The mist above the Gloomy Mist Soul-Entangling Swamp was still slowly flowing, as if it had not yet fully recovered from the great change in its Fate Soul. Qin Yu raised his hand, his gaze falling on the small dragon quietly coiling before him, his tone unconsciously softening, becoming low and gentle.
"Alright, Azure Ring, Xiaolong."
The moment the voice fell, the little dragon's body visibly trembled, its previously curled-up posture quickly unfurling. It obediently floated directly in front of Qin Yu, its head slightly lowered, as if listening intently. Azure Ring, on the other hand, remained leisurely, swinging her legs as she sat on its back, casually patting its scales, her expression as content as if this was her natural place.
Qin Yu watched this scene with a hint of a smile in his eyes, then his gaze returned to Xiao Long, and his tone became more serious.
"The name 'Thoughtless Stillness Dragon' is neither pleasant to hear nor very long." He paused, as if considering the resonance deep within his Fate Soul. "Yunyi is the original master of the Illusory Dragon Abyss, while you are an existence born from the 'Void of Thought Severance'."
Her voice was soft and gentle, yet it carried the power of naming itself to establish order. "So, from today onwards, I will call you— Tangyi."
The moment those two words were uttered, the heavens and earth seemed to tremble slightly.
The little dragon's pupils suddenly lit up. The eyes, which had previously retained a trace of Annihilation and coldness, were now completely filled with a pure and joyful light. It let out a very soft but undisguised low groan, and its dragon body swirled joyfully in the air, causing Azure Ring to shout, "Steady up, steady up, hey hey hey..."
The next moment, Tangyi seemed unable to suppress her joy any longer.
It suddenly raised its head, and its dragon body suddenly swelled up. The world lost its color.
In an instant, the sea of clouds was torn apart, and the dome above the Gloomy Mist Soul-Entangling Swamp seemed to be forcibly pushed open by an invisible force. Dark silver scales unfolded layer by layer from the void, and light and shadow surged between the scales, like billions of solidified thoughts and endings intertwining and flowing. The originally petite dragon shadow transformed into a ten-thousand-foot-tall true body in the blink of an eye, stretching across the sky.
Azure Ring —that petite and slender figure—stood steadily atop the enormous dragon's head. One hand gripped the dragon's horn, the other on her hip, her hair and blue flames fluttering in the wind. Her face showed no fear; instead, she laughed excitedly.
Immediately afterwards, Tangyi looked up to the sky, and a dragon's roar erupted.
That was no ordinary sound, but an echo from the Realm of the Severed Thought Realm. The sound waves were invisible, yet they stirred visible ripples between heaven and earth. The sky seemed to be covered by layer upon layer of invisible stillness, and the sea of clouds froze, collapsed, and returned to nothingness in an instant. Mountains and rivers fell silent, wind and thunder ceased, and even the flow of cause and effect paused briefly in this dragon's roar.
That was a declaration of "thought" and a response to "name".
In the most instinctive and grandest way, Tangyi revealed to Qin Yu that she liked the name.
The dragon's roar gradually subsided, and the sky returned to its flow. The ten-thousand-foot-tall dragon slowly circled in the air before beginning to shrink. The light from its scales dimmed layer by layer, and its enormous form shrank continuously as it descended, eventually transforming back into that exquisite yet dangerous little dragon.
It gently landed back beside Qin Yu, hovering beside him, its dragon head close to his palm, its movements gentle and affectionate. Azure Ring also jumped off the dragon's head, landing back on Qin Yu's shoulder, swinging its legs, its tone filled with satisfaction and pride.
The world is silent. On this swamp that once gave birth to Absolute Thoughtlessness and calamity, a new bond of Fate Soul has been firmly established.
Just as Tangyi shrank back into her small dragon body and the world returned to its flow, Qin Yu suddenly felt a jolt between his brows.
It wasn't an external impact, but an echo that directly affected the depths of his Fate Soul, as if someone had gently stirred the deepest ripples in his sea of consciousness.
The next instant, a dark and warm mist spread out in the sea of consciousness. The once silent and boundless depths of the sea of consciousness seemed to be slowly filled with a layer of soft gray-blue mist, and in the center of that mist, a familiar and ancient will quietly appeared.
The true form of the Gloomy Mist Soul-Entangling Swamp was once again fully projected into Qin Yu's sea of consciousness.
It was not a specific form, but a misty expanse that seemed to be alive, within which countless fine Fate Soul patterns could be vaguely seen slowly flowing, like silent witnesses that had recorded billions of years.
Congratulations, Young Master Qin.
Her voice echoed in my mind, gentle and solemn, carrying a sense of relief after everything had settled down.
"You successfully subdued the Thoughtless Stillness Dragon and completed the true Soul Bond. I knew you could do it."
Qin Yu calmed himself slightly, bowed slightly to the misty expanse, and spoke in a calm and restrained tone.
"If you hadn't reminded me earlier that this path wasn't about Annihilation but taming, it would probably have been consumed long ago by the Master Soul Dominion as a substitute for its own destruction."
The mist churned slightly, as if silently shaking its head.
"I only did what I was supposed to do," the Gloomy Mist Soul-Entangling Swamp said slowly. "The one who truly brought this to this point is yourself."
Then, her tone changed slightly, becoming more serious.
"I promised you before that if you could truly subdue the Thoughtless Stillness Dragon, I would keep my promise."
A glimmer of light suddenly appeared deep within the misty swamp. "Now, you've done it."
That point of light rapidly spread, transforming into a clear and three-dimensional map that unfolded completely in Qin Yu's sea of consciousness—it was the entire panorama of the Gloomy Mist Soul-Entangling Swamp. The misty swamp, the swamp region, the soul vortex, and the forbidden zones were layered upon each other, leaving nothing out.
In the bottom right corner of the map, there is a strikingly prominent highlight.
The light was not dazzling, but extremely stable, as if it had been burning since the end of time, and was the true "heart" of the entire Gloomy Mist Soul-Entangling Swamp.
"Young Master Qin," the voice of the Gloomy Mist Soul-Entangling Swamp rang out again, "That is my core area."
"Now, I will teleport you there directly."
"Once you enter, you will naturally understand what kind of surprise that great man left for the true dragon tamer."
Qin Yu didn't ask any further questions, but simply replied solemnly, "Thank you." In reality, deep within the Gloomy Mist Soul-Entangling Swamp...
Azure Ring was sitting on Tangyi's dragon back, swinging her legs back and forth, looking very happy. Tangyi was obediently floating beside Qin Yu, her dragon tail occasionally swaying gently.
Suddenly, the fog in the sky and earth condensed.
A soft yet undeniable beam of light descended from above, precisely enveloping Qin Yu, Azure Ring, and Tangyi. The light was not intense, but it carried an irresistible pull, causing the space to ripple like water within it.
Azure Ring exclaimed "Eh!" and subconsciously gripped Tangyi's dragon horns. Before she could even complain, the entire world was completely enveloped in light.
In less than ten breaths, when the light faded, the three of them had already appeared in a completely different area.
The fog here was extremely thin, and beneath their feet lay a flat surface that seemed to be woven from ancient stone and the patterns of Fate Soul. The surroundings were so quiet that they were almost sacred. The brightest point of light in the map of their sea of consciousness was now quietly suspended directly in front of them.
At that very moment, the Gloomy Mist Soul-Entangling Swamp in Qin Yu's sea of consciousness suddenly transformed into a thin and gentle beam of light, quietly disappearing into the depths of the area ahead, following the predetermined trajectory of his Fate Soul.
Immediately afterwards, in reality, the void in front of Qin Yu slowly lit up.
A complete and ancient teleportation array appeared out of nothing. The array patterns were deep and restrained, each line seemingly polished by time, exuding a calm aura belonging only to the highest-ranking powerful beings.
Qin Yu glanced at Azure Ring beside him, then looked down at Tangyi, a faint smile appearing on his lips.
"Let's go in and see what good things that powerful being left us."
Azure Ring's eyes lit up, and she immediately patted Tangyi's back. "Come on, come on, I love it when there's a treasure here!"
Qin Yu stepped into the light array.
Just as his figure was about to be completely engulfed by the light, the voice transmission from the Gloomy Mist Soul-Entangling Swamp once again gently echoed deep within his sea of consciousness—
"Young Master Qin." "This is the treasure left by that lord for the true dragon tamer."
"That's also the real reason I became a forbidden Void Obliteration Domain." "May you... have good luck." The light array closed, and the world fell silent.
The moment the light array closed, the world seemed to be gently folded by an invisible hand. Time and space simultaneously lost their weight beneath Qin Yu's feet. Light was no longer something to illuminate, but transformed into a flowing river, carrying him, Azure Ring, and Tangyi forward and then lifting them up. There was no roar in their ears, only an almost silent surge, as if the universe was holding its breath.
A few breaths later, the light suddenly released its grip, gravity returned to normal, the sensation underfoot shifted from intangible to tangible, the air became so clear it was almost transparent, and the first ray of real light fell into view, slowly revealing the world.
The mountains stretch out in the distance, their ridges like crystals polished by time, undulating and reflecting pale purple, azure, and warm silver light. The valley extends to the horizon; its floor is not vegetation, but an endless sea of crystalline flowers, their petals seemingly composed of multifaceted crystals, swaying gently in the breeze.
A myriad of colors flow within, like stardust breathing. Sunlight falls vertically from the sky, passing through thin cloud shadows, shattering into countless points of light between the crystal flowers, like an endless meteor shower. Streams meander through the sea of flowers, their surfaces not reflecting the sky, but rather swallowing the light underwater, giving the riverbed a soft glow.
Tangyi hovered beside Qin Yu, her slender and exquisite dragon body shimmering with a faint, ethereal white light. Her aura resonated strangely with the area, diluting the Thought Severance stillness into a gentle, empty space.
Azure Ring sat on her back, swinging her legs, but her gaze was unusually calm, as if her heartbeat had been stopped by this scene that did not belong to any territory. The wind blew, and the crystal flowers bowed down in unison, then raised their heads again in the next instant. The light rippled along the sea of flowers, pushing it into the distance.
Further away, the clouds seemed to have been cut open by a dome, and a long staircase made of light and stone steps appeared from the depths of the sea of clouds. The steps were not straight, but meandered upwards following the breath of the clouds. Each step was tinged with a warm golden white, as if someone had gently placed the path to the other side here countless ages ago.
The sea of clouds surged, yet always avoided the edge of the steps; starlight flickered in the daytime, as if another night sky had been folded in.
At the end of the long staircase, the suspended city silhouette slowly emerged from the clouds. It was no ordinary city, but a palace forged by starlight and night, its spires piercing the clouds, its outline serene and majestic against the starry backdrop.
The sea of clouds below the city resembled an inverted ocean, its waves silent. The Milky Way spread across the sky, reflecting the city's shadow and creating an almost unreal order. There were no clear boundaries here; heaven and earth, the sea of clouds, and the starry sky overlapped, as if stitched together by the same thread of Fate Soul.
Qin Yu stood in this area, his breathing involuntarily slowing down. The power within him was not suppressed here, but rather guided by a gentle and ancient rhythm, as if this area was created for certain beings who "walk between emptiness and thought".
Azure Ring gently patted Tangyi's dragon head. Tangyi understood and slowly descended. The crystal flowers separated on their own beneath their feet and quietly closed again after landing, leaving no trace.
There was no sound, yet a silent invitation echoed everywhere. Light flowed along the distant steps, stars watched silently from behind the clouds, and the sea of crystal flowers rippled gently beneath our feet, as if waiting for the next scene to unfold.
Qin Yu looked up at the suspended palace, feeling no urgency, only a clear and firm premonition—this mysterious place was opened for dragon tamers and awakened for those who stepped into it.