Meanwhile, elsewhere.
Deep within the Void Lightning Pool, on the Battle Through the Heavens Plane, lay East Dragon Island.
This was a forbidden ground of the Ancient Void Dragon Clan, a domain of destruction where countless thunderbolts and spatial storms intertwined.
Even a Dou Zun expert would be blasted into oblivion by the silver lightning here if they made the slightest misstep.
Yet beside a black altar at the edge of the lightning pool, Beast God Di Tian, once a mighty figure who had shaken the Douluo Continent, knelt there stark naked.
His once-strong, tower-like body was trembling violently.
Not from fear, but from excitement!
Suspended before him was a pool of deep purple water.
The pool was not large, only ten meters across, but every drop seemed to contain a tiny, roaring dragon. A terrifying pressure radiated from it, powerful enough to shatter space.
This was the Dragon Transformation Pool, which the Ancient Void Dragon Clan used to wash away the impurities of newborn hatchlings and strengthen their bodies.
Although this was only a diluted version from the outer reaches, it was more than enough for Di Tian.
"Hey, you little black lizard."
A guard from the Ancient Dragon Clan, assigned to watch over the Dragon Transformation Pool, held a toothpick made from some unknown divine beast's bone. Picking his teeth, he glanced at Di Tian with indifference. "You're in luck. The Grand Elder saw how cleanly you licked that plate earlier and specially ordered that you be allowed to soak in there."
"Although this is just discarded pool water meant for the defective hatchlings that have just hatched in our clan, for a low-dimensional creature like you, it's still a heaven-defying opportunity that can change your fate."
"Remember, once you get in, hold on for as long as you can."
"If you can't take it and die, just rot in there and become fertilizer. Don't expect me to fish you out."
"Yes! Yes! Thank you, sir! Thank you, Grand Elder!"
Di Tian knocked his head against the ground with a resounding thud, fervor practically spilling from his eyes.
Discarded pool water?
For defective hatchlings?
Di Tian looked at the purple liquid and felt the vast, ocean-like dragon energy within it—a thousand times purer than the Dragon God's had been in his time. He could barely suppress the urge to laugh.
"Even if Lord Dragon God came back to life, he'd probably jump right into this pool without hesitation if he saw it."
"What Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King? What Beast God? In front of this pool, I used to be nothing but a loach!"
Splash!
Without another moment's hesitation, Di Tian leaped straight into the boiling purple pool!
"Roar!!"
The instant he entered the water, a wretched, agonized dragon's cry rang out across the edge of the lightning pool!
Pain!
It hurt so much!
The purple pool water seemed to possess a will of its own. In an instant, it seeped through Di Tian's pores and every one of his orifices, burrowing wildly into his body!
This was more than just an infusion of energy. It was a violent alteration and cleansing at the genetic level!
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Soon, Di Tian watched in horror as the dark-attribute dragon scales he had once been so proud of began to split apart, inch by inch, like brittle crackers the moment they touched the pool water!
Great patches of black scales, mixed with flesh, fell into the pool and were instantly dissolved into nothingness.
"No, my scales! My defenses—"
Di Tian instinctively tried to struggle, but in the next moment, an even more terrifying vitality burst forth from deep within his marrow!
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!
Where the old scales had fallen away, a new layer of fine scales began to grow at a visible speed, shimmering with a faint purple-gold sheen!
The new scales were no longer simply black. They were a deep purple-gold!
Naturally inscribed on every scale were twisting runes of the void, as if they had been born to command space!
"Ahhhhh!!"
Di Tian writhed in the pool as his body underwent a transformation that turned heaven and earth upside down.
His bones rearranged!
The bulky skeleton of his original Western-style giant-dragon form began to grow long and lithe under the pressure of the pool water, evolving toward the shape of an Eastern divine dragon!
His horns regrew!
The rough black horns on his head snapped off. In their place grew a pair of translucent Void Dragon Horns, as if carved from amethyst!
Tiny spatial rifts appeared and vanished around the horns!
His bloodline was purified!
Most important of all was his bloodline!
His impure Golden-Eyed Black Dragon Bloodline from the Douluo Plane was being forcibly devoured and assimilated by the domineering aura of the Ancient Void Dragons!
It felt as though his blood had been drained and replaced with divine blood!
"Roar!!"
As time passed, Di Tian's agonized cries gradually turned into roars filled with dignity and power.
Nine hundred and ninety thousand years—
One million years!
One million, one hundred thousand years!
One million, five hundred thousand years!
Then his aura surged forward like a breaking tide, smashing through the limits of every Soul Beast on the Douluo Continent!
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King?
The Dragon God?
Neither of them could hold a candle to the Di Tian of today!
Rumble!!
Three hours later, the water in the Dragon Transformation Pool had turned dull and lifeless. Di Tian had absorbed every last drop of its essence.
With a splash, a lithe, vigorous figure wreathed in purple-gold divine light burst from the pool and hovered in the air!
Di Tian had changed completely.
In his human form, he had grown to three meters tall. His long hair had turned purple-gold and streamed wildly in the wind.
His black armor had vanished, replaced by Void Dragon Armor formed from his own scales!
His eyes were no longer golden. They were two deep purple whirlpools.
Just one glance seemed capable of sucking a person's soul in and banishing it to the endless void!
He raised a hand and gently clenched his fist.
Crack!
The space in his palm shattered into dust!
"So this is power?"
Di Tian felt the power surging through him like an ocean. The exhilarating sensation of commanding space and looking down on heaven and earth as if they were nothing made him want to throw back his head and roar.
By the standards of this world, his strength had reached five-star Dou Zong!
He might still be at the bottom of the Ancient Void Dragon Clan, but on the Douluo Continent—
"I could take on ten thousand versions of my old self now."
"The Dragon God? Heh—"
A disdainful sneer tugged at Di Tian's lips.
His bloodline now contained only a wisp of the Ancient Void Dragon Bloodline, but even that wisp far surpassed the so-called Dragon God Bloodline in rank!
The difference was like night and day!
"Well, not bad."
Just then, the Ancient Dragon Clan guard watching over the Dragon Transformation Pool looked up at Di Tian, hovering in the air, with some surprise. "You actually survived? And even evolved Void Dragon Scales?"
"Looks like you little lizard have a pretty strong will to live."
At the sound of the guard's voice, Di Tian, who had just thought himself invincible, instantly reined in his entire aura.
Whoosh!
He flashed down to the ground and dropped to one knee without hesitation. Facing the guard, who was only a Peak Dou Zong, he put on his most ingratiating smile. "Thank you for your cultivation, sir!"
"Without your guidance, this humble one would never have achieved such fortune!"
"This humble one is now bursting with strength. I can hardly wait to go through fire and water for the Ancient Void Dragon Clan!"
The guard nodded in satisfaction and casually tossed Di Tian a black iron token. "All right, stop flattering me."
"Since your evolution succeeded, you've just about earned the right to stop being called a lizard. You can count as a Dragon Guard Reservist now."
"Take this token. From now on, you're part of the East Dragon Island Patrol."
"Your main job is to clean up the trash around the outer edge of the Void Lightning Pool and feed a few elders' mounts while you're at it."
Patrol? Feeding mounts?
In the past, if anyone had dared assign Beast God Di Tian such work, he would have started a beast tide and wiped them out.
But now—
Di Tian took the black iron token in both hands as if it were a priceless treasure, trembling with excitement. "Yes!! I'll make sure the task is done!!"
"I'll make sure the elders' mounts grow big and fat!"
"This humble one is the Ancient Void Dragon Clan's most loyal watchdog!"
Di Tian rose to his feet, carefully hung the token from his waist, and strode proudly toward his post.
His back no longer seemed dejected or lost. Instead, it was filled with a sense of honor unlike anything he had felt before.
In his eyes, being the Ancient Void Dragon Clan's watchdog was ten thousand times better than being some Beast God on the Douluo Continent!
Because here, the dogs really got to eat dragon meat, drink divine blood, and cultivate divine arts!
"Master Gu Yuena—"
As he patrolled, Di Tian silently murmured to himself, "If you see this, please don't blame your subordinate for having no backbone."
"Once I make a name for myself here and become a full Dragon Guard, I'll bring back some leftover feed from the elders' mounts—"
"Then our Star Dou Forest can unite the Divine Realm!"
Thinking of this, Di Tian touched his newly grown Void Dragon Horns and broke into a foolish smile, happy and full of hope.
How could this be exile?
This was clearly an opportunity to study abroad!
Meanwhile, on the Douluo Continent.
At the Lake of Life in the Star Dou Forest, Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena stood by the lakeside. Her violet eyes, usually so full of wisdom and authority, had gone unfocused. She stared blankly at the figure in the image, a stranger in Purple Gold Void Dragon Armor who shattered space with a casual clench of his hand.
That was Di Tian.
The black dragon guard captain who had followed her for hundreds of thousands of years and obeyed her every command.
Yet now, even through the image, the aura pouring off him made the Silver Dragon King Bloodline within Gu Yuena's body cry out in waves!
It was the instinctive fear and submission of a lower being before a higher one!
"Is that the power of the void—"
Gu Yuena's voice trembled as two streams of tears slid down her breathtaking face. "Every scale on his body contains spatial laws more profound than even Lord Dragon God's."
"Those horns... could they be the legendary Ancestral Dragon Horns, capable of piercing the firmament?"
"And all of this happened after he spent just three hours soaking in that discarded pool water."
"He surpassed the Dragon God?"
"He surpassed the pursuit of our Soul Beast Clan across countless ages?"
Thump!
The next moment, Gu Yuena's knees buckled, and she collapsed weakly onto the grass.
Her lifelong mission had been to revive the Dragon God and lead the Soul Beast Clan in an invasion of the Divine Realm.
For that, she had endured, plotted, and walked on thin ice.
But now, reality had slapped her across the face.
"I've spent all these years working to revive the Dragon God—"
"But Di Tian went to that world, became someone's watchdog, and took a bath in their abandoned bathhouse."
"And now he's stronger than the Dragon God?"
"What did all my years of perseverance amount to?"
"Does the bloody history of our Soul Beast Clan look, to the Ancient Void Dragon Clan, like a bunch of ants arguing over who carried the bigger grain of rice?"
"Ahhhhh!!"
Gu Yuena clutched at her chest and let out a desperate scream.
She was in unbearable pain.
By the Lake of Life, the few great Ferocious Beasts reacted even worse.
Xiong Jun, the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear.
Usually, he had never been willing to submit to Di Tian and was always thinking of challenging the Beast God's position one day.
Now, as he watched the purple-haired man in the image tear open the void with a glare, he wet himself in terror.
He had really wet himself.
A foul stench spread along the lakeside, but he couldn't spare it a thought.
"Th-that's still the same black dragon?"
Xiong Jun lay flat on the ground, his huge body shaking like a sieve. "That aura... I feel like he could blow me away with a single breath—"
"And I used to think about challenging him?"
"Was I tired of living?!"
Nearby, the Scarlet King drooled enviously from all three heads, slobber pooling on the ground. "Discarded pool water—that was discarded pool water!"
"And after bathing in it, he evolved and got that handsome—"
"I want to go too!"
"I want to feed that elder's mount too!"
"I'm a dog. I was born a dog! I'm the perfect one to go feed it!!"
Scarlet King clawed frantically at the dirt, wishing he could dig a hole and burrow into the Battle Through the Heavens Plane.
King of Ten Thousand Monsters, meanwhile, stared at the black iron token at Di Tian's waist, his eyes gleaming with an almost pathological longing. "Reserve Dragon Guard."
"Even a mere reserve guard at the gate has that kind of power."
"If he performs well there and gets promoted, wouldn't he be able to rule the universe?"
"Boss Di Tian, you have to make something of yourself!"
"Once you've made it big, don't forget to bring back some of that discarded bathwater. We'd drink it even if it were just your foot-washing water!"
At that moment, the Ferocious Beasts of Star Dou Forest had lost all trace of their so-called dignity as the Beast God.
They shared just one dream: to go be dogs for the Ancient Void Dragon Clan!
Douluo Continent, Deep Sea Demon Whale waters.
"Roar!"
The sea roared, and towering waves surged toward the sky!
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's enormous, island-sized body rammed furiously into the underwater mountain range, unleashing a terrifying tsunami.
Jealousy!
At that very moment, the only thing in this ocean overlord's heart was a jealousy so intense it threatened to burn him to ashes!
"Why?!"
"Why?!"
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's single eye was bloodshot, and his voice boomed across the seafloor. "I've cultivated for nine hundred and ninety thousand years!"
"I've devoured countless living beings!"
"I'm just one step away from becoming a dragon!!"
"But that step is like a heavenly chasm. No matter how hard I try, I can't cross it!!"
"And Di Tian—what right does he have?"
"He only licked a plate. He only took a bath!"
"And he became a dragon?"
"Not just any dragon, but a terrifying Void Ancient Dragon!"
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King looked at his own bulky, flabby body, then at Di Tian's long, lithe, and beautiful purple-gold dragon form.
He felt that his million years of cultivation might as well have gone to the dogs!
"It's not fair! The Heavenly Dao is unjust!"
"If I'd been the one carrying the plates, if I'd been the one feeding the mount—"
"I could've become a dragon too!"
"I could've become a god too!!"
"I don't want these million years of cultivation anymore!"
"I don't want the empty title of ocean overlord anymore!!"
"Lord of the Heavenly Palace, please, take a look at me!"
"I'm meaty, and I can work! I can even spray water and put on a show!"
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