I'm the Golden Dragon King, and I'm coming clean! One Soul, Two Bodies? I'd Rather Be Tang Wulin!

Bibi Dong's breathing grew ragged.

The secrets of the Divine Realm that the Rakshasa God had once casually tossed her as a "reward" now came back to her with perfect clarity.

The Dragon God, once the supreme God King, had launched a rebellion of the dragon race and been slain by the Five God Kings in a joint effort. His divine soul and power had been split in two.

The Golden Dragon King had inherited the Dragon God's destructive will and physical strength, and had been sealed in the Forbidden Land of Gods within the Divine Realm.

The Silver Dragon King had inherited the Dragon God's control over the elements and power of creation. Gravely wounded, she had fled to the lower realm and vanished without a trace.

"Golden Dragon King... Silver Dragon King..."

Bibi Dong's lips trembled as she matched the information on the Sky Screen with the secrets in her mind, piece by piece.

A truth that made her very soul tremble began to surface.

"So... that's how it is..."

Bibi Dong sank back onto her throne, dazed. The scepter slipped from her hand and hit the floor with a clear, sharp ring that sounded especially grating in the great hall.

Yue Guan and Gui Mei had never seen His Holiness the Pope so shaken. They exchanged a glance, both seeing the same horror in the other's eyes.

"Your Holiness?"

Yue Guan ventured cautiously.

Bibi Dong paid them no heed, completely lost in her thoughts.

A moment later, Bibi Dong's gaze hardened. "From this day onward, all Spirit Hall personnel, including Soul Masters from its subordinate kingdoms and duchies, are forbidden from entering the Star Dou Great Forest without my personal order!"

Yue Guan and Gui Mei both shuddered.

"Your Holiness, this..."

Yue Guan said, bewildered.

"The Star Dou Great Forest is the main source of Spirit Rings for Soul Masters from the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires. A blanket ban... will surely provoke a massive backlash."

"Then let them go to the Sunset Forest!

Go overseas! Anywhere they like!"

Bibi Dong's voice turned hysterical.

"In short, anyone who enters the Star Dou Great Forest is as good as dead!

I don't want to see Spirit Hall Soul Masters die in there for no reason, all over some stupid Spirit Ring!"

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down, but the wariness in her eyes only grew stronger.

"Also, terminate all plans to infiltrate or suppress the Upper Three Sects immediately, especially the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.

The 'Soul Hunting Operation'... is suspended indefinitely!"

Bibi Dong knew all too well how proud and united the dragon race was.

The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan possessed the True Dragon Martial Soul. Their bloodline was thin, but they were still connected to the dragon race.

With the Golden and Silver Dragon Kings gathered together, targeting the clan now would be no different from openly provoking those two terrifying beings.

Bibi Dong couldn't be sure, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

She had no choice.

The only thing she could do now was pull back all her forces.

During the Sky Screen's future rankings, she would conceal herself as much as possible. She absolutely couldn't let the secret of the Rakshasa God inheritance be exposed as well!

Otherwise, if those two Dragon Kings redirected their hatred of the Divine Realm toward her, a divine successor, Spirit Hall would be wiped off the face of the earth overnight!

Meanwhile, at Life Lake in the Star Dou Great Forest.

The appearance of the Sky Screen had plunged the entire Core Circle into utter silence.

Di Tian, Bi Ji, Zi Ji, and the other Ferocious Beasts all stared at the sky, dumbstruck.

Then they looked at Gu Yuan, seated cross-legged by the lake, as if they'd seen a ghost.

The young master really was the Golden Dragon King?

Ever since Gu Yuan first appeared in the Star Dou Great Forest six years ago, Gu Yuena had declared his identity.

But Di Tian and the others had still harbored doubts. They had thought Gu Yuan merely possessed the Golden Dragon King as his Martial Soul and had some connection to him. There was no way he could actually be the Golden Dragon King himself.

Who would've thought that he really was?

The young master... was actually number one on the rankings?!

A twelve-year-old, sixty-second-level Soul Emperor?!

After his initial shock, Gu Yuan quickly calmed down as well.

So much for keeping a low profile...

Gu Yuan sighed inwardly.

But what was done was done. Worrying wouldn't help.

With Gu Yuena and the entire Star Dou Great Forest behind him, he wasn't afraid of harassment from the human world.

What concerned him more was something else.

"Can the Divine Realm see this Sky Screen?"

Gu Yuan focused his thoughts.

[Viewpoint Switch]

Buzz—!

His consciousness crossed an endless stretch of space and time, leaving the Star Dou Great Forest on Douluo Continent and descending into that eternally dark and frigid Forbidden Land of Gods.

Boundless loneliness and a violent will of destruction swept over him once again.

Gu Yuan's "gaze" pierced the darkness and looked toward the "outside."

The Forbidden Land of Gods was a pocket dimension, separate from the Divine Realm yet closely connected to it.

He couldn't see the Divine Realm's glittering palaces or its gods coming and going.

But he could clearly sense that the nine divine chains piercing his dragon body were connected to the Divine Realm's central hub, continuously drawing on its power to suppress him.

Gu Yuan raised his "head" and looked toward the "sky" of the Forbidden Land of Gods.

There was nothing there but emptiness.

The golden Sky Screen that had stirred up a tempest across the skies of Douluo Continent had not appeared in the Divine Realm.

"The Divine Realm can't see the Sky Screen..."

Gu Yuan reached a preliminary conclusion.

That eased his mind a little.

If the Divine Realm could see these rankings too, the Five God Kings might immediately bring down divine punishment at any cost and erase him, this "Golden Dragon King clone," completely.

But could it really be that simple?

Gu Yuan focused his consciousness on the divine chains piercing his body.

He could sense that the chains weren't merely seals. They were also a means of surveillance.

The Divine Realm's God of Law Enforcement could use them to get a rough sense of his true body's condition.

"I just don't know how precise this surveillance is.

Could they detect the anomaly in my true body and work out that I have a clone in the lower realm?"

Gu Yuan's consciousness settled as he began to observe closely.

He discovered that ever since the Sky Screen had appeared and his clone had been exposed,

the divine-soul origin of his Golden Dragon King true body seemed to have stirred slightly with his emotions.

The change was extremely faint, almost negligible.

But for the gods who had been watching him for ten thousand years, would even this tiny fluctuation arouse their suspicion?

"There's no way to tell yet."

Gu Yuan considered the matter.

"But no matter what, I have to prepare for the worst.

I need to get stronger as quickly as possible and create my own godhood!"

The Sky Screen had thrown Gu Yuan's plans into disarray, bringing an unprecedented sense of urgency.

He might not have much time left.

"It's a shame the Golden Dragon King is trapped in this Forbidden Land of Gods. There's nothing he can do."

Gu Yuan sighed inwardly.

"Otherwise, even sealing the Golden Dragon King's Divine Core and origin inside my human body, like Tang Wulin did, would be better than staying trapped here!"

Just as Gu Yuan's consciousness returned to his human body,

a cold, mechanical voice rang out in his mind without warning!