How Could This Be?!

"Can you send me back to Blue Star?!"

Ling Xuqing sprang to his feet from the Golden Dragon King's scales. He stared fixedly at the towering figure before him, shrouded in divine light, his voice turning shrill and tremulous with overwhelming excitement.

He practically crawled forward two steps, as if afraid the supreme Creator God might change his mind. Unprecedented fervor and hope blazed in his eyes.

For someone with a whole life back on Blue Star, what did the Divine Realm or supreme power matter? Neither could compare to a bowl of soy milk and fried dough sticks in the morning, or the light someone had left on for him late at night.

If he could just go back, he wouldn't hesitate for even half a second to give up every so-called "opportunity."

Yet, faced with Ling Xuqing's almost pleading gaze, the Dragon God merely shook his head.

A trace of helplessness and melancholy crossed the face veiled in golden light.

"I can't send you back to Blue Star."

The Dragon God's voice echoed through the empty Forbidden God Land, carrying the cruel weight of an undeniable reality.

"Forget me as I am now, nothing more than a fragment of a soul clinging to life. Even at my peak, in my prime as the Creator Dragon God, I couldn't send you back to your original world!"

"What?!"

It was as if a heavy hammer had slammed into Ling Xuqing's chest. He plunged into an icy abyss, the flame of hope that had just kindled snuffed out in an instant.

His legs buckled, and he nearly fell back onto the cold scales. His face turned as white as paper.

"Even you, at your peak... couldn't do it?" Ling Xuqing murmured, his voice full of despair.

He had thought that since the other party was the Creator God, a supreme being, sending one person across worlds would be no more than a casual wave of the hand.

But reality had dealt him a crushing blow.

"Why..." he pressed, unwilling to accept it, his voice trembling.

"Because the barriers between worlds and the laws of the universe aren't things that can be easily broken by mortal strength."

The Dragon God spoke slowly, his tone imbued with reverence for the source of the universe. "Every world has its own independent trajectory and source of laws. Though I am the Creator God, I am only the pinnacle of the laws of the Douluo God Realm. My power comes from this world, so naturally I can't forcibly tear through the dimensions of the universe and send you to another, completely unrelated world."

Ling Xuqing's heart sank to the bottom.

He stood frozen in place, his mind utterly blank.

He couldn't go back?

Was he really going to be trapped for the rest of his life in this perilous Forbidden God Land, where the laws were in disarray, with a sealed Golden Dragon King and a fragment of a soul?

"No... I don't believe it... There has to be a way!"

Ling Xuqing jerked his head up, a desperate resolve in his eyes.

He strode over to the Dragon God, tilted his head up, and asked urgently, "You just said you could help me. If you can't send me back directly, then you must have another way, right? Please, tell me. I'm willing to pay any price!"

The Dragon God fell silent for a moment as he watched Ling Xuqing, so frantic that his eyes had even reddened.

He gazed deeply at Ling Xuqing, as if trying to see right through his soul.

At last, the Dragon God spoke, his voice steady and strong. "Boy, it's simple. As long as you reach the pinnacle of this world and master its laws, you can wield the source of its laws and the power of the universe. Then you'll be able to find the path you came by and return to where you came from!"

"Reach the pinnacle of this world? Master its laws?"

Ling Xuqing froze. He mulled over the words, and after a brief blankness, quickly grasped what they meant.

His eyes lit up again, but this time, hope came with an even deeper despair.

"H-How could that be?!"

Ling Xuqing's voice rose sharply, thick with bitterness and self-mockery.

He pointed at the endless chaos and violent currents of energy all around them, then at the Golden Dragon King's body beneath him, vast as a mountain, and finally at the Dragon God.

"I don't have a Martial Soul, I don't have any Soul Power, and I'm not even on the Douluo Continent—I'm in the Douluo God Realm, in the Forbidden God Land!"

The more Ling Xuqing spoke, the more agitated he became. He waved his hands wildly in the air. "I'm just an ordinary person from Blue Star. I don't even know what Soul Power is. How am I supposed to reach the pinnacle of the Douluo World and challenge those lofty Deities? As I am now, I probably couldn't even beat the most ordinary Soul Scholars or Soul Masters on the Douluo Continent!"

His hands fell limply to his sides, his face drained of color.

By the rules of the Douluo Continent, without a Martial Soul or Soul Power, he was utterly useless.

What was more, he was now on the edge of the Divine Realm. A single energy storm here could tear an ordinary mortal like him to pieces.

Forget reaching the pinnacle of the world; it would be a miracle if he survived the day.

"No. You can do it."

The Dragon God's voice remained calm, without the slightest ripple, as if the despair and difficulties Ling Xuqing spoke of were nothing more than insignificant specks of dust in his eyes.

"I can do it?"

Ling Xuqing froze. He looked up at the Dragon God in disbelief. "How are you going to help me?"

The Dragon God raised his hand slightly and pointed at the enormous, dark-golden dragon body beneath them. His tone was as casual as if he were discussing something perfectly ordinary.

"It's simple. I'll control the Golden Dragon King's body and have him sacrifice himself to you. You'll fuse completely with the Golden Dragon King's origin and be remade. That way, you'll be able to use his power. After that, I'll send you to the Douluo Continent. All you have to do is awaken your Martial Soul and cultivate there as usual."

"The Golden Dragon King... sacrifice himself? Fuse? Send me to the Douluo Continent? Awaken my Martial Soul as usual? Cultivate?"

Ling Xuqing's brain crashed again.

Like a broken record, he mechanically repeated every key phrase the Dragon God had said, his eyes full of shock and confusion.

The Golden Dragon King was a terrifying being said to contain all the Dragon God's power and vital essence, an unparalleled Ferocious Beast that even the God Realm Committee had to join forces to seal!

And now this Creator God was saying he would have the Golden Dragon King sacrifice himself for Ling Xuqing?

He would have Ling Xuqing fuse with the Golden Dragon King's origin?

It was utter fantasy!

But before Ling Xuqing could recover from the immense shock, he suddenly realized there was another extremely serious problem.

He slapped his thigh, his expression darkening once more.

"No! That's completely wrong!"

Ling Xuqing hurriedly cut the Dragon God off, speaking at a rapid pace. "I'm already in my twenties! Don't people only awaken their Martial Souls at six on the Douluo Continent? How am I supposed to awaken mine? Am I supposed to sign up at a junior Soul Master Academy in my twenties? They'd think I was crazy and have me arrested!"

The more he thought about it, the more he felt the plan was riddled with holes.

He knew the basics of the Douluo Continent by heart. Awakening a Martial Soul at six was an ironclad rule. Once you passed that age, your meridians hardened, and no matter how talented you were, you could no longer awaken one.

Faced with Ling Xuqing's anxiety and doubts, the Dragon God didn't get angry. Instead, he patiently explained.

"Boy, because your body comes from another world, this world rejects it. So, if you appear on the Douluo Continent in your current state, this world's laws of rejection will crush you outright and obliterate your soul!"

At that, Ling Xuqing shuddered. A chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to his crown.

Only then did he realize that the body he had "smuggled" over was a ticking time bomb.

"So, if you want to go to the Douluo Continent, you have only one choice: reshape your body and condense a completely new one!"

The Dragon God's voice boomed like a temple bell, rousing Ling Xuqing. "Besides, the Golden Dragon King's power is incredibly domineering and potent. It takes an equally powerful body to bear all of it. So first, I'll have the Golden Dragon King sacrifice himself to you, then reshape your body, and send you to the Douluo Continent. You'll be able to awaken your Martial Soul as usual!"

Reshape his body?

Ling Xuqing's heart sank.

He lowered his head and looked at his hands, then touched his face.

A powerful sense of unease welled up inside him.

"Reshape my body..."

Ling Xuqing's voice grew hesitant and tremulous.

"Doesn't that mean I'll have to give up the body I have now? Then... will I still be me?"

He jerked his head up. Wariness and suspicion filled his eyes as he fixed them on the Dragon God, his voice turning shrill with tension. "You're not... planning to possess me, are you?!"

At those words, the entire Forbidden God Land seemed to fall silent for an instant.

A clear flicker of shock and surprise crossed the Dragon God's face, shrouded in divine light.

He seemed not to have expected Ling Xuqing's train of thought to be so peculiar. At this critical moment, with his very life at stake, he was worried about being possessed.

"You..." A note of incredulity entered the Dragon God's voice. He shook his head, his tone touched with helpless amusement. "I'm only a fragment of a soul now. At any moment, the chaotic laws of this Forbidden God Land could crush me and scatter me into the world. How could I possess you? If that were what I wanted, why go to all this trouble and give you the Golden Dragon King's origin?"

He paused, his tone turning solemn.

"Besides, when I reshape your body, I'll be using your current body as the foundation. After you fuse with the Golden Dragon King Bloodline, I'll forge it anew. More precisely, I'll use your existing body and soul as the basis, fuse them with the Golden Dragon King's origin bloodline, and make you a new body, one that's six years old. So in truth, your body will be preserved; it'll simply absorb the Golden Dragon King's origin bloodline and become six years old. Your soul will still be Ling Xuqing. That will never change."

After hearing the Dragon God's explanation, Ling Xuqing was completely stunned.

He stood in place, his mind utterly blank, as if struck by a bolt of lightning.

Keep his body and soul, fuse with the Golden Dragon King's origin, remake him as a six-year-old, and send him to the Douluo Continent to awaken his Martial Soul all over again...

How could this be?!