Crown Prince of the Dragon Clan

"So sleepy..."

Early that morning, Shen Nanxun left the hotel and went out alone to find something to eat. Na'er still hadn't woken up. She'd eaten most of the food on the table by herself last night, and probably wouldn't wake until the sun was high in the sky. He hadn't waited for that silly girl.

Yesterday, Xu Xiaoyan had insisted on sharing a room with him, so he'd had to sleep on the sofa. He'd also been worried she might have ulterior motives. After all, the last person who'd been that careless around him was Huo Kaoyu, and in the end, he'd somehow wound up with a son.

It was hard to imagine that someone could be both a virgin and a father.

So he hadn't meditated or slept, just endured the whole night. Naturally, he was a little drowsy that morning. After all, he was only a three-ring Soul Elder, nowhere near the point where he could abstain from food and sleep.

The morning air in Eastsea City was far more gentle than in North Sea City. The breeze carried the distinctive fragrance of flowers and plants from the southern coast, soft against his face.

Shen Nanxun wandered aimlessly along the tree-lined road outside the hotel, planning to grab a bite at some breakfast shop and head back to catch up on sleep. In the little park by the road, several stray cats were basking on a bench, while the fountain's spray refracted a small rainbow in the morning light.

As he walked along the park path, a familiar figure came running toward him from the other side. He wore a blue tracksuit and had short black hair, with beads of sweat still clinging to his temples after his morning exercise. It was Tang Wulin.

He didn't seem to expect to run into Shen Nanxun here. His steps faltered slightly, but then he actually raised a hand and greeted him first. "Morning."

Shen Nanxun hadn't expected him to take the initiative, either. He returned the greeting without giving it much thought.

He was about to keep walking when he suddenly stopped. Deep within his consciousness, Qian Renxue's voice rang out.

"There's an extremely unusual Soul Power fluctuation nearby. It's strong, and there's more than one."

Most of Shen Nanxun's drowsiness vanished in an instant. He instinctively looked around. Everything in the park seemed normal; the stray cats were still sunning themselves, and the fountain was still spraying water.

But that Soul Power fluctuation was growing clearer, drawing closer, as if something were slowly awakening beneath the ground.

The earth beneath their feet split open. Several thick vines burst from the cracks, each as thick as an adult's arm. They were dark green from end to end, their surfaces covered in a layer of sticky, deep-green sap. Countless tiny barbs covered the vines, their tips shimmering with an eerie, dark-purple glow. They had clearly been coated in deadly poison.

The vines twisted and entangled, surging toward the two of them from every direction.

Tang Wulin reacted swiftly. His Golden Dragon Claw formed in an instant, and he severed the vine lunging straight at him with a single swipe. But the vine regenerated at a terrifying speed. The moment it was cut, countless tiny shoots sprang from the severed end. In the span of a single breath, they had grown back into thick vines and were reaching to entangle him again.

Golden wings burst open behind Shen Nanxun, and the Angel Holy Sword formed in his hand. Its holy swordlight slashed into the vines, burning the poison into wisps of black smoke wherever the blade passed. But there were simply too many vines. For every one he cut down, two more sprouted; after he sliced through a patch, the vines surged in from all sides like a dark tide.

At that moment, an even more terrifying pressure descended from the sky. It was heavy as a mountain, weighing down on the entire park until the air itself seemed to freeze. The water column of the fountain shuddered violently beneath that pressure.

A black figure slowly emerged from the tree-lined depths of the park. It was a man of towering height, with broad shoulders and a straight back. A black robe hung down to his ankles. His dark golden eyes were utterly devoid of emotion, chilling and unnerving!

"What's this..." Before Shen Nanxun could react, Di Tian stamped his foot lightly, and a wave of Soul Power shot straight into his mind.

He fainted.

Tang Wulin did too.

In the Sea of Consciousness, Qian Renxue had been about to intervene, but then she seemed to sense something and stopped.

"His Lordship is simply too suspicious." Di Tian shook his head. "This way, both bloodlines will fall into our hands. Once His Lordship absorbs them all, the grand plan will be complete!"

"King of Ten Thousand Monsters, take them away!"

But just as the vines reached toward them, a light suddenly flashed across Tang Wulin's body.

It was a blue-gold light.

All of King of Ten Thousand Monsters' vines froze in place, trembling from tip to tip.

A phantom slowly rose from the trident mark at Tang Wulin's heart. It was the figure of a man, tall and slender, clad in a sea-blue robe that stirred without any wind.

It was none other than the Buddha-like Tang San!

Di Tian's dark golden pupils contracted sharply. He tried to move, but his body seemed frozen in place; he couldn't even lift a finger. King of Ten Thousand Monsters' vines went limp on the ground, and the poisoned barbs shattered one by one under the lingering might of the Sea God Divine Power, becoming a carpet of withered branches and leaves.

"Soul Beasts." Tang San's phantom spoke. "You refused the toast only to drink a forfeit. You're asking for death."

He raised his right hand, spreading his fingers slightly. A blue-gold Sea God Trident slowly took shape in his palm. The surrounding air froze, inch by inch, beneath the Sea God Divine Power.

Di Tian clenched his teeth and drove the Black Dragon King's Soul Power to its limit. But he knew all too well that before the divine consciousness of a true Deity, even he, the only true Black Dragon left in the world, wouldn't withstand a single strike.

Just as the Sea God Trident was about to descend, a stream of nine-colored light suddenly shone from within Shen Nanxun.

"Alas..."

With nothing more than a soft sigh, the Sea God Divine Power shattered!

Disbelief surfaced in Tang San's divine consciousness. "Dragon God Bloodline? How is that possible?!"

He had the Silver Dragon King and the Golden Dragon King within the scope of his calculations. How could a Dragon God Bloodline appear out of nowhere?

But there was no time to think. The nine-colored light flared brilliantly, and his divine consciousness—just a fragment of the original—was crushed in an instant. The power was so overwhelming that it seemed to bring the entire Douluo Plane to a halt for a moment.

"Di Tian..."

As the voice sounded, Di Tian's eyes flew wide open. He stared in disbelief. "You... It's really you!?"

The nine-colored light gathered before Shen Nanxun, and a figure appeared in the park. He wore a robe of nine-colored light, his face as handsome as jade, his expression detached.

Di Tian's pupils contracted violently. His lips moved slightly, then he dropped to one knee. The hem of his black robe spread across the park's cracked stone paving, and he pressed his right hand to his chest, lowering his dark golden eyes.

"Di Tian pays his respects to Your Highness!"

Though King of Ten Thousand Monsters' true body was not here, all the vines limp on the ground bowed at the same moment, like rivers flowing into the sea, like all the trees turning toward spring.

The Crown Prince of the Dragon Clan, the Dragon God's only true offspring. After the Dragon God's divided soul became the Golden Dragon King and the Silver Dragon King, and in this era when the Dragon Clan had long since vanished into the river of history, this name was as awe-inspiring as a god's arrival to every surviving bloodline of the dragons.

"Di Tian, my current state is unstable, and I can't remain awake for long. But I can tell you this: from now on, when you see this human, treat him as though I were here in person. You needn't ask questions. In time, everything will become clear."

"Your Highness, you..." Di Tian wanted to say something, but the Crown Prince of the Dragon Clan gently waved a hand.

The Dragon Prince shook his head and said nothing more. He simply looked toward Tang Wulin, who lay on the ground nearby, as nine-colored light flickered in his eyes.

"The Golden Dragon King Bloodline—how could it be allowed to run wild in the human world..."