Gu Yue: Do I Have a Choice?

Gu Yue's gaze drifted around the room of its own accord, finally lingering on one room for a moment. She seemed to sense something, but she did not ask. Instead, she walked over and sat across from Xiling.

Xiling gently pushed the freshly brewed tea toward Gu Yue and looked at her. "Let's get acquainted again."

"My name is Xiling, Na'er's brother. And you? What should I call you?"

"The Silver Dragon King? Or Gu Yue?"

Though his words were calm, they exploded in Gu Yue's mind like a thunderclap.

Gu Yue's hand, which held the teacup, suddenly froze. Some of the warm tea spilled onto her fingertips, but she did not notice at all.

She looked up at Xiling. The usual coolness faded from her dark eyes, replaced first by a flicker of astonishment, then undisguised vigilance.

"What are you talking about?" Her voice was icy, carrying a deliberately maintained calmness, but her tightening fingers exposed her loss of composure.

She did not understand. She did not seem to have exposed herself, so how did Xiling know? Why had he mentioned Na'er? Countless questions surged into her mind.

Xiling did not avoid her gaze. "I'm saying, Gu Yue—or rather, you, who carry seventy percent of the Silver Dragon King's origin power—there's no need to keep pretending in front of me. Let's speak openly."

The air in the living room instantly froze.

Gu Yue set down her teacup and rose to her feet. The elemental fluctuations around her began to turn restless. The wind lifted the ends of her hair, and a flash of silver light passed through her eyes.

"How much do you know?" Her voice had changed. It no longer carried a young girl's clear crispness, but instead the ancient desolation and coldness of one who had endured countless ages. "Did Na'er tell you?"

"She didn't say anything." Xiling stood as well, meeting her gaze at eye level as he spoke slowly.

"To understand the human world and carry out the soul beast revival plan, the Silver Dragon King voluntarily split off a human little girl, sealing away her power and memories. She infiltrated the human world and was adopted by a little boy."

"Later, the little girl recovered her memories and returned to the Star Dou Forest. The main body wanted to merge with her, but did not expect the little girl to develop her own personality and emotions."

"The two consciousnesses stood in complete opposition and clashed violently. To prevent human emotions from interfering with the plan, fusion could only be abandoned."

"Later, afraid that the main body would harm the little boy, the little girl made a wager with the main body. She had the main body approach the little boy, and in the end, the little boy would make the choice."

"If the little boy chose the little girl, the main body could not forcibly merge with her."

"If the little boy chose the main body, the little girl had to willingly vanish completely and merge into the main body. Am I right?"

The elemental fluctuations around Gu Yue suddenly became violent. Elemental power gathered and dispersed at her fingertips as she desperately suppressed the surging force within her.

"You..." Her voice trembled almost imperceptibly, not from fear, but from disbelief.

No one knew about these matters, especially the wager—not even Di Tian and the others. Yet why did Xiling know so clearly? It was as though he had witnessed everything himself.

Xiling did not explain. He merely watched her quietly, his gaze calm. "The wager is between the two of you, but Na'er is my concern."

"She really is foolish. If I'm not mistaken, no matter who wins this wager in the end, Na'er is destined to disappear."

"Because the thirty percent of the Silver Dragon King's origin power within her is simply insufficient to sustain such a long separation. Sooner or later, it will return, won't it?"

Gu Yue shuddered. Her violent elemental aura instantly receded, and every bit of disguise and cold pride vanished from her face, leaving only a deathly silence.

Xiling was right about every word.

Yet she had still agreed to the wager, not only because she wanted a perfect fusion, but also because she was confident that making a human child fall in love with her would be easy.

Seeing Gu Yue's reaction, Xiling knew he had hit the mark. From the very beginning, this wager had never offered Na'er a genuine chance to survive.

This was the chance Na'er had fought for so that he could live.

"So? Did you call me here today just to say that?"

The silence in the living room was suffocating. Gu Yue's hand at her side clenched tightly, and the silver gleam in her eyes flickered on and off. None of her usual cool composure remained.

Xiling shook his head. "I called you here to ask whether the Golden Dragon King's origin power can replace the Silver Dragon King's origin power inside Na'er, allowing her to live as an independent individual."

The instant those words fell, Gu Yue's entire body shook. What had she heard? The Golden Dragon King?

Wasn't the Golden Dragon King sealed in the Divine Realm? Now that the Divine Realm had disappeared, shouldn't the Golden Dragon King have vanished with it?

But from what Xiling said, it sounded as though the Golden Dragon King was on the Douluo Continent. He knew where the Golden Dragon King was!

Gu Yue abruptly stepped forward, her tone urgent and grave. "Who exactly are you? How do you know these things? Where is the Golden Dragon King?"

Xiling frowned slightly. "I already told you. I'm Na'er's brother. As for where the Golden Dragon King is, there's no need for you to know right now."

"Right now, you only need to tell me whether the Golden Dragon King's origin power can truly let Na'er live!"

Gu Yue closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, her black eyes had turned silver. A faint pressure spread through the room as she enunciated each word. "What if I say it can't?"

The last trace of warmth in Xiling's eyes vanished completely. His azure eyes faintly showed signs of turning golden. "Then I'll kill you and let Na'er fuse with your origin power, unless you have another way."

Gu Yue faced Xiling's utterly chilling gaze, and her heart suddenly tightened.

She could clearly sense just how terrifying the power hidden beneath those eyes was.

It even gave her the illusion that, even if she unsealed her cultivation and returned to god-level strength, she still would not be a match for the person before her.

What an absurd feeling. She was a half-step God King! Even without Na'er's portion of origin power, she still possessed the strength of a first-class god!

Could it be... An absurd yet reasonable thought flashed through Gu Yue's mind. Could Xiling be a God King who reincarnated and cultivated anew? A God King who can restore his strength at any time?

Otherwise, there was no way to explain why he knew so much or why he was so strong despite being the same age as her!

The more Gu Yue thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed, and the more convinced she became that her guess was correct.

At that thought, a chill quietly seeped down Gu Yue's back. She had actually wanted to fight a God King just now!

If she truly enraged an existence capable of restoring God King-level combat power at any time, the great cause of soul beast revival might directly turn to ashes.

In the end, she could not afford to gamble, nor did she dare to.

Gu Yue closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her silver pupils had returned to clear black. There was no longer the slightest hostility around her, only complicated, unreadable emotions.

"You win."

She spoke slowly, her voice stripped of its earlier coldness and carrying a touch more compromise. "The Golden Dragon King's and Silver Dragon King's origin powers mutually generate and restrain each other. Forcibly replacing one with the other would only destroy Na'er's divine soul. This path is absolutely impossible."

The golden gleam in Xiling's eyes fell silent. He said nothing and waited for her to continue.

"Unless there is help from the Dragon God's Heart."

Hearing that there was a way, Xiling inwardly let out a sigh of relief. Unless it was necessary, he did not want to fight Gu Yue.

As for the Dragon God's Heart, that was simple. He just needed to take Gu Yue to get it. If the Dragon God did not know what was good for him, Xiling knew a little martial arts too.