilor Xu in Ming Capital and ask when this Xu Zijing will arrive."
"Then clear half a day. I'll meet him personally."
Before you continue