Gazing into those amethyst-like dragon eyes, a sense of closeness naturally welled up from the depths of Li Zhexian's heart.
The Silver Dragon King felt the same pull.
For her, that closeness was even more tangible—
a tremor born of shared bloodline, and a trust so complete it allowed for utter surrender.
Li Zhexian was just about to speak, when the Silver Dragon King's clear yet faintly weakened voice rang out first:
"There are gazes upon you that I do not like."
"May I temporarily block them for you?"
As the words fell—
A wisp of illusory, multicolored dragon breath, suffused with a lingering fragrance, gently enveloped Li Zhexian.
..
Divine Realm Plaza
Staring at the now-blurred light screen,
Ji Dong frowned and said:
"So this is the Silver Dragon King? She can actually obscure our vision?"
The Asura God spoke slowly:
"As one half of the Dragon God, she is born with the status of a God King. Blocking divine perception is only natural."
"Hmph!"
At that moment,
the God of Destruction strode in from the plaza corridor.
Behind him followed a man clad in deep blue robes, long azure hair flowing like ocean waves. His handsome face was filled with suppressed fury.
Ji Dong's lips curved slightly.
"Destruction, it seems the Sea God is rather displeased."
The Sea God's expression instantly changed.
"I am not."
The God of Destruction cast him an indifferent glance.
Beneath the shadow of his purple cloak, his eyes held an ancient, unyielding obsession and authority.
"Congratulations to Li Zhexian for stepping onto the divine path."
"However, I have heard…"
"He is entangled in karmic ties with the remnants of the Dragon God."
"Evil, Asura—you two are on good terms with Li Zhexian. You must properly advise him."
"The affairs of the Dragon God are a taboo of the Divine Realm. No god is permitted to touch them."
"The tragedy of the ancient god war must never be repeated."
The Asura God continued to gaze at the blurred light screen, saying nothing.
Ji Dong, however, knitted his brows tightly.
Given the current situation—and Li Zhexian's personality—it was nearly impossible for him to sever his karmic ties with Spirit Beasts.
"This is troublesome…"
...
"Brother, eat!"
The Silver Dragon King curled her tail,
sweeping over a cluster of the most luxuriant spiritual herbs from her nest.
She piled them into a small mountain before Li Zhexian.
Seeing hesitation on his face, she looked around.
Her gaze finally settled on the crystals formed on the rock wall by condensed primordial energy.
She extended a dragon claw,
pried off the largest crystal,
and presented it to Li Zhexian.
"Brother, do you want to eat this?"
"I like it too."
"It helps heal injuries."
As she spoke,
she snapped off another piece, popped it into her mouth, and began chewing with audible crunches.
Within his spiritual sea,
Skydream shrank into a corner under the Silver Dragon King's aura.
Seeing this scene, he couldn't help muttering:
"This Spirit Beast's aura alone makes me want to kneel…"
"But why does her intelligence feel… not very high?"
The Ice Empress and Snow Empress shot Skydream cold looks.
For reasons unknown, hearing Skydream criticize this mysterious Spirit Beast stirred inexplicable anger in their hearts.
That feeling…
was like hearing someone speak ill of one's own elder.
Li Zhexian sensed the commotion within his consciousness, a trace of understanding flashing through his eyes.
Although the Silver Dragon King had descended upon the Douluo Continent countless years ago,
after separating from the Dragon God's body,
she had never truly walked among mortals.
She had remained hidden beneath Star Dou, quietly recuperating. Her nature was still pure and untainted.
Unfamiliar with worldly affairs—
It was only reasonable.
He originally intended to gently refuse her kindness.
But seeing the expectation in those purple dragon eyes, he could only pick a spiritual herb suitable for direct consumption, place it in his mouth, and chew slowly.
"Thank you. This is enough for me."
"Why… do you call me brother?"
"Crunch, crunch… I don't know…"
The Silver Dragon King answered indistinctly as she chewed on the crystal:
"Crunch, crunch… I just feel that you're very close…"
Li Zhexian nodded.
Before this moment, he had imagined their meeting countless times—
swords drawn, tensions bristling, or veiled tests of wit and power.
Yet never had he anticipated this…
that the Silver Dragon King would so naturally, so intimately, call him "brother."
Within the silent dragon nest—
Soft light spilled down from the dome.
Illuminating this strange yet harmonious scene.
Li Zhexian ate the spiritual herbs,
while across from him the Silver Dragon King went crunch, crunch, gnawing on crystal shards.
She was in high spirits.
Her shimmering silver dragon tail swayed cheerfully behind her, keeping time with her chewing.
"Brother."
Before long,
the Silver Dragon King finished the crystal and exhaled a breath of resplendent dragon essence.
That breath slowly unfurled before Li Zhexian, transforming into a flowing screen of light.
Within the light screen,
the scenes were tragic and harrowing:
Spirit Beasts wailing under human blades;
forests falling in swathes beneath axes;
the glaciers of the extreme north melting away without end.
One after another, Spirit Beasts whose cultivation had reached its very peak roared their grief at the heavens, hurling themselves toward the heavenly tribulation—
only to be reduced to ashes.
Yet still, the barrier of the Divine Realm remained unmoved.
The Silver Dragon King slowly curled her tail, as though trying to hide away that sorrow with nowhere to go.
"These scenes…" she murmured.
"Every moment, they repeat somewhere on this continent…"
"The future of the Spirit Beast race…"
"I cannot see any hope…"
"One day… the Spirit Beasts will be driven to extinction…"
Li Zhexian pressed his lips tightly together.
Even as a human,
watching such devastation unfold before his eyes,
he could not suppress the surge of compassion rising in his chest.
"Brother…"
Her voice was very soft, like remnants of a whisper carried on the wind, tinged with careful pleading.
"When you ascend to godhood…"
"Could you… leave my Spirit Beast race… a single path of survival…"
"I understand the law of survival of the fittest!"
"I do not dare ask for too much—only that the Divine Realm grant Spirit Beasts a single chance to become gods."
"So that within this vast heaven and earth, my people may yet have hope of continuing on."
"At the very least…"
"Let them have something to believe in."
A crystalline dragon tear slid down, shattering into specks of light upon the ground.
"Brother, I know how unreasonable this wish must be for you…"
"But through these endless ages, you alone… have shown me a glimmer of light."
"I have nothing with which to repay you. Only this—my most precious possession…"
As her words fell,
she lifted a dragon claw
and resolutely tore away a single brilliant silver scale from her chest.
Blood still stained the edges of the scale, exuding a dense, pure aura of divinity.
Within Li Zhexian's spiritual sea,
Skydream cried out in shock:
"A dragon's reverse scale—each dragon has only one in their entire life!"
"The value of this reverse scale is beyond measure!"
The Ice Empress and Snow Empress also stared in stunned silence at the silver scale, radiant with divine light, their hearts shaken.
They knew—
A dragon's reverse scale, like an angel's sacred feather, was unique and irreplaceable.
Only when one entrusted their life and absolute faith would it be given to another.
Yet despite knowing how precious this reverse scale was—
Skydream, the Ice Empress, and the Snow Empress all remained silent.
As Spirit Beasts themselves,
how could they not hope Li Zhexian would accept this trust and fight for a sliver of hope for their kind?
And yet—
this karmic burden was simply too heavy.
Heavy as mountains of eternity.
It had crushed countless hopes before, heavy enough to make even gods hesitate.
Li Zhexian gazed at the bloodstained reverse scale before him.
The expectation in the Silver Dragon King's eyes made him unable to meet her gaze.
—This was the weight of an entire race's survival.
The dragon nest fell into silence.
Time itself seemed to freeze.
After a long while,
under the slowly brightening gaze of the Silver Dragon King,
Li Zhexian reached out—
and accepted the bloodstained silver scale into his hand.
"If I ascend to the Divine Realm,
I will fight for a path forward for the Spirit Beast race."
"If the gods do not permit it—"
His voice was calm.
"Then I will."