Half an hour earlier.
On the outskirts of Eastsea City.
Tang Wulin walked back toward the academy with a pair of Thousand-Refined Heavy Silver Hammers on his back, mentally tallying his earnings from forging these past few days and planning his cultivation.
The streetlights stretched his shadow long.
A cold wind swept past. The streetlight overhead flickered twice, then went out.
Tang Wulin stopped. His right hand darted toward the Storage Soul Tool at his waist, every muscle in his body tensing.
"Who's there!"
Thick Blue Silver Grass sprouted from his left hand! He was ready to unleash Blue Silver Entanglement at any moment!
All around him was silent, save for the rustle of wind through the leaves.
A slender hand reached out of the shadows behind him and pressed soundlessly against the back of his neck.
Tang Wulin did not even have time to release a Soul Skill. His vision went black, and he instantly lost control of his body, collapsing limply.
The towering shadow lifted him with one hand as the space around them warped violently.
Boy and shadow vanished into thin air.
Somewhere in Eastsea City.
The cold, gloomy space had been cleared in advance, its floor covered in intricate blue array patterns. Heart-stopping pulses of energy flowed through every line, completely isolating the secret chamber from the outside world.
Tang Wulin lay flat at the very center of the Magic Array, sleeping peacefully.
Gu Yue stood on the north side of the Magic Array, her long silver hair stirring without a breeze.
Na'er stood on the south side, her hands crossed over her chest and her eyes closed, a gentle silver glow radiating from her body.
Dressed entirely in black, Di Tian guarded the edge of the Magic Array with a solemn expression.
"My lord, the Magic Array is ready," Di Tian reported, lowering his head.
Gu Yue looked at Tang Wulin within the array and raised her right hand.
"Today, we reclaim the golden dragon king bloodline."
She forced a drop of pure silver blood from her fingertip and flicked it away.
The blood landed precisely in the array's central nexus.
The entire Magic Array erupted with dazzling silver light. Its intricate patterns seemed to come alive, spreading up along Tang Wulin's body.
Na'er opened her eyes at the same moment. A strange light flickered in her purple eyes as her hands rapidly formed seals.
"Lost Golden Dragon King, return to the Dragon God's embrace." Gu Yue's voice echoed through the chamber with an ancient, mysterious cadence. "The Soul Beast Clan... awaits you."
As Gu Yue's words fell, ripples spread through the room's Magic Array, and Tang Wulin's body began to convulse violently.
Within him, the golden dragon king bloodline suppressed by eighteen seals sensed the dragon soul's guidance and began to run wild!
Frenzied golden blood energy spilled from Tang Wulin's body, forming tiny golden dragon phantoms that circled and roared in midair, desperately trying to break free of this human vessel.
Fanatic fervor flashed in Gu Yue's eyes. She grasped at the air with both hands, trying to draw that golden blood energy into the Magic Array and isolate it.
Just then, an unexpected change struck.
Tang Wulin's tightly shut eyes flew open. Their once-distinct blacks and whites had turned pure blue-gold.
Without warning, an intensely dazzling blue-gold light shone between his brows.
The light swiftly expanded, forming a distinct Trident Mark.
A vast, majestic, inviolable sacred aura erupted from Tang Wulin's body like a tsunami.
Sensing that familiar aura, Di Tian drew a deep breath. This was the man who had slain the Dragon God.
Blue-gold light gathered above Tang Wulin, condensing into an illusory figure.
He had long, sea-blue hair and wore magnificent divine armor, a massive golden trident clasped in his hand.
It was none other than God King Tang San!
This was a mark Tang San had left within Tang Wulin, which would activate whenever Tang Wulin's life was in danger.
The God King's phantom slowly lowered his head, his gaze sweeping over the three present with lofty indifference.
"You are... Di Tian, and... the Silver Dragon King."
The phantom's voice was quiet, yet it shook the entire space, sending fine cracks through even its spatial barriers.
"Hah. You Soul Beasts dare lay hands on my son!"
Tang San's phantom raised the Sea God Trident, and blue-gold divine light instantly suppressed everyone present.
Even if he was only a wisp of divine consciousness, even if he was merely a mark.
The authority of a God King's rank still exerted a faint suppression.
Gu Yue's face went pale, but the defiance in her eyes only intensified.
She slowly raised her head, facing that lofty divine phantom head-on.
"Why wouldn't we dare!"
Gu Yue threw back her head and howled. Her clear feminine voice instantly became a deafening, piercing dragon roar.
Dazzling silver light erupted, and an enormous silver dragon appeared within the space, her scales shimmering with a seven-colored halo.
The Silver Dragon King's true form!
At the sight, Di Tian no longer held himself back.
"Roar-"
Black dragon flames spewed forth as he transformed into an enormous black dragon with golden eyes, coiling beside the Silver Dragon King.
The combined pressure of two supreme Soul Beasts made everything tremble.
Na'er stood at the edge of the Magic Array, enduring the immense pressure while keeping her hands in their seal-forming posture.
She needed to continue guiding the golden dragon king bloodline. Once they reclaimed it, all three dragons would strike together, and Tang San would surely fall!
"Obstinate fools."
Tang San's phantom's gaze turned cold, and he pointed the Sea God Trident forward.
"Unfixed Storm!"
Ring after ring of blue-gold light rippled outward, rushing straight toward the Silver Dragon King and the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King.
Battle erupted in an instant!
The rings of Unfixed Storm overlapped in layer upon layer, hurtling toward the Silver Dragon King and the Black Dragon King.
The silver dragon Gu Yue had become let out a piercing roar. A seven-colored halo burst forth, and an Elemental Storm swept through the chamber.
The Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King's massive body rampaged forward, spewing black dragon flames of destruction that tore through the blue-gold rings by sheer force.
In the end, Tang San was only a divine consciousness mark left within the bloodline.
Without his true body's divine power to sustain him, that illusory figure began to flicker violently under the two supreme Ferocious Beasts' joint assault, fading in and out.
The Sea God Trident's light dimmed.
"A mere mark dares act so insolently before us!"
Di Tian roared, his dragon tail lashing viciously at Tang San's phantom with power that could destroy heaven and earth.
The spatial barriers shattered inch by inch.
Tang San's phantom raised his trident to block, but that savage force sent him sliding backward dozens of meters, his form growing even more transparent.
He glanced down at Tang Wulin, who was still convulsing within the array below, then looked up at the two Ferocious Beasts closing in on him.
This body was still too frail to withstand any more descending divine power.
If the battle continued, the divine consciousness mark would dissipate completely, and the golden dragon king bloodline would surely be stripped away.
Tang San's phantom abruptly slammed the Sea God Trident into the ground.
Blue-gold divine light shot skyward, piercing straight through the underground chamber's ceiling and soaring into the clouds.
"Father, help me!"
The mighty voice pierced the barriers of space, carrying into the endless void.
Alarm bells rang in Gu Yue's heart.
He still had another card to play?
The next second, an unimaginably terrifying pressure descended from the sky.
This was not divine power.
It was an immensely weighty, boundless power that embraced all things.
The laws of the entire Douluo Continent seemed to resonate at that moment.
A pair of enormous eyes appeared in the sky. Then a burly figure in gray robes stepped through the void, descending directly above them.
The man held an incomparably massive black Clear Sky Hammer, nine dark-red patterns winding around its head.
Tang Hao.
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