A dragon's shadow burst apart amid the chaos of time and space, scattering into countless fragments.
The Dragon God's roar thundered across the entire galaxy, and the stars trembled violently beneath his bellow.
The Water Dragon King continued, his tone turning somewhat somber:
"The Dragon God fell into madness. The power of destruction surged out of him."
"The Nine Great Dragon Kings fought desperately to bring him back to his senses, while one dragon powerhouse after another fell."
Ye Qiong furrowed his brow.
"Then how did the Dragon God fall?"
The Fire Dragon King snorted.
"Who else but those God Kings led by the Asura God!"
"We went to them for help, hoping they'd join forces with us to hold him in check, but who could've known..."
The Fire Dragon King grew angrier with every word, so the Water Dragon King had to cut him off.
"At that time, the final battle broke out in the Tidal Belt at the edge of the universe."
The image on the water screen changed again.
Five beams of divine light and a dragon's shadow clashed violently beside a gray Tidal Belt.
The Asura God's sword energy unleashed a strike of destruction, carrying the world's sharpest killing force.
Before he was completely consumed by madness, the Dragon God also released his origin in a self-destructive burst.
The two forces exploded beside the Tidal Belt, tearing a hole right through it.
The Water Dragon King stared at the image, his voice carrying the weariness of a million years.
"The Space Dragon King was dead, and the Time Dragon King was at death's door."
"No one could repair that rift."
Ye Qiong watched the rift on the screen, and a sudden, ominous feeling rose in his heart.
Could it be...
"That rift connected to something we'd never encountered before: absolute nothingness, an indescribable abyss beyond the universe."
As soon as the Water Dragon King finished speaking, Ye Qiong saw the rift in the image slowly widen. In an instant, it became a massive hole.
The hole was bottomless. Nothing could be seen within it.
Ye Qiong stared into the darkness, his mind racing.
Back in his previous life, when he played Honkai Star Rail, he'd read about things like the edge of the universe and imaginary tides.
But those were only elements of the Honkai Star Rail setting.
He wasn't sure what the Tidal Belt in the universe of this Douluo Continent actually was.
There was one thing he could be certain of, though.
There was definitely nothing good inside that hole.
Sure enough, the Water Dragon King continued:
"The Five Great God Kings thought the Tidal Belt would slowly repair itself, so they all left."
"But that hole kept being forced open by an outside power, day after day."
As he spoke, the Water Dragon King paused, then swung his dragon claw again. A horde of monsters so enormous they made one's scalp crawl appeared on the screen.
"Several hundred years later, several ancient beasts that devoured stars crawled out of that hole."
"They were beyond imagination in size. Each one was like a wandering planet."
"Purple-black clouds enveloped their bodies like nebulae. They had no eyes, only abyssal mouths."
"They invaded our universe and devoured countless stars. Everywhere they passed, planets shattered, and countless lives were sucked dry along with their star systems!"
Ye Qiong watched the ancient beasts swallow planets whole and his eyes widened.
He immediately pressed the Water Dragon King for an answer.
"Those ancient beasts... did they have intelligence?"
The Water Dragon King shook his head.
"No. They had only an instinct to devour."
The words struck Ye Qiong's mind like a bolt of lightning.
He froze, staring at the giant beasts on the screen.
Devouring. Ancient beasts...
Damn, weren't these just the Voracity creatures from Honkai Star Rail?
The Aeon of Elation had stolen Voracity's sense of taste, turning it into a vicious beast driven by nothing but the instinct to devour.
And those ancient beasts, much like it, had been influenced by walking the Path of Voracity.
A tempest raged in Ye Qiong's heart.
If this ancient beast came from the Honkai Star Rail universe...
Did that mean Douluo Continent existed somewhere within the Honkai Star Rail cosmos?
And was the abyss connected to this rift the boundary, corroded by the Path of Voracity?
Or even the Honkai Star Rail universe itself?
But the theory was far too bold, and he had too little information to be sure. Naturally, he didn't dare state it as fact.
So he buried the suspicion deep in his heart and continued listening to the two Dragon Kings.
The Water Dragon King didn't notice anything amiss and continued his story:
"The first place to be hit was the abandoned star system where the Divine Dragon Realm originated."
"Overnight, the place that held the memories of our dragonkind's past was reduced to nothingness by three ancient beasts."
The image shifted.
The surviving dragons stood at the edge of the Tidal Belt, facing the rift.
Ye Qiong watched as one dragon shadow after another flew into the rift without looking back.
The Fire Dragon King watched the scene, his voice low.
"They were my descendants."
"They kindled their final flames with their bodies, turning their bloodlines into pure fire essence to fill that enormous hole."
The Water Dragon King shook his head with a sigh.
"Our Dragon Kings' descendants followed close behind."
Ye Qiong watched the remaining Dragon Kings lead their kin into battle, fighting the ancient beasts to the death as they filled the hole, one after another. He was deeply shaken.
But he didn't interrupt the two Dragon Kings. He simply listened in silence.
"As long as that hole remained open, the ancient beasts would keep pouring through."
"And in those days, we never once thought of retreating."
"Because behind us lay the home we depended on to survive."
"We finally filled the rift, but we paid an enormous price."
"I, the Fire Dragon King, the Mountain Dragon King, and many others among the Dragon Kings all fell in that battle."
After the Water Dragon King finished, the Fire Dragon King let out a long sigh.
"Alas, how glorious our dragonkind once was."
"And yet, in the end, there was no place left for us in this vast cosmos."
"Our dragonkind nearly vanished from the universe in that battle."
The image shifted again.
The remains of the dragons crossed the boundless void and fell toward a distant blue planet.
Douluo Planet took in these final remains.
The dragon remains scattered across the planet sank into the depths of the earth, becoming one dragon tomb after another.
And the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well was one of them.
Ye Qiong looked at the spring where ice and fire coexisted, and understood.
The residual power left by the intermingling remains of the Water Dragon King and Fire Dragon King had seeped into the earth, nurturing the land known as Sunset Forest.
He fell silent for a moment before finally speaking.
"The Divine Realm... erased this battle from the records?"
In response to Ye Qiong's question, the Water Dragon King's voice remained calm.
"They branded our Father God the source of the rebellion, and our dragonkind its accomplices."
"But the rift and the starry sky's ancient beasts were never recorded anywhere."
The Fire Dragon King's indignant voice rang out as well.
"The survivors chose to forget, but the energy barrier over the Tidal Belt will remember what our dragonkind gave."
"Our dragonkind was not wiped out!"
"We became a wall—a wall called Heaven Mending!"
The Fire Dragon King's words rang with force, leaving Ye Qiong stunned.
The Fire Dragon King's gaze fell on Ye Qiong once more, heavy and solemn.
"Human, we have only one final wish."
"I hope you can find the remains of the other Dragon Kings and inherit their legacies."
"Because the barrier we formed is no eternal solution. One day, those ancient beasts will break through it again and return."
"I hope you can protect everything in this cosmos on our behalf."
Ye Qiong looked at the two Dragon Kings one last time and gave them a confident smile.
"I will. After all, I'm a Trailblazer."