The Asura God King paused, then said, one word at a time, "She won't refuse."
The Council Hall fell silent for a long time.
At last, all five God Kings nodded.
The decision was made.
The Star Dou Great Forest.
The waters of the Lake of Life were deep and still, like a dark-green gemstone set deep within the earth.
A few fine ripples occasionally crossed its surface. They came from currents rising out of the depths, stirred by neither wind nor rain, but by the power slowly turning in Lakebed Space, buried under ten thousand years of sediment.
Above the lake, morning light slipped through gaps in the canopy and cast dappled patterns across the water. Mist drifted in the breeze like a thin veil.
On a great dark-green boulder at the water's edge, the Nine-Colored Deer lay quietly. Nine-colored radiance flowed around her like a veil woven over and over, pulsing gently with her breathing and bathing the entire lake in a warm, peaceful glow.
Far below that dark curtain of water, in Lakebed Space beneath layers of currents and sediment, a silver-white figure sat cross-legged.
Gu Yuena's eyes were closed. Her long silver-white hair floated gently in the water like a strand of moonlight brushed by the current, casting a faint silvery sheen over the darkness.
A faint silver halo surrounded her. It spread slowly outward from her, then drew back in ring by ring, keeping time with her breathing.
Her face was still pale, but it held more color than before, like stone buried under winter snow for too long finally taking on a trace of spring's warmth.
She was cultivating, tending to her injuries.
The wounds left by the Divine Realm's war ten thousand years ago had been too severe.
After the Dragon God