By the time they got home, it was already the middle of the night. Tang Ziran carried the still-exhausted Tang Wulin inside without waking Lang Yue or Na'er, who were already asleep.
"Wulin, how did you get so completely drained?" Tang Ziran asked with concern as he wiped his son's dusty face with a hot towel.
"I'm fine, Dad. I just forged a really difficult piece of metal today. It's worth a full five million!" Tang Wulin's voice grew stronger as he spoke, and there was a hint of pride in it.
Tang Ziran patted his son's face and said proudly, "That's my boy!"
"Come on, you're exhausted too. Get some rest early tonight. You have to go back to school tomorrow, don't you?"
"Okay."
Tang Wulin answered simply, then quickly fell asleep.
Tomorrow, he had to go back to school to pick up his graduation certificate and a letter of recommendation for Eastsea Academy.
After Tang Ziran had finished tidying up and fallen asleep too, Long Yuan eagerly revealed his form, passed through the wall, and entered Na'er's room next door.
As soon as he entered, he sensed a powerful surge of spiritual power. A silver barrier enveloped Na'er's body.
Lang Yue, on the other side of the bed, had been stunned unconscious. Clearly, Na'er still had some control over her power: she had only knocked Lang Yue out, without causing any harm.
Long Yuan passed through the silver barrier and immediately saw a pair of violet, amethyst-like eyes.
Those eyes were looking at him now, and the two of them stared at each other.
"Should I call you Na'er, or should I call you something else?"
Na'er: "..."
"What's wrong? Now that your memories have returned, don't you recognize me?"
"Big brother..."
The two words came out as softly as a mosquito's buzz. Na'er looked flustered and covered her mouth.
Long Yuan smiled inwardly. He knew he had this in the bag. Even after her memories returned, Na'er's instincts were still deeply imprinted in her body. They hadn't been erased.
But his expression remained unchanged.
"Or should I call you the Silver Dragon King instead? Isn't that right, my dear little sister?"
Long Yuan spoke the last words slowly, one syllable at a time, especially "little sister."
"Who's the Silver Dragon King? What nonsense are you talking about?"
Seeing Gu Yuena still putting on an act, Long Yuan dropped his own pretense, closed the distance, and grabbed her by the throat.
"Ugh..."
"Do you think I'd mistake you for someone else? Or did that traitor Asura God hit you so hard you went stupid?"
The moment Gu Yuena heard him say "Asura God," she gave up pretending.
"Hmph! Asura God could never have done that! I am the embodiment of the Dragon God's wisdom!"
Though she had indirectly admitted she was the Silver Dragon King, Gu Yuena still tried to save face.
"Hmm... No wonder you're the embodiment of wisdom. That's certainly true..."
Gu Yuena's eyes widened.
Why did that sound so strange?
"Hmph, you don't need to keep emphasizing it. What exactly do you want? To devour me?"
Gu Yuena said stubbornly.
Devour!
That was why she had played dumb just now.
She knew her own situation best. Things were dire: her spiritual power had only just reached the Spirit Connection Realm, she didn't even have a Martial Soul, and her true body wasn't here.
Heaven knew how badly she'd freaked out when she learned from her memories that Long Yuan was a divine consciousness!
She was afraid he'd grab her and swallow her whole the next second, so she'd painstakingly set up a spiritual barrier to keep herself from being disturbed.
But who could have guessed Long Yuan would still find her?
Watching Gu Yuena close her eyes and wait to die, Long Yuan could only feel that the Dragon Clan's future was utterly bleak.
Our Dragon Clan has spent our whole lives walking on thin ice. Do you think we can still make it to the other shore?
"My dear little sister, it seems that really did hit you stupid. Why don't you take a look at what state I'm in?"
Gu Yuena: "..."
"Huh?" After a long while, she finally looked up at Long Yuan.
"Wait, why are you in the form of a divine consciousness?"
"Only just figured that out?" Long Yuan withdrew his hand and sat down beside her.
"Didn't I cover your escape back then? Something happened afterward, and I ended up sealed inside Tang Wulin."
"Tang Wulin? Oh, him!"
Gu Yuena remembered. He was Na'er's "big brother."
"Then what should we do?" she asked instinctively.
"You're asking me? Aren't you the embodiment of the Dragon God's 'wisdom'?"
"Oh, right..." Gu Yuena moved closer. "Then let me tell you my plan!"
Long Yuan quietly listened as Gu Yuena shared her plan.
"Well? Isn't my plan brilliant? Once it succeeds, I'll be able to take complete control of Douluo Planet!"
Long Yuan: "..."
Fine. It seemed he had thoroughly overestimated the wisdom of this silly child, Gu Yuena.
But when he thought of the Nine Dragon Kings and the even more "wise" Dragon God, he supposed he shouldn't have been surprised.
Among the Dragon Clan, which liked to solve everything with sheer force, Gu Yuena's level of intelligence was already that of a doctoral student.
Still, looking at Gu Yuena's excited expression, Long Yuan ultimately decided not to discourage her. He patted her shoulder. "Keep it up! The revival of our Dragon Clan rests on you!"
The kid might be a little silly, but at least she had enthusiasm. He'd better not crush her motivation.
At least she'd done a decent job with her plans so far, so he'd let her carry on.
With him there to catch her if she fell, he didn't have to worry about her getting played by Tang San, that old schemer.
"So, are you going to have Di Tian and the others come get you tomorrow?"
"Yeah. There's no point staying here any longer. I need to go back to the Star Dou Forest first. I used the last of my spiritual power to notify them. At their speed, they'll be back tomorrow."
At that, Gu Yuena suddenly yawned.
"Looks like the fusion still hasn't gone well. I'll probably fall asleep again soon. Na'er's influence on me is still too strong."
"You'll have to deal with it yourself. But Na'er is still a part of you, after all. If you forcibly absorb her, it'll affect your recovery later."
"I know. Spiritual power is something I'm good at, okay?"
"By the way, if you can, give me some of your Spiritual Origin?"
Gu Yuena paused. "My seal has already fully formed. I can't do it myself, but you should be able to, since you're in the form of a divine consciousness now."
Gu Yuena didn't object, or even ask what he wanted it for.
Though they had talked about devouring each other, the bond between the Golden Dragon King and the Silver Dragon King was incredibly deep. Otherwise, why would the Golden Dragon King have fought the gods of the Divine Realm alone, just to cover the Silver Dragon King's escape?
After all, they had originally been one.
"Mm... Looks like it's time. You can take the Spiritual Origin yourself. The seal is still reinforcing itself."
With that, she closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, the light had clearly faded from those large violet eyes, replaced by a hint of confusion. Apparently, Na'er still hadn't fully shaken off the daze of having her memories restored.
"Big brother..."
Seeing Long Yuan, Na'er seemed to have found someone to lean on and threw herself into his arms.
"It's okay, Na'er. You got your memories back. You should be happy, shouldn't you?"
After a long while, Long Yuan left Na'er's room. After much effort, he had finally managed to soothe the little girl to sleep.
Looking at the little silver sphere in his hand, shimmering with seven-colored light, Long Yuan smiled with satisfaction.
"Success!"