"Ugh..."
A muffled groan escaped Lou Xu's throat.
The breeze drifted like gossamer through the stray hair plastered to his forehead with sweat. Damp air, mingled with a faint fishy tang, crept into his nostrils and made his temples throb.
He slowly opened his eyes.
In an instant, his pupils contracted sharply.
The Myriad Demon King, Xiong Jun, Bi Ji, Zi JI, and the Scarlet King-all five Ferocious Beasts had appeared in their true forms.
Their enormous bodies blotted out the sky, casting terrifying shadows across the tranquil lake as though they would swallow Lou Xu whole.
Those massive figures surrounded him in a ring, several horrifying gazes fixed on him as though searching for someone to devour.
At that moment, he was like food laid out on a dining table!
Lou Xu clenched his fists, his fingertips piercing his palms. The sharp pain cleared his head a little.
He clearly remembered passing out just as he was about to fight Di Tian to the death.
Di Tian hadn't killed me, but had brought me to the Ferocious Beasts' lair instead?
He turned his head. Behind him, the enormous Silver Dragon King lay with her eyes closed, her brow tightening now and then before slowly relaxing.
Beside her lay an ice silkworm that was no small creature either.
Light flowed over the silkworm's body. As the Silver Dragon King absorbed his energy, her dulled scales grew a little more solid, their faint, seven-colored radiance bearing some resemblance to the mighty dragon in Lou Xu's dream.
Di Tian stood in attendance at one side.
At the sight of Di Tian's face, anger and hatred surged into Lou Xu's eyes. This was the one who had killed the old man and abducted him.
Beasts prowled around him, murderous intent lurking on every side.
With his current meager strength, revenge was utterly impossible.
Lou Xu gritted his teeth and suppressed his hatred, thinking about how to escape safely.
As he pondered, Xiong Jun's booming voice suddenly rang out.
"Hahahaha! Di Tian, where's that divine aura? Where did you drag this brat back from? Is he supposed to fill the gaps between my teeth?"
Di Tian's gaze sharpened, and he snapped, "Keep acting out, and I'll tear you apart!"
"Tch! I'm giving you some respect in front of our lord. You make it sound like I'm afraid of you..."
Xiong Jun wanted to say more, but when he saw the man-eating chill gleaming on Di Tian's claws, he shrank back and muttered under his breath.
Don't lose face! Show some backbone!
Lou Xu cheered Xiong Jun on inwardly, all but shouting aloud.
It would be best if they actually fought. Even the slightest opportunity would let him search for a way out amid the chaos.
Unfortunately, their confrontation came to an abrupt halt. A trace of undisguised regret flashed through Lou Xu's eyes.
Although his chance to fish in troubled waters was gone, Xiong Jun's outburst had eased some of the pressure weighing on him.
For all their frightening appearances, the five Ferocious Beasts were, at most, mere underlings here.
The ones truly in charge had yet to speak-Di Tian, for instance, or the Silver Dragon King, who still slumbered with her eyes closed.
As though responding to his thoughts, Mirror Lake suddenly trembled gently.
The Silver Dragon King had awakened.
The instant she opened her eyes, the atmosphere throughout the space froze. Her majestic voice echoed, sending ripples spreading across Mirror Lake.
"Human..."
"I sensed a divine aura upon you. Which deity of the Douluo God Realm are you the successor of?"
Her enormous head slowly drew closer, wariness and suspicion in her deep violet dragon eyes.
So she mistook me for someone from the Douluo God Realm?
No wonder they went to such lengths to capture me.
Understanding dawned on Lou Xu. He took a deep breath, keeping his voice as steady as possible.
"My name is Lou Xu. The divine aura you mentioned should be my Martial Soul. He comes from Ornn, the god of forging and craftsmanship, not one of those Douluo deities you mentioned."
He summoned his Martial Soul and drew upon the trace of power of the first flame within the Star-Iron Furnace Anvil to show the Silver Dragon King.
The Douluo Plane had voluntarily bestowed it on him after he awakened his Martial Soul.
The primal fire was the first flame to emerge when a planet's will was born, the dividing line between chaos and order.
Cold and heat, light and darkness, life and death arose from it, and the intelligence of living beings was born within the burning primal fire.
The Star-Iron Furnace Anvil itself possessed an innate ability like a living forge and contained the authority of forging. The divine aura was likely the lingering resonance produced by the union of the primal fire and that authority.
"Oh?"
The Silver Dragon King examined this power closely and could not help letting out a soft sound of surprise.
"It indeed does not come from the Douluo God Realm." She lowered her guard somewhat.
The Silver Dragon King was not surprised by divine power from another world. As one half of the Dragon God, she naturally knew that other universes existed across space and time.
Yet this feeble power, concealing boundless potential, left her marveling.
This deity named Ornn truly deserves to be called a mighty being capable of crossing the void. If this inheritance matures, its bearer will be at least a First-Level God!
Emotion surged within the Silver Dragon King.
The immediate threat of an invasion from the Divine Realm has been resolved, but...
She gazed at the primal fire Lou Xu had released, and the astonishing wisdom inherited from the Dragon God suddenly gave rise to a bold idea.
Young, with an untainted background...
If I can nurture this child and send him into the Divine Realm, then someday, with us coordinating from within and without...
The day we restore the Dragon God's glory will be close at hand!
While she pondered in silence, Lou Xu was also observing her.
Her silver-white dragon body was immense and elongated, covered in thick, overlapping silver-white scales. Black mist drifted within a huge fissure beneath her ribs, and the stubborn wound had almost drained the rainbow radiance from her scales.
Staring at that fissure, Lou Xu suddenly spoke.
"Your wound is festering from the inside. Even another ten thousand years won't heal it."
Without betraying his thoughts, he tossed out this seemingly disconnected remark, his eyes fixed intently on her, missing not the slightest change.
"Say that again?!"
The Silver Dragon King's pupils contracted sharply. Her appreciation vanished in an instant, replaced by the anger of having her secret exposed.
Her voice rose abruptly. She wanted to deny it outright, but the rebuttal caught in her throat and refused to come out.
Terrifying waves of force around her churned up surging billows. The water heaved violently, yet stopped abruptly upon reaching Lou Xu's feet without harming him in the slightest.
That sight made Lou Xu even more certain of his judgment.
He tilted his head to glance at the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and scoffed.
"I said, even if you squeeze that ice silkworm dry and drain him of everything, you can forget about making a full recovery!"
"..."
"Brat, what did you say?!"
"He dared disrespect our lord! Kill him!"
"A mere human, daring to spout such arrogant nonsense!"
"Even I can't heal our lord's wounds. What gives you the right to make such wild claims?!"
After a brief silence, the Ferocious Beasts erupted in angry, indignant curses.
Even the normally gentle Bi Ji could not help glaring at him and rebuking him sharply.
"..."
Ignoring the furious roars of the Ferocious Beasts behind him, he straightened his back and let the raging waves batter it.
He continued.
"I'm a blacksmith."
"One glance tells me whether a piece of metal contains impurities. Your wound is an impurity. It's inside you, but it clearly doesn't belong to you."
"Iron has to be heated again and purified. As for you..."
The Silver Dragon King swept her gaze across them.
Under her gaze, the Ferocious Beasts behind him all fell silent and quieted down again.
"You have a way?"
"To put it another way, I'm the only one on this entire continent who can heal you!"
Lou Xu lifted his head proudly, meeting her angry violet eyes without the slightest fear.
As his words fell, the Ferocious Beasts' roars abruptly stalled.
What did he say?
He could heal her?
The Silver Dragon King lowered her head to look at Lou Xu, suspicion mingling with her probing gaze.
"Empty words prove nothing. Why should I believe you?"
The Ferocious Beasts all believed her wound came from an external injury, and for years they had replenished her with all manner of life essences and heavenly treasures.
In truth, her wound had been infected by an unknown force within space-time turbulence. That force was domineering and tenacious, clinging like a festering sore lodged against the bone, impossible to dispel. Amid the endless torment, her strength had continued to decline.
Yet Lou Xu had actually seen through it, and even had the gall to claim that only he could heal her?
She did not answer, merely turning his words over and over in her mind, weighing them.
Lou Xu spoke candidly.
"Of course you can choose not to believe me, then go on sleeping and enduring the torment!"
Before you continue