Guidance of Bloodline

At the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest lay a boundary of life itself. Behind them stretched the straight tracks and lingering clamor of human civilization left by the soul train; before them spread a boundless, unfathomable green ocean. Dense life energy rushed toward them, mingled with the fragrance of earth, the heaviness of decaying leaves, and the wild power of countless hidden soul beasts.

Tang Wulin and Gu Yuena quietly slipped away from the train, like two drops of water merging into the sea without alerting a single passenger. Standing at the forest's edge, they drew deep breaths. Their blank souls seemed to be cleansed by that primal, majestic vitality, stirring faint ripples within them.

Just as they were about to enter this unknown land, Gu Yuena's gaze was drawn to two somewhat ancient bronze statues not far from the forest entrance.

They were not like the grand clusters of statues within Shrek City, but two simple bronze figures that had nearly blended into their surroundings. Two embracing silhouettes—one, a black-haired man with a gentle smile lowering his head as he held a silver-haired woman in his arms. Their faces remained clear, yet all that was left was an eternal, sorrowful pose. Thick moss covered the stone pedestal, leaving only the faintly recognizable engraved traces of "...Wulin" and "...Yuena."

There was no glory, no praise—only a weighty silence forgotten by time.

Yet these weathered stone carvings struck their hearts far harder than the gleaming statues in Shrek City.

Tang Wulin reached out, his fingertips brushing over the cold, rough stone surface and the outline of the figures. An immense, indescribable sorrow suddenly swept over him. It did not come from memory, but from resonance deep within his soul. It was as though he had truly experienced the despair of holding the person most important to him, yet being powerless to change anything.

Gu Yuena's violet eyes froze upon the embracing figures as well. The resolute spear thrust reflected in Sea God Lake, the trust of standing side by side amid shattered vehicle fragments, and the stone figure before her holding her in such grief... countless contradictory fragments crashed and tore through her mind.

"What... did we go through?" she murmured, her voice carrying a faint, barely perceptible tremble. Trust and betrayal, dependence and separation, glory and silence... their past was like a tangled knot wrapped in dense fog. The more they searched, the more lost they became.

This monument was like a magnet. It did not merely draw their eyes; it seemed to stir the sleeping memories of this land.

At that moment, Tang Wulin abruptly stopped.

His gaze was firmly caught by an utterly inconspicuous blue blade of grass growing from a crack at the base of the monument.

It was Blue Silver Grass.

The most ordinary and common useless martial soul on the Douluo Continent, found almost everywhere.

But this one was different.

In Tang Wulin's perception, this Blue Silver Grass gently swaying in the breeze seemed to be a tiny node within the life network of the entire Star Dou Great Forest. It radiated an incomparably familiar, incomparably warm aura, as though it came from the same origin. A faint emotion of joy flowed through its slender blue leaves, something only he could sense.

A tremor from the deepest part of his bloodline, like a sleeping volcano suddenly awakening!

His heart began pounding violently beyond his control. Blood surged and roared through his veins, and the powerful vitality belonging to the Golden Dragon King within him unexpectedly resonated with this tiny Blue Silver Grass!

Unable to stop himself, he crouched down and stretched out a finger, touching the soft blade with utmost gentleness.

The instant his fingertip made contact—

Boom!

It was not a sound, but a tremor of the soul!

Vast, blurred images burst into his mind like a flood breaking through a dam:

· An endless blue ocean: It was not an ocean of water, but a sea of life formed from countless Blue Silver Grass plants, spreading to the end of the world! Every blade of Blue Silver Grass conveyed attachment and submission to him. He was their emperor!

· A figure with an extraordinarily graceful body: A cold and proud silver-haired woman in a long silver dress. Her face was blurred, yet she carried a sorrow that made him want to weep. She merely leaned silently against that unknown place, her violet eyes filled with unwillingness and fury.

· An enormous golden trident, as though capable of dividing heaven and earth, stood amid azure seawater and endless Blue Silver Grass, radiating supreme majesty and an intent to protect.

The images vanished in an instant, too quickly for him to grasp any details. Yet that majestic life force, that warmth of bloodline connection, and that heavy responsibility to protect were branded into his soul with absolute clarity.

"Are you all right?" Gu Yuena noticed the abnormal fluctuation of his soul power and the sudden pallor of his face. Concerned, she supported him by the shoulder.

Tang Wulin suddenly came back to himself, gasping for breath as fine beads of sweat formed on his forehead. He raised his head to look at Gu Yuena, his azure eyes filled with unprecedented shock and confusion.

"I... I saw something..." His voice was hoarse. "The Blue Silver Grass... they... were calling to me."

It was not a call of sound, but guidance toward a direction, an instinctive pull. It was as though, deep within this forest, at the source where the veins of life converged, something sharing his bloodline was waiting for his return.

He rose to his feet. His gaze was no longer lost, but fixed deep within the forest. After he left, the ordinary Blue Silver Grass faintly straightened its stalk, its leaf tip pointing in the same direction.

"Follow me." Tang Wulin's voice carried an unquestionable resolve. The resonance of the Blue Silver Grass, the fragments flashing through his mind, and the increasingly clear pull from deep within his heart all pointed toward the same destination—the core of the Star Dou Great Forest, Lake of Life.

Gu Yuena looked at the light reigniting in his eyes, like a guiding beacon, and nodded without the slightest hesitation.

The two of them did not linger. Their figures disappeared beneath the dense canopy.

The light within the forest suddenly dimmed. Towering ancient trees blocked out the sky and sun, leaving only scattered patches of light filtering through layer upon layer of branches and leaves. The air was filled with the aura of even more powerful soul beasts, while countless eyes watched these two uninvited guests from the shadows.

But this time, Tang Wulin's steps were exceptionally firm. He no longer needed to deliberately discern the direction; the guidance of his bloodline was like the most precise compass. Wherever he passed, the surrounding Blue Silver Grass seemed to come alive, swaying silently to guide his way. They even faintly gave off weak auras, driving away the harassment of some low-level soul beasts.

He did not seem like an intruder, but rather... someone returning home.

Gu Yuena silently followed behind him, watching his strange interaction with the forest as thoughts churned in her violet eyes. His past seemed to share a deeper bond with this forest and with the most ordinary Blue Silver Grass than she had imagined. As for her, she felt an innate sense of belonging to this land, as though she had been born its ruler.

And ahead of them, deep in the heart of the forest, what kind of truth did the legendary Lake of Life conceal about her, and about the two of them together?

The search continued. And this time, what guided them was the instinct of bloodline and the echo of life.