He stepped silently onto the lakeshore.
The Dragon Emperor's new body shed the Goddess of Love's clear tears, drop by drop.
After passing the divine trial by following his heart, the Dragon Emperor felt as though he had formed some kind of connection with this valley.
It was as if he had become the very cornerstone of the Universe Asking-Love Valley.
But he didn't take this opportunity to comfort or console the Goddess of Love. Instead, he looked up at the hollow, withered stump by the shore.
After completing the Goddess of Love's trial, he had already seen, through the life of the decayed tree, the spring blossoms and autumn harvests that the pair of lovers beneath it had once shared...
The final answer to the Goddess of Love's trial was spoken aloud, bit by bit, through the insights the Dragon Emperor had gained from his own life:
"True love does exist in this world, but in the end, it's nothing more than a slow-acting poison."
"Only hatred that endures even after death is the best medicine."
"Is that really... how it is?" The Goddess of Love lifted her face, stained with bloody tears.
Her heart had been moved, and so she took the initiative to ask, "Did you become a heartless man only after love and hatred poisoned you?"
"Ah..." The Dragon Emperor gave no further reply. Only a sigh remained, just like his final sigh before dying in his previous life.
The depth of meaning contained in that sigh gave this flower, frozen just before it withered, a sudden revelation. The bloody tears in her eyes began to show the stirrings of "life."
The Dragon Emperor was more than qualified to pass judgment.
In the past, his twin younger brother had fallen victim to this very poison, leading them to turn against each other and bringing ruin upon the Dragon Clan.
The Dragon Emperor bent slightly and picked up the Goddess of Love's limp wrist where it lay by the lakeshore.
As if out of a ruler's habit, he spoke in a commanding tone. "Come with me. We're both sufferers of the same affliction, fellow wanderers fallen at the ends of the earth."
"Where can one find a kindred spirit? Perhaps only I, having gone through something similar, can understand the pain you endured."
"Come with me."
The instant their hands touched, the Will of Destruction flowed from his wrist and connected with her soul. The Goddess of Love saw scene after scene from the Dragon Emperor's past life.
Under the onslaught of tens of millions of years of memories, the red and white battling across the Goddess of Love's body finally ceased their endless, meaningless struggle. As her heart opened up, love and hatred, those two emotions, came to coexist.
"Okay... heartless man." Her trembling voice was her answer.
With a single pull, the Goddess of Love rose and settled onto the Dragon Emperor's new body.
The Soul Spirit Contract was successfully sealed with that word: "Okay."
At last, the Goddess of Love, who had trapped herself in a desperate predicament, was plucked free. She was like the red flower in the tale of Lovesick Heartbreak Red, drifting down from a withered tree and swept into a tomb where she could finally rest.
That tomb was the Sea of Consciousness known as the Dragon Tomb.
With the divine trial complete, the heavens and earth changed color.
The withered stump the Goddess of Love had been leaning against seemed to have finally let go of an obsession. It shattered on the spot, scattering into a heap of rotten dust...
The gloomy Universe Asking-Love Valley gradually brightened, as if a tranquil purple glow had fallen over it.
The entire graveyard had become a gift to the Dragon Emperor for passing the divine trial.
The Dragon Emperor surveyed the valley that now belonged entirely to him and sighed. "Ah, I've taken over another tomb."
He didn't spend any more time exploring this secret realm. Instead, he turned and stepped into Tear Lake.
Outside, the stars were faint.
Councilor Xu, now much bulkier than before, crouched between the corpses of his son and nephew.
Feeling the power brought by the Martial Soul Second Awakening and the horizontal mutation, he could only let out a low sigh. "This... must be the growing pains before our rise."
Councilor Xu looked toward the pale light of dawn on the horizon. Leading the Xu Family's core members, he had finally endured that darkest stretch of uncertainty before daybreak.
A subordinate brought over white cloth to cover the two bloodless, pale corpses. He was about to put them into a specially designed Soul Tool...
Suddenly, the surface of the lake not far away rippled with a "splish-splash."
A purple-haired, golden-eyed boy walked slowly toward the shore, buoyed up by the lake water.
Councilor Xu and the Xu Family's core members, lined up in a black-clad formation, watched the newcomer in the lake warily.
"It's done. Let's go," the boy ordered flatly.
At the sound of this Dragon Tongue, Councilor Xu's newly acquired Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon Martial Soul trembled with excitement.
Councilor Xu's purple eyes widened. He hurriedly led the black-clad formation behind him in a kneel, shouting, "Congratulations, Divine Ancestor, on your rebirth!"
"Congratulations, Divine Ancestor, on your rebirth!"
The Dragon Emperor raised a hand, stopping his followers from prostrating themselves in worship.
He glanced at the two bodies covered in white cloth by the shore and reminded them, "In fact, most people with the Sun Martial Soul carry the bloodline of the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon. It's just extremely diluted."
"So you can all bleed together and pool your blood. There's no need to sacrifice two lives at once. I don't possess the Godhood of Death."
"Huh? This..." Councilor Xu was dumbfounded.
The hundred or so black-clad men exchanged bewildered looks.
"But the bodies are still warm, so we can take advantage of that..."
The Dragon Emperor waded out of the lake and walked straight toward the two corpses.
Under the puzzled yet reverent and expectant gazes of the crowd, the Dragon Emperor slowly raised his left wrist.
A bloodstained white peony bloomed at his thought. At the same time, a semi-transparent woman in ancient dress suddenly appeared behind his right side, like a vengeful ghost.
Her red-and-white silk robes outlined her shapely figure.
Though she wore a veil, her sorrow, tangled with love and hatred, echoed in everyone's ears throughout the valley like whispered ghostly mutterings.
Fortunately, the Dragon Emperor's Will of Destruction kept her in check. Otherwise, at least half of those present would have lost themselves in the chaotic divine thoughts of love and hatred.
She was the Dragon Emperor's first Body Martial Soul Soul Spirit, his innate Soul Spirit: the Goddess of Love.
As the Goddess of Love appeared, a magnificent red-and-gold ring of light rose and circled behind the Dragon Emperor.
The first ring of the Lovesick Heartbreak Red Martial Soul!
The Dragon Emperor plucked a peony petal and scattered it toward the two corpses, activating his first soul...
First Divine Skill: Lovesick Heartbreak Red, Blooming Undying Fall!
The petal transformed into a wash of red-and-white bloody light, passing through the two white cloths and spilling over the corpses beneath.
The next moment, two gasps rang out!
The two bodies, their shapes outlined beneath the white cloth, sat up abruptly, their faces still bearing the shock of waking from a dream.
"Tianji? Tianyi?" Councilor Xu was startled, too, by the two men, whose faces were as pale as corpses.
The brothers raised their stiff, numb hands and fumbled over their intact chests, unable to find even a single scar.
"Father?"
"Uncle?"
They looked at Councilor Xu, who was just as bewildered, and asked in unison, "I—I wasn't dead?"
"It was the Divine Ancestor! The Divine Ancestor brought you both back to life!"
Overwhelmed with joy at getting them back, Councilor Xu's eyes grew moist. He wrapped his arms around his son and nephew and laughed heartily.
The Dragon Emperor's first Soul (Divine) Ring and innate Soul (Divine) Spirit vanished. Looking at the somewhat wilted Lovesick Heartbreak Red on his wrist, missing a petal, he nodded, then shook his head. "Its effect is impressive. It almost has the power to reverse life and death. Unfortunately, this body has only ten levels of Innate Soul Power, and the divine skill consumes far too much Soul Power."
"As for bearing the Amethyst Dragon Martial Soul... we'll see in a few years, after this body has grown some more."
As his low murmur faded, the Dragon Emperor pitched forward, face-first. His body shrank at a visible speed.
In just a few seconds, he had regressed from a boy's appearance to that of a purple-haired little child.
"Divine Ancestor!"
"Divine Ancestor!"