After absorbing the drop of purple-gold blood belonging to the Ancient Void Dragon Phoenix, the Silver Dragon King fell back into a healing slumber. Gu Yuena, meanwhile, had absorbed it for only a short while before a mass of green wind-element energy carried her out of the Lake of Life. She began cultivating on land; evidently, the drop of Dragon Phoenix blood had benefited her greatly as well.
With the help of the Dragon God's soul, Gu Yuena's bloodline concentration was already extremely high. But the vitality within the Lake of Life was so immense that even Di Tian, who was only half a step away from becoming a god, probably would not dare step directly into it, let alone Gu Yuena. To preserve the life of this other half, the Silver Dragon King had sent her out of the lake.
The Ferocious Beasts present accompanied Xiao Yan on a long tour around the Lake of Life at his request. Now that he had become the common sovereign of the Soul Beasts, he did indeed need to learn more about this stronghold of the top Soul Beasts. At the same time, he needed to find Soul Beasts he could make use of, such as the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm he had just met, so that he could contend with or even thwart the Silver Dragon King's ambitions. After all, among the Soul Beasts that had spent hundreds of thousands of years cultivating, there were many powerful ones, no fewer than among humans.
After circling the Lake of Life several times, Xiao Yan and his companions returned to the vicinity of Gu Yuena's cultivation spot. Not far from where her graceful figure sat upright, a five-meter-long spear stood prominently, glittering with golden light and covered from end to end in subtle dragon-shaped patterns.
Strangely enough, Soul Beasts should not have possessed things like weapons. Even Soul Beasts less than two hundred thousand years old could briefly assume human form, but that form's only advantage was that it took up less space. It offered them no benefit in cultivation, and its combat power was inferior to their Soul Beast bodies. Thus, it was strange for a five-meter spear that only humans could use to be found in Soul Beast territory.
The golden spear gave off a faint, repeated hum, its shaft trembling slightly. In the ground where it had been planted, the dense life force had inexplicably vanished. Near the Lake of Life, the place with the strongest vitality on Douluo Star, it had created a small forbidden zone completely devoid of life force through its own power alone.
"This object is called the Golden Dragon Spear." Noticing Xiao Yan's confusion, Di Tian spoke up. "Legend has it that it was formed from one of Lord Golden Dragon King's ribs before he was sealed. Other rumors say it was formed from the Dragon God's rib and was his weapon and treasure. I did not take part in the great war that wiped out the dragon race, so I have no way of knowing what really happened."
"All we know is that after Lady Silver Dragon King fled into the void and came to Douluo Continent, this spear followed her through layer upon layer of space and landed here. Only the combined suppression of Lady Silver Dragon King and the life force of the Lake of Life can keep the Golden Dragon Spear from madly absorbing every bit of life force it can reach and causing a great calamity."
"It absorbs life force? But this spear clearly has an immensely powerful life force of its own," Xiao Yan asked in confusion.
"Precisely. All the life force within the Golden Dragon Spear was absorbed and converted from the outside world. That is also why it was once Lord Golden Dragon King's weapon."
"The Golden Dragon King is the ancestor of strength. Among our Soul Beast lineage, he is unquestionably foremost in the way of the physical body and strength. The Golden Dragon Spear's power to absorb life force comes from him, and by absorbing life force from the outside world and even from his enemies, Lord Golden Dragon King could cultivate and increase his own Bloodline Power."
"That is also why the Golden Dragon Spear is a supreme treasure that cultivators of Bloodline Power dream of obtaining."
"Unfortunately, this spear has a pride of its own. Only a possessor of the Golden Dragon Bloodline can rely on the strength of their body and bloodline to withstand its erosion of their life force. And only a possessor of the Golden Dragon Bloodline can tame this spear and become its master."
"But Lord Golden Dragon King has never left the Divine Realm. How many Soul Beasts on Douluo Continent could be fortunate enough to obtain the Golden Dragon Bloodline..."
Di Tian sighed. The Golden Dragon Spear was plainly a mountain of treasure, yet the Soul Beast Clan possessed it without being able to use it. How could that not cause them sorrow?
"So, no one can use this Golden Dragon Spear?"
"Not quite. The Auspicious Beast has a small measure of the Golden Dragon Bloodline. Not only are her bloodline and body powerful, but she also possesses the three Ultimate Attributes of light, fire, and spirit. Given time, her achievements will probably far surpass mine. She is the only one who can use the Golden Dragon Spear."
Hearing Xiao Yan's question, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion came over of her own accord, moving to his side beneath his hand. She seemed to be proudly telling him that she alone was the spear's master.
After listening, Xiao Yan followed Gu Yuena's example and rubbed the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's furry head by way of encouragement. The Three-Eyed Golden Lion seemed to enjoy it so much that she even forgot to keep pretending to be angry with him.
"This little one really is adorable." Xiao Yan stroked the Auspicious Beast for a long while as though petting a cat. Then he let go and walked toward the Golden Dragon Spear, one step at a time.
Xiao Yan was not someone who enjoyed gossip. Though the dragon spear was eye-catching, it was only a spear in the end, and not worth so much of his attention.
The only reason he had kept asking was that the dragon spear had been speaking to him all along. Ever since he entered this place, its humming had grown stronger, as though it had been talking to him, as though it had been waiting for him.
It was not the dragon spear that had attracted his attention, but he who had attracted the dragon spear's.
In the blink of an eye, Xiao Yan was no more than an arm's length from the dragon spear, as though its power to devour a person's life force completely in an instant did not exist for him.
He lightly grasped the enormous, five-meter-long dragon spear and then pulled it out with the greatest ease. Purple-gold scales emerged one by one across his body, and his hands transformed into immensely swollen dragon claws. The Golden Dragon Spear kept vibrating, as though trying to break free of Xiao Yan's claw, yet also as though expressing its joy that someone was worthy of it once more.
Di Tian and the other Ferocious Beasts watched him in shock and delight. The Three-Eyed Golden Lion looked worried. Of those present, she alone had tried to wield the Golden Dragon Spear, and she alone knew how terrifying it was. How could she not worry?
Unfortunately, Xiao Yan knew nothing of these emotions.
After taking hold of the Golden Dragon Spear, he had remained in the posture of pulling it out, while his divine sense had long since drifted somewhere farther away.
The Divine Realm.
The immensely vast body of a golden dragon appeared before him, its enormous maw seeming capable of swallowing heaven and earth. Its voice was deafening and utterly frenzied, yet it carried a trace of resentment.
"Human, human, utterly disgusting little bug!"
"Why is my supreme treasure in your hands?!"
With that, he struck out with a massive claw, plainly intending to take Xiao Yan's life.
Yet although the huge claw seemed unstoppable, Xiao Yan smiled faintly and met it with his own purple-gold dragon claw.
To the human eye, the Golden Dragon King's massive claw was probably a thousand times larger than Xiao Yan's dragon claw. Strangely, however, it could not break past Xiao Yan's purple-gold claw. As Xiao Yan and the Golden Dragon King matched strength, Xiao Yan actually held a slight advantage.
"If I were truly competing in strength with you, the ancestor of strength, I would be no match for you. But right now, we're only pitting our souls against each other. Your divine sense is impressive, but compared with mine, I'm fortunate enough to be a little stronger."
With that, the purple-gold dragon claw unleashed countless dazzling waves of light, blasting the Golden Dragon King's terrifying dragon claw full of holes and stripping it of all strength. The Golden Dragon King's immense dragon-shaped divine soul collapsed to the ground from the injury.
Strangely, however, such a grievous injury instead calmed the Golden Dragon King's soul somewhat, leaving him far less frenzied.
After all, the ancestor of strength valued strength above all else. Perhaps only a being several times stronger than him could make him regard them as an equal.
Xiao Yan withdrew his dragon claw. He wrapped a strand of divine sense in his soul power and sent it into the Golden Dragon King's soul.
That strand of divine sense held a record of what Xiao Yan's Dragon-Phoenix Bloodline felt like. He believed that the Golden Dragon King would surely be able to sense the power of his bloodline through it.
Sure enough, after sensing the strand of divine sense, the Golden Dragon King's divine soul raised his head and looked at him, his eyes full of emotions Xiao Yan could not understand.
Xiao Yan saw the goodwill the Golden Dragon King had shown and knew there would be no fight today. So he grabbed hold of the Golden Dragon King's sturdy scales, which were like a city wall, and used them to climb onto his neck. Then he called out:
"Now, can we have a proper talk?"
The golden dragon said nothing. He simply spread his wings and flew into the distance.