"No~~~"
A shrill, heartrending wail burst forth, so brimming with intense emotion that merely hearing it made one's scalp go numb, every hair stand on end, and one's heart shudder from the impact.
It suddenly erupted, tearing through the sky.
"Don't, please, don't!
Xiao Tian, I was wrong. I understand you now. I'll grant any wish you have. I'm begging you, don't die."
Gu Yuena could clearly feel herself crying in the dream. A vast fear and regret pressed down on her like a mountain, her heart clenched tight, and she could barely breathe.
Though she had no idea what had happened, she couldn't help being swept up in the scene. She felt the same sorrow, while privately wondering,
She was already beginning to put herself in the scene.
"What's going on?"
"What happened?"
"Who is Xiao Tian?"
"Why would his death leave me so utterly heartbroken?"
When the silver dragon reached him, she abruptly transformed into human form. With trembling hands, she embraced the battered head and held it tightly against her chest.
Big, teardrop-shaped beads fell one after another. Her grief was so overwhelming that she couldn't even make a sound; only sobs escaped her lips.
"Was all that really necessary?"
Gu Yuena grew even more curious.
At that moment, the woman in the scene lowered her head and gently kissed the spot between the brows—the only part of the head that could still be called intact.
Yet the instant her lips touched it, she suddenly froze.
Then she saw another scene: a final message, forcibly preserved by the power of the head's owner, had been triggered.
A handsome young man appeared in her field of consciousness through divine sense. He wore imposing battle armor, and though his bearing was carefree, his temperament held a hint of laziness and nonchalance.
The man reclined in a rocking chair, his arms pillowing the back of his head. His legs swung gently, making the chair rock back and forth in a steady rhythm.
"Looks like I failed in the end.
The mortal world is truly wonderful. So many delicious foods, beautiful women, and gorgeous scenery—it's hard to leave.
What a shame I won't get to enjoy any of it again."
One moment, the man was sighing with melancholy, wistful and reluctant to part. The next, he suddenly sprang up, his face stern and his eyes displeased.
"What did I tell you before?
I told you to run far away and not come back unless I succeeded. Is the vast starry sky not big enough that you have to pick a fight with the Douluo God Realm?
Why didn't you listen?
Did you want me to spank you again?"
A moment later, his expression softened. His gaze filled with affection, and he reached out as if to stroke something, but his hand touched nothing. His palm held only empty air.
"You're still such a fool. You've always been such a fool.
But this time, don't be stubborn again. Hurry and run for your life.
Xue'er and the others probably don't stand much chance of escaping. But you're a God King, and you command the power of space. As long as you leave the Divine Realm's sphere of divine power, without the Divine Realm's boost, even Asura and the others won't be able to do anything to you.
My undertaking has failed, my dream has been shattered, my life has ended, and I'm sure the traces I left behind will be erased too.
If anything can prove that I once existed, it's you. Promise me, okay?"
The scene faded, and Gu Yuena felt inexplicably bereft.
"He seems pretty devoted."
"He's good-looking, by my standards, and talented enough to create his own godhood. If someone like that really existed, maybe I'd fall in love with him too."
But before she could dwell on it, her body tensed, her claws curled, her toes scrunched so hard they could've dug out a three-bedroom apartment, and a crushing sense of shame flooded her whole heart. She wanted nothing more than to erase those memories from her own mind.
Because the woman in the scene actually conjured a whip, aimed it at her own bottom, and seriously began lashing herself, one stroke at a time.
Her expression was also strangely nostalgic, the corners of her mouth curled in a smile.
Exactly twenty strokes, no more and no less. When she finished, she seemed to have worked something out. Her emotions settled, and at least on the surface, she no longer looked grief-stricken. Then she said with deep affection:
"Master Daddy, these ten strokes are punishment for not listening to you. The other ten are for disobeying you again."
"Wait, what? What are you doing?"
"Explain this to me. What on earth does 'Master Daddy' mean?"
"That definitely isn't me. There's no way I'd be this lovesick."
"Doing that in front of everyone is way too embarrassing. I'm a dignified God King, damn it. Don't I have any face to save?"
Gu Yuena felt like she was going crazy. A strange, burning shame filled her heart, her bones tingled, and her scalp felt as if electricity were coursing through it.
Yet the scene did not change to match her emotions.
The Silver Dragon King turned her head slightly and saw countless other corpses floating in the starry sky. The man's position, however, was the closest to the Divine Realm.
She pointed a finger, sending a stream of pure life energy from afar into the body of a beautiful woman who had not yet quite died.
Before the woman could wake, the Silver Dragon King turned her wrist. Vast spatial energy surged out, and from across the void, she opened a spatial portal and sent the woman away.
"She'll prove that you existed. As for me..."
She murmured softly. Then, in the very next instant, her voice erupted into a roar, thick with hatred, fury, and madness.
"Whether I live or die doesn't matter. I just want you all dead! I want every last one of you dead, to keep Xiao Tian company.
Without him, it doesn't matter whether this world exists or not."
"Quick! Stop her!"
Someone shouted in terror,
But the Silver Dragon King didn't even look. Her figure vanished, and when she appeared again, she had returned to her true form. All four claws dug deep into the seven-colored sphere—the Divine Realm itself.
Then every inch of her body blazed with dazzling, nine-colored light.
A gleaming silver dragon lance and a nine-colored crystal also emerged from her mouth, both radiating boundless brilliance.
The light spread rapidly, blinding everything until the scene was reduced to a field of white. Nothing else could be seen.
"This is..."
"Did I actually blow myself up?"
Gu Yuena froze, immense shock and disbelief written across her enormous dragon face.
Gods could be reborn through reincarnation. All it took was a wisp of divine sense and divine power. But the more power they left behind, the more of their previous life they could inherit upon rebirth, making cultivation smoother.
Only self-destruction could wipe out all divine power, godhood, divine rings, and divine laws, leaving nothing behind—not even the possibility of reincarnation.
It meant disappearing from this world forever.
"Gulp!"
Gu Yuena couldn't help swallowing.
Before, she'd felt more like she was watching a movie. Even when swept up in the emotions, even when the person in the scene looked exactly like her and had the exact same abilities, she'd still considered herself an outsider.
She had kept her instincts on guard. A dignified God King having a dream was strange; perhaps someone was scheming against her.
But now, shock surged through the deepest part of her heart like a storm-tossed sea.
Because she knew perfectly well that she was somewhat timid. Her wild, reckless side had been split off and given to the Golden Dragon King. This rational half would instinctively calculate the risks and consequences.
She shouldn't have been capable of such madness. And yet, for one person, she had been willing to pay any price, to risk her life without a second thought.
She was moved. What kind of feeling could make someone forget even the terror of death?