At the words "Da Ming and Er Ming," Xiao Wu's body jolted.
She raised her head in alarm and looked at Long Yun, her voice trembling.
"No... Da Ming and Er Ming are so powerful. How could they...?"
"To the eyes of human gods, Soul Beasts are nothing but Soul Rings kept in captivity."
Long Yun's expression was calm.
"He needs a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring to become a god, and your brothers happen to be the perfect choice. Do you think he'd give up his chance at godhood for something as trivial as affection?"
Those words crushed the last shred of hope in Xiao Wu's heart.
She looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar Tang San in the ice mirror, then at the supreme being before her, who could casually stir the clouds and winds in the Sky Screen. A sudden resolve rose within her.
Xiao Wu slowly closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Then she lowered herself to her knees before Long Yun.
She wore a pink pleated skirt that perfectly outlined her slender waist.
Her long, straight legs, free of even a trace of excess flesh, shone with the luster of polished white jade beneath the nine-colored light.
Her delicate yet shapely figure revealed a breathtaking beauty in that moment, an allure that made others want to cherish her.
"Your Excellency, Xiao Wu... is willing to submit."
The young woman rested her forehead lightly against the nine-colored grass. Her voice was choked with tears, but her resolve was unwavering.
"As long as I can change Da Ming and Er Ming's fate, as long as I no longer have to be someone else's chess piece, Xiao Wu is willing to serve Your Excellency for the rest of her life. I will never regret it."
Long Yun looked at the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbit kneeling before him, docile as a kitten, and gave a slight nod.
"Get up."
With a casual wave of his hand, a gentle stream of nine-colored energy lifted Xiao Wu to her feet.
"From now on, you will stay here in Rainbow Space and cultivate. The affairs outside have nothing to do with you anymore."
"Yes, Your Excellency."
Xiao Wu respectfully stepped aside. The confusion and submission that had once filled her beautiful eyes were gone, replaced by a cold, unshakable resolve.
Long Yun turned and walked to the edge of Rainbow Space, his hands clasped behind his back.
His deep eyes pierced layer upon layer of space, gazing toward the sky where dark red clouds churned.
"Tang San. Xiao Wu."
"With a slight nudge, the script those people in the Divine Realm wrote has already veered off course."
"I wonder what those few in the Divine Realm will do next."
He murmured to himself, a faint smile appearing on his face.
Then Long Yun turned around and took a step. His figure disappeared from Rainbow Space.
"It's time to visit the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well."
"By my reckoning, the next Sky Screen review should be about that child."
When Long Yun appeared again, he was in a side hall of Rainbow Academy.
Dugu Bo had been waiting there for some time. The moment Long Yun appeared, he hurriedly bowed.
"Your Excellency, I've prepared what you requested."
"Lead the way."
Long Yun gave the order in a calm voice.
Dugu Bo didn't dare delay. He immediately circulated his Soul Power and sped with Long Yun toward the depths of Sunset Forest.
At the mouth of a mountain pass in Sunset Forest, poisonous mists filled the air.
Dugu Bo led Long Yun through the thick green fog to the edge of a secluded valley.
This was the renowned Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
Below them, two springs—one red and one white—flowed side by side, neither yielding to the other, like the two halves of a colossal Taiji symbol.
The terrifying forces of extreme cold and intense heat intertwined in the air, hissing.
Yet the instant Long Yun stepped into the valley,
the waters of the Yin Yang Well, which had been relatively calm, suddenly began to boil violently without warning.
The red and white waters churned as if stirred by an invisible giant hand, surging into enormous waves dozens of meters high.
The forces of ice and fire in the air surged severalfold in an instant. The violent energy even made the precious Immortal Herbs around them tremble and sway, as if welcoming the arrival of a king.
Dugu Bo was dumbfounded.
He had tended this garden for decades and knew every plant and blade of grass, yet he had never witnessed such a terrifying spectacle.
"W-what's going on? Why has the power of ice and fire suddenly grown so strong?"
Dugu Bo looked in terror at the unperturbed Long Yun beside him.
He could clearly feel that the change had begun the moment this revered one stepped into the valley.
Could it all be because of him?
Long Yun paid no heed to Dugu Bo's shock. His gaze passed through the interwoven red and white waters and fixed on the deepest part of the well.
On a spiritual plane beyond the reach of ordinary people,
two enormous, illusory dragon forms lay curled in the depths at the bottom of the spring, their auras faint and ancient.
They were the lingering souls of the Ice Dragon King and the Fire Dragon King.
After countless years of erosion, these two God Kings, once renowned throughout the Divine Realm, had been reduced to a last remnant of instinct, barely clinging to existence at the bottom of the spring.
Looking at those two nearly vanished souls, Long Yun let out a quiet sigh.
"Time's vicissitudes spare none, yet I alone endure."
"Of the Nine Great Dragon Kings of old, who would have thought you'd end up in such a state?"
As he sighed, Long Yun slowly raised his right hand.
In an instant, an invisible Elemental Domain spread from him, enveloping the entire valley.
The moment the domain appeared, the frenzied power of ice and fire—so violent it seemed ready to tear the void apart—became utterly docile in the blink of an eye. Like children who had found their mother, it quietly settled.
Dugu Bo felt the terrifying pressure that had nearly suffocated him vanish at once. Worse, he realized his perception of Soul Power outside the domain had been cut off.
It was as if he had been torn from the world and cast into a void.
"W-what kind of power is this?"
Dugu Bo stood frozen in place. This terrifying force, which completely surpassed his understanding, left him too afraid even to breathe loudly.
Long Yun paid him no mind. He instead transformed the Nine-Colored Origin within his body into two streams of pure energy and slowly infused them into the depths of the Yin Yang Well.
As the nine-colored light flowed into them, the two souls that had been on the verge of fading began to shine brilliantly.
At their peak, the Ice Dragon King and the Fire Dragon King had been genuine god-level powerhouses.
Nourished by Long Yun's Nine-Colored Origin, the two enormous souls gradually regained their awareness.
"This aura..."
"Who... is awakening us?"
Two colossal dragon phantoms, one red and one blue, slowly emerged from the depths of the spring, their fierce yet sacred heads rising above the water.
Their eyes were clouded at first, but when they sensed the ancestral authority that came from the deepest part of their bloodlines, their enormous pupils filled with boundless shock and delight.
"Mother... No, this really is Mother's aura, but why...?"
They murmured incoherently, their massive bodies trembling violently in the nine-colored light.
Long Yun looked at their two enormous heads, warmth flickering in his eyes.
"My children, you've suffered all these years."
His sigh seemed to pierce through endless ages, imbued with supreme might. Even the void resonated with it.
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