Lin Yan Saw Through the Silly Dragon's Identity: A Parallel-Timeline Counterpart of Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena

Gu Yue lay on the floor and began seriously pondering a philosophical question.

What exactly was she hoping to get out of following this lunatic?

His poverty?

His mushroom habit?

The way he'd threatened her with a kitchen knife?

But she had to admit a cruel reality.

At her current level of cultivation, she was weaker than even a ten-year Soul Beast.

If she wandered off, someone might catch her and turn her into a Soul Spirit by the next day.

Eastsea City wasn't a major metropolis, but it had plenty of soul masters.

An uncontracted wild Soul Beast roaming the streets was practically seventy thousand Federation Credits on legs.

She was better off staying with this human.

At least this human... well... at least he... hmm...

Gu Yue thought long and hard, only to realize she couldn't name a single good thing about him.

Yet her instincts told her staying with him was the right choice.

Not because she trusted him. Not because she cared about him.

But because she had seen that figure standing beyond the River of Time with her own eyes.

Besides, this era... should be the one she'd lived in before crossing through time.

It wasn't as though she'd done nothing last night.

While Lin Yan slept, she had looked through the crumpled copy of the Donghai Daily he'd left on the table.

The front page carried a date and an article about admissions at Eastsea Academy.

She was certain she had traveled back in time.

She had just become far too weak.

As for whether another version of herself existed in this timeline, she didn't have time to think about it.

Either way, at her current strength, she couldn't do a thing.

"Then let's begin."

Lin Yan's voice pulled her from her thoughts.

He was already sitting cross-legged on the bed, his expression once again unreadably calm.

Truthfully, he didn't want to form a contract with this silly dragon either.

Opening his mind to her was too dangerous. Last night had made that abundantly clear.

It wasn't as though he hadn't figured out Gu Yue's true identity.

Silver-white scales, absolute control over the elements, sovereign of Soul Beasts.

Taken together, those clues pointed to only one answer.

The original story's heroine in this era: Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena.

Or rather, one of her avatars, a projection from some timeline.

After all, the time and space he had opened up were parallel to this world.

Finding traces of the Silver Dragon King in the River of Time was as natural as finding water in the sea.

That was why he had tested her again and again after bringing her into existence.

From threatening her with a kitchen knife to pretending to open his mind for a contract.

Every step had tested her limits and her abilities.

That included last night's contract attempt.

He had appeared to let his guard down, but in truth, he had invoked the full authority of the Genesis God Incubator.

The powers of time and space had laid an inescapable trap at the entrance to his Spirit Sea, waiting for the silly dragon to bare her fangs.

Sure enough, she had harbored ill intent. Then the projection at the end of time, deep within his Spirit Sea, had nearly frightened the soul out of her.

That sci-fi spectacle had been his own meticulous design.

Whether she truly wanted the contract or not, he had decided to teach her a lesson first.

No matter how strong you were at your peak, here you're just a newborn Little Milk Dragon.

But he wasn't confident that alone would be enough to tame her.

For now, he needed to create a new era.

The incubator world from last night had collapsed when Gu Yue came into existence.

The scraps were still in the pot, but they had lost the ability to evolve through time and space.

He needed a new world: bigger, more stable, and capable of producing more energy.

Then, whether or not the silly dragon turned on him, he would have a way out.

Gu Yue felt Lin Yan's gaze sweep over her.

It was cold and sharp.

She drew in her neck, the flesh beneath her scales tensing involuntarily.

"I... I really didn't lie to you."

She swallowed with difficulty, her voice wavering.

"Once I've gathered enough divine power, I really can grant you a Divine-bestowed Soul Ring."

"The divine power I have now is only enough to create a Ten-Year Soul Ring, but you can raise its level later through the Spirit Pagoda's Spirit Ascension Platform."

She spoke earnestly, anxiety creeping into her voice as she tried to prove herself.

But Lin Yan clearly wasn't focused on that.

"How do you know the Spirit Pagoda has a Spirit Ascension Platform?"

His voice was soft, but Gu Yue heard a razor's edge beneath it.

Gu Yue froze.

I'm done for.

That slipped out.

The Spirit Ascension Platform was one of the Spirit Pagoda's most closely guarded facilities, used specifically to raise Soul Ring levels. Ordinary people had no access to it.

How could she, a baby dragon who had just crawled out of an incubator, possibly know about it?

Her astonishing intellect kicked into overdrive again.

"...While you were asleep last night, I took the chance to learn a little about this era."

Gu Yue tried to make her voice sound natural.

Her tail swayed lightly behind her as she put on an air of casual ease.

"I'm the sovereign of Soul Beasts, the Silver Dragon King, the World-Devouring Dragon. I'm clever, you know."

"I just flipped through the newspaper, sensed the elements around me, and the information went straight into my head."

As she spoke, she lifted her chin slightly.

She tried to squeeze a hint of pride onto her chubby dragon face.

But her heart was pounding wildly, and she couldn't hide the trembling tip of her tail.

Lin Yan stared at her for three seconds without a word.

To Gu Yue, those three seconds felt like three hundred years in a vat of boiling oil.

Then Lin Yan looked away, got up, and headed for the kitchen.

He tore open the two remaining packets of instant noodles, filled the pot with water, and put it on to boil, his movements smooth and practiced.

Once the water boiled, he dropped in the noodles and cracked an egg into the pot.

Gu Yue lay by the bed, watching his busy figure from behind, and quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

She had gotten through that one.

Soon the smell of instant noodles filled the room again.

Lin Yan gave Gu Yue a bowl of the cooked noodles.

The little chubby dragon caught the scent and jumped off the bed. Her four short legs blurred as she darted to the bowl, plunged her head in, and started slurping.

Small as this silly dragon looked, she could really eat.

She finished a bowl of noodles and an egg in three minutes.

Then she raised her head and gazed longingly at the half bowl left in Lin Yan's hands, her silver eyes shining.

Lin Yan shielded his bowl, his face expressionless.

Gu Yue pouted and let out a plaintive "aang," then lowered her head to lick her claws.

Over the next few days, Lin Yan took Gu Yue out of the city again and again.

A vast stretch of woodland lay outside Eastsea City, thick with all kinds of mushrooms.

Blue-Staining Boletes were the most common, growing in dense clusters across the forest floor.

Other people steered clear. Lin Yan's eyes lit up at the sight.

Armed with a shovel and a sack, he dug them up one scoop at a time, packing in the soil, dead twigs, and rotting leaves along with them.

Gu Yue lay on a nearby rock, staring at the mountain of Blue-Staining Boletes with utter despair written across her dragon face.

"Why do you insist on eating these things?"

She lay there without the will to move, her tail drooping limply over the edge of the rock like a fish that had given up on its dreams.

"They're delicious, sure, but I'd rather eat meat. Besides, I'm only a newborn baby! You'll be struck down by heaven for mistreating a baby dragon like this."