"Retreat!" At those words, Di Tian gave the order without hesitation. The group immediately took Huo Yuhao with them and streaked outward as beams of light.
"Stop right there!" Seeing this, the Titan Giant Ape, Er Ming, still wanted to pursue them, but the Sky Azure Bull Python, Da Ming, stopped him.
"We're just letting them leave like that?" Er Ming asked Da Ming.
"Save the injured first. Chasing them won't help! Without using god-level strength, we can't beat Di Tian and the others at all, let alone take him back. Besides, aren't you curious why Di Tian and the others came here to snatch that person?" Da Ming asked in return. The way this whole affair had unfolded felt very wrong to him. Could an Outer God persuade Di Tian and the others to help? This was his very first time coming to the Douluo Continent.
So the only one who could have prompted Di Tian to act was the child they had brought back. But why had Di Tian and the others intervened? What was so extraordinary about that child that he was worth Di Tian taking action, even bringing the Star Dou Great Forest's strongest experts here to rescue him?
And they had done so knowing full well that the two of them, who had already become gods, were here. Others might not know about them, but he believed Di Tian certainly did. Yet they had come anyway, prepared for the possibility of being defeated by them, to save someone.
This puzzlement gave him an even stronger premonition that if he and his younger brother pursued them, they would only make this storm more violent.
"They may have been acting on the Silver Dragon King's orders. The Silver Dragon King sleeps in the Star Dou Great Forest. She may have sensed the Outer God's arrival and wanted to rely on him to change the Soul Beast Clan's current situation.
"As you both know, relations between soul beasts and humans are growing worse and worse. If no balance can be struck, a battle to the death between humans and soul beasts is inevitable. When that happens, the destruction of either side would be an outcome the whole world could not bear." Just then, Tang San connected again and spoke. He had clearly heard Da Ming's doubts. Though he began with speculation, he plainly wanted to steer their thoughts in this direction.
"So you're saying she wants to use that Outer God to break the deadlock and wipe out humanity?" Sure enough, Da Ming's thoughts turned in that direction.
"If that's the case, we need to hurry after them right now." Impatient by nature, Er Ming prepared to give chase as he spoke.
"We can't pursue them. Through my exchange with that Outer God just now, I discovered he isn't a god. Only his spiritual abilities have reached the god level. He hasn't actually become a god yet.
"Under the Divine Realm's rules, beings like that fall within the category of naturally occurring circumstances permitted by the Divine Realm.
"If you act using divine strength, you'll be violating the Divine Realm's rules." Tang San shook his head and stopped Er Ming.
"Seriously? We can't use our full strength against Di Tian and the others, and now we can't even interfere in this?" Er Ming was even more stunned.
"That's right. We can't stop them. Those are the Divine Realm's rules. I'm now an enforcer of the God Realm Committee, and you're both close friends of mine. If you broke the rules and I turned a blind eye, others might think the rules mean nothing and can be broken at will," Tang San said.
"So there's nothing we can do? Just watch soul beasts and humans launch a war that won't end until one side is dead?" Er Ming asked anxiously.
"Perhaps it's not as bad as we think. Looking on the bright side, the Silver Dragon King may only want to change the current situation," Tang San said with a smile.
"That's a little optimistic. I think we'd better make whatever preparations we can. If we're overthinking it, all the better. If not, we still need to find a way to minimize the impact of this affair, preferably resolving it completely," Da Ming said, looking in the direction Di Tian and the others had left.
"But we can't interfere right now." No sooner had Tang San said this than he suddenly seemed to think of something. He said to Da Ming and Er Ming, "What do you think about letting Xiao Qi handle this?"
"Huh?" ×2
Those words left both Da Ming and Er Ming completely frozen.
"Have you gone mad? How old is Xiao Qi this year?"
"Exactly. Have you talked to Sister Xiao Wu about this?"
"Calm down, both of you. I know you're worried Xiao Qi is too young to handle this properly, but we have no other options right now. The other party is a god, and we gods involved in this matter can't interfere in mortal affairs.
"So I thought, since Xiao Qi happens to be planning to visit the mortal world for fun, I could leave a few safeguards on her and let her spend a few years on the Douluo Continent first.
"I imagine the Silver Dragon King and the others will need time before they act, no matter what. In a few years, Xiao Qi should have grown up. She isn't a god either, so she can deal with this.
"And I'll be watching the whole time. I won't let Xiao Qi suffer any harm," Tang San explained.
"That still won't do. What if Xiao Qi gets hurt? No matter what you say, I won't agree." Er Ming opposed it without a second thought, shaking his head repeatedly.
"I agree. Even if there's no other way, we can't let Xiao Qi take this risk." Da Ming took the same stance as Er Ming on this.
"I can't bear to let her take risks either, but for the sake of the Douluo Continent, with no other options, this is all we can do. Of course, if you two have a better idea, we can certainly use it.
"We have to avoid breaking the Divine Realm's rules, and we can't even be certain this incident will happen. If we send someone to handle something like this based solely on our suspicions, the rules will fall into disorder.
"Besides, if nothing actually happens, Xiao Qi will simply be spending a few years having fun in the mortal world. If something does happen, then consider it the responsibility she must bear as the daughter of me, the God King and Sea God Tang San.
"Among the gods in the Divine Realm who came from the Douluo Continent, who else has a child like I do?" As Tang San spoke, a trace of helplessness appeared on his face, as though he, too, had no choice but to let his daughter suffer a little.
Da Ming and Er Ming both fell silent. They wanted to deal with this, but how could they?
Just as Tang San had said, the Divine Realm's rules were there, and none of the other side were gods. In these circumstances, the rules allowed them to interfere even less. If the other side had become gods, then they could indeed handle this matter.
But they had not, so intervening would mean breaking the Divine Realm's rules.
All they could do now was send someone who wasn't a god to the mortal world, and that person had to carry a certain amount of weight. There was absolutely no one in their Clear Sky Sect who carried that kind of weight.
In their eyes, the daughter of Sea God Tang San certainly carried enough weight, but they truly did not want their dearly pampered niece to take this risk.
Although Tang San wasn't the only person in the Divine Realm with a daughter or a son, they did indeed seem to have no right to make another god's child take the risk, especially for the Douluo Continent. By no means had the vast majority of gods ascended from the Douluo Continent.
If you, a god who had ascended from the Douluo Continent, refused to deal with it yourself and insisted on making another god's child handle it, would that make any sense?
"Then it's settled. I'll explain things to Xiao Wu. I'll send Xiao Qi over in a little while. She'll stay with you for the next few years. When she's old enough to enroll at Shrek, help take her there. Let her go out and make some friends, too. Perhaps it'll help her grow, as long as she doesn't act like a Little Demoness and play pranks every day." Looking at the silent pair, Tang San finally settled the matter.
"All right." Da Ming and Er Ming nodded. They really couldn't stop it, and there seemed to be no reason to stop it either. They could only make her safety their utmost priority.
The Core Area of the Star Dou Great Forest!
After rescuing Huo Yuhao, Di Tian and the others had brought him straight back here.
When Huo Yuhao slowly woke, he saw a bald, muscular man, naked from the waist up, studying him curiously.
"Ah!" Huo Yuhao was badly startled. Scrambling backward on his hands and feet, he put some distance between himself and the burly man before asking timidly, "Y-you, who are you?"
"Boss, the little brat's awake." The bald, muscular man straightened up. His enormous frame stood over two and a half meters tall, making him look like a giant beside the tiny Huo Yuhao. His voice boomed like a great bell as he called toward the nearby lakeshore.
Boom!
Just then, a thunderclap burst through the void amid the dark clouds overhead.
"Who are you calling a little brat? I haven't even said anything about you stupid bear frightening my child, and you're still being so loud." Huo Yun's voice rang through the void, carrying a trace of anger and protectiveness.
Xiong Jun couldn't help shutting his mouth at those words. The great parent of this world had spoken. However many objections he had, he still had to behave.
"Mom, where is this?" Hearing Huo Yun's voice, Huo Yuhao felt reassured from the bottom of his heart. He couldn't help looking around and asking curiously.
"This is the Core Area of the Star Dou Great Forest. As for that stupid bear you just saw, he's Xiong Jun, king of the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bears. He's 470,000 years old and ranks sixth on that Ferocious Beast Rankings list you humans compiled. He's just a big oaf with muscles for brains. Don't mind him." Huo Yun's voice was exceedingly gentle, like a tender mother soothing a frightened child. Compared with before, she sounded like a completely different person.
"Well, would you look at that. Even her tone is different. Is this how a Child of Destiny gets treated? And he calls the World Consciousness Mom. I admit it, I'm jealous." The Myriad Demon King couldn't help rubbing his nose at those words. The World Consciousness had always been lofty and detached, never concerning herself with anything. Now, not only had she actively asked them to help rescue someone, but her voice was also so gentle.
Xiong Jun had only startled him a little just now, and she had already spoken in anger. If he actually laid a hand on him, wouldn't she fly into an absolute rage?
What Huo Yuhao cared about at that moment, however, were the two names Huo Yun had mentioned: the Core Area of the Star Dou Great Forest and the king of the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bears.
He had heard about both from Strawberry and Zhang Lexuan. The core area could be called the most dangerous place in the Star Dou Great Forest, home to the soul beasts' strongest experts.
Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bears were among the Soul Beast Realm's mightiest beings, and their king was even listed on the Top Ten Ferocious Beast Rankings. Within the Star Dou Great Forest, he was the strongest after the first-ranked Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King, Di Tian.
"Mom! By that reckoning, this little fellow counts as my younger brother." Just then, the Silver Dragon King's voice rang out.
"Wrong. Strictly speaking, he's your second uncle," Huo Yun corrected her, because the Silver Dragon King wasn't the Dragon God. She was merely one of the incarnations that had split off after the Dragon God's death. Even the Dragon God memories she had inherited differed somewhat. Strictly speaking, she wasn't the Dragon God, but the Dragon God's child.
In terms of standing, Huo Yuhao really was her second uncle.
"You really do know how to joke now." At those words, the Silver Dragon King was briefly stunned before smiling. She simply assumed Huo Yun was still angry with her and no longer wanted to acknowledge him.
For in her primary consciousness, she was the Dragon God. Though she was only a part of the Dragon God, when she and the Golden Dragon King reunited, they could fuse into the Dragon God and bring about the Dragon God's return.
"Think what you like." Huo Yun couldn't be bothered to argue with the Silver Dragon King about these questions of seniority.
"Since Yuhao has been rescued, we'll be leaving. As for what I promised you, I'll come help once Di Tian breaks through. Let's go, Yuhao."
Seeing that Huo Yun was about to leave with Huo Yuhao, the Silver Dragon King called out to stop them. "Wait. Although I don't know exactly what happened, I think today's incident should serve as a warning to you. However exalted your status and however much power you possess, the rules prevent you from using it.
"In a situation like today's, you can only come to us for help. To keep this younger brother of mine from getting into trouble again, you'd still have to seek us out. Why don't we deepen our cooperation?"
"Cooperation? How do you want to cooperate?" Huo Yun asked.
"You want to nurture this younger brother of mine into a being like the Dragon God, don't you?" Rather than discuss the cooperation first, the Silver Dragon King asked a question.
"Nurture him into a Dragon God? Him?" At those words, Di Tian and a woman with long, purplish-black hair reacted particularly strongly.
One was the Black-Eyed Golden Dragon King; the other was a Hell Demon Dragon.
Both were pure-blooded members of the Dragon Clan of the purest lineage. In their eyes, the Dragon God was the supreme, most powerful existence.
Yet now someone was telling them that someone wanted to nurture a human into a being like the Dragon God. Moreover, the one saying it was none other than the Silver Dragon King, one of the Dragon God's incarnations. Even coming from her, they did not believe it in their hearts and instinctively wanted to object.
But Huo Yun's answer made them choose to shut their mouths. "If I could bring one Dragon God into being, I can bring a second into being."
"Things aren't as they were before. Everything on the Douluo Plane used to be under your control, but how much energy can you mobilize to sustain him now? The destiny he carries should belong to humanity, too, shouldn't it? You can no longer do whatever you please as you once did."
"Do you remember who struck first and left me like this?" Huo Yun's temper soured at those words. So she wanted to discuss this matter with her? Then they could hash it out.
"Hasn't that all passed? You said so yourself." Seeing that Huo Yun was a little angry, the Silver Dragon King hurriedly offered an apologetic smile. Perhaps this was the only being in the world worthy of such a smile from her.
"I said the grudge was over. That doesn't mean I can forget the debt. If you want to settle that account, I'd be more than happy to. If not, get straight to the point," Huo Yun said gravely.
Hearing this, the Silver Dragon King no longer held anything back. "You want to nurture a god who can independently create a new Divine Seat and remain outside the current Divine Realm's control. But you need resources, and very few are available for you to mobilize now.
"Our Star Dou Great Forest is willing to provide resources and protection. This is our investment. What we need in return is for you to open a door of convenience for us, minimizing the harm suffered by the Star Dou Great Forest's soul beasts when they undergo Heavenly Tribulations. We also hope that, after this younger brother of mine becomes a god in the future, he can protect our Star Dou Great Forest as well."
Dear readers, please spare some recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is what motivates me to write.
Before you continue