"Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well?"
"Is that the Dragon Clan's Divine Ruins you mentioned, the second of the three great treasure troves in this plane?"
The Goddess of Love's voice was still mournful and ethereal.
The purple-haired boy—or rather, the Dragon Emperor—
He nodded lightly. "Yes. You could say we're fated to meet."
"You and I visited the first and third, and next we'll pay a visit to the second."
"Mm-hmm." The Goddess of Love covered her mouth with a smile. The cold, mournful aura lingering around her faded considerably.
The purple-haired Dragon Emperor shook his head gently. "Still, this Tang Sect is mysterious. The Mysterious Heaven Hundred Treasures Record in their sect actually contains a complete account of our three places of divine demise."
"Even I, having borrowed the eyes of generation upon generation of the Sun Moon Imperial Family and traveled this plane for tens of thousands of years, reading all the histories of its three continents, never managed to discover how Tang San, the Tang Sect's founder, learned the secrets of those three places."
"Alas." A trace of sorrow surfaced in the Goddess of Love's eyes.
Her voice was soft and distant. "Three secret realms, three buried chapters of the past. I wonder whether the God of Thunder, who also perished in this world, created a place of absolute desolation as well."
As she spoke, the red-and-white sheen on her soul-body rippled into disarray, as if a third color were about to emerge.
"My soul-body is still unstable. I'll have to trouble you with what comes next."
With that, she immediately dissolved into a cold red-and-white light and vanished from the car's rear left seat.
The purple-haired Dragon Emperor nodded lightly in silent reply.
He looked out at the bustling nightscape, which stood in stark contrast to the dimness inside the car.
He seemed utterly out of place in the world beyond, as though he existed apart from it.
The Soul Guidance Car continued accelerating along the main road, soon reaching the Federation's speed limit. Yet the car remained unusually quiet, not a sound from outside seeping in.
Before long, the Soul Guidance Car carrying two dragons and a ghost arrived in the center of Aolai City.
A three-story, tower-shaped building stood at the center of a large traffic circle.
Floor-to-ceiling windows rose one above another, faintly lit in blue and white.
The Spirit Pagoda's Aolai City branch.
The Soul Guidance Car glided smoothly through an entrance at the corner of the tower's first floor and drove into the underground garage.
As soon as he got out, the Dragon Emperor removed the display device from his right wrist and tossed it to Di Guangming, who had gotten out without taking the key. Then he headed for the elevator.
Two rows of black-clad men wearing sunglasses were already standing ramrod straight in the corridor by the private elevator entrance.
A tower-shaped embroidered insignia adorned the turned-out lapel over each man's left breast.
A young man with short purple hair stood in the aisle between the two rows, holding a large display screen against his chest with both hands.
When the purple-haired boy approached, the young man's face lit up with fervor. He led the others in dropping to their knees with a heavy thud.
He spoke excitedly but kept his voice low. "My god!"
"The Soul Tool the family uses to sync with your wrist device detected that you were unwell, so they sent me to Aolai City as fast as possible, by air, to pay my respects."
"Now that I've seen you're safe and sound, Uncle and the elders of the family can finally sleep well tonight."
Purple light gleamed in the young man's eyes; his fervent expression was impossible to conceal.
The Amethyst Dragon Emperor passed by his side and glanced at the camera on the display screen in the young man's arms. He gave a casual "Mm," then entered the private elevator with the Holy Dragon King.
Meanwhile.
Sun Moon Federation, Sun Moon City (Ming Capital)
Ming Capital Spirit Pagoda (one of the Eighteen Heavenly Pillars)
A simulated training room.
Scorching waves of heat swirled through the chamber. Though the sealed space brimmed with purple light, a thread of darkness lingered within it.
A middle-aged man sat cross-legged at the very center of the "furnace," his bold purple hair standing straight up from the roots.
He was tall and powerfully built, his muscles knotted beneath his skin like coiling dragons, brimming with draconic strength.
At that moment, he seemed to sense something. He drew in a deep breath of the scorching air and opened a pair of bright purple, vertical-pupiled eyes.
"Come in." His lips barely parted, and his deep dragon tongue rumbled through the room.
Someone had been waiting outside the training room for quite some time. Now, he pushed open the door and entered, also carrying a display screen in his arms.
The middle-aged man rose with a crackle. A purple sun dropped behind him, and the purple light in the room vanished at once.
"How is he?" The man's brows creased with worry.
The newcomer reported, "Councilor, the Divine Ancestor's incarnation in the mortal world is safe and sound."
As he spoke, he activated the display screen in his arms. A live feed appeared, frozen at the moment the Amethyst Dragon Emperor and the Holy Dragon King passed the camera and entered the elevator.
The purple-haired middle-aged man known as the "councilor" let out a long breath of relief. "That's good. That's good..."
"The Divine Ancestor is the key to the revival of the Xu Family's orthodoxy. We absolutely cannot let anything go wrong."
The newcomer lowered his head. "Yes! I'll send more people at once, under the pretext of an official assignment, to Aolai City in the East Sea."
"Go ahead." The purple-haired councilor nodded.
As his subordinate turned to leave, he added, "By the way, when you come to see me here in private, there's no need to address me by my office anymore."
"Because it won't be long before the sons of the Xu Family restore the entire Sun Moon Federation!"
The subordinate's eyes immediately kindled with excitement. He answered loudly, "Yes! Patriarch!"
Councilor Xu—or rather, the Xu Family's patriarch—raised his powerful right arm and clenched his fist.
Without using his Martial Soul or Soul Power, he relied solely on his physical strength and stamina to squeeze the air in his hand until it twisted and warped.
Feeling the power of destruction surging through his body, he couldn't help baring four sharp dragon fangs in a grin.
"This is what power feels like... the Purple Radiance Heaven-Extinguishing Dragon Martial Soul."
Fervor burned in Councilor Xu's eyes.
Once, he too had been nothing more than a tool-type Soul Master.
A "Sun Soul Master" with an ordinary physique and no Beast Martial Soul to strengthen him.
But after that earth-shaking night, the entire Sun Lineage of the Xu Family underwent a transformation as dramatic as a phoenix rising from the ashes.
The members of their branch, surnamed Xu and cast aside by the main branch's "Three-Eyed White Tiger," had finally seized control of their fate again, right on the edge of the precipice of power.
The cause of it all was their ancestor's divine patron—the deity worshiped by the Sun Moon Imperial Family—who had repeatedly sent down divine revelations six years ago and made contact with him, the head of a Xu Family fallen on hard times.
As the patriarch of the Xu Family recalled those days, his bright purple, vertical-pupiled eyes grew unfocused, as though he were dreaming of six years ago—
That earth-shattering night...
Author's Note:
I promised that I would shape the Dragon King in the four-part Douluo series into a perfect legend without regrets.
But the inheritance of the Purple Radiance Heaven-Extinguishing Dragon Martial Soul was lost when Xu Tianran died a wretched death, and Ju Zi replaced the "Sun Moon Purple Dragon" with the "Star Luo White Tiger"...
It's not hard to imagine the iron-fisted empress, the female war goddess Ju Zi, who helped bring down two pillar-country Limit Douluo and the last orthodox emperor of the Sun Moon Empire ten thousand years ago, using what ruthless methods to purge the former Xu Family imperial clan so her son could take charge of the royal family.
But that also caused the Ancestor of Sub-Dragons' Martial Soul inheritance to vanish from the Douluo series forever. How could that not be a great regret for readers who love the "Purple Radiance Heaven-Extinguishing Dragon"?
Now, I'm bringing the Purple Radiance Heaven-Extinguishing Dragon Clan's ancestor into the world and having him lead his followers' descendants to restore the family to its former glory.
This great merit of following the Dragon and helping it rise can also be considered an indirect remedy for that regret.
Everyone, rest assured: every regret from here on will be made whole (unless the author forgets).
Before you continue