Golden Dragon King

Tang Wulin stood in the center of the great hall.

The metal floor beneath his feet reflected his shadow, dragon-scale patterns stretching from beside his feet all the way beneath the throne. Golden points of light flowed silently across the dome overhead, like a frozen river of stars.

On the throne, the Golden Dragon King rested his chin on one hand, his crimson eyes lowered as he looked at him.

"Did you take in what I said today?"

"Which part?" Tang Wulin looked up. "You said so much, I can't remember it all."

The Golden Dragon King snorted and rose from the throne. His imperial-gold armor gave off a deep scrape of metal as he descended the steps one at a time.

"I said I'd take you somewhere nice."

"Where?"

"I'll take you to meet your wife early. What do you think?"

"I think it's a bad idea." Tang Wulin was expressionless.

The Golden Dragon King walked up to him and looked down at him for a while, then tilted his head. "Are you afraid?"

Tang Wulin did not answer.

"You're afraid something might go wrong and the future will become different from before." The Golden Dragon King finished for him, the mockery in his voice fading somewhat. "I can't guarantee it either. But—"

He reached into the void, and the Golden Dragon Spear condensed in his palm. Its twelve-foot shaft shone brilliantly like molten gold as he held it out before Tang Wulin.

"I'm not taking you to find that Silver Dragon. I want to take you to the Star Dou Great Forest. The life energy there is extremely dense and can help stabilize the power within your body."

Tang Wulin did not take the spear.

"The Star Dou Great Forest?" His voice was icy. "Golden Dragon King, what rank is my soul power even at right now? Going to a place like that is basically suicide. If your aura gets exposed—yes, that may indeed be the best solution for reviving the Dragon God. But you've already sealed most of your power inside me, and I control this body."

He took a step forward, raising his face to meet those crimson dragon eyes.

"I don't want to die."

The Golden Dragon King stared at him for two breaths, and the curve of his lips slowly faded. He withdrew the Golden Dragon Spear and turned toward the throne, his steps slower than before.

"No one is forcing you to die."

With his back to Tang Wulin, his voice lowered. "My seal has been gone for a long time. If I really wanted to possess you, the first face you saw when you woke up would have been mine."

Tang Wulin pressed his lips together. He knew the Golden Dragon King was telling the truth. The fact was that the Golden Dragon King had returned many years before him; he could have chosen to possess him completely, but he had not.

The great hall fell silent for a moment.

"Of course I want revenge." The Golden Dragon King suddenly spoke, his voice deep. "But what happens after revenge? Can my people return?"

He turned around, his crimson eyes fixed on Tang Wulin.

"Your father and the Destruction God had conflicting beliefs. Afterward, Spacetime Turbulence swept across the entire Divine Realm. When I returned, I sensed the aura of the Divine Realm because the spacetime passage was unstable—"

"But I did not sense the Destruction God or the Life God."

Tang Wulin's heart sank sharply. "What does that mean?"

"I suspect that, in order to resist Spacetime Turbulence, the two of them burned their divine power." The Golden Dragon King's gaze settled on Tang Wulin. "Besides, you are Shura's son. If you and that Silver Dragon can inherit those two divine positions, my people may still have a chance to live again. And besides, when you were in the glacier, did you really not sense it? The Dragon God's aura."

Tang Wulin froze. He had never expected the Golden Dragon King, the dragon clan's overlord known for his arrogance, to go this far for his people.

"What are you thinking?" The Golden Dragon King frowned.

"I'm thinking... what if they can't come back?"

"Can't come back?" The Golden Dragon King repeated softly. "Before Silver Dragon and I split apart, we were one, called the Dragon God. We were the strongest overlords of that era. Our people revered us, our enemies feared us, yet the Dragon God never oppressed others simply because of its overwhelming strength." The Golden Dragon King's voice gradually turned cold. "Later, the Dragon God was weakened by the laws of the universe after failing its breakthrough. Coupled with you humans' frenzied plundering of us, the Dragon God was ultimately defeated, slain, and split into Silver Dragon and me."

"I represent evil intent. Of course, I could use my power to launch a mad retaliation against all of you. The divine consciousness the Sea God planted within you was like that—I treated it as nourishment and fed it to you."

"But what about my people? What did they do wrong? I know this is because the strong devour the weak, which is why I believe solving the problem is far more important than mindless revenge. They named me king and granted me supreme authority. Likewise, seeking a way for their return is the responsibility I must bear. I don't know what Silver Dragon thinks. It represents wisdom and kindness, but if things truly are as you say, I will pay any price... to do what I can, and what I should."

After saying this, the Golden Dragon King vanished into the world once more.

"Hah..." Tang Wulin covered his chest with one hand and braced himself on the ground with the other. Within the Sea of Spirit, he was still in his grown-up form.

"Sense? Sense what? His killing intent that could crush me to death?" Tang Wulin muttered to himself. That final burst of killing intent had truly frightened him.

It was difficult to imagine what kind of disaster a demigod-king-level powerhouse who had lost all hope could bring about.

Gu Yue and he... when they had been in the glacier at the end.

Had Gu Yue left anything behind at the end—or had she left something for him?

Golden motes of light silently drifted down from the dome, hovering over Tang Wulin's shoulder before slowly dispersing. In the gradually vanishing hall, only the deep echoes of the giant dragons carved upon the coiling-dragon pillars remained, one after another, as though they could cross the ages while waiting to welcome their king.

Tang Wulin stood where he was, staring at the lights filling the sky, unable to calm himself for a long time.

"Gu Yue, this time... will you come find me?"