The two arrived at Star Dou Forest. Sensing their presence, Di Tian came out to greet them at once.
He stood at the edge of the forest, his black robe fluttering in the wind. The moment he saw them, he bowed.
"Greetings, Senior."
Xuan Qing waved a hand. "I told you, there's no need for such formalities."
"Etiquette must be observed. Just your guidance that saved Aunt Ice and Fire is enough for us to treat you as an honored guest."
"Senior, please come inside."
Di Tian waved a hand and opened a Space Gate. Silver light swirled, revealing a tranquil lake beyond—the true Life Lake.
Just as the three were about to enter, a gruff voice rang out. "Di Tian, why are you bringing a human here? This goes against our rules!"
A gigantic Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear lumbered over. It was Xiong Jun, and he fixed Xuan Qing with an unfriendly stare.
This fellow loved picking fights with Di Tian. Now that he'd found something to hold against him, he was naturally going to make a fuss.
Di Tian's expression darkened. He was just about to teach the stupid bear a lesson when a gray-white stream of light shot from Xuan Qing.
A Qilin the size of a pony landed on the ground and lazily yawned.
It glanced at Xiong Jun with disdain. The look in its eyes clearly said, What kind of trash are you to lecture my master?
Xiong Jun stiffened all over. He felt a terrifying bloodline suppression emanating from the Qilin! At once, he wilted, hunching his shoulders and daring not to make a sound.
Di Tian gave a cold snort, secretly delighted, but didn't let the matter drop. He immediately mocked him.
"Aren't you usually so arrogant? Take a good look. This is a Qilin, the head of all beasts under heaven."
He had no idea what a Qilin was, but those were Xuan Qing's exact words, and they were perfect for bluffing.
Xiong Jun lowered his head and slunk aside, not daring to provoke them again.
Di Tian ignored him and led the two farther in.
The three arrived at the edge of a tranquil lake. Its waters were emerald green, and a thick life force radiated from it. This was the true Life Lake.
The place guarded by the Titan Giant Ape and the Sky Azure Bull Python was merely a decoy on the outskirts, put there to fool people.
Di Tian walked to the lakeside and bowed.
"Master, I've brought Senior back."
Ripples spread across the lake. Silver light rose from its depths, growing brighter and brighter, and a cool female voice rang out.
"Please come in so we can talk."
The water parted of its own accord, revealing a passage. Di Tian led the way, and the three walked down it.
At the end of the passage was a secluded space. The life energy here was even denser than that outside.
A silver dragon lay curled in the center of the space, its scales gleaming with a moonlit sheen.
But a savage sword wound ran from its shoulder to its belly. Red sword qi seeped from the wound, relentlessly corroding the dragon's body.
When Xuan Qing and the others entered, the silver dragon endured the pain. A flash of silver light later, it had transformed into human form.
She was a beautiful woman with silver hair and violet eyes, but her face was pale, and blood still seeped from her chest.
The woman bowed respectfully.
"I am Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena. Greetings, Senior."
Di Tian had already told her who this person was: one of the Four Spirits of Heaven, the God of the East. His origins were so astonishing that she wouldn't dare slight him.
Xuan Qing studied her. So this was the Silver Dragon King. The other half split off from the Dragon God really was beautiful, but her injuries were severe.
"The sword wound from the Asura Sword must be hard to bear, right?"
Gu Yuena gave a bitter smile and shook her head.
"Your insight is remarkable, Senior. This sword wound has troubled me for tens of thousands of years, and I've never been able to get rid of it."
She endured the sword qi's corrosion every moment. Without the vast life energy of the Life Lake, it wouldn't just be impossible to heal her injury—she'd be lucky if it didn't get worse.
Xuan Qing stepped forward and held his hand a short distance from her chest, careful not to touch her.
Gray-white energy surged from his palm. It was the Chaos Energy of the Chaos Qilin. Xuan Qing intended to wear away the Asura Sword's sword qi with it.
When the Chaos Energy touched the red sword qi, it hissed. The sword qi was gradually worn away, but very slowly.
This wasn't because Xuan Qing's cultivation was especially high. It was because Chaos Energy was of a higher order than the Asura Sword's sword qi. Put simply, a higher official could crush a lower one.
The Soul Power in Xuan Qing's body rapidly drained away. After about half an hour, his Soul Power ran dry, and he slumped to the ground, gasping for breath.
Looking again at the sword qi on Gu Yuena's chest, he saw that roughly one-twentieth of the red sword qi was gone. It wasn't much, but it had worked.
"My Soul Power is too low right now. If I were a Titled Douluo, I might be able to wear it all away in one go."
Gu Yuena seemed not to hear him. Instead, a smile appeared on her face. She felt the change in her wound, her eyes shining.
"Even this little bit would take nearly a thousand years to recover on my own."
She looked at Xuan Qing and thanked him earnestly.
"Thank you for helping me, Senior. I, Gu Yuena, will remember this kindness."
Xuan Qing didn't answer. He took a waterskin from his spatial storage and drank. The feeling of running out of Soul Power was truly awful; he needed a moment to recover.
Gu Yuena asked curiously, "Did you come here because you need something, Senior?"
She truly knew little about the outside world. Ever since she fled back from the Divine Realm, she'd been recovering from her injuries and hadn't gone out at all.
Xuan Qing got straight to the point.
"I've reached level twenty. I need a Soul Ring."
Gu Yuena was taken aback. "Can't you condense a Soul Ring yourself, Senior?"
Di Tian and Zi JI were curious too. Soul Beasts who cultivated again could condense their first seven Soul Rings on their own. That was common knowledge.
Xuan Qing smiled and explained.
"I'm not a dragon from this world to begin with. And as I told the two of them before, I'm merely an incarnation created to experience the warmth and coldness of human life."
"Since I chose to take human form, I have to abide by the rules of the human world. You can think of me as someone undergoing a God Trial."
The three understood. Those undergoing a God Trial faced all sorts of restrictions, and since he wasn't a dragon from Douluo Continent, it made sense that he couldn't condense a Soul Ring.
Gu Yuena nodded. "If you need anything, just ask Di Tian. My injuries are so severe that I really can't help right now."
Her injuries were so bad that even the slightest movement hurt. Simply staying in human form and speaking was already difficult.
Xuan Qing understood. "Just focus on recovering. I won't disturb you any further."
He rose to leave. Gu Yuena thanked him again and watched as the three walked out of the space.
Back at the Life Lake, Di Tian asked, "What attributes do you need for your Soul Ring, Senior?"
Xuan Qing thought for a moment. "Around five thousand years old. Time and space attributes are preferred. If there aren't any, lightning or wood will do."
"The age can't be below five thousand years, and it has to be at least a lesser dragon species."
Di Tian nodded. "Please wait, Senior. I'll be right back."
He waved his right hand. Spatial fluctuations rippled before him, and he vanished on the spot.
Zi JI stayed behind to keep Xuan Qing company.
Xuan Qing sat by the lake and meditated to recover his Soul Power. He'd used up quite a lot just now and needed to recover as quickly as possible.
About fifteen minutes later, Di Tian returned, carrying a greenish-blue flood dragon roughly six meters long.
The flood dragon was unconscious. It had several wounds on its body, but its aura was strong; it was indeed a lesser dragon species.
Di Tian tossed the flood dragon onto the ground.
"Senior, this is a six-thousand-three-hundred-year-old Green Wood Flood Dragon. It's purely wood-aspected, but it is a lesser dragon species."
Xuan Qing examined it and nodded with satisfaction. It was indeed a good choice—a wood-aspected lesser dragon, and the right age.
He rose to his feet and waved his right hand. The Azure Sky Demon-Breaking Spear appeared in his grip. Walking up to the flood dragon, he stabbed it in the eye three times, swiftly and cleanly.
The flood dragon convulsed a few times, then died.
A noble purple Soul Ring floated up from its corpse, its color deep.
It was nearly dark purple, which showed that it was indeed quite old. Xuan Qing sat cross-legged and began absorbing the Soul Ring.
Di Tian thought it would be a waste to leave the flood dragon's corpse, so he transformed into his original form. The hundred-meter-long black dragon opened its jaws and swallowed the corpse whole.
Soul Beasts needed to hunt for food too. It was perfectly normal. Di Tian smacked his lips. It tasted pretty good.
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