Bloodline Drawn in Secret, Siblings as Strangers

The courtyard before the Sea God Pavilion was silent enough to hear a pin drop.

Huo Yuhao pushed himself up from the bluestone ground in disarray, blood clearly staining the corner of his mouth. Bitterness and confusion churned within him. In the blink of an eye, the beloved he had missed day and night for years, the one he had waited so long for, had returned only to not recognize him at all. Because of one moment of rashness, she had even attacked him without hesitation.

Begonia blossoms drifted down in rustling waves, making the atmosphere even more delicate.

Not far away, Tang Wutong slowly withdrew the violet-gold butterfly light around her. The cold anger she had shown Huo Yuhao moments ago vanished completely. Her clear, ethereal violet-gold eyes shifted slightly and settled on Tang Wulin, who stood silently nearby.

The gazes of all the elders, students, and Wang Qiu'er likewise converged on the two of them.

Everyone immediately noticed their astonishingly coincidental compatibility.

Tang Wulin, Tang Wutong.

They shared the Tang surname and both carried the character "Wu" in their names.

Their facial features and outlines were strikingly alike, and both possessed a clean, clear aura. Standing together, anyone would instinctively assume at first glance that they were siblings by birth.

Yet after searching every genealogy, sect record, and family lineage across the entire Douluo Continent, no one could find even the slightest blood relation between them.

No one knew the truth.

In the current era of the Peerless Tang Clan, Tang Wulin had never been born. Whether in the God Realm or the mortal world, no trace of him existed at this time. The Tang Wulin before them was a stranger swept here by the currents of space-time from the dark era after Shrek's destruction in Legend of the Dragon King, ten thousand years in the future.

To him, Tang Ziran and Lang Yue, who had raised and cherished him since childhood, were the only family he had ever acknowledged in this life. Even now, no one had ever told him of his hidden origins in the God Realm. He had no idea that he was Tang San and Xiao Wu's biological son, much less that the girl before him, whose features resembled his so greatly, was his blood-related elder sister.

As for Tang Wutong, her memories had been completely sealed by the power of the God Realm.

She lived in this era as Tang San and Xiao Wu's daughter, yet had no idea that in the years to come, she would gain a biological younger brother. She could not understand destiny's misalignment or decipher the mysteries of time and space, but the bond of kinship flowing in her flesh and blood was an instinct that could never be erased.

She was cold, wary, and distant toward the unfamiliar Huo Yuhao when he approached her.

Yet when she looked at Tang Wulin alone, an inexplicably gentle and familiar sense of closeness rose within her.

There was no cause, no consequence, no prior recognition, no past encounter—only the instinctive pull buried deep in their bloodline.

This inexplicable fondness instantly softened her cool brows and eyes. The aura that kept others at a distance withdrew completely, and her attitude toward Tang Wulin held a gentle kindness that no one else had ever received.

When everyone examined the auras of their powers, they became even more baffled.

The Golden Dragon King's Origin circulating around Tang Wulin was rich and domineering, a genuine and pure power of dragon bloodline.

Tang Wutong's Radiant Dragon God Butterfly dragon might stemmed from the acquired evolution of her martial soul, born from absorbing special power. It did not share the same source as the Golden Dragon King's Origin and merely possessed the dragon attribute as well.

Their names made them seem like siblings, their appearances made them seem like siblings, their bearing made them seem like siblings, and both possessed dragon power.

Yet every record in the world proved that they had nothing to do with one another and had never met before.

"Such a bizarre and extraordinary coincidence actually exists in this world." A white-haired elder sighed softly, his eyes full of astonishment and doubt.

Tang Wulin stood quietly where he was, his emotions calm and still.

He knew nothing of his God Realm origins or his fated kinship with the girl before him. He merely found her features pleasant to look at, nothing more. The shadows of Shrek's destruction, of his home and family being lost, still remained carved in his heart. In his life, Tang Ziran and Lang Yue had always been his only family.

"Have you two truly never met before?" the elder asked again.

Tang Wulin nodded slightly, his tone calm and proper. "This is our first meeting today."

Tang Wutong blinked gently. The clear sweetness of her voice had shed its earlier chill. "This is also the first time I have met you. I simply do not know why, but when I see you, I feel inexplicably at ease and familiar. I cannot summon even the slightest guard against you."

That simple sentence left everyone present even more confused.

Huo Yuhao watched the stark difference from the side, and a turmoil of emotions filled his heart as bitterness spread through him.

The same person had spoken harshly to him and punished him with an attack, yet she was gentle and kind toward Tang Wulin, whom she had never met, feeling close to him from the start.

No one knew the secrets of heaven, and no one saw through the mysteries of time and space.

Above the Nine Heavens God Realm, Tang San and Xiao Wu quietly looked down upon the mortal world.

They watched the young man whose features seemed familiar and whose bearing was so extraordinary. A faint sense of both strangeness and familiarity lingered in their hearts, yet they had no idea that he was their biological son, one who would only be born in the future.

A pair of genuine biological siblings.

Separated at opposite ends by the misalignment of time and space.

The younger brother did not know he had a sister, the elder sister did not know she had a brother, and their parents did not recognize their own child.

Only their burning bloodline silently tugged at this fated encounter across ten thousand years.

A kinship unknown to all, with everyone left in ignorance, known only to the heavens themselves—siblings who were strangers.

The story in Shrek's lower-world courtyard continued to unfold. Everyone was bewildered by that bizarre "coincidence," and no one could have imagined that in the God Realm above countless planes, a truth capable of overturning time itself was being revealed.

At this time, the God Realm had not yet suffered the assault of the space-time currents. The gods each performed their duties, and the radiance of the God Realm Nexus flowed slowly, creating a scene of peace and harmony. Tang San sat upon the divine throne of the law-enforcing god, while Xiao Wu leaned against his side. Their divine senses overlooked the countless affairs of the Douluo Continent below. After sensing that faint, familiar aura from Tang Wulin earlier, a trace of doubt had lingered in their hearts, yet they could not deduce the source of that familiarity no matter how hard they tried.

Just then, a dim blue-gold speck of divine consciousness, trembling as if it might shatter at any moment, broke through layer after layer of planar barriers. It crossed the cracks between time and space and struggled upward from the lower world toward the God Realm.

It was Old Tang.

He had followed Tang Wulin through countless life-and-death trials in the era of Legend of the Dragon King, witnessed the flames that soared into the sky as Shrek burned, and then accompanied him as he drifted into this era through the space-time currents. Now, he had separated from Tang Wulin's spiritual sea and flown alone toward the God Realm through the connection of their origin.

Within the God Realm, without any warning, that aged phantom of divine consciousness condensed out of thin air before Tang San and Xiao Wu. Its light flickered between brightness and darkness, as though it would collapse completely the next instant.

Tang San's divine power instantly tensed throughout his body. The blue radiance of Poseidon and the dark crimson glow of the Asura God flashed at the same time. He could clearly discern that the origin of this strand of divine consciousness came entirely from himself.

Yet he frantically searched through every memory in his mind, from his youth and ascension to godhood to his rule over the God Realm. No matter how he searched, the Tang San of this moment had never split off such a strand of divine consciousness. He had absolutely no memory related to it.

"This is my divine consciousness, but I have never done such a thing." Tang San frowned deeply, his voice filled with disbelief.

Xiao Wu could not help tightening her grip on Tang San's arm, her almond-shaped eyes full of shock and confusion. "Third Brother, what is this? Why has a divine consciousness belonging to you appeared here out of nowhere?"

An aged, weary voice slowly emerged from the phantom. Old Tang calmly revealed everything.

"Tang San, Xiao Wu, there is no need to search your memories so desperately. Naturally, you have no memory of splitting me off, because I do not belong to the present. I come from the future."

"In the future, the God Realm will suffer an unprecedented catastrophe of time and space. The Golden Dragon King's Curse will fall upon your second son, who has not yet been born. At that time, the future you, in order to protect that ill-fated child, will painfully divide a strand of your own origin divine consciousness, name it Old Tang, and send it down to the lower world to protect Tang Wulin until he grows up."

"It was merely an accident in time and space that allowed me, who should have belonged to the future, to cross through the ages and arrive in the present."

"Your eldest daughter, Tang Wutong, is currently at Shrek Academy on the Douluo Continent. You know this already. As for your second son, Tang Wulin, he has not yet been born in the God Realm along this timeline."

"Now, he has been swept here from the era ten thousand years in the future by the space-time currents. The mortals Tang Ziran and Lang Yue raised him to adulthood, and to this day, no one has told him his true origins. He does not know that he has biological parents in the God Realm, nor does he know that Tang Wutong is his blood-related elder sister."

"At this very moment, the siblings are in the same academy, only a short distance apart. Tang Wutong's memories are sealed, and she feels close to him only through the instincts of her bloodline. Tang Wulin remains in the dark, completely unaware of the bond he shares with the girl before him."

Every word exploded through the God Realm like thunder.

Tang San froze upon his divine throne, and the heart of the supreme God King shuddered violently. At last, he understood where that persistent sense of familiarity from the young man in the lower world came from. It was not some vague, intangible feeling. That was his son.

Xiao Wu's eyes reddened instantly, her nose stinging and her chest aching in waves. She had never known that she would have another son in the future, much less imagined that the child was drifting alone in an era that did not belong to him, while his closest family stood beneath the same heavens and yet did not know one another.

"The future me... would actually send a strand of my consciousness down to the lower world to protect him for his entire life." Tang San murmured softly.

The current him had not experienced any of that and had not lived through those years of protecting Tang Wulin. Yet through Old Tang, he truly glimpsed the heavy, restrained fatherly love of his future self.

Old Tang's phantom became increasingly transparent. Crossing time and space had consumed most of his strength. Having fulfilled his mission of delivering the truth, he could no longer maintain his form.

"I have delivered the truth. The future has not yet happened, and the past cannot be changed. Remember this: do not rashly attempt to alter anything that has already occurred."

As his voice fell, the blue-gold phantom scattered like falling starlight, fading bit by bit into the skies of the God Realm until it vanished completely.

The vast God Realm Nexus fell into a long silence.

Tang San and Xiao Wu lowered their heads together and looked toward Shrek's courtyard below.

In the lower world, Tang Wulin stood quietly there, his heart still bearing the pain of Shrek's destruction in the old era, regarding only Tang Ziran and Lang Yue as his parents. Tang Wutong looked at him with that inexplicable gentleness and closeness in her eyes. Huo Yuhao stood nearby, filled with bitterness. The elders were still marveling at a coincidence rarely seen in the world.

Everyone in the mortal world remained in the dark.

Only Tang San and Xiao Wu in the God Realm had seen through this misalignment of destiny spanning ten thousand years.

They now knew that their future son was in the lower world.

Yet the current them had not welcomed this child's birth, nor did they possess those memories of Old Tang's companionship.

Tang San's hand slowly clenched, and pain, emotion, and deep concern intertwined in his divine eyes.

They knew the truth, but could not easily interfere. The laws of time and space stood before them, leaving him able only to watch from afar as the siblings, so close yet strangers, stood apart.