The Dragon God was the ancestor of the dragon race. He had once stood at the pinnacle of the Divine Realm, the only being capable of contending with the Five Great God Kings, and one of the most powerful deities in the history of the Divine Realm.
Even though he had fallen countless eons ago, his name remained taboo in the Divine Realm.
How had he found her? How could he still exist in this world?
"You needn't be surprised." The Dragon God's voice remained calm.
"When I fell, I severed a wisp of my origin will and hid it in the Dragon Graveyard on Douluo Continent, evading the Divine Realm's surveillance. For countless years, I have waited for an opportunity—one that would let me revive and overturn the Divine Realm's existing order."
"And now that opportunity has come. Tang San has ascended to the Divine Realm, and the Divine Realm's surveillance of Douluo Continent has loosened for the first time in ten thousand years. And you, Qian Renxue, are the one I have chosen to work with."
Qian Renxue let out a cold laugh. Even now, with her cultivation gone, pride was still carved into her bones. "Lord Dragon God, you jest. I'm nothing but a failure whose godhood has shattered and whose cultivation has been completely crippled. How could I possibly be worthy of working with you?"
"A failure?" There was a hint of amusement in the Dragon God's voice.
"You are the only legitimate heir of the Angel God's line, and the purest divine blood flows through your veins. Even with your godhood shattered, your origin remains that of a deity. On all of Douluo Continent, only you—only you—can help me complete my ten-thousand-year plan and revive me."
"And I can give you everything you want."
The Dragon God's voice carried a bewitching power, each word striking precisely at Qian Renxue's heart.
"I can help you reforge your Angel Godhood, even surpass the Angel God of old and reach an even higher realm. I can help you overturn the order of the Divine Realm established by Tang San and make him pay for everything he has done. I can restore the glory of those who followed you, so they no longer have to skulk in the shadows or be at the mercy of others."
Qian Renxue's heart gave a hard thump.
She had to admit that the terms the Dragon God offered struck every one of her obsessions and grievances.
She wanted revenge, to make Tang San pay his blood debt. She wanted to reforge her godhood and reclaim the pride that was hers. She wanted to rebuild Spirit Hall, so those who followed her could have a true home.
But she also knew what sort of being the Dragon God was. Making a pact with a tiger was a dangerous game; one misstep could doom her forever.
"What makes you think I'll believe you?" Qian Renxue asked in a low voice.
"You're the Dragon God. Once you revive, no one on Douluo Continent—or even in the Divine Realm—will be able to stop you. Working with you is like making a pact with a tiger. Once you've achieved your goal, will I still have any use to you?"
"What I need is to overturn the order of the Divine Realm." The Dragon God's voice took on a gentler note.
"Back then, it took all five God Kings joining forces to kill me. Even if I revive, I'll still need allies. You are the best ally I could ask for. Besides, I bear a blood feud with those God Kings of the Divine Realm. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. You should understand that."
"Moreover, I can make a divine soul pact with you. If I break our agreement, may my origin disperse and may I never revive."
Those words dispelled Qian Renxue's last doubts.
A divine soul pact was the highest form of contract between deities. Once made, breaking it would inevitably trigger its backlash—even the Dragon God would be no exception.
She remained silent for a long time.
Her mind filled with the look in her mother's eyes before she died, the subordinates who had died shielding her, Tang San's cold, pitying gaze, and the eyes of her surviving followers, bright with both hope and despair.
At last, she lifted her head, a glint of resolve flashing in her eyes.
She had no way back. Even if it meant making a pact with a tiger, even if the road ahead led to eternal ruin, she had to take the gamble.
"Fine. I agree to work with you."
The moment the pact was made, a gentle yet boundless surge of dragon power flowed into Qian Renxue's body, mending her shattered meridians and divine soul. Her crippled cultivation began to recover at a visible pace. The Dragon God had not lied to her.
Over the following decades, under the Dragon God's guidance, Qian Renxue led the remnants of Spirit Hall across countless perilous lands, evading wave after wave of pursuit by Heaven Dou and Star Luo. After making immense sacrifices, they finally reached another continent: the isolated Dragon Graveyard.
When they entered the Dragon Graveyard, every surviving member of Spirit Hall was stunned by the sight before them.
Endless dragon bones, dragon might that had endured through the ages, and a gentle summons from the Dragon God Origin.
At last, they understood that their young mistress had found them a truly safe place where they could settle and make a home.
This place cut off all outside attempts to investigate. Not even the Divine Realm's divine senses could penetrate its layers of rock and dragon might.
They no longer had to skulk in the shadows or spend every day and night fearing pursuit.
Over the next century, Qian Renxue led the remnants of Spirit Hall in laying out the Ten Thousand Year God-Locking Array, as the Dragon God had instructed.
The array had been devised through countless years of painstaking effort before the Dragon God fell.
It used the remains of a Dragon King as its core, the dragon bones throughout the Dragon Graveyard as its foundation, the purity of the Angel God's power as its veil, and the Soul Power of Spirit Hall's remnants to sustain it.
Once completed, it would accelerate the revival of the Dragon God's origin and buy them ten thousand years.
For a hundred years, Qian Renxue poured nearly all her strength into the task.
She took the field herself, carving the array's core runes with the last of her Angel God Origin. Countless times, she passed out from exhausting her divine power.
She watched the followers who had stood by her exhaust their Soul Power laying out the array, some even giving their lives, yet not one of them backed down.
They all knew the array was not only the Dragon God's hope of revival, but also the hope of Spirit Hall's future.
A hundred years later, the Ten Thousand Year God-Locking Array was finally complete.
As the final rune was carved, an invisible golden barrier enveloped the entire Dragon Graveyard. The array activated, perfectly sealing it off from everything outside.
The Dragon God's origin aura was completely locked within the array. Even the Five Great God Kings of the Divine Realm could not sense anything happening here.
All the preparations were now in place.
All that remained was to wait ten thousand years, allowing the Dragon God's origin to slowly revive within the array, until he finally broke free and was reborn on this very day, ten thousand years later.
Then Qian Renxue made her final decision—self-sealing.
Using the highest secret art of the Angel Clan, she sealed herself inside a Ten Thousand Year Mysterious Ice Coffin and fell into slumber.
First, her Angel God Origin was the core of the array. Only by falling asleep could she completely merge her origin power with the array and keep it running flawlessly for ten thousand years.
Second, ten thousand years was far too long. She did not want to watch her followers age and die, one generation after another, while she alone remained alive. She could not bear to suffer once more as the people beside her left one by one.
More importantly, she needed to be in her best possible condition to greet the revival ten thousand years later.
Slumber would let her Angel God Origin slowly mend and reforge itself inside the ice coffin. When she awoke ten thousand years later, she would have fully regained her peak strength and perhaps even surpassed the limits she had once faced.
Before sealing herself away, Qian Renxue summoned all the remnants of Spirit Hall.
She stood atop the altar and looked at the followers who had stood by her for a century. As she met the resolve and loyalty in their eyes, her voice trembled faintly, tinged with the guilt she felt.
"From today onward, this place will be our home, the place where Spirit Hall can take root. Guard the Dragon Graveyard and the array for generations to come, and pass on Spirit Hall's Core Flame. Ten thousand years from now, I will awaken. Together with Lord Dragon God, I will help you reclaim everything that belongs to us and restore Spirit Hall's glory!"
Countless Spirit Hall Soul Masters knelt on one knee below and raised their Martial Souls, their vows resounding through the entire Dragon Graveyard.
"We swear to follow the young mistress to our deaths! We swear to guard the Dragon Graveyard! For ten thousand years and beyond, faithful unto death!"
That day, looking at her loyal followers, Qian Renxue gave the first truly relieved smile of her life.
Then she lay down inside the Ten Thousand Year Mysterious Ice Coffin they had prepared in advance.
As the coffin's lid closed for the final time, she looked toward the Dragon God Core at the center of the altar and whispered, "Ten thousand years from now, I'll see you as promised."
The coffin sealed shut. The Angel secret art activated, and endless cold and holy golden light enveloped her. Her consciousness slowly sank into an endless slumber.
And so she slept for ten thousand years.
"Hum—"
Countless Angel runes across the coffin blazed to life, merging perfectly with the golden light of the Dragon God Core.
Crack—
A crisp fracture rang out. A fissure appeared across the Ten Thousand Year Mysterious Ice Coffin.
Then countless cracks spread like a spiderweb. At last, with a deafening crash, the entire ice coffin shattered.
Amid the endless golden light, Qian Renxue slowly opened her eyes.
Ten thousand years of slumber had not left the slightest trace on her face. Her features remained exquisite, her bearing noble. Not a trace of confusion remained in her golden eyes—only pride, made all the firmer by ten thousand years of silence, and an undying resolve.
She slowly raised her hand, feeling the Angel power within her, several times more immense than it had been at its peak, and the origin that had been completely restored, more complete than ever. A cold smile slowly curved her lips.
Tang San, ten thousand years have passed.
You thought Spirit Hall had been utterly destroyed and I had perished without a trace.
But you never expected this, did you? I'm still alive.
And I'm back.
She looked up at the Dragon God's shadow, now fully formed at the center of the altar, and gave a slight nod. Her voice was cool, her resolve as firm as her promise.
"The ten-thousand-year pact—I've come as promised."
A glint of approval flashed in the Dragon God's eyes. His deep voice rang through the entire Dragon Graveyard, carrying the force of a storm sweeping across heaven and earth.
"Good. As of today, I, the Dragon God, officially return."
"What the Divine Realm owes me, and what Tang San owes you—we'll collect it all, down to the last debt, with interest."
The instant his words fell, countless dragons roared throughout the Dragon Graveyard. Golden dragon might and holy Angel Divine Power intertwined and surged straight into the sky.
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