Gu Yue: "Call Me Mom, and I'll Give You a Soul Ring." Lin Yan Turned and Headed for the Kitchen to Get a Knife

Lin Yan's gaze sharpened slightly.

Well, damn.

This stupid dragon was even stronger than he had imagined.

In less than half a day, she had already raised the spiritual energy density of the Small World by several levels.

Lin Yan remained wary, but he did not show it.

He casually walked over, raised his foot, and kicked Gu Yue's round butt.

"Hey."

Gu Yue had been immersed in the pleasure of drawing in the world's primal energy when the sudden kick sent her rolling across the floor three times.

Her head slammed into a stack of empty cardboard boxes in the corner with a dull thud.

She pulled her head out of the boxes, clutching her butt as misty tears filled her silver eyes.

"What was that for?!"

She climbed to her feet, her dragon face full of accusation.

"Can't you call me some other way? You kick me every time. That's very disrespectful to dragons, you know? I'm the Silver Dragon King, the ruler of all Soul Beasts—"

"I'm used to it." Lin Yan cut her off without changing expression. "How is your recovery?"

Gu Yue got up with a grumble, patting scraps of cardboard off her scales with her claws while secretly glancing at his expression.

This guy was asking so directly today. It looked like he could not wait any longer.

"Not bad."

She deliberately swayed her tail, trying to make her voice sound casual.

"The elemental power within this world has accumulated enough. A Divine-bestowed Soul Ring... I can make one now."

Lin Yan's heartbeat skipped, but his expression remained calm.

He merely nodded slightly, his tone flat. "Then begin."

"Wait." Gu Yue raised one claw, gathered her courage, and puffed out her chest. "I have a condition."

Lin Yan narrowed his eyes slightly.

Gu Yue felt a chill run through her body under his gaze, but she forced herself not to back down.

"Call me Mom."

The air went silent for a full three seconds.

"Call you what?" Lin Yan's tone sounded as though he were confirming whether he had heard wrong.

"Mom!"

Gu Yue puffed out her chest righteously.

"I worked so hard to save up divine power and give you a Divine-bestowed Soul Ring. The least you can do is call me Mom! It's basic respect!"

Her reasoning went like this:

These past few days, she had stolen instant noodles for him, boiled water, scrubbed pots, tucked in his blanket. Which of those was not something a mother did?

What was wrong with calling her Mom?

This kid had lost his mother when he was little, so she could be his mother.

Once she had that title, he would not keep putting a kitchen knife to her neck every day, right?

He could not possibly stew his own mother, could he?

Lin Yan stared at her expressionlessly.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

Gu Yue grew increasingly guilty beneath his gaze.

She instinctively took half a step back.

"It's fine if you don't call me..." Her voice grew quieter and quieter. "It's not like you have to..."

Lin Yan turned and walked away.

Gu Yue's heart skipped a beat.

She watched Lin Yan's back as he headed toward the kitchen.

And there were knives in the kitchen!!

"Wait, wait, wait!"

Gu Yue lunged at him with a whoosh, wrapping both front claws tightly around his calf.

"Then don't call me! I'll give you a Divine-bestowed Soul Ring right now! For free! No charge! I'll even throw myself in! Is that good enough?!"

Lin Yan looked down at her. "Your words."

"My words!" Gu Yue nodded frantically, shaking her head so hard it nearly left afterimages. "I, Gu Yue, always keep my word!"

She silently added in her heart:

Once this king recovers her strength, the first thing she will do is make you say "Mom" ten thousand times.

Ten thousand times. Not once less.

Yet her face was piled high with an obedient, harmless smile, her purple eyes filled with sincerity.

Even her tail drooped softly, swaying gently.

She put on a look that said, "I'm so good and obedient."

Qian Yuhan stood at the highest point of the divine temple, gazing up at the sky.

Fifteen years had passed.

It had been exactly fifteen years since the destruction of the Ninth Era, since she had been reborn into this newborn Tenth Era.

In this era, human civilization had risen again from the ruins.

Stone walls had become white marble temples.

Crude bronze spears had become longswords inscribed with Holy Light runes.

Incense still curled through stone temples, but the statues worshipped within had changed.

They were no longer depictions of that indescribable Creator God.

Instead, they depicted a Six-Winged Angel—that was, herself.

The Angel God, Qian Yuhan.

Over fifteen years, drawing upon the experience and memories she had brought from the Ninth Era, she had recondensed the Angel Godhood.

Holy Light shone upon the land, dispelling darkness and purifying evil.

Humanity revered her as its savior, building divine temples for her and offering their most devout faith.

Every day, hundreds and thousands of believers knelt in the plaza before the temple, shouting her divine name and praying for her protection.

But Qian Yuhan had never relaxed for even a moment.

Because she knew that her strength alone was far from enough.

"This is the Tenth Era."

She murmured softly, her voice carrying a weariness that seeped into her bones.

She slowly lowered her head and looked at her hands.

She had once believed herself omnipotent, until she witnessed the sky split apart with her own eyes.

That scene had been seared forever into the depths of her soul.

That figure drifting above the River of Time had frozen the entire world with only a glance.

Floodwaters solidified in midair, and lightning froze across the heavens.

The calamity of the World-Destroying Dragon was crushed as though by an invisible hand.

Then destruction descended.

Time was reversed for the entire world, everything began anew, and the false gods of the old era survived.

Such a method had long surpassed the limits of her understanding.

"Great Creator God."

Qian Yuhan looked up at the sky. Her exquisite, peerlessly beautiful, sacred face was now filled with confusion and fear.

"Your will, your decree... what exactly are they?"

"What... am I supposed to do?"

The divine temple was empty. No one answered her.

Only the wind passed through the colonnade, producing hollow echoes.

What could make a god reset the entire world time and time again?

The history books contained no shortage of records—survivors who had smuggled themselves over from previous eras passed down tales of world-ending calamities by word of mouth.

Whenever civilization developed to a certain point, destruction would arrive.

Whenever humanity believed it had seen the dawn, that light would be snuffed out.

She had already experienced it twice.

In the Eighth Era, evil ran rampant, corrupting the entire world with wicked energy and driving living beings mad until they slaughtered one another.

She drew the Evil Sword that had suppressed the seal of the previous era and led the surviving humans through a desperate struggle for survival.

Then the Creator God descended, and the era came to an end.

In the Ninth Era, the World-Destroying Dragon appeared.

She joined forces with the Sea God to resist it, yet they could not even withstand a single attack from that dragon.

If the Creator God had not personally sent down destruction, humanity would have long since been slaughtered to extinction.

What would the Tenth Era have to face?

The deeper she thought, the more terrifying it became.

What did that supreme being, capable of toying with time in the palm of its hand, truly want?

In the previous era, they had built civilization according to the god's will, yet they had still fallen into destruction.

Because they could not defeat the World-Destroying Dragon no matter what they did, they had ultimately drawn the god into action, forcing it to destroy the era with its own hand.

Then what kind of trial would this era face?