"Buzz—"
A silver radiance, more vast and sacred than all the Ferocious Beasts combined, slowly rose from the bottom of the lake.
The dense life energy and power of creation sent the surrounding plants growing wildly at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The lake water parted, and a figure of such perfect beauty that she seemed otherworldly slowly rose from its depths.
She had waist-length silver hair, skin as fair as snow, and exquisitely beautiful features. Her violet eyes seemed to contain a vast sea of stars.
She wore a gorgeous silver gown and was barefoot, floating above the lake with an air of holiness and nobility that made her impossible to look at directly.
She was none other than the Silver Dragon King, Gu Yuena, who had been asleep for countless millennia!
She had awakened.
Not because Di Tian and the other Ferocious Beasts had disturbed her, but because of an irresistible pull originating from the very depths of her bloodline.
Gu Yuena opened her drowsy violet dragon eyes. The first thing she saw was the tiny figure on the shore.
A human child?
No...
When she saw Gu Yuan's golden eyes, identical to the Golden Dragon King's,
and sensed the bloodline within him, born from the same source as hers yet embodying destruction and power, Gu Yuena was utterly stunned.
Confusion and shock filled Gu Yuena's beautiful face.
"Is this... my other half?"
The supreme pull of the Dragon God Bloodline filled her with an inseverable sense of closeness and kinship toward this child.
Gu Yuena could clearly sense that the child's soul and the Golden Dragon King's aura had perfectly fused, forming an unprecedented, independent being.
"The Golden Dragon King... actually escaped the shackles of the Divine Realm this way?"
Gu Yuena murmured to herself. She assumed that Gu Yuan was the result of the Golden Dragon King using some unknown method
to condense his divine soul and the essence of his power into a human avatar, thereby escaping the seal of the Divine Realm.
Just then, the enormous figure of the Beast God Di Tian descended from the sky and landed beside the lake.
He saw the awakened Gu Yuena and Gu Yuan on the shore, and his golden dragon eyes filled with wariness and vigilance.
"My lord!
This child's origins are unknown, and his aura is strange. Please allow your subordinate to capture him!"
"Stand down, Di Tian."
Gu Yuena's cool voice rang out, tinged with a hint of complicated emotion.
Gu Yuena moved with graceful steps across the water and slowly came to rest before Gu Yuan.
Gu Yuena crouched down, carefully studying Gu Yuan with her violet eyes, which seemed to hold a sea of stars.
The pull of their bloodlines could not be faked.
She already regarded him as her own, and an unprecedented feeling of tenderness and protectiveness welled up from the depths of her heart.
He was her lost other half, the other half of the hope for the dragon race's revival!
Unaware that the one she was protecting was an otherworldly soul occupying the Golden Dragon King's body.
Gu Yuena reached out her fair, jade-like hand and gently caressed Gu Yuan's cheek. Her voice was gentler than ever before:
"Child, from now on, this is your home."
The Beast God Di Tian fixed his enormous golden dragon eyes on Gu Yuan.
They were filled with scrutiny and suspicion.
As the dragon race's most loyal guardian, he would never allow any unknown risk to approach his lord.
"My lord, this child may have the Golden Dragon King's aura, but he is still human!
Humans are cunning and greedy. They cannot be trusted!
Are the gods of the Divine Realm not the best example?
Please allow your subordinate to examine his soul, to ensure there is no risk!"
Di Tian's voice rolled like thunder, brimming with unquestionable authority.
But the one he faced was Gu Yuena.
"How dare you!"
Gu Yuena did not even turn around. A divine dragon's might, far more terrifying than Di Tian's, crashed down upon them.
Di Tian's enormous body suddenly sank. His massive head was forced down, pressed hard against the ground.
Deep shock filled his eyes.
Before his lord, the cultivation he took pride in was utterly powerless.
"Di Tian."
Gu Yuena's voice turned cold.
"I know better than you what he is.
He is part of me, the lost other half of the dragon race's hope.
His will is my will."
Gu Yuena turned around and swept her gaze over Di Tian, as well as Bi Ji, Zi JI, and the other Ferocious Beasts who had hurried over at the commotion. She announced in an unquestionable tone:
"From this day forward, Gu Yuan shall be the young lord of the Star Dou Great Forest.
His status shall be equal to mine!"
At those words, all the beasts were stunned.
The young lord?
Equal in status to their lord?
This seemingly frail human child had received such high recognition from their lord!
Gu Yuan felt a warmth in his heart.
Gu Yuena lifted her head and looked at the peerlessly graceful and divinely noble Silver Dragon King before him.
The genuine tenderness and protectiveness in her violet eyes were unmistakable.
The bond of the Dragon God Bloodline stirred a natural feeling of affection in Gu Yuan.
Gu Yuan reached out his little hand, gently tugged at Gu Yuena's clothes, and called softly in his childish voice, "Na'er..."
At the name "Na'er," Gu Yuena's body trembled slightly.
Her heart, frozen for ten thousand years, seemed to melt a little in an instant.
She was no longer the lofty Silver Dragon King, but seemed instead like a sister who had finally found a long-lost family member.
Gu Yuena herself did not understand why Gu Yuan had called her "Na'er."
The coolness on Gu Yuena's face vanished, replaced by the utmost tenderness.
"I'm here."
Gu Yuena answered softly and took Gu Yuan's little hand.
"I'll take you somewhere."
With that, Gu Yuena led Gu Yuan toward the Life Lake.
The water parted on its own, revealing a crystal staircase that led to the bottom of the lake.
Di Tian and the other Ferocious Beasts prostrated themselves on the ground, seeing them off as they disappeared beneath the surface. Their hearts were swept by a tremendous storm.
The lake bottom, an alternate space.
It was a magnificent palace built from crystals of every color and rare treasures.
The dense life energy here had nearly solidified.
Gu Yuena brought Gu Yuan to the center of the palace and waved her hand, raising a silver light curtain that blocked all probing.
"Tell me, child. All these years... how have you lived?"
Gu Yuena asked gently. She wanted to know how the Golden Dragon King had projected his divine soul into this human child and grown to this point.
Gu Yuan had already prepared his story.
His face showed a touch of confusion befitting his age, along with a deep hatred that came from the Golden Dragon King:
"I... I don't remember anything from before.
My consciousness was born inside this human body.
But my mind is full of the pain of being imprisoned, an endless hatred for the gods of the Divine Realm, and... thoughts of you."
These half-true words perfectly matched Gu Yuena's theory.
In Gu Yuena's eyes, the Golden Dragon King's divine soul had been worn down during its long imprisonment until only its instinctive obsessions remained.
Those obsessions had perfectly merged with a newborn human soul, giving rise to the Gu Yuan before her.
He was both the Golden Dragon King and an entirely new being.
Before you continue