Golden Dragon King Divine Core

The night was like thick black ink, staining Eastsea City completely. In the early hours of the morning, the entire city had fallen asleep. Only the scattered streetlights of Eastsea Academy cast dim yellow halos across the silent campus.

Zero Class's dedicated dormitory stood at the foot of the academy's most secluded hill, backed by a dense Camphor Forest.

A black figure, like a ghost merged into the night, silently appeared within the shadows of the Camphor Forest. It was Li Chen.

He wore a pure black fitted outfit, and an exceedingly faint aura of death lingered around him. It was not released outward; rather, he had concealed all fluctuations of his Soul Power, traces of spiritual power, and even the source aura of the Death God Divine Position behind the barrier of Underworld Law.

Even a Soul Douluo-level expert would find it difficult to detect his presence without deliberately sweeping the area with spiritual power.

After a few leaps, he landed outside Tang Wulin's dormitory window.

The dormitory was shared by two people. Xie Xie slept on the other side by the window, lightly snoring, while Tang Wulin sat cross-legged on the bed inside, his eyes tightly closed as he entered a state of deep meditation.

Rather than crushing the youth, what had happened in the Spirit Ascension Platform during the day had thoroughly awakened the tenacity buried in his bones.

Na'er's absolute suppression, the explosive surge of power brought by the first seal of the Golden Dragon King within his body, and the soul tremors caused by Tang San's divine consciousness leaving his body—these impacts intertwined, causing him to immediately enter deep meditation upon returning to his dormitory. He was doing everything he could to adapt to the newly awakened Golden Dragon King power within him and temper the foundation of his Soul Power.

At that moment, a faint golden glow of blood and vitality surrounded the youth. Deep within his dantian and sea of qi, the Golden Dragon King Divine Core, wrapped layer upon layer in eighteen flawless seals, pulsed slowly in time with his breathing.

With every pulse, it released a wisp of incomparably pure Dragon God source aura, which flowed into his limbs and bones, nourishing his body and meridians. This Divine Core was the core of power split off after the Dragon God's fall countless years ago. It carried all of the Golden Dragon King's power and origin, and was also the foundational core of the path to godhood Tang San had paved for Tang Wulin.

Standing outside the window, Li Chen's deep eyes peered through the glass and accurately caught the aura of the Divine Core. Yet there was not the slightest greed in his eyes to refine or claim it, only calm investigation and calculation.

He had not come tonight on a whim, nor had he come to refine the Golden Dragon King Divine Core and increase his cultivation.

Li Chen had no interest in refining this Divine Core, which carried the Golden Dragon King's Divine King origin. His path was the Death God Divine Position, governing the laws of life and death in the Underworld. It was fundamentally incompatible with the Golden Dragon King's violent system of power. Forcibly refining the Divine Core would only disrupt the foundation of his laws, bringing nothing but harm.

What he truly wanted was to take this Golden Dragon King Divine Core whole and use it for deep research and future planning.

First, after the Dragon God fell ten thousand years ago, fragments of its will and origin still lay dormant within Dragon Valley on Douluo Continent. That place not only contained the Dragon God's inheritance, but also terrifying power capable of overturning the entire plane.

In the future, he would inevitably enter Dragon Valley and confront the Dragon God's remaining will. As the core origin split from the Dragon God, the Golden Dragon King Divine Core was the only key to understanding the weaknesses of the Dragon God's origin and planning against them. Only by thoroughly understanding the Divine Core's source structure could he seize absolute initiative in Dragon Valley and avoid being restrained by the Dragon God's will.

Second, the soul beast lineage of Douluo Continent had long since declined. The core soul beasts of Star Dou Forest all revered the Dragon God bloodline and regarded Gu Yue and Na'er as their sovereigns.

In the future, he would inevitably cooperate deeply with the Star Dou Spirit Beasts. He might even need to borrow the earth veins and life origin of the soul beast lineage to stabilize the balance of the laws of life and death between the Underworld and the Douluo Plane.

This intact Golden Dragon King Divine Core would be his greatest bargaining chip in negotiations with the soul beast clan. After all, the ultimate desire of the soul beasts, upheld for ten thousand years, was the Dragon God's revival and the return of their bloodline. Holding the Golden Dragon King Divine Core was equivalent to holding absolute authority in any dialogue with the soul beast clan.

Third, Gu Yue and Na'er carried the Silver Dragon Origin, the other half of the life and elemental core left after the Dragon God split apart. However, the Dragon God War ten thousand years ago had left irreparable flaws in the Silver Dragon Origin. Even with the Spirit Pagoda pouring all its resources into nurturing them, it could not mend the innate fracture in the Dragon God's origin.

By studying the laws of origin symbiosis between the Golden Dragon King and the Silver Dragon, he wanted to attempt to use the Golden Dragon King Divine Core as a catalyst to repair the flaws in the Silver Dragon Bloodline. Perhaps, without harming the origins of Gu Yue and Na'er, he could even use the origins of the two Dragon Kings as a foundation to artificially create a complete Dragon God origin. That would completely resolve the bloodline danger left behind by the Dragon God's fall and free Gu Yue and Na'er from the shackles of fate.

As for refining the Divine Core and seizing the Golden Dragon King's power, Li Chen had never considered it from the very beginning. To him, this Divine Core was a research sample, a bargaining chip, and the key to completing the Silver Dragon Origin. It was anything but a shortcut to greater cultivation.

Li Chen slowly raised his right hand, gathering an incomparably pure yet exceptionally gentle wisp of death Soul Power at his fingertips. This strand of Soul Power carried no aggression. Like the softest thread, it silently slipped through a gap in the window, avoided the sleeping Xie Xie, seeped slowly into Tang Wulin's spiritual sea through his glabella, then followed his meridians toward the Golden Dragon King Divine Core deep within his dantian and sea of qi.

He acted with extreme caution. Every wisp of Soul Power was controlled with perfect precision. It would neither disturb Tang Wulin's deep meditation nor forcibly tear through the Golden Dragon King's outer seals. He merely wanted to touch the Divine Core's source barrier first, determine the structural patterns of the eighteen seals, and prepare to remove the Divine Core intact later.

But at the very instant that wisp of death Soul Power was about to touch the outer seal of the Golden Dragon King Divine Core and analyze its structure—

"Bzzzt!"

A deafening golden hum suddenly exploded within Tang Wulin's body!

The Golden Dragon King Divine Core, which had been pulsing steadily, instantly erupted with dazzling golden light. Vast, boundless Sea God Divine Power burst forth from the depths of Tang Wulin's spiritual sea like an awakening volcano! The youth, who had been in deep meditation, abruptly opened his eyes. There was no longer any youthful clarity or innocence in them, only the majesty weathered by countless ages, bone-chilling killing intent, and the absolute dominance of the divine realm's enforcer, Sea God Tang San!

Tang San's divine consciousness had long ago left a core protective mark in the depths of Tang Wulin's spiritual sea. The moment anyone touched the seal on the Golden Dragon King Divine Core, it would activate at once and directly possess Tang Wulin! In his eyes, any attempt to covet the Golden Dragon King Divine Core was a challenge to his bottom line, destruction of the path to godhood he had paved for his son, and interference with his overall plans for the Douluo Plane.

"Insolence!!!"

A cold, majestic voice came from Tang Wulin's mouth. It was not the youth's clear voice, but Tang San's deep tone, carrying the pressure of a Divine King, which instantly swept through the entire dormitory. The tables and chairs within shattered beneath invisible divine power. Outside, violent winds rose through the Camphor Forest, making the leaves rustle wildly. The barrier Wu Zhangkong had set up crumpled like paper before the pressure of a Divine King and instantly shattered!

"Within the Spirit Ascension Platform, you repeatedly ruined my plans and erased one wisp of my divine consciousness. Now you dare sneak in under cover of night and covet my son's Golden Dragon King Divine Core?" Tang Wulin, possessed by Tang San, slowly rose from the bed. Golden Sea God Divine Power and the tyrannical blood and vitality of the Golden Dragon King intertwined around him, forming a terrifying vortex of energy. "I originally thought that since you possess a Divine King Divine Position, you might become a pawn against the plane's catastrophe in the future, so I spared your life. Yet you do not know your place and repeatedly touch my bottom line! Today, I will extract your divine soul, enslave your will, and completely strip the alien Death God Divine Position from your body, eliminating all future trouble!" (Just kidding, he couldn't actually do that at the time~)

The instant his words fell, Tang San raised his right hand, and golden light surged from his fingertips.

Countless threads of Sea God Divine Power, as fine as hair yet containing the law of divine soul enslavement, instantly wove into a vast net that blotted out the sky and crazily descended upon Li Chen outside the window! This was the Divine Soul Enslavement Art of the divine realm. Once caught by those threads, even a Title Douluo would instantly become a puppet at another's command, never able to rise again.

The pressure of a Divine King locked Li Chen down tightly, instantly freezing the space around him and leaving him nowhere to evade.

But at the critical instant when the countless Sea God enslavement threads were about to touch Li Chen's glabella and invade his divine soul—

Deep within Li Chen's soul, the Death God Divine Position that had always lain dormant suddenly bristled!

Like a cat whose reverse scale had been touched, desperately determined to protect its own cub, it needed no deliberate urging from Li Chen. The dormant Death God Divine Position instantly sensed the Divine King's enslaving killing intent and the fatal threat to its host. An incomparably cold Law of Death, capable of annihilating all things, erupted from Li Chen's body!

"Boom!"

An endless phantom of the Underworld slowly unfolded behind Li Chen. The black Underworld River surged without end, countless Underworld runes flowed through the air, and the phantom of a pitch-black Death God Scythe carrying the law of absolute annihilation condensed in midair. The once gentle and restrained aura of death transformed into a violent tsunami, carrying boundless fury at the threat to its host as it swept toward Tang San!

The instant those Sea God threads containing the law of enslavement touched the Law of Death, they melted and vanished at a visible speed like snow beneath the blazing sun, unable to leave behind even the slightest trace. The Death God Divine Position and Sea God Divine Position were both Divine King-level origins, while the Law of Death naturally restrained divine souls and annihilated divine power. Moreover, this was an instinctive eruption to protect its host. Its power was far more violent and unreasonable than when Li Chen actively wielded it!

"Hm?!" Tang San's expression changed drastically, his eyes filled with stunned disbelief. "A mere mortal host can make a Divine King Divine Position display such fierce protective sentience?!"

He had governed the Douluo God Realm for nearly a hundred years and seen countless inheritors of divine positions, yet he had never seen a Divine King Divine Position act like a young beast protecting its cub, voluntarily erupting and fighting to the death for its host.

This was no longer mere recognition from a divine position. It was a complete soul binding, treating the host as part of the divine position itself! (One year in the mortal realm equals one day in the divine realm, so it should be a hundred after conversion.)

"Fail to kneel before the king, and your true fate is lost. Your name is written upon the Reincarnation Stele. One step, one kowtow; along the road to rebirth, your sins will be halved, and your true spirit protected."

Li Chen's voice emerged alongside the will of the divine position, resonating with heaven and earth. The vast land shook violently, as if Pluto had descended, wielding the Death God Scythe and imposing his might upon the mortal world.

Before Tang San could react, the phantom of the Death God Scythe was already slashing viciously toward him with annihilating power capable of destroying heaven and earth!

Tang San did not dare lower his guard in the slightest. He immediately mobilized all his Sea God Divine Power, condensing a thick Sea God Shield before himself. At the same time, he drew upon the Golden Dragon King's blood and vitality within Tang Wulin, transforming it into a golden dragon phantom that charged at the Death God Scythe. He was, after all, a Divine King who had lived for tens of thousands of years, with battle experience honed to the extreme. Even though he was merely a wisp of divine consciousness possessing a body and could not wield the full power of a Divine King, he could still use Sea God Divine Power to its utmost limit.

The terrifying golden and black powers collided violently within the cramped dormitory courtyard. A furious shockwave of energy spread in all directions, causing the entire dormitory building to shake violently. Fine cracks split the ground, and every nearby tree was severed at the waist.

The Sea God Shield condensed by Tang San instantly filled with cracks, while the golden dragon phantom was cut in two by the Death God Scythe. Tang San staggered back several steps before barely stabilizing himself. Even the divine consciousness possessing Tang Wulin trembled and dimmed somewhat.

In the end, he was only a wisp of divine consciousness, relying on Tang Wulin's body to exert his strength. The power he could mobilize was less than one ten-thousandth of his true body's.

Although the Death God Divine Position was similarly restricted by Li Chen's cultivation and could not unleash its complete Divine King power, it possessed innate law-based suppression. Coupled with the violent power unleashed to protect its host, the balance shifted back and forth until Tang San had fallen into an absolute disadvantage.

After several exchanges, Tang San's Sea God Divine Power was continuously devoured and annihilated by the Law of Death. The soul skills and divine skills he took such pride in could not display even a fraction of their might before the unreasonable annihilation law of death.

He could barely keep circling through the battle with the combat experience accumulated over countless ages, but he had no way to reverse the decline. If this continued, this wisp of his divine consciousness would be completely erased just like the one in the Spirit Ascension Platform.

"Anomaly! Are you truly determined to fight me to the death?!" Tang San roared. A trace of ruthlessness flashed through his eyes, and he immediately stopped hesitating. Using the Sea God Divine Position as a guide, he sent an urgent divine thought summons through space toward the depths of the oceans of the Douluo Plane. "Father! Come help me at once!"