The God Kings suddenly discovered that their consciousnesses could no longer reach outside, and they had lost contact with every divine sense they had left in the lower realms.
Consciousness and divine sense were different.
One had only a single consciousness, but could split off multiple divine senses.
If the former was gone, the latter would be nothing more than empty bodies of energy.
"This is bad!"
Tang San hurriedly tried to contact his divine sense on the Douluo Continent, only to discover that he had lost contact with it as well. He could sense nothing there.
Now Tang San panicked.
Without him, the mastermind, directing things behind the scenes, who knew what would happen below or which direction events would take?
Although he had arranged certain things in advance, plans could never keep pace with change.
"Damn it! I finally discovered a rising star, someone with the potential to become a God King!"
Anger surged in Tang San's heart, but he forcibly suppressed it and consoled himself. "No, the arrangements I made in advance should be enough. As long as nothing unexpected happens, he'll definitely go to Shrek."
"Xiao Qi will go to Shrek too, but..."
He had been hesitating over whether to have his daughter disguise herself as a boy and approach that person, forging a connection early to pave the way for future developments.
And now, just as he had made up his mind, he could no longer send the instructions down.
That meant Xiao Qi would enter Shrek directly.
He was not worried that their threads of fate would fail to intertwine.
After all, his daughter was the continent's greatest genius, and that person would rise to prominence as well. As long as they attended the same academy, their paths were bound to cross.
It was just that unforeseen changes might arise before their paths crossed.
"That shouldn't happen... The Douluo Continent couldn't possibly produce another genius with the potential to become a God King." Tang San inwardly shook his head.
"Quick, look outside the Divine Realm! There seems to be a force enveloping it. It's wearing away our consciousnesses, preventing them from reaching outside."
At that moment, the God of Kindness noticed what was happening.
The others immediately looked over and saw that a very faint layer of purple energy enveloped the Divine Realm.
Moreover, the aura of that energy was familiar. It belonged to the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon.
"This is..."
The God of Evil sensed that power, and a slight change came over their expression. "It does come from the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon, but its strength has diminished."
After examining it carefully, the God of Life offered a guess. "Could this be the power left in the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon's corpse after its death?"
"Well..."
The God of Destruction and the others fell into thought.
That conjecture was quite plausible.
To stop the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon from continuing to wreak havoc on the Divine Realm, they had gone to great lengths to lure the creature outside and kill it.
They had thought the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon's corpse had been annihilated, never expecting that some residual power would remain and envelop the Divine Realm.
"We must eliminate this power."
"Otherwise, our consciousnesses won't be the only things unable to reach outside. The Divine Realm won't be able to replenish its divine power either, and sooner or later, it will collapse."
The God of Destruction spoke gravely, his expression solemn.
"Eliminating it outright is unlikely." The God of Life shook their head and sighed. "We can only counteract it with our divine power."
At those words,
the expressions of the God of Destruction and the others darkened.
Calling it counteracting sounded pleasant enough. Put bluntly, they would have to feed that force their divine power until it burst.
And that was bound to be slow, painstaking work, like grinding away at a millstone.
"No matter what, we must eliminate this power. Inform the other deities in the Divine Realm and have everyone contribute their divine power together!"
Tang San immediately rose to his feet, looking the very picture of righteous resolve.
Contempt flashed in the God of Destruction's eyes. He saw straight through Tang San's little scheme.
Still, he said nothing.
After all, Tang San was indeed right this time.
"Given the power the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon left behind after death, even if every deity joins forces, it will probably take more than half a month just to barely eliminate it."
The God of Evil gave a bitter laugh, feeling increasingly weary.
Things were growing ever more complicated and difficult, yet they had no choice but to act.
That damned Nine-Headed Demon Dragon had to disgust the Divine Realm one last time even after dying.
"Alas, let's begin."
The God of Destruction kept sighing.
Not even Tang San had ever made him feel that a situation was this troublesome.
Four years later.
In a clearing in the Star Dou Great Forest.
Dozens of thousand-year soul beasts surrounded a boy, baring their teeth and brandishing their claws.
"Roar!"
A Raging Lion nearing the ten-thousand-year level moved first, and almost simultaneously, the other soul beasts lunged at the boy.
Facing soul beasts attacking from every direction, the boy moved nimbly and with astonishing speed, weaving and darting through their encirclement.
No matter how the soul beasts lunged, they could not even brush the hem of his clothes.
"Wind Sweeps Away the Clouds."
The boy gave a low cry. Fierce winds swirled around him, and what seemed like an invisible tornado shot skyward, sweeping all the surrounding soul beasts into the air.
Then he thrust both arms forward, and two lifelike phantoms of true dragons spiraled out.
One was a blazing dragon of ultimate fire.
The other was a water dragon of ultimate water.
Both dragons surged forth, their forces grinding against each other, defeating all the dozens of thousand-year soul beasts suspended in the air.
They were either scorched black by flames or tossed about by the currents until their heads spun.
Had the boy not deliberately restrained his power, those dozen or so thousand-year soul beasts would have met only death.
Thud, thud, thud...
The twin dragons vanished, and the soul beasts fell to the ground in utterly bedraggled heaps.
Now the soul beasts stared at the boy with immense wariness, not daring to take another step forward.
The boy's expression remained calm as he casually waved a hand.
As though they had received some command, the thousand-year soul beasts immediately scattered, not daring to linger even a second longer.
"Young master, well done."
Just then, a voice sounded behind the boy, and a purple-clad woman with a voluptuous figure and an alluring air stepped out.
She was Zi JI, one of the seven great ferocious beasts of the Star Dou Great Forest.
And the boy she addressed as "young master" was none other than Gu Yunxiao.
Gu Yunxiao had changed greatly over those four years.
The little boy of days past had grown into a handsome youth.
Perhaps because of his Heavenly Tribulation Demon Dragon bloodline, Gu Yunxiao matured earlier than others his age, and he had already reached a height of 1.7 meters.
He wore dark robes, and his ink-black hair fluttered in the wind, gleaming with a distinctive luster beneath the sunlight.
His face was handsome, his features exquisitely refined, like a perfect masterpiece painstakingly sculpted by the Creator.
Even the most extravagant words seemed unable to describe his appearance.
Most striking of all were Gu Yunxiao's noble, mysterious purple eyes.
They made him seem like a star in the heavens or the moon reflected in the sea-visible, yet forever beyond reach.
Gulp...
As Zi JI gazed at Gu Yunxiao before her, she swallowed almost imperceptibly, a trace of infatuation and longing flashing in her eyes.
The mere fact that he possessed the Heavenly Tribulation Demon Dragon bloodline was enough to set her heart fluttering.
And on top of that, Gu Yunxiao was truly beautiful.
Over the past four years, every time she drew close to Gu Yunxiao, that inexplicable desire in her heart grew stronger, becoming harder and harder to restrain.
"It was all right. These soul beasts have only average bloodlines, so dealing with them wasn't much of a challenge."
Gu Yunxiao shook his head. "Besides, I'm still not quite proficient at using my three ultimate attributes. I need to keep practicing."
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